“Enochian table” can mean several different things. Dee’s Holy Table was a physical ritual furnishing; the Great Table joined four lettered quadrants; Liber Logaeth contains large manuscript grids. The Table of Nalvage is the round, letter-covered object Kelley says he saw beneath the figure named Nalvage. Casaubon’s 1659 printing reports it in the 1584 conferences. Treating these tables as interchangeable changes the story of how the Calls were recorded and encourages invented reconstructions.
- Shape in report
- Circular; later appears globe-like
- Printed witness
- Casaubon, 1659, pp. 63, 73–84
- Distinct from
- The Great Table and Holy Table
CENTERLETTERED SURFACE
A round table in the 1584 report
At the named appearance printed on page 63, Kelley describes a large white round surface marked with many letters and a raised center on which Nalvage stands. In the April 10 Kraków sequence, the description again emphasizes a round surface, apparently crystal or mother-of-pearl, thick with letters. These are verbal reports of a perceived image. No matching physical object is catalogued as the surviving Table of Nalvage. A drawing that supplies every letter requires a separately documented source and an explanation of its editorial reconstruction.
The description changes over time. On April 14, Nalvage strikes the round table with a rod; Kelley reports it spinning and then seeming globe-like rather than flat. The diary presents a moving visionary scene rather than one fixed design. It also places the figure at the table’s raised center, a feature that helps distinguish this round surface from the four-quadrant Great Table.
Why the letters matter for the Calls
Nalvage points to letters in the recorded sessions while Dee and Kelley work through sequences connected to the Keys. The April 12 entry says the Calls were delivered backward for reception and forward for practice. The April 14 passage shows Kelley and Dee attending to letters, numbers, and pronunciations. In one place a letter is initially uncertain before the session resolves it. This is evidence about how the printed diary says the text was received; it is not a warrant to invent a complete table from a modern Call spelling.
Later circular charts attempt to give the reported letters a stable layout. The April diary passages instead describe letters indicated during a sequence of actions, with at least one reading settled only after initial uncertainty. A modern chart therefore represents a later interpretation of that account, not a physical table catalogued among Dee’s surviving ritual objects.
Three tables that should stay distinct
The Great Table’s four quadrants and Black Cross are the subject of a separate set of guides on this site. The Holy Table belongs to Dee’s ritual furniture and has its own image and object history. Nalvage’s circular table is neither a four-directional Watchtower chart nor the square Holy Table. The shared noun reflects broad early modern usage, not a single object redrawn in different shapes.
The British Library catalogue identifies Cotton MS Appendix XLVI as the diary witness behind the later conferences; Wellcome catalogs Casaubon’s 1659 print and its public-domain scan. These sources support a historical reading of a recorded vision. They do not prove that the described table existed outside the reported experience or that reading letters from it has a verified effect. The circle on this page shows only the reported arrangement: a round surface, many letters, and a raised center. It remains unlettered because the surviving description does not establish a complete arrangement. The relevant April entries give a sequence of reported movements and letter indications, not an authenticated artifact that a website can photograph.
These records document a reported experience and its later printing. They do not independently verify a supernatural being or ritual effect.
Sources and records
- British Library: Cotton MS Appendix XLVI ↗Catalogue identity for the later conference diary behind Casaubon’s printed Relation.
- Casaubon, Relation, pp. 63–69: Nalvage and Madimi ↗Printed report of Nalvage’s named appearance, the round table, and Madimi’s subsequent exchange.
- Casaubon, Relation, pp. 73–90: April 1584 sessions ↗Printed witness to Nalvage’s later appearance, the circular table, and the reception of letters for a Call.
- Wellcome Collection: A True and Faithful Relation (1659) ↗Digitized copy and bibliographic record of Casaubon’s edited printing.