John Dee’s Holy Table and Lamen

This online edition is a reference study, rather than a single historical text, of two key ritual objects in John Dee’s angel magic: the Holy Table (also called the Table of Practice or Table of the Covenant) and the lamen worn by the operator. Both were specified by the angels in the 1582–1583 sessions recorded in the Five Books of Mystery. The table was to be made of sweet wood of set dimensions, painted with a border of letters in the angelic script and a central grid of letters derived from the names of angels, together with seven planetary seals; it stood on four wax seals of the Sigillum Dei Aemeth, while a fifth, larger seal lay at its centre beneath the shew-stone, all covered with silk cloths. The lamen, a square plate of letters derived from the same names, was worn on the breast during the work. The page compares the main witnesses to the design: Dee’s drawing in Sloane MS 3188, the engraving published by Meric Casaubon in 1659 and Elias Ashmole’s description of the surviving table, noting discrepancies in proportions and lettering and correcting a missing dot in the Casaubon plate. It also discusses the other furnishings, including the seven ‘ensigns of creation’. Several physical objects associated with Dee’s practice, among them wax seals and a black mirror, are today held by the British Museum, and the table’s design has been reproduced widely in modern Enochian magic.

What it contains

• Specifications for the Holy Table from the angelic sessions
• Comparison of Dee’s drawing, Casaubon’s engraving and Ashmole’s account
• The border letters and central grid of angelic names
• The Sigillum Dei Aemeth seals, silk cloths and shew-stone
• The seven ensigns of creation
• Design and inscription of the lamen