Heptarchia Mystica (The Mystical Heptarchy)

The ‘mystical heptarchy’ is the first practical system of angel magic that Dee distilled from his sessions with Edward Kelley in 1582–1583. It concerns forty-nine ‘good angels’ arranged under seven kings and seven princes, each associated with a planet and a day of the week, who govern the world under God and can grant knowledge and earthly power. Dee prepared three working digests of this material. De Heptarchia Mystica, in his own hand in British Library Sloane MS 3191, sets out the testimonies of the angels, his own role, the equipment, the appearance of each king and prince, a daily prayer, standard invocations and the offices of the angels by day. The Compendium Heptarchiae Mysticae (Add. MS 36674), apparently dated to May 1588 while Dee was in Bohemia, is a closely related draft that preserves material not found elsewhere, including details lost from the Fourth Book of Mystery. The Liber exercitii Heptarchici (Bodleian, Ashmole 1790) is a further partial draft of 1588 with variant readings, especially about the magic ring. Together they describe the ritual furniture of Dee’s practice: the Holy Table, the Sigillum Dei Aemeth, the ring and lamen, and the tablets on which the operator stands. Heptarchic magic was largely overshadowed in later occultism by the Watchtower system of the Great Table, but it has attracted renewed attention from both scholars and practitioners since the editions of the 1980s.

What it contains

• Testimonies of the angels on the heptarchic doctrine
• Dee’s statement of his purpose and role
• Equipment: ring, lamen, Holy Table, seals and tablets
• Descriptions of the seven kings and seven princes and their attendants
• Daily prayer and invocations of kings and princes
• Offices of the angels assigned to each day of the week