Constructing Enochian Temples

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During the six months beginning November, 1985, I was involved in an extended exploration of the Enochian Tablet of Earth. There was no purpose to the work other than tourism - I merely wanted to see what was there and record it as accurately as possible. Curiosity is sometimes well rewarded; instructions were given on a new way to use the Tablets for magickal workings. The method involves the transformation of the two-dimensional Tablets into a three- dimensional structure that is the Temple of the Tablet. The Temple demonstrates the fundamental geometric, energetic, and spiritual properties of the Enochian magickal system through a form embodying the character of its active, intelligent energies.

There is much more to the Enochian magick than a mere collection of elemental energies. Rather, each tablet is an expression of the whole of existence, parallel to the cabalistic Tree of Life and equal to it in power and descriptive ability. With the practical and symbolic tools provided here, the competent magician will be able to unlock the higher aspects of the magick for himself.

Before using the Temple technique, the magician should be thoroughly conversant with the basic attributions of the Hebrew letters and numbers as described in the Golden Dawn documents and Crowley's 777 Revised. Equally useful is a familiarity with the "restored" Tree of Life first presented by Charles Stansfield Jones, aka Frater Achad. A sketch of his Tree is provided in figure # at the end of this book. Achad's Tree forms the basis for all existing explanations of the Temple's symbolism. The author believes that the Temple can be used effectively by persons using other symbol-systems, but at this point it is up to the users of other systems to discover how they can be connected with the Temple.

The magician should have had some success in using the Enochian system to invoke the forces of single squares, and have made a preliminary exploration of the forces of the Tablet in question to the point that he feels both familiar and comfortable with them. This is not a technique for beginners. Successful construction of the Temple generates a tremendous concentration of force, which can unbalance the inexperienced magician and open him to levels he is not yet ready to deal with.

Background

Each of the Elemental Tablets of the Enochian system is a 12 by 13 square board. Figure 1 shows the general layout of a Tablet, with the various types of squares labeled. These squares can be re-arranged into a three-dimensional structure, which is the Temple of the element.

The squares of the Tablets are arranged according to a regular hierarchical scheme, and each level of the hierarchy defines a particular part of the Temple.

The Great Central Cross of each Tablet is made up of the seventh row across the Tablet, and the sixth and seventh columns. The cross contains the highest three levels of the Tablet's hierarchy.

The three Names of God come from the horizontal line, and are formed by taking the letters in groups of three, four, and five letters. The Names for the Earth Tablet are thus MOR DIAL HCTGA.

The Elemental King of the Tablet has his name formed by an inward clockwise spiral around the center of the Tablet. In the Earth Tablet, the King's name is ICZHIHAL. (Fig. 2)

The Six Seniors represent the forces of the planets in the Tablet, and their names are formed by reading outwards along the arms of the cross. For the Earth Tablet, these names are ACZINOR, LZINOPO, ALHCTGA, LIIANSA, AHMLICV, and LAIDROM. (Fig. )

These names from the Central Cross are used to make up various parts of the upper Temple. The next set of squares are the Sephirotic Crosses, which are the five by six crosses centered in each Lesser Angle of the Tablet. These crosses make up the floor of the upper Temple, and the ceiling of the lower Temple, and project their force downwards into the

Temple proper. (Fig.)

The four Kerubic squares of each lesser angle are the four squares above the horizontal arms of the sephirotic crosses. These squares are used to make the four outer pillars of the Temple.

Finally, the remaining squares below the arms of the Sephirotic crosses are the servient squares, which represent the most material manifestation of the force of the tablet. These squares are rearranged to make the floor and altars of the Temple.

The Bricks

The basic unit in the Elemental Tablets is the square. Since the Temple is a transformation of the Tablets into three dimensions, it follows that the basic unit for the construction of the Temple will be the cube. One particular kind of cube has proven to significantly enhance the effectiveness of astrally-constructed Temples. However, after a short explanation I will continue to refer to "squares" rather than to cubes, in order to emphasize that these cubes are three- dimensional projections of the squares of the Tablets.

These special cubes are formed from four truncated pyramids of the kind used in the Golden Dawn system to symbolize the energies of the Tablets. The pyramids have square bases. Each side adjacent to the base meets it at an angle of forty- five degrees, and the top has sides whose length is one-third that of a base side. The pyramids are then set with their bases outwards to form four sides of a cube, with the top and bottom faces empty.

The cube thus formed acts as an accumulator and focusing device for whatever energies are assigned to it. The four "solid" sides channel energies into the center of the cube. Beams meet in opposing pairs and are thrown outwards in the only directions remaining, as rays from the empty top and bottom faces. The wand-like nature of the projecting forces suggests that this form of the cube be associated with the fire aspect.

Adding a fifth pyramid to the cube neutralizes the opposing forces of the first four, and causes energy to well up out of the sixth side like a fountain, or like a perpetually-opening lotus. Clearly, this form of the cube relates to the water aspect.

A cube of six pyramids perhaps combines earth and air, since all the faces are solid, but the hollow center contains the accumulated energies, distributed at equal concentration at all points of the space.

There are only two places in the Temple where one of these forms is required. Everywhere it is not specified, any of these forms can be used at the preference of the magician, or none of them used. My personal feeling is that the six- pyramid cube is not useful.

It should be noted that all of these cubes are actually three-dimensional representations of a four-dimensional object, the hypercube or tesseract, which is an object having eight cubical "sides". In the 3-d cube, six of these cubical sides are seen in distorted perspective as truncated pyramids. So the cube, which started as a projection of a two-dimensional form, contains within it the potential for the projection to continue into additional dimensions. By correspondence, the completed Temple will also be linked to other dimensions.

Design

The dimensions of the Temple are all defined in terms of the size of a single component, the square, with the length of the square's side being the unit of measure. Thus the relative dimensions remain constant no matter how large or small the unit is when measured in real terms. The Temple can be made any size that is convenient to the magician. It can be constructed physically, or entirely on the astral levels. The effect on any plane will be about the same, no matter the materials used. Coloring appropriate to the particular Element should be used.

The intelligences who gave the instructions say that it is also preferable, but not necessary, to paint on the attributions of each square as well. This seems valuable but tedious for a Temple constructed of physical materials. But for astral workings such a course would likely be unfeasible for magicians lacking an eidetic memory.

The floor of the Temple is made by lifting the Servient squares out of the tablet, and pushing them together to make an 8 by 8 board, with the squares maintaining their relative positions from the Tablet. (Fig.? )

The Kerubic squares of each Lesser Angle are arranged in a 2 by 2 square, which touches the corner of the floor. The squares are arranged within the larger square so that they are in the same position relative to each other that their sub- elements are in the Tablet as a whole.

(Fig. )

These grouped Kerubic squares are then extended upwards for a distance equal to eight times the width of a single square to form the pillars of the Temple.

The Sephirotic crosses are connected as in Fig. ?, and are laid horizontally at the height of the tops of the Kerubic pillars to form the inner ceiling of the Temple. The crosses project downwards to form the inner walls of the Temple. The long arms of the crosses are oriented to follow diagonal lines drawn between the Kerubic Pillars, and the Malkuth squares of the vertical arms rest on the top of each pillar. The Malkuth square of each cross is centered precisely over the center of of its quarter's Kerubic pillar, and the intersection of the four lesser columns that make up each pillar divides it into four equal parts. The Tiphereth square of each cross will be over the center of the sixteen Servient squares of the Lesser Angle. Also note that in this formation, the squares attributed to Kether and Tiphereth are always hidden from any viewpoint outside of the Temple.

The names of the six Seniors are made into a star-shaped formation. (Fig. ?) The first letter of each name is formed into an equilateral triangle having sides of one unit, and the remaining letters are assigned to squares extending in a line from the base of the triangle. The triangular units are fitted together to form a hexagonal center to the star. Except for this center, the arms of the star-shape are bent downwards at an angle of about thirty degrees to form the roof-braces of the Temple. The outermost square of each arm will be at the height of the tops of the Kerubic pillars. The arms should extend outwards far enough that a circle touching all their ends would just enclose the Malkuth squares of the sephirotic crosses.

The name of the Elemental King is formed into a stack of four fire-aspect cubes, which stands on the center of the Seniors' star. The outer faces of the cubes in the stack are attributed to the letters of the name in this manner:

E S W N <-- (direction of face)
I C I C
Z H Z H ICZHIHAL, Earth Tablet
I H I H
A L A L

The three Names of God in a Tablet are expressed in the Temple as three rings, each having a circumference of 12 units. When it is desired to emphasize the purely elemental aspects of the Temple, the rings are arranged so that they have a common center-point, and the plane of each ring is at right angles to the planes of the other two. When the higher, planetary aspect of the Temple is to be emphasized, then the rings are arranged so that they share a common diameter and their planes are set at angles of 120 degrees to each other.