Enochian

Enochian Chess rules and definition

Enochian Chess is afour-player variation of chess related to the hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (a secret society dedicated to the study and practice of occultism). The name for this game mode was created in the mind of John Dee (English magician and astrologer Queen Elizabeth 1). It was later adopted by the Victorian Golden Dawn members into the “initiation training system”.

Enochian chess was created by William Wynn Wstcott, magician and theosophist and founder of Golden Dawn. The rules were completed by SL MacGregor Mathers (British occultist).

In 1922, George Slater, a member of Sodalitas Rosae + Crucis & Solis Altati (Rosicrucians AO) prepared a detailed description of the Enochian game, which included rituals and codes.

There is a correlation between 64 checkerboard squares and 64 orient hexagrams, which have been called the I-Ching prophecy system.

The game was designed for four hands, because each set of elements corresponded to one of four living lead (fire, earth, water, air) and several watchtowers. Enochian chess was played for both ordinary competition and divination. The four sets of elements were colored and identified with Egyptian deities or “divine forms”:

• Osiris , represented by the king;

• Isis , queen;

• Horus , knight;

• Aroueris , bishop;

• Nefthys , tower or castle;

The chessboard was divided into four parts, in which one of the four elements dominated. Four players formed two pairs. Mathers was famous for playing with the invisible partner he called the ghost. Each player has 9 pieces at his disposal, whose moves are similar to modern chess. All squares on the board correspond to the letters in the Angel Tables of Renaissance magicians John Dee and Edward Kelly.