John Dee's Five Books of Mystery: Original Sourcebook of Enochian Magic Paperback – Illustrated, January 1, 2008

This book seems to represent a sort of magical diary of Dr John Dee (Elizabeth I's court astrologer) as regards his experience summoning angelic spirits. It is an interesting read whether or not one is interested in actually trying any of Dee's experiments.This also provides a great deal of context to other Enochian works as well as a useful read to anyone interested in speculating on the psychodynamics of these sorts of things.At the same time, this is not by itself a practical book. Here you don't find descriptions of exactly what was said or done, just records of results. It is mostly interesting to my mind as to how it lets us look inside the thoughts of Dee.A word about the transliterations, etc. Peterson does not normalize the spellings in this work and the tradeoff is that of readability for atmosphere and accuracy. While I agree with this tradeoff, the book cannot be read quite quickly and it can be difficult to get used to immediately. The book is written in extremely early modern English, and seems to be to my mind just barely on this side of the great vowel shift that separates Middle from Modern English (actually the great vowel shift was ongoing at the time but I think we can safely put Dee on the Modern English side of it). It makes for interesting reading though.

If you are interested in John Dee, "behind the scenes" of Enochian, Medieval/Renaissance philosophy or occult matters, this is a must have.The editor did a great job of making the texts readable and clear in the layout. The footnotes (including explanatory, reference, and translation of the Latin parts) are extremely useful to the understanding of the text and related texts that Dee had access to.The introductory information written by the editor is short and straightforward, and also fairly objective.The book contains the 5 Books of Mystery that were found after Dee's death. These books provide a clear insight into the goings on around the Skrying done by Dee and Kelly; they are a journal or set of lab notes on what went on at each session detailing what was seen in the crystal as well as how the "angels" taught them to render the Sigilum Dei, the tables, and a few other things.Whether you believe Dee actually talked with angels or not, this is a great insight into an Elizabethan Mage's project. A must have for anyone interested in such subject matter for whatever reasons.

Excellent book...one of a kind. If you are interested in studying or collecting old occult texts then I recommend purchasing Joseph H. Peterson's translations of this and several other books. His translations are vastly superior to any that have come before...I only wish they had a hardbound edition. This edition was published by Weiser books, while many of his other works are published by IBIS, I recommend checking them out. IBIS has beautiful hardcover editions of The Sixth and Seventh books of Moses, Arbatel, and The Clavis or Key to the Magic of Solomon, all of them are amazing prints. If the material interests you then you will not be disappointed.

I bought the 3 volume set of Dee and was a bit mythed that they did NOT translate the latin. They just expect us to know it!Thankfully THIS book does translate the Latin and should be your go to primer on Dee. Enjoying it so far

Greta seller, fast service!

The quality is good, the book itself eh. Rating it a 4 because its good quality and rather well made. However if you’re not looking for long, convoluted, confusing, middle age looking english then go ahead and buy this mystery book to solve, otherwise, i would recommend something different...

Do your research fellow beings.The Truth is heavy, therefore few care to carry it."We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of the siren, till she transforms us into beasts. "—Patrick Henry“Believe nothing just because a so-called wise person said it. Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held. Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books. Believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin. Believe nothing just because someone else believes it.-Believe only what you yourself test and judge to be true.”- Buddha

John Dee is one of most knowledgeable magicians that ever lived.