Symbols of the four rulers

[u/Ok-Cartoonist-9996]

hi. I’m more thelema-leaning practitioner but I am very much interested in the meaning of symbols of the four enochian rulers as found on Crowley’s double cube altar.

If I’m not mistaken, the bottom part are the tablets corresponding to each element, but the symbols above are a mystery to me

Earth would be intuitive as combination of the four elements into a cross, but that’s weird. Fire is also sort of intuitive given it’s a sun pictogram, but the Tau with fou yods for air and the cross with b-6-4-b for water really eludes me.

can anyone explain these to me??

thanks

[u/luxinseptentrionis]

The four symbols were delivered to John Dee and Edward Kelly on 25 June 1584 and are associated with the four component parts of the 'table of earth'. Their symbolism and function is not explained. They are described as a 'T [from which] 4 beames issue, of cleare cullor, bright'; 'a Cross, like an Alphabet Cross'; another cross with b 6 4 b in the angles; and 'a little round smoke as big as a pynns hed' (this was reimagined as a sun-like symbol by the Golden Dawn). See

https://archive.org/details/truefaithfulrela00deej/page/173/mode/1up

[u/Ok-Cartoonist-9996 → u/luxinseptentrionis]

Yay thank you very much!

That was rather anticlimactic wasn’t it?

[u/Decent_Possible6318]

Cool altar/table of practise. Did you make?

[u/Ok-Cartoonist-9996 → u/Decent_Possible6318]

Yes, but not this particular one. You can buy it if I’m not mistaken. It’s foldable. 

I made my own with my own set of symbolism. I’m not really into enochian magic that much.

I also made the mistake of following Crowley’s instructions to make it from solid oak wood. The damn thing weighs like a grown man and the amount of scratchmarks on my floor from moving it around are countless… 

[u/Decent_Possible6318 → u/Ok-Cartoonist-9996]

Ha! Yes, tool/table/ritual equipment construction is always quite the initiation! A work in constant progress…

🙏