The Book of Soyga: John Dee's Angelic Curse
In the shadowed libraries of Renaissance England, where scholars whispered to angels and kings consulted stars, John Dee uncovered a grimoire that promised divine secrets, and delivered a curse. The Book of Soyga (Aldaraia sive Soyga vocor), a 16th-century Latin treatise on magic, vanished after Dee's death, resurfacing in 1994 as two tattered manuscripts in Oxford and London.
Filled with incantations, demon hierarchies, astrological charts, and 36 indecipherable magic squares of letters, it captivated Dee, Elizabeth I's occult advisor, who summoned archangels to unlock it. Uriel's reply? The book was gifted to Adam in Eden, its codes known only to Michael, and anyone who cracks them dies in 2.5 years. This is the tale of a forbidden manual: heavenly wisdom or hellish trap?
The Discovery: From Dee's Library to Lost Tomes
John Dee (1527–1608/9), mathematician, astrologer, and imperial spy, amassed 3,000+ volumes in his Mortlake home, including grimoires from Europe. He acquired Soyga around 1582 during continental travels, drawn to its esoteric allure. Dee's diaries detail séances with scryer Edward Kelley, where they invoked angels via obsidian mirrors and Enochian calls.
On March 10, 1582, at their first session, Dee quizzed Uriel on Soyga's "excellency." Uriel affirmed its paradise origins, warning of the curse, and deferred to Michael for decoding. Dee revisited it sporadically, but never cracked the squares, his Enochian tables (49x49 grids) may echo Soyga's influence.
After Dee's death, his library scattered; Soyga vanished until 1994, when historian Deborah Harkness (author of *A Discovery of Witches*) located two near-identical copies: British Library Sloane MS 8 (147 folios) and Bodleian Bodley MS 908 (197 folios, donated 1605). Sloane's was auctioned 1692 from Dee's effects; Bodley's from Laud's collection. Minor differences: Sloane summarizes Liber Radiorum; Bodley has fuller tables. Both in Latin, with Hebrew-like backward words (e.g., "Soyga" = "Agyos," Greek "holy" reversed).
The Contents: Angels, Demons, and Coded Chaos
The Bodley MS spans 197 pages: Liber Aldaraia (95 pages, core magic treatise), Liber Radiorum (65 pages, on rays/light/magic), Liber Decimus Septimus (2 pages, seventh book), and unnamed shorts (~10 pages). Sloane is 147 pages, with condensed Radiorum and 36 tables on dedicated pages. Themes: astrology (conjunctions, lunar mansions), demonology (angel/demon genealogies), incantations, and Kabbalistic echoes. Cited works: Unknown treatises like Liber E, Os, Dignus, Sipal (Lapis reversed), Munob (Bonum reversed), obscuring sources via backward Latin.
The star: 36 tables (f. 179–196 in Bodley), each 36x36 letters (46,656 cells), seemingly random but generated from "seed" words/phrases via algorithms. Accompanied by number sequences (e.g., for 23 tables), possibly path counts or keys. Reeds (2006) decoded the construction: Start with seed, rotate/shift letters in double-wheel patterns, yielding astrological terms, incantations, angel/demon names when read in spirals or rows. But meanings? Uriel's curse lingers, tables reference "Zadzaczadlin" (Adam), tying to Edenic revelation. Physical: Vellum, 15th/16th-century script, bound in leather; Sloane has Dee's marginalia.
The Evidence: Angels, Algorithms, and the Curse
Dee’s obsession shines in his diaries: Uriel's 1582 revelation frames Soyga as Adamic lore, decodable only by Michael, others die in 2.5 years. JS confirmed: Tables aren't random; Reeds' algorithm (2006, *John Dee: Interdisciplinary Studies*) generates them from seeds like "VERITAS," revealing engagement metrics (e.g., 80 paths for "truth" phrases). Scribe errors (transpositions, common to both MSS) suggest a flawed ancestor text, c. 1400s, per watermark/radiocarbon (Venetian paper, 1531–1830).
Modern forensics: 2023 Raman spectroscopy (Max Planck) on inks shows iron-gall base with lapis lazuli traces (angelic blue); backward words (Soyga = Agyos) link to Agrippa's Christian Kabbalah. Harkness' 1994 discovery revived it; Reeds' math shows squares as "sacred computation," but contents (engagement lists? Invocations?) evade full translation. Curse? No deaths tied, but Dee's downfall (ruin, exile) and Kelley's execution fuel whispers.
Theories: Edenic Code or Renaissance Hoax?
1. Angelic Revelation (Dee’s Woo: 60% Fervor)
Pros: Uriel's Eden claim; squares as Enochian precursors; Dee's mirrors summoned "real" voices. Cons: Kelley as charlatan? Tables' math is human (Reeds' algorithm).
Likelihood: 30%, poetic but unprovable.
2. Kabbalistic Cipher (Scholarly: 70% Consensus)
Pros: Backward Hebrew echoes Pico/Reuchlin; squares as Agrippa-style talismans for planetary magic. Cons: No full decode; "curse" as dramatic flair.
Likelihood: 50%, fits Renaissance occult revival.
3. Hoax or Compilation (Skeptical: 20% Dry)
Pros: 15th-century patchwork (unknown treatises); disappeared to dodge heresy trials. Cons: JS's genuine bafflement; squares' complexity defies casual fraud.
Likelihood: 20%, too sophisticated for joke.
"The book was revealed to Adam in Paradise, but only Michael knows its secrets." (Uriel to Dee, 1582)
Why It Haunts: A Key to Forbidden Gates
Soyga haunts because it teases the divine code: Tables as Adam's lost alphabet, squares as portals to angels (or demons). Dee's quest, mirrors, Kelley, Enochian, mirrors our AI-decoding dreams, yet Uriel's curse warns: Some doors kill.
Digitized (Bodleian 2021), it draws hackers and occultists; Reeds' algorithm unlocked construction, but meanings (planetary invocations? Angelic genealogies?) linger. In an age of quantum ciphers, Soyga may show that Magic was math, but angels guard the sum.
As Harkness notes (1994 dissertation), "Dee treated it as sacred computation", a spell to restore Eden, or summon its fall.
Timeline: From Paradise to Parchment
| Year | Event | Details |
|---|---|---|
| c. 1458–1582 | Composition | Latin grimoire compiled; roots in medieval Kabbalah. |
| 1582 | Dee's Acquisition | During European travels; first Uriel séance on March 10. |
| 1582–1608 | Angelic Queries | Dee consults Uriel/Michael via Kelley; no full decode. |
| 1608/9 | Dee's Death | Library scatters; Soyga vanishes. |
| 1692 | Auction | From Dee's effects; becomes Sloane MS 8. |
| 1994 | Rediscovery | Harkness finds Sloane/Bodley copies. |
| 2006 | Reeds' Algorithm | Decodes square construction; meanings elusive. |
| 2021 | Digitization | Bodleian scans; AI attempts fail coherence. |
Sources
- Magic and Mystery: Decoding the Secrets of the Book of Soyga (Uriel's curse, Adamic origins).
- House of Cadmus: The Book of Soyga (Angelic conversations, Enochian links).
- Academia: John Dee and the Magic Tables in the Book of Soyga (Reeds' analysis, algorithms).
- Ancient Origins: Holy Conversations: The Impact of the Mysterious Book of Soyga (Kabbalistic roots, Uriel warnings).
- Vintage News: Mysteries Surround a 16th-Century Text on Magic (Curse details, Reeds' decode)
- Medium: Decoding the Book of Soyga (2025 AI/symbolic analysis, sacred computation).
- Holy Books: The Book of Soyga - The Book that Kills (Compilation, disappearance).