Danger from Enochian

One of the things that you hear about Enochian magic is that it is dangerous. Most of this seems to stem from the belief of Paul Foster Case that it was dangerous to use; in fact, while the rituals of the Builders of the Adtyum are remarkably similar to Golden Dawn's, they do not have any Enochian contained in them.

Now, I am not sure that Enochian is death causing, but I am sure that it is dangerous---or at least, it is dangerous for me to practice.

I am doing another round of Enochian scrying to fulfill the requirements of the subGrade that I am currently working on. And one thing that I have noticed about the work is that it leaves me mentally and emotionally off-balanced.

I first started to notice this when I realized that some of my nastier responses on the GD forums were done after doing Enochian scrying. It is very easy to annoy me the day after I do a scrying. Doing a full set of banishings after the scrying session helps, but still my tongue is wicked and my brain is unwell after scrying an Enochian square.

I know the square that puts me back into the mindset I used to have in food service; you know that nasty one where you suspect that the cook is about to go postal on someone. If I didn't have to scry it to pass my examinations, I would go near it ever again.

Essentially, I think that the problem with that particular square, and with the majority of the squares is that they are not complete elementally. And add a mind that was programmed in childhood by a lot of abuse, and you end up with an uncomfortable, if not slightly dangerous, combination.

So while I have doubts about the Enochian system being able to just kill someone mysterious, I do know first-hand that working with them is like subjecting your brain to a chemical bath. If you find the right square, it would probably help. But considering that for the most part, there is little published yet about the mental effects of most of the squares, it is like gambling in a drug den.

Or at least for me, it sure seems that way. But then again, I am one of the people that working with the Golden Dawn system has actually helped improve the mental stability of. My proof? At one time, I wouldn't have even noticed the effect of the squares I am scrying.

At least, I am improving.

So if working with Enochian is helping me, why do I consider it dangerous?

Well, it is not the system itself that seems to be the biggest problem (though I prefer more elemental balanced systems) rather it is the people who are attracted to it. You know the ones: people who have skipped though the Outer Order work, or moved the Enochian to Outer Order, or insist that the Enochian is the crown jewel of Golden Dawn and that they are not stooping down to do anything of less importance (ego issues, it is called), or decided that they are going to do a different square every day for 156 days straight. In short, put lunacy in and you are going to get lunacy out.

For these people, it is the goal that is important; to arrive at the peak is the only important thing. To them, people like me who are taking our sweet time doing the work are the ones that have it all wrong. People like me think that we have a lifetime to do the work and as long as we are continuing to put one foot in front of the other, it does not matter how slow we are working.

Eventually I am going to get to the goal. After all, I have plenty of time to get there. And I would like to have some of my marbles left when I get there. So I think that I won't do more than one Enochian scrying in any given week, just because the system seems to make my temper worse for wear.