Quotes:Dee, John

Zirkoff, Boris

Dee, John. English mathematician and astrologer, b. in London, July 13, 1527; d. at Mortlake, September, 1608. He was educated in St. John’s College, Cambridge, receiving his B.A., 1545, and his M.A., 154-8. He studied for two years at Louvain and Rheims, 154850, then went to Paris where he lectured on mathematics. Returning to England, 1551, he received a pension from Edward VI, which he later exchanged for a living at Upton-upon-Severn. Since his Cambridge days he had been suspected of practicing magic, and shortly after the accession of Mary I, he was imprisoned on a charge of using enchantment against her life, but was released, 1555. Dee enjoyed the favor of Elizabeth I, and was consulted by her as to a propitious day for her coronation. He gave the Queen lessons in the mystical interpretation of his writings, and was sent abroad in 1578 to consult with German physicians and astrologers on the nature of her illness. An advocate of the Gregorian calendar, Dee made in 1583 preparatory calculations for its possible adoption in England. Dee did much for the development of mathematical studies in England, as may be seen from “John Dee his Mathematical Praeface” to Billingsley’s version of The Elements of Geometric of the most Ancient Philosopher Euclide of Megara (1570), in which the fifteen books are translated for the first time in English, and of which we are lucky enough to possess a copy. Other works by Dee are: Propaedeumata aphoristica (1558), Monas hieroglyphica (Antwerp, 1564), and a large number of mathematical essays fully listed in his Compendious Rehearsal (1592).

It was in 1581 that began his unfortunate collaboration with a man called Edward Kelly, who professed to have discovered the philosopher’s stone and to be able to communicate with “spirits.” These communications were received by “skrying” in a certain crystal, and there is little doubt that Kelly himself was a very unusual psychic; but the source of the ideas and suggestions which he obtained from various “spirits” was anything but elevating and at times quite depraved. Dee was fascinated by Kelly’s powers and fell victim to his psychic delusions, imagining himself to have been selected above all others to receive wonderful communications from “spirits.”

Dee and Kelly spent the years 1583-89 in Poland and Bohemia, under the patronage of Albert Laski, palatine of Siradez, engaged in crystal gazing and magic. Dee returned to England in 1589, and was helped over his financial difficulties by the Queen and his friends. In 1595 he became warden of Manchester College, serving until 1604, when he went back to Mortlake and died there in great poverty.

643 The life of John Dee is very instructive to students of the Ancient Wisdom, as it depicts the fall of a man of great ability, restless energy, and laborious application, through over-credulity in the psychic visions of a “sensitive” which had exercised on Dee a hypnotic effect, a dangerous type of glamor. Thomas Smith, a “Doctor of Sacred Theology and Presbyter of the Anglican Church,” published in Latin a life of Dee in his Vitae illustrium virorum (1707). This has been translated as The Life of John Dee (London: Theosophical Publishing Society, 1908) by the Reverend Wm. Alex. Ayton, an old and respected friend of H.P.B., and deserves careful perusal.

Source: Boris de Zirkoff, «H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings», vol. 4, pp. 642-643