Book of Soyga

The "Book of Soyga", also titled "Aldaraia", is a 16th century Latin treatise on magic, one copy of which is known to have been possessed by the Elizabethan scholar John Dee.After Dee's death, the book was thought to be lost until 1994 when two manuscripts were located in the British Library (Sloane MS. 8) and the Bodleian Library (Bodley MS. 908), under the title "Aldaraia sive Soyga vocor", by Dee scholar Deborah Harkness.

Elias Ashmole recorded that the Duke of Lauderdale owned a manuscript titled "Aldaraia sive Soyga vocor" that had formerly belonged to Dee. The manuscript was sold at auction in 1692 and is now probably Sloane MS. 8, based on Jim Reeds' identification. Bodley MS. 908 was donated to the Bodleian Library in 1605.

Amongst the incantations and instruction on magic, the book contains 36 large squares of letters which Dee was unable to decipher. During his "actions" - supposed conversations with angels he held though his scryer, Edward Kelley - he questioned the angel Uriel about the significance of the book and asked for clues. The reply that Dee received was that the book had been revealed to Adam in Paradise by angels and could be interpreted by the archangel Michael.

After Harkness rediscovered the book, Jim Reeds managed to work out a mathematical formula for decoding the tables.

ee also

*Grimoire
*Voynich manuscript

References

*Cite book|last=Harkness|first=Deborah|chapter=The Nexus of Angelology, Eschatology and Natural Philosophy in John Dee's Angel Conversations and Library|editor=Stephen Clucas|title=John Dee: Interdisciplinary Studies in Renaissance Thought|publisher=Springer|location=Dordrecht|year=2006
*cite web|url=http://www.dtc.umn.edu/~reedsj/soyga.pdf|author=Jim Reeds|title=John Dee and the Magic Tables in the Book of Soyga|date=1996|accessdate=8 November|accessyear=2006|format=PDF
*Cite book|last=Roberts|first=Julian|chapter=Additions and Corrections to 'John Dee's Library Catalogue'|editor=Stephen Clucas|title=John Dee: Interdisciplinary Studies in Renaissance Thought|publisher=Springer|location=Dordrecht|year=2006