PART FOUR
The Concourse Of The Forces
ENOCHIAN OR ROSICRUCIAN CHESS
From The Golden Dawn by Israel Regardie (c) 1971 by Llewellyn Publications
This is one of the sub-divisions of the Angelic
system of Tablets about which, sad to say, very little can be said. No one in
the Order, or my Temple, seemed to know anything about it. Whether this same
condition applies to other Temples is hard to say, though, from conversation
with certain of the Adepti of those Temples, I gather the same conditions
there prevailed. Nothing that was of practical value, as throwing any light on
the nature and function of the game, was thrown on the subject by any of the
Order members within the sphere of my acquaintance. It is probable that the
knowledge of this system died with the early members. All that I ever heard
were fulsome praises of its remarkable divinatory capacity, together with
quite a few amusing comments by those who manifestly knew nothing about it,
though no precise indication was conveyed as to its procedure. On two of three
occasions I have asked Adepti of the rank of 7=4 to play a game with me using
my chess pieces and boards, though each politely backed out of the invitation.
Also the unmounted state of the Order chess-pieces was a clear indication that
they had never and could never have been employed--like other aspects of the
Order teaching. And the actual documents on the subject that were shown to me
were vague and obviously incomplete, giving no indication as to the true
nature of this matter. No doubt it was intended, by those who wrote the papers
and devised the system, that the Adepti should apply his own ingenuity to the
bare-bones provided of the game, and formulate from that skeleton outline, as
from the Enochian Tablets themselves, a complete system of initiation, and a
profound magical philosophy. It is not therefore my intention to say very much
about Rosicrucian chess, although it can be stated that the perspicacious
student will divine ideas of great import and discover a depth of magical
significance hidden under the cloak of an apparently trivial game.
However, the student who has mastered the foregoing
sections of the Book of the Concourse of the Forces will no doubt be able to
divine the relationship existing between the profundities of the Enochian
Tablets and this chess-game. It will have been necessary as a preliminary step
to have become perfectly familiar with the attributions of the Squares, so that
any pyramid can be built up instantaneously in the imagination too. By this, I
mean, that while playing a chess-game, the movement of a piece from one square
to another should provide much material for thought, for the squares on the
boards, as on the Tablets, may be formulated as Pyramids. Some experience, also
in employing the Pyramids for skrying in the Spirit-Vision will be required
before any real appreciation of Enochian chess can be acquired. In
this game, the pieces are Egyptian god-forms, and the boards are certain
adaptations of the Enochian Tablets. The Tablet of Union, however, is not used.
Tablets are reproduced as Chess-boards minus the Great Central Cross, the
Sephirotic Cross, and the Kerubic Squares over the Calvary Cross in each Lesser
Angle. This leaves only the Servient squares in each of the Four Lesser Angles -
sixteen in number, which gives us sixty-four squares per board - the number of
squares in the ordinary chess-board. One of
the papers written by Greatly Honoured Frater N.O.M., gives a short history of
Chess as it was derived from the Indian Chaturanga, the Persian Shatranji, and
the Arabic Chess. But since it contains very little that is of any practical
import, I have thought better not to include it. A
few words now as to the nature of the Boards. The Boards consist of the purely
elemental part of each Tablet. There is nothing in the symbolic structure of the
Board to suggest the operation of the Spirit in any of its aspects through the
Elements. This operation of the Spirit and its potencies, however, is indicated
not by the squares, but by the pieces and their movements over the board.
To be of any real magical value, the board should be
a sort of Talisman or Flashing Tablet. That is, it should be fully painted,
showing all the triangles of the Pyramids as brightly and as flashingly as
possible. The little flat squares shown at the summit of the Pyramid, indicating
the throne of the god-form, are not necessary on these boards. The triangles are
completely formed, and the resulting pyramidal shape is not truncated. The four
Angles of each Tablet will thus stand out quite brightly, since the elemental
colour of the quarter will show its nature, even though the triangles of yellow,
blue, black and red will jostle each other by cheek and jowl. When fully
painted, the board is most impressive as a flashing Tablet. The student may know
he has done his work properly when there appear white flashings at the angles of
the squares. This is important, for the object of a flashing Tablet is to
attract an appropriate type of force. And if these chess-boards are made as
Flashing Tablets, they will automatically attract force and their utilisation
will become the more significant. In brief, each square is, as it were, the name
and symbolic address of a different Angelic force. The flashing squares will
attract the commencement of the operation of that type of Angelic power, and the
movement of the Chess God-forms over the squares may produce even brighter
flashes and indicate the operation of the divine forces therein. With these
hints the student is left to work this out for himself. There
will be, in short, four different Boards. Each is representative of one of the
Four Quadrangles or Watch-towers of the Elements, and the Angelic Names on the
latter will be implied on the Boards even although no letters or Names are
painted on them. The use of any of the four Boards will depend upon the
particular purposes, and the attributions of Elements as in the diverse schemes
of Divination will determine which of the four boards must be used at any given
time. In Tarot, the Element of Air, the Sword suit, indicates Sickness and
Sorrow and unhappiness generally. Hence, in Enochian chess, for divining for
some such question as touches upon trouble or unhappiness the Air Board would be
employed. The Fire Board will represent the Tarot suit of Wands, implying
swiftness, energy, activity. The Water Board indicates the Tarot suit of Cups of
pleasure, happiness, merry-making, and marriage. The Earth Board will refer to
all material plane matters of money, work, employment, occupation, and so forth.
The Four Boards of the Rosicrucuian game, although
different, nevertheless agree in certain particulars. In each board it is
convenient to speak of the arrangement of the Lesser Angles as an Upper and
Lower Rank--Air and Water forming the Upper Rank, and Earth and Fire the Lower.
It is evident that the columns of the one Rank are
continuous with those of the other; and in this continuity a certain regular
rule is observable. Every column of eight squares commencing in the Upper Rank
is continued below by a column of the opposite Element. Thus
the Fiery columns below invariably stand on the Watery columns; the Watery on
the Fiery; the Airy on the Earthy; and the Earthy on the Airy. A
different arrangement of the horizontal Files or Ranks of Squares is observable,
and there is a difference in the Upper and Lower Tablets. In
the Upper Tablets the Kerubic Rank of squares is continuous with the Elemental
Rank; and the Cardinal is continuous with the Common sign Rank, whereas in the
lower Tablets of Earth and Fire the various Ranks--Kerubic, Cardinal, etc., are
continuous right across the board. The pieces
employed are, as previously remarked, Egyptian God-forms. A full set of
chess-pieces numbers twenty men and sixteen pawns. (Note the possible
relationship of the thirty-six pieces to the thirty-six decante cards of the
Tarot.) The game is played by four players, representing the Four Lesser Angles
of the Board, thus giving each player one set of five pieces and four pawns. The
five pieces represent the operation of the Spirit and Four Elemental Rulers--the
Five points of the Pentagram, the five letters of YHShVH, and the Tarot Ace and
Court Cards. The pawns are their servants or vice-gerents. Strictly to be in
order, each of the twenty principle pieces represents a different God-form,
thus: FIRE SET AIR SET King
Kneph King Socharis Knight Ra Knight Seb Queen Sati-Ashtoreth Queen Knousou
Pekht Bishop Toum Bishop Shu Zoan Castle Anouke Castle Tharpeshist WATER
SET EARTH SET King Ptah King Osiris Knight
Sebek Knight Horus Queen Thouerist Queen Isis Bishop Hapimon Bishop Aroueris
Castle Shooeu-tha-ist Castle Nephthys However,
this tends to confusion, creating in practice far too complex a game. It will be
found that four sets of the same five god-forms will suffice. There are only
five major god-forms, the others being variations or different aspects of those
types. These are: Osiris, bearing crook,
scourge, Phoenix wand. he is represented as sitting on a throne, silent
unmoving. He is the King and represents Spirit, the operation of the Great Cross
in the Tablets. He corresponds to the Ace in Tarot, the root-force of any
element. Horus, a God with Hawk's head,
double mitre, and standing upright, as though to stride forward. He is the
Knight of Enochian Chess and represents the operation of the ten-squared
Sephirotic Cross in the Fire Angle of any Tablet or Board, and corresponds to
the King in the Tarot, the figure astride a horse. Isis,
an enthroned Goddess with a Throne symbol mounted on the vulture head-dress. In
Rosicrucian Chess, Isis is the Queen, and represents the operation of the
Sephirotic Cross in the Water Angle of any Tablet. She corresponds to the Tarot
Queen who is shown seated on a throne. Aroueris,
a human shaped God, with a double mitre. He is Bishop in Enochian chess, and his
form is that of a standing figure, to indicate his swift action. He represents
the operation of the Sephirotic Cross in the Airy Angle of any Tablet, and
represents the Prince or Knight of the Tarot--the figure driving a chariot.
Nephthys, a Goddess with an Altar or Crescent symbol
above the vulture head-dress. She is the Castle or Rook of the Chess game. This
piece is always represented as somewhat larger than the others, and is enclosed
within a rectangle frame, within which she is enthroned. Her office is the
representation of the operation of the Sephirotic Cross in the Earth Angle of
any Tablet, and represents the Princess or Knave of the Tarot - the Amazon
figure who stands alone. These are the five
principle forms used for each of the four angles of the Board. Some differences
should be made in the tone of the colouring of the front or face of the piece to
indicate its angle on the board. Coloured bands may suffice for this purpose.
Moreover the back of the piece - for it is customary to use flat pieces, not
round as in ordinary chess--should be painted in the appropriate colour of the
element it represents so as to avoid confusion in the recognition of its power.
Thus the back of the King, as Osiris form, should be painted white to represent
Spirit, and this rule applies to all four Kings in the four Angles. The Knight,
Horus, should be coloured red. The Queen, Isis, should be be blue; the Bishop,
Aroueris, yellow, and the Castle, Nephythys, should be black and set in a large
frame. Each piece should be cut about three inches high. For
practical use, these pieces should be mounted on square wooden bases, and those
bases painted in different colours. It will be by the bases that their place on
the board may be recognised. For example, there are four sets of Chess pieces to
be set out in the four corners of the board. Each piece is more or less like its
corresponding piece in some on of the other corners. The pieces placed in the
Air quarter of the board, therefore, will be mounted on yellow bases. Those in
the Water Angle will have blue bases. The pieces in the Earth Angle will have
black bases, and those in the Fire quarter will have red bases. Thus, as in the
Four Angelic Tablets, there results a minute sub-division of the sub- elements
of the Tablet. There will be an Osiris piece, a King with a white back, on a
yellow base, indicating that he is a King, belonging to the Air Angle. He
represents the sub-element of Spirit of Air, the most spiritual and subtle phase
of that element, the Tarot Ace of Swords. A King with a blue base indicating his
place in the Watery Angle. A Queen, an Isis figure with a blue back, set on a
red base, shows that she is the Queen of the Fire Angle, representing the Watery
Aspect of the Fire sub-element of any Tablet, the Queen of Wands. A Bishop,
yellow backed, mounted on a black base, shows that he belongs to the Earth
Angle, as against a Bishop with a yellow base whose place is in the Air Angle
and who, therefore, corresponds to the Prince of Swords in the Tarot pack. And
so forth for the rest. With but one or two
slight exceptions, the pieces move exactly as do the corresponding pieces in
Chess. The Queen here does not have the full liberty of the board as she does
normally, nor is she the most powerful piece on the board. Here she can only
move to every third square. This she can make in any direction, horizontally,
vertically, or diagonally - but only three squares at a time. She can leap over
intervening squares, and take pieces on the third square from whereever she
stands. The other exception is that no Castling is permitted. The
Pawns in this Enochian chess represnt the God-forms of the four sons of Horus,
the Canopic Gods. Their attributions are: Fire.
Kabexnuv, mummy-shaped, awk-headed, the Knight's pawn. Water. Tmoumathph,
mummy-shaped, dog's head, Queen's pawn. Air. Ahephi, mummy-shaped, ape-headed,
the Bishop's pawn. Earth. Ameshet, mummy-shaped, human-headed, the Castle's
pawn. The same rule for colouring the other
pieces applies to the pawns. Their backs should be painted in the colour of the
piece they serve. Thus the back of the Knight's pawn will be painted the colour
of the Knight, red. The base will be coloured according to the Lesser Angle in
which it is placed. So that in each of the Four Angles you will have four pawns
on bases in the colour of its sub-element. The Airy Angle, for example, will
have four pawns mounted on yellow bases. Those pawns will have four different
coloured backs to indicate the piece, and therefore the element, which they
represent and serve. The pawn moves only one
square at a time, and not two for the first move as in modern chess. The rule of
en passant does not apply here, although the regular method of taking with pawn,
via the diagonal, either to right or left, holds equally well. It
will be noted that the King has no pawns. Since he is Osiris, the other four
pieces and their pawns are his personal servants and vice-gerents. His place on
the board is always on the corner of the Lesser Angle, where the corresponding
Letters of the Tetragrammaton would be placed on the Angelic Tablets. On the
four corners of the board as a whole, therefore, will be found the Four Kings.
Identical in every way, they yet differ in the colour of their bases, the colour
of the Angle which they rule. Some variation might be made as to the posture of
the God. For instance, the Fire King could be cut as a standing figure, the
Water King sitting, and so forth. Let it be noted that on the corner squares,
two pieces will always be found. The King and the piece corresponding to the
Letter of the Angle will occupy the same square. A
piece or pawn threatening, that is giving check, to the corner square also
checks the King as well as whatever other piece happens to be upon that square.
In setting up the pieces for play, the rule of
Tetragrammaton on the Kerubic Square of the Tablets, has application. That is,
the order in which the letters of the Name YHVH are placed on the uppermost
squares of the Servient Squares of any Lesser Angle, as reflected from the
Kerubic Squares above, also govern the placing of the pieces. The Bishop will be
placed on the Vau Square, the Queen on the Heh Square, the Castle on the Heh
final Square, etc. The student who has thoroughly assimilated the principles
involved in the attributions of the Enochian Tablets will find all this
perfectly straightforward, and experience no difficulty herein. With
regard to this injunction to set out the pieces on the board following the prime
player's setting, whose chessmen are arranged according to the order of Kerubs,
note that the remaining three sets of pieces are arranged, on any board, exactly
in that order regardless of the order of Kerubs in their Angle. That is to say,
if the prime player chooses an Earth of Water setting, his pieces will be set
out: King and Castle on the corner square, then follow the Knight, Queen, and
Bishop. The other three sets of Air, Water and Fire pieces on that board, are
set out precisely in that order, either horizontally or vertically as the case
may be. It thus follows that there may result
sixteen possible arrangements of pieces. That is, since there are four Kerubic
ranks on each board, and there are four seperate boards, the chess-pieces may be
arranged on the board in sixteen different settings. The reason for any
particular setting - if divination is the motive for play--must depend on the
prime player's synthetic grasp of the Order teaching. Let him remember that
there are sixteen figures of Geomancy, each with a special and specific
divinatory value. It should be remembered that these Geomantic figures are each
under the influence of a Zodiacal genius and a planterary ruler. Not only so,
but each is attributed to a Hebrew letter, therefore a corresponding Tarot
Trump, with its allocation to a sign and a constellation in the heavens with all
the hierarchical ideas that the latter implies. Thus the playing of this game
resumes the whole philosophy of Magic. The
prime player must be guided in his selection of boards not only by choice of
element as previously described, but by any one of these sixteen root
significations of Geomancy. For each one of these sixteen figures may be applied
to the sixteen Lesser Angles of the Enochian Tablets and chess-boards. So that
each angle comes under the operation of a Geomantic ruler and genius, and under
the dominion of that portion of the starry heavens corresponding to its Tarot
trump. The method of attributing the figures to the Angles is identical with the
process described for the squares of both columns and ranks in the Lesser
Angles. Thus the Airy Lesser Angle of the Air Chess-board would be Mutable
(Airy) Air, referred to the Zodiacal sign Gemini, and hence to the Geomantic
figure of Albus, which is a mercurial figure under the presidency of
Taphthartharath. The Watery Angle of the Air Tablet would be Kerubic or Fixed
(Watery) Air, which is the Sign Aquarius, and the Geomantic figure of Tristitia,
attributed to Saturn, and the ruler over it is Zazel. The Earthy Angles of the
Air Tablet, is elemental Air, referred to the Geomantic figure of Fortuna Minor,
also a solar or Leo figure, ruled by Sorath. The fiery Angle is Cardinal Air,
the Zodiacal Sign of Libra, and Puella would be the Geomantic figure, with a
Venusian nature, ruled by Kedemel. The same
principle is involved in allocating the Geomantic figures to the other Tablets
and angles. The magical and divinatory value of the Geomantic figures must
therefore decide the choice of Chess-boards and Lesser Angle settings. The
yellow and red men are so placed that they advance to the attack of the black
and the blue respectively by the columns; while the latter advance by the ranks.
That is, the Actives are shown as a vertical force, while the passives are shown
operating horizontally, shewing the Cross of Life, corresponding to the forces
of the Court Cards and the Zodiacal Trumps in the Tarot. The
central squares of the board contain the 16 signs that are allotted to each
Lesser Angle. And it is only from these 16 squares that the pieces--except the
Rook and the King--develop their full influence or defensive force. The
Watery and Airy Boards are counterparts of each other, so far as the arrangement
of the signs, etc., of the squares are concerned. And the same is true as
regards the Earth and Fire Boards. Every Board has its uppermost and lowermost
ranks of the passive or female element; and its two central ranks are of the
active or male element. The most striking
difference between the Air and Water, and the Earth and Fire Boards is in the
fact that in the former the ranks are broken, whereas in the latter they are not
only continuous across each board, but they are continuous right across both
boards when in situ. To this is due the greater balance and eveness seen in the
play of the pieces in the lower boards.
Setting Of The Enochian Chess-Men
Following The Air Angle Of The Fire Tablet
(The arrows indicate direction of play)
AIR ANGLE WATER ANGLE
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EARTH ANGLE FIRE ANGLE