I used to have several books on Enochian Magic, but lost them in an apartment move. So, I am trying to make sense of the energies of the Court Cards of the tarot, and know they pertain to the subquadrants or can be used with a tablet and a card.
For example, in a higher sense or notch above general divinatory meanings, and other than randomness, why did this particular card get drawn?
Do you mean for the Great Table?
In my own studies i’ve realized and uncovered the Great Table subquadrants as representing constellations.
The traditional Great Table subquadrant arrangement is written in many Enochian workbooks and the Golden Dawn’s Fylfot Cross:
When looking into this, i noticed some things that hinted at something very different. I recognized that there are multiple ways to interpret the elements in kabbalist magick; one as theoretical elements, and the other as seasons along the ecliptic.
To my way of thinking, the astral elements are different than the Empedoclean elements and therefore have a different order arrangement. The seasonal arrangement follows a constellation order, with Earth element signaling spring, Fire as summer, Water autumn, and Air winter.
In examining the stars and constellations in the nighttime sky, i also noticed very prominent constellations not lying on the ecliptic that almost overshadow all of the fixed star constellations. These constellations are hinted at in some grimoires using photos and sigils. but never named.
Adding them to the Great Table helped me make sense of the zodiac order in the Table, which gives a different order (without the extra-zodiac constellations i give):
Note: i use Denis Moskowitz and Alec Finlay’s new constellation symbols from suberic.net. These symbols have been a lifesaver in mapping the Great Table, and they make understanding star and constellation magick a LOT easier than it otherwise would be.
The nighttime sky arrangement revealed the identities of the Seniors to me upon further study.
With this in mind, i view the astral elements with spring as the Earth quadrant. Orion is therefore the Fire of Earth subquadrant, Taurus is Earth of Earth, Gemini is Air of Earth, Cancer is Water of Earth. Within this quadrant, this makes the Great King Iczhiha (or Iczhihl in its evil aspect) a cipher key for the royal star alpha Tauri (Aldebaran), and the 6 Seniors (Lzinopo, Laidrom, Ahmlicu, Aczinor, Alhctga, and Liiansa) align with the lunar mansions: eta Tauri (Alcyone in the Pleiades), lambda Orionis (Meissa), gamma Geminorum (Alhena), alpha and beta Geminorum (Castor and Pollux), alpha Cancri (Acubens), and lambda Leonis (Alterf).
I therefore follow this through the nighttime sky in order. Again, Hydra is Water of Fire, Leo is Fire of Fire, Virgo is Earth of Fire, and Libra is Air of Fire. Again the Great King Edlprna represents alpha Leonis (Regulus) and possibly alpha Hydrae (Alphard), with the 6 Seniors aligning with the lunar mansions, which i will not name here.
Following through, Ophiuchus is Air of Water, Scorpio is Water of Water, Sagittarius is Fire of Water, and Capricorn is Earth of Water. The Great Kings and 6 Seniors again align with the lunar mansions. Again the Sun of Water Laoaxrp precedes the Great King Raagios/l, leading me to believe Laoaxrp is actually Sun of Water and represents delta Scorpii (Dschubba), while Raagios/l is the Moon of Water, representing alpha Scorpii (Antares).
Finally, Aquarius is Air of Air, Pegasus is Earth of Air, Pisces is Water of Air, and Aries is Fire of Air. Once more Great Kings and 6 Seniors align. Again i won’t name them, they can be inferred.
This is my understanding of the overall structure of the Great Table quadrants and subquadrants. The remaining angel and cacodemon names inferred from the Table and Black Cross are then aspects of these subquadrants and their properties, possibly representing asterisms and stars, or nebulae with the cacodemons.
I have a sneaking suspicion that the 91 Ayres/Ethers then form a sky map counterpart to the Great Table’s 2D array table. Dee being the astronomer and cryptographer he was, it only makes sense he work with maps and matrices. In Dee’s time there was a fad for creating new constellations, and i’m of the belief that Dee mapped 91 of them, which were current in his era. In today’s world there are only 88 constellations recognized by the IAU, so defunct constellations of the past such as Sceptrum Brandenburgium, Scutum, Noctua, Plutium, Vespa, or Musca Borealis no longer exist. The now-defunct constellation Musca Borealis (35, 39, and 41 Arietis) was very important in occultism and is found in many grimoires of the past - those stars are located on the north side of Aries, with delta Arietis (Botein) on the south side in the nighttime sky. Such a constellation would have featured in Dee’s work, but would be deprecated in modern-day astronomy and astrology, so there’s that.
Others will disagree with my elemental subquadrants and continue with Fylfot tradition, and that’s fine. The Great Table itself validates both the Empedoclean arrangement of zodiac signs under their element, AND the temporal arrangement of zodiac signs following the ecliptic. So it’s not a matter of right or wrong, they’re both right but in different ways.
But that’s only my gnosis, ymmv. Something to consider; it may or may not work for you, so take it or leave it as you see fit