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 mani-
festly 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 in-
genuity 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 there-
fore 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 re-
lationship 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 Pyra-
mids. 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 cer-
tain adaptations of the Enochian Tablets. The Tablet of Union, however,
is not used. Tablets are reproduced as Chess-boards minus the Great Cen-
tral 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 litle
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 bright-
er 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 gen-
erally. 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, occupa-
tion, and so forth.
The Four Boards of the Rosicrucuian game, although different, neverthe-
less 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--Keru-
bic, 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 corre-
sponds 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 repre-
sents 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, there-
fore, 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 represnts 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.
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 persoanl 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 corre-
sponding 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 follow-
ing 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 constella-
tion 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 six-
teen 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 attri-
buting 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 Taphthar-
tharath. 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 Geo-
mantic 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.
-oOo-
SETTING OF THE ENOCHIAN CHESS-MEN
FOLLOWING THE AIR ANGLE OF THE FIRE TABLET
