JOHN DEE AND THE MAGIC TABLES IN THE BOOK OF SOYGA

Until recently the Book of Soyga was known only by repute, through mention in the diaries of John Dee (1527{1608). Dee's association with the Book of Soyga is conveniently summarized by Christopher Whitby: On 18 April 1583 Dee was unable to nd his Book of Soyga: it has been mislaid. On 29 April 1583 Dee remembered a detail about the missing book: `...E[dward] K[elley] and I wer talking of my boke Soyga, or Aldaraia and I at length sayd that, (as far as I did remember) Zadzaczadlin, was Adam by the Alphabet therof...' On 19 November 1595 Dee recovered his Book of Soyga. Many years later Elias Ashmole (1617{ 1692) reported that `the Duke of Lauderdale hath a folio MS. which was Dr. Dee's with the words on the rst page: Aldaraia sive Soyga vocor'. In addition to these unremarkable appearances of the Book of Soyga in Dee's nachla |unremarkable, for who does not sometimes mislay and later recover a valued book? | there is the singular exchange held between Dee and the angel Uriel on the occasion of their rst conversation, at Mortlake on Saturday, 10 March 1581/1582, the very rst scrying session mediated by Dee's most famous scryer, Edward Kelley (1555{1595?), also known as Kelly and Talbot. In the following, is Dee, VR is Uriel: