On This Day In History: John Dee, English Mathematician, Occultist, Astrologer, Astronomer Was Born – On July 13, 1527

MessageToEagle.com – On July 13, 1527, John Dee, English mathematician, occultist, astrologer, astronomer, was born in London.

Dee who was one of the most learned men of his time, lived during a time when people were just learning the difference between science and magic.

He was also interested in magic and Hermetic philosophy. He spent the last third of his life studying mostly these subjects. During his time, these subjects were not thought to be opposed to science.They were thought to be part of science.

He graduated from St. John’s College, Cambridge when he was eighteen. He was a founding fellow of Trinity College.

He lectured briefly at Cambridge and later studied in continental Europe under the famous mathematician-cartographers such as Abraham Ortelius, and Gerardus Mercator.

Hoping to obtain an official position with the English crown, Dee turned down a mathematical professorship at the University of Paris in 1551 and a similar position at the University of Oxford in 1554.

See also:

January 2016: Lost Library Of John Dee Revealed In A Special Exhibition

In 1555, Dee was arrested and charged with practicing black magic for having cast horoscopes of Queen Mary and Princess Elizabeth; the charges were expanded to treason against Mary; Dee cleared himself, was released, and became a scientific advisor to Elizabeth I, even acting as a spy for her. He built a laboratory and the largest private library in England at that time, which was said to number more than 4,000 books and manuscripts.

His famous and highly valued work about Kabbala and alchemy is entitled Monas Hieroglyphica (“The Hieroglyphic Monad”) and was written in 1564. He also wrote the preface to the first English translation of Euclid’s works.

In the early 1580s, he started to use supernatural ways to get more knowledge especially from the angels so he met Edward Kelly and they became companions. Kelly helped Dee to get visions from angels using a crystal ball.

The angels gave them a language called Enochian and dictated several books through Kelly. Dee’s crystal ball ended up in the British Museum. It went unnoticed for many years in the mineral collection. Most of the still existing papers of Dee are also in the British Museum.

In 1583, while Dee was away in Europe, his home and library at Mortlake were destroyed by a mob; most probably many of his books had been stolen by former friends and associates.

He asked Queen Elizabeth for help. She made him Warden of Christ’s College, Manchester, in 1592. He remained in this position until 1604 and when Elizabeth I died in 1603, Dee was forced to retire. He died in poverty in 1608 or 1609.

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