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“black crosse” [Casaubon, p 180], and more fully on at least one occasion as “the wicked
their black Crosse” [Ibid, p 184]. This was in part due to one of its principal uses, as
explained by Ave. On each of the four tablets that make up the Great Table are four
Calvary crosses consisting of ten squares. Beneath the horizontal arms of each are sixteen
squares (sometimes referred to in modern practice as “the lesser squares”), arranged in
four rows of two squares each on either side of the lower vertical portion of the cross. A
single letter of the “black crosse” stands on the same line as each of these pairs, and
when prefixed to any of these two letter combinations, “the name of a Devil, or wicked
Angel” is formed [Ibid, p 180]. Kelly’s headache and subsequent outburst over the
perceived scoff of Ave may be more significant than at first appears. It occurs immediately
after the discussion of the “black crosse”, formed from the names of the three Governors
of the 10 th Æthyr, and their assembly into the “Tablet of Union”. We are told somewhat
more of this incident in an entry later this same day, as noted above, where Kelly states
that he believes that his behavior was the work of the Devil, whereupon the angel Ave
reappears, declaring this indeed to have been the case [Ibid, p 183].
Dee suspected that some mystery was implied in constructing the “black crosse”
from the Governors of the 10 th Æthyr, and said as much to the angel when the action
resumed [Ibid]. Ave evaded his concerns, and added to the confusion by explaining
that the “L aversed”, which was explicitly stated to be the first letter of Lexarph, may
also be an “N”, and adds:
… As far as that N stretcheth in the Character, so far shall that Countrey be consumed
with fire, and swallowed into Hell, as Sodom was for wickednesse… Prophets speak of
dayes, [as] presently, that are far off. But we speak of dayes that are hard at hand. For,
immediately after your being with Caesar, shall the whole world be in sudden alteration.
Battails and bloudshed great number: The Kings of the earth shall run unto the Hills,
and say cover us. [Ibid. This last appears to refer to the opening of the Sixth Seal, Revelation
6:12–17]
It is interesting to observe that though Lexarph is the Governor of the region “Caspia”,
the Governor following, Comanan, is the Governor of “Germania”, which, at least in
part, includes those lands belonging to Emperor Rudolf (whom Dee notes as being the
“Caesar” of whom it is spoken in the prophesy, indeed the ruler to whom he had been
commanded to address the message of the angels).
The attentive student of history will note that the Thirty Years War began in
Germania, about twelve years after the death of Dee, or less than thirty-seven years
after the prophesy, and resulted in one of the most significant “alterations” in European
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