Scryer ≠ recorder
Barnabas Saul and later Edward Kelley serve as observers; Dee is the present recorder and participant in questions/prayer. Reported entities remain content of the historical record, not verified actors.
source-bound scholar protocol · no spirit-contact claim
Scrying · John Dee protocol
John Dee's early Actions are now closed at the bounded session-protocol level: the scryer observes and reports, Dee is present, prays/questions and records, and a shew-stone/speculum serves as the observing medium. OmenHall exposes the historical process and sources but does not generate new ancient visions or validate the existence of spirits.
Context → prayer → stone → observation → record
The protocol allows waiting, silence, uncertainty, lighting conditions, and pauses. A continuous stream of imagery is not required and must not be simulated.
Sloane 3188 + Casaubon/EEBO-TCP
The British Library anchors the early corpus, 22 December 1581–30 May 1583; Whitby corroborates the role-chain. Casaubon's 1659 print and the CC0 EEBO-TCP text provide direct session examples but do not replace the early manuscript.
Objects are evidence, not one immutable kit
The British Museum associates wax discs and an obsidian speculum with Dee's practice while preserving provenance uncertainties. The site therefore does not claim one specific object was used in every Action.
Sloane 3189 is not back-projected
Liber Logaeth / Book of Enoch and its 49×49 grids are a separate later 1583 corpus. They are not retroactively turned into mandatory mechanics of the early shew-stone sessions.
Dee session protocol · source bounded
Observer and recorder are distinct roles
Sloane MS 3188 anchors the early 1581–1583 Actions; Whitby corroborates Saul/Kelley as scryers and Dee as the present recorder. Casaubon/EEBO-TCP supplies rights-safe direct examples of shew-stone setup, prayer, waiting, observation, and recording. This reconstructs a source protocol, not proof that spirits exist.
01 · SESSION_CONTEXT
Actions are dated/located and can include an explicit matter or purpose before observation begins.
confidence · HIGH
02 · PREPARATORY_PRAYER_OR_DEVOTIONAL_FRAME
Prayer is repeatedly recorded before or during the Actions; it is part of the historical devotional frame, not evidence that OmenHall can cause spirit contact.
confidence · HIGH
03 · SHEW_STONE_OR_SPECULUM_READY
A shew-stone/crystal or other speculum is placed, fetched, opened, or attended; the surviving record does not justify one immutable device across all sessions.
confidence · HIGH
04 · SCRYER_OBSERVES
The scryer attends the medium and reports emerging visual and/or auditory content, including pauses, darkness, uncertainty, or delayed appearance.
confidence · HIGH
05 · SCRYER_RAW_REPORT
Observed content is spoken as a report. Dee’s record distinguishes scryer speech from Dee’s own notes/questions and from reported voices/entities.
confidence · HIGH
06 · RECORDER_NOTE_OR_INTERJECTION
Dee records, asks questions, notes environmental conditions, and marks pauses or transitions while the scryer continues reporting.
confidence · HIGH
07 · PAUSE_CEASE_OR_SESSION_TRANSITION
The records contain silence, waiting, cease/pause markers and later resumptions; forcing a continuous stream is not source-faithful.
confidence · MEDIUM_HIGH
| Witness | Authority | Supports | Boundary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sloane MS 3188 — John Dee's conferences with angels | PRIMARY_MANUSCRIPT_IDENTITY_AND_CHRONOLOGY | EARLY_ACTION_CORPUS_IDENTITY · CHRONOLOGY · FIVE_BOOK_STRUCTURE · CRYSTAL_BALL_AID_AT_CATALOG_LEVEL | Digital images currently unavailable from the catalogue Some manuscript leaves are missing No bulk manuscript transcription is vendored |
| John Dee / Meric Casaubon, A True & Faithful Relation (1659), EEBO-TCP A37412 | PRIMARY_PRINTED_SESSION_PROTOCOL_WITNESS | PRAYER_BEFORE_ACTION · SHEW_STONE_ON_TABLE · OBSERVER_REPORT · RECORDER_INTERJECTION · ENVIRONMENTAL_LIGHT_NOTE · FETCH_SET_WAIT_OBSERVE_SEQUENCE | 1659 printed corpus is not substituted for the earlier Sloane 3188 manuscript No page images are vendored |
| Magical wax disc 1838,1232.90.a | OBJECT_LEVEL_PHYSICAL_CORROBORATION | WAX_DISC_ASSOCIATED_WITH_SHEW_STONE_PRACTICE · TABLE_AND_SMALLER_DISC_RECONSTRUCTION_AT_CURATORIAL_LEVEL | Museum explicitly notes that manufacture in Dee’s lifetime is not absolutely certain Object is not treated as proof of one immutable setup |
| Dr Dee's Magical Mirror / Speculum | OBJECT_LEVEL_ASSOCIATION_WITH_DEE | OBSIDIAN_SPECULUM_ASSOCIATED_WITH_DEE | Direct acquisition from Dee is uncertain in the provenance Not treated as the exclusive or universal device for all Actions |
Whitby Vol. II p. 12 / Sloane MS 3188 [8a], 22 Dec 1581
- • Dee records fervent prayer before the Action
- • Dee directs the scryer Saul to look into a great crystalline globe
- • Saul reports what appears in the stone while Dee questions and records
SCHOLAR_PROTOCOL_CORROBORATION_ONLY
Whitby Vol. II p. 17 / Sloane MS 3188 [9a], 10 Mar 1582
- • Dee brings a stone in its frame
- • The scryer kneels at Dee’s desk and sets the stone before him
- • The scryer and Dee pray in distinct places/roles
- • After roughly a quarter hour the scryer reports seeing a figure
- • Dee then comes to the stone and questions the reported figure
SCHOLAR_PROTOCOL_CORROBORATION_ONLY
A37412.0001.001 / 1:15
- • Dee records prayer before the action
- • The shew-stone is set on a table
- • Kelley reports a voice/sound near the stone
- • A long silence/pause is explicitly recorded
- • Dee questions/interjects in the record
SCHOLAR_PROTOCOL_EXAMPLE_ONLY
A37412.0001.001 / 1:15.1
- • Kelley describes a scene
- • Dee adds a note about excess light from the west window toward the table where the shew-stone stood
SCHOLAR_PROTOCOL_EXAMPLE_ONLY
A37412.0001.001 / 1:17.2
- • Kelley proposes bringing forth the shew-stone
- • Dee fetches/sets it
- • The record marks roughly a quarter-hour wait
- • Kelley then reports seeing a figure in the stone
SCHOLAR_PROTOCOL_EXAMPLE_ONLY
Sloane MS 3188 transcription and Whitby introduction
- • Saul and Kelley function as scryers in the early Actions
- • Their reported sights/sounds are immediately related to Dee
- • Dee is the recorder/present participant rather than the ordinary visual observer
SCHOLAR_PROTOCOL_CORROBORATION_ONLY
scholar protocol explorer: true · historical live runtime: false · spirit-contact validation: false · automatic vision dictionary: false