A2. Dee's Foundational Prayer For Wisdom

Early Angel Conversations, 1581-1583

Index Card

A2. Dee's Foundational Prayer For Wisdom - Subsections. The opening prayer establishes the devotional and epistemic ground of the conversations.

Summary

The opening prayer establishes the devotional and epistemic ground of the conversations. Dee does not begin by commanding spirits; he petitions God for wisdom, understanding, and help from a pious philosopher if one exists, or from good angels if no adequate human teacher can be found. The prayer ties the entire enterprise to divine glory, usefulness to God's servants, and the pursuit of natural and artificial truths. This is the best entry point for understanding Dee's self-justification: angelic contact is framed as the remedy for failed human scholarship.