What is the Book of Soyga?
The Book of Soyga is a Latin book of magic by an unknown author, handed down in 16th-century England. In the manuscript it calls itself “Aldaraia, otherwise called Soyga,” and alongside names of angels and demons, astrology and spells, it contains 36 tables densely packed with letters.
John Dee and the angels’ answer
The owner of the Book of Soyga was John Dee, a mathematician and astrologer who served as an adviser to Elizabeth I. Dee tried to learn the meaning of the mysterious letter tables and held rituals to communicate with angels through the medium Edward Kelley. According to the records, in 1583 the angel Uriel said that “the Book of Soyga was given to Adam by angels in paradise,” and that only the archangel Michael could interpret it. In the end, Dee was never able to decipher the tables.
Rediscovery of a lost book of magic
After Dee’s death, the whereabouts of the Book of Soyga became unknown, and for a long time it was thought to be lost. But in 1994, the historian Deborah Harkness, who was researching Dee, identified manuscripts catalogued under the title “Aldaraia” in the collections of the Bodleian Library at Oxford University and the British Library as the Book of Soyga.
Later, the cryptography researcher Jim Reeds showed that the 36 letter tables were created by arranging letters according to fixed rules. The mystery that had puzzled Dee was at last partly solved after more than 400 years. However, why the tables were made is still unknown.
