The arrangement of the watchtowers has no definitive solution. From looking at Sloane 3191, which represent Dee’s own interpretation and cleaned up writing of his scrying records, it becomes clear that not even he had a solution to the many inconsistencies, at least not so far as being recorded in that manuscript.
Tabula originalis #
The original tablets were delivered by Ave on June 25th, 1586, and they were delivered in a sequential fashion. Starting with the oro ibAh aozpi tablet, next followed the MOr dial hCtGa, then the oiP teaa pDoce, and last came the mph arsl gaiol tablet.
When Dee put these together, he assumed them to have been delivered in normal reading order (left to right, top to bottom), yielding the following configuration:
oro | MOr
---------
oiP | mph
Tabula recensa #
The recensa tablets were delivered by Raphael on April 27th, 1587, and how they were delivered is not known. All we can see in Dee’s notes is that they seem to have come with an arrangement in mind, so instead of listing them sequentially, they are already arranged around a cross of whitespace, yielding the following arrangement:
oro | mph
---------
MOr | oiP
The banner arrangement #
Like two different arrangements are not bad enough, Dee also managed to produce a third arrangement in a drawing on folio 57v of the ms Sloane 3191. The drawing depicts the twelve names of God, the four directions of the compass, and four colored squares, thought to represent the watchtowers. However, the important thing is not the four colored squares, but the fact that the banner names of God are actually placed into the compass, yielding the following arrangement:
oro | MOr
---------
mph | oiP
Theories #
It seems clear that Dee was given the tabula recensa because something was clearly not right with the original ones.
The circular pattern #
Dee assumed that the tabula originalis was delivered in a Z-style western reading pattern, but this fact seem a bit contradictory to me. Classical ceremonial magic has a stronger connection to the circular pattern. If we take this into account and re-examine the tabula originalis, we found that the arrangement (for clockwise circular pattern) would have been:
oro | MOr
---------
mph | oiP
This pattern of course matches the banner arrangement found in ms Sloane 3191 and it quite possible that this drawing was based on Dee having this thought as well.
If we instead assume the tablets were delivered in counter-clockwise fashion, we would get the following arrangement:
oro | mph
---------
MOr | oiP
This of course match the recensa arrangement perfectly, which makes it a credible theory, but it becomes extra interesting when looking at the name PARAOAN.
PARAOAN #
If we look at the recensa tablet, we find that the name PARAOAN is spelled out clockwise in the arrangement of the
tablets, starting with PA in the oiP tablet, followed by RA in the MOr tablet, then OA in the oro tablet, and
finishing with the N in the mph tablet.
What gets extra interesting is that if we look at the banner arrangement, we find that it spells out the name of PARAOAN, but this time in a counter-clockwise fashion.
Best evidence #
Best evidence would suggest avoiding using the tabula originalis, mostly because it was superseded by the recensa tablets, the whole reasoning behind this not being completely clear. Looking at the recensa, taking the banner arrangement, the circular pattern theory and PARAOAN into account, it would seem that as long as the oro tablet is placed in juxtaposition to the oiP tablet, the other two tablets can take either place. If the clockwise or counter- clockwise current in the tablets have an impact is unknown, but might again be a hint at classic ceremonial magic where widdershins and deasil play an import part.