Enochian chess carries a vocabulary of its own, part chess and part Golden Dawn. Here are the terms you will run into, in plain language, with links to the fuller guides.
Alliance
One of the two fixed teams. Water and Earth play together as the passive, receptive alliance; Air and Fire play together as the active alliance. Allies share the win, cannot capture each other, and sit at opposite corners, diagonally across the board. See the boards page.
Frozen army
An army whose King has been captured. Instead of leaving the board, its pieces freeze in place as inert terrain: they still block lines and hold squares but cannot move, cannot be moved, and give no check. A frozen army can be woken again if an ally seizes its throne.
King capture
How you win. There is no checkmate in Enochian chess. You take an enemy King outright, which freezes his army, and an alliance wins once both opposing Kings have fallen. See how to play.
Throne
The corner square where an army begins. At the start of a game the King and Rook share the throne, which is why a corner can hold two pieces. Landing a promoting Pawn on an empty throne turns it into the piece that throne belonged to.
Pyramid square
Every square is drawn as a small four-faced pyramid. The four faces carry the board's element, the letter of the column, the lesser angle, and the letter of the rank. Together they give the square its zodiac sign or elemental force, which is what makes a reading possible. See the boards page.
Lesser angle
One of the four quarters of a board, each tied to an element. The lesser angle is one of the faces read on a pyramid square and helps decide the square's meaning and its oracle line.
Speaking Board
The panel in Enochian Praxis that reads each move as it lands, naming the square's sign, its house of life, the faces of its pyramid, the piece's court card, and a line of oracle. See divination.
Concourse
A special arrangement of pieces the game recognizes and tracks as a form of guidance, sometimes called the concourse of the forces. It is one of the weightier events a reading gathers.
Rescue capture
A move that captures an ally's threatened King into your own keeping. Rather than freezing, that army fights on under your command, so a rescue can save an alliance from collapse.
Exchange of prisoners
When each alliance holds a captured King, the two sides can agree to restore both Kings to their thrones and wake their armies, resetting a stalled contest.
Privileged Pawn
An army worn down to its last Pawn is granted a privileged promotion: a real choice of which piece that Pawn becomes, rather than the automatic promotion the rules usually apply.
God-form
The Egyptian deity a piece answers to in the Golden Dawn's scheme, tied to the element of its army. The god-forms sit alongside the tarot court cards as the pieces' inner identities.
Court card
The rank in the tarot courts that each piece carries, by the suit of its element. King is the Ace, Queen the Queen, Bishop the Prince, Knight the Knight, and Rook the Princess. The full table is on the pieces page.
Trump
A card of the tarot's Major Arcana, carried by a square through its zodiac sign. The trump is one of the faces the Speaking Board reads when a piece lands on a square.
Geomantic figure
One of the sixteen figures of geomancy, such as Fortuna Major, that a square carries. The figure keys the oracle line the board speaks for that square.
Elemental board
One of the four boards, ruled by Fire, Water, Air, or Earth. The chosen board decides which army opens, the leading colors, and the elemental world a reading speaks from. See the boards page.
See the terms in play
Start a free game and watch frozen armies, pyramid squares, and the Speaking Board come to life.
Open the BoardNew here? Begin with what Enochian chess is, then how to play.