An angel is a pure spirit created by God. The Old
Testament theology included the belief in angels: the name applied to certain
spiritual beings or intelligences of heavenly residence, employed by God as the
ministers of His will.
HISTORY
Are Angels ambassadors sent
from God to guide us, protect us or bring messages from heaven? The word angel
comes from the Greek word "angelos" which means messenger. The Bible says that
God has appointed many angels to those who love God and call to Him, "Psalms
91:11 For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your
ways." The bible refers to different types of angels, with varying duties such
as ugides, protectors, messengers and angels of the Lord, or as Cherubim,
Seraphim, or Archangels, and not to be worshipped for they are "creatures" Col.
2:18; Rev. 19:10; 22:9.
The meanings of angels, their appearance and
purposes vary throughout history and the world. Artists have given us their
visions of angels as winged creatures, usually beautiful figures that are
glowing, shining, floating, in human form or as a voice. Saints as well as
everyday people tell about being visited by or helped by angels
In the bible, angels have appeared as messengers, guides, and
healers. They also make up the celestial court. "And I beheld and I heard the
voice of many angels round about the throne, and the number of them was
thousands of thousands." - St. John, the Evangelist. Angels are even recorded in
the Koran, "You shall see the angels circling around the throne, giving glory to
their Lord".
The world's great literature and art tell us about many
angel characters - some we're familiar with and some obscure to us now. Yet, the
common thread that weaves amongst the legends and the lore is the undeniable
influence that angels have had upon nearly every culture and religion known to
man
Types of Angels
There
are different types of angels depicted in the bible that have varying degrees of
divine missions, different names and descriptions. First of all they are said to
be with God
Angels are found throughout the Old Testament and also
in the New Testament, though less often. Origen, one of the earliest biblical
scholars living at the time of the first Century, recognized the notion of
Guardian Angels. St. Jerome told us that each of us is given a Guardian Angel at
birth, and St. Thomas concurred with this belief. The Old Testament was not
explicit on a personal Guardian Angel but there was a belief that guardian
angels put people under their protection
Angels of the Lord" "As he
considered this, he fell asleep, and an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a
dream. "Joseph, son of David," the angel said, "do not be afraid to go ahead
with your marriage to Mary. For the child within her has been conceived by the
Holy Spirit. When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord commanded.
He brought Mary home to be his wife." Matthew 1:20-24
Dionysius, a
5th or 6th century writer gives us the hierarchical order of the angels. The
first group is the seraphim, cherubim and thrones. The word seraphim (singular
is saraph) is taken from the fiery imagery often associated with the Presence of
God-- Ezek. 1:27. Cherubim are represented as guardians with many wings. Thrones
have been depicted wearing stoles and kneeling before God
Seraphim stood
above Him, each having six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he
covered his feet, and with two he flew" . Isaiah 6:2
So He drove out the
man; and placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword
which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life". Gen. 3:24
The 2nd group is composed of dominations, virtues and powers. Each group
is associated with specific symbols. The dominations held scepters and wore
crowns. The virtues are shown with flasks of perfume, trumpets, and rays of
lightening. The powers are depicted wielding flaming swords
Archangels:
The 3rd group includes the principalities, protectors of nations, the
archangels, and the angels who protect humans. The word "archangel" is not found
in the Old Testament
Raphael is the healing angel. Many nurses and
physicians claim angels have guided them.
Gabriel, the angel of the
enunciation,
Uriel is an angel of death who was also thought to be the
angel of transformation, is believed to be standing by people on the verge of
death
Michael the archangel appears as a warrior angel in 1 Thess. 4:16
and Jude 9. Michael is said to be the defender angel who does battle Daniel
10:13, 21; and 12:1. Also in Romans. 8:38, Eph. 1:21, and Col. 1:16. . The
guardian angels are all aspects and forms of Michael, personal guardian angels,
as well as those that help armies and protect nations. They say that earth has
an angel.
There is another angel that appears if a person has died.
There is said to be an angel called the Gatekeeper who comes to gently lead them
into the spiritual realm
The meaning of angels throughout history and
the world have different powers, are able to do special things for their
followers or believers. Each angel was a distinct species. Medieval thought was
that angels were a distinct being, endowed with intelligence and free will,
which humans could never hope to attain
Angels have made us
curious, fired our imagination and filled us with something hope, love and
thankfulness. We hear about people who have seen angels, people who believe they
have been visited by them; angels who have appeared as people who save them from
disaster, or whisper to them what they should do. Whose lives angels have been
changed. Angels who watch over us, who are with us from birth, who protect us,
and guide us.
People’s Perceptions of Angels
In the
middle ages it was believed that the angelic mind had a greater power of
understanding than any human could hope to attain. St. Thomas Aquinas, the great
scholar and theologian, said angels could communicate with one another by
opening their minds and revealing what was there
Angels Wings - During
the 1600s, angels pervaded the world of literature and art, depicted by a vast
array of images and writings. Angels were accessible to the laity through these
arts than through church doctrines. Perhaps those earlier inspired visions and
translations in the human way of what the spirit of God was to these people
became a style. It wasn't so much that every artist that was experiencing a
spiritual flow necessarily saw an angel. But the image was strong, the wings,
the concept of wings and their meanings in many symbolic ways held over. The
church and various religions picked up on this angelic form, the winged figure,
retranslated it in different ways - whether it was a woman with wings or a man
and wings - and retranslated in there own fashion. But each of them capturing a
sense of the reality that's really there about those images
Description Of The "Angelic Hierarchy"
"All three major
religions of the Western world, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, as well as
virtually all of the world's other systems of religious belief, include
celestials in their cosmologies. Their scriptures all contain references to
angelic interventions."
"Angels, like people, belong to families or clans.
Many names have been given to them, but in the opinion of a number of angel
historians, the most familiar can be arranged in three categories, or spheres,
starting at the top with those closest to God, and moving down to those who are
connected to the physical world." ...
"The word 'angel' itself is used both
as a generic term to refer to all heavenly beings, and as a specific term to
refer to the members of the third sphere, those closest to the physical. So,
too, the word 'archangel' is often used as a generic term to refer to all the
high orders of heavenly beings, although they are in fact but one of the higher
orders."
"According to Abigrael, there are four orders within the heavenly
hosts that particularly concern us now: angels, archangels, principalities, and
thrones." ...
"While it looks like there is a higher and lower echelon, it's
more accurate to visualize all these orders in a great circle, with the
"highest" and the "lowest" holding hands. For example, seraphim, who appear to
be closest to the Creator, also serve t he God in us."
In the New Testament
celestial beings are grouped into seven ranks: angels, archangels,
principalities, powers, virtues, dominions, and thrones. Plus, the Old Testament
adds cherubim and seraphim, which with the other seven ranks, comprise the nine
cho irs of angels in later Christian theology; although the number has generally
been fixed at seven. The angels receiving the most attention and veneration were
the four angels mentioned in the O.T. and the Apocrypha.
The Spiritual
Hierarchy
The 9 orders of angelic beings
(1 being the highest order)
The First Sphere -- angels who serve as heavenly counselors
1 - SERAPHIM
2 - CHERUBIM
3 - THRONES
The Second Sphere -- angels who work as
heavenly governors
4 - DOMINIONS
5 - VIRTUES
6 - POWERS
The
Third Sphere -- angels who function as heavenly messengers
7 -
PRINCIPALITIES
8 - ARCHANGELS
9 - ANGELS
SERAPHIM
"The highest
order of the highest hierarchy are the seraphim, the celestial beings said to
surround the throne of God, singing the music of the spheres, and regulating the
movement of the heavens as it emanates from God."
CHERUBIM
"Beyond the
thrones are the cherubim. They are the guardians of light, and of the stars.
Remote from your plane of reality, still their light touches your lives, the
divine light that they filter down from Heaven." -- Lucifer (Satan/Devil) is
known as the 'angel of light, whom God's light shown through' -- before his 'sin
against God'.
THRONES
"The first order in the third sphere is the
thrones. They are the companion angels of the planets. At this time in your
history it is important for you to be aware of the particular throne, the Earth
Angel, who is guardian of your world." -- [ Lady Gai a ]
DOMINIONS
"The
dominions are the heavenly beings who govern the activities of all the angelic
groups lower than they are. Divine bureaucrats, they also serve to integrate the
spiritual and the material worlds. Although they take their orders from God, and
rarely contact individuals, their work is connected to your reality."
VIRTUES
"Beyond the powers are another group of beings, the virtues.
They are of particular importance to you now because they are able to beam out
massive levels of divine energy. As more groups of you learn to work with the
virtues, their will be a greater infusion of spiritual energy available on your
planet."
POWERS
"The first order of the second sphere are those beings
who have been known as powers. They are the bearers of the conscience of all of
humanity, the keepers of your collective history. The angels of birth and death
are in this category. They are able to draw down and hold the energy of the
divine plan the same way trees draw down the energy of the Sun. In this way, the
powers can send all of you a vision of a world spiritual network. Just as you
have a heart, liver, kidneys, and other organs in your body, all of the worlds
religions are different organs in the emerging spiritual body of this planet."
-- For example, The Bahai Faith.
PRINCIPALITIES
"Beyond the group of
archangels are the principalities. They are the guardian angels of all large
groups, from cities and nations to recent human creations such as multi-national
corporations. These might more accurately now be called integrating angel s.
There are many of these beings involved with your planet....one particular
integrating angel who carries the pattern of a unified global order in its
heart."
ARCHANGELS
"Beyond the angels are the beings you are used to
calling the archangels. But we suggest that you call them overlighting angels,
since they tend the larger arenas of human endeavor. These beings are from a
different family from the angels. There are m any different kinds of
over lighting angels in this larger family. The four you are most familiar with
are Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, and Uriel."
ANGELS
"The angels that
you're most familiar with are those in the last order. They are the ones who are
closest to humanity, the ones most concerned with human affairs. Within the
category of angels, there are many different kinds, with different functions..
..The ones that you know best....are the guardian angels. Because of shifts in
their functions and your consciousness, it is useful to think of these celestial
beings as companion angels. As you enter a time of increased light and love on
the planet, they will not need to guard you, but rather will be your guides to
greater and greater consciousness." -- This can be related directly to the
transformation of the Earth into the Galactic Federation, with the Earth
entering the photon belt, transmuting us into the Fourth Dimension. According
to the Galactic Federation, we will be assisted during this time both by our own
angelic hierarchy (above) and by mass landings of Humans from the Sirius star
cluster.
Description Of The "Celestial Top Ten" Angels Best Known To Us
MICHAEL (Archangel): Who is like God?
"Whose name is a question -- 'Who
is like God?' -- is surely the best known of the overlighting archangels.
Michael is acknowledged by all three Western sacred traditions. He is believed
to appeared to Moses as the fire in the burning bush, and to have rescued Daniel
and his friends from the lions' den. To Christians, he's the angel who informed
Mary of her approaching death. Islamic lore tells us that his wings are the
color of 'green emerald and are covered with saffron hairs, each of them
containing a million faces and mouths and as many tongues which, in a million
dialects, implore the pardon of Allah.' The Koran also paints the touching image
of the cherubim being formed from the tears of Michael."
"In the Dead Sea
Scrolls Michael emerges as the 'Prince of Light' fighting a war against the Sons
of Darkness in which he leads the angelic battle against the legion of the
fallen angel, Belial. Most recently, in 1950, Pope Pius XII declared Michael to
be the patron of all policemen."
Michael is the protector of the Christian Church, guardian angel of
Israel, and commander-in-chief of God's angel armies. He led them during a war
in heaven in which Satan and his fallen angels were driven out of the clouds. In
Moslem lure, Michael is described as having hairs of saffron, wings of green
topaz and a million faces, each face with a million eyes, each eye shedding
70,000 tears. Even though he lives in the seventh heaven.
Christian art and iconography shows Michael with a sword or with a
scale weighing the souls of the dead. His feast day is September 29.
[
Washta:...The most important for all of you is Archangel Michael, who sits with
Metatron and many others on the councils that control your planet and its many
dimensions. Archangel Michael guides the life energies down through the eight
great dimensio ns to Earth, so that planet Earth can have a living
biosphere...the Spiritual Hierarchy has appointed archangels Michael and Gabriel
as the two official overseers to coordinate with the Sirians under the auspices
of the Galactic Federation...Archangel Michael and Gabriel are more of an
interdimensional angelic form and not attached to the physical energy of a
specific solar system and planet, so they cooperate with the Time Lords who
control physical reality (matter). ]
[ On the question of Archangel
Michael's "lost war in heaven;" Washta:...This relates historically to the
original creation. In this physical creation, you see, there was established one
basic concept. It was the idea that a great darkness would exist, from which
would eventually come a great celestial light. That is why in the creation
stories from many sources, including the Christian Bible, there is darkness
indicated in the very beginning. -- For the purpose of this creation was to
prove that dark ness is not as great as light. Archangel Michael was given the
divine task of acting as the chief intermediary between the Time Lords, who were
given instructions by the Supreme Creative Force on how to create this present
physical creation, and the dark force that was created to be the supreme test
for this creation. Archangel Michael therefore set out to aid in putting the
eight dimensions together and to make sure that all the various dimensional
angelic and archangelic forces were put in the proper places. In order to
create this pattern for the divine plan, it was necessary to create a being
within that darkness. Hence, the Archangel Michael established the energies that
would create a being of darkness, as called for under the divine plan. That is
what the so-called "war in heaven" refers to. This being of darkness was created
by God's plan so that eventually the dark energy patterns could be transformed
back to light after many physical lifetimes lived on planet Earth. This
transformation would eventually lead to a great series of immortals living in
light. This is what Michael's energy patterns, and all the stories about him,
are about. ]
[ On the question of 'identity of the dark force';
Washta:...This energy was created by him as part of the divine plan which he was
given permission to do. He will be merging these two energies of light and dark
as part of the upcoming ascension process . That is why the Age of Light has
been forecast by many Sirians and others in the Galactic Federation who are Time
Keepers. We understand the energy patterns that now surrounds this physical
creation of bringing dark into light...This [does not have] a name that is
recognizable in itself to humans on your planet, since many different names for
it have been given, such as Satan, the devil, etc. However, know that this name
will be given to humans when the process of the landings [Sirian] occur, for Arc
hangel Michael will make a formal announcement of what is occurring; and he will
explain what the time patterns are that will allow him to re-emerge and create
the great light in your galaxy. ]
GABRIEL (Archangel): God is my strength!
"Whose name means -- 'God is my strength' -- seems to be our most frequent
visitor from the higher realms. He astonished Mary, and her cousin Elizabeth,
mother of John the Baptist, with the pronouncements concerning the births of
their respective sons. To the followers of Islam, Gabriel is the Spirit of Truth
who dictated the Koran to Mohammed. In Jewish legend it was Gabriel who parted
the waters of the Red Sea so that the Hebrews could escape from the Pharaoh's
soldiers."
"According to court testimony of the time, it was Gabriel who
came to Joan of Arc and inspired her to go to the aid of the dauphin (the eldest
son of the king of France). Gabriel's apparent ongoing interest in this planet
is most probably due to his function as heavenly awakener, the angel of
vibratory transformation."
...Sitting on God's left hand, Gabriel is said to be the angel that
destroyed perverted Sodom...served as God's treasurer, and will blow the final
horn at doomsday.
Gabriel in Hebrew means 'man of God',
and is seen as God's messenger. Described as a human figure with long hair and
multi-colored wings and often seen holding a scepter or lily. Gabriel's feast
day is March 24. He was declared on January 12, 1951, by Pope Pius XII, the
patron of those involved in electronic communications, which illustrates
Gabriel's function as a messenger.
[ Washta:...Then you have Archangel
Gabriel, who is the angel in charge of many dimensions -- namely, the 3rd, 4th,
and 5th...so, archangels Michael and Gabriel are now involved in the process of
bringing in the energies of the new and glorious galactic human consciousness,
and the civilization that these galactic humans will reside in. ]
RAPHAEL
(Archangel): God has healed!
"Raphael is perhaps the most endearing of all
the angels, and the one most frequently depicted in Western art. His image is
featured on the canvases of such masters as Botticelli, Titian, and Rembrandt.
His name means -- "God has Healed." Not only doe s he appear to be the high
archangel charged with healing the Earth, but according to the Zohar, 'the Earth
furnishes an abode for man, whom Raphael also heals of his maladies'."
Raphael is the travelers guide, guardian of youth...The ruler of the second
heaven shows up in Christian paintings carrying a pilgrim's stick, a wallet and
a fish. The poet Milton has Raphael eating supper with Adam and Eve in Eden.^
"Indeed, Raphael's career seems to be peppered with medical missions. He
healed the pain of circumcision for Abraham as the old man had not had the
procedure done when he was young. Raphael was then sent by God to cure poor
Jacob's thigh after he'd bee n roughed up by Samael. And it's also claimed that
Raphael gave Noah a much-prized 'medical book' after the flood."
"There's a
legend that when Solomon prayed to God for aid in building the great temple in
Jerusalem, Raphael personally delivered the gift of a magic ring with the power
to subdue all demons. It was with this 'slave labor' that the Hebrew king
completed the construction."
"Raphael has also been called 'a guide in
hell,' which after all is where healing is needed the most."
URIEL
(Archangel): Fire of God!
"Uriel's name means -- "Fire of God," -- and he is
ranked variously as a seraph, cherub, regent of the Sun, flame of God, presider
over Hades and, in his best-known role, as the Archangel of Salvation. Like
Metatron, Uriel is said to be one of the angel s of the Presence, a most high
posting since only the highest voltage angels can sustain the presence of God."
"Uriel is thought to have been "the spirit who stood at the gate of the lost
Eden with the fiery sword." The Book of Enoch tells us that it was Uriel who was
sent by God to warn Noah of the impending flood, and elsewhere it is written
that he disclosed the mysteries of the heavenly arcana to Ezra, and that he also
led Abraham out of Ur in the Chaldean region."
"Some have claimed that the
divine art of alchemy was brought down to Earth by Uriel, and that it was also
this angel who gave the Kabbalah, the Hebrew mystic tradition, to humankind.
John Milton describes Uriel as the 'sharpest sighted spirit of all in Heaven'.
The angel who showed up to berate Moses for neglecting to circumcise his own son
Gershom. Sharp eyes indeed!"
Uriel is associated by legend with
earthquakes, storms, erupting volcanoes and such has a big part in Milton's
"Paradise Lost." There, as governor of the sun, he is tricked by Satan,
disguised as a young angel, into giving directions to earth, and from there to
Eden. Once there, tempting Satan sought out Eve's ear.
[ Washta:...There
are many others, such as Raphael and Uriel, who sit above in the 4th and 5th
dimensions to aid Gabriel in this ascension process. They also have access to
the 6th and 7th dimensions to assist Archangel Michael with the special life ene
rgies being brought through the Time Lords, down to the 8th and 7th dimensions.
]
METATRON (Cherubim): One who occupies the throne next to the Divine
throne!
"In the world of Jewish mystics, came to hold the rank of the
highest of the angels despite his not being mentioned in the Scriptures. The
meaning of his name has never been satisfactorily explained although one
interpretation of it is "one who occupies the throne next to the Divine throne."
It could also be derived from the Latin 'metator', a guide or measurer."
"In
a number of traditional sources, Metatron is said to have been the prophet
Enoch, who was taken up to Heaven and transformed into an angel of fire, with
thirty-six pairs of wings, to continue his days as a celestial scribe. Metatron
has also been id entified as the Liberating Angel and the one who wrestled with
Jacob; the one who stayed Abraham's hand from sacrificing his son Isaac; and the
one who led the Hebrews through the forty years in the wilderness. In certain
schools of mysticism, Metatron, said to be the tallest of all the heavenly
beings, became known as Lesser YHWH. In Hebrew, the letters 'LHWH' stand for the
most sacred and unpronounceable name of God."
"As God has many names, so,
too, Metatron was thought to have many names, the use of which was believed to
offer the user protection and access to this great angel's powers. Yahoel,
Yofiel, Surya, and Lad are just a few of his other names."
Sitting beside
God, Metatron, the throne angel with 72 names, records Israel's good and bad
deeds. One mystic said
Metatron carries Jewish prayers up through 900 heavens to God.
[ Metatron is Head of the Sirian Central Sun Council ]
MORONI:
[Giver of the Book of Mormon!]
"Moroni is the angel of the Latter-day
Saints. While there seems to be a dearth of indigenous American angels, in 1823
Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith in upstate New York and led him to discover
buried golden tablets inscribed with dense lettering. Whe n translated by Smith,
again with Moroni's help, this text became the Book of Mormon, which tells us
that in about 600 b.c., prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, a Jewish family
fled the city and made its way by ship to what is now North America. Their
descendants became two nations -- one the ancestors of the Native Americans, the
other lost and gone. However, records kept by one of the elders of that vanished
people tell that Jesus appeared to them after His death on the cross. The
elder's name was Mormon, and it was his son Moroni who buried the tablets his
father had kept, in about 400 a.d. According to the story, Moroni thus joins the
ranks of Enoch and Elijah who were transformed into angels, and follows in the
tradition of Gabriel in being th e angelic giver of a book of revelation."
"There is a forty-foot-high statue of Moroni that stands on top of a hill
near Palmyra, New York, where Smith discovered the buried tablets. The angel is
shown as it appeared to Smith, without wings and clothed in a long robe. Smith,
who went on to fou nd the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints,
described Moroni as a "being of light with a face like lightning."
MELCHIZEDEK: [Lived and taught 2000 years before the Christ!]
"Melchizedek, the Sage of Salem, is another of the few known cases of a high
angel taking a human, very male, body. According to The Urantia Book, he
appeared fully formed, some two thousand years before Christ, announcing that he
was a servant of El El yon, the Most High. He then set up a teaching center over
which he personally presided for ninety-four years."
"It was Melchizedek who
delivered God's Covenant to Abraham and introduced the revolutionary concept of
salvation through pure faith to the thinking of the planet. He established an
extraordinary wide-flung missionary program, centered in Salem, the anc ient
site of Jerusalem, sending out thousands of missionaries who literally circled
the globe."
"Called Sydik in Phoenician mythology, Melchisedek was believed
to be the father of the seven Elohim -- more Angels of the Divine Presence. In
the third century a.d. a group of 'heretics', calling themselves Melchisedans,
claimed to be in touch with 'a great power named Melchizedek, who was greater
than Christ'. His sojourn here as the Sage of Salem was said to have been a
concerted effort on behalf of the celestials to bring some much-needed light to
a dark and chaotic time, and to set the seeds for the coming of the Christ."
From the Book of Alma 13:14-18, within the Book of Mormon, of The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: *14-Yea, humble yourselves even as the people
in the days of Melchizedek, who was also a high priest after this same order
which I have spoken , who also took upon him the high priesthood forever. 15-And
it was this same Melchizedek to whom Abraham paid tithes; yea, even our father
Abraham paid tithes of one-tenth part of all he possessed. 16-Now these
ordinance were given after this manner, t hat thereby the people might look
forward on the Son of God, it being a type of his order, or it being his order,
and this that they might look forward to him for remission of their sins, that
they might enter into the rest of the Lord. 17-Now this Melchizedek was a king
over the land of Salem; and his people had waxed strong in iniquity and
abomination; yea, they had all gone astray; they were full of all manner of
wickedness; 18-But Melchizedek having exercised mighty faith, and received the
high office of priesthood according to the holy order of God, did preach the
repentance unto his people. And behold they did repent; and Melchizedek did
establish peace in the land in his days; therefore he was called the prince of
peace, for he was the king of Sale m; and he did reign under his father.*
ARIEL (Throne): Lion of God!
"Ariel means -- "Lion of God," -- However,
some confusion exists as to exactly whose side Ariel is on. He's ranked as one
of the seven princes who rule the waters and is also known as Earth's Great
Lord. To the poet John Milton, however, Ariel is a reb el angel who is overcome
by the seraph Abdiel on the first day of the great war in Heaven."
"Jewish
mystics used Ariel as a poetic name for Jerusalem. In Gnostic lore, that first-
and second-century melting pot of revelation, Ariel is the angel who controls
the demons. Ariel has also been associated with the order of angels called the
thrones and is known to have assisted the archangel Raphael in the curing of
disease."
"John Dee, magician, occultist, and court astrologer to Queen
Elizabeth I, reckoned Ariel to be a conglomerate of Aneal and Uriel, which sets
him among the overlighting archangels!"
"Ariel makes an appearance in
William Shakespeare's 'The Tempest', which may well have been the source of why
Percy Bysshe Shelley, the nineteenth-century poet, liked to refer to himself as
the angel Ariel.
ISRAFEL: The Burning One!
"Israfel, whose name in
Arabic folklore means -- "The Burning One, -- is both an angel of resurrection
and of song. By these same accounts, Israfel paved the way for Gabriel by
serving three years as a companion to Mohammed, whom he'd originally initiat ed
into the work of being a prophet."
"In an Islamic variant of the Genesis
account of Adam's creation, Allah sends Israfel, Gabriel, Michael, and Azrael --
the Angel of Death -- out on a mission to fetch the seven handfuls of dust
needed to make humanity's progenitor. According to legend, only Azrael returned
unsuccessful."
"Edgar Allan Poe, writer of mystery tales and verses,
footnoted a poem with a cryptic reference to 'the angel Israfel, whose heart
strings are a lute, and who has the sweetest voice of all God's creatures'.
Elsewhere Israfel is described as a four-winge d angel who, 'while his feet are
under the seventh Earth, his head reaches to the pillars of the Divine throne'."
RAZIEL (Power): Secret of God!
"Raziel, which means -- "Secret of God,"
-- is believed to be an 'angel of the secret regions and Chief of the Supreme
Mysteries'. There is a legend that Raziel is the author of a great book,
'wherein all celestial and Earthly knowledge is set down.' W hen the angel gave
his tome to Adam, some envious angels stole it away and threw it in the ocean.
After it had been recovered by the primordial angel/demon of the deep, Rahab,
the book passed first to Enoch, who apparently claimed it as his own, then to
Noah, who learned how to make his ark from it. Solomon, too, was thought to have
possessed the book, which allowed him his unusual knowledge of magic and control
over the demons."
"The Zohar, the major work of Jewish mysticism, claims
that set in the middle of Raziel's book there is secret writing 'explaining the
fifteen hundred keys [to the mystery of the world], which were not revealed even
to the angels.' Other Jewish mystics report that 'each day the angel Raziel,
standing on the mount of Horeb, proclaims the secrets of men to all mankind'."
"What we didn't know when we began this book, but what Abigrael, our
recording angel, told us later, is that Raziel is its boss."
SANDALPHON
"The sonorously named angel prince Sandalphon, who some say, Elijah became
after his death."
Bibliography: www.angels.com