[Hedwig]

Now I freely admit that I am not a religious person…….

However I am fascinated by the whole religious history, law, theology, spirituality and mythology of religion and why it has come to be viewed as such….and during those small wee hours when I can't sleep and those friends I usually talk to are unavailable I turn to the net and research, all sorts of things….

One of my topics of interest is in Angels and Demons……and I don't mean in a dark arts way but who and what they are…..

I know this topic may not agree with many people but I thought I would put something of what I have learned so far….and let you consider the rest…….

Over the centuries there have been many interpretations of what angels are.

Here I am going to give you an awareness of what they may be (if you were to believe), and their purpose…..

The dictionary defines angels as:” a spiritual being believed to act as an attendant or messenger of God, conventionally represented as being of human form with wings and possessing great kindness and virtue.”

ANGELIC REALM

Now in the angelic realm (heaven), they have three triads I will detail these for your information.

The First Triad

Seraphim

— Said to represent the highest order of angels in the pseudo-Dionysian hierarchic scheme and generally also in Jewish lore. The seraphim surround the throne of Glory and are known as the holy, holy, holy. They are said to be angels of love, light and fire. The ruling princes of the order have been given variously as Seraphiel, Jophiel, Metatron, Michael and originally as Satan. They are said to roar like lions.

Cherubim

– In the name as well as in concept, the cherubim are Assyrian or Akkadian in origin. The word means “one who prays” or “one who intercedes,” Also to mean knowledge. They symbolised God’s highest and chiefest potencies, sovereignty, and goodness. They are the first angels mentioned in the Old Testament. They guarded with flaming sword the tree of life and Eden, hence their designation as the “flame of whirling swords.”

The cherubim are also known as chariots or wheels or the order hayyoth (holy beasts) Chief rulers are Ophaniel, Rikbiel, Cherubiel, Raphael, Gabriel, Zophiel and Satan. They are said to sound the 4 trumpets heralding the apocalypse. They are angels of light, glory, and keepers of the celestial records, the cherubim excel in knowledge.

Thrones

They rank 3rd in the 1st triad of the celestial hierarchy. The ruling prince of this angelic order is variously given as Oriphiel, Zabkiel, Zaphkiel, they are known as many-eyed ones. They bring Gods justice to bear upon us.

The Second Triad

Dominions

They are said to regulate angel duties and are perpetually aspiring to true lordship. Through them the majesty of god is manifested. They are also known as lords and dominations. They inhabit the level where the spiritual and physical planes begin to merge and are said to regulate the duties of angelic choirs below them. Chief of the order is given as Hashmal or Zadkiel.

Virtues

The principal duty of the virtues is to work miracles on earth. They are said to be the chief bestowals of grace and valour. Among the ruling princes of the order are Michael, Raphael, Barbiel, Uzziel, Peliel and originally Satan. They inspire valour in heroes and grace in saints.

Powers

Known as the Lords hosts. The principal task of the powers is to see to it that order is imposed on the heavenly pathways. They are said to stop the efforts of demons who would overthrow the world. They are also known as divine logos, creative power, sovereign power, mercy, legislation, and punitive power. Camael is commonly designated chief.

The Third Triad

Principalities

They are known as protectors of religion and watchers over the leaders of people, they help leaders make right decisions. They are also known as the elohim. The chief ruling angels of the order are Requel, Anael, Haniel, Cerviel, and Nisroc.

Archangels

The ruling seven are known as Uriel, Raguel, Michael, Seraqael, Gabriel, Haniel, Raphael. The ruling prince is either known as Michael or Raphael.

They are known as messengers bearing divine decrees from high.

Angels

The word angel derives from angiras (Sanskrit), a divine spirit also meaning courier, Greek meaning messenger. A supernatural being intermediate between God and man. They are said to be most involved with humanity, guiding and protecting us. They can not interfere with our destinies.

The role of good angels in the world — guardianship

The particular role of the good angels relative to the world is one of guardianship. This may sound a little insulting to the adult human for it implies protections direction, inspiration, comfort and encouragement.

Besides the good angels there are also fallen angels; which fact would immediately lead one to suspect that angelic activity in the material world is not exclusively of a beneficent nature.

These devils harbor no love either for God or man; their very nature gives them the power to act on the senses and imaginations of men, to coax the human wills and to feed human intellects with the material for knowledge.

Angel of punishment

There are 7 and they are named in Maseket Gan Eden and Gehinnom: Kushiel (“rigid one of God”); Lahatiel (“flaming one”); Shoftiel (“judge of God”); Makatiel (“plague of God”); Hutriel (“rod of God”); Pusiel or Puriel (“fire of God”); Rogziel (“wrath of God”). See Jewish Encyclopedia I. Another angel of punishment is Amaliel.

The Coptic Pistis Sophia names Ariel as the angel in charge of punishments in Hell. The Manual of Discipline lists angels of punishment. In Enoch II the angels of punishment dwell in the 3rd Heaven. Cf the Levi testament in the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, where armies of punishing angels, presumably evil, dwell in the 3rd Heaven.

These, says Charles in Enoch I, are the grigori. Hell, by the way, was “in the north of the 3rd Heaven.” In Coptic gnosticism, the demon of punishment is Asmodel; in occult writings, Asmodel is the angel of April. Midrash Tehillim, commenting on Psalm 7, lists 5 angels of punishment whom Moses encountered in Heaven, to with:

* Af, angel of anger

* Kezef, angel of wrath

* Hemah, angel of fury

* Hasmed, angel of annihilation

* Mashit, angel of destruction

Angels of Destruction

Ariel, Uriel, Harbonah, Azriel, Simkiel, Za'afiel, Af, Kolazonta, Hemah. Chief of the group is Kemuel, according to the Revelation of Moses, but according to 3 Enoch, the chief is Simkiel. In the latter book, the angels of destruction correspond to be angels of punishment, and these in turn may be equated with the angels of vengeance, wrath, death, ire.

They may also be compared to the Avestan devas. “When executing the punishments on the world, the angels of destruction are given the 'Sword of God' to be used by them as an instrument of punishment.” According to Moses Gaster, there were 40,000 such angels but, according to a Jewish legend, there were (or still are) in hell alone 90,000 angels of destruction.

It is said that the angels of destruction helped the magicians of Egypt in Pharoh's time; that they duplicated the miracles performed by Moses and Aaron, specifically the miracle of changing water into blood. There is a division of opinion among rabbinic writers as to whether the angels of destruction are in the service of God or of the devil. Apparently, even when they serve the devil, it is with the permission of God.

As you can see the topic of Angels, is large and complex and is extremely complicated……

I would be interested in any comments you may have……?

🙂 🙂 🙂

[seenafterscene]

Wow, I never knew angels was such a complex subject and hierarachy and grouping system.

I'll be honest, I kind of skimmed (I will look at it more later–and I'd be fascinated to see what you dig up on demons.)

I consider myself “spiritual” and “meta-physical” but even those are misnomers, because they tend to imply a certain dogma, particular beliefs, and “meta-physical” mentions generally get people to assume you are crazy.

However, I was raised Christian (mainly of the evangelical variety, which I detested), went to Catholic school briefly (where I was constantly irritating the nuns by debating them) and have since settled into…what I consider personal things I believe or feel, but am generally against organized religion (any, no specific one) though I see both value & detriment in them in contemporary and their empirical complications and involvement throughout history.

I've never really researched the subject as thoroughly as you have, but angels are something I'm neutral on.

Neutral is a bit deceiving too, it doesn't mean for me a lack of opinion, rather it involves an elimiation of opinions.

It's certainly not unreasonable under traditional and reformed Judaism, or Christianity, to assume that God would have a group of beings…again, as mentioned in a different post, my brain is not working, but basically that he would have a group of beings doing his work. Not that theoretically he couldn't do it himself, but if I remember (I'm a little rusty) my teachings at church, etc. the angels were a separate entity from humans, and I think it was mentioned that humans were somehow above angels on the heirarchy, because we were God's children on Earth–I was told that a lot, and that never made sense to me given the implied purity of such beings and their role throughout the Bible.

I'm sure other religions have comparable entitities to angels, as much as I enjoy comparative religious studied (it's pretty fascinating, even if I don't ally myself with one group or another).

It's also interesting to note the differences between Old Testament and New Testament. To ridiculously simplify, old testament God and his angels are pretty ruthless. New Testament was more focused on Jesus dying for our sins and reads more positively. Throw Revelatations in the mix and we've come full circle.

I think my imagery of an angel and what they do and what it must be like, was largely influenced for me, at least philosophically, by the wonderful, pensive German classic from Wim Wenders (sp?), “Wings of Desire.”

If you haven't seen it, I highly suggest it to someone interested in the subject of angels. It postulates angels as observers who occasionally intervene, watching over, protecting at times. And it furthers the notion that one in particular gains an intense desire to BE human, to LIVE and EXPERIENCE instead of always observing. It kind of quasi-aligns with the traditional view, while staying true to my own that, if they exist, they exist in such a capacity. Not like them swooping down and whisking someone out of a car crash, but a sort of network, which fits well with the idea of multiple variations and heirarchy.

[Kik]

'Hedwig' wrote on '28:

Now I freely admit that I am not a religious person…….

However I am fascinated by the whole religious history, law, theology, spirituality and mythology of religion and why it has come to be viewed as such….and during those small wee hours when I can't sleep and those friends I usually talk to are unavailable I turn to the net and research, all sorts of things….

One of my topics of interest is in Angels and Demons……and I don't mean in a dark arts way but who and what they are…..

I notice you've mainly looked at the Old Testament. Are you familiar with the Ancient Sumerians and their Annunaki as a different view on the same phenomena? I've mainly viewed the Bible as allegory rather then a historical account, but that's just me 🙂

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