Throne Angel With 72 Names example essay topic

Angeles 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 'angeles' 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, 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 sarah) 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 1600's, 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 int. ' '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 i n fusion 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 over lighting 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, th ey 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 i no 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 over lighting 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 contain i ng 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 dimension 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 Mic hall and Gabriel are more of an inter dimensional 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 arch angelic forces were put in the proper pla ces. 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 hange l 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 fun ct ion as heavenly a wakener, 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, preside r 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 Gershon. 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 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 'meta tor', 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 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's tand 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. Yaho el, Yo fiel, 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 i ent site of Jerusalem, sending out thousands of missionaries who literally circled the globe.

' 'Called Syd ik in Phoenician mythology, Melchizedek 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 t he 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 Me lch iz edek 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 off ce 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 red el angel who is overcome by the seraph Abdel 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 A neal and Uriel, which sets him among the over lighting archangels!' 'Ariel makes an appearance in William Shakespeare's 'The Tempest', which may well have been the source of why Percy Bys she 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 initial 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-wine 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, Raha b, 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. '