Sariel (Aramaic: זהריאל, Greek: ‘Ατριήλ, "Command of God" "God's command") is one of the archangels mainly from Judaic tradition. Other possible versions of his name are Suriel, Suriyel (in some Dead Sea Scrollstranslations), Seriel, Sauriel, Surya, Saraqael, Sarakiel, Suruel, Surufel and Sourial.

Suriel is sometimes identified with Metatron. In 1 Enoch, he is one of the Seven holy archangels who is "of eternity and trembling". In Kabbalistic lore, he is one of seven angels of the earth. Origen identified Suriel as one of seven angels who are primordial powers. In Gnosticism, Suriel is invoked for his protective powers. He is commemorated in the calendar of the Coptic Orthodox church on 27 Tubah.^{[citation needed]}

Like Metatron, Suriel is a prince of presence and like Raphael, an angel of healing. He is also a benevolent angel of death (one of a few). Suriel was sent to retrieve the soul of Moses. It is said that Moses received all his knowledge from Suriel, (although Sariel is credited as "instructor of Moses" whom brought knowledges from God to Moses and escorted Moses and Israel people to Red Sea and acrossed it.)^{[citation needed]}

Contents

  [hide] 

• 1 In traditional texts
  • 1.1 History
• 2 Speculation
  • 2.1 As an angel of death
  • 2.2 As the archangel Saraqael
• 3 References
• 4 External links

In traditional texts[edit]

History[edit]

According to the Book of Enoch, Sariel, also called Saraqael (communicants of God) and Azrael (whom God helps, Help of "God"), was one of the leaders of angels who lusted after the daughters of men. They descended to the summit of Mount Hermon, in the days of Jared, to acquire wives and lead men astray.^[1] Sariel specifically taught men about the course of the moon.^[2] Knibbs' translation of the names of the Book of Enoch says it was Sariel who taught humans the "course of the moon" (the Lunar Calendar). His name is also listed as Arazyal and Asaradel in some 1 Enoch translations,^[3] the name being a combination of sa'ar and 'God.' In the book of 2 Enoch he is usually listed as the fourth angel with the name of Samuil or Sariel.^[3]

The book of War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness lists the name of Sariel (שריאל, Ministry of God, an alternate spelling of Sariel) along with Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel as names to write upon the shields of soldiers in a tower during maneuvers (1QM 9,15). It is used on the shields of the third Tower (1QM 9,16).^[4]

The angel Suriyel is briefly mentioned in the Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan as bearing Adam and Eve from the top of a high mountain to the Cave of Treasures.^[5]

"… bring what he had brought, and give it to Adam. And they did so, one by one. 6 And God commanded Suriyel and Salathiel to bear up Adam and Eve, and bring them down from the top of the high mountain, and …" - Bible. O. T. Apocryphal books. English First Book of Adam and Eve.

In the Ladder of Jacob Sariel is dispatched by the Lord to Jacob to explain to him the meaning of the dream about the ladder.

In the Talmud he is said to have taught Rabbi Ishmael ben Elisha hygiene.^{[citation needed]} The name Juriel is described as "An angel of the divine face or presence." which is why Sariel might be considered a possible name forMetatron.

Beta Israel writings call him "Suriel the Trumpeter" and "Suriel, the Angel of Death".^{[citation needed]}

The book of Liber Juratus by Honorius of Thebes, has a number of translation which lists Saryell as being "the names of the angells of the .8. monthe that is sayde marquesnan" and Saryel as "the names of the angells of the .10. monthe (Tammuz) that is sayde thebeth be these". In a different translation Sariell is "The names of the angels of the eighth month, which is called marquesnan heshvan" and Sariel as "The names of the angels of the tenth month, which is called Tevet". The month of Heshvan marquesnan would make Sariel's ruler Barfiell, or the month of Tevet would make the ruler Anael.^[3]

In The Lesser Key of Solomon it lists the dukes Asteliel and Gediel as commanding Sariel by night. The book A dictionary of angels by Gustav Davidson and The complete book of devils and demons by Leonard Ashley list Sariel as a Fallen Angel.

The University of Michigan has a section devoted to Traditions of Magic in Late Antiquity, Protective Magic, Babylonian Demon Bowls. One clay bowl Seleucia-on-Tigris, 6th or 7th century lists Sariel twice:

"I wrote all of the curses upon a new bowl of clay and I sent back the curses of those who cursed Negray daughter of Denday to their masters until they release and bless in the name of Sariel the angel and Barakiel the angel and in the name of Sariel and Barakiel you release from the curses of those who curse Negray daughter of Denday as a man is freed from the house of bondage and from the house of weapons amen amen selah"

Samael (Hebrew: סמאל‎) (Wrath of God) (also Sammael or Samil) is an important archangel in Talmudic and post-Talmudic lore, a figure who is accuser (devil), seducer and destroyer, and has been regarded as both good and evil. Rabbinical writings describe Samael as the guardian angel of Esau and a patron of Edom (or, the Roman empire).^[1]

He is considered in Talmudic texts to be a member of the heavenly host (with often grim and destructive duties). One of Samael's greatest roles in Jewish lore is that of the main archangel of death. He remains one of YHWH's servants even though he wants men to do evil. As an angel, Samael resides in the seventh heaven, although he is declared to be the chief angel of the fifth heaven, the reason for this being the presence of the throne of glory in the fifth heaven.^[2]

Contents

  [hide] 

• 1 Judaism
• 2 Demonology
• 3 Gnosticism
• 4 Anthroposophy
• 5 References
• 6 Further reading
• 7 External links

Judaism[edit]

In Judaism, Samael is said to be the angel of death, one of the seven archangels, the ruler over the Fifth Heaven, and commander of two million angels. Yalkut Shimoni (I, 110) presents Samael as Esau's guardian angel.^[1]

According to The Ascension of Moses^[3] Samael is also mentioned as being in 7th Heaven:

In the last heaven Moses saw two angels, each five hundred parasangs in height, forged out of chains of black fire and red fire, the angels Af, "Anger," and Hemah, "Wrath," whom God created at the beginning of the world, to execute His will. Moses was disquieted when he looked upon them, but Metatron embraced him, and said, "Moses, Moses, thou favorite of God, fear not, and be not terrified," and Moses became calm. There was another angel in the seventh heaven, different in appearance from all the others, and of frightful men. His height was so great, it would have taken five hundred years to cover a distance equal to it, and from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet he was studded with glaring eyes, at the sight of which the beholder fell prostrate in awe. "This one," said Metatron, addressing Moses, "is Samael, who takes the soul away from man." "Whither goes he now?" asked Moses, and Metatron replied, "To fetch the soul of Job the pious." Thereupon Moses prayed to God in these words, "O may it be Thy will, my God and the God of my fathers, not to let me fall into the hands of this angel."

In The Holy Kabbalah (Arthur Edward Waite, 255), Samael is described as the "wrath of God", and is listed as fifth of the archangels of the world of Briah. Also in the Kabbalah, Samael was said to be the Serpent who tempted Eve into sin. He even seduced and impregnated her with Cain. Samael then became the consort of Adam's first wife, Lilith, . He created with her a host of demon children, including a son, Sariel, the "Sword of Samael" ^[4] (orAsmodai).^[5] God feared that Samael and Lilith would destroy the earth with their heinous progenies, thus he castrated the corrupt angel, and cursed him with the name Satan.^[6]

Samael is sometimes confused in some books with Camael, an archangel of God, whose name is similar to words meaning "like God" (but Camael with a waw missing).

It is also said that the Baal Shem once summoned Samael, to make him do his bidding.^[7]

In several interpretations of the Ascension of Isaiah, Samael is often identified as Malkira (Heb.: מלך רוע melek roa; lit. "king of evil" or "king of the wicked") or Belkira (prob. בעל קיר baal qir, "lord of the wall"), which are both epithets of the false prophet sent by Belial to accuse Isaiah of treason, notably the Ascension of Isaiah also identifies him as Satan.^[2]

Demonology[edit]

According to some myths, Samael was mated with Eisheth Zenunim, Na'amah, Lilith and Agrat Bat Mahlat, all except Lilith being 'angels' of sacred prostitution.^[8]

It should be noted, however, that this link is a dubious one and likely arises from a case of mistaken identity equating Samael with the demon Azazel whom is himself in Zoharistic lore a combination of the angels Azael andAza.^[9]

Gnosticism[edit]

In the Apocryphon of John, found in the Nag Hammadi library, Samael is the third name of the demiurge, whose other names are Yaldabaoth and Saklas. In this context, Samael means "the blind god",^[10] the theme of blindness running throughout gnostic works^{[citation needed]}. His appearance is that of a lion-faced serpent.^[11] In On the Origin of the World in the Nag Hammadi library texts, he is also referred to as Ariael, the Archangel of Principalities.

Anthroposophy[edit]

To anthroposophists, Samael is known as one of the seven archangels: Saint Gregory gives the seven archangels as Anael, Gabriel, Michael, Oriphiel, Raphael, Samael and Zachariel. They are all imagined to have a special assignment to act as a global zeitgeist ("time-spirit"), each for periods of about 360 years.^[12] Since 1879, anthroposophists posit, Michael has been the leading time spirit. Four important archangels are also supposed to display periodic spiritual activity over the seasons: Raphael during the spring, Uriel during the summer, Michael during the autumn, and Gabriel during the winter.

Divine language, the language of the gods, or, in monotheism, the language of God (or angels) is the concept of a mystical or divine proto-language, which predates and supersedes human speech.

Abrahamic traditions[edit]

Further information: Adamic language

In Judaism and Christianity, it is unclear whether the language used by God to address Adam was the language of Adam, who as name-giver, (Genesis 2:19) used it to name all living things, or if it was a different divine language. But since God is portrayed as using speech during creation, and as addressing Adam before Gen 2:19, some authorities assumed that the language of God was different from the language of Paradise invented by Adam, while most medieval Jewish authorities maintained that the Hebrew language was the language of God, which was accepted in Western Europe since at least the 16th century and until the early 20th century.^[1]

The sacred language in Islam is Classical Arabic, which is a descendant of the Proto-Semitic language. Arabic, along with Hebrew and Aramaic, is a Semitic language. It is considered to be sacred, as, in the Muslim view, it is the language by which Allah revealed the final revealed book, the Koran, to Muhammad, Prophet of Islam, through the angelJibril.

Indic traditions[edit]

In Vedic religion, "speech" Vāc, i.e. the language of liturgy, now known as Vedic Sanskrit, was considered the language of the gods.

Later Hindu scholarship, in particular the Mīmāṃsā school of Vedic hermeneutics, distinguished Vāc from Śábda, a distinction comparable to the Saussurian langue and parole. The concept of Sphoṭa was introduced as a kind of transcendent aspect of Śábda.

Occultism[edit]

In 1510, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa published Book I of his De Occulta Philosophia (translated to English in 1651 as Three Books of Occult Philosophy). Chapter 23 of the book is entitled "Of the tongue of Angels, and of their speaking amongst themselves, and with us" - wherein he states:

We might doubt whether Angels, or Demons, since they are of pure spirits, use any vocal speech, or tongue amongst themselves, or to us; but that Paul in some place saith, If I speak with the tongue of men, or angels: but what their speech or tongue is, is much doubted by many. For many think that if they use any Idiome, it is Hebrew, because that was the first of all, and came from heaven, and was before the confusion of languages in Babylon, in which the Law was given by God the Father, and the Gospell was preached by Christ the Son, and so many Oracles were given to the Prophets by the Holy Ghost: and seeing all tongues have, and do undergo various mutations, and corruptions, this alone doth alwaies continue inviolated.

Later, in chapter 27, Agrippa mentions the Divine Language again:

But because the letters of every tongue, as we shewed in the first book, have in their number, order, and figure a Celestiall and Divine originall, I shall easily grant this calculation concerning the names of spirits to be made not only by Hebrew letters, but also by Chaldean, and Arabick, Ægyptian, Greek, Latine, and any other...

In the late 16th century, the Elizabethan mathematician and scholar John Dee and the medium and alchemist Edward Kelley (both of whom were familiar with Agrippa's writings) claimed that during scrying sessions, a "Celestial Speech" was received directly from Angels. They recorded large portions of the language in their journals (published today as "The Five Books of the Mysteries" and "A True and Faithful Relation..."), along with a complete text in the language called the "Book of Loagaeth" (or "Speech From God"). Dee's language, called "Angelical" in his journals, often known today by the misnomer "Enochian", follows the basic Judeo-Christian mythology about the Divine Language. According to "A True and Faithful Relation..." Angelical was supposed to have been the language God used to create the world, and then used by Adam to speak with God and Angels and to name all things in existence. He then lost the language upon his Fall from Paradise, and constructed a form of proto-Hebrew based upon his vague memory of Angelical. This proto-Hebrew, then, was the universal human language until the time of the Confusion of Tongues at the Tower of Babel. After this, all the various human languages were developed, including an even more modified Hebrew (which we know as "Biblical Hebrew"). From the time of Adam to the time of Dee and Kelley, Angelical was hidden from humans with the single exception of the patriarch Enoch - who recorded the "Book of Loagaeth" for humanity, but the book was lost in the Deluge of Noah.

George William Russell in The Candle of Vision (1918) argued that (p. 120) "The mind of man is made in the image of Deity, and the elements of speech are related to the powers in his mind and through it to the being of the Oversoul. These true roots of language are few, alphabet and roots being identical."

 Divine language.

Enochian
Created by	John Dee, Edward Kelley
Setting and usage	occult journals
Purpose	constructed languages Enochian
Writing system	Enochian script
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)

Enochian is a name often applied to an occult or angelic language recorded in the private journals of John Dee and his colleagueEdward Kelley in late 16th-century England. Kelley was a spirit medium who worked with Dee in his magical investigations. The men claimed that the language was revealed to them by angels. The language is integral to the practice of Enochian magic.

The language found in Dee and Kelley's journals encompasses a limited textual corpus, only some of it with English translations. Several linguists, notably Donald Laycock, have studied Enochian, and argue against any extraordinary features in the language.

Dee's journals did not describe the language as "Enochian", instead preferring descriptors like "Angelical", the "Celestial Speech", the "Language of Angels", the "First Language of God-Christ", the "Holy Language" or "Adamical" because, according to Dee's Angels, it was used by Adam in Paradise to name all things. The term "Enochian" comes from Dee's assertion that the Biblical Patriarch Enochhad been the last human (before Dee and Kelley) to know the language.

Dee's Angelic language[edit]