(Secret of God)
This angel is the the legendary author of The Book of the Angel Raziel
--"wherein all celestial and earthly knowledge is set down." The Book of the Angel Raziel is reputed to contain the 1,500 keys to the
mysteries of the universe. Unfortunately, they are written in a language so
arcane and impossible to decifer (without presumably the aid of Raziel
himself) that not even the greatest angels of heaven are able to figure it
out. Raziel is also ranked as the special patron to the first human.
Raziel, called the angel of mysteries, is the possessor of a staggering
amount of information on all matters secret, arcane, and mysterious; his
knowledge stems from the fact that he stands at the curtain separating God
from the rest of Creation and hears and notes everything that is said around
His throne. He supposedly wrote it all down, and because of his pity for the
plight of Adam and Eve, gave the book to Adam that he might better
understand God. This did not go over well with some of the other angels, and
they stole the book from Adam and threw it into the sea. God, instead of
punishing Raziel, retrieved the book and returned it to Adam.The book later
passed to Enoch, who would become the angel Metatron. He also the author
of the tome from which Noah learns to build the ark. This is not to be
confused with Raphael, who is the angel to give Raziel's tome to Noah,
but did not write it himself.
His head is
surrounded by a glowing yellow aura. He wears a robe of gray material that
seems to swirl as if made of liquid. Raziel appears quite tall and has large
sky-blue wings. He is the ruler of the planet Neptune.
Raziel is one of the cherubim, the guardian of originality and the realm of pure ideas.
He is knowledgeable in several mystical arts and can explain the truth
behind many occult truths in the universe. One of the most interesting
things Raziel can give you is an understanding of the energy currents in the
magickal universe and how to manipulate them to various ends.
A letter from a Reader
Upon viewing your website for the first time, I was pleased to see the
inclusion of Raziel. I feel that more access should be given to this
angelic ear by those who care most about such matters.
In the mid Sixties I graduated from the University of California in Art
History. In Berkeley during that tumultuous decade something inspired me
to look into lore regarding Raziel. My "Book Of Raziel" was published in
Berkeley with the rather arcane caligraphy and illustration stle that
now looks so dated. That book was a spicket for my subconscious at the
time, and since then I feel I have a clearer picture of just who Raziel
might really be.
The most benificent Angels, of course, are messangers of El. Not of
Jehovah, the God of Moses. El Elyah of Genesis, the God of Abraham, was
a loving creator God whose name was also used among some early
Canaanites. Some early Jews and Canaanites believed that God did not
wish any harm on any living creature, and that this God (El Elyah) was
symbolized by the letter Lamed at the center of the Cananinte and Hebrew
alphabet (both of which have 22 letters) - just as the True God of Love
is at the center of the universe.
There was a school of Cabalist theory (& early Gnostic thought in
Southern France and Northen Italy) that made a very clear distinction
between El Elyah and Jehovah. Both of these have messangers that are
called "angels" and appear in various passages. These schools of thought
taught that angels from El never brought any suffering or harm on
anyone. The angels from Jehovah, however, are sometimes associated with
swords and warfare.
Raziel ,The Secret of El, is a messanger from El Elyah. Gnostics and
Cabalists in Provence & Languedoc believed that the Michael from El
Elyah was distinct from the angel using that name who was sent by
Jehovah. El Elyah, meaning God in the Highest, appears often in the Book
Of Genesis to describe the pre Jehovah divinity. Those devoute believers
long ago took the Book of John and Revelations literally, and discarded
the other Gospels and the Old Testament all together. Thus they were
known as Johanite Gnostics, and scholars and historians of the early
church describe them as a diverse gathering of pacifists and vegetarian
who worshipped out doors and had no male hierarchy of ecclesiastical
elite.
This group also had a Gospel that was said to be written by Mary
Magdalene after she arrived in Provence. After being a great teacher in
Marseilles, (where she is still the patron saint of France's second
largest city), she spent the next 33 year of her life in a lovely forest
above St. Baum. It was there that she transcribed messages from various
angels, including Raziel and Michael, who were messengers only of El.
In Rome an elite group of wealty and powerful men called on Jehovah to
send them angelic help so that they could benefit financially from such
divine intervention. Pope Innocent III called on Jehovah in an act of
what some say was black magic to invoke an angel who he thought was St.
Michael to empower the bloody sword of Simon Montfort to annihilate the
French heretics in what has been called the Albigensian Crusade.
If you visit picturesque Langedoc and Provence today you will meet some
of the descendents of these lovely people who Rome massacred in the
Twelvth Century - and they will share their views on angelic lore with
any sincere person who will use such knowledge only to help those less
fortunate and benefit those most in need. You may already be familiar
with the depiction of these angels in French medieval art from this era.
Their ancestors blended syncretically with ancient indigenous
lore from the area (shamainism), qabalist refugees from the Roman
diaspera, and gnostic Christian followers of the Gospels of Magdalene
and St. John. In northern Italy some were called "villagers" (Paganos)
because they did not subscribe to the views held by the Roman influenced
culture that dominated the life of the big cities. They believed that
many of the spiritual practices attributed to Christ were "pagano" rites
taught to him by his mother and St. Anne, his grandmother - who
worshiped El and not jehovah. These two women, from the House of David,
were descendents of David and Solomon's wives who definately did not
pray to jehovah (the male patriarchal war god) - but who were
represented in Solomon's Temple by the beautiful and graceful image of
the Asherah (wife of El in Canaanite mythology). The Divine Male &
Feminine beloved by the House of David into which Christ was born as the
Prince of Peace - as Immanuel (meaning "With Us Is El" - not a messanger
of Jehovah.
If I mention anything here that you are unfamiliar with, I'll be glad to
site academic sources that you can read for yourself in the Theological
Seminary Librarys in Berkley or Harvard or Yale. Good luck with helping
to familiarize web surfers with the true loving nature of Angels as
messengers of the Creator God El who Christ so beautifully and fully
describes in the Gospel of John.
John Thompson, editor
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