(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.
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
visit
Just West of Rome
**NOTICE: This site is for informational purposes only. All information within was gleaned with much research from various sources: reference & historical books, myths and legends, religious texts, and personal experiences from my visitors. Permission for use by the contributors has been given for all content included. Please do not copy information from this site without getting permission as well. We ask that you refrain from e-mails wanting to argue or debate the content on this website. You will not receive an answer. Thank you.**