Fallen Angels, Apprentice Wizards and Corset Damage

"He (Eros) smites maids’ breasts with heat, and bids the very gods leave heaven and dwell on earth in borrowed forms."

Seneca, Phaedra, 290ff

I just began flipping through Oberon Zell-Ravenheart’s Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard. I’ll say one thing for the book – even though it is aimed at a much (oh, MUCH!) younger audience, there is still something to be said for good foundational footing – I have a lot of respect for the intelligence of the authors of many of the Enochian Magick books I’ve begun to read, but many of them assume a basic pre-foundation of experience or knowledge that not all of their readers have. On the other hand, a downside of the audience age bracket for this particular grimoire is self-explanatory: no, I will NOT be asking my parents if I am allowed to read the book, thank you very much! } :=\

One thing I hadn’t thought about: just how many names are used for magickal folk of all spiritual persuasions: wizard, vizier, mage, sage, mystic, Druid, bard, magician, alchemist, sorcerer, sorceress, enchanter, enchantress, soothsayer, seer, necromancer, prophet, philosopher, shaman, cunning man or woman, witch, wicca, pagan, priest, priestess, and the last, warlock, which is actually a huge insult (meaning: traitor or liar, in Old English). I’m sitting here, trying to remember if I’d heard any other descriptive words for magickal beings ... "wise woman" would probably fall under wizard (same root: wys), but Susun Weed pretty much made that phrase her own with her Wise Woman Herbal Series.

Anyone who has been reading this blog knows just how fond I am of "rules" when we’re talking about magickal behavior. Sometimes it’s good to have rules – can you imagine the hell that driving anywhere would be if there were no "rules of the road"?

Corset advertisement, 1869

But way too many women have been raised in such tightly corseted* lives that they can’t live without binding their fellow witches in non-traditional, christian restraints, and that is where they lose me completely. And they should lose everyone else as well, but too many women are so familiar with those ropes and restraints it feels natural to them, and they see nothing wrong with binding everyone else.

*And to show you how bad corsets are, read an essay on corsets in the "Mistaken Perfection" blog, which only seemed to exist in 2010, unfortunately.

"The corset has been blamed for causing dozens of diseases, from cancer to curvature of the spine, deformities of the ribs and displacements of the internal organs, respiratory and circulatory diseases, birth defects, miscarriages, and "female complaints", as well as medical traumas such as broken ribs and puncture wounds."http://mistaken-perfection.blogspot.com/2010/01/structured-torso-bindings-of-corsets.html

Needless to say, when I opened a chapter in Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard and read, "Rules of Wizardry", my first thought was, "Oh no ... here we go ..." and prepared myself to throw the book across the room.

Luckily, one wizard’s "rules" are another witch’s "common sense" – and I was delighted to discover that his "rules" were along the lines of, for example: "never invoke something you can’t banish". Well, *duh*!!! But yes, there are a lot of people without a lick of common sense, so there you go.

Another "Rule" I particularly appreciated: Question Authority!!!

Fortunately, none of the listed rules were anything remotely like the stupid Tinkerbelle girly-girly white glove wicca-christian rules, so I relaxed. No enforced "christian" morality that stripped real witches of their power. No non-traditional nonsense or political correctness which the women of the United States are cramming down everyone else’s throats and then calling it "witchcraft". None of that. Nice.

I realize it’s probably not the best idea to study more than one book at a time, and while Apprentice Wizard does mention sexuality as a sacrament briefly – and trust me, I think that’s awesome! - I am still researching the topics of incubi, succubae and spirit lovers. Not an easy assignment, as one has to research the subject while slogging through the christian carryover of labeling everything that even veers in the direction of human sexuality as demonic. Far too many so-called "witches" are paying that forward when they write their books. They need to stop and think about what they’re teaching people, and too many witches are not doing that. We need to be seriously questioning this crap!

And so, to conclude the list of "fallen angels":

17. Tûrêl. Other Names / Variants: Turiel, Turael. Meaning of Name: "rock of God". One of the 200 angels listed in The Book of Enoch who followed Semyaza in the descent from Heaven to cohabit with the daughters of men, an incident touched on in Genesis 6. The sigil of the fallen Turel is pictured in The Secret Grimoire of Turiel, p. 39. As Turiel, Turel is a messenger of the spirits of the planet Jupiter; also, a messenger for the angel Sachiel or Setchiel.

18. Yomiel or Jômjâêl in later translations was the 19th Watcher of the 20 leaders of the 200 fallen angels that are mentioned in an ancient work called the Book of Enoch. Michael Knibb translates the Ethiopic version of his name as "Day of God". The Ethiopic Book Of Enoch., Knibb, Michael A., Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978, repr. 1982.

19. Sariel, 'Command of God', is one of the archangels mainly from Judaic tradition. Other possible versions of his name are Suriel, Suriyel (in some Dead Sea Scrolls translations), Esdreel, Sahariel, Juriel, Seriel, Sauriel, Surya, Saraqael, Sarakiel, Jariel, Suruel, Surufel and Sourial. Suriel is sometimes identified with Ariel, Metatron, and Uriel. In 1 Enoch, he is one of the four 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.

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 Zazagel is credited also with giving Moses his knowledge).

According to the Book of Enoch, Sariel (same angel as archangel Saraqael (communicants of God) & Azrael (whom God helps) according to Al-Qur'an (angel of death, malaku I-mawati) 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**. Sariel specifically taught men about the course of the moon. Knibb's translation of the names of the Book of Enoch says it is possibly "light of God" or "moon of God" however he is listed as Araziel. His name is also listed as Arazyal and Asaradel in some 1 Enoch translations. 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.

"Sariel" Artwork:  http://www.elfwood.com/art/a/n/andreak/sariel.jpg

Judaic-Christian texts say Sariel is the angel of death attributed to the fifth angel Apollyon. Some Enoch translations for Sariel use Arazyal/Araziel/Asaradel which in its anglo translation sounds very similar to Azrael. If Azrael is the same as Sariel he is one of the four Islamic angels in conjunction with Mikhail, Djibril, and Israfil. The name Azrael is listed in Muslim and Islamic theology as the angel of death "forever writing in a large book and forever erasing what he writes: what he writes is the birth of man, what he erases is the name of the man at death". We also see parallels in Rabbinical lore for Sammael, Falasha for Suriel, and Azrael in the Arabic.

Sariel is identified as being the same angel as Saraqael, said in the Book of Enoch to be the fifth archangel, set over spirits who sin in the spirit, change into all virtues, to eradicate particularly widespread vices of a city or a whole district and transform into all virtues. Before the identification of Sariel/Saraqael as the fifth archangel, however, the Book of Enoch identifies Sariel as one of the fallen host's "chiefs of tens."

And those are the 20 fallen angels.

**Note the interesting variation on the fallen angels ... the Book of Enoch said nothing about "leading men astray", only about lusting after women who were "unclean", and then teaching the women (their wives) those special skills; and teaching about the moon almost sounds like the earliest form of Dianic witchcraft. I don’t know where that variant now involving men came from, but it sounds like sleeping with "unclean women" and teaching them cool stuff wasn’t enough for the men who passed along the written stories; they had to throw the whiny "we were led astray!" in later versions to show how bad those darn angels REALLY were. Riiiiight.

Sariel is an excellent example of why christians can never be trusted as a source on angelic beings: is he a bad guy or a good guy? Is he a fallen angel or an archangel?

And again, the reasons as to why they were categorized as demons in the first place had everything to do with the uncleanliness and filth of women and nothing to do with the angelic beings themselves. So you’d think at some point, this would be noted and discarded as a solid reason for something being evil, but ... women are STILL filth in the judeo-christian-islamic world, no matter how polite a veneer they all try to slap all over it, so there you go.

Seven more days until the next full moon, on the 25^th of February.  This one is called the Full Snow Moon.  One guess as to why!