Vendredi: Chthonian Histories

Alchemists of old would call upon the protection of angels when stepping into unknown territory. Believing that their art had a certain chthonian element to it, these men and women would often draw elaborate circles on the floors of their workrooms, place candles around the circle and call upon the Archangels of the Cardinal Directions to be with them and protect them as they strove to learn the mysteries of the Other World.

The overriding school of thought which has come down to us regarding which angel rules which direction is as follows:

Uriel in the North for Earth
Michael in the South for Fire
Gabriel in the West for Water
Raphael in the East for Air

Though there are other combinations and match-ups floating around out there, this makes the most sense given the Gabriel is most probably the only female Archangel. She was also the original "Angel of Death" and many early cultures believed that the Land of the Dead was somewhere "to the west."

Of course, those who dabbled in darker magicks picked up on this handy protection formula fairly quickly. Necromancers and other less savory types, not wanting to scare off the demon hoards they were trying to call up and manipulate, began utilizing a similar formula with devils in the place of angels. Thus we have a canon not only for protective angels but, almost counter intuitively, for protective demons as well.

Not surprisingly, however, there has never been any agreement on which demons rule which cardinal points. Those who practice the blacker arts appear to be much like politicians; they can't seem to agree on anything. That said, the two main schools of thought seem to jibe, at least somewhat.

In her book Dictionary of the Damned, Michelle Belanger gives some examples from Medieval and Renaissance Europe. Two seem almost matched. The Abramelin, for instance, gives the following list:

Ariton in the North
Amaimon in the South
Paimon in the West
Oriens in the East

Meanwhile, Agrippa tweaks this slightly with:

Egin in the North
Amaymon in the South
Paymon in the West
Urieus in the East

It is easy to make the argument that Paimon and Paymon, for instance, are probably the same demon to begin with. But who can say for certain? None of this sort of thing ever did men like Faust much good, after all.

Personally, I like the idea of protective angels at the four corners of my life. In fact, when things get bad - and they are truly bad indeed right now - I like to remember the lines of the Kate Bush song "Lily". Even if the positions of the angels are a little wonky in the song, it's an easy way to remind one's self to stay protected with the Divine, salt and fire. Vendredi heureux ~

Header: Three Archangels and Young Tobias by Filippino Lippi c 1485 via Wikimedia

Jeudi: Great Spirits

As the Nativity of the Christian God creeps ever closer, allow me to detour just a bit and discuss one of the very ancient players in the story of Jesus: the Archangel Gabriel.

Of course Gabriel is familiar as the winged trumpeter, announcer of not only the end of time but also the pregnancy of the Virgin Mary, in which case he is pictured holding a lily. But wait a minute. Did you say he?

In fact, if all the history and language are considered, little doubt can be left that Gabriel is the one and only female Archangel. She is the ruler of the Cherubim and the Governor of Eden, the angel most concerned with conception, birth and death. In the very early Christian texts as well as the Jewish texts which inspired them, she is herself the Angel of Death. It is she who snatches the protesting soul from Paradise, transports it to a woman’s womb and calms its anxiety until it is born nine months later, only to take it back home at the end of life.

Gabriel is best known as the Angel who appeared to Mary, announcing the birth of the Messiah. In this role as messenger she is often depicted carrying a lily which has been said to refer to the virgin conception. In fact, the lily was originally not Mary’s flower but Gabriel’s. It is through this connection that her original identity can be surmised.

The Semite word Gbri probably descended from the Sumerian word Ningbri which is now translated as Ninharsag, the goddess of birth, death and rebirth. The goddess’ vagina, which she gave to her husband each year that he might be reborn, became a goddess onto itself: Lilu. Lilu or Lilitu in turn became the servant of first Inanna and then the Babylonian Ishtar. She was the divine prostitute who brought men into the temple to share in the Love goddess’ favors. Lilu, the lily, became Lilith, the Canaanite first wife of Adam. As the story goes, Lilith rejected her husband and his God preferring equality in the desert to subjugation by men. First Gabriel and then Mary take up the lily and make it a symbol of the virginal aspect of the goddess. Mary is not frightened when she learns, through her offering of the lily, that Gabriel is a woman. As St. Jerome writes, Mary “… had never been greeted by a man before” and her fear of doing wrong is quelled by Gabriel’s chaste revelation.

Of course, no amount of scholarly discussion of ancient religions and their relationship to the modern Big Three will change the closed mind of a fundamentalist. But here, at my house, Gabriel holds a fleur-de-lis, symbol of the Maiden, the Mother and the Crone. Bénédictions lumineuses ~

Pictures: Archangel Gabriel from the Ghent Altarpiece by Jan van Eyck c 1432
Babylonian sculpture of Lilitu/Lilu