The archangels are the chief angels of the Abrahamic traditions (Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel and others), with the lists differing between Jewish, Christian and Islamic sources and between texts within each. Western esoteric practice assigns them to the sephiroth, the four directions, the elements and the planets. The number and the names vary considerably; only Michael and Gabriel are named in the Hebrew Bible.
Facts
Overview
- Entries in the Atlas
- 21
Origins
- Origin Period
- Second Temple Judaism: the named archangels appear in the later books of the Hebrew Bible and in the Jewish apocalyptic literature of roughly the third to the first century BCE. The elemental, planetary and sephirotic offices later attached to them are far younger. 1
- Place of Origin
- Judaea and the Hellenistic Jewish world. The elemental, planetary and sephirotic attributions are of Renaissance and modern Europe. 1
- Origin of the Name
- From the Greek archangelos, chief messenger. The word occurs twice in the New Testament, at 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and Jude 9, and has no equivalent in the Hebrew Bible. 2
Structure
- Structure
- Three attribution schemes group these figures: four elemental archangels of the quarters, seven planetary archangels of the classical planets, and ten sephirotic archangels of the Tree of Life. The same archangel can hold an office in more than one scheme. 3
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The Chief Angels of the Abrahamic Traditions
The archangels are the highest-named angels of Judaism, Christianity and Islam (Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel and others), who carry out the most significant of the divine errands: announcing, guarding, healing, bearing revelation. The lists differ between the three religions and between texts within each, and only a few names are common to all.
In the Christian celestial hierarchy the archangels are, strictly, the second-lowest of the nine ranks, but in popular and esoteric usage the word names the great princely angels regardless of rank, and it is in that broader sense that the category is used here.
From scripture to ceremonial magic
The named archangels are drawn from scripture and from the wider religious literature, Michael and Gabriel appear in the Hebrew Bible and the Quran, Raphael and Uriel in works such as Tobit and 1 Enoch. Western esoteric practice then attached them to the elements, the planets and the sephiroth of the Tree of Life, giving each a colour, direction and correspondence.
The entries record each archangel's scriptural and traditional roles across the three religions, and note the elemental, planetary or sephirotic attributions the later magical tradition assigned. The archangels group by domain, elemental, planetary and sephirotic, reflecting those assignments.
Enter a year to compare these entries as the atlas records them at that moment. Leave it empty for the present. A year before the common era is entered with a minus sign, so 44 BCE is minus 44.
Elemental Archangels
4
Planetary Archangels
7
Sephirotic Archangels
10