Origin 1050 to 1105
Imamiah is the 52nd of the seventy-two angels of the Shem ha-Mephorash, the divided Name of God. The seventy-two names are drawn from three consecutive verses of Exodus (14:19, 14:20, 14:21), each exactly seventy-two Hebrew letters long; taking verse 19 forward, verse 20 in reverse, and verse 21 forward one letter at a time yields seventy-two three-letter roots, and to each is added the suffix -IAH (YAH), invoking the aspect of God on the Pillar of Mercy. This angel governs 15 to 20 degrees of Sagittarius, the second decan of the sign, ruled in the Chaldean order by the Moon; in the Golden Dawn tarot this decan answers to the Nine of Wands. In the traditional arrangement of the Name it belongs to the choir of the Principalities under the archangel Haniel, the octad attributed to Netzach (Victory). Its sphere of influence is strength and resilience. The verse Psalm 7:17 is traditionally recited to invoke its aid.
Facts
Origins
Origin Period1050 to 1105 1Tradition: Rashi's commentary on the Babylonian Talmud Origin Period1150 to 1200 2Tradition: Sefer ha-Bahir Origin Period1270 to 1300 3Tradition: Zoharic Kabbalah Origin Period1517 4Tradition: De Arte Cabalistica (Johann Reuchlin, 1517) Place of OriginGerman Rhineland for Reuchlin's Latin treatment 5 Place of OriginNorthern France for Rashi's comment 5 Place of OriginProvence and Languedoc for the Bahir; Castile for the Zohar 5 Attributed Author / CompilerDerivation is Jewish and medieval; the angelology is Christian Kabbalah 4 Attributed Author / CompilerJohann Reuchlin (1455-1522), German Hebraist, De Arte Cabalistica, 1517 4 Attributed Author / CompilerNo author for the derivation 1 Attributed Author / CompilerRashi (d. 1105) describes the names as already marked out, not found 1 Attributed Author / CompilerTreats the seventy-two groups as angel names, adds -el/-yah suffixes 4 Origin of the NameConstructed from Exodus 14:19-21, each verse seventy-two letters 6 Origin of the NameNothing in Exodus prescribes this reading 6 Origin of the NameRead boustrophedon: forward, reversed, forward, one letter each 6 Origin of the NameShem ha-Mephorash first meant the Tetragrammaton, not seventy-two names 7 Origin of the NameTalmud discusses twelve- and forty-two-letter names, not this derivation 7 Attestation
Meaning in the Attesting SourceGives no angel a quality, degree span, psalm, planet or card 1Tradition: Rashi's commentary on the Babylonian Talmud Meaning in the Attesting SourceNames the three adjacent verses of Beshallach, and no more 1Tradition: Rashi's commentary on the Babylonian Talmud Meaning in the Attesting SourceQualities, degrees, psalms and zodiac signs are not in his list 4Tradition: De Arte Cabalistica (Johann Reuchlin, 1517) Meaning in the Attesting SourceRashi's comment on Sukkah 45a is the earliest clear description 1Tradition: Rashi's commentary on the Babylonian Talmud Meaning in the Attesting SourceReuchlin's list gives the names and the two pronounceable suffixes 4Tradition: De Arte Cabalistica (Johann Reuchlin, 1517) Status
Standing as a Comparative CategoryA modern system making claims scholarship never entertained; it never held scholarly standing 1 Derivation first attested by Rashi (d. 1105) Learn More
The Name and Its Place Among the Seventy-Two
Imamiah stands at number 52 of the seventy-two angels of the Shem ha-Mephorash, the "divided" or "explicit" Name of God. The seventy-two names are produced by an arithmetical procedure applied to three consecutive verses of the Exodus account of the crossing of the sea, Exodus 14:19, 14:20 and 14:21, each of which contains exactly seventy-two Hebrew letters.
Written out in three rows and read in alternating directions (the first verse forward, the second in reverse, the third forward), the letters yield seventy-two three-letter groups, and to each group is added a divine suffix, either -el ("God") or -yah (from the Tetragrammaton), to form the angelic name. In the zodiacal scheme each angel governs a five-degree "quinance" of the circle, since three hundred and sixty degrees divided by seventy-two is exactly five. Imamiah rules the segment from 15 to 20 degrees of Sagittarius. Each ten-degree decan holds two such quinances; as the second quinance of its decan, Imamiah is reckoned the ruler of the night.
Attribute, Planetary Ruler, and the Dating of the System
The influence traditionally ascribed to Imamiah is strength and resilience, and in the later planetary overlay its quinance is placed under Moon; the name is commonly paired with Psalm 7:17, a verse whose Hebrew letters are said to correspond to those of the angel. These correspondences are best dated honestly. The letter-counting technique that yields the names is medieval, discussed by commentators drawing on Rashi, but the systematic apparatus now printed alongside the seventy-two, the zodiacal quinances, the planetary sub-rulers, the paired Psalm verses and the fixed catalogue of "offices", is largely early-modern and modern. It was drawn together by Christian Kabbalists such as Athanasius Kircher in the seventeenth century, set out in French by Lazare Lenain in La Science Cabalistique (1823), and elaborated by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and by Aleister Crowley in 777 around the turn of the twentieth century. The scheme is presented here as a documented esoteric tradition, not as ancient scripture and not as a claim about angelic agency.
Connections
Corresponds To
Source The Golden Dawn: The Original Account of the Teachings, Rites, and Ceremonies of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, 6th editionIsrael Regardie
Opposed By
Thomas Rudd's arrangement pairs the demon of a given degree against the Shem ha-Mephorash angel of that same degree.
Source The Goetia of Dr Rudd (Harley MS 6482 and related manuscripts)Thomas Rudd
Originates in Language
Source The Hebrew Bible (Tanakh)Anonymous (multiple authors)
Sources
1. Rashi's commentary on the Babylonian Talmud
Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)Sukkah 45aQuote, Sukkah 45a
Ani vehu - it is the numerical count (gematria) of, Please, Lord (Psalms 118:25).
2. Sefer ha-Bahir (The Book of Illumination)
Anonymousthe sections working with the seventy-two-fold nameView the Source 3. The Zohar
4. De Arte Cabalistica (On the Art of Kabbalah)
Johann Reuchlin, Abaris Books, 1517the treatment of the seventy-two three-letter groups as the names of angelsView the Source 5. Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism
Gershom Scholem, Schocken Books, 1961the chapters on the Bahir and on the ZoharView the Source 6. The Hebrew Bible (Tanakh)
Anonymous (multiple authors)Exodus 14:19-21Quote, Exodus 14:19-21
The angel of God, who had been going ahead of the Israelite army, now moved and followed behind them; and the pillar of cloud shifted from in front of them and took up a place behind them, and it came between the army of the Egyptians and the army of Israel. Thus there was the cloud with the darkness, and it cast a spell upon the night, so that the one could not come near the other all through the night. Then Moses held out his arm over the sea and GOD drove back the sea with a strong east wind all that night, and turned the sea into dry ground. The waters were split,
7. The Babylonian Talmud
Anonymous (multiple authors), Soncino Press, 1935Kiddushin 71aQuote, Kiddushin 71a
Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: The forty-two-letter name of God may be transmitted only to one who is discreet, and humble, and stands at at least half his life, and does not get angry, and does not get drunk, and does not insist upon his rights but is willing to yield.
La Science Cabalistique
Lazare Lenain, Published by the author (Lazare Lenain), Amiens, 1823On the angel Imamiah and the seventy-two namesView the Source Liber 777
Aleister Crowley, Walter Scott, 1909Zodiacal quinance and correspondences of the Shem angelsView the Source The Golden Dawn: The Original Account of the Teachings, Rites, and Ceremonies of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, 6th edition
Israel Regardie, Llewellyn, 1989Corresponds To: Sagittarius, Sepher Sephiroth tables: the seventy-two angels of the Shemhamphorash with their zodiacal degreesView the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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