Second Look

In the Middle Ages Angels were depicted as bringing messages, such as the birth of Christ. They were usually depicted as human-like beings, which huge wings, halos, and radiating white light.

Angels have been recognized by major religions as having a very important place in the overall plan of creation. The idea of Angels is significant in Judeo-Christian religious thought. In both the Old and New Testaments, angels are identified as belonging to specifically named groups, in a kind of celestial hierarchy, consisting of Nine Orders. Before the advent of Christianity, angels as messengers had their belief counterparts in Ancient Greece, where Hermes - (Thoth - Tehuti) was considered a messenger of God, and in Rome, where he was called Mercury. The Vikings also had a messenger God called Hermod.

As we prepare to return to a higher level of consciousness many people are connecting with Angels. Though they usually do not remain with one person exclusively, they can come to when you call them.

The Choir is the name used for the order of angels, a method of organization that proposes a kind of celestial hierarchy for the entire angelic realm. The term choirs is probably derived from one of the most central roles of all angels, the singing of praises to God so that all of heaven and Creation reverberate with the joyous sound. The inderlying principle of the angelic choirs is rooted in the metaphysical understanding of varying degrees of angelic perfection or the extent to which each order reflects the perfect light of God's illuminative love.

The Angels of creation are a group of seven angels who are said to have been in existence before Creation of the world. That angels may have been created before the birth of the world is attested to by this passage in Job (38). According to the Second Book of Enoch, a useful source for angelic lore, the seven angels reside in the sixth heaven.There remains, however, serious discussion among angelologists as to when God created the angels.

The ninth and final order of angels according to the organization of the celestial hierarchy as created by the sixth-century theologian Dionysius the Areopagite; the angels belong to the third and final triad of choirs, with the archangels and principalities, the primary focus of their existence being the caretakership of humanity and the world. While the lowest rank of all angelic beings-if one accepts the idea of a regulated angelic organization-angels are nevertheless members of the heavenly host and thus possess the profound and beautiful attributes given to them by their Creator. They are beings of pure spirituality and exist to fulfill the tasks given to them by God. Chief among these are to act as messengers of the Lord to the Earth and guardians of the human soul.

We are most familiar with the angel realms. Angels work most closely with humanity. There are angels for healing, illumination, creativity, nature, music, dance, writing and literature, protection, emotions, politics, science and technology, devotion, purity, information, salvation, environment, transformation, peace, art, relationships, ceremonial order and magic. All you have to do is call (invoke) them and they will come.

Also called tutelary angels, the well established and widely accepted belief that all people (as well as nations, cities, and churches) have a special angel who stays with them, watching over their lives and encouraging their spiritual well-being and happiness. Many deny that guardian angels could possibly exist, but others state, with the support of Scripture, theological writings, and common sense, that they do live, even if mortals forget or refuse to acknowledge their presense. The idea of the guardian angel is found in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and the roots of the belief date to the earliest times. St. Thomas Aquinas, one of history's foremost experts on angels, stated that all people have guardian angels. They remain with one throughout life, staying ever at one's side even during sin. They foster good works and help to direct the soul to salvation, but only if the soul is so inclined to be led.They cannot influence the will, but they do act upon the senses and project themselves upon the imagination and intellect, discouraging evil acts. According to Thomas, the angels remain even after death, standing with the soul in heaven; there, however, it does not encourage salvation, but assists in the glimpsing of the final brightness of eternal bliss. All guardian angels are taken from the lowest ranks of the celestial hierarchy, namely the choir of angels. ANGELS OF THE LAST JUDGMENT

The angels who are to appear at the Last Judgment, the final day, when all who have ever lived will be brought before the throne of God. The idea of the Last Judgment is especially prominent in Islamic and Christian lore. In the latter, the angel Israfel shall play a blast upon his mighty trumpet to awaken the slumbering dead. Some angels will be spared the effects of the first blasts, but after the third or fourth even they shall be destroyed by the Lord and the end of time will have descended upon all of creation. In the Christian tradition, the Second Coming of Christ will be announced not by Israfel, but by Gabriel, who will likewise sound an irresistible note upon his trumpet. Also prominent in the expected Day of Judgment is St. Michael the Archangel, captain of the hosts of the Lord, who will presumably have just led the heavenly hosts in their final triumph over Satan and the legions of darkness.

The Earthly Paradise that was the first abode of Adam and Eve until their expulsion from the garden, an event recorded in the Old Testament Book of Genesis. Deriving its name perhaps from the Sumerian word eden, meaning "plain" (or perhaps from a word denoting "pleasure"), Eden was supposedly located in the Near East, close to Israel, its precise locale narrowed by the position of four rivers that formed out of the river that flowed out of Eden and nourished the garden: the Pishon, the Gihon, the Trigris, and the Euphrates, rivers that would seem to place the garden in the fertile crescent. Attempts to locate the garden, however, have (not surprisingly) proven unsuccessful. Beyond the fearsome cherubim (listed often as Metatron or Jophiel), there are a number of associations between angels and the garden. For example, the famed archangel Raphael is said to be the angel responsible for guarding the tree of life; this angel was also named by John Dryden in his poem "State of Innocence, or the Fall of Man," as being the very angry angel who tossed Adam and Eve out of Paradise. In Paradise Lost by John Milton, however, this task was given to the archangel Michael.

The angel who is charged with the special protection and guardianship of Egypt. Ranked as one of the guardian angels of nations (see Guardian Angels), this angelic patron has been given various identifications, including Samael (a chief angel of the fallen angels), Mastema (the accusing angel), and Duma. The latter angel is most often considered the proper angel of Egypt. He was most vociferous in defense of his charges, going so far in legend as to empower the accomplished wizards of Egypt to perform the same feats of magic as Moses when the Lawgiver arrived at the court of the pharaoh and tried to impress him enough that the Israelites should be freed from their bondage (an event recorded in the Old Testament Book of Exodus). According to legend, recounted in Louis Ginzberg's The Legends of the Jews, the angel descended to the land of the Nile to give succor to his people upon departure of the Jews, stopping long enough to put a fright into the Israelites by an impressive demonstration in the air. As Jewish custom declares all the guardian angels of nations to have fallen (save, of course, for the ever-redoubtable St. Michael), the angel of Egypt joined denizens of the hoary netherworld; it is unclear whether the Lord ever appointed a successor.

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