Raziel: The Archangel Of Secrets & Mysteries: Angels Of Jewish Lore (Part 11): Angelology

Raziel, the angel of proclamation, the chief of the supreme mysteries, the reputed author of the famous Sefer Raziel. The angel of wisdom, the guard of the last gate of heaven, the explainer of the Torah's divine wisdom. He is one of the ruling princes of the second heaven and of the Arelim or the order of thrones, he is one of the ten angels of the Breatic world, and the Qabbalistic Safira calls him the Kokhma of the Safira, the wisdom of the Sephiroth. The name Raziel means the secrets of the Lord, thus his angelic duty is as the transmitter of heavenly secrets. Raziel is said to be the pseudographical author of the mystical book of angel Raziel. In the legends of how the book came to be, they say Raziel had originally inscribed the book on a sapphire stone. A copy was given to the seraph and then to the first man, Adam. But the angels, angry that a book of magic containing the secrets and formulas on how to constrain and compel them, would fall into the hands of a man who is a lesser being, the angels descended from the heavens and stole their book back from Adam. But since they didn't need it, as they had absorbed all its knowledge, they threw the book into the deep sea and ensured it rested at the bottom, where no man could find it. Some say the Lord sent Raphael to retrieve it, some say it was Angel Rehab who retrieved it, and some say it was the sea demon Cunospastan who brought it up to the surface. In the testament of Solomon, Cunospastan is a horse-like demon of the deep seas. The book was then given to Enoch and it became one of the sources for his supposed book called the book of Enoch. From Enoch, the book was passed down to Noah to protect him from the flood, for it was from the book that Noah gained the knowledge of how to build the ark which saved him and his family from the flood. Long after the time of Noah, the book would come in the possession of King Solomon as a gift from a Babylonian prince. Going on forward, the book would be translated in a number of versions, especially by the author, Eliezer Worms, and to some extent, the writer, Cornelius Agrippa. Ratziel knows the names of the seasons and the names of the angels ruling every season, every month, and every day. He knows every spirit or angel ministering over every sign of the zodiac and of the planets. He knows the secret names and letters of the Lord. And all these, he gives in his book. As an angel of proclamation, Ratziel is said to have been the angel who proclaimed the birth of Christ when he led a choir of angels in singing the famous song, Hark, a Herald Angel Sings. Thus, with his right hand raised in benediction and his wings outstretched, he is the symbol of the nativity of Christ.