Notes for Thousand and First Night, V. 2.0...

The Magic of Maya - Illusion & Delusion
Posted on Wednesday, August 27 @ 11:50:25 EDT
Topic: Asian Mythologies
In a casual conversation with a Hindu co-. worker, I mention that I am thinking of doing a paper on mâyā. “Ahhhh, illusion, delusion,” he grins. I step back for a moment and think. Do I really understand the Hindu concept of maya? If maya only translates as illusion and disillusion, than why is there such a wealth of material written about the philosophical implications of maya in Indian culture? Early on in my studies, I discover a quote from Heinrich Zimmer, which truly puzzles me.
Therefore, in the symbolism of the myths, to dive into the water means to delve into the mystery of Maya; to quest after the ultimate secret of life. (Zimmer, Art 34)


What does Zimmer mean that to delve into maya is to quest for the ultimate secret of life? How can a word that merely translates to illusion and disillusion have such a profound impact on a culture, but also on the psyche that chooses to look deeper into its meaning? In the course of my contemplation, I am determined to examine the concept of maya, its linguistic origin, its philosophical meaning, its moral meaning, and finally, its meaning in my own life.

As in all good investigations, I begin by examining the roots of words. From my studies into the difficulties of the translations of Freud’s work, I am aware of the difficulty in translating concepts from one language to another. I look into Sanskrit dictionaries to discover the root of the word maya. Maya is derived from the root mā, the source of several derivations including to measure, to show, to build (Harper’s 188). This is a clue to a clearer translation. For there is nothing illusionary about the verbs measure, show, or build. All imply concreteness and substance. I compare that with the English definition of the word illusion:

1. An erroneous perception of reality or an erroneous concept or belief.

2. The condition of being deceived by a false perception or belief.

3. Something, such as a fantastic plan or desire, that causes an erroneous belief or perception.

4. Illusionism in art.

5. A fine transparent cloth, used for dresses or trimmings (Dictionary.com).

Erroneous. False. Fantastic. Transparent. None of these words convey any sense of substance or concreteness. Delusion is even worse, defined as a “false belief or opinion” (Dictionary.com). So, what is maya? Does one needs to ask what is reality in order to understand maya? Perhaps the only way a true understanding and definition of maya is achieved is by examining the Hindu philosophical concept of the structure of the universe.

Maya is the “mother of the universe,” (Shambhala 185), the generative cosmic force which Brahman uses to create the world of our awareness. “Maya is Existence”, writes Zimmer, “…the supreme power that generates and animates the display” (Art, 25). As the mother of the universe, Maya is the goddess Maya-Shakti-Devi, “…the creative joy of life: herself the beauty, the marvel, the enticement and seduction of the living world” (25). Not only does this goddess create the living universe, she also covers our perception of this universe with an ambiguity, a web, and a transparent fabric of consciousness that is the ego. The goddess Maya is the ultimate sense of duality, the belief of the consciousness that measures itself separately from the universal oneness that is Brahman.

Though Maya is a goddess, her source is still Brahman. Brahman is “holy power” and the crystallized form of the highest divine energy, (Zimmer, Phil 75-78). Brahman, the one source manifests all, including the gods, through his maya, his magic. Brahman is the ultimate reality according to the Upanishads:
Brahman, attributeless Reality Becomes the Lord of Love who casts his net Of appearance over the cosmos and rules It from within through his divine power. He was before creation; he will be After dissolution. He alone is. Those who know him become immortal. (Shvetashvatara Upanishad 3:1)
To know Brahman is to become immortal since Brahman is the source of the entire universe. To know Brahman is to cast aside the veil of maya and to see the truth: reality is God, says the old guru, “…the infinite, pure and real, boundless and beyond the pair of opposites, devoid of differentiating qualities and limiting distinctions” (Zimmer, Philosophy 21). To believe in maya is to believe in duality, the separation of self from the cosmic wholeness (Campbell 14). In this regard, maya is the barrier that we arrange between Brahman and ourselves. I go back to the root word ma and again think of measuring. When we believe in maya we measure off what is ourselves and what is the rest of the universe. Creating a separation from the oneness, we fall into maya’s trap. We become attached to the world of maya, attached to outcome and ego. We become attached to illusion and delusion, which is not maya but the outcome of our belief in maya. “Know him to be the supreme source of all”, teaches the Upanishads, “…He is far beyond the reach of the mind” (Shvetashvatara Upanishad 4:18). To move beyond the reach of the mind, into the unknowable is to experience the unity of self with the supreme source. This is to release our attachment to maya and to embrace oneness with Brahman.

In a very popular Hindu myth, the semi-divine ascetic, Nārada, demands to be taught the secret of the Divine Source’s Maya. Nārada plunges into the deep waters and comes out a girl who proceeds to live a full life until that life is destroyed. Plunging into the funeral pyre, Nārada returns to himself realizing that a lifetime has past in a moment. Was it real? Zimmer says of the story, that the individualized, temporary forms nourish us for a time, but they dissolve once again back into Brahman. It is the power of transformation that is the all-consuming womb of maya (Zimmer, Art 35). Nārada experiences this all-consuming womb, this power of transformation as he moves from life to life. Ultimately he learns that hiding through these transient forms, created by maya, is the true holy power that is Brahman. A similar event occurs in the Bhagavad-Gita. Krishna, the incarnation of Vishnu, removes for a moment the veil of maya from Arjuna’s eyes. Arjuna sees with divine sight the “Shape of the Infinite God” (Bhag 92). He cries out, “You are what is not, what is, and what transcends them” (95). Arjuna has seen the ultimate reality and that sight gives him the wisdom to go into battle. To know what is, what is not and what transcends both, is to give up attachment to the “the magic mirage of the universe” (Zimmer, Art 209). This is enlightenment.

Brahman, the holy power has the highest maya, the greatest magic. The Upanishads teach:

The Lord, who is the supreme magician, Brings forth out of himself all the scriptures, Oblations, sacrifices, spiritual disciplines, The past and present, the whole universe. Invisible through the magic of maya, He remains hidden in the hearts of all. (Shvetashvatara Upanishad 4:9)

Here again, is the correlation of maya with magic. Not the illusionary stage magic that most Westerners think of, but the original meaning of the word magic. Derived from the Indo-European root, magh, meaning to be able, to have power (Dictionary.com), magic is personal power. “This power is to be found everywhere and assumes many forms, many manifestations,” writes Zimmer (Phil 78). Each god, demi-god, demon, adept, and wise person has this magic, this maya. Hindu mythology is filled with stories of the gods or demons or enlightened men, using their maya to produce illusory effects, to change form, and to appear under deceiving masks.

Rama leans of the value of maya as he, Laksmana and their guru Viswamirtha, chant two mantras that ease the discomfort of the dried, hot desert, transforming the journey into a pleasant one; “…they felt as if they were wading through a cool stream with a southern summer breeze blowing in their faces” (Narayan 11). Mantras are magic formulas, something used to produce a vision or invoke the inner presence of a god (Zimmer, Art 140-141). A mantra is an instrument of magic, an instrument of maya. In the story, Rama does not fall victim to the vision. He realizes that the desert is still hot, though he no longer suffers from the heat. Perhaps what the mantra truly invokes for Rama and his brother is not the appearance of coolness, but the realization of the universal oneness in which this world’s experience really does not matter to the enlightened soul.

Further in the story, Rama is quick to see through the magic of the demoness Soorpanaka, when he realizes that “…she had only an appearance of quality…” (68). But when love enters the picture, both Rama and Sita fall victim to the magic, the maya of the demon, Marceecha. First, disguised as a golden deer, Marceecha lures Rama away from Sita. Rama is caught in his love for Sita and disregards the wisdom of Lakshmana who warns him that it may be just an illusion. Sita likewise falls victim to the magic tricks of Rama’s voice calling for help, though Lakshmana perceptively again warns of the illusion. The story is clear. When we are in love, we often fall for the magic, the illusion, disregarding the warnings of perception and wisdom in our lives. It is such tricks that often cause us to fulfill our dharma in life.

But is the maya of Marceecha, the deceitful magic used to lure, also a part of Brahman’s maya if in fact it is used to ensure that dharma is fulfilled? We cannot help but pass judgment on the maya of Marceecha, since the magic of demons in our own western thought, is always evil. But is the maya used to deceive an enemy evil, if the heroes and not the demons use it? Is maya ever good or evil? To answer such a question requires that we look once more at Hindu philosophy regarding attachment to outcome. “In the calm of self-surrender,” Krishna tells Arjuna, “you can free yourself from the bondage of virtue and vice during this life” (Bhag 41). How does one free themselves from attachment to the outcome of deeds? Unite with the heart of Brahman, instructs Krishna, and above all act without attachment. Become indifferent to the results of action (41). To a western culture, instilled with the concept of sin, this is an incomprehensible thought. But in Hindu philosophy, this is the way to discovering the true self, the Atman, what the Upanishads call the unitive state in which there is unity with the “one without second” or Brahman (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 3, 22-31). If one understands that all the world is the manifestation of Brahman’s maya and that this manifestation is part of a cycle that will include de-manifestation, then one’s only hold on life is the achievement of a state of union with Brahman. And in that state, there is no concept of virtue and vice, only dharma, the moral duty of caste.

The use of maya as a weapon is a prominent theme in the war between the Padavas and the Kurus. Early in the battle, the King of the Three Castles, Susarman casts a spell, which causes darkness and illusions to fall over Arjuna and Krishna. Arjuna becomes momentarily confused as to what is real and what is unreal. “But it is foolishness to fight Arjuna with illusion” (Buck 274). Arjuna counters with his own Naga mantra, sending an arrow into the sky. Thousand of serpents instantly surround and bind Susarman and his troops. A second arrow leaves Arjuna’s bow and Susarman and his troops yawn, instantly recovering their memories and seeing through the illusions. Susarman cries out, “Lord what is this war? Let me be blessed, I will go home” (275). He realizes that this war is not for him and he retreats, going home. This is a curious event in the story, its meaning far deeper than first appearances would discover. Arjuna’s first arrow that casts the spell, weaves the web of maya across Susarman and his followers. The second arrow from Arjuna’s bow withdraws the illusion, and also restores the enemy’s memories. Once the veil of maya has been withdrawn, Susarman and his followers clearly see their path. What does it mean that their memories are restored? This is unclear, but my conjecture is that in their memories, in all of our memories, there is the knowledge of the unity that is Brahman. The second arrow restores their memory of this connection as well as making them realized that they have been deluded. Susarman’s crying out, “what is this war,” reminds me of yet another passage in the Bhagavad-Gita. Krishna says,
The evil-doers Turn not toward me: These are deluded Sunk low among mortals Their judgment is lost In the maze of Maya, Until the heart Is human no longer: Changed within To the heart of a devil. (Bhag 72)
Ultimately, the actions of Arjuna’s arrows symbolically repeat the actions of Brahman, who creates the universe with maya and then withdraws it into oblivion. The lesson here is that all is temporary; nothing is permanently fixed. In the end, when maya is withdrawn, our memories of Brahman and the oneness of the universe are restored.

The use of deception in the major battle of the Mahabharata, causes confusion among western readers. To the western mind, it is imponderable that the noble Pandavas as well as the evil Kurus. use deceit and trickery in warfare. But this too is a concept of maya, the employment of what is called indrajāla, the art of conjuring or using deceptive tactics in warfare (Zimmer, Phil 123). This is the justification for Bhima’s deceit about the slaying of Drona’s son, Aswatthaman. While little is said of this incident in Buck’s translation and condensation of the Mahabharata, Zimmer quotes and then reflects on the Mahabharata’s teaching of the “crooked” way, a teaching that says that a king must used both the straight and crooked wisdoms when necessary. The teaching is from Bhisma to Yudhisthira who instructs, “Before practicing morality, wait until thou art strong” (Phil 124). This entire discussion justifies the use of deceit as a way of obtaining strength and victory in battle. As for the moral implications of such things, Bhisma tells Yudhisthira not to fear karma since “…no one has ever seen in this world what the fruits are of a good or of an evil deed” (124). Bhisma’s teachings reflect the teachings of Krishna to Arjuna in the Bhagavad-Gita. It is not the role of any being to attach to the outcome of one’s actions, but instead to perceive beyond the veil of maya to Brahman. Krishna says,
When the bonds are broken His illumined heart Beats in Brahman: His every action Is worship of Brahman: Can such acts bring evil? (Bhag 53).
If every action which results from following dharma and is detached from its outcome, is worship of Brahman, then how can maya, whether used to deceive or enlighten, be either good or evil? Perhaps the maya of the demons is just one more way that the dissolution of the universe is accomplished.

In course of researching and writing this paper, I came across a quote by Henrich Zimmer that truly puzzled me in terms of the importance of maya in Indian philosophy. Zimmer says:
Maya manifests its force through the rolling universe and evolving forms of individuals. To understand that secret, to know how it works, and to transcend, if possible, its cosmic spell- breaking outward through the layers of tangible and visible appearance and simultaneously inward through all the intellectual and emotional stratifications of the psyche – this is the pursuit conceived by Indian philosophy to be the primary, and finally undeniable human task (Phil 27).
I am beginning to understand. Maya is magic in the oldest explanation of the word, a tool to focus and direct the holy power which all of us, as part of Brahman, hold in some part. To elude the trap of maya is accept the reality of oneness with the universe, knowing that our hold on reality is what ultimately keeps us from unity with the divine holy power of Brahman. To understand the meaning of maya is to dig deep into the psyche, questioning our actions and our attachments to outcome. To pursue maya is to pursue the source of all things. This is the lifetime endeavor for any human, including myself.


Music exists in the realm beyond language, and so allows us to rise beyond consciousness and experience our connection to the Primordial Unity. Music is superior to all other arts in that it does not represent a phenomenon, but rather the "world will" itself.


Summary

The Birth of Tragedy is divided into twenty-five chapters and a forward. The first fifteen chapters deal with the nature of Greek Tragedy, which Nietzsche claims was born when the Apollonian worldview met the Dionysian. The last ten chapters use the Greek model to understand the state of modern culture, both its decline and its possible rebirth. The tone of the text is inspirational. Nietzsche often addresses the reader directly, saying at the end of chapter twenty, "Dare now to be tragic men, for ye shall be redeemed!" These kinds of exclamations make it more difficult to take his text seriously. However, if we look beyond the flowery words, we find some very interesting ideas. At the same time we confront Nietzsche's enormous bias, particularly when deciding when something is or is not "art." Nietzsche forms a very strict definition of art that excludes such things as subjective self-expression and the opera. Despite his criticisms of human culture, however, Nietzsche has great faith in the human soul and urges us to drop our Socratic pretenses and accept the culture of Dionysus again.

Nietzsche describes the state of Greek art before the influence of Dionysus as being naive, and concerned only with appearances. In this art conception, the observer was never truly united with art, as he remained always in quiet contemplation with it, never immersing himself. The appearances of Apollo were designed to shield man from the innate suffering of the world, and thus provide some relief and comfort.

Then came Dionysus, whose ecstatic revels first shocked the Apollonian man of Greek culture. In the end, however, it was only through one's immersion in the Dionysian essence of Primordial Unity that redemption from the suffering of the world could be achieved. In Dionysus, man found that his existence was not limited to his individual experiences alone, and thus a way was found to escape the fate of all men, which is death. As the Dionysian essence is eternal, one who connects with this essence finds a new source of life and hope. Nietzsche thus shows Dionysus to be an uplifting alternative to the salvation offered by Christianity, which demands that man renounce life on earth altogether and focus only on heaven. For, in order to achieve salvation through Dionysus, one must immerse oneself in life now.

However, while man can only find salvation in Dionysus, he requires Apollo to reveal the essence of Dionysus through his appearances. The chorus and actors of tragedy were representations, through which the essence of Dionysus was given voice to speak. Through them, man was able to experience the joys of redemption from worldly suffering. These Apollonian appearances also stood as a bulwark against the chaos of Dionysus, so that the viewer would be completely lost in Dionysian ecstasy. Nietzsche emphasizes that in real tragic art, the elements of Dionysus and Apollo were inextricably entwined. As words could never hope to delve into the depths of the Dionysian essence, music was the life of the tragic art form.

Music exists in the realm beyond language, and so allows us to rise beyond consciousness and experience our connection to the Primordial Unity. Music is superior to all other arts in that it does not represent a phenomenon, but rather the "world will" itself.

Nietzsche sees Euripides as the murderer of art, he who introduced the Socratic obsession with knowledge and ultimate trust in human thought into the theater. By focusing entirely on the individual, Euripides eliminated the musical element that is crucial to the Dionysian experience. Euripides threw Dionysus out of tragedy, and in doing so he destroyed the delicate balance between Dionysus and Apollo that is fundamental to art. In the second half of his essay, Nietzsche explores the modern ramifications of this shift in Greek thought. He argues that we are still living in the Alexandrian age of culture, which is now on its last legs. Science cannot explain the mysteries of the universe, he writes, and thanks to the work of Kant and Schopenhauer, we must now recognize this fact. The time is ripe for a rebirth of tragedy that will sweep away the dusty remains of Socratic culture. Nietzsche sees German music, Wagner in particular, as the beginning of this transformation. While German culture is decrepit, the German character is going strong, for it has an inkling of the primordial vitality flowing in its veins. Nietzsche has great hope for the coming age and has written this book to prepare us for it.

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Bacchus god of wine
Bacchantes and bacchanals

In classical antiquity ceremonies celebrating the wine god Dionysus or Bacchus were the scene of orgiastic rites. In a state of ecstasy the followers of the cult of Bacchus, known as Bacchantes, carried out the most heinous acts that included tearing wild animals limb from limb.

The painter dressed as Bacchus on a barrel, as portrayed by Philips Koninck, is in fact a later depiction of the Bacchus cult, which had its origins in ancient Greece. The worship of Bacchus as the god of wine was the subject of a number of seventeenth-century paintings.

Dionysus and Bacchus
Dionysus was born from the thigh of Zeus - the supreme ruler of the gods - having been sewn into it when his terrestrial mother Semele died in pregnancy. After his birth Dionysus, or Bacchus as he was also called in ancient Greece, was brought up by the nymphs who lived on the mythical Mount Nysa, where he spent his childhood and planted the first grapevine. On reaching adulthood he travelled through Asia Minor, the Middle East and the Mediterranean, teaching people the art of winegrowing. On the island of Naxos he encountered Ariadne - the daughter of the Cretan King Minos - whom he took for his wife. Dionysus was not only the god of wine, but also of fertility in general.

Ecstatic bacchantes
Chiefly associated with women, the worship of Dionysus or Bacchus took place every two years in the winter months, when the bacchantes took off to the mountains. Once beyond the reach of their men folk, they were inspired to ecstatic frenzy, drinking excessive quantities of wine and dancing wildly to the clashing of cymbals and the pounding of their long staffs. Dressed in flowing white robes, their hair hanging loose and a deer skin draped round their shoulders, they whirled in the dance with burning torches and poisonous serpents.
These orgiastic rites provided the theme of The Bacchae by the Greek tragic dramatist Euripides. The drama reaches its climax when the frenzied Theban Queen Agave tears her own son Pentheus to pieces. Although Euripides deliberately emphasised these events for dramatic effect, other sources reveal that at the pitch of their ecstasy the bacchantes were driven to acts of appalling savagery, which explains why the cult was suppressed by the Roman Senate.
An interest in the cult remained however. Jan van Neck’s large picture at the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden is a seventeenth-century variation of a bacchanal, although here the priestesses are offering a sacrifice not to Bacchus but to Pan, the god of woods. Even today a fascination for the Bacchic cult survives, recently reflected in the American writer Donna Tart’s highly successful book The Secret History (1992), which tells the story of four students who, under the influence of a zealous teacher and intoxicated by drink, drugs and sleeplessness, reenact Bacchic rites, which end in the murder of an innocent farmer.

Bacchus in art
From the Renaissance on, Bacchus and Bacchic feasts form a recurrent theme in Western art. The god himself is usually depicted as a slim youth crowned with a wreath of vineleaves or grapes, thus standing out from his retinue led by the old drunkard Silenus accompanied by satyrs - goat-footed, horned human figures. With his goat-like face and rough hairy hoofs, Pan the god of nature is also associated with the worship of Bacchus. Pan and satyrs, along with goats, personify sensual lust. In the seventeenth-century, representations of Bacchus were highly prized for their playful erotic character and were not regarded as obscene because of their reference to Greek mythology. Suggestive eroticism from classical antiquity was tolerated, as was nudity in pastoral pictures.

Innocent bacchanals
Bacchantes - depictions of priestesses of Bacchus, the god of the grape-vine - gave rise to bacchanals which portray feasts in honour of Bacchus in a more general way. Jan van Neck’s large picture in Dresden is a true bacchante complete with priestesses. These female devotees of Bacchus are missing in Putti and Satyr with a Goat by the same painter. Nonetheless all the figures - wood gods, putti, satyrs - are mythological and are seen riding on the goat of Lust or otherwise engaged in Bacchic rites. Depictions of satyrs and cloven-hoofed beasts setting upon innocent nymphs in woods were extremely popular in the seventeenth century, and examples are found in painted grisailles until the late eighteenth century.
The Bentvueghels, by contrast, did not reenact any specific Bacchic rites. They were simply ordinary seventeenth-century folk who banded together for merriment - a bacchanal, or drinking bout - in honour of the wine god Bacchus. In the seventeenth century the word bacchanal was used in a more general sense. A bacchanal of the gods refers to a banquet of the gods, and has little to do with ancient Bacchic rites.



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Orpheus
by James Hunter
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Orpheus was the son of Calliope and either Oeagrus or Apollo. He was the greatest musician and poet of Greek myth, whose songs could charm wild beasts and coax even rocks and trees into movement. He was one of the Argonauts, and when the Argo had to pass the island of the Sirens, it was Orpheus' music which prevented the crew from being lured to destruction.



When Orpheus' wife, Eurydice, was killed by the bite of a serpent, he went down to the underworld to bring her back. His songs were so beautiful that Hades finally agreed to allow Eurydice to return to the world of the living. However, Orpheus had to meet one condition: he must not look back as he was conducting her to the surface. Just before the pair reached the upper world, Orpheus looked back, and Eurydice slipped back into the netherworld once again.

Orpheus was inconsolable at this second loss of his wife. He spurned the company of women and kept apart from ordinary human activities. A group of Ciconian Maenads, female devotees of Dionysus, came upon him one day as he sat singing beneath a tree. They attacked him, throwing rocks, branches, and anything else that came to hand. However, Orpheus' music was so beautiful that it charmed even inanimate objects, and the missiles refused to strike him. Finally, the Maenads' attacked him with their own hands, and tore him to pieces. Orpheus' head floated down the river, still singing, and came to rest on the isle of Lesbos.

Orpheus was also reputed to be the founder of the Orphic religious cult.





Notes:

Cato. Cantos 1.31-108, 2.118-23;
Angel. Canto 2.13-51;
Casella. Canto 2.76-114;
Manfred. Canto 3.103-45;
Belacqua. Canto 4.97-135;
Buonconte da Montefeltro. Canto 5.85-129;
La Pia. Canto 5.130-6;
Purgatory;
Allegory. Canto 2.46-8

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Cato. Cantos 1.31-108, 2.118-23



In Sumerian Sumer (or Shumer, Sumeria, Shinar, native ki-en-gir) formed the southern part of Mesopotamia from the time of settlement by the Sumerians until the time of Babylonia. Sumerian cuneiform script may pre-date any other form of writing, and dates to no later than about 3500 BC.

Early History
The term "Sumerian" is actually an exonym , first applied by the Akkadians. The Sumerians described themselves as "the black-headed people" (sag-gi-ga) and called their land Ki-en-gi, "place of the civilized lords". The Akkadian word
..... Click the link for more information. and Akkadian
Akkad was a region of northern Mesopotamia, between Assyria to the northwest and Sumer to the south, for the period in ancient history before the time of Babylonia. Akkad was settled by people speaking the Akkadian language. Akkad is also an alternative name for Agade, a leading city of the region.

Babylonia was formed out of the combined territories of Akkad and Sumer, with the Akkadian language evolving to form the language of Babylonia and the Sumerian language falling into disuse.
..... Click the link for more information. (Babylonian Babylonia was an ancient state in Mesopotamia (in modern Iraq), combining the territories of Sumer and Akkad. Its capital was Babylon. The earliest mention of Babylon can be found in a tablet of the reign of Sargon of Akkad, dating back to around 2400 BC.


See also
Babylonia and Assyria
Babylonian law
Babylonian literature and science
Chronology of Babylonia and Assyria

..... Click the link for more information. and Assyrian For the ancient Mesopotamian kingdom, see Assyria.
Assyrians are the indigenous Nestorian Christians in northern Iraq - members of the Assyrian Church of the East - who read and write Aramaic, a Semitic language which is used in their religious observances. Locally also called Arameans, the Assyrians claim descent from the Assyrian nation that conquered ancient Syria, Israel and Mesopotamia in the 8th and 7th centuries BCE. As is the norm in such claims of being autochthonous, an unbroken historical connection cannot be proved. DNA research would be more suggestive if there were an ancient Assyrian example to provide a base point.
..... Click the link for more information. ) mythology Ereshkigal, wife of Nergal The name Nergal (or Nirgal or Nirgali) refers to a solar deity in Babylonia with the main seat of his cult at Kutha or Cuthah, represented by the mound of Tell-Ibrahim.

The importance of Kutha as a religious and at one time also as a political centre led to his surviving the tendency to concentrate the various sun-cults of Babylonia in Shamash. He becomes, however, the representative
..... Click the link for more information. , was the goddess of Hell For alternative meanings see Hell (disambiguation).


Hell is, according to many religious beliefs about the afterlife, a place of torment, of great weeping and gnashing of teeth. The English word 'hell' comes from Old English 'Hel', which originally referred to the goddess of the underworld.

In most religions' concept of hell, evildoers will suffer eternally in hell after their death or they will pay for their bad deeds in hell before reincarnations.
..... Click the link for more information. . She managed the destiny of those who were beyond the grave, in the Underworld For other meanings of the word "underworld" see Underworld (disambiguation)

In the study of mythology and religion, the underworld is a generic term, referring to any place to which newly-dead souls go.

See also: psychopomp.
Canto V
Goddess Kali Ma - Liberator of Souls - Destroyer of Negativity

The Goddess Kali Ma is the supreme feminine manifestation of compassion as she frees us from the prison of our own ego.
Discover the many other forms of the Goddess here.


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The name Kali derives from the Sanskrit root word Kal meaning time. Nothing escapes from time. Her Tibetan Buddhism counterpart is named Kala, a male figure. Of the Hindu goddesses, Goddess Kali Ma is the most misunderstood. The Encyclopedia Britannica is very mistaken in this quote, "Major Hindu goddess whose iconography, cult, and mythology commonly associate her with death, sexuality, violence, and, paradoxically in some of her later historical appearances, motherly love."

It is partially accurate to say the Goddess Kali Ma is a goddess of death. However, She brings the death of the ego as the delusional self-centered view of reality. Nowhere in the sriptures is She seen killing anything but demons nor is She associated exclusively with the process of human dying like Yama the Hindu god of death. Both Goddess Kali Ma and Shiva are said to inhabit cremation grounds and devotees often go to these places to meditate. The purpose is not to glorify death but to overcome the I-am-the-body idea. The cremation grounds reinforce the idea that the body is a temporary. Kali and Shiva are said to dwell in these places because it is our attachment to the body that gives rise to the ego. Kali and Shiva give liberation by dissolving the illusion of the ego. Thus we are the ever-existing I AM and not the impermanent body. This is emphasized by the scene in the cremation grounds.

Out of all the Devi forms, Kali is the most compassionate because She provides moksha or liberation to Her children. She is the counterpart of Shiva. They are the destroyers of unreality. When the ego sees Mother Kali it trembles with fear because the ego sees in Her its own eventual demise. An individual who is attached to his/her ego will not be able to receive the vision of Mother Kali and She will appear in a fear invoking or "wrathful" form. A mature soul who engages in spiritual practice to remove the illusion of the ego sees Mother Kali as very sweet, affectionate, and overflowing with incomprehensible love for Her children.

Ma Kali wears a garland made of 52 skulls and a skirt made of dismembered arms because the ego comes out of identification with the body. In fact, we are beings of spirit and not flesh. So liberation can only prevail when our attachment to the body comes to an end. Therefore, the skirt and garland are trophies worn by Her to represent the liberation of Her children from attachment to the finite body. In two of Her hands, She holds a sword and a freshly severed head that is dripping blood. This represents a great battle in which she defeated the demon Raktabija. Her black (or sometimes dark blue) skin represents the womb of the unmanifest from which all of creation is born and into which all of creation will eventually return. Goddess Kali Ma is depicted as standing on a white skinned Shiva who is lying beneath Her. His white skin is in contrast to Her black or sometimes dark blue skin. He is showing a blissful detached look on His face. Shiva is pure formless awareness sat-chit-ananda (being-consciousness-bliss) while She represents "form" eternally sustained by the underpinning of pure awareness.

Through ignorance of the story behind Goddess Kali Ma it is easy to misinterpret Her symbolism. In the same way one could say that Christianity is a religion of destruction, death, and cannibalism in which the followers drink the eat the flesh of Jesus and drink his blood. Of course, we know this is not the correct way to understand the communion sacrament.

Associating sexuality to Mother Kali is not founded in the traditional understanding of Her. In the Hindu stories, there is nothing that associates Her with sexuality. It is just the opposite. Kali is one of the few Goddesses who is celibate and practicing renunciation!

The idea that She is the goddess of death, sex and violence is simply not true. When we study the life of the great saint Ramakrishna or the great poet saint Ramprasad (both famous Kali worshippers), or listen to traditional Hindu devotional songs to Goddess Kali Ma, there is no suggestion of this death-sex-violence idea. This can also be substantiated by going to any of the Hindu websites such as www.hindunet.com and reading about Her. Anyone sincerely interested in Mother Kali should read the book Kali: The Black Goddess of Dakshineswar, by Elizabeth Harding. In addition, there is a beautiful traditional Kali temple in Laguna Beach, California which may be visited on-line at www.kalimandir.org. Goddess Kali Ma is the goddess of liberation or enlightenment.

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The book Soft Moon Shining by Ethan Walker III is a work of devotional poetry that revolves around God in the feminine form. Like Rumi, Hafiz and Ramprasad, Soft Moon Shining beautifully and effortlessly ferries the reader into the realm of the Divine on the ship of innocent love. It is an invitation to step into the heart of the Goddess - the all-pervading Divine Mother of the Universe. The Goddess is ready to shower Her love and affection on any who care to turn their gaze toward Her luminous heart.

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Second Circle of Hell: Lustful

Dante and Virgil descend into the second circle. At the gate to the circle stands Minos, son of Zeus and Europa, King of Crete, and known for his wisdom and judicial kings. His purpose is to appoint all that enter hell to what level of hell they must go. After strong words from Virgil, Minos allows them to pass.

In this level, all that sin in lust, or "those who make reason slave to appetite" (ln 37-38), are condemned. Such examples of this type of sin are Helen of Troy, Cleopatra, who loved men’s lusting, Achilles, who lost his life to love in combat, Paris, whose abduction of Helen ignited the Trojan War, and Tristan, a central figure of many medieval romances. Their punishment is an infernal storm that lashes at them with rage and punishment.

Dante feels pity for these sinners. He calls out to two, who are deemed by many critics to be Francesca and Paolo Malatesta. They were punished to this level because of Francesca’s love affair with Paolo. Francesca’s husband and Paolo’s brother Gianciotto slew them both after finding them in a amorous embrace. They tell their story to which he responds by fainting.

In this canto Dante continues the light imagery motif. This is he first time no light is expressed, as seen in lines 28, "I came to a place where no light shone at all." This is to signify that they are without any reason.


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Underworlds

Aboriginal mythology
Beralku
Akkadian mythology
Ereshkigal ruled in Hell, where she was queen. Ereshkigal was the only one who could pass judgement and give laws in her kingdom. Her main temples were at Kutha and Sippar Sippara (Zimbir in Sumerian, Sippar in Assyro-Babylonian) was an ancient Babylonian city on the east bank of the Euphrates, north of Babylon. It was divided into two quarters, "Sippar of the Sun-god" and "Sippar of the goddess Anunit," the former of which was discovered by Hormuzd Rassam in 1881 at Abu-Habba, 16 miles southeast of Bagdad.
Two other Sippars are mentioned in the inscriptions, one of them being "Sippar of Eden," which must have been an additional quarter of the city. It is possible that one of them should be identified with Agade or Akkad, the capital of the first Semitic Babylonian Empire.
..... Click the link for more information. .

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A stern, father-like figure, Cato of Utica (95-46 B.C.E.) was a Roman military leader and statesman. Dante describes Cato as having a long grizzled beard and graying hair falling down over his chest in two tresses; his face is illuminated by starlight (as if he were facing the sun). As the warden or guardian of the mountain of Purgatory, Cato performs a role somewhat similar to that of Charon in Hell. Dante seems to have assigned this prominent role to Cato because he so valued freedom that he gave his life for it (1.71-2): the historical Cato chose suicide over submission to tyranny after he was defeated (along with Pompey) in the civil war against Julius Caesar. Classical authors, including Cicero, Seneca, and Lucan, considered Cato the embodiment of moral and political rectitude. Virgil, for instance, presents Cato as one who gives laws to the righteous (Aen. 8.670). Based on this reputation, Cato was thought to possess in full the four cardinal (moral) virtues, symbolized here by the four "holy" stars lighting his face (1.37-9). Dante follows this legacy of praise for Cato, despite his status as a pagan suicide who opposed Caesar, by calling him in an earlier work the human being best suited to represent God (Convivio 4.28.15) and by now imagining his spiritual salvation (freed from Limbo at Christ's Harrowing of Hell) and divinely-ordained function in the afterlife.

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SAINT MICHAEL,
the Archangel,
defend us in battle,
be our defense against the wickedness
and snares of the devil.

May God rebuke him,
we humbly pray;
and do thou,
O Prince of the heavenly host,
by the power of God,
thrust into Hell Satan
and the other evil spirits
who prowl about the world
for the ruin of souls.
Amen.






St. Michael, the Archangel
Feastday: September 29
First defender of Jesus Christ in his Sacred Humanity and of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Mystery of the Incarnation.
Associated with the miracles manifesting the almighty power of God with the Blessed Virgin Mary . ( Daniel 10:12 ; 12:1 ; Apoc. 12:7 )
Patron of grocers, mariners, paratroopers, police, and sickness

Regardless of which major faith's angelic beings is being followed, Michael ranks as the highest of the host. With Gabriel, Michael is the only angel mentioned in the Bible. In the Aggadah, he is seen as the guardian of Israel. He is the head of all the great warring angels who do battle against evil. Michael is often depicted as winged and with unsheathed sword. In the Renaissance period, he is shown as young, strong, and handsome, wearing a splendid coat of mail and equipped with sword, shield and spear. His wings are generally conspicuous and very grand. He usually holds in his hand the scales of justice.

In Muslim lore, Michael's wings are said to be "the color of green emerald," and he is covered with "Saffron hairs, each of them containing a million faces and mouths and as many tongues which, in a million dialects, implore the pardon of Allah."

The name Michael signifies "Who is like to God?" and was the war cry of the angels in the battle fought in heaven against Satan and his followers. Holy Scripture describes St. Michael as "one of the chief princes," and as leader of the forces of heaven in their triumph over the powers of hell. He has been especially honored and invoked as patron and protector by the Church from the time of the Apostles. Although he is always called "the Archangel," the Greek Fathers and many others place him over all the Angels - as Prince of the Seraphim.

Michael is the protection Archangel, patron of policemen and bringer of the gift of patience. Angel of careers, courage, achievements, ambitions, motivation, and life tasks. He is the great prince charged to defend the people.

Legend tells that the Cherubim were formed from the tears Michael shed over the sins of the faithful.

God has created the Archangel Michael and put him in charge of nature, rain, snow, thunder, lightning, wind, and clouds. God has appointed a complete creation of angels to assist him and placed them under his command. These angels are countless and no-one other than God knows their number. God has given Michael power to see the entire span of the created universes at once, with no interference of other universes. He knows at all times where he has to send rain, wind, snow, and clouds without effort on his part. The angels who assist him range in size from the hugest size imaginable to man to that of the smallest species living on this earth. They fill the entire atmosphere of every star and planet in every universe. Their praise to God can be heard by the other angels, by prophets, by saints, and by young children.

Michael is the angel of mercy which is another name for rain in Arabic. He is created from the light of God's attribute al-Rahman, "the Merciful." He was never seen smiling after hell was created. He was created before Gabriel.

Archangel Michael is believed to have appeared to Moses as the fire in the burning bush, and to have rescued Daniel from the lions' den. To Christians, he's the angel who informed Mary of her approaching death.

Once upon a time, Gabriel and Michael visited the Prophet Muhammad, Peace be upon him. The latter had a toothstick in hand which he immediately handed to Gabriel, the angel who constantly brought him Revelation. Gabriel said: "O Muhammad! give it to the elder angel." The Prophet gave it to Michael.

The Prophet said: "God gave me two celestial assistants to help me deliver my Message: Gabriel and Michael." He used always to send for Gabriel and Michael concerning matters important to human beings.

The caller to prayer (muezzin) in the heavens is Gabriel and the prayer-leader (imam) is Michael. God created a house for Himself in Paradise (al-Bayt al-Ma`mur) to which the angels make pilgrimage every day five times. There, five prayer-services are held and every service is heralded by Gabriel and led by Michael. The angels all come with their lights and ornaments, their jewels and fragrances, chanting and praising God with their heavenly music. Some people on earth, especially children, are able to hear their voices. This sound gives them indescribable pleasure. Every angel chants and praises in a different language without clash or disharmony. All are pleading to God for mercy for human beings and asking Him to elevate the state of people so that they can hear and see these daily ceremonies. To reward the angels for their praise, for the sincerity of their intercession, and to show them the great extent of His mercy, God at every moment showers His mercy on human beings.

Until the time of the Prophet Noah the House of God existed on the face of the earth. People came from all over the world to walk ceremoniously around it the way pilgrims walk around the Ka`ba in Mecca today. When God set His face on sending the flood to drown the entire world, He ordered His angels to transport the Heavenly House up into the fourth heaven. It spands there until now with the angels walking continually around in solemn state. It was transformed into a Palace of Paradise. Its only remnant on earth is the Black Stone in the Holy Kaaba: it used to be white like the Palace it came from but has been clouded over blackened by the sins of mankind. It has been left on earth for the sake of remembrance. All who kiss it, it is as if they are kissing the right hand of God on earth.

In the Catholic Epistle of St. Jude: "When Michael phe Archangel, disputing with the devil, contended about the body of Moses", etc. St. Jude alludes to an ancient Jewish tradition of a dispute between Michael and Satan over the body of Moses, an account of which is also found in the apocryphal book on the assumption of Moses (Origen, "De principiis", III, 2, 2). St. Michael concealed the tomb of Moses; Satan, however, by disclosing it, tried to seduce the Jewish people to the sin of hero-worship. St. Michael also guards the body of Eve, according to the "Revelation of Moses" ("Apocryphal Gospels", etc., ed. A. Walker, Edinburgh, p. 647).

It was from early times the centre of the true cult of the holy angels, particularly of St. Michael. Tradition relates that St. Michael in the earliest ages caused a medicinal spring to spout at Chairotopa near Colossae, where all the sick who bathed there, invoking the Blessed Trinity and St. Michael, were cured.

The Christians of Egypt placed their life-giving river, the Nile under the protection of St. Michael; they adopted the Greek feast and kept it 12 November; on the twelfth of every month they celebrate a special commemoration of the archangel, but 12 June, whan the river commences to rise, they keep as a holiday of obligation the feast of St. Michael "for the rising of the Nile", euche eis ten symmetron anabasin ton potamion hydaton.
Chief among the angel-princes,appearing as such in the Old Testament books of Enoch and Daniel. In Revelations, it is Michael who leads an army of God's angels against Satan. He is an angel of repentance, mercy, and righteousness, appearing in Islamic, Jewish, and Christian "angelology". He is often depicted with a sword...
I HAVE SOME SUPER WICKED SHIT COOKING IN THE MIND.

St. Michael (8 Nov.), Feast day

The Archangel Michael, whose name means 'who is as God', is generally considered to be the foremost of the seven archangels and the leader of the Host of Heaven. He derives originally from the Chaldeans by who he was worshiped as something of a god. He is the chief of the order of virtues, Prince of the presence, angel of repentance, righteousness, mercy and sanctification: also ruler of the 4th Heaven, tutelary sar (angelic prince). He is the prince who defended the Israelites and later, it was claimed, the Christian Church, when as guardian he may be called on (sometimes with Gabriel) to defend church doors against the evil angels. According to the Book of Revelations, Michael and his angels' are described as fighting the dragon and his angels. Hence Michael is often shown fighting or overcoming a dragon armed with spear or sword as God's Warrior.

Michael is the spirit of the planet Mercury, Governor of the North and the element of Earth. He is ruler over Sunday and Thursday. He is the alchemy of motivation, activation and achievement.

Michael's candle colors are orange, white and gold. His color energies are orange, violet, white, crystal, gold, and brown.

Invoke Michael in the North for motivation and empowerment in your work. Call on him to protect you from day to day.

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Angels
(Latin angelus; Greek aggelos; from the Hebrew for "one going" or "one sent"; messenger). The word is used in Hebrew to denote indifferently either a divine or human messenger. The Septuagint renders it by aggelos which also has both significations. The Latin version, however, distinguishes the divine or spirit-messenger from the human, rendering the original in the one case by angelus and in the other by legatus or more generally by nuntius. In a few passages the Latin version is misleading, the word angelus being used where nuntius would have better expressed the meaning, e.g. Isaiah 18:2; 33:3, 6.

It is with the spirit-messenger alone that we are here concerned. We have to discuss

the meaning of the term in the Bible,
the offices of the angels,
the names assigned to the angels,
the distinction between good and evil spirits,
the divisions of the angelic choirs,
the question of angelic appearances, and
the development of the scriptural idea of angels.
The angels are represented throughout the Bible as a body of spiritual beings intermediate between God and men: "You have made him (man) a little less than the angels" (Psalm 8:6). They, equally with man, are created beings; "praise ye Him, all His angels: praise ye Him, all His hosts . . . for He spoke and they were made. He commanded and they were created" (Psalm 148:2, 5: Colossians 1:16, 17). That the angels were created was laid down in the Fourth Lateran Council (1215). The decree "Firmiter" against the Albigenses declared both the fact that they were created and that men were created after them. This decree was repeated by the Vatican Council, "Dei Filius". We mention it here because the words: "He that liveth for ever created all things together" (Ecclesiasticus 18:1) have been held to prove a simultaneous creation of all things; but it is generally conceded that "together" (simul) may here mean "equally", in the sense that all things were "alike" created. They are spirits; the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews says: "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent to minister to them who shall receive the inheritance of salvation?" (Heb. i, 14).

Attendants at God's throne

It is as messengers that they most often figure in the Bible, but, as St. Augustine, and after him St. Gregory, expresses it: angelus est nomen officii ("angel is the name of the office") and expresses neither their essential nature nor their essential function, viz.: that of attendants upon God's throne in that court of heaven of which Daniel has left us a vivid picture:


I behold till thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days sat: His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like clean wool: His throne like flames of fire: the wheels of it like a burning fire. A swift stream of fire issued forth from before Him: thousands of thousands ministered to Him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before Him: the judgment sat and the books were opened. (Daniel 7:9-10; cf. also Psalm 96:7; Psalm 102:20; Isaiah 6, etc.)
This function of the angelic host is expressed by the word "assistance" (Job, i, 6: ii, 1), and our Lord refers to it as their perpetual occupation (Matt., xviii, 10). More than once we are told of seven angels whose special function it is thus to "stand before God's throne" (Tob., xii, 15; Apoc., viii, 2-5). The same thought may be intended by "the angel of His presence" (Is., lxiii, 9) an expression which also occurs in the pseudo-epigraphical "Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs".

God's messengers to mankind

But these glimpses of life beyond the veil are only occasional. The angels of the Bible generally appear in the role of God's messengers to mankind. They are His instruments by whom He communicates His will to men, and in Jacob's vision they are depicted as ascending and descending the ladder which stretches from earth to heaven while the Eternal Father gazes upon the wanderer below. It was an angel who found Agar in the wilderness (Gen., xvi); angels drew Lot out of Sodom; an angel announces to Gideon that he is to save his people; an angel foretells the birth of Samson (Judges, xiii), and the angel Gabriel instructs Daniel (Dan., viii, 16), though he is not called an angel in either of these passages, but "the man Gabriel" (9:21). The same heavenly spirit announced the birth of St. John the Baptist and the Incarnation of the Redeemer, while tradition ascribes to him both the message to the shepherds (Luke, ii, 9), and the most glorious mission of all, that of strengthening the King of Angels in His Agony (Luke 22:43). The spiritual nature of the angels is manifested very clearly in the account which Zacharias gives of the revelations bestowed upon him by the ministry of an angel. The prophet depicts the angel as speaking "in him". He seems to imply that he was conscious of an interior voice which was not that of God but of His messenger. The Massoretic text, the Septuagint, and the Vulgate all agree in thus describing the communications made by the angel to the prophet. It is a pity that the "Revised Version" should, in apparent defiance of the above-named texts, obscure this trait by persistently giving the rendering: "the angel that talked with me: instead of "within me" (cf. Zach., i, 9, 13, 14; ii, 3; iv, 5; v, 10).

Such appearances of angels generally last only so long as the delivery of their message requires, but frequently their mission is prolonged, and they are represented as the constituted guardians of the nations at some particular crisis, e.g. during the Exodus (Exod., xiv, 19; Baruch, vi, 6). Similarly it is the common view of the Fathers that by "the prince of the Kingdom of the Persians" (Dan., x, 13; x, 21) we are to understand the angel to whom was entrusted the spiritual care of that kingdom, and we may perhaps see in the "man of Macedonia" who appeared to St. Paul at Troas, the guardian angel of that country (Acts. xvi, 9). The Septuagint (Deut., xxxii, 8), has preserved for us a fragment of information on this head, though it is difficult to gauge its exact meaning: "When the Most High divided the nations, when He scattered the children of Adam, He established the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God". How large a part the ministry of angels played, not merely in Hebrew theology, but in the religious ideas of other nations as well, appears from the expression "like to an angel of God". It is three times used of David (II K., xiv, 17, 20; xiv, 27) and once by Achis of Geth (I K., xxlx, 9). It is even applied by Esther to Assuerus (Esther, xv, 16), and St. Stephen's face is said to have looked "like the face of an angel" as he stood before the Sanhedrin (Acts, vi, 15).

Personal guardians

Throughout the Bible we find it repeatedly implied that each individual soul has its tutelary angel. Thus Abraham, when sending his steward to seek a wife for Isaac, says: "He will send His angel before thee" (Genesis 24:7). The words of the ninetieth Psalm which the devil quoted to our Lord (Matt., iv, 6) are well known, and Judith accounts for her heroic deed by saying: "As the Lord liveth, His angel hath been my keeper" (xiii, 20). These passages and many like them (Gen., xvi, 6-32; Osee, xii, 4; III K., xix, 5; Acts, xii, 7; Ps., xxxiii, 8), though they will not of themselves demonstrate the doctrine that every individual has his appointed guardian angel, receive their complement in our Saviour's words: "See that you despise not on of these little ones; for I say to you that their angels in Heaven always see the face of My Father Who is in Heaven" (Matt, xviii, 10), words which illustrate the remark of St. Augustine: "What lies hidden in the Old Testament, is made manifest in the New". Indeed, the book of Tobias seems intended to teach this truth more than any other, and St. Jerome in his commentary on the above words of our Lord says: "The dignity of a soul is so great, that each has a guardian angel from its birth." The general doctrine that the angels are our appointed guardians is considered to be a point of faith, but that each individual member of the human race has his own individual guardian angel is not of faith (de fide); the view has, however, such strong support from the Doctors of the Church that it would be rash to deny it (cf. St. Jerome, supra). Peter the Lombard (Sentences, lib. II, dist. xi) was inclined to think that one angel had charge of several individual human beings. St. Bernard's beautiful homilies (11-14) on the ninetieth Psalm breathe the spirit of the Church without however deciding the question. The Bible represents the angels not only as our guardians, but also as actually interceding for us. "The angel Raphael (Tob., xii, 12) says: "I offered thy prayer to the Lord" (cf. Job, v, 1 (Septuagint), and 33:23 (Vulgate); Apocalypse 8:4). The Catholic cult of the angels is thus thoroughly scriptural. Perhaps the earliest explicit declaration of it is to be found in St. Ambrose's words: "We should pray to the angels who are given to us as guardians" (De Viduis, ix); (cf. St. Aug., Contra Faustum, xx, 21). An undue cult of angels was reprobated by St. Paul (Col., ii, 18), and that such a tendency long remained in the same district is evidenced by Canon 35 of the Synod of Laodicea.

As Divine Agents Governing The World

The foregoing passages, especially those relating to the angels who have charge of various districts, enable us to understand the practically unanimous view of the Fathers that it is the angels who put into execution God's law regarding the physical world. The Semitic belief in genii and in spirits which cause good or evil is well known, and traces of it are to be found in the Bible. Thus the pestilence which devastated Israel for David's sin in numbering the people is attributed to an angel whom David is said to have actually seen (II K., xxiv, 15-17), and more explicitly, I Par., xxi, 14-18). Even the wind rustling in the tree-tops was regarded as an angel (II K., v, 23, 24; I Par., xiv, 14, 15). This is more explicitly stated with regard to the pool of Probatica (John, v, 1-4), though these is some doubt about the text; in that passage the disturbance of the water is said to be due to the periodic visits of an angel. The Semites clearly felt that all the orderly harmony of the universe, as well as interruptions of that harmony, were due to God as their originator, but were carried out by His ministers. This view is strongly marked in the "Book of Jubilees" where the heavenly host of good and evil angels is every interfering in the material universe. Maimonides (Directorium Perplexorum, iv and vi) is quoted by St. Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theol., I:1:3) as holding that the Bible frequently terms the powers of nature angels, since they manifest the omnipotence of God (cf. St. Jerome, In Mich., vi, 1, 2; P. L., iv, col. 1206).

Hierarchical organization

Though the angels who appear in the earlier works of the Old Testament are strangely impersonal and are overshadowed by the importance of the message they bring or the work they do, there are not wanting hints regarding the existence of certain ranks in the heavenly army.

After Adam's fall Paradise is guarded against our First Parents by cherubim who are clearly God's ministers, though nothing is said of their nature. Only once again do the cherubim figure in the Bible, viz., in Ezechiel's marvellous vision, where they are described at great length (Ezech., i), and are actually called cherub in Ezechiel, x. The Ark was guarded by two cherubim, but we are left to conjecture what they were like. It has been suggested with great probability that we have their counterpart in the winged bulls and lions guarding the Assyrian palaces, and also in the strange winged men with hawks' heads who are depicted on the walls of some of their buildings. The seraphim appear only in the vision of Isaias, vi, 6.

Mention has already been made of the mystic seven who stand before God, and we seem to have in them an indication of an inner cordon that surrounds the throne. The term archangel occurs only in St. Jude and I Thess., iv, 15; but St. Paul has furnished us with two other lists of names of the heavenly cohorts. He tells us (Ephes., i, 21) that Christ is raised up "above all principality, and power, and virtue, and dominion"; and, writing to the Colossians (i, 16), he says: "In Him were all things created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominations, or principalities or powers." It is to be noted that he uses two of these names of the powers of darkness when (ii, 15) he talks of Christ as "despoiling the principalities and powers . . . triumphing over them in Himself". And it is not a little remarkable that only two verses later he warns his readers not to be seduced into any "religion of angels". He seems to put his seal upon a certain lawful angelology, and at the same time to warn them against indulging superstition on the subject. We have a hint of such excesses in the Book of Enoch, wherein, as already stated, the angels play a quite disproportionate part. Similarly Josephus tells us (Be. Jud., II, viii, 7) that the Essenes had to take a vow to preserve the names of the angels.

We have already seen how (Daniel 10:12-21) various districts are allotted to various angels who are termed their princes, and the same feature reappears still more markedly in the Apocalyptic "angels of the seven churches", though it is impossible to decide what is the precise signification of the term. These seven Angels of the Churches are generally regarded as being the Bishops occupying these sees. St. Gregory Nazianzen in his address to the Bishops at Constantinople twice terms them "Angels", in the language of the Apocalypse.

The treatise "De Coelesti Hierarchia", which is ascribed to St. Denis the Areopagite, and which exercised so strong an influence upon the Scholastics, treats at great length of the hierarchies and orders of the angels. It is generally conceded that this work was not due to St. Denis, but must date some centuries later. Though the doctrine it contains regarding the choirs of angels has been received in the Church with extraordinary unanimity, no proposition touching the angelic hierarchies is binding on our faith. The following passages from St. Gregory the Great (Hom. 34, In Evang.) will give us a clear idea of the view of the Church's doctors on the point:


We know on the authority of Scripture that there are nine orders of angels, viz., Angels, Archangels, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Dominations, Throne, Cherubim and Seraphim. That there are Angels and Archangels nearly every page of the Bible tell us, and the books of the Prophets talk of Cherubim and Seraphim. St. Paul, too, writing to the Ephesians enumerates four orders when he says: 'above all Principality, and Power, and Virtue, and Domination'; and again, writing to the Colossians he says: 'whether Thrones, or Dominations, or Principalities, or Powers'. If we now join these two lists together we have five Orders, and adding Angels and Archangels, Cherubim and Seraphim, we find nine Orders of Angels.
St. Thomas (Summa Theologica I:108), following St. Denis (De Coelesti Hierarchia, vi, vii), divides the angels into three hierarchies each of which contains three orders. Their proximity to the Supreme Being serves as the basis of this divisio