Rapheal Versus Michael: Battle for the Crown of the Sun

          My new forthcoming book includes conjurations and spells based around work with the planetary angels. The test team who tried out the conjurations had a few questions along the way. Two of them asked why Raphael was listed as the archangel of Sol instead of the archangel of Mercury. It’s a question that comes up routinely. Some magicians do it one way some the other way, and many of them don’t even realize it’s something that’s up for debate. Some magicians think there’s a hard-fast right or wrong on this one. Honestly, as much as I like thinking of stuff as having a right answer this is one where I recognize there’s a basis and reasons for each, and both correspondences work, because the angels are simply bigger than that.

          For magicians who don’t understand that the angels are not themselves the planets, nor are they the same as the gods with whom the planets are associated, this idea that both can be true might be harder. If someone thinks Michael is Sol is Apollo is Tifaret, or Michael is Mercury is Hermes is Hod then they need there to be a single answer because they need these persons to be discreetly one thing so they can support their view that the correspondence is identity. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, those that think that way just don’t get it. So, the angels are left to be bigger than that thinking.

          With that said, here is some of my thinking on the matter.

          Personally, I’m not super invested in the argument, I’m comfortable with Raphael associated with the Sun and Michael associated with Mercury because initially I learned it that way. The Golden Dawn correspondences do it that way. They also recognize that the two play a little switcheroo and so on a different level the Golden Dawn also swaps them.

          First and foremost, Raphael makes sense in the Sun for me because the Sun is to me the main source for healing. Think about the feeling of a warm spring day. It’s therapeutic. The Sun is the chief amongst the planets, it is the perfection – the completion; of the concept of a planet. Healing is not fixing a problem, healing is completing or perfecting a state. Healing is removing deficiencies by restoring balance and order to a system. This concept is related to the Sun and to Tifaret. The Sun does this in our cosmos, the solar nature of Gold is the expression of this in alchemy. In the Kabbalah this is the nature of Tifaret. Tifaret orders the spheres around it, it is the heart, and it transmits the rightness of divine light from the higher into the lower, ordering it into a balanced state. So if we’re talking the divine concept of healing we’re talking the Sun.

          Now some people think that Raphael as a healer belongs in Mercury because Mercury relates to medicine. There is a difference between medicine and healing. Doctors are often associated with Mercury but the patron of doctors was Asclepius, a son of Apollo. The work of healing is solar. Medicine is Mercurial. Apollonian concepts are echoed in the rulership of Mercury. Apollo rules oracles, Mercury rules tools of divination. Mercury introduces himself to the world by stealing his big brother Apollo’s cattle, he is rewarded by taking rulership of those things with which Apollo is finished. This is not to belittle Mercury. Mercury is wonderous. Medicine as a tool of Mercury is his because it is a form of knowledge. It is the knowledge of technology used to facilitate healing. It is not the same as healing itself.

          So why would Michael belong in the sphere of the Sun? Michael is the likeness of God, and the Sun is the cosmic likeness of God. Michael is the general that commands the angels, just as the Sun commands the planets.

          One of the people who asked me suggested that Michael seems Martial rather than Solar or Mercurial. That actually makes a lot of sense. Sometimes I think Gabriel would make sense associated with Mars based on his name, but we associate Gabriel with the Moon. Gabriel is God’s herald or messenger so that would make sense in Mercury. For Michael, Michael is again God’s general. He is the archistrategos, or the high strategist of the divine host. Being a strategist may make sense in Mercury because it has to do with knowledge, analysis, planning, and communicating commands and plans. If we take it simply as an expression of military power then Michael begins to make sense in Mars. If we view Michael as the warrior who casts down the enemy then Michael makes sense for Mercury. If we view Michael in connection with the Maioral and as the scourge and the sun bathed sword who casts back the darkness at the dawn, then he simultaneously is Martial, the force of war and strength that commands away the devils, and Solar, the rising Sun that pushes out the darkness.

          So how is Michael Mercurial? Again, Mercury takes on attributes related to Apollo. Michael is God’s likeness, so he takes on attributes like unto God. Michael is one of the many angels who is a Prince of the Presence. These angels appear to mankind and represent God or speak on God’s behalf because mankind can’t receive God directly. They are messengers of the highest order. Again, as the high strategist, he plans, he communicates plans, he analyzes threats, all of these being intellectual elements. The Princes of the Presence are, in some cases, associated with writing the decrees of Heaven, and thus again this is a Mercurial function. Michael defeats Satan, this is Martial right? Well…are we talking Christianity or Judaism? In Christianity sure, it’s Martial. In Judaism it’s different. Satan is not a person, Satan is a title which refers to a group of angels, the Satanim, who at time, but not always are led by Sataniel. These are not the evil angels, those are led by Shemyaza and Mastema, although Mastema is also one of the Satanim. Of the Satanim, Samael, who at times is linked to Mars and other times to Saturn, is often considered to be the equivalent of the Christian Satan, the chief opposer. Samael is the Prince of Rome and with Rome as a special enemy of Israel Samael’s job is to present the evils of Israel in the divine court and call for their persecution. Michael is the Prince of Israel and his job is to speak of Israel’s righteousness and glory and counter the message of Samael, so much so that all the evil deeds Samael calls to be written of Israel are burned while Michael’s proclamations are written. This is a very Mercurial way of defeating Satan. In fact, it’s not just speaking and writing, it’s legalistic. Michael is the defense attorney for Israel acting in the divine court on their behalf. While law and legalism and court victories are associated with Venus, lawyers are associated with Mercury.

          Michael is abundantly Mercurial. So, what about Raphael? What’s Mercurial about Raphael? Well honestly, not much. Again, Raphael relates to healing, which is Solar, not to medicine, which is Mercurial. If we equate healing and medicine then sure we can associate Raphael with Mercury, but there isn’t much other reason. Mercury has a vast array of rulerships and elements, but Raphael only really shows up in a story about healing someone.

          Again, different books present it differently. Different magicians approach it differently. You can probably learn different things about the Sun and different things about Mercury calling each angel for each. The big thing though is people aren’t correspondences. You and I each relate to many, many different things and have a whole depth to the complex of elements which form our characters. Non-human persons are often like this too, particularly the lofty complex and powerful ones. Gods, angels, and demons aren’t simply a row within a column in 777. They are bigger and deeper. We have to approach them as such and learn from them their vastness.

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Angels of Emergency Response: The Reality of Magical Solutions

Sometimes when life throws crazy shit at us we don't think to use magic. For prolonged problems, sure, people will turn to magic. But I've also seen people so entrenched in their problem that they don't consider magic until things get way out of hand. People seem even less likely to turn to magic when something sudden and awful happens. You worry, you get scared you think of more effective, real world grounded solutions. But as you become more engaged in magic magic should become an effective, real world, grounded solution.

Like anything we encounter, it will depend on the specific situation. If someone is trying to harm you standing your ground and "shielding" is probably not a good option (if one assumes shielding even has any reality to it). But if you're hiding from someone maybe calling spirits to misdirect them or make you "invisible" is a reasonable way to bolster your efforts to hide. Calling on a martial spirit as you begin to investigate car troubles might make sense. Bewitching an abuser mid-abuse may require a presence of mind the would be too difficult in such a moment. Reality. Magic is real, and like all other tools our use of it should be based on the reality of our capabilities and the reality of the situation.

Skipping magic as a solution because it doesn't feel real, or using magic in an untenable situation because of fantasy ideas or just because you like the good feels are similarly problematic. Both undercut your ability to function as a magician.

These thoughts came up regarding a recent situation that popped up for me.

Two weeks ago I was at work and got a call from my sister. At first I ignored it, I mean who takes calls from their baby sister when they can be planning huge financial movements for clients (or just chatting with work bros about NSFW stuff, that is way more likely). But then I realized my sister doesn't usually call, so it could be an emergency. Sure enough I checked my phone to find a text message "Mom cut her fingers on the electric hedgetrimmers, I'm taking her to the emergency room." I quickly called my sister for more info but she didn't know anymore.

My mother is already pretty dependent on me and has a handful of problems we're already managing. The potential loss of a finger, infection, keeping the finger but with nerve damage or loss of the finger tip, the emotional toll, all of these things swirl in my head, along with thoughts of medical costs and the near impossible task of trying to keep my mom from compounding her injury with house work. So while at my desk at work, I let out a sigh, drew the seal of the Sun from the Heptameron, and wrote Raphael in Hebrew on the back of my business card then conjured Raphael.

About and hour and a half later my sister was at my office with my mom, they were on their way to get an antibiotic. It should have taken my sister about twenty minutes to get to my mom, twenty minutes to the doctor and thirty to me, so she got seen pretty much right away and was treated fast. Ended up not needing an emergency room. Doctor said she was lucky she didn't lose the final digits on her index and middle fingers, she also managed to avoid nerve damage and avoided cutting the tendons. They gave her a shot, prescribed and antibiotic and she was on her way. By the end of the day she could move her fingers again and she had the feeling back in her fingers but without much pain. Two weeks out she's basically better, since she normally heals slowly, and since she grabbed the blades as the trimmer turned on, all in all her lack of injury and swift recovery is pretty impressive. I was fearing major medical bills and on going treatment and problems, but in the end all it cost me $50 for an antibiotic and a sprinkling of red sandal and Abramelin incense that I burned in thanks to Raphael.

Maybe Raphael had no impact and  she would have been fine either way, but we can never know what would have been if we didn't do something. Either way I'm glad, both for my mother's well being and for my own lack of stress that my first thought was "Ok, well I know an angel I can ask for help."

Easier Than Not Sinning AKA The Reset Button

Recently I have been focusing my practical work around methods based in the Merkavah and Hekhalot materials. Some of this has been new rituals with a Merkavah flavor, some of it has been based on practices described in magical texts from that tradition.

An element of the tradition is that it has a very heavy focus on ritual purity with a view that mankind by his nature is "friggin gross" in the eyes of the angels. Lots of traditions of spirit work have rules about how to prepare but the sages of the Merkavah had a serious fixation thereon. Stories of angels being offended by the natural putrescence that they view l'eau des homme to be abound. My favorite example is one in which the angel shows up, he insults on of the great sages of the period, who has done more than a month of fasting and praying to prepare. He then tells the sage to undergo another forty days of ritual cleansing...not to prepare him to call the angel he wants...but to prepare him to receive instructions on how to purify himself so he can call the angel.

These angels take this shit seriously.

For most rituals I find a little naked time (read as stripping off the mundane), splashing on some holy water, saying some prayers, and tossing on my clerical robe to be sufficient.

Sometimes if it's more major I'll throw in a reverse confession. Or I'll mimic the confession burning from the Abramelin or use some materia I've put together based on that.

But, with the Merkavah angels, some of them are pretty specifically fixated on sin. More so than the others.

I did some work with the angels of the second heaven recently. The outcome was important to me. So I wanted to make sure to do it right.

Unfortunately in the text I was using, the angels of the second heaven are described mostly on the basis of condemning impurity. Sometimes...I like to have fun...and can be...a little...impure, but only a little, and only sometimes (read as most of the time).

I tried working with them with a regular ritual and they were not too responsive.

So I needed a new plan. A plan to get pure fast. Clearly there is not an instant spiritual detox at the record store. Calling my fellow clergy for absolution would be confusing and awkward. Who else did I know who could facilitate my expiation?

I happened to be doing some work with Raphael earlier that evening and realized he could straighten me out.

As I'm sure you're aware Raphael is the archangel of the Sun. So let's look at how that plays into this.

1. The Sun provides direction and spiritual gravitas. The idea of impurity in a ritual sense or of sin is that of losing direction and wandering towards less beneficial ends. Invoking the Sun reflects the assertion of direction on your being.

2. The Sun is splendor and beauty, so Raphael makes you seem all shiny and clean.

3. Raphael provides healing. Healing spiritually relates to balancing imbalances, removing impurities, and making the incomplete complete. All of this fits with correcting the impacts of missing your mark.

4. The sun is the planetary force most similar to the Philosophers Stone, which has the power to correct and elevate. Kabbalistically Tifaret is the bridge which transmits the light into the material world and aspiration into the spiritual world.

5. And most importantly the Sun is the part of you that makes you awesome. The Sun within your being is the you that is YOU. It is the part of you for whom the concept of sin or impurity can't exist. It is the road to the Throne, which the Merkavah is all about, it's the light that leads you home back to the knowledge that you weren't impure, you were divine the whole time.

So, Raphael is the perfect aid to call upon for your spiritual purity needs. He rules over your reset button. So when you feel like the sludge is weighing you down and clogging your valves hit reset, when you're worried that you're not fit for the work you're doing (even though you are) hit reset, when you need a little elevation, or balance, or direction, hit reset. The Sun is your magical reset button, and it's always at your disposal.