A Brief History of Angels & Magic
The Angel. A supreme, luminous being of divine light that carries out the will of God. They are messengers, helpers, guides, protectors, and they are present in all major forms of Western religion and mysticism.
Our relationship with angels long predates the birth of the religions we know as Abrahamic (Judaism, Christianity, Islam). A fragment from The Stela of Ur-Nammu depicts a winged angel filling the cup of the Sumerian king Ur-Nammu. Excavated from Southern Iraq in 1925, this ancient stela is known to be over 4000 years old (2300 BCE).
The fall of the Sumerians eventually gave rise to the Babylonians, who carried on this reverent relationship with our divine messengers. Dating back from 1800 to 1750 BCE, The Queen of the Night relief depicts a winged goddess-like figure flanked by 2 lions and 2 owls.
Before we thought of divinity as having a single source, such as God, we saw it expressed through natural phenomenon. Gods were seen in the sun, the moon, the rain, animals, trees, and rivers. They were a direct reflection of our relationship with the natural world.
The Sumerians developed our first forms of written language, laws, astronomy, mathematics, and science. With this development came a crucial turning point in the history of human consciousness: we began our journey of understanding the universe beyond our sensory perceptions.
As ancient humans noticed the patterns behind natural phenomena, a connection formed between them. A Great Emergence from which all things emerge. This is God, and this is also where angels began to materialize.
Angels carry the remnants of the gods of the ancient polytheistic religions, but they are not the same. They preside over our world, yet they carry out the will of God. The Hebrew for angel malach means messenger.
Despite all of the disagreements on the concept of God itself, all major western religious traditions agree on the existence of these angelic entities. They serve not only as messengers from God, but as a bridge that links our divine nature to the Source.
Angels carry out the will of God, but they can also carry out our own will. This is the essence of Western magical practice. (Note: you will also see the term magick with a k, this was coined in the 20th century to separate it from stage magic and illusions)
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Ask and it will be given to you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it will be opened unto you. (Matthew 7:7)
Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. (Luke 17:21)
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Beneath the surface of our broader understood history of angels, is our relationship with them as mystical guides that we can interact with directly. Angels, in a sense, are the very mechanics of divine manifestation. They are the telephone line with which we can call upon God.
The wings and human-like qualities of angels are merely the mythological reflection of ourselves. While there is no singular answer to their true nature, we can understand angels as energetic beings, or perhaps intelligences. They exist as pure energy, at a vibration that is much closer to Source than our own.
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“Angels exist on a unique path of evolution and their mission is to collaborate with humans and other entities to create and preserve the universe.” (The Book of the Hidden Name, Maximus Tryannus Avery)
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A materialist or scientific lens cannot grasp at their true nature. It is like trying to grab the wind with your hands.
What we do know is that when we call upon these beings or energies, there is an answer. Knock and the door opens. Much like gravity, these energies exist whether we understand them or not.
The known methods by which we can communicate with these entities likely dates back to the Chaldeans, but are hard to definitively trace due to their occult nature. The very first laws of humankind forbid participation in the magical arts, so the historical record of such arts is scant to non-existent.
What these methods look like today is known as the tradition of Western Ceremonial Magick. Through understanding of energy and ritual, we can call upon angelic energies for spiritual sustenance, abundance, protection, and more.
By no means is this tradition of magic the only way by which work with angels can be done, but it is one of the ways that has been passed down to us by seekers and mages who came long before us.
Angels represent different aspects of the universe and the Self. There are angels that preside over elements, the zodiac, and the Kabbalah (tree of life). To frame this in our modern understanding of quantum physics and string theory, we are quantumly entangled with the energies of the universe. To invoke an angel is to pull on the string.
"[Angels] can transform the overwhelming and incredible power received from source so that we, in our mortal form, can make use of it in this plane. For example, in an electrical system, a transformer reduces electrical power to a level for safe use within your home to power electronic devices." (The Book of the Hidden Name, Maximus Tryannus Avery)
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The goal of communicating with these entities is ultimately spiritual sustenance and enlightenment, but they can be asked for assistance in practical matters as well. If you wish to explore this, please check out the suggested reading at the end of this article.
Through the power of angelic entities, we realize the power of ourselves. If the universe is a mirror, then angels are the light on the glass.
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I want to reiterate that this is only one means by which we can communicate with Divinity or higher vibrations or cosmic intelligence or whatever you may call it. Ceremonial Magick outlines a Western tradition, which has historically been lost and obscured due to persecution and destruction by the hands of prevailing authoritative control systems. It is thanks to the diligence and discretion of occultists that the information has reached our age.
But there are, for example, many better known Eastern practices by which Will can be made manifest and enlightenment attained. From meditation and ancient Yogic practices, to the equally ancient practice of I Ching, we have found no shortage of ways to communicate with divinity and exercise our Will.
No matter which road you walk, the goal is the same: Be Here Now.
Suggested Reading:
Ritual: An Essential Grimoire by Damien Echols and Lorri Davis
High Magick by Damien Echols
The Book of the Hidden Name Magick of The Shem Ha-Mephorash Angels by Maximus Tyrannus Avery