The angel is a mystery, one that we have attempted to explain for more than two thousand years. The study of angels is vast and complex. Thousands of angels (and demons) are cited in lore and literature. However, contradictions abound concerning name spellings, functions, duties and identities. In fact, one can become submerged in minutiae about angels that does little to shed light on their true essence.
For The Encyclopedia of Angels I have chosen to cover angels by topic and experience. Many major angels and demons are listed by name and by group. Otherwise, the charactertistics, functions and nature of angels, and our beliefs about them and experiences with them, are covered under general subject headings and under biographical profiles of mystics, theologians, philosophers and others. I also compare angels to similar beings in nonWestern religions. The collection of these entries provides what I hope will be for the reader a fascinating journey into the evolution of the angel in Western thought. This evolution has been shaped largely by visionary experience. What we know about angels comes through our otherworldly contact with them.
My own interest in angels was sparked in the mid-1980s (before angels became the darling of the media), when I began having archetypal dreams that included a mysterious figure I identified as an angel. This figure served as a psychopomp in the reaches of inner space, leading me through a psychic transformation from one life stage of consciousness to another, which unfolded over time. Earlier in life, I had received no particular religious indoctrination about angels, and felt rather neutral about the question of their existence as portrayed in text and art. However, it was obvious to me that I was nonetheless tapping into an archetypal form that exists regardless of my own personal views. This was an ancient archetype, shaped by countless experiences, which in turn shaped beliefs, which revolved back to shape experience. And now this archetype was breaking through the unus mundus, the undifferentiated whole of the universe, in response to my own psychic need. I found that the more I accepted this angel, the more the archetype became energized in my life, expressing itself not only through dreams, but through inspiration, creativity, intuition and even visionary experience. In the ensuing years, I have found myself in the company of numerous angelic presences, each distinct.
Do I believe in angels? The answer must of course be yes, although even after years of study on the subject, I remain uncertain as to what exactly they are. I do not believe there are easy answers. Under the "Angel" entry, I have given the definition traditional to our mythology: "a supernatural being who mediates between God and mortals." Do they exist in their own right, in celestial realms that are closer to God? Perhaps so. Or, perhaps there is an energy, a vibration of love and light from the Godhead, which becomes an "angel" when it interacts with human consciousness, taking on a form that we can comprehend and integrate into our spiritual and cosmological outlooks. Perhaps it is our need for semi-divine messengers, for spiritual companions, protectors and guides, and for divine beauty in our own likeness, that draws to us what we call the angel. The world's mystical traditions teach oneness, that everything is part of everything else. Quantum physics tells us that there is no separation between object and observer, that we are inexorably bound up in what we think we merely observe. Consequently, we and the angels are part of each other; the angel can be seen as an expression of our higher self (and the demon as an expression of our lower nature). The dynamics between the two, high and low, are what psychic integration and spiritual growth are all about.
The angel is a profound mystery, as deep as the mystery of the soul, as limitless as the mystery of infinity and eternity. This is a puzzle we may never be able to solve, but our probing of the mystery yields endless permutations that deepen our insights into ourselves. The experience of an angel--an angelophany--is just as powerful today as it was for the visionary prophets of the Biblical era. The prophets were escorted to a state of consciousness called heaven and were given the word of God in the form of laws and moral codes. Today the epiphanies are more personal, but just as life-changing. Via the angel we glimpse the unknown, and we are encouraged to press on.
-- Rosemary Ellen Guiley
Annapolis, Maryland