chaos that has come from sin or disharmony has made them upset and harsh in their judgment. The disciple Paul writes that Christ has gained ultimate rule over them by virtue of his sacrifice in conquering sin and death. (Romans 8:38; 1 Corinthians 15:24; Ephesians 1:21, 3:10, 6:12; Colossians 1:16, 2:10, 15) According to Milton in Paradise Lost (VI, p. 447), the Prince of the Choir of Principalities is Nisroch (“the great eagle”), considered by some to be a demon, continuing the idea that the Principalities are hostile. Of course, some of these descriptions reflect a fear of the angels in both humans and fallen angels.
• Archangels are the predominant type of angels mentioned in the Bible (some examples include Jude 1:9 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16). In Greek, “archangel” literally means “chief angel.” The archangels are God’s messengers to the people at critical times. (Tobit 12:6, 15; John 5:4; Revelation 12:7) The Prince of the archangels is none other than Metatron.
• The ninth choir is the Choir of Angels, which includes our personal guardian angels, who stand before the throne of God and present our petitions while also watching over us, less we stumble on our way to reunion with our Creator. The Prince of this choir is Phaleg, or Phalec, the governing spirit of Mars, often referred to as the “War Lord.” Phaleg’s signet is among the amulets and talismans worn for protection.
No biblical writer wrote as much about angels and their choirs as Paul. In fact, most of the Bible does not mention much about angels until Paul’s letters in the New Testament. In these we learn of the Principalities and Archangels and the names of several angels. Fortunately, there is so much literature beyond the Bible on angels that volumes could be written about the angels and their choirs. As I quoted earlier, Paul himself writes that before his ministry, he ascended (in his body or out of it, he was not sure) to the third heaven, into Paradise, and learned much of what he would subsequently write about.
A significant angel in Edgar Cayce’s volumes is Halaliel. In my search of angelic texts, I could not find any angel named Halaliel. However, it is common for angels to have many names. For example, Metatron has more than 100 other names! In one very strange Cayce reading (quoted below), I found that some in attendance believed that Cayce was correlating Halaliel with a most famous angel, Haniel, also known as Anael, Hanael, or Aniel. Haniel is an angel in Jewish angelology and is often included in lists as being one of the seven archangels. In this life reading given to an eight-year-old girl, Cayce was attempting to give this soul’s planetary sojourns when, according to Gladys Davis (Cayce’s stenographer), he paused for a long time. Here is her record of this reading:
As to the astrological sojourns, we find Venus with [long pause...] Haniel is rather the guide for the entity, for he is the overlord lord—making for experiences in the entity as of one delicate in its choices, making for a disposition tending towards that of finesse, making the most of all the associations; making friendships easily and drawing upon the force and power from those associations in a manner and way that even the entity itself will not—until it has passed through the experiences of making itself at-one with the greater developing force—understand as to how this is done.
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Haniel (meaning “grace of God”) is the angel of the month of December and is, according to A Theological Discourse of Angels, the “governor of Capricorn and Venus.” Haniel is the angel who carried Enoch from Earth to Heaven (Enoch did not die, but was “taken by God,” Genesis 5:24 and Hebrews 11:5). Haniel is compared with Ishtar, the Chaldean angel who rules Venus. He is an archangel and is listed among the ten holy sefirot.
Archangels of the Emanations (the Holy sefirot)
A sefira (plural, sefirot) is an original emanation of God’s holy being during the creation of the universe. In Kabbalah, there are ten holy and ten unholy sefiroth. The holy ones emanated from God’s right side, and the unholy from His left. Some writers compare the ten holy sefiroth to Plato’s powers or intelligences, and with the Gnostic’s aeons or light emanations.
As angels, the holy sefiroth are arranged in this order: Metatron (crown), Raziel (wisdom), Zaphkiel (understanding), Zadkiel (mercy), Kamael (might), Michael (beauty), Haniel (victory), Raphael (splendor), Gabriel (foundation), and Metatron (kingdom). Notice that Metatron is both the first and the last in this listing, which echoes Paul’s writing of the first Adam and the last Adam: “The first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.” (1 Corinthians 15:45) [Note: In some schools, Michael is Splendor and Raphael is Beauty, which does seem to fit better with the meaning of their respective names and roles.]
• Metatron (crown and kingdom) is called King of the Angels, Angel of the Covenant, Prince of the Presence, and the Lesser Yahweh (the Tetragrammaton, which is YHWH, the name of the Almighty Father in Heaven). Many believe this name reveals his role as the Logos, God’s primary expression into the creation. As the Logos, or “the Word” in the opening lines of John’s gospel, Metatron is the bridge between humanity and divinity. He is identified with Mercury, Hermes (Egyptian Thoth), Enoch, and several other key figures, all of which Cayce’s readings identify as incarnations of the Logos, the Messiah. There is even a Kabbalistic connection between Adam (before he sinned) and Metatron, a connection that Cayce’s readings also make. Kabbalah holds that Metatron was the guiding angel of Israel during the forty-year exodus in the wilderness searching for the Promised Land.
The origin of his strange name is unknown, and it is unusual among Hebrew names. Though difficult to give meaning to, some believe the name comes from the Latin metator, meaning “a measurer,” which would certainly fit with Hermes/Thoth, who measured the weight of every soul’s heart to see if it was light enough to enter the heavens, and then recorded the finding in the Scroll, or Book of Life. Metatron maintains “the Archives of Metatron.” In Jewish angelology, it was Metatron who stayed the hand of Abraham, keeping him from killing his son Isaac as a sacrificial offering to God. Metatron resides in the Seventh Heaven, the dwelling place of God. When evoked, he appears as a column of fire, his face as bright as the Sun. In the Zohar, he is “the rod of Moses,” from which comes life from one side and death from the other. Amazingly, Metatron is the Angel of Death while, at the same time, the Angel of Resurrection! The Zohar equates him with Adam before he sinned: pure, powerful, and always in the company of God. Curiously, Metatron is also considered to be the teacher of children who died prematurely.
• Raziel (wisdom) is the legendary author of Kabbalah’s The Book of the Angel (Sefer Raziel). His name means “Secret of God.” It is said that Noah learned how to build the ark by reading Raziel’s tome. Raziel is the Herald of Deity and Preceptor Angel of Adam. According to legend, Raziel’s great power is magic. In Targum Ecclesiastes (10, 20), the earliest commentary on the biblical Ecclesiastes, Raziel is the angel that was standing on Mount Horeb proclaiming the secrets to all humanity. In Kabbalah, he is the Chief of the Erelim. The Erelim are the Angels of Peace and are known to weep over destruction and death.
• Zaphkiel (understanding) is the governor of the planetary realm of Saturn. His name means “Knowledge of God.” He is Chief of the Order of Thrones and Ruler of the Order of Cherubim—the angels sent to guard the gates of Eden. Originally they were depicted as the bearers of God’s Throne, as the charioteers, and as powerful beings with four wings and four faces. Zaphkiel is also the Herald of Hell, bringing messages to those that have become lost and suffer in their sins.
• Zadkiel (mercy) is the Angel of Benevolence, Mercy, and Memory, and the Chief of the Order of Dominations. His name means “Righteousness of God.” He is ruler of the planetary realm of Jupiter. In the Zohar, Zadkiel joins with Zophiel (another name for Zaphkiel) when the archangel Michael goes to battle against the Angels of Darkness. In some lore and magical books, Zadkiel is the Regent of Hell, ruling over lost souls and sinners—as such, it is comforting to know that he is also
