Angels in Religion

Angels in Religion

Angels in Protestant Christianity

In Protestant Christianity, angels are messengers and carry out God's will but have less elaborate characteristics and less prominence than in Catholicism.  Angels are most important in their gospel role of ministering to Jesus and assisting the disciples.

Angelic Form
Angels are created as spiritual beings - not as humans.  They can take on a corporeal form if doing so will help them do their work on earth.  They are genderless and invisible.

Heavenly Intervention
They provide guidance and assurance to believers and pray for them in heaven.  John Calvin rejected the concept of guardian angels, saying, "All the angels watch over our salvation."  Not all angels are good however.  Satan, or Lucifer, the rebel angel, is a constant threat to unwary souls.

Important Angels
All biblical angels are important.  Most protestant theologians, however warn against the Catholic practice of praying to angels (which they view as idolatry) and the angel hierarchy of Catholicism because these traditions are not biblical and are not seen as having pagan roots.  The devil is prominent as the "ruler of this world" whom humanity must struggle to overcome.

Source: Big Book of Angels, by Editors of Beliefnet
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Angel Quote

My God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths and they have not hurt me, because i was found blameless before him.

Daniel 6:22

Daniel (8th Century B. C.), Explaining his survival to King Darius, who had thrown him into the lions' den. 

Angel Quote

I've been on the verge of being an angel all my life, but it hasn't happened yet.

Mark Twain, Autobiography

Angels in Different Religions

Archangel Michael, Vatican City

Angels in Catholicism

Angel Basics

Angels are intermediaries between God and humans.  In addition to their roles as servants and messengers, angels are also attendants to God's throne.  Catholic angelogy, formulated by St. Thomas Aquinas, outlines a complex hierarchy of nine choirs of angels divided into three groups: Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones; Dominions, Virtues, and Powers; Principalities, Archangels, and Angels.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church declares: "The existence of the spiritual, non-corporeal beings that Sacred Scripture usually calls 'Angels' is a true of faith'.  Angels have a huge role in Christian history - announcing Christ's birth, protecting Christ in the wilderness, and battling Satan in the Book of Revelation, and more.  Their most important function, however, is as attendants of God's throne.

Angelic Form

Angels are pure spirits and remain incorporeal forever.  Traditional Catholicism teachs that angels speak 'within' a person, not 'to' them, thereby maintaining their spiritual nature.

Heavenly Intervention

Each individual has his or her own guardian angel.  Guardian angels can intervene in human affairs to help people.  They can also influence people's senses and imaginations, but not their wills.  They remain with their charges even in heaven.  The Catechism states: "From infancy to death human life is surrounded by their watchful care and intercession."  Catholics pray to angels to ask for their help and intercession in human affairs.

Important Angels

Gabriel, Michael, and Raphael are archangels or chief angels.  Gabriel announces to Mary that she will give birth to the Son of God.  Michael's role includes fighting evil and Satan and rescuing the souls of the faithful at the hour of death.  He will be present at the time of the Antichrist and the end of the world.  Raphael appears only in the Apocryoha, as the angel who helped Tobias cure his father's blindness in the Book of Tobit.  The unnamed Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament is said by some to be the preincarnate of Christ.  Lucifer is the fallen archangel who, with one-third of angelic host, was cast out of heaven for the sin of pride.  He presides over hell and seeks to lure mankind to sin.



Source: The Big Book of Angels by Editors of Beliefnet

Divination and the Zodiac

GEMINI

Element: Air
Ruling Planet: Mercury
Quality: Mutable
Gender: Masculine
House: Third (Communication)

Angel Quote

 

One should not stand at the foot of a sick person's bed, because that place is reserved for the guardian angel.

-Jewish Folk Saying

Elemental Gods and Goddesses

Vayu

God of the winds. Hindu.  His consort is Anjana.  Also known as Pavana.  Period of worship began around 1700 B. C. and continues to the present day. 

He is depicted in sculptures and carvings in metal and stone and found in the literary sources such as the Vedic texts, including Rg Veda and is one of the most important deities of the Vedas.  He is depicted in some texts as a chariot driver for the god Agni. 

His color is dark blue.  He is depicted with an arrow, hook, prayer wheel, staff or water jar.

In the Elemental Angels Series, there is the elemental angel of wind using Vayu's alternate name, Pavana.

Angel Quote of the Week

As there is much beast and some devil in man, so is there some angel and some God in him.  

If a man is not rising upwards to be an angel, depend upon it, he is sinking downwards to be a devil.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834). 1 August 1831, Table Talk, 1835.

Angels in Different Religions

Judaism

Basics
Angels in Judaism, or malachim, are messengers of God who help carry out God's work and plans.

Form
Angels are purely spiritual beings who do not have a physical form though Maimonides, the great Jewish sage and biblical commentator, later wrote that physical descriptions of angels were metaphorical.

Intervention
According to Judaism, angels intervene in stores in the Torah (the first five books of the bible) as God's messengers, such as when an angel stops Abraham from sacrificing his son Isaac. There is also the famous story of Jacob wrestling with an angel.  But in general, angels initiate the communication from God, not vice versa.  There is no angel worship in Judaism, and Jews believe that is only God who determines what happens on earth - angels merely carry out god's will.

Important Angels
Traditionally, Michael is a guardian of the people of Israel.  He carries out God's mission of kindness.  Gabriel is the angel of judgment and strength.  Uriel is an angel who illumines the right path.  Rapheal is a healer.

Source: The Big Book of Angels by Editors of Beliefnet

Random Wiki Page!

 

Get to know a character from the Elemental Angel Series! 

Introducing the Angel of Cancer...
Check out Cancer's page on the Wiki.

http://elemental-angels.wikia.com/wiki/Cancer

Angel Quote

 The angels laughed.

God looked down from

his seventh heaven and smiled.

The angels spread their wings

and, together with Elijah

flew upward into the sky.


Isaac Bashevis Singer

Angel Quote

In this dim world of clouding cares.

We rarely know, til 'wildered eyes

See white wings lessening up the skies,

The angels with us unawares

Gerald Massey

Divination and the Zodiac

Cancer

Ruling Planet: Moon
Element: Water
Qualities: Cardinal Signs
Polarities: Aquarius
Gender: Feminine
Birth Dates: June 22 - July 22

Wiki Random Page!

Get to know a character from the Elemental Angel Series!  

Introducing Styx Australis...
Check out Styx's page on the Wiki.

http://elemental-angels.wikia.com/wiki/Styx

Angel Quote of the Week

When I ask the angels for answers 

to the human mystery, 

I find that they guide me 

to a sense of peace and 

comfort in my soul.  

The angels do this 

not by bringing me answers 

and intricate theories, 

but by bringing me 

creative ways of responding 

to life with light in my heart.  

- Terry Lynn Taylor, The Angel Experience.

Book Review Saturdays

         

Halo Trilogy by Alexandra Adornetto

This trilogy is definitely been on my to read list.  If nothing else the covers are exquisite and perfectly capture the mood and storyline of the books.  I could stare at them all day they're so eye catching!  I wanted to know more about the trilogy and what others thought about it so I looked up some reviews for book 1.  One good review and one bad review is listed before.  If you're interested in the Halo Trilogy or learning more about them they have been out in stores for a while.   


5 out of 5 stars - Halo Review
5 Stars: I enjoyed this book immensely. I absolutely love a romance with forbidden love. I also LOVE angels and demons. My favorite character has to be Jake Thorn because he is mysterious and dangerous. I have NO bad comments about this book. None. Zilch. The characters were flawlessly written, they were all unique in their own special ways. Bethany is an angel that falls in love with a human ( she is more human than her siblings). Xavier is Bethany's human boyfriend. Gabriel is Bethany's brother who is also an Archangel. Ivy is Bethany's sister who is also an angel. And last but certainly not least is Jake, he is a demon that hates Bethany for turning him down. As you see all the characters are different from the others. This leads to some great play between them all.  The story, from start to finish was awesome. Totally, completely awesomesauce. This is an absolute MUST READ!

1 out of 5 stars  - Preachy, Plotless, Purple Prose  
Review By J.J. Macken. This book is where purple prose comes to die. Seriously EVERYTHING is described and described in then compared to something else in an irritating similie. 'Xavier's eyes are torquoise and almond shaped, like twin pools of clear blue ocean'. That kind of discription is good and enriching to the story when used sparingly. But in Halo everything is described to this extent and it gets to be completely over the top. There is almost an entire page describing Xavier's parent's house, do we NEED to know the exact flooring and shade of wall paint in Xavier's parents house? I think not.
At LEAST 100 pages could have been cut from this 500 page tome just from the overly flowry descriptions. I think more words are expended on describing the exact floppy-nutmeg-lustrous nature of Xavier's hair than there are or actual diaglogue betweent the main characters. Where was the editor? This book is so overwritten the plot takes a complete back seat.

Imaginary Places

The Island of the Heathen

In the Angelic Heroes Trilogy, characters venture to many far off lands and places.  One imaginary place that the main character heads to in the Book of Omni is based on the island of Ussula.  Ussula, or the Island of the Heathen was an imaginary place created by German author Karl Friedrich May in his novels Ardistan and Der Mir von Djinnistan. 

There's a cottage on the island built for the high priestess's daughter built by a stranger.  When the stranger returned after a long voyage he created a monument out of marble.  The monument had several different quotations from different religious texts.  The monument is shaded by lotus blossoms and located near a lake.  It's thought to be the tomb of the stranger's wife, but her body is not there.


Some of the poetry reads: "No soul ever came to earth unless it was first a spirit in heaven."; "No spirit ever rose to heaven unless it was first a soul on earth"; "Therefore he cannot return to heaven that is the devil."

Divination and the Zodiac

In the Angelic Heroes Trilogy and the Elemental Angels Series, something related the Zodiac signs, planets and 12 Houses appear in almost every book.

Leo

Ruling Planet: Sun
Element: Fire
Qualities: Fixed
Polarities: Aquarius
Gender: Masculine
Date: July 23-August 23
House: Fifth

Source: Piniterest
Artwork: Kagaya

Angel Quote

They are always on deck when there is a miracle to the fore - so as to get up in the picture, perhaps.  Angels are as fond of that as a fire company: look at the old masters.
-- Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Random Wiki Page of the Week

Get to know a character from the Elemental Angel Series!  

Introducing Cat...

Check out Cat's page on the Wiki.

http://elemental-angels.wikia.com/wiki/Cat