Angel Lore

Specific angels exist for each: day of the week, month, phase of the moon, season, planet, zodiac, 4 directions, and hour of the day! In fact, there’s an angel for just about any occasion!

Our history is rife with lore about angels’ victories, meetings, tasks, and fall from Heaven. Oddly enough, and except for few, their actual names are NOT found in the Bible.

Where do all those angel names come from?

Most of what we know about angels comes from texts other than scripture. Oh sure, there’s the occasion mention of angels in the Bible, but they are described very ambiguously.

So from where does angel lore derive? Many of the names, classifications, rankings, and legends come from apocryphal texts.

Apocryphal = a text which has been determined to be unauthentic, and/or has dubious origins and/or an unreliable author.

Here’s a list of texts–authentic and not–that discuss angels. Disclaimer: Any inaccuracies are my own, and it is not my intent to marginalize or promote the authenticity of any ancient text. In other words, I’m 100% certain many people know a whole lot more about the texts listed below than I.

1. The Koran: specifies 7 angels by name
2. The Bible: specifies 3 angels by name
3. The Book of Tobit: Considered apocrypha, although a few fragments were found in the Dead Sea Scrolls
4. The Talmud names a few angels, like Uriel, Reziel,and Metatron,
5. The Zohar: The go-to guide for Jewish mystical Kabalistic philosophy and teachings
6.The Book of Jubilees: Considered pseudepigraphia ( a false work ) by most Christian religions. Early Christians were familiar with this text. ( Interesting reading! One of the characters discusses this dubious text in the 2nd novel of the Merkabah series)
7. The Book of Enoch: Also considered pseudepigraphia. Written by–guess who–Enoch, great great great grandson of Noah. (Also used in research for the 2nd novel)
8. the grimoires: Super spooky incantations and black magic stuff

In later years:

Paradise Lost by Milton: An epic poem about the fall of man ( in case you were sleeping in class the day the teacher read an excerpt ).
Lucifer by Vondal: A 17th century playwright who wrote about the battle between Lucifer and Michael–and both their armies.
The Hierarchy of Blessed Angels by Heywood: A long poem by a British playwright in the 17th century.
State of Innocence by Dryden: An operetic adaptation of Paradise Lost
The Messiah by Klopstock: A German poet whose subject matter of his epic lyrical poems rattled more than a few Christian leaders.

For more on angels click Angel Lore 2 and Angel Lore 3