The wonders of Nature
and the angel of the month
Hello dear friend,
Another week has passed. Where do they go? Do they run away to hide behind the tumble drier with the odd socks? I am sure they must.
This week I witnessed a moment of wonder, and feel truly blessed.
Looking up from my desk, out of the windows in front of me, there was a large flock of seagulls. Not that unusual at this time of year when the seas can be rough. It was a beautiful winter’s day, bright blue sky, sunshine beaming down as I watched these birds swirling around on the air currents. Then something magical happened. As they flew in a spiral pattern, their white bellies caught the sunshine and glowed brightly. I was transfixed. It was as if I was witnessing a cluster of stars swirling over the fields as they drifted off to the east. I thought about trying to capture it on video, but knew that I could not do this spectacle justice, so I just sat and watched the wonder of nature in all its magnificence. It truly was wonderful. This proves to me, yet again, that if we but take the time to stop and look around us, the world is full of amazing things, just waiting for us to notice them. Think about frost on the spiders’ webs, the patterns ice makes in puddles, all little masterpieces waiting for us to see them.
This week I promised more about angels*…
Did you know the angels are barely mentioned by name in the Bible, especially in the early books. It mostly referred them to as ‘messengers’, which also included humans, confusing…
It seems much of the angelology we know today came about when the exiled tribes came upon the Babylonians. The structure of the hierarchy of heaven also reflects the structure and bureaucracy of the Persian court. The Persians also believed in the powers of good and bad, which led to a strengthening of the idea of evil, and the concept of the fall of the angels. You can see this basic structure in the chart below.
It’s all a little confusing, so many ranks, so many names, with so many of the same names in multiple ranks. Over the next few weeks, I will try to unpick these ranks to better understand them, and question if the ranks imposed by man are real, or just a way for humanity to understand and relate to the different angels.
But for now, I will leave you with the angel of the month, yes there really are such beings. As it is almost the end of January, I will start with the angel of February.
This is Barakiel, the angel of lightning. He appears to have lots of other roles too - one of the 7 archangels, one of the ruling seraphim, and prince of the 2nd Heaven, Raqia, and the order of confessors. In addition, he is a ruler of Jupiter and the zodiacal signs of Scorpio and Pisces. Some also say that he can bring success to games of chance if invoked. But I am not sure that invoking him after buying your lottery ticket will have much effect. Although with the winter storms raging around at the moment, perhaps a quiet prayer may help there. Seriously though, I hope that wherever you are in the world, that you are safe and well, the winter storms are pretty bad this year.
A follow up on the above, I thought it would be nice to find an image of Barakiel, and I stumbled across a different interpretation of him. On the Learn Religions website, he is not only the angel of Blessings, associated with laughter and roses, but he’s also in charge of guardian angels. I think I like this version better.
This illustrates the difficulties when discussing angels. There are many opinions which span many religions and teachings. I will try to give as broad an overview as possible when researching.
Until next time, as ever, may your angels and guides watch over you and protect you until we meet again.
Love and Light,
Tracy
Things that have resonated this week
This blog post by Diana Butler Bass about the belief that we all have a responsibility to acknowledge all that is broken in the world. Only by seeing the brokenness can we begin to repair ourselves, our communities and our world.
Resources
* I will be using A Dictionary of Angels by Gustav Davidson and The Watkins Dictionary Of Angels by Julia Cresswell to begin my investigations.
The Learn Religions page about Barakiel can be found here