The mighty Kushiel, also known as the Rigid One of God, is a holy angel that appears within mainstream Judeo Christian inspired angelology and folklore. According to these beliefs, Kushiel is one of several heavenly angels that is responsible for punishing evil or lost souls in the bowels of Hell. The angel Kushiel appears within the Book of Enoch in Chapter 10 verse 3, where it states that Kushiel dwells within the third level of heaven, and despite punishing souls in Hell, the angel doesn't actually dwell or reside there, as that would clearly mean Kushiel isn't an angel at all, but instead a demon, which he is not said to be. According to the noncanonical scripture of Enoch, Kushiel has a long whip that is made of pure fire, also called hell fury. It is said that Kushiel uses this whip to punish any nations of the earth that sin against God. There are six other angels who share Kushiel's duties, which are Puriel, Hutriel, Makatiel, Lahatiel, Shoftiel, and the angel Rogziel.
Within Judeo Christian inspired occult and angel worshipping groups, Kushiel the Rigid One of God has a significant role, although it widely deviates from most mainstream religious beliefs. For example, many occult groups believe that you can summon the angel Kushiel, and use him to torment someone through using a magic binding spell. It is said that once Kushiel is released on to someone, that he will torment them unceasingly until the person is unbound from the spell. This curse may result in high levels of unbearable anxiety, extreme and irrational fear or paranoia, boils or skin blisters, warts, and long strings of bad luck. The only catch however is that the person who has the spell cast against them, must be an unrighteous or evil person to begin with. The magic spell of Kushiel's wrath will not work at all on a righteous person or a person of very strong faith, as most angels are absolutely forbidden to torment anyone from within God's holy flock.
Within the realm of fiction and fantasy, the angel Kushiel is often represented and portrayed in a wide array of varying genres. For example he appears within Jacqueline Carey's novel series called Kushiel's Legacy. The bizarre idea for the character in this work of fiction is centered around Kushiel as the punisher of the One God of the Yeshuites. Kushiel also appears as a character within John Connolly's novels about the private detective named Charlie Parker. In this series Kushiel is referred to as the collector, however he is only referenced by name within series of The Reflecting Eye, The Whisperers, and The Unquiet. Outside of the literary world, Kushiel also appears as the central antagonist within the video game entitled King of Fighters Maximum Impact 2. Jivatma within this game heads an assassin gang which is called Kushiel, a direct name play on the holy biblical angel. Kushiel also appears within quite a lot of Japanese anime.
There are virtually no earlier period artistic representations of the holy angel Kushiel, and that includes all forms of art. I attempted to locate early period Church commissioned paintings and sculptures of the angel, however my trip to the library turned up nothing. This is not uncommon for the lesser known angels as I have noticed, they just aren't represented in religious based art at all. Through searching the internet, I did come across some contemporary painting and digital artworks of Kushiel, however these portrayals were only loosely based on the Judeo Christian angel. So if you yourself are a painter, create a religious based representation of Kushiel, and you might just be one of the first to ever to do so. That concludes this very brief article on the angel Kushiel, we hope that you learned something new about him. If you are interested in learning about any of the other angels from Judaism or Christianity, then browse our website some more.
