The name Raziel translated from Hebrew into English means Secret of God, or Secrets of God. Raziel is a mighty archangel celebrated within Jewish mysticism, such as the Kabbalah. He is regarded by Jews as the keeper of secrets, and the angel of mystery. Within the Four Worlds of Kabbalistic theory, Raziel is often connected with the Sephira Chokmah, the second of ten within the Olam Briah. These holy Kabbalistic teachings link Raziel to a diverse range of heavenly powers and responsibilities. For example Jews consider him to be a member of the Cherub order, a member of the Ophanim order, and the chief or captain of the Erelim. Raziel is also known by a second name, which is that of Galizur, a name that means Revealer of the Rock. As Galizur, a sort of alter ego, he serves as a high prince in the second circle of heaven. As prince Raziel expounds the Torah's divine wisdom, and he also protects the angels from all of the laws of the universe.
The world renown Sefer Raziel HaMalach, or Book of Raziel the Angel, is said to hold all forms of secret knowledge regarding the universe and spiritual world, and is widely considered to be a book of spells and magic. Supposedly the archangel Raziel stands close to God's holy throne, and thus he hears God speak of all the truths and mysteries regarding creation. Raziel then writes down all that God says. Legend has it that Raziel gave the Sefer Raziel HaMalach to Adam and Eve shortly after they sinned against God in Eden by eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Once they were expelled from the Garden, it is said that they would never be able to find their way back home. So Raziel gave them his book so that both of them could indeed return some day again, and also so that they could learn more about the God that they sinned against. Other angels were appalled by Raziel's act of kindness, and destroyed this magical book.
Some say that after a group of heavenly angels destroyed the Book of Raziel the Angel, by casting it into the ocean, descendants of Enoch would eventually find it washed ashore. This book was then passed down from generation to generation finally arriving in the hands of Enoch, who is said to have used it to transform himself into the angel Metatron. Before Enoch turned himself into an angel, supposedly he expanded the Sefer Raziel HaMalach with some of his own heavenly knowledge. It is then said that Enoch eventually gave the amended version of the Book of Raziel to the archangel Raphael, who then passed it on to Noah. Using the book, Noah was able to perfectly construct the ark. After Noah died, the book continued to change hands, eventually ending up in the possession of King Solomon. From there the holy book was said to have continued passing through the generations, and some claim that it exists to this very day.
Outside of theology, the archangel Raziel has appeared numerous times in works of fiction. For example Raziel is a significant character within the Christopher Moore novels entitled The Stupidest Angel, and Lamb. Anne Rice also mentions Raziel in her book entitled Memnoch the Devil. Outside of literature, Raziel appears in the PlayStation RPG Xenogears, where he is a computer called Eldridge who possesses all of the scientific knowledge of the world. In cinematography the movie Willow has a character called Fin Raziel, which is loosely based on the archangel Raziel. There is even a trading card game called Yu-Gi-Oh!, which features an extremely powerful card entitled Raviel Lord of the Phantasms, again another loose play on the archangel. That concludes this very brief article, we hope that you learned something new about Raziel. Please be sure to continue browsing through our site, as we have many other articles.
