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A Day in the Life of an Angel

© Sharon K. West

Thousands of angels are named throughout folklore and literature. They figure into the beliefs of every religion on earth and are primarily categorized as either holy or evil. Even though vast numbers of angels are said to be all around us, we humans do not have the faculties to see them unless they choose to make themselves known. What might these ones be doing right now behind the scenes? What is on their schedules for a day in the life of an angel? What do we know about them and where did that information come from?

Angels are invisible, supernatural, created beings who can take on different forms. They can visibly appear as humans, animals, or beings of light, fire or lightning. Sometimes they have wings and sometimes, not. Their primary purpose is to be an intermediary or messenger between God and mankind. They give guidance, inflict judgment, and protect. Their characteristic trait is stealth in their encounters with mankind. They do not attempt to draw attention to themselves, and an angel's motivation (at least a holy angel) is to pass any glory they might receive to God and never be worshipped themselves. An angelic visitation is a brief glimpse into the invisible spiritual world.

In Hebrew, the word for angel is "malakh," meaning messenger, and messenger in the Greek is "angelos." In Persian, it is "angaros," meaning courier. The Western concept of angels comes primarily from the mythologies of Babylonia and Persia.

Angels are key figures throughout the Christian Bible, yet only two angels are named, Michael and Gabriel. Raphael is named in the apocryphal Book of Tobit, so the Catholic Church forbids the use of names other than these three. Other works in the Apochrypha and Pseudepigrapha give names to many, many other angels.

For Egyptians, Greeks, Hebrews, Assyrians, Essenes and Gnostics, the proper names of angels held great mystical and magical powers. They believed the vibrations of spoken words released this power. Angelic names were used in prayers, incantations and on amulets in order to access the powers represented by the angel's name. The power of their names was determined by the use of gematria, which is where numerical values are assigned to each letter of the alphabet. The sum of the values of each letter in a particular name is given meaning by comparing it with the same numerical value of other words. Gematria was also used to interpret scripture. For example, early Christians viewed the dove as the symbol of Jesus because the Greek word for dove adds up to 801, the same as the sum of the letters in the Greek words for alpha and omega, representing the Beginning and the End. The possible first use of gematria was by the Babylonian King Sargon II in the 8th century B.C. He built a wall, the length of which corresponded to the numerical value of his name.

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