The Sefer Yetzirah Study – Chapter 1

“He makes His angels of breaths, His ministers of flaming fire” (Psalms 104:4).

2002 – 2003 Leicester
The study of the Sefer Yetzirah began with a programme of summoning of the Archangels of the Sefirot, generally using the attribution system of Moses Maimonides. The students had no idea what to expect from these evocations, and most of them had very few preconceptions about what angels are.The Archangels were invoked/evoked by specific meditation on the letters of the name (e.g. Gabriel would be Gimel, Bet, Resh, Yod, Alef, and Lamed) through transliteration, superficial study of history and legends, mantras and visualization over the course of between a week and a month. It was this procedure and the incentive produced by its powerful effects that lead to the feeling that a deeper study of the individual letters themselves was necessary; this lead to Ch.2 of the letter study. I will now detail what I believe were the most important results/realizations of working with the Archangels of the Sefirot and then detail some of the particular qualities of each individual experience.

The existence of the Archangels, in some form, was in no doubt after the study, but I do not believe that the study can lend more credence to any argument as to their nature – their being subjective or objective, mental constructs or celestial deities, psychological or universal forces. Whilst all Archangels seemed to communicate through a mixture of omens, emotions, thoughts, visions and dreams there was no empirical proof of their physical or psychic existences outside of the mind of the student. Similarly there can be no definite proof that all of these experiences were entirely stimulated and created by the excited mind of the student. Each Archangel that was studied had an entirely unique character which related differently to different students according to their own personality, i.e. some had a more positive experience of Gabriel than others, in the same way according to your own nature you will resonate with other natures in a unique way.The nature of the Archangel was determined by the letters that made up its name with the general suffix ‘iel’ meaning ‘of God’, ‘of Mighty One’.The two archangels that did not have the suffix “iel” in the Maimonidian attributions are Metatron and Sandalphon which are attributed to Keter and Malkuth respectively.The following is a list of the general feelings I received and the kind of experiences I had working with the archangels and in no way reflects the experience of the student body although in discussion it was agreed that the kind of experiences we were having were all based on the letters of the name of the Archangel in question.

Gabriel – The focus of this Archangel seemed to be on traumatic memories, but not on any kind of healing process, but more on increasing awareness or knowledge of how one’s own trauma has affected the way one interacts with the world. This Archangel seemed to have a very clear and distinct “darkside”, and one felt as if one looked through the eyes of the angel and could literally see the darksides of other people. One seemed to focus on those aspects of the behavour in other people that was caused by their bad experiences in life that had left them bitter and alone – although not necessarily outwardly so. Communications also occurred through sychronicities and omens. The culmination of the study of this angel was recognition of my own submerged issues, by looking into others I brought my own self into focus, and saw how these issues affected the way I lead my life. It seemed that all people were engaged in psychodrama that expressed and explored their own issues, their own pain whether they were actively aware of this or not. I guess where the “strength” aspect of this angel comes in is that although people are often psychologically maimed, by grief and heartache, they carry on with their lives. As archangel of Yesod, Gabriel is associated with the Titan Atlas, who carries the world on his shoulders.

Auriel – Auriel is the angel of the light of God who is said to guard the gateway into hell with a fiery sword – he is a slayer of demons par excellence. Working with this archangel was characterized by two factors a) a communication of the purpose or function of the Archangel delivered seemingly by the being itself in the form of flashing visions and b) specific information relating to the nature of Daat or Knowledge/Experience and how the orbital ratios of the planets, particularly Venus can be used to improve meditation on the ToL. Communication primarily took place through insight, or streaming seemingly channeled ideas; the angel was felt to be an external entity “planting seeds” in the mind. From walking and contemplating Auriel, the purpose was seen to be one of upholding the law and this was communicated through a vision of Auriel as “Shaft” from the popular US TV series. Thecommunication regarding Daat and the orbital ratios led to a meditation on rotating Sefirot, rotating according to their planetary attributions (i.e. one year = one day for Venus) and these lead into an “experience” or vision of Daat which was somehow related to parallel universes and shadow selves.

(see www.thelogos.co.uk/knowledge.htm)

Raphael/Michael – Since Raphael and Michael are alternately attributed between the Sun and Mercury in multiple sources and since it was impossible to tell which attributions seemed to be more fitting, the summoning of these Archangels was undertaken simultaneously. The communication from the Angels occurred primarily through waves of emotions and was concentrated via “conversation” with the Sun. uring these conversations I felt like I was shrinking, but alongside this was an intensification of my own importance, that no matter how small I was, and we are indeed very small compared to the Universe, that I was still and essential component in the Great Work of it. Again, in this case, the Angels seemed to be perceived as external rather than internal, that the experiences of mercy, forgiveness, healing and clearing of the soul were “beaming down” from the Sun and were indeed so powerful that I was reduced to tears many times during the course of this exercise. After the exhaustive weeping the angels delivered a sense of warmth and lightness, alongside a renewed sense of purpose.

Haniel – Haniel was contacted by improvised shamanic ritual – dancing, singing and fire – based on the name. The angel seemed to generate a kind of “phantasmal light”, a supraluminescent glow, which communicated again through intense waves of emotion. The result of this was again, an intense and exhaustive weeping but rather than feeling “laid low”, the Angel offered practical advice in channeling and observing beauty through aesthetic appreciation. The Angel clearly suggested looking for beauty in obscure places like the motion of the scissors in a hairdressers hand or the skillfully manipulativeconversation of the salesman. The angel recognized an “enemy of culture” that seeks to devalue quality and of the personal power of discernment.

Sandalphon – This was by far the uncanniest of the communications as when the Angel was summoned, one sensed a “real presence” standing directly behind one. It felt like you was being watched constantly but without a motive, a kind of impassive observation of the soul by an independent being. There was indeed a greater sense of this impassive observer standing behind all individuals but most importantly, standing withoutjudgment, and this lack of judgment communicated a sense of being imprisoned at the same time as feeling free.

Metatron/Raziel – After this further summonings were attempted with Metatron, Iophiel and Raziel but one was overwhelmed by these experiences and I got very little of value excepting an insight via Raziel regarding the Tarot that lead me to abandon this discipline in favor of working purely with the Letters. It was, in fact, that communication from Raziel that really started me on the path of letter mysticism with a dedicated study of the Sefer Yetzirah. At this point the working with the Archangels was abjured as it was felt that a deeper revelation could be found through studying the individual letters of the Alef-Beit before attempting to combine them in to “Angels” which were essentially felt to be powerwords.