| Subject: Re: The Archangel Gabriel |
Author:
Penny
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Date Posted: Mon, Nov 03 2003, 20:54:40
In reply to:
Penny
's message, "Angels" on Sat, Nov 01 2003, 19:54:23
ANGEL OF ANNUNCIATION, RESURRECTION, MERCY, AND DEATH
The great messenger angel, Gabriel is one of only two angels mentioned by name in the New Testament, the other being the Archangel Michael. The name Gabriel is derived from gibor and el, meaning "Power of God."
Gabriel is the Angel of Annunication, who announced to the Virgin Mary that she would bear the Son of God, and to Zechariah that his wife Elisabeth would give birth to John the Baptist. Thus Gabriel is the Angel of Childbirth and of Hope, traditionally petitioned by women hoping to conceive, and has special duties regarding childbirth, guiding unborn souls throughout the nine months of gestation. The cleft between nose and upper lip is said to be the mark of Gabriel, where he touches the baby to admonish it to silence on the Sacred Laws. Following the darkness of death, Gabriel is again on hand to assist the soul to its rightful destination. He is often depicted blowing a trumpet for it is this angel who is due to sound the Final Trumpet announcing the End of Time and heralding the Last Judgment.
Islam also honors Gabriel (Jibril in Arabic) as the great Messenger of the Lord. It was he who was sent to dictate the Koran to Mohammed, an illiterate Arab merchant, having appeared in a brilliant white light asking "Sleeper, how long will you sleep?" Mohammed's followers know Jibril as the Angel of Truth, and it was he who finally bore the Prophet to Paradise.
ASSOCIATIONS AND SYMBOLISM
In ancient Judaic lore the Archangel Gabriel was considered to be female, indeed the only female angel in the Heavenly Hierarchies. We know, of course, that angels have no gender in a reproductive sense, but in an energetic sense many tend to one polarity or the other. Gabriel certainly tends towards the feminine polarity, as many of his attributes bear out.
Gabriel stands in the West, which is associated with the feminine element, Water. As a planetary angel, Gabriel is the ruler of Monday, the day of the Moon and the sign of Cancer, whose ruling planet is the Moon. The Moon, as consort of the Sun, is the most feminine of heavenly bodies. Her cycles govern the menstrual cycle in women, the ocean tides, and the pulses of vital energy that course around the Earth. The thirteenth-century Sufi poet Ruzbihan Baqli describes a vision in which:-
"In the first rank I saw Gabriel, like a maiden, or like the Moon among the stars... He is the most beautiful of Angels."
Gabriels's colours are those of the Moon: Silver and shining white. He is best petitioned around the time of the New or Full Moon, But you can reflect on his love, power, and beauty every time you look at the Moon.
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