Angels

For this week's episode, we're heading up to the heavens for a world and religious mythology favourite, Angels! How many different types are there? And in how many religions? Find out this week!

Transcript

INTRO:
Hello and welcome to Myth Monsters, my name is Erin and I’ll be your host for these little snack bite size podcasts on folklore and mythical monsters from around the world. 

These podcasts focus on the actual cryptids, folklore and mythic monsters from global mythology, rather than focusing on full stories of heroes and their big adventures.

I’ll also be dropping in some references that they have to recent culture and where you can see these represented in modern day content so you can learn more, and get as obsessed as I am about these absolute legends of the mythological world.

Blimey, it’s June already! This year is speeding past and summer is in full swing, but thankfully not bringing the horrible heat to the UK just yet. I’ve been on a cat reconnaissance mission this week to rescue a local stray that I love before he ends up fathering another 7 kittens outside my house.

DESCRIPTION:

Anyway, this week we’re not going anywhere in particular, but some say that these mythical monsters are all around us. So join me as we’re hitching a ride on a prayer to meet the Angels, from generally world and religious folklore. 

Before we start, you may be thinking  - hey, you covered Angels in the past, why are you doing this episode? To that I say, I technically covered one of the many types of Angel, the Seraphim, who will be mentioned throughout this episode too, but these are a specific type of Angel. In this episode, we’re going to go over what makes an Angel in general, before we dive into the different types - which are all planned to have their own episodes - this is more of a deep-dive into the generic and umbrella term, Angels. For example, in theory, Sasquatch is an umbrella term for Bigfoot, Yetis, Yowies etc, but they also exist in their own right and so will be covered as well as their more famous specifics.

So what are Angels? Angels are, and this is very generally, described as the most beautiful person you have ever seen, with large white bird wings, a halo and sometimes surrounded by holy light. They are usually dressed in togas or some other form of robe, and speak with sweet voices in every single human language and their own. 

Angels are usually known for being messengers between God and humanity, and can also perform benevolent acts for people, such as protecting or guiding them. However, they can also alter humans’ perception of the world around them and force humans to think as they do. As well as the benevolent acts, they are also considered the hand of God, and can act out punishments on humans too. They’re also defenders of the Heavens against their biggest foe, devils from the Hells, so are mostly military trained too.

They have the ability to fly with these huge wings, as well as granting prayers in any way that works for the person requesting them. They are able to turn into spheres of light, appear on command and are completely immortal and invulnerable to humankind. You can’t just become an Angel either, they are considered a whole other race to humans and there’s also no way to kill one. We also believe they don’t eat, drink, procreate or sleep - so they’re kind of unstoppable.

BUT this is just our generic Angel, that you’ve probably seen a million times over in the media. Angels are a lot more complex than this because they are involved in almost every monotheistic religion, meaning that you would worship under one deity. And to make it even more complicated, as I said earlier, there are different types of Angel and a hierarchy to them, and so they can be all different shapes, sizes and natures based on what type they are. 

So let’s talk about Angels and what they all do in all of the main religions they’re covered in. I covered this before in my specific Seraphim episode, so if you’ve heard this before - I am sorry.

In Christianity, there are nine types of angel in three different triads. In the first triad, to contemplate and adore God directly, Seraphims being the most powerful, usually depicted as a ball of feathers and eyes, followed by the Cherubim, who look similar to them, but are usually described as being like Cherubs, so the babies with wings - they protect sacred spaces like Eden. Then it's the Thrones, who are monstrous looking eye-covered intertwined rings with wings, who dispense God’s justice and maintain harmony in all the cosmos. 

All the angels from here look like the generic Angels I described earlier. The weird ones are just within the top three.

In the second triad, generally for defence are the Dominions who govern nations, the Virtues who rule over miracles and blessings, and the Powers who guard heaven from demons. 

The last three are the Principalities who rule over the angels and keep them in line, Archangels who are the guardians of nations and countries. Lastly, Guardian Angels who look over specific people and support and help them on Earth.

In Judaism, there are still 9, but hierarchy is slightly different with each text. The original philosophy was the following;

Chayot Ha Kodesh were the top dogs, who hold up the Throne of God and look similar to Seraphim, the Ophanim who look like the Thrones with their intertwining eye-covered rings, who reflect God’s will, then the Erelim, who were normal looking angels who are known as angels of Earthly justice. 

Following this, we have the Hashmallim who are elemental angels, then the Seraphim who again, are emblazoned winged creatures who praise God around his throne, then we have the Malakim, who are the usual messengers to Earth. 

Lastly, the Elohim who are warriors who strive for victory over evil, the Bene Elohim who are also warriors and lastly the Cherubim, oh how the mighty have fallen from Christianity - but they just hang around God’s feet and chill; they were the first beings in existence so that’s cool.

In Islam, they have Archangels, who reign over the plights of men, Guardian Angels who guard people, then Angels of Judgement, Angels of Heaven, Angels of the Netherworld and Angels of Weather, which are pretty self-explanatory. 

Lastly, we have Fallen Angels - which are the evil and banished Angels from heaven. They usually have committed some kind of sin, or have abandoned their posts and are banished to hell, usually becoming a powerful demon, the most famous being Lucifer - a fallen angel who became the Devil himself for tempting Eve with the apple of knowledge in Eden.

I’ll cover these in much greater detail in their own episodes, but this is kind of a summary of all the Angels we know of in the bigger religions.

ORIGIN:

So let’s talk about etymology before we jump into more religious history. They have different names in different languages, but the English Angel comes from the latin word, angelus and the Greek angelos. This actually derives originally from Hebrew, mal’akh, which means messenger - and is also where the Jewish faith gets their name for them too. 

The Quranic word for angel is malak, which comes from either malaka meaning ‘he controlled’ or the root ‘ik’, which means messenger - but unlike the Hebrew version, it is only used for divine spirits and not just normal messengers too. 

Now background to all of this, we’ve obviously talked about Angels and how many there are, but where do they come from in each religion? Well an important note is that all Angel history comes from the holy books of these religions, and we don’t know exactly when they were written, or if word of mouth existed of these creatures beforehand - so if you’re looking for that, I’m sorry I don’t have the answer, but it is a very long time ago, we know that at least. 

The oldest here is Judaism, where we believe the holy book is at least from the 8th century BC. They are mentioned in the Hebrew Bible - the Tanakh. Angels appeared to Isaac, Moses, Jacob and Joshua throughout their lives in the Book of Genesis, and a load of the Archangels appear within Rabbinic literature, including Michael, Gabriel, Uriel and Raphael to name a few of the famous ones.

In the Christian Bible, they are first mentioned in the Book of Genesis, where they are guarding the garden of Eden. However whilst it isn’t said when and how the Angels were created, they were made before the world was made, as they witnessed the creation of the world. The hierarchy of Angels does have a more specific date, coming in around the 5th century BC, with all of the different types of Angels appearing throughout the holy books, but most of them throughout the Book of Ezekiel. 

Lastly in Islam, they are mentioned in the Quran, which we believe was written around 600 AD, and they are created by Allah as heavenly beings from light. They are considered some of the oldest beings in existence, and they protect humans from evil influences and they record human life. The Archangel Jibrīl is seen as the archangel responsible for revealing the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad, starting the Islamic faith.

Angels are also sometimes considered outside of religion in the form of Guardian Angels - with some people not belonging to any of these religions believing that they have Guardian Angels that protect them and grant good luck. 

Outside of worship, Angels are also embraced within culture and media, with Angel being a common word of endearment for a good person, or someone who does good deeds. It’s also used for someone good who has died, although it doesn’t say in any faith that people become Angels when they die - not to rain on anyone’s parade. 

They’re also plastered all over our media as the stalwart godly messengers which I can get more into now.

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: 

Now onto modern media, obviously this is a huge list so I’ve whittled it down to the most popular, as there are just so many.

For art, there are loads of classical pieces on Angels, so have a look at Schutzengel by Bernhard Plockhorst, Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, by Gustave Doré from 1855, The Wounded Angel by Hugo Simberg from 1903, Three angels hosted by Abraham by Ludovico Carracci from 1610, Kristus i Getsemane by Carl Heinrich Bloch from 1873 & Tobias and the Angel by Filippino Lippi from 1472 for portrait art.

In movies, we have; The Prince of Egypt, Time Masters, The Secret of the Hunchback, Time Bandits, The Prophecy, Wishmaster, Noah, Constantine, Barbarella, It’s a Wonderful Life, Dogma, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, Don’t Kill It, Ice Angel, The Dark Crystal, City of Angels, Angels in the Outfield, Casper, The Adjustment Bureau, Knowing, Michael, The Ten Commandments, Legion, Ice Merchants, The Bishop’s Wife, A New York Christmas Wedding, Bedazzled, Fallen, Gabriel, Wings of Desire & He Never Died.

For TV, we have; Angel, Good Omens, Angelmouse, The Good Place, Supernatural, Angels of Jarm, Hazbin Hotel, Helluva Boss, Berserk, Adventure Time, Futurama, South Park, Spawn, Angel Wars, Eternal Law, The Seven Deadly Sins, Digimon, Brimstone, Seven Mortal Sins, Queen’s Blade, Married with Children, Teen Angel, The Twilight Zone, Quantum Leap, Johnny Bravo, Angel’s Friends, Black Butler, Angel Sanctuary, Doctor Who, Lucifer, Penny Dreadful, All Dogs Go to Heaven, Angels in America, Charmed, Babylon 5, Dominion, Preacher, Highway to Heaven, X-Files & Super Sentai.

In video games, we have ones such as; Angel at Dusk, Darksiders, Diablo, Shin Megami Tensei, ULTRAKILL, Aion, Fall from Heaven, Disgaea, Lusternia, Baldur’s Gate 3, Elder Scrolls, Kid Icarus, The Secret World, World of Warcraft, Bayonetta, Helltaker, Dwarf Fortress, Pokemon, Class of Heroes 2, Bendy and the Ink Machine, Final Fantasy, Granblue Fantasy, Arknights, The Binding of Isaac, Devil May Cry, Heroes of Might and Magic, Nethack, Luminous Arc, Kingdom Hearts, Okami, Paladins, Tales of Symphonia, Unicorn Overload, Overwatch, Shadow Hearts, Neon White & The World Ends with You. 

My book recommendations this week are Angels: The Definitive Guide to Angels from Around the World by Marie-Ange Faugerolas and if you want to look more into the Biblical Angels - have a look at God's Monsters: Vengeful Spirits, Deadly Angels, Hybrid Creatures, and Divine Hitmen of the Bible by Esther Hamori for a great read about them in a religious context.

DO I THINK THEY EXISTED? 

Now it’s time for, do I think they existed?

The question of if I believe in Angels intrinsically comes back to do I believe there is something up there in the sky, as they are just the assistants of whatever God you worship.

I’m not a major religion worshipper as a Hellenic Pagan, and the Greeks didn’t really have Angels - so it’s tricky from a religion perspective for me personally to believe in Angels, because in my religion, they never existed at all. So by default, they’re a big no from me - but that doesn’t really sound very interesting, so I’m sorry about that.

However, this ‘do I believe they existed’ segment is usually personal to me, but for this one it’s personal to everyone and what they believe in in regards to a higher power, and if you are one of the religions who believe in Angels - do you believe they exist alongside whichever God you worship? 

I do think that if I did believe in a singular God, that I would also believe in Angels as they do come hand in hand and are so heavily used in media as factual beings, that sure - maybe they could. I’m generally very open to all of these monsters that I cover existing though - but religious ones are trickier when you’re not part of the religions they serve.

I guess Guardian Angels are somewhat different, but I promise you even more that I don’t believe in those and I do struggle to see how others do if I’m completely honest.

But what do you think? Do Angels look over us from the Heavens? Let me know on Twitter!

OUTRO: 

Well through it all, she does offer me protection, a lotta love and affection - and I am indeed loving Angels instead. What a great monster, I love covering big ones like this to eventually have the whole species of them dissected for you in 20-ish minute episodes.

Speaking of episodes, next week, we’re heading over to Japan and looking at a nightmare inducing monster for those with thalassophobia like me, come with me to find the strange cryptid, the Ningen in the depths next Thursday.

For now, thank you so much for listening, it’s been an absolute pleasure. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a rating on the service you’re listening on - I’ve got the twitter for any questions, or suggestions on what monsters to cover next and I’d love to hear from you. The social media handles for Tiktok, Youtube, Threads and Instagram are mythmonsterspodcast, and twitter is mythmonsterspod. But all of our content can be found at mythmonsters.co.uk, including some very cool merchandise - you can also find us on Goodpods, Buymeacoffee and Patreon if you want to help me fund the podcast too.

Come join the fun though and share this with your pals, they might love me as much as you do.

But for now, stay spooky and I’ll see you later babes.