Raphael, the healer, the giver of health, the angel of compassion.
The lord of the sun, the angel of the west and of the west wind, He who rules over the
element of air.
He is the chief guardian angel of the tree of life, a prince of the cherubim and of the
dominations and of the order of virtues, he is one of the 70 amulet angels invoked during
childbirth.
The Kabbalah calls him the angel of Hod, the splendor of the sephiroth, he is one of the
seven angels of revelation, and among the seven angels who stand before the glory of
the Lord.
He is a ruling prince of the 2nd heaven, the governor of the day of wednesdays, It is he
who gives knowledge of the science and art of healing.
Raphael originated from the lore of the Chaldeans in southern Babylon, and is said to preside
over the healing of the diseases and injuries of the children of men.
The Zohar says he is charged with healing the earth, and it is through him the earth
becomes a favourable abode for mankind.
The jews say Raphael was first called Labbiel, when God first formed him, and he was given
his current name when he agreed to God's command on the creation
of man.
Like the archangel he is, he is described as having many pairs of wings, some say six
wings, each of them bearing as many eyes as there are men on earth.
According to the book of Enoch, as well as the Zohar and the legends of the jews, Raphael
is not only the angel of healing and of light, he is also the prince of Hades, a king in
the eastern part of the underworld, ruling alongside the archangel Uriel, who is the prince
of tartarus.
He is charged with handling the souls of the
departed who have been deemed guilty by Metatron the
judge , and cast into the abyss by Gabriel the punisher.
When he attends to the matters of the underworld and the souls of the dead, Raphael goes by
the name Azariah, so says the book of Tobit.
For This very reason, the Zohar calls him one of the many kings of hell, equating him
specifically to the hellish King Bael, or Baal, who rules in the eastern region of the
underworld, with 66 legions of spirits under his command.
But how?
How could a renowned angel of light become entangled with the dark realm
of the underworld and the fiery pit of hell?
many would ask.
If there is one thing these sources agree with , it is that just because Raphael is
a keeper of the underworld, does not mean he is evil.
He is a spirit charged by the supreme with handling the souls
of the dead, much like Metatron and Gabriel,
presiding specifically over sinful souls who have been cast into the realm of
darkness and the fires of hell.
He executes the will of God upon these damned souls,
be it to grant the chance of rebirth, or damn them to eternal destruction.
Perhaps this is a task that cannot be entrusted to the fallen angel kings of the netherworld
who rebelled against the god of the angels, and so forth, are free-willed and bear no
allegiance towards him.
There is a story of how Raphael overcame the great demon Asmodeus, who claimed ownership
of a young beautiful woman and her abandoned household, killing any suitor who dared to
wed her.
Once upon a time in the book of Tobit, there was a pretty maiden called Sarah, who lived
in the city of Ecbatana, in the land of Medea.
Except for her parents, Raguel and Edna, Sarah was hated and reproached by the servants of her
household, most especially the female servants of the house.
Why was that?
Because 7 times did Sarah marry, and 7 times was she widowed, for the demon Asmodeus had
fallen in love with her, and so killed each one of her husbands on their wedding night,
before they had the chance to touch their newly wedded bride.
On a fateful day, one of the maids of the house told Sarah,
saying; "Look here, you husband killer, you've
already had 7 husbands and none of them lived long enough to give you a song because you
killed them all.
Why don't you join your dead husbands in the grave?
I hope we never see a child of yours.
"
Depressed and in tears, Sarah cried out to the God of the heavens, to free her from the
shackles of he who held her against her will, or grant her swift death instead, so she might
never hear the unbearable insults of people again.
The cries of Sarah were heard and her prayers were answered, for God sent Raphael to her
rescue and to expel the demon who troubled her.
Tobias, the son of Tobit and cousin to Sarah, fell in love with Sarah
and was chosen to be her next husband, but for the fear of what had happened to her previous
suitors, Tobias would not engage her.
There did Raphael interfere, for the angel visited the house of Tobias and his father
Tobit, disguised as a man, and encouraged Tobias to carry on with his plans to marry
Sarah.
On their way to the home of Sarah, the angel had Tobias catch a huge fish by the river,
but it was no ordinary fish, it was the Glanos fish, the same fish the great Asmodeus deeply
despised.
Raphael instructed Tobias saying: " Cut out the heart and the liver
of the fish, and keep it with you.
The heart and liver can be burned and used to chase away a demon or an evil spirit that
is tormenting someone.
The attacks will stop immediately, and the person will never be troubled again.
And so, Tobias wedded Sarah,
and did exactly as instructed, burning an incense of the heart and liver of the Glanos fish
in their chambers.
As the couple slept that night, Asmodeus appeared in their chambers to eliminate this insolent
man who would dare take on his bride.
Did he not know who he was up against?.
Did he not know what would befall him?
But as soon as he entered their room, he caught the scent of the burning fish, and it so much
repulsed him that he forever fled from the life of Sarah, and into the land of Egypt,
The book of Tobit says it was Raphael who banished him
to that place.
Finding a new place in the land of Egypt, where the people revered and worshiped him
as a God, Asmodeus would have no need to return to Sarah, and she would be free from him forever.