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When we think of Angels the images conjured are often quite similar, radiant winged figures
that have many human traits.
We see this in classical art and modern depictions so one would assume this is how Angels were
portrayed in biblical and ancient texts but that is far from the truth.
Angels take more a spiritual form as opposed to a physical one, there is no real description
of what an Angel’s true form is but there are some descriptions of the bodies they assume.
And they are very strange so let's take a look at some of the different types of angels.
In the 12th century scholars divided the angels around God into categories based on a hierarchical
system.
In Christianity this is referred to as the three spheres and the nine orders of angels
because it describes a three tier system with three types of angel in each tier but that’s
Near the bottom of this Hierarchy are the Cherubim.
The book of Ezekiel describes them as having four faces each one representing something
different, the lion represented wild animals, the ox domesticated animals, \the eagle represented
birds and the human represented humanity.
The cherubim had long straight legs with hooves and two pairs of wings.
You may also see them with regular feet and four pairs of wings.
A much different appearance to the young plump cherubs we would associate with figures like
Cupid that stem from Christian scholars such as Thomas Aquinas who characterised them as
having a burning love for God.
The Hebrew bible mentions the word Cherubim almost one hundred times but their purpose
is still fairly ambiguous.
The general belief is that they exist to guard the garden of Eden, especially the tree of
life.
The cherubim having numerous faces has this almost Chimera feel but the human face is
something more akin to a Sphynx.
The Seraphim are a type of angel that appear in Christianity, Judaism and Islam but there
importance varies.
In Judaism they are middle of the road but in Christianity they assume the highest rank
possible just under god.
The book of Isiah describes them as having six wings, “Above it stood the seraphim's:
each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet,
and with twain he did fly.”
“And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole
earth is full of his glory.”
From this passage we can gather that two of these six wings were used to cover their faces,
two to cover their feet and the last two they used to fly.
The second passage describes them almost as cheerleaders who fly around the throne of
God spreading word of his glory.
This description is not as detailed as the Cherubim so all we know for sure is that the
Seraphim were made up mostly of wings, the book of Revelation only differs slightly describing
their six wings as being full of eyes.
Is Islam the the term Seraph is used to describe certain Archangels who born from celestial
fire.
Next we have the Thrones or the Ophanim, these are about as far from a traditional looking
angel as one can get.
In Christianity the Ophanim were entities that acted as chariots or transportation for
the Cherubim.
They were giant interlocking wheels with wings and eyes that would reside in the part of
the cosmos where material form began to shape.
Like the Seraphim they also chant God's glory whenever in his presence.
In Hebrew Ophanim refers to wheels of spheres.
The book of Enoch describes them as the many eyed ones and places them in the same category
of celestial being as Cherubim and Seraphim.
Their role here was much more than transportation, the Ophanim never sleep and forever guard
the throne of God.
When Ezekiel has his vision of the great chariot he describes all three of these angels as
the guardians but given the strange nature of what he’s describing some believe this
was a hallucination others take this Ezekiel's account as an encounter with UFOs.
So no one really knows where they came from and why they look so strange.
The Virtues are a group of angels who don’t possess a physical body but have control over
the elements, they are referred to as the shining ones because they appear as sparks
of light.
Their main role was to perform miracles for those who were deemed as deserving, they would
be given orders from the angels above them and travel to Earth to perform these miracles.
On earth they take a human form.
There are several types of angels along with the Virtues whose primary form resembles a
source of light.
Angels are celestial beings, they are neither male nor female and essentially they can take
whatever form they desire.
Is it a surprise that the Angels who spend all their time in the cosmos with God are
the strangest and most unorthodox looking?
No not really, if you’re talking about regions that are suppose to be outside of our comprehension
then surely the beings who inhabit them would also look out of place even if that does mean
they resemble something you expect to see in a Lovecraftian horror or perhaps the writings
of someone coming down off an acid trip.
It also makes sense for the Archangels and regular angels to be seen in a much more human
light as they have the most human interaction.
The further back you delve into various religious texts the stranger angels appear to be, as
later books were added and revised the more human angels became the norm and maybe this
was done to make things easier to understand, in reality we may never know but it is still
interesting to examine.
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