A WEE BIT O' BACKGROUND
Samael, Sammael, Samyel, Camael - Samael has possibly the richest and most
contradictory set of stories about him of any angel. Some identify him with SATAN,
saying that Samael was his angelic name, but others are definite that Satan's
angelic name was SATERNAIL. He certainly has many roles that overlap with those
ascribed to Satan and with SEMYAZA, but has positive roles as well. The name
probably means either 'poison of God' or 'the blind one'. Since the ANGEL OF
DEATH is sometimes said to administer poison, Samael is sometimes identified as
that angel. In the Gnostic text The
Hypostasis of the Archon, Samael is the name of the first ARCHON, and the
name is said to mean 'god of the blind'. In this work, Samael, also blown as IALDABAOTH,
proclaimed himself the true god to his seven offspring. In response, Zoe (Greek
for 'Life'), the daughter of PISTIS-SOPHIA ('Faith-Wisdom), breathed into his
face; her breath became a fiery angel 'and cast him down into Tartaros, below
the Abyss'. He appears as Samma'el, Prince
of the Accusers in 3 Enoch 14 (compare the role of Satan in Job). He is also
the Prince of Rome, regarded as the great enemy at the time of writing. Daily,
he sits alongside DUBBIEL and Satan to write down the sins of Israel. They pass
the writing tablets to the SERAPHIM to pass on to God, but the Seraphim burn
them instead. Some say he is the angel who wrestled with Jacob, although others
say this is PENIEL. He has been described as having twelve wings.
On an astronomical
level he is called the ruler of Mars, which, as this is the planet of war,
accounts for his being called an angel of evil. However, the influence of Mars
can be turned instead to energising and bringing vitality, determination and,
as Clare Nahmad says, 'a fighting spirit harmonized by love, quickening
lethargic resignation into transfiguring action'. In kabbalistic vision he is
seen in his original glory, ablaze with jewels and precious crystals, before
humanity degraded his energies. He can be the leopard-bodied Count Palatine of hell
or a bejeweled archangel of the divine presence. Nahmad also describes him as
one 'on whom we should call for courage, empowerment, protection of the
innocent, willpower, stimulative energy,' and says that we should call on him
for help in manual jobs as Mars is the planet of energy, enthusiasm and drive.
Samael’s Sigil
Samael figures widely
in magic books. In a slip of the pen, The
Lemegeton calls him Samuel at one point, although there is no doubt that it
is Samael that is meant. In this work he is the angel who rules the first hour
of the day. His chief dukes (who each have another 444 servants following them)
are Ameniel, Charpon, Darosiel,
Monasiel, Brumiel, Nestoriel, Chremas and Meresyn. The text invokes him as 'Thou mighty and blessed angel Samael'
and calls him a servant of mercy and of the most high God when conjuring him to
'descend and shew your self visible and perfectly in a pleasant and comely form
before me in this Cristall stone: to the sight of my Eyes speaking with a voyce
Intelligible and to my apprehension: sheaving, declaring & accomplishing
all my desires that I shall aske or Request of you both herein and in
whatsoever Truths or things else that is Just and lawfull before the presence
of Almighty god.' In the Sloane manuscript Book
of Raziel Samael is an elemental angel with power over the earth. He shares
power over the west with ADRIEL and JOEL. Samyel, an angel of the south of the
third heaven in the same work, is probably identical. See also AGRAT BAT
MAHLAT.
Cresswell, J. (2006). The Watkins Dictionary of Angels. London, England: Watkins.