Grigori

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For other uses, see Grigori (disambiguation).
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The Grigori (from Greek egrḗgoroi, "watchers") are, in one popular version, a group of angels described in the Hebrew Bible and in Hebrew they are also known as the Irin (Eng. watchers), mentioned in the Book of Daniel[1] who took women as spouses, giving rise to a race of hybrids known as the Nephilim[2], and described as giants.

In the Biblical apocrypha references to angelic Grigori appear in the books of Enoch and Jubilees. According to the Book of Enoch, the Grigori numbered a total of 200 but only their leaders are named:

These are the names of their chiefs: Samyaza, who was their leader, Urakabarameel, Akibeel, Tamiel, Ramuel, Danel, Azkeel, Saraknyal, Asael, Armers, Batraal, Anane, Zavebe, Samsaveel, Ertael, Turel, Yomyael, Azazyel (also known as Azazel). These were the prefects of the two hundred angels, and the remainder were all with them. (1Enoch 7:9)

A different idea of the Grigori appears in some traditions of Italian witchcraft where the Grigori are said to come from ancient stellar lore.[citation needed]

Contents

[edit] Book of Enoch

In Enoch, the "watchers" are angels apparently dispatched to Earth simply to watch over the people. They soon begin to lust for the human women they see, and at the prodding of their leader Samyaza, they defect en masse to marry and live among men. The children produced by these relationships are the Nephilim, savage giants who pillage the earth and endanger humanity. Samyaza, Azazel, and the others become corrupt, and teach their human hosts to make metal weapons, cosmetics, and other necessities of civilization that had been kept secret. But the people are dying and cry to the heavens for help. God sends the Great Flood to rid the earth of the Nephilim, but sends Uriel to warn Noah so as not to eradicate the human race. The Grigori are bound "in the valleys of the Earth" until Judgment Day. (See Jude 1:6)

The "watchers" story in Enoch appears to be derived from Genesis chapter 6. Verses 1-4 describe the "Origin of the Nephilim" and mention the "Sons of God" who beget them:

When men began to multiply on earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw how beautiful the daughters of man were, and so they took for their wives as many of them as they chose. Then the Lord said: "My spirit shall not remain in man forever, since he is but flesh. His days shall comprise one hundred and twenty years." At that time the Nephilim appeared on earth (as well as later), after the sons of God had intercourse with the daughters of man, who bore them sons. They were the heroes of old, the men of renown. (Genesis 6:1-4)

Here, the "sons of God" are given no specific name or function; they could represent fallen angels, or simply heavenly beings that mate with women.

The Book of Jubilees adds further details about the "watchers".

In the Book of Daniel an Aramaic term used to denote angels is "watchers" (`îrîn).[3] Each of these heavenly beings is called by the double name "watcher and holy one" (`îr weqadîsh), which denotes one type of heavenly being not two. The term "watcher" probably derives from the verb "to be awake" or "to be vigilant," so that the implication of calling the angels "watchers" is that they are constantly on watch as sentinels for Yahweh.[4]

Angels were fairly popular in Jewish folklore, which often describes them as looking like large human beings that never sleep and remain forever silent. While there are good and bad "watchers", most stories revolve around the evil ones that fell from grace when they took "the daughters of man" as their mates.

[edit] References to other Grigori

In the early stellar cults of Mesopotamia there were four "royal" Stars (known as Lords) which were called the "watchers". Each one of these stars "ruled" over one of the four cardinal points common to Astrology. This particular system would date from approximately 3000 BC. The star Aldebaran, when it marked the Vernal Equinox, held the position of Watcher of the East. Regulus, marking the Summer Solstice, was Watcher of the South. Antares, marking the Autumn Equinox, was Watcher of the West. Fomalhaut, marking the Winter Solstice, was Watcher of the North. In the star myths the "watchers" themselves were depicted as gods who guarded the Heavens and the Earth. Their nature, as well as their "rank", was altered by the successive lunar and solar cults that replaced the older stellar cults.

Earlier mystical Hebrew sects organized the "watchers" into an archangel hierarchy. According to this system the "watchers" were ruled over by four great "watchers" known as Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Auriel. In the Old Testament (Daniel 4: 13 17) there is reference made to the Irin, or "watchers", which appear to be an order of angels. In early Hebrew lore the Irin were a high order of angels that sat on the supreme Judgment Council of the Heavenly Court. In the Apocryphal Books of Enoch and Jubilees, the "watchers" were sent to Earth to teach law and justice to humankind. The most common associations found in various texts on Medieval magic regarding the "watchers" are as follows:

1. Araqiel: taught the signs of the earth. 2. Armaros: taught the resolving of enchantments. 3. Azazel: taught the making of weapons of war. 4. Barqel: taught astrology. 5. Ezequeel: taught the knowledge of the clouds. 6. Gadreel: taught the art of cosmetics. 7. Kokabiel: taught the mystery of the Stars. 8. Penemue: taught writing. 9. Sariel: taught the knowledge of the Moon. 10. Semjaza: taught Herbal enchantments. 11. Shamshiel: taught the signs of the Sun.

It is these same angels who are referred to as the Benei Ha-Elohim (Eng. Sons of God) in the Book of Genesis. According to Christian belief their sins filled the Earth with violence and the world was destroyed as a result of their intervention. Richard Cavendish, in his book The Powers of Evil, makes references to the possibilities of the Giants mentioned in Genesis 6:4, being the Giants or Titans of Greek Mythology. He also lists the "watchers" as the fallen angels which magicians call forth in ceremonial magic. Cavendish mentions that the "watchers" were so named because they were stars, the "eyes of night."

Eventually the Greeks reduced the "watchers" to the gods of the four winds.

Christian theologians joined the "watchers" to an evil class of fallen angels known as the principalities of the air. St. Paul, in the New Testament, calls the Fallen Angels "principalities": "for we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers...against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in High Places". It was also St. Paul who called Satan "The prince of power of the air", and thus made the connection of Satan (himself connected to "a star", Isiah 14: 12 14) and etheric beings, for they were later known as demons and as principalities of the Air.

This theme was later developed by a French theologian of the 16th Century, named Sinistrari, who referred to the Watchers as beings existing between Humans and Angels. He called them demons and associated them with the Elemental natures of Earth, Air, Fire and Water.[5][6] This, however, was not a new concept but was taught by certain Gnostic sects in the early days of Christianity. Clement of Alexandria, influenced by Hellenistic cosmology, attributed the movement of the Stars and the control of the four elements to angelic beings. Sinistrari attributed bodies of fire, air, earth, and water to these Beings, and concluded that the "watchers" were made of fire and air. Cardinal Newman, writing in the mid 1800s, proposed that certain angels existed who were neither totally good nor evil, and had only "partially fallen" from the Heavens.

Some Italian witches believe that Charles Leland's book Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches preserves a tradition around the Grigori,[citation needed] who they believe appear as "the great spirits of the stars" in the legend "The Children of Diana, or how the fairies were born" and as "the fathers of the Beginning, [...] the mothers, the spirits who were before the first spirit" in the legend "How Diana made the Stars and the Rain".

[edit] Partial List of Grigori

  • Armaros (also Amaros) in Enoch I taught men the resolving of enchantments.
  • Araqiel (also Arakiel, Araqael, Araciel, Arqael, Sarquael, Arkiel, Arkas) [7] taught humans the signs of the earth. However, in the Sibylline Oracles, Araqiel is referred to not as a fallen angel, or Grigori, but as one of the 5 angels who lead the souls of men to judgement, the other 4 being Ramiel, Uriel, Samiel, and Azazel.
  • Azazel [8] taught men to make knives, swords, shields, and how to devise ornaments and cosmetics.
  • Baraqel (Baraqiel) taught men astrology [9]
  • Chazaqiel taught men the signs of the clouds (meteorology) [10]
  • Kokabiel (also Kakabel, Kochbiel, Kokbiel, Kabaiel, and Kochab), [11], is a high-ranking, holy angel but, in general apocryphal lore and also in Enoch I, he is a fallen Grigori, resident of nether realms, and commands 365,000 surrogate spirits to do his bidding. Among other duties, he instructs his fellows in astrology.
  • Penemue [12] "taught mankind the art of writing with ink and paper," and taught "the children of men the bitter and the sweet and the secrets of wisdom."
  • Sariel (also Suriel, Zerachiel, and Sarakiel) is one of the 7 archangels originally listed [13] as Saraqel. Apocryphally, he is the governor of the zodiacal sign of Aries. He also teaches of the courses of the moon (at one time regarded as forbidden knowledge).[14]
  • Samyaza (also Shemyazaz, Shamazya, Semiaza, Shemhazi, Semyaza and Amezyarak) is one of the leaders of the fall from heaven.[15]
  • Shamsiel, once a guardian of Eden,[16] served as one of the 2 chief aides to the archangel Uriel (the other aide being Hasdiel) when Uriel bore his standard into battle, and is the head of 365 legions of angels and also crowns prayers, accompanying them to the 5th heaven. He is referred to [17] as one of the Grigori. He is a fallen angel who teaches the signs of the sun.[18]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Daniel, chapter 4
  2. ^ Genesis Chapter 6, verses 1 through 4
  3. ^ Daniel 4:13, 4:17, 4:23 (KJV numbering of the verses); in translations following the original text, the verses are 4:10, 4:14, 4:20
  4. ^ Atlantic Baptist University: Angels
  5. ^ Summers, Montague Witchcraft and Black Magic p. 96.
  6. ^ Grimassi, Raven Encyclopedia of Wicca & Witchcraft: "Sinistrari"
  7. ^ in Enoch I
  8. ^ in I Enoch
  9. ^ from Enoch I
  10. ^ in Enoch I
  11. ^ in The Book of the Angel Raziel
  12. ^ in I Enoch 69.8
  13. ^ in the Enoch books
  14. ^ In the Enoch books
  15. ^ is referred to in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Vocabulaire de l' Angelologie.
  16. ^ in the Zohar
  17. ^ in Jubilees
  18. ^ In I Enoch

[edit] Further reading

  • Collins, Andrew (2001) From the ashes of angels: The forbidden legacy of a fallen race. Bear & Company. ISBN 978-1879181724
  • Lumpkin, Joseph B. (2006) Fallen angels watchers, and the origins of evil. Fifth Estate. ISBN 978-1933580104

[edit] External links