#St. Archangels Michael and Gabriel

[seraphicvirtues]

They’re so prettyyyyyy :D 💙💛💙 Just dumping a few stuff I have saved because why not yknow

[fightingtomakehimknown]

Mood boards for archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael

[helloparkerrose]

[angeltreasure]

(From left to right): St. Raphael, St. Michael, St. Gabriel.

[krist-420]

ARCHANGELS

[catholic-saint-tournament]

Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael the archangels. Personally, Raphael is my favorite

HUH. This actually presents me with quite the conundrum. The angels aren't human beings, so they're not saints in the traditional saints. They're not canonized, but lots of saints weren't canonized.

If we get more votes for them, we'll add the archangels to the bracket! Send in propaganda if you want to see the archangels :)

[tinyshe]

[bylagunabay]

Angel of God, my guardian …

HONOR ALL THE ANGELS SENT TO MINISTER TO US

September 29 is the Feast Day of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. October 2 is the Feast Day of the Guardian Angels.

“𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐮𝐛𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐳𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐮𝐧𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧'𝐬 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐒𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐧! 𝐎, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬?” 𝐒𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐲𝐬𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦

In a 1986 general audience, Pope John Paul II reminded us of the meaning of the names of the three Archangels:

1 ST. MICHAEL

“Mica-EL in fact means: ‘Who is like God?’ In this name, therefore, we find expressed the salvific choice thanks to which the angels ‘see the face of the Father’ who is in Heaven.”

𝐀𝐩𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐩𝐬𝐞 𝟏𝟐:𝟕-𝟖 “𝐖𝐚𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧, 𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧.”

2 ST. GABRIEL

Next is Gabri-EL, meaning “my power is God” or “power of God.”

𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐥 𝟗:𝟐𝟏-𝟐𝟑 “𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧, 𝐆𝐚𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐥, 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐦 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐇𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬: '𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐥, 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝'.”

3 ST. RAPHAEL

Then there is Raphael, ‘Rafa-EL’ meaning “God heals.”

𝐓𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝟒:𝟏𝟏 “𝐅𝐨𝐫  𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐬  𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫  𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦  𝐚𝐥𝐥  𝐬𝐢𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝  𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦  𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡, 𝐚𝐧𝐝  𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐭  𝐬𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫  𝐭𝐡𝐞  𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥  𝐭𝐨  𝐠𝐨  𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨  𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬.”

“Each one of these figures, Mica-EL, Gabri-EL, and Rafa-EL reflects in a particular way the truth contained in Paul’s ‘Letter to the Hebrews (1:14): Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve, for the sake of those who are to possess salvation?’”

4 CELESTIAL CHOIRS

Promises of St. Michael to Antonia d’Astonac to those who prayed the Chaplet of St. Michael: “Whoever would practice this devotion in his honour would have, when approaching the Holy Table, an escort of nine angels chosen from each of the nine Choirs. In addition, for the daily recital of these nine salutations, he promised his continual assistance and that all the holy angels during life, and after death deliverance from Purgatory for themselves and all their relations.”

Chaplet of St. Michael: https://www.discerninghearts.com/catholic-podcasts/prayersdevotionals/chaplet-of-st-michael-the-archangel/

[ricisidro]

‪#TodayIs September 29, the #FeastDay of #StMichael, #StGabriel and #StRaphael, #Archangels‬

‪#God #Jesus #HolySpirit #Bible #Prayer #Pray #inspire #inspiration #FridayMotivation #FridayMorning ‬

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[lxkeee]

FLY ME TO THE MOON: THE SEVEN VIRTUES OF GOD

Notes: just some information about the seven virtues.

PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE

Rankings:

The seven virtues consist of seven angels from different triads.

The archangels are Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael/Reader, the virtues of justice, faith, and kindness.

The only dominion angel is Uriel, the virtue of wisdom.

The only seraphim angel is Jophiel, the virtue of beauty.

The only throne angel is Camuel, the virtue of courage.

The only power angel is Azrael, the angel of death.

Most would think the seraphim angels are the most powerful but it's actually the seven virtues who are the most powerful. Strength and power the seven virtues are better as they are in the front lines.

The seraphim angels listen to them.

The seven virtues stayed most of their time on earth, working their separate duties. They watched over the mortals.

Each virtue watches one continent of earth but they do take turns in each continent.

Each virtue has its own personal mansion in heaven.

Personality Dynamics:

The seven virtues think of each other like siblings or best friends at most.

Michael, obviously the older and the leader. Cares for the other six like an older brother does. Cold, serious and takes his role very seriously.

Gabriel, the second oldest. She's like a big sister. Quite a tease too.

Raphael, the third oldest. An introvert, doesn't know how to show affections. She used to but she's currently suffering depression and therefore has trouble understanding her emotions lately but she cares. Very cold and serious when in work mode but awkward and chill during their day off.

Uriel, the same age as Raphael. Very smart, often speaks like a poet or a crackhead and there's no in-between. Total sweetheart and always ready to help. Serious when doing his job.

Jophiel, the same age as Raphael. A flirt, likes teasing others and especially the other virtues. Hides away from responsibilities if he has the chance. If he can't then he would take his job very seriously.

Camuel, the same age as Raphael. Despite being the virtue of courage, he gets scared very easily. Strong though, so he can fight. Got along with the other virtues.

Azrael, the same age as Raphael. A very playful, mischievous, flirty, serious angel. He tends to make fun of others but knows when not to cross the lines. A little sadistic. Always have a smirk on his face, very condescending when in work mode.

The seven virtues both have work and relax mode. When working they are downright terrifyingly serious. But when they don't have any work then they are quite chill.

Michael barely gets any sleep. Functions with coffee 24/7.

Raphael barely has any motivation to do anything.

All seven virtues have sass in their tongues.

Uriel does dad jokes or corny jokes.

Jophiel the victim to listen to those jokes.

All seven of them are tired as fuck, very overworked lmao.

Michael and Azrael often argue cuz the reaper teases Michael. Tend to end up in a fight.

Gabriel tries to break it off and accidentally gets included in the fight.

Camuel the one who actually breaks it off.

Raphael is just there, already used to it.

Jophiel and Uriel watching the fight while eating popcorn, making bets.

Work:

Michael watches over the fairness and equality of earth. Keeping track of mortals' deeds.

Gabriel watches over the faiths of humans, offering guidance to mortals. She's the one who sends mortals' prayers to god.

Raphael watches over the sick and healthy. Providing health to the people who needed it.

Uriel watches over the people and keeps track of the progress made by humans.

Jophiel watches over nature and the non humans, making sure equality is present in all of god's creation.

Camuel watches over the people, providing protection.

Azrael the reaper of souls, guides souls to their destination in the afterlife. Updates the book of life that St. Peter uses so he'll know if there's a new soul that would arrive in heaven.

Day Off Dynamics:

Stays in heaven to recharge.

Often have sleepovers.

Gets very chaotic as they often have nights where they go out for drinks.

Game nights are nights of betrayal.

Michael sucks at uno.

Azrael kept on winning.

Loser does the winner's paperworks.

Gossips. Lots of gossips.

Whether it's heavenly tea or mortal ones.

Michael to Azrael during uno: “Right hand on the bible, god can strike me down if I'm lying. The mf is cheating!”

Yes, they swear.

Only when it's just the seven of them in the room.

Probably hibernates for two whole days.

Other fun facts:

Azrael has two floating or flying eye pets, he can use it to eavesdrop in heaven when he's on earth. It serves as his second pair of eyes. He's always watching.

Michael wields a sword.

Gabriel uses a book as she's more of a mage type of angel.

Raphael uses a sword.

Uriel uses a sword.

Jophiel uses a book to conjure spells.

Camuel uses a bow and arrow.

Azrael uses a staff that transforms into a scythe.

Jophiel accidentally turned himself a frog once and had to attend a virtues meeting in frog form. The others never let him forget.

Uriel drinks more wine than water.

The only girls in the seven virtues are Gabriel and Raphael.

[Y/n] is often rolled into a burrito by the others if she's depressed.

[devilmen-collector]

Origin of the names of the angels

Since I have done a post on the origin of the names of the seven kingdoms of Hell, may as well do the origin of the names of the angels.

Warning, this post contains religious content. If you are not comfortable, please ignore this.

Now let's go on with our trivia post

Seraphim

Now I just want to make a distinction. The Seraphim irl are called "the Archangels", but that doesn't mean they belong to the rank of archangel, the second-to-lowest rank, it only means they are the leaders and chieftains of all the angels, including other Seraphim.

Also, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are the only named angels in the Bible.

Michael

"Michael" means "Who is like unto God?" in Hebrew. In the Bible, Michael is described as "the great prince, who standeth for the children of thy people" (Daniel 12:1), the angel who disputed with the devil over the remains of Moses (Epistle of St. Jude verse 9), the leader of the heavenly army fighting against the dragon (Revelation 12:7).

In the Christian tradition, Michael is the leader of God's army fighting against Satan, helper of the faithful Christians at the moment of death, champion of God's people, protector of the Jews under of the Old Testament, and of God's Holy Church. He is also the patron of many chivalric order of knights.

Michael, having led the battle against Lucifer, is the greatest of all angels, no angel could surpass him in honor and glory.

The feast day of St. Michael in Western Christianity is held on September 29, commemorating the dedication of first church built in his honor in Western Europe. In Eastern Christianity, St. Michael and all angels have their commom feast day on the 8th of November.

Gabriel

"Gabriel" means "strength of God". In the Bible, he appears as the messenger of God who delivers messages of utmost importance: he tells the Prophet Daniel two prophecies concerning the successive empires and the time elapsing before the coming of Christ (Daniel chapter 8 & 9), he appears before Zachary and foretells that his son will be the Precursor of the Lord (Luke 1:5-25), and most importantly Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary the Incarnation of the God the Son and that she is going to become the Mother of God (Luke 1:26-38). According to tradition, Gabriel was also the angel who appeared in St. Joseph's dream (Matthew 1:18-25; 2: 13-23), and also the angel who consoled Jesus (Luke 22:43). Thus, Gabriel is the Archangel of Incarnation and Consolation.

Some traditions have Gabriel as the angel of mercy while Michael is the angel of justice. Some others have it vice versa.

St. Gabriel's feast day, according to an old tradition, is on the 24th of March, the day before the feast of Annunciation.

Raphael

"Raphael" means "God has healed". The third Archangel appears only in the book of Tobit, in which he helps the young Tobias during his journey, ultimately aiding the young man heal his father's blindness and helping him find a good spouse. Therefore, Raphael is invoked as the angel of Healing and the Patron of finding a good partner for marriage.

Raphael was also the angel who revealed that there are seven Archangels. "For I am the angel Raphael, one of the seven, who stand before the Lord" (Tobit 12:15).

The feast day of St. Raphael, in old tradition, is on the 24th of October.

Cherubim

Selaphiel, Jegudiel and Barachiel

Selaphiel, Jegudiel and Barachiel aren't found in Sacred Scripture, but only in the tradition of Eastern Orthodox Church.

For these three angels, I have already made a post about it. I'll link it here for you guys.

Selaphiel, Jegudiel and Barachiel: Origin of the names

Zadkiel

Zadkiel does not appear in the Bible, although some identify him as the unnamed Angel of the Lord who prevents Abraham from sacrificing his son during the time that God tested Abraham (Genesis 22:1-18). It's the reason why if a church (usually an Anglican church) does depict Zadkiel in its iconography, he's depicted as holding a dagger, for Abraham intended to use a dagger to sacrifice his son.

We will skip over Thrones (or Ophanim), Dominions, Virtues and Powers because there is currently no angel of those choirs in-game yet.

Principalities

Michelleel

"Michelleel" is a name that PrettyBusy completely made up themselves. No angel is known with the name Micheleel. Micheleel is the combination of Michael written in another way "Michelle" and the suffix "el", which means "God".

Archangels

Rashiel, Armisael and Zeruel

Just like with Michelleel, these three Archangels have made up names by PrettyBusy.

Angels

Samael

"Samael" means "Venom/Poison of God". He exists only in Judaism's Talmudic lore. Sometimes he is considered a fallen angel, with some people think he's Satan, while other times he is considered the angel with destructive duties.

[portraitsofsaints]

St. Michael St. Gabriel & St. Raphael, Archangels

September 29

Happy Feast Day 

 St. Michael St. Gabriel & St. Raphael pray for us! Archangels are messengers of God sent to direct, guide, defend, & protect us. 

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase here: (website)

[cosmonadarovicarts]

Ok but... Why were we presented with a new angelic character and not a canonical being?

I'll develop the question further: Not that it's a problem to have new angels/Seraphim/archangels as a character, but why wasn't a canonical angel introduced, like Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Ariel...?

WHY CREATE A CHARACTER (Sera) WHEN THERE ARE SEVERAL OTHER BEINGS FROM THESE MYTHS/BELIEF? I don't exactly include Emily because I believe she must have a story behind her to exist.

It's strange because the most diverse demons (coming from demonology and other beliefs and myths) appear in both Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss, but these beings from Heaven do not, Except St Peter!

St Peter's appearance indicates which myths/beliefs the work is based on, and so... St Peter is directly linked to Christianity (I don't want to get into the subject of syncretism of religions!!) which come a lot from Jewish beliefs too (this is kinda obvious).

This whole thought came up when I saw edits on Tiktok about a possible rivalry between Lucifer and Miguel/Michael in the future of the series, it would be something I would like to see!

Could these be famous angels like Gabriel, Michael...??

Note: I have no problem with the character Sera, my point is why have an original character to occupy her high position when there are names in myths/beliefs that would be there?

Anyway, what do you think about it? Would the series be afraid to include beings linked to major religions? Could it be that these angels haven’t appeared yet because they will have great prominence in the future?

(I hope I wasn't disrespectful to any religion)

[helloparkerrose]

[drconstellation]

Taking Things At Face Value

This post is dedicated to all those Ninas out there, who are "just enjoying the show."

I have been pondering an problem that had come up for a second time in another meta I'm writing (I left it out of an earlier one for clarity) regarding acknowledgement of identity and faces in S2, but when you keep running into the same road-block, you have to tackle it head on. Then I ran into the exact same problem a third time here, and the beginnings of this meta has sat in my drafts file staring at me for several weeks while I've been doing other things. But finally, finally, the answer has come to me, while being kept awake by a passing thunderstorm at 1.30am.

MRS SANDWICH: You're a good lad. CROWLEY: I'm not actually, either. But thank you.

Let's start with this exchange between Crowley and Mrs Sandwich, after Crowley has led all the Whickber St shopkeepers out of the ball to apparent safety. She calls him a "good lad," and he denies it, but thanks her anyway, and gives her a charming smile. We all know Crowley hates being called 'nice' and the last time he did something 'good' he got dragged down to Hell for punishment, so it seems like an odd thing to happen.

But the thing is, while Mrs Sandwich is complimenting his actions, he is responding about his appearance - that is neither 'good' (i.e. he is a demon) or a male human (i.e. he is an supernatural non-gendered entity.)

At this point you might be going "yeah, yeah, we know, we get that! Move along op..." but this matters, as you soon will see. We should also note that neither Crowley or Aziraphale judge Mrs Sandwich for being a brothel madame (how Aziraphale does not know this when her shop is just over the road from his I will never fathom, but there you go) and Crowley is actually quite charming all-round to his parallel character (prostitution and demons going hand-in-hand - er, not literally. But they went out the door as the vanguard arm-in-arm, though.)

The Metatron turning up at the bookshop in person is the next scene on the cards. Firstly, archangel Michael doesn't recognize him, but Saraqael obviously does.

Now, I know I'm guilty of saying that Michael may have had their memory adjusted at some time, but I'm going to suggest something else at this point. Saraqael knows who this is, because they have just had a fresh reminder from watching the recordings of Gabriel with Crowley and Muriel. And Saraqael is a pretty smart angel, so lets give them some leeway on this one. But for Michael, well, they are in the same situation as Aziraphale. They have only seen the Metatron as giant floating head without a body, so don't associate him with this appearance before them, and also because he has a beard.

Just before you jump on me and say "But he had one in the recordings!" yes, yes, I know. Two things, though, I want to bring to your attention: angels are not supposed to have facial hair,* and he doesn't have any in S1 (I checked!) and he also makes the comment "This calls for much less attention, though." Yeah, well a giant head floating through the streets of Soho would be quite a sight, wouldn't it, even though they had already been treated to the view of Gabriel's royal rear-end. Aziraphale had only met him once before, as a giant floating head in S1E4 who had had to introduce himself, so we could surmise this is Michael's problem as well, even though they were at Gabriel's trial. This is backed up by a tumblr ask/answer from NG as well, where he said "I think because they normally see him as a giant floating head, and not as a little man in a raincoat."

MICHAEL: Um, and who are you? METATRON: For Heaven's sake. And I mean that most literally. You don't know me? Well, uh, what about you? Demon? Do you know me?

Demon. That is what the Metatron chooses to call Crowley in that company, and we know in hindsight that he knows Crowley's name - as does Uriel, and Gabriel. Even Muriel learns it. But they don't use it, at least not in S2.

Even more notable is that the archangels don't deign to him give the respect of using his chosen name at all. He's not not even their enemy at this point - he's beneath their notice altogether, even though they are in the same room. Only Aziraphale seems to acknowledge his existence, instinctively trying to reach out to him as he passes by.

To Nina, people are coffee preferences.

To Mrs Sandwich, they are desires that need servicing.

So then question I had, and that stopped me, was why did both Crowley and Gabriel question Beelzebub about their new face?

It stood out to me because you don't normally make an obvious comment about the change of actor for a character, and to do it twice - !! You can't ignore that. No meta writer should ignore that. There is a trope term for this, actually, called "lampshading," which means to intentionally call attention to an incongruent situation within a story before moving on, but in a show where nothing is an accident, this seems a bit trite to me. Eventually I realized that this was the whole crux of the problem to me - that while we all too readily take things at face value, its not the faces that really influence us, its our internal values.

In the case of Beelzebub, Crowley recognizes the demon, their power, and their identity via the flies without any doubt; he merely comments on the change of exterior appearance. In terms of value, he knows straight away he's dealing with someone dangerous, no matter what they look like. Gabriel, on the other hand, is judging the book by its cover, and because he doesn't recognize the new cover, he needs proof of which demon he's dealing with, or maybe if they are even a demon at all.

"Bravo," says Nina, "Just enjoying the show." She's already seen a few that week, not to mention just in the general flow of life as a shop owner involved with customer service. If you've had any sort of life in a customer service role I'm sure you've got a few stories you could tell of things you've seen or experienced as well! I know I can.

The conversation between Nina and Crowley after Aziraphale walks away is amusing for all the assumptions Nina makes about them based on what she's observed that week, but also because Crowley tells the truth every in every reply to Nina, and yet she still has no idea what he's really saying. But her judgements, based on her experience and values, still manage to drop the proverbial ton of bricks on his head so badly he slinks off to sooth himself with some alcohol while he thinks about it instead of catching up with Aziraphale to continue being the angel's nameless shadow.

This problem with judging people on previous experience and not on who they actually are is everywhere in S2.

It's Ennon treating Aziraphale, an angel he's never met before, as a slut.

It's Elspeth judging Aziraphale on his accent.

It's Mrs H. giving a powerful demon a blistering tongue-lashing because she thinks he's a just simple human black marketeer.

It's Crowley refusing to call Gabriel "Jim" because he believes Gabriel is faking it.

...and so on. These are just a few examples. I'm sure you can spot a few more.

Which brings us back around to the meeting of the supernatural Councils in the bookshop in S2E6 and Crowley's "invisibility" to the other angels and demons gathered there. A demon to the archangels, an arch-traitor to the demons, why would they want to acknowledge him? Once he restores Gabriel, he becomes rank-less and faceless to them because they don't need him any more - its basically an act of celestial racism.

Nina and Maggie don't really know any better, they still think Mr Crowley and Mr Fell are just, well, "partners." OK, so maybe they've been doing some weird shit the last few days manipulating things in the neighbourhood but they're still obviously a couple a group of the two of them in their human eyes - and neither do they seem to care that they seem to be mlm, either. No judgement there.

A number of times I've seen ops say they've been watching GO with family members who are seeing it for the first time, and the family member thinks they are just "close friends." Why? Because they haven't seen S2 and the kiss? Because they haven't verbally said "I love you" to each other? Do they really need to say that to prove their feelings for each other? Is that just your values creeping to the fore?

And where did you get your values from?

Sometimes you need to stop and question why you think what you think. I'm not just talking about religious indoctrination. Some expectations put on us by by society at large can be insidious. Expectations around how gender should act, the life purpose of a gender, your worth to society if you don't meet certain unspoken standards, age-related behaviour, social norms around alcohol consumption, the way they dress, what someone eats, the way they eat it, that you must be seen to be productive, or busy...take your pick for whatever is prevalent around you at the moment and for your culture. Just start by noticing, and being aware.

Yes, it is pointless, because demons and angels all come from the same angelic stock. There was a bit of a disagreement at one point and they split into two groups, and judgemental labels got applied to them. They are both still bureaucratic horrors. Which ever side wins the final battle, humans still lose.

Mortal humans all look the same inside, too, if you take their face and skin away and take the societal labels off them. We forget that about ourselves all the time.

There doesn't have to be any wibbly-wobbly timeline stuff going on to explain things. What ever happened to the concept of Occam's Razor? The simplest answer is usually the correct one. And that was what I realized in the middle of the night - the cliche I had used to title this was the answer. It's about being aware of those ingrained, instinctive, judgmental values that you don't realize you've learnt, and looking past the faces that you meet.

*oh lawdy, I'm giving strength to all of you who want to believe he is a demon then, aren't I? But do demons have facial hair either?

[thesherrinfordfacility]

okay let's fucking crack into finally discussing the book of life, ive been putting it off for ages but the time is now upon me to chat shit about it, bc apparently i might have a meta/analysis rep to maintain?

so first thing's first, im going to look at the narrative itself and the references we have to the BOL. we start off with michael discussing it on the phone with an unknown person:

given this dialogue further on in s1, i think we're all in agreement that the conversation is with beelzebub; the precedent of intelligence sharing was definitely set in s1 with michael and ligur.

but beelzebub sounds surprised on the phone, and when speaking to crowley seems to slightly hesitate on whether extreme sanctions actually did exist... but the archangel michael has just threatened it, so of course it must be real. it's a threat to anyone without discrimination, by this account - any angel, demon, or human (i imagine) can be written into it - so it stands to reason that beelzebub chooses to take michael at their word.

now michael obviously seems similarly convinced that the BOL indeed exists and that it erases from existence any name that is erased from it. ive mentioned before that its interesting that the moment that the metatron appears in the bookshop is when michael is intending to make good on that threat with aziraphale:

but authorised by who? just in the general scheme of things, as supreme archangel duty officer? in which case, why wasn't this a chekhov's gun suggested in s1, even if in the very abstract? i guess it could have been information overload but, given aziraphale literally helped to divert armageddon and disrupt the great plan, you'd think that would be a situation that would warrant such a threat too, from gabriel as supreme archangel?

so by that reckoning, it must be knowledge that michael didn't know about much before the telephone call, because they weren't of sufficient rank (albeit the rank seems to be one they've assumed rather than been entrusted with in the interim). alternatively, the use of the word 'authorised' suggests they've received a direct green-light from someone above them... and who is above the supreme archangel? 👀

but the metatron interrupts the threat before it can be actualised, which obviously feeds into the whole 'came down here to get aziraphale back on side, here have this coffee 🙂' thing... wouldn't do for you to go out on a recruitment drive and have the angel you want to be blinked out of existence before you can make the job offer. so off the archangels go - after a very pointed interaction of michael and uriel not recognising the metatron at all.

but where does metatron fit in the narrative as concerns the BOL? well, nowhere yet. the conference scene in the beginning of ep6 that Crowley witnesses doesn't have any reference to the BOL at all, so it was never on the table as concerns gabriel's demotion (just a good ole memory wipe). so this is where i come to parsing out what i think the BOL actually is.

now im reluctant to go by other texts to riddle this out, mainly because GO is largely inspired by other works and religious texts so i don't tend to double down solely on what they themselves say, but in the absence of any other information from GO itself, this is what ive got to help it make sense.

BOL indeed, by both hebrew and christian text, records all those that are considered worthy before god. that those people are written into it before birth, and to be removed from it signifies death. now that this seems to be to be very human-centric, so how would this apply to angels? well, the re-wording of 'death' to 'never have existed' is an indicator here.

in Revelations, st john the divine of patmos recorded that those who were written and kept in the book would be saved from the Last Judgement; which i think can be agreed in this case would refer to the resurrection of christ aka. the second coming. and to be removed from the BOL would result in being "cast into the lake of fire" (20:15, KJV). which sounds somewhat familiar, right?

so can we be certain that the BOL just simply means oblivion for any angel written in it? i don't think so. there's the school of thought floating round that crowley had his memory wiped which - yes - there are clues that that may be the case (i still sit on the fence, because in some of the examples that support the theory i still also hold the thought that the angel that crowley was may have just been a bit of a work-obsessed knob). but i do wonder if there's some small grain of truth to it, because if we consider this hypothesis that being'wiped from existence' isn't actually that at all, or not as it sounds anyway, wouldn't an angel consider that not being an angel is essentially the same thing?

in falling, you lose who you were, and you're no longer that person. that person, that angel, ceases to exist?

it would certainly make sense to therefore not erase gabriel from the BOL, because it would make him fall, and they would lose another powerful angel to hell... after all:

"For one Prince of Heaven to be cast into the outer darkness makes a good story. For it to happen twice makes it look like there is some kind of institutional problem."