Samael
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Samael is an important figure in Talmudic and post-Talmudic lore, a figure who is accuser, seducer, and destroyer. Legends mentioning Satan refer equally to him, such that Samael is often taken to be the true or angelic name of the Devil, some also use the name Lucifer (light-bearer), but this is a mistranslation of Isaiah 14 where Helel was a Babylonian / Canaanite god who was the son of another Babylonian / Canaanite god named Shahar. An early Christian translator, St. Jerome who translated the Christian bible from Hebrew and Greek to Latin, used the Latin word lucifer as a translation for Helel (both have the same meaning of "morning star.")
Samael cannot always be simply identified with Satan, because some translations of the Book of Enoch confirm Satan's angelic name to be Satanail. The etymology of Samael is "Venom of God," as he is sometimes identified with the Angel of death. It is in this context that Samael is used in the infernal names in Satanism.
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[edit] In Judaism
In Jewish lore, he is said to be the Angel of Death, the chief ruler of the Fifth Heaven, one of the seven regents of the world served by two million angels. Yalkut I, 110 of the Talmud speaks of Samael as Esau's guardian angel. In Sotah 10b, Samael is Edom's guardian angel, and in the Sayings of Rabbi Eliezer, he is charged with being the one who tempted Eve, then seduced and impregnated her with Cain. Though some sources identify Gadreel as the angel that seduced Eve, other Hebrew scholars say that it was Samael who tempted Eve in the guise of the Serpent. Samael is also sometimes identified as being the angelic antagonist that wrestled Jacob at Esau, and as being the angel that held back the arm of Abraham as he was about to sacrifice his son.
In The Holy Kabbalah (p. 255), Samael is described as the "severity of God," and is listed as fifth of the archangels of the world of Briah. Samael is said to have taken Lilith as his bride after she left Adam. According to Zoharistic cabala, Samael was also mated with Eisheth Zenunium, Naamah, and Agrat bat Mahlat - all angels of prostitution. Samael is perhaps the true Personification of Wrath, rather than Satan, since Samael is often associated with Asmodeus, the demon of lust and wrath, and Satan is considered a juridical adversary, directed by God. After Isaac Luria had introduced the practice of refraining from speaking the name of Satan, the custom of calling Samael Samekh Mem became widespread among kabalists.
Samael is sometimes confused in some books with Camael, an archangel of God, whose name means "He who sees God."
[edit] In other traditions
In the Apocryphon of John, found in the Nag Hammadi library, Samael is the third name of the evil demiurge, whose other names are Yaldabaoth and Saklas. In this context, Samael means "the blind god", the theme of blindness running throughout gnostics. He is born out of the error of Sophia, who desires to create offspring of her own without the Spirit. His appearance is that of a lion-faced serpent. In On the Origin of the World in the Nag Hammadi library texts, he is also referred to as Ariael.
Samael in Kabbalah is the Qliphoth corresponding to the sephirah Hod. It means "the poison of God", the liar and the jugglers, and the demons associated with it are described as dull-yellow, demon-headed dog-like monsters.[citation needed]
The Qliphoth is the unbalanced aspect of a particular sephirah. Hod is the sephirah concerned with rationalisation, intellectualism and the occult, that gives form to ideas, as opposed to Netzach, that is raw energy, the ability of passion to transcend form. Hod must be balanced with Qliphoth to prevent dullness that follows from complete rationalization of the world, such as that of the sceptic who believes he knows everything and dismisses many potentially joyous experiences out of hand. For this reason, Hod becomes Samael, the Liar, the Juggler, who through clever words and rationalisations denies the existence of anything higher or greater.[citations needed]
[edit] Samael in fiction
- Samiel, or The Black Huntsman, is the demonic antagonist in the Weber opera Der Freischütz
- The Italian comic writer, Hugo Pratt, uses Samael in a few of his stories: 'Corto Maltese; Romeo and Julliet' (Shamaël) and 'West of Eden' (Samaël)
- Samael is the occluded deity who imposed chaos — disorder — onto Horselover Fat's life in the novel Valis, by Philip K. Dick
- Sammael is the name used by Satan in Malign Fiesta, the final complete section of Wyndham Lewis's novel, The Human Age
- Sammael is the name given to the viscid, amphibious, regenerating parthenogenic dog-like demon in the film Hellboy, said to be one of Anung Un Rama 's "brothers".
- Sammael is one of the thirteen Forsaken, the most powerful servants of the Dark One In the fictional world of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time fantasy series.
- In the DC/Vertigo comic book series Lucifer, the protagonist is called Samael by Yahweh.
- Sammael is Master of the Ravenwing, the 2nd company of the Dark Angel's Space Marine chapter in Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 tabletop battle game. Prior to this, he was Master of the 4th battle company.
- In the video game Silent Hill, one of the characters is mentioned as having the "Mark of Samael".
- In the Brazilian RPG Rebeliao:Ascensao e Queda (Rebellion: Ascension and Fall), Samael is depicted as one of the four Archidaemons. He was the Arch'Angel of the Beni Elohim, but he was defeated by Mikhael.
[edit] References
- Bunson, Matthew, (1996). Angels A to Z : A Who's Who of the Heavenly Host. Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0-517-88537-9.
- Davidson, Gustav. A Dictionary of Angels: Including the Fallen Angels. Free Press. ISBN 0-02-907052-X
[edit] Further reading
- Bamberger, Bernard Jacob, (March 15, 2006). Fallen Angels: Soldiers of Satan's Realm. Jewish Publication Society of America. ISBN 0-8276-0797-0
- Cruz, Joan C. 1999. Angels and Devils. Tan Books & Publishers. ISBN 0-89555-638-3.
