It's been a while, hasn't it?
There have been reasons for that, which I wioll be going into later, but right now... right now I have reports to make.
A couple of months ago, I got hold of Jake Stratton-Kent's reconstructed True Grimoire. And this is a truly fascinating, and enlightening work. I purchased it at the same time as the excellent Crossed Keys book, which I have been steadily working through with the aim of actually completing the Black Dragon sequence; fox hair, though, is not easily obtained by me. (That's a story for another time though.) But I thoroughly enjoyed reading through said books. But then, on page 42 of the True Grimoire, I found a diagram that caught my attention.
It was The Operation of Uriel Seraphim. This is a rite that turns u, it seems on Mather's translation of the Grimoire of Armadel, but Jake Stratton-Kent used an earlier manuscript than the one that Mathers used; MS 2494 Bibliotheque de l'Arsenal, specifically. Anyways, what grabbed me was what I found at the top of it. It had a sequence of Angelic names that were familiar to me. All but one. They were obviously Planetary archangels; Cassiel of Saturn, Anael of Venus, Gabriel of the Moon, Sachiel of Jupiter, Raphael of Mercury, Samael of Mars... and, ostensibly of the Sun, Alithael.
Who the hell is Alithael? I had never come across this name before. Not in Agrippa or Barrett, not in the Heptameron... basically, I had absolutely no reference to this in any other place. I obviously did a Google search, which turned up some Saint Alithael in the Klondyke and it being an occasional first name, but no reference to an Angelic Being. And likewise, I found a list of Angels and their listings in the Grimoires... no Alithael there either. I did, though, try to search for the Armadel, and found this page.
That was exactly the same diagram as the one I had sitting in front of me, but with one significant difference: where mine had Alithael, this had Michael. The seals were exactly the same.
Out of interest, and a feeling that I really should be doing this, I constructed a Lamen and performed my modified Gate Rite for the Sun as directed by Rufus Opus, in the hour of the Sun on the day of the Sun.
I was blown away. The connection was immediate and solid, I felt intense heat on my face, and my eyes hurt. It was like looking at the sun on a hot summer's day. And Alithael was immediately and clearly visible in my mind's eye. There he stood, a winged lion (with multicoloured feathers on his wings), wearing a Papal Tiara and carrying a broadsword of bronze.
It was glorious.
He had much to say, but the gist of it was that he had not been summoned by anyone in a very long time, and that he would work closely with me, that he was giving me his blessing, aid in all my workings- and that he admired (or maybe approved of) my ambition and style.
After this spectacular conjuration, I went to talk about this to an old friend online. This friend said that the name was very unusual; in fact, the translation (loosely) of the name was "The God who judges God". (His emphasis, not mine.) He said it might answer the Question of Michael as well; but I wouldn't know about that. He also said that his version of the Armadel (a 1970's version) had Lucifer where I had found Alithael, and Mathers had put Michael.
Since I started working with him, I found myself having a lot of things go very nicely for me, my workings sharper and more efficient, synchronicities lining up to practically do the conga, and, as a slight addendum to that, while I have blonde hair and fair skin, I was unfortunate to end up outside on the hottest day of the year for seven hours with no protection.
No burning. Not even a tan. No clouds in the sky, no shade. The Blessing of Alithael seems to convey the effect of +5 to Elemental Damage (Fire/Solar).
Seriously. Call him. Work with him. I believe him to be an entirely valid alternative to Michael as the Archangel of the Sun.
He's been long forgotten and ought to be remembered.
