#and also that raphael and uriel later support his claims in their first act of resistance against michael

[cherubchoirs]

I had a funny thought, what if during the inevitable Gabriel vs Micheal fight, Micheal is winning, Gabe's on the ropes, helmet smashed open but during Mike's hate monologue the coin V1 flicked into the Gabe void flings out, terminal velocity, nailing Micheal and giving Gabe time to turn the tables and get his first real coin combo.

even better if this is like, decades later after v1 flicked it in there, where has it been? who knows! Anyway, how would the sibling scuffle work out anyway because the only way I can see Micheal actually listening to what Gabe has to say is after a beatdown so great that he cant run away from the truth.

UUGUHTHHUHGH THE COIN KNEW WHEN IT WAS NEEDED. and i love this bc i also definitely see gabriel adapting some of v1's strategies in his technique, the mannerisms just evolving naturally like others might copy speech or habits from their partner. he will utilize the hell out of that thing and be doubly grateful that he. now knows where it is lol but otherwise you're absolutely right in the sense that this is the only way michael could be reasoned with - he would need to be left so exhausted the meager threads of his light won't allow him to teleport in retreat. gabriel knows it's not the easiest solution since michael is just about as accustomed to loss as he once was, but he can't imagine any other way to get him to actually listen. unfortunately, he needs to be brought low before gabriel can make an earnest appeal - and he figures he has one chance to do it.

in all honesty, gabriel isn't hopeful about michael's reception to anything he has to say - michael became deeply ingrained in his ways a long time ago and his life has only served to solidify an unwavering adherence to god's will. gabriel knows, better than any of them, that he is fighting against the trauma seeded by lucifer's fall and now grown into the fruit of what michael's desperation has wrought in his decaying body. that's not. conducive to gabriel's position, because it has fostered a mental schema fortified against all collapse as that would destroy michael from the inside out. it MUST maintain, or everything he's done since the war in heaven to now tearing apart his own soul is rendered pointless in his eyes. but that's way gabriel deliberates on exactly how to approach it, and he digs deep into the messenger he once was. this was his job, to not just speak of joy but of so much evil too, and now it's imperative he frames the latter in a way michael can hear and let in. it's all been leading to this, he thinks.

so gabriel approaches him as the servant of god that he is, so staunch in his devotion that even other angels in heaven cannot understand him. he gave everything, his body and his soul, into service to the lord, and he loved so deeply that it devoured him whole. gabriel calls on him to stop his hatred then, to finally bleed the infected wound that's never gotten the chance to breathe because he so feared it would corrupt his mind. he has done enough, he has done so much more than anyone would ever even try - it's not his fault that god is gone, and it is not his fault he won't come back. michael did what no one else was willing to do, so the work is done. god poured so much of his wrath onto michael that in his return he forgot he could do so much more, and gabriel firmly reminds him of heaven's current status. he is not just some jailer, his entire existence isn't meant to be so wrapped up in the punishment of sinners and the demons of hell. michael sees souls upon their death and offers them a chance at repentance, michael is the prince of the angels and he leads their brothers in his fairness and wisdom. there is a heaven where he's needed, two remaining archangels that still look to him for guidance, and there can be peace if he chooses it. peace within himself. he is needed and he is loved, but gabriel demands that he must rid himself of all the hatred he harbors for his own sin and how it manifests into his treatment now of those in hell. because michael would HATE to hear it, but gabriel knows this is the most important point he has - his crusade now is not fought for god, but to preserve his legacy, to prove to himself and all others that he is still michael. it's a risk to shove it in his face so plainly, but gabriel knows he responds much better to tough love than walking on eggshells. and if one thing could FINALLY break him out of his rampage against hell, it would be gabriel, inhabiting the role of god's messenger, telling him in no uncertain terms that his motivation now are purely selfish. he has put god's name on a personal vitriol, and that would at least make him think.

[every-angel-is-terrifyingg-blog]

Raphael

I won’t lie, I’ve wanted to put off this post.

There are a few things I need to get off my chest and a few elephants I need to address before I can really talk about my boy Raphael.

 If you’ve ever spent five minutes in the Good Omens tag, then you’ve heard of the “Crowley is Raphael” headcanon. It’s compelling to some people because the Archangel Raphael is a healer who looks out for humanity and snakes have a traditional connection to healing. Not to mention we don’t see Raphael in the show.

When I first saw this headcanon, I thought it was an interesting “what if.” However, it’s a “what if” that presents complications. Crowley doesn’t perfectly align with Raphael’s lore, which I’ll be getting into today. It also presents a bit of a paradox. There would need to be a pretty good explanation for why we humans know about Raphael and why we consider him one of the Big Four Archangels (ie Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel) if he’s fallen.

I’m not here to try and change minds. I’m here to enthuse about angels. So, if you like the Raphael headcanon, please understand that you need to find a good solution to a few roadblocks to make it work. I also hope the information I’ll provide is helpful.

If you headcanon Crowley as a different named angel, any named angel, I’m happy to talk lore and give information. Again, not here to change minds. At the end of the day, I just want more excuses to talk about angels without people assuming I’m religious. Also, I sometimes worry that the Raphael headcanon will drown out other voices/ideas and, well, that’s just not cool. The wonderful thing about fan communities is creativity and the stifling of creative expression is always something to be mourned.

My personal take? I think Crowley was a worker bee angel who very accidentally got where he is today. I also kind of like the idea that he was one of the fallen angels who taught humanity about astronomy/astrology as mentioned in the Book of Enoch, but my preference is that Crowley was essentially a nobody. It’s more satisfying to me to think that a nobody became the serpent in Eden and what not. If you disagree, that’s fine.

Okay, I’ve delayed things long enough. Let’s focus on Raphael, Archangel MD. Who is he and what is he about?

Raphael (God has healed) is one of only three angels that are named in any canonical text, the other two being Michael and Gabriel. This alone makes him the third most important angel we have.

He is first mentioned in the Book of Tobit, a text that is outside of the Hebrew canon and Christians are split on (Catholics say canon, Protestants say not canon). In the Book of Tobit, Raphael heals Tobit’s blindness and acts as a travel companion to Tobit’s son Tobias. He disguises himself as a a human, claiming to be a relative named Azarias (Yahweh helps). After a long journey and some miracles, Raphael reveals that he is one of the seven Archangels who sit by God’s throne.

After the big reveal, Tobias and Raphael reach their destination. Tobias wants to marry a woman named Sarah, but the demon Asmodeus keeps killing her husbands before they can consummate the marriage (rude). Raphael tells Tobias to smoke the demon out by burning a fish’s liver and heart. It works and the two humans can get married.   

Raphael is attributed as a doctor angel in a few other places. The Zohar states that Raphael is the one who is in charge of healing the earth and is a protector of humans. In other stories, Raphael helped Abraham heal from his circumcision, fixed Jacob’s leg after some celestial wrestling, and gave Noah a book of medicine.  

In the apocryphal Book of Enoch, Raphael is further established as an angel of healing. After the fallen angels mucked things up on earth, Raphael was tasked with fixing the planet. Along with this, Enoch names him as a Watcher and a guide to Sheol, the underworld.

Being a very important angel, Raphael is referenced to a number of times in other stories.

It’s thought that Raphael’s equivalent in Islam is Israfil, the angel who will blow the trumpet to announce the Days of Resurrection. Some believe that he tutored Muhammad before Gabriel delivered the Qur’an and that he cries three times a day over the vision of Hell. What’s fascinating is how Israfil is depicted. He’s gigantic, hairy, covered in mouths and tongues, and has four wings: one to cover his body, one to shield him from God, one that stretches east, and another that stretches west.

Here’s what I’m wondering, are the mouths separate from the tongues or does he just stick all his tongues out of all his mouths?

The Midrash Konen says that Raphael was once the angel Labbiel. Before God created humans, there was huge argument in Heaven over whether or not humanity was a good idea at all. Labbiel and a number of other angels supported God’s desire to make humans. Because God is God, He got final say. The angels who disagreed with God were burned (rude) and Labbiel got a promotion and a name change.

In Jewish mysticism, Raphael along with the other Big Four (Michael, Gabriel, and Uriel) observe all the bloodshed in the world and watch over the Four Rivers of Paradise.

In the Testament of Solomon, King Solomon needed help building the Temple, so God sent Raphael. Raphael gave him a magic ring engraved with a pentagram (the Seal of Solomon). This ring had the power to control demons and so Solomon completed the temple thanks to demonic slave labor.

Some traditions place Raphael as a guardian of the Tree of Life, which grants immortality. He also oversees evening winds and is a champion of science and knowledge.

Raphael’s angelic rank is...tricky. He’s called the chief of Virtues, second sphere angels who ensure that miracles are preformed on earth (so, in Good Omens, are these the angels who told Aziraphale he was preforming too many frivolous miracles? I like to think so. Virtues do outrank Principalities after all.).  However, he is also called a Seraph, a Cherub, a Power, and a Dominion.

I’m going to go with the rank my pal Johnny Milton gave him, which is Seraph. I also just really like Seraphim. They’re second to Thrones in my book.

Well, I invoked Milton, so now it’s time to talk about Paradise Lost.

First, Raphael is an important character in Paradise Lost because he is sent to go visit Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and tell them what’s what. Second, I’m pretty sure Adam has a crush on Raphael.

When Raphael is introduced, Milton spends a lot of time describing how beautiful Raphael’s six wings are and just how hot Raphael is in general. He’s so hot that his “glorious shape” is proof alone that he’s from Heaven and not Hell. Raphael tells Adam and Eve that he’s there to answer some of their questions. Eve decides to leave Adam and Raphael alone, presumably because Adam won’t stop making heart-eyes at the angel and it’s embarrassing.

Well, the narration says it is because Eve wants Adam to explain everything to her later, but I like my read better. It’s way less sexist and more fun.

So, Adam and Raphael sit and down to eat and this is A Big Deal. Scholars have argued for millennia on whether or not angels have physical bodies and if they operate like human ones. I’ll do a separate post on this another time, but this whole scene with Raphael is Milton making his stance known -- angels have bodies and they need to eat.

Milton also takes the opportunity to be much more woke than anyone expected. Adam gushes about how amazing sex is and asks Raphael if angels do it. After blushing, Raphael says yes.  Angel sex is the kind of sex that has no lust. It is instead a celebration of love among pure entities. Some scholars believe that Milton wrote this to argue that sex can be enjoyed without shame and sex can be beautiful.

Adam asks Raphael several more questions about Heaven and the nature of existence, which Raphael does his best to answer. One question is about the movement of the stars and Raphael teaches him some quick astronomy.

(I’ve seen several people comment that Raphael has a connection to the cosmos and this is the only piece of evidence that I can find. Did everyone get this from Paradise Lost? I’m genuinely curious.)

Regardless, Raphael being the “sociable angel” tries his best to explain God in a way that Adam can understand. None of the other angels have tried to get on Adam’s level like this, so it makes him stand out. Most importantly, Raphael tells Adam about the war in Heaven and Lucifer’s fall.

This conversation takes place in Books V-VIII. So, this lasts a while.

When Adam and Eve are kicked out of the Garden, God sends an angel to tell Adam how much life is going to suck from now on. You’d expect it to be Raphael, but sadly, it’s Michael. Michael is a much more distant angel, so it really drives home that Adam and Eve no longer have that same personal relationship with the divine.

Also, they can never ask their angel friend TMI questions about Heaven sex or admire his hotness ever again. And that’s why they call it Paradise Lost.

Dumb jokes aside, Raphael has very much earned Milton’s title of “sociable angel.” As both doctor and angel, he is closely tied to human affairs and has excellent bedside manner.

Could he be Crowley? That’s ultimately up to you. This Internet Person says no, but I’m just an Internet Person.

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