The Meaning of the Name Samael Aun Weor
The name "Samael" [Hebrew: סמאל] is very ancient and carries a very deep and extensive history. It is possible to understand the meaning of this name and its use throughout mythology and scripture if we first understand a little about Kabbalah and the Hebrew language. Without this knowledge, we fall into the ignorance of those who condemn Samael as a demon or negative force, while ignoring that this is the name of an angel: the suffix -el [אל] is Hebrew for God, thus all angels of the Hebrew pantheon are called Michael, Uriel, Raphael, etc.
Samael is the Hebrew name of an angel. You may not have heard of this angel, because people do not like to hear about his duty, thus over the centuries his role and identity have been obscured.
The Meaning of Samael in Hebrew
Written in Hebrew (which is written from right to left), Samael is סמאל.
The last two letters (אל aleph-lamed) mean "God" and are at the end of the name of every angel: Michael, Raphael, Uriel, Zachariel, Anael, etc., because they are all "of God." Samael [סמאל] is the name of an angel.
The first two letters of Samael are samech [ס] and mem [מ]. These two letters contain the whole significance of his name. We will explain them in detail later in this article. But first, written as a word, sam (samech-mem) is:
- סם: bitter beverage, drug, poison, toxin, medicine, potion; perfume
Thus when translated literally, Samael can mean "the bitter beverage of God" or "the poison of God." This unique (albeit disquieting) name reveals the unique nature of this important angel in the hierarchies of the divine. Yet the name can equally be translated as "the perfume of God," or "the medicine of God." This dual nature is deeply meaningful and when fully investigated reveals many mysteries in the Judeo-Christian scriptures. Yet, one should not lose sight of the fact that, whichever way the name should be applied in context, it always carries within it אל "El" - OF GOD. This is not a force to be condemned, for it belongs to God.
Samael plays a critical role in the scriptures, but without doubt, it is a controversial one.
The Holy One [God], blessed be He, said to him [סמאל Samael], "Since it is so, give Me advice on what I should do, so that the children of Jacob would accept it, as you say."
Samael סמאל said to him, "Master of the world, there is a need to bribe them. Take light from the light of the legions in heaven and impart it to them. By this, they will accept her [the Torah] and here is some of my light [Aur], which I will give first." He removed from himself the light that enveloped him and gave it to the Holy One, blessed be He, to present it to Yisrael. - ספר הזהר Zohar 19.8.144
Samael and Samael Aun Weor
Samael and Samael Aun Weor are two parts of one being. They are distinct, but related. Samael is the name of an archangel, or what is Sanskrit is called Atman. Samael Aun Weor is the name of his human soul (Sanskrit jiva).
The name Samael Aun Weor is also Hebrew סםאל און ואור, and is pronounced "sam-ayel on vay-ohr." Aun און is Hebrew for "sexual strength." Weor or ve-Aur ואור means "and light." Thus, his full name reads "The bitter beverage of God, sexual strength, and light."
St. Paul explained these two parts of the Being:
The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven. - St. Paul, from 1 Corinthians 15:47
All of us "earthy people" have an inner Being, "the second man."
Samael Aun Weor explained this here:
The Innermost of every human being is a child of a sidereal genie (Logos) and there are as many Fathers (Innermosts) in heaven as there are human beings on earth.
In each human reincarnation, every human being is born under a different star so that the ego is “rounded off,” little by little. But there is a star that rules our Innermost, and that Star never changes: this is our Father Star. This Star is our Father who is in the heavens.
There have been “stellar moments” for mankind, in which the sidereal Father of a great genie (Monad) has been able to speak and express himself through him, in order to initiate new cycles of spiritual culture.
I, Samael Aun Weor, am only the child (Monad) and the instrument of “Samael-Mars,” and what I teach you is the Wisdom of my Stellar Father.
Each one of us (as Monads) has his spiritual and astral inheritance from his Stellar Father who is in heaven. - The Zodiacal Course
Ares, Mars, Kartikeya
Samael, a great archangel who has been assisting humanity for ages, has been known by many names throughout our history. In the West he is best known as Ares, Mars, the god of war, while is Asia as Kartikeya (कार्तिकेय), Murugan, or Skanda. All of these symbolic names refer to the same being, which is also why all traditions recognize his relationship with the planet Mars.
"My rule is over the planet Maadim (Mars)." - Samael in ספר הזהר Zohar 19.8.142
His war is always a spiritual one: the war against the corruption of the human mind. Knowing this helps the reader understand why the writings and teachings of Samael Aun Weor are so direct and so potent.
Samael (Ares) is the great cosmic intelligence who is responsible for the spiritual development of this current humanity, which has long been known as the “Aryan” (from Ares) race. (Unfortunately, this term “Aryan Race” has been corrupted by many ignorant people.) Therefore, he needed his terrestrial part to work here in the physical world on behalf of humanity.
His human soul, the bodhisattva Samael Aun Weor, fell into disgrace for many centuries, and committed many mistakes. Due to this, the esotericists of past ages knew him as a great demon. This explains why so many esoteric teachings condemn Samael and blame him for the suffering of humanity. However, the bodhisattva was brought to realize his mistakes, and he worked very hard to rectify them. Now, Samael, the inner Being, has his human soul standing upright once more, and he is able to deliver his teachings to humanity.
"I ended up transforming myself into a fallen angel. Many egos resurged within my mind and I became transformed into a true devil. Now, in this present existence, I comprehend the necessity of eliminating my egos, the necessity of performing the Great Work of the Father. Therefore, this is why today I am here speaking to you all, with my hand placed on my heart. Samael Aun Weor is my true name as a Bodhisattva. Samael is the name of my Monad!" - Samael Aun Weor, I Am Samael
Samael in Kabbalah
To understand how Kabbalists have depicted and explained Samael is not a simple task, for Kabbalah is a science of multidimensionality and change; what appears in one form in one place has quite another form elsewhere. This is evident in the Bible (a book of Kabbalah), for in the book of Job, Lucifer - who is generally condemned by the uneducated as "pure evil" - is clearly shown to be a servant of God, working on His behalf in the temptation and development of Job. The same occurs with Samael.
For the Talmudists admit themselves that SAMAEL is a god-name of one of the seven Elohim. - H.P. Blavatsky. The Secret Doctrine vol. 1 (1888)
We can also see in the vision of Jacob that angels ascend and descend throughout the spheres of existence. Just as Lucifer fell from heaven, other angels rise from the pit back to the light. So it was with the human soul of Samael.
Regarding this dual nature, one author of the nineteenth century wrote:
The supreme chief of that world of darkness who bears the Scriptural name of "Satan," [Hebrew: "opposer"] is called in the Kabbalah "Samael" (סמאל), that is to say the angel of poison or of death; and the Zohar states positively that the angel of death, evil desire, satan and the serpent which seduced our first mother, are one and the same thing. Samael is also given a wife who is the personification of vice and sensuality, for she calls herself the chief prostitute or the mistress of debauches אשת זנונים [It is supposed that the wife of Samael is Lilith (a power of the night), which is often spoken of in the Talmud.] But ordinarily they are united into one single symbol called simply the beast (חיוא). If we wish to reduce this demonology and angelology to the simplest and most general form, we find that the Kabbalists recognized in each object of nature, and consequently in all nature, two very distinct elements; one, an inner incorruptible which reveals itself to the intelligence exclusively, and which is the spirit, the life or the form. The other, a purely external and material element that has been made the symbol of forfeiture, of curse and of death. - Adolphe Franck, The Kabbalah (1843)
Like Pluto or Hades, Samael forms a part of the celestial government. Kabbalah does not depict Samael as condemned to some pit in punishment (as many uneducated people imagine Lucifer to be); rather, Samael is always shown as a regent in Heaven:
The third celestial [Heavenly] sphere is pervaded and filled with fire and flames. In it the fiery river Nahar dinur takes its rise and flows into Gehenna, overwhelming and engulphing in its course those mortals whose lives on earth were given up and addicted to evil and wrongdoing. Over these are placed destroying and tormenting angels, also accusing angels who, however, have no power or influence over Israel when it repents and does what is just and right. The abode of their chief is on the left side of this sphere in which darkness prevails, as it is written, 'and darkness was upon the face of the waters.' It is also the abode of Samael, the angel of darkness, the great transgressor. - ספר הזהר Zohar, Genesis 8
In particular, the angel Samael rules the Kabbalistic sephiroth of Geburah (Hebrew: "power, severity"), the fifth sephiroth from the top of the Tree of Life.
'The God of glory thundereth' signifies the sephiroth Geburah (power) as expressed in the words, 'but the thunder of his power (Geburah), who can understand?' - ספר הזהר Zohar, Genesis 14
Herein we can understand the role that Samael plays in the drama of divine manifestation, for Geburah is the balancing factor for Chesed (mercy). For God is both severe and merciful.
Rabbi Simeon continuing his discourse spake and said: We must bring to a close the interpretation of the esoteric meaning of this most mysterious part of scripture. It is further added: "I kill and make alive, I wound and I heal, neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand" (Deuter. xxxii. 39). The words "I kill and make alive" have reference to the sephiroth found on the right hand of the sephirothic tree of life, viz., hochma (wisdom), chesed (grace), and netzach (victory); those on the left hand being binah, (understanding), geburah (justice), hod (glory). From the former proceed principles conducive to life, from the latter those that tend and converge to death. If these pairs of opposites had not been united by the mediating sephiroth, viz., tiphereth (beauty), yesod (foundation), and malkuth (kingdom), there could not have been any equilibrium of principles in the world, no balance of justice, inasmuch as every perfect tribunal consists of three judges who in their official capacity and jurisdiction are considered as one. When the three Logoi constitute themselves as a tribunal for the dispensation of right and justice, the right hand is extended to receive penitents and on the sephirothic tree this hand, termed the Schekina, the right hand of God, is associated with chesed (grace or mercy). The left hand is associated with the sephiroth geburah (justice). - ספר הזהר Zohar, Genesis 4
Samael and Serpents
In particular, Samael has power in relation to serpents. Whenever the serpent is mentioned, Samael is present. The serpentine power is dual: it can create or destroy.
The name Samael is Hebrew and begins with the letter Samech.
Samech is the cosmic womb, vulva, or volva (from Latin volvere “to turn, twist or roll”) where the continuous revolving Light of the Ain Soph is located. Christus-Lucifer originates infinite cosmic possibilities.
Samech is the letter that represents the Ouroboros, the eternal cyclical action of the Light-Life-Fire-Wisdom of the Ain Soph; these revolutions of the light of the Absolute manifests as innumerable cycles of death and rebirth at all levels in the universe. Samech, Ouroboros is shown as a half light half dark serpent, which illustrates the duality, Maya in the universe; these opposites are not in conflict within the consciousness of the Paramarthasatyas.
So, the circular form of the Samech is the Ouroboros, which symbolizes that the original fiery-wisdom-force (Iod) of the Ain Soph Aur is reflected on all levels in the endless creative circle of eternity that unites heaven and earth. Samech, the Serpent biting its own tail, (this is the Ouroboros that has its tail inside of its mouth), thus unites the Iod of the beginning (the Word) and the Iod of the end (the Sperm). Samech is the Alpha and the Omega in an eternal cycle. - Arcanum 15
Samech is the fifteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and is thus related to the Fifteenth Arcanum: Passion, the Devil.
Samael, when he descended on the earth plane, rode on a serpent. When he appeared under the serpentine form, he is called Satan. Whatever his name, he is the being known as the spirit of evil. It is said that when Samael descended from on high as just described, all the other animals fled away frightened and terrified. By his persuasive and guileful words, he deceived the woman and thus caused death to enter into the world (that is, the lower nature then ceased to be amenable to and obey the dictates and supremacy of the higher Self). He succeeded in doing this by means of the Sephira Hochma (wisdom), prostituting and using it for his evil purposes and thus caused the world to become accurst, and the tree which the Holy One had planted to become destroyed. What man lost Samael gained and enjoyed until the apparition of another sacred tree in the person of Jacob, who, by means of wisdom, acquired paternal blessings which neither Samael on high nor Esau below should be able to enjoy. He was therefore an after type of the first man; and here we see that as Samael deprived man of blessings proceeding from the first tree, so Jacob deprived Samael of blessings above and below proceeding from a tree having a human form. This is the mystic meaning of the words, 'And there wrestled a man with him' (Gen. xxxii. 24). 'The serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field.' These words refer to the Tempter, the angel that brought death into the world, and knowing this, we can understand the meaning of scripture, 'And God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh is come before me' (Gen. vi. 13). The angel of death having destroyed the divine life in man, who now had become wholly physical, governed and controlled by his animal or lower nature, and therefore dead and impervious to the heavenly influence of the Higher Self. - ספר הזהר Zohar, Genesis 7
Many impurities exist in Israel and are as dangerous and noxious as snakes and serpents. There are those that originated at first from the tempter, also those of idolators who resemble the wild animals and savage beasts of the field. There is also the impurity arising from wrongdoing in daily life and still more, the impurity of the evil-minded. All these are found afflicting Israel, yet is there no greater impurity than that of Amalek or that personified evil called and known as "The God of this world." It is that "which poisons all within and hardens all the feeling." It causes the death of the soul and transforms it into an idolater, a worshipper of the world and its golden image of wealth. Its occult name is Samael, "The poison God." Though Samael was the name of the serpent that tempted and seduced Adam and Eve, yet are they one and the same and are both cursed alike. - ספר הזהר Zohar, Genesis 8
That serpent is dual, as depicted in the book of Numbers: when the Israelites were being harmed by "fiery serpents," Moses raised a "serpent of brass" upon a "staff" in order to heal them. [See this article for more information about the two serpents of Moses]. This is a work of alchemy, or magic, is of the domain of Samael:
The Zohar has the following explanation on the practice of magic which is called in Hebrew Nehhaschim, or the "Serpents' Works." It says (Part III. col. 302): -- "It is called nehhaschim, because the magicians (practical Kabalists) work surrounded by the light of the primordial serpent, which they perceive in heaven as a luminous zone composed of myriads of small stars... - H.P. Blavatsky. The Secret Doctrine vol. 2 (1888)
So, although Samael takes the role punisher of sinners and tempter of souls, he is also an Elohim: an Archangel, and his knowledge is concerned specifically with the duality of the serpent force. In the writings of Samael Aun Weor these are referred to as:
- Kundalini (the positive, uplifting power of the serpent)
- Kundabuffer (the tempting and negative power of the serpent).
Both of these forces work through sex. Thus, the power of Samael is in sex. This is also represented in the second letter of his name: mem, which symbolizes water. We define ourselves and are known by God through the use of our sexual waters. This is why Jesus walked upon them, as a symbol of his mastery over sex. This is why the flood destroyed the impure ones, and why Noah was saved in the Arcanum of God. In each case, it is Samael who sees who is pure and who is not, for he is the accuser, the power of the serpent, who works through sex.
In Jewish lore, Samael is usually depicted as the pursuer or accuser of the nation of Israel (which itself is a Kabbalistic symbol); but he has also appeared as their defender, such as in this quote:
"When Samael saw that no sin was found amongst them [the Jews] on the Day of Atonement, he exclaimed before God, 'O Thou Sovereign of the Universe, Thou hast one nation on earth resembling the ministering angels in heaven. Just as the latter are bare-footed, so are the Israelites bare-footed on the Day of Atonement. Just as the angels neither eat nor drink, so do the Israelites not eat or drink on the Day of Atonement. Just as the angels do not skip about, so do the Israelites stand, unmoved, upon their feet the whole Day of Atonement. Just as peace reigns in the midst of the angels, so does peace reign in the midst of Israel on the Day of Atonement. Just as the angels are free from all sin, so are the Israelites free from sin on the Day of Atonement.' God hearkens to the advocacy of Israel from the mouth of their arch-accuser, and He grants His atonement for the altar, for the sanctuary, and for the priests and for all the people of the congregation." - Pirké-de-Rabbi-Eliezer (Midrash, Ninth century AD)
His duality or multiple functions are addresed here as well:
Metatron, the Angel of the second or Briatic World, means Messenger [greek char], Angel, called the great Teacher; and under him are the Angels of the third World, Jetzira, whose ten and seven classes are the Sephiroth,* of whom it is said that "they inhabit and vivify this world as Essential Entities and Intelligences, whose correlatives and contraries inhabit the third or Asiatic World." These "Contraries" are called "the Shells," [[daigam]], or demons,** who inhabit the seven habitations called Sheba Hachaloth, which are simply the seven zones of our globe. Their prince is called in the Kabala Samael, the Angel of Death, who is also the seducing serpent Satan; but that Satan is also Lucifer, the bright angel of Light, the Light and Life-bringer, the "Soul" alienated from the Holy Ones, the other angels, and for a period, anticipating the time when they would have descended on Earth to incarnate in their turn. - H.P. Blavatsky. The Secret Doctrine vol. 2 (1888)
On this point, Manly P. Hall in his Secret Teachings of All Ages (1928) states that SAMAEL is the name of the Archangel of Severity, related to Geburah in the world of Briah.
The Zohar explains that Samael (סמאל) was there when Eve was tempted, and it is because Samael is the fifth helper, the force of Geburah, Mars, that is directly related with the sexual energy. That is why Samael, Mars, controls the sign of Scorpio, which is directly related with the sexual organs. The strength of Samael is the one that gives the erection to the man. So obviously, Samael is the one that appears and gives the doctrine, and then you have to decide to go up or to go down. To go up, you use the force of Samael, the sexual strength, in the positive way, as we explain in Gnosis. To go down is by fornicating.
That is why it is written that when Jacob was lying down and putting his head on the rock of Yesod, that stone, he saw how the angels of God were going up and coming down, because that stone is the symbol of Yesod, the sexual force of Samael. When he awoke, he was fighting. He was fighting with an angel. The Zohar says that angel was Samael. That fight was not in one night or in one morning. That fight endures for many years, because this is precisely the struggle that every initiate has: to struggle with Samael, which is the strength. Samael is the Archangel of strength, but the sexual strength; that is why the name of the master is Samael AUN WEOR. Aun is the Hebrew word for "strength" - not the strength of muscles, but the sexual strength. - Arcanum Four, The Twenty-two Arcana of Tarot and Kabbalah
Samael and Satan
The following section is excerpted verbatim from H.P. Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine (1888).
The true esoteric view about "Satan," the opinion held on this subject by the whole philosophic antiquity, is admirably brought out in an appendix, entitled "The Secret of Satan," to the second edition of Dr. A. Kingsford's "Perfect Way." No better and clearer indication of the truth could be offered to the intelligent reader, and it is therefore quoted here at some length: --
"1. And on the seventh day (seventh creation of the Hindus),* there went forth from the presence of God a mighty Angel, full of wrath and consuming, and God gave him the dominion of the outermost sphere.**
2. "Eternity brought forth Time; the Boundless gave birth to Limit; Being descended into generation."***
4. "Among the Gods is none like unto him, into whose hands are committed the kingdoms, the power and the glory of the worlds:"
5. "Thrones and empires, the dynasties of kings,**** the fall of nations, the birth of churches, the triumph of Time."
For, as is said in Hermes, "Satan is the door-keeper of the Temple of the King; he standeth in Solomon's porch; he holdeth the key of the Sanctuary, that no man enter therein, save the Anointed having the arcanum of Hermes" (v. 20 and 21).
These suggestive and majestic verses had reference with the ancient Egyptians and other civilized peoples of antiquity to the creative and generative light of the Logos (Horus, Brahma, Ahura-Mazda, etc., etc., as primeval manifestations of the ever-unmanifested Principle, e.g., Ain-Soph, Parabrahm, or Zeruana Akerne-- Boundless Time -- Kala), but the meaning is now degraded in the Kabala. The "Anointed," who has the secrets and mysteries of Hermes (Buddha, Wisdom), and who alone is entrusted with the key to the "Sanctuary," the Womb of nature, in order to fructify it and call to active life and being the whole Kosmos, has become, with the Jews, Jehovah, the "God of generation" on the lunar mountain (Sinai, the mountain of the moon, "Sin"). The "Sanctuary" has become the "Holy of Holies," and the arcanum has been anthropomorphised and phallicised and dragged down into matter, indeed. Hence arose the necessity of making of the "Dragon of Wisdom," the Serpent of Genesis: of the conscious god who needed a body to clothe his too subjective divinity, Satan. But the "innumerable incarnations of Spirit," and "the ceaseless pulse and current of desire" refer, the first one, to our doctrine of Karmic and cyclic rebirths, the second -- to EROS, not the later god of material, physiological love, but to the divine desire in the gods, as well as in all nature, to create and give life to Beings. This, the Rays of the one "dark," because invisible and incomprehensible, FLAME could achieve only by themselves descending into matter. Therefore, as continued in the APPENDIX:
12. "Many names hath God given him (Satan), names of mystery, secret and terrible."
13. "The Adversary, because matter opposeth Spirit. Time accuseth even the Saints of the Lord."
28, 29, 31. "Stand in awe of him, and sin not; speak his name with trembling . . . . For Satan is the magistrate of the justice of God (Karma); he beareth the balance and the sword . . . . For to him are committed Weight and Measure and Number."
Compare the last sentence with what the Rabbi, who explains the Kabala to Prince Al-Chazari in the Book of that name, says; and it will be found that the Weight and Measure and Number are, in Sepher Jezirah, the attributes of the Sephiroth (the three Sephrim, or figures, ciphers) covering the whole collective number of 10; and that the Sephiroth are the collective Adam Kadmon, the "Heavenly Man" or the Logos. Thus Satan and the anointed were identified in ancient thought. Therefore,
33. "Satan is the minister of God, Lord of the seven mansions of Hades" . . . .
The seven or Saptaloka of the Earth with the Hindus; for Hades, or the Limbo of Illusion, of which theology makes a region bordering on Hell, is simply our globe, the Earth, and thus Satan is called --
33 ". . . . the angel of the manifest Worlds."
It is "Satan who is the god of our planet and the only god," and this without any allusive metaphor to its wickedness and depravity. For he is one with the Logos, "the first son, eldest of the gods," in the order of microcosmic (divine) evolution; Saturn (Satan), astronomically, "is the seventh and last in the order of macrocosmic emanation, being the circumference of the kingdom of which Phoebus (the light of wisdom, also the Sun) is the centre." The Gnostics were right, then, in calling the Jewish god "an angel of matter," or he who breathed (conscious) life into Adam, and he whose planet was Saturn.
34. "And God hath put a girdle about his loins (the rings of Saturn), and the name of the girdle is Death."
In anthropogony this "girdle" is the human body with its two lower principles, which three die, while the innermost man is immortal. And now we approach the "Secret of Satan."
37, 38, 39. " . . . Upon Satan only is the shame of generation. He hath lost his virginal estate (so hath the Kumara by incarnating): uncovering heavenly secrets, he hath entered into bondage. . . . He compasseth with bonds and limits all things. . . ."
42, 43, 44. "Twain are the armies of God: in heaven the hosts of Michael; in the abyss (the manifested world) the legions of Satan. These are the unmanifest and the manifest; the free and the bound (in matter): the virginal and the fallen. And both are the Ministers of the Father, fulfilling the word Divine. . . ." Therefore --
55. "Holy is the Sabbath of god: blessed and sanctified is the name of the Angel of Havas" -- SATAN.
For, "The glory of Satan is the shadow of the Lord": God in the manifested world; "the throne of Satan is the footstool of Adonai" -- that footstool being the whole Kosmos. (Vide Part II., "Is Pleroma Satan's Lair?")
When the Church, therefore, curses Satan, it curses the cosmic reflection of God; it anathematizes God made manifest in matter or in the objective; it maledicts God, or the ever-incomprehensible WISDOM, revealing itself as Light and Shadow, good and evil in nature, in the only manner comprehensible to the limited intellect of MAN.
This is the true philosophical and metaphysical interpretation of Samael, or Satan, the adversary in the Kabala; the same tenets and spirit being found in the allegorical interpretations of every other ancient religion. This philosophical view does not interfere, however, with the historical records connected with it. We say "historical," because allegory and a mythical ornamentation around the kernel of tradition, in no wise prevent that kernel being a record of real events. Thus, the Kabala, repeating the time-honoured revelations of the once universal history of our globe and the evolution of its races, has presented it under the legendary form of the various records which have formed the Bible. Its historical foundation is now offered, in however imperfect a form, on these pages from the Secret Doctrine of the East; and thus the allegorical and symbolical meaning of the Serpent of Genesis is found explained by the "Sons of Wisdom" (or angels from higher spheres, though all and each pertain to the kingdom of Satan, or Matter) revealing to men the mysteries of Heaven. Hence, also, all the so-called myths of the Hindu, Grecian, Chaldean, and Jewish Pantheons are found to be built on fact and truth.
Samael in Haggada
This is quoted from The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg [1909], a collation of the Haggada--the traditions which have grown up surrounding the Biblical narrative. These stories and bits of layered detail are scattered throughout the Talmud and the Midrash, and other sources, including oral.
Great wisdom was needed for building the ark, which was to have space for all beings on earth, even the spirits. Only the fishes did not have to be provided for. Noah acquired the necessary wisdom from the book given to Adam by the angel Raziel, in which all celestial and all earthly knowledge is recorded.
While the first human pair were still in Paradise, it once happened that Samael, accompanied by a lad, approached Eve and requested her to keep a watchful eye upon his little son until he should return. Eve gave him the promise. When Adam came back from a walk in Paradise, he found a howling, screaming child with Eve, who, in reply to his question, told him it was Samael's. Adam was annoyed, and his annoyance grew as the boy cried and screamed more and more violently. In his vexation he dealt the little one a blow that killed him. But the corpse did not cease to wail and weep, nor did it cease when Adam cut it up into bits. To rid himself of the plague, Adam cooked the remains, and he and Eve ate them. Scarcely had they finished, when Samael appeared and demanded his son. The two malefactors tried to deny everything; they pretended they had no knowledge of his son. But Samael said to them: "What! You dare tell lies, and God in times to come will give Israel the Torah in which it is said, 'Keep thee far from a false word'?"
While they were speaking thus, suddenly the voice of the slain lad was heard proceeding from the heart of Adam and Eve, and it addressed these words to Samael: "Go hence! I have penetrated to the heart of Adam and the heart of Eve, and never again shall I quit their hearts, nor the hearts of their children, or their children's children, unto the end of all generations."
Samael departed, but Adam was sore grieved, and he put on sackcloth and ashes, and he fasted many, many days, until God appeared unto him, and said: "My son, have no fear of Samael. I will give thee a remedy that will help thee against him, for it was at My instance that he went to thee." Adam asked, "And what is this remedy?" God: "The Torah." Adam: "And where is the Torah?" God then gave him the book of the angel Raziel, which he studied day and night. After some time had passed, the angels visited Adam, and, envious of the wisdom he had drawn from the book, they sought to destroy him cunningly by calling him a god and prostrating themselves before him, in spite of his remonstrance, "Do not prostrate yourselves before me, but magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His Name together." However, the envy of the angels was so great that they stole the book God had given Adam from him, and threw it in the sea. Adam searched for it everywhere in vain, and the loss distressed him sorely. Again he fasted many days, until God appeared unto him, and said: "Fear not! I will give the book back to thee," and He called Rahab, the Angel of the Sea, and ordered him to recover the book from the sea and restore it to Adam. And so he did.
Upon the death of Adam, the holy book disappeared, but later the cave in which it was hidden was revealed to Enoch in a dream. It was from this book that Enoch drew his knowledge of nature, of the earth and of the heavens, and he became so wise through it that his wisdom exceeded the wisdom of Adam. Once he had committed it to memory, Enoch hid the book again.
Now, when God resolved upon bringing the flood on the earth, He sent the archangel Raphael to Noah, as the bearer of the following message: "I give thee herewith the holy book, that all the secrets and mysteries written therein may be made manifest unto thee, and that thou mayest know how to fulfil its injunction in holiness, purity, modesty, and humbleness. Thou wilt learn from it how to build an ark of the wood of the gopher tree, wherein thou, and thy sons, and thy wife shall find protection."
Noah took the book, and when he studied it, the holy spirit came upon him, and he knew all things needful for the building of the ark and the gathering together of the animals. The book, which was made of sapphires, he took with him into the ark, having first enclosed it in a golden casket. All the time he spent in the ark it served him as a time-piece, to distinguish night from day. Before his death, he entrusted it to Shem, and he in turn to Abraham. From Abraham it descended through Jacob, Levi, Moses, and Joshua to Solomon, who learnt all his wisdom from it, and his skill in the healing art, and also his mastery over the demons.
Here is another quote from the same text; again we see Samael as tempter:
Wickedness came into the world with the first being born of woman, Cain, the oldest son of Adam. When God bestowed Paradise upon the first pair of mankind, He warned them particularly against carnal intercourse with each other. But after the fall of Eve, Satan, in the guise of the serpent, approached her, and the fruit of their union was Cain, the ancestor of all the impious generations that were rebellious toward God, and rose up against Him. Cain's descent from Satan, who is the angel Samael, was revealed in his seraphic appearance. At his birth, the exclamation was wrung from Eve, "I have gotten a man through an angel of the Lord."
Adam was not in the company of Eve during the time of her pregnancy with Cain. After she had succumbed a second time to the temptations of Satan, and permitted herself to be interrupted in her penance, she left her husband and journeyed westward, because she feared her presence might continue to bring him misery. Adam remained in the east. When the days of Eve to be delivered were fulfilled, and she began to feel the pangs of travailing, she prayed to God for help. But He hearkened not unto her supplications. "Who will carry the report to my lord Adam?" she asked herself. "Ye luminaries in the sky, I beg you, tell it to my master Adam when ye return to the east!" In that self same hour, Adam cried out: "The lamentation of Eve has pierced to my ear! Mayhap the serpent has again assaulted her," and he hastened to his wife. Finding her in grievous pain, he besought God in her behalf, and twelve angels appeared, together with two heavenly powers. All these took up their post to right of her and to left of her, while Michael, also standing on her right side, passed his hand over her, from her face downward to her breast, and said to her, "Be thou blessed, Eve, for the sake of Adam. Because of his solicitations and his prayers I was sent to grant thee our assistance. Make ready to give birth to thy child!" Immediately her son was born, a radiant figure. A little while and the babe stood upon his feet, ran off, and returned holding in his hands a stalk of straw, which he gave to his mother. For this reason he was named Cain, the Hebrew word for stalk of straw.
Now Adam took Eve and the boy to his home in the east. God sent him various kinds of seeds by the hand of the angel Michael, and he was taught how to cultivate the ground and make it yield produce and fruits, to sustain himself and his family and his posterity.
After a while, Eve bore her second son, whom she named Hebel [Abel], because, she said, he was born but to die.
Perhaps the most remarkable of these stories is this one about Moses:
In the last heaven Moses saw two angels, each five hundred parasangs in height, forged out of chains of black fire and red fire, the angels Af, "Anger," and Hemah, "Wrath," whom God created at the beginning of the world, to execute His will. Moses was disquieted when he looked upon them, but Metatron embraced him, and said, "Moses, Moses, thou favorite of God, fear not, and be not terrified," and Moses became calm. There was another angel in the seventh heaven, different in appearance from all the others, and of frightful mien. His height was so great, it would have taken five hundred years to cover a distance equal to it, and from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet he was studded with glaring eyes, at the sight of which the beholder fell prostrate in awe. "This one," said Metatron, addressing Moses, "is Samael, who takes the soul away from man." "Whither goes he now?" asked Moses, and Metatron replied, "To fetch the soul of Job the pious." Thereupon Moses prayed to God in these words, "O may it be Thy will, my God and the God of my fathers, not to let me fall into the hands of this angel."
Samael in the Book of Revelation
[This section is still in development]
"His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood; and his name is called The Word of God.” - Revelation 19:12-13
"The name of my Real Being is hidden within the name “Word of God” because the Bible is highly symbolic. God is represented with the monosyllable “Aun” or “Aum.” Word or Verb is within “Weor,” which is pronounced Veor, so the W is the V sound. This W together with the remaining three letters (e-r-o) of Verb and Word form “Weor.” Thus, we have the name Aun Weor (Aum Weor, Aum Word, God Word) hidden within the phrase “Word of God.” - The Revolution of Beelzebub
"Samael Aun Weor is the authentic name of a flame of the great blaze, before whom I must prostrate myself. Samael Aun Weor means “Will of God...” - The Zodiacal Course
Samael in Occultism
Western occultism or magic finds its roots in Kabbalah and specifically the teachings of Solomon. Although Solomon fell to temptation and lost his way, before that time he delivered to humanity several vital tools. In the Conjuration of the Seven, a ritual prayer to invoke the aid of angels in order to send away demonic or harmful entities, we find this line:
"By Samael Sabaoth, and in the name of Elohim Gibor, get thee hence, Andrameleck!"
Thus Samael is called upon in order to reject his antithesis: Andrameleck.
Also, in The Magus by Francis Barrett (1801), one of the source books of the Golden Dawn and later traditions, we find the following prayer:
I CONJURE and call upon you, ye strong and good angels, in the names Ya, Ya, Ya; He, He, He; Va, Hy, Hy, Ha, Ha, Ha; Va, Va, Va; An, An, An; Aia, Aia, Aia; El, Ay, Elibra, Elohim, Elohim; and by the names of the high God, who hath made the sea and dry land, and by his word hath made the earth, and produced trees, and hath set his seal upon the planets, with his precious, honoured, revered and holy name; and by the name of the angels governing in the fifth house, who are subservient to the great angel Acimoy, who is strong, powerful, and honoured, and by the name of his star which is called Mars, I call upon thee, Samael, by the names above mentioned, thou great angel! who presides over the day of Mars, and by the name Adonai, the living and true God, that you assist me in accomplishing my labours...
Samael in Other Traditions
As a Logoic intelligence with great responsibilities and influence over humanity, Samael is recognized and presented in every world tradition, but his name changes.
As Mars / Ares
"Now Mars was the lord of birth and of death, of generation and of destruction, of ploughing, of building, of sculpture or stone-cutting, of Architecture . . . . in fine, of all . . . . ARTS. He was the primeval principle, disintegrating into the modification of two opposites for production. Astronomically, too,* he held the birthplace of the day and year, the place of its increase of strength, Aries, and likewise the place of its death, Scorpio. He held the house of Venus, and that of the Scorpion. He, as birth, was good; as death, was Evil. As good, he was light; as bad, he was night. - "The Source of Measures" quoted by H.P. Blavatsky. The Secret Doctrine vol. 2 (1888)
The AEolian name of Mars was [[Areus]], and the Greek Ares, [[Ares]], is a name over the etymological significance of which, philologists and Indianists, Greek and Sanskrit scholars have vainly worked to this day. Very strangely, Max Muller connects both the names Mars and Ares with the Sanskrit root mar, whence he traces their derivation, and from which, he says, the name of Maruts (the storm-gods) comes. - H.P. Blavatsky. The Secret Doctrine vol. 2 (1888)