Samael

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, as opposed to the epithet, Lucifer (light-bearer), which is based on a dual fulfillment verse against the King of Babylon (Isaiah 14:4,12), or his functional title, Satan (adversary). However, 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. But the name could also be derived from that of the Syrian god Shemal.

In Judaism

In Jewish lore, he is said to be the Angel of Death, the chief ruler of the Seventh 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 cabalists.

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 is also identified with the Coronzon entity of the Elizabethan ceremonial magician John Dee, although the link is only tenuous, and of Aleister Crowley, who changes the Coronzon spelling by adding an H after the initial letter thus changing the name to Choronzon.

Samael Aun Weor is the pseudonym of a spiritual guru from Colombia. His given name was Víctor Manuel Gómez Rodríguez, though he wrote as "Samael Aun Weor", which he considered the name of his inner being. He spurred the creation of various occult organizations in Latin America which call themselves Gnostic. These teach meditation to reach gnosis or self-knowledge. Meditation is assisted by the study of Samael Aun Weor's works and those of other major religions, including historical Gnosticism, to aid in the dissolution of the negative elements of man's psyche.

Fictional Samaels

Literature and print

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
Samael is a name used by Lucifer before The Fall of Man in the Sandman comic book series written by Neil Gaiman
In Mike Carey's comic series Lucifer, Samael is the name of Lucifer before he left heaven.
Sammael, one of the Forsaken in the The Wheel of Time series of novels.

Film

In the movie Hellboy, "Samael the Desolate One," or "Seed of Destruction," is a houndlike demon resurrected by the main villain
In the movie Warlock, Samael is channelled through a medium for instructions to the warlock.

Computer and video games

In the first and third (the sequel to the first) game in the Silent Hill series, Dahlia Gillespie, an antagonist, refers to a symbol as being the "Mark of Samael", and is also thought to be the entity that has caused the many problems plaguing the town of Silent Hill.
Samael is the vampiric proprietor of Cafe Ankh in the PC game Discworld Noir
Samael makes an appearance as a boss and a snake-like dragonic demon in the role-playing game, Nocturne
Samael is one of the beings sent by God to aide Daniel in the video game Painkiller
Samael is an enemy in the role-playing game, Tales of Symphonia

Bibliography

References

Bunson, Matthew, (1996). Angels A to Z : A Who's Who of the Heavenly Host. Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0517885379.
Davidson, Gustav. A Dictionary of Angels: Including the Fallen Angels. Free Press. ISBN 002907052X

External links

Angels in Judaism

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