ANGEL OF ANNUNCIATION, RESURRECTION, MERCY AND DEATH
The great messenger angel, Gabriel is one of only two angels mentioned
by name in the New Testament, the other being the Archangel
Michael. The name Gabriel is derived from gibor and el,
meaning "Power of God."
Gabriel is the Angel of Annunciation, who announced to the Virgin Mary
that she would bear the Son of God, and to Zechariah that his wife
Elisabeth would give birth to John the Baptist. Thus Gabriel is
the Angel of Childbirth and of Hope,
traditionally petitioned by women hoping to conceive, and has special
duties regarding childbirth, guiding unborn souls throughout the nine
months of gestation.
The cleft between nose and upper lip is said to be the mark of Gabriel, where
he touches the baby to admonish it to silence on the Sacred Laws.
Following the darkness of death, Gabriel is again on hand to assist the
soul to its rightful destination. He is often depicted blowing a
trumpet for it is this angel who is due to sound the Final Trumpet
announcing the End of Time and heralding the Last Judgment.
Islam also honors Gabriel (Jibril in Arabic) as the great Messenger of the Lord.
It was he who was sent to dictate the Koran to Mohammed, an illiterate
Arab merchant, having appeared in a brilliant white light asking
"Sleeper, how long will you sleep?" Mohammed's followers know
Jibril as the Angel of Truth, and it was he who finally bore the
Prophet to Paradise.
ASSOCIATIONS AND SYMBOLISM
In ancient Judaic lore the Archangel Gabriel was considered to be
female, indeed the only female angel in the Heavenly Hierarchies.
We know, of course, that angels have no gender in a reproductive sense,
but in an energetic sense many tend to one polarity or the other.
Gabriel certainly tends towards the feminine polarity, as many of his
attributes bear out.
Gabriel stands in the West, which is associated with the feminine
element, Water. As a planetary angel, Gabriel is the ruler of Monday,
the day of the Moon and the
sign of Cancer, whose ruling planet is the Moon. The Moon, as consort of the Sun,
is the most feminine of heavenly bodies. Her cycles govern the
menstrual cycle in women, the ocean tides, and the pulses of vital
energy that course around the Earth.
The thirteenth century Sufi poet Ruzbihan Baqli describes a vision in which:-
"In the first rank I saw Gabriel, like a maiden, or like the Moon among the stars...
He is the most beautiful of Angels."
Gabriels's colours are those of the Moon: Silver and shining
white. He is best petitioned around the time of the New or Full
Moon, But you can reflect on his love, power, and beauty every time you
look at the Moon.
