The

angel An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

Jophiel ( Heb. ''Yōp̄īʾēl'', "Beauty of God"), also called ''Iophiel'', ''Iofiel'', ''Jofiel'', ''Yofiel'', ''Youfiel'', Zophiel ( ''Ṣōp̄īʾēl'', "God is my watchman") and Zuriel ( ''Ṣūrīʾēl'', "God is my rock"), is an

archangel Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the Catholic hierarchy of angels, based on and put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in the 5th or 6th century in his book ''De Coelesti Hierarchia'' (''On the Celestial Hierarchy'') ...

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

and

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

angelology. Jophiel is associated with beauty, art, and wisdom. While angels have no typical gender, Jophiel is the only archangel represented with feminine traits.

Beliefs in religions and ceremonial magic

According to the

pseudepigrapha A pseudepigraph (also :wikt:anglicized, anglicized as "pseudepigraphon") is a false attribution, falsely attributed work, a text whose claimed author is not the true author, or a work whose real author attributed it to a figure of the past. Th ...

l Revelation of Moses, another name for Jophiel is Dina ( Hebrew: דִּינָה ''Dīnā'', "Judgement"). In the text, Jophiel/Dina is described as an angel of the seventh heaven, a Cabalistic guardian of the Torah (and wisdom itself), who taught 70 languages to souls at the dawn of creation. The

Zohar The ''Zohar'' (, ''Zōhar'', lit. "Splendor" or "Radiance") is a foundational work of Kabbalistic literature. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah and scriptural interpretations as well as material o ...

lists Jophiel as a Great Angel Chief in charge of 53 legions who superintend

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

-readings on the

Sabbath In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, Ten Commandments, commanded by God to be kept as a Holid ...

.Davidson, Gustav (1967),
A Dictionary of Angels, Including The Fallen Angels
', Entry: Iofiel, Free Press, p. 320, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 66-19757, Jophiel is said to be a companion to the angel

Metatron Metatron (Mishnaic Hebrew: ''Meṭāṭrōn''), or Matatron (), is an angel in Judaism, Gnosticism, and Islam. Metatron is mentioned three times in the Talmud, in a few brief passages in the Aggadah, the Targum, and in mystical kabbalah, Kabba ...

. C. E. Clement, in her book ''Angels in Art'', names Jophiel as the teacher of Ham,

Japheth Japheth ( ''Yép̄eṯ'', in pausa ''Yā́p̄eṯ''; '; ; ') is one of the three sons of Noah in the Book of Genesis, in which he plays a role in the story of Noah's drunkenness and the curse of Ham, and subsequently in the Table of Nation ...

, and

Shem Shem (; ''Šēm''; ) is one of the sons of Noah in the Bible ( Genesis 5–11 and 1 Chronicles 1:4). The children of Shem are Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram, in addition to unnamed daughters. Abraham, the patriarch of Jews, Christ ...

. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa and Thomas Rudd likewise name Jophiel as the teacher of Shem. In the

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

tradition, Jophiel is recognized as an

. Jophiel is often depicted in iconography holding a flaming sword, such as the stained glasses at St Michael's Church in

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

, St Peter and St John's Church in

Kirkley Kirkley is an area of the town of Lowestoft in the East Suffolk district of the English county of Suffolk. It is located south of the centre of Lowestoft and the town's harbour and Lake Lothing. Kirkley was originally an independent village b ...

, Holy Trinity Church in

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

, and a mural at St. John's Episcopal Church in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

. Jophiel is an

Archangel Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the Catholic hierarchy of angels, based on and put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in the 5th or 6th century in his book ''De Coelesti Hierarchia'' (''On the Celestial Hierarchy'') ...

of the

Kabbalah Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of Mysticism, mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ...

(although some systems put Raziel in Jophiel’s place) and in several listings, including that of the early medieval theologian Pseudo-Dionysus.Davidson, Gustav (1967),
A Dictionary of Angels, Including The Fallen Angels
', Appendix, Free Press, p. 338, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 66-19757, The Calendarium Naturale Magicum Perpetuum lists Jophiel as the angel of the Sephira Binah, as do the

Key of Solomon The ''Key of Solomon'' (; ), also known as the ''Greater Key of Solomon'', is a pseudepigraphical grimoire attributed to Solomon, King Solomon. It probably dates back to the 14th or 15th century Italian Renaissance. It presents a typical exampl ...

variant "The Veritable Clavicles of Solomon," and the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses, both latter works derived from the ''Calendarium''. Agrippa attributes Jophiel to

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...

, while

Paracelsus Paracelsus (; ; 1493 – 24 September 1541), born Theophrastus von Hohenheim (full name Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim), was a Swiss physician, alchemist, lay theologian, and philosopher of the German Renaissance. H ...

assigns Jophiel to Jupiter. Rudd attributes the

Zodiac The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north and south celestial latitude of the ecliptic – the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. Within this zodiac ...

to Jophiel along with the Sephira Binah instead of Zaphkiel.

Athanasius Kircher Athanasius Kircher (2 May 1602 – 27 November 1680) was a German Society of Jesus, Jesuit scholar and polymath who published around 40 major works of comparative religion, geology, and medicine. Kircher has been compared to fellow Jes ...

names Jophiel as , "angel of beauty". According to Robert Ambelain, Jophiel is in charge of the

Cherub A cherub (; : cherubim; ''kərūḇ'', pl. ''kərūḇīm'') is one type of supernatural being in the Abrahamic religions. The numerous depictions of cherubim assign to them many different roles, such as protecting the entrance of the Garden of ...

im, particularly the Shemhamphorasch angels Haziel, Aladiah, Lauviah, Hahaiah, Iezalel, Mehahel, Hariel, and Hakamiah.The Complete Magician's Tables, by Stephen Skinner, Golden Hoard Press, 2006, p.41 In John Milton’s epic poem, Paradise Lost, the Archangel Jophiel is depicted as the “cherubim with the swiftest wings.”

Notes

2. Angels and ‘angelic entities’ are traditionally neither specifically male or female (note: when Jophiel/Zophiel is historically referenced, the gender is universally most often female, not male).

Beliefs in religions and ceremonial magic

See also

Notes

References

Further reading