Archangel Raziel: keeper of secrets and dreams

Raziel is the archangel of what is hidden. Not the protector, not the healer: the one who reveals. His Hebrew name says exactly what he does — raz, the secret, and El, God — and tradition seats him close to the divine throne, where he hears what is said there. He is one of the nine ruling archangels.

If you were born between 1 May and 10 June, Raziel is the archangel who watches over your guardian angel.

Who is Archangel Raziel?

Raziel rules the choir of the Cherubim, the second of the nine choirs of the Kabbalah, under the Sephirah Hochmah — the Sephirah of wisdom. He is called the keeper of secrets, and sometimes the angel of mysteries and laughter. His job is not to defend you: it is to make you understand.

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The book given to Adam, thrown into the sea, then returned

Raziel’s founding story is not a battle: it is a handing over. After the fault of the tree of knowledge, tradition says, Raziel gives Adam and Eve a book holding everything he had heard beside the throne — enough to find their way back. The other angels, displeased, steal it and throw it into the sea. God spares Raziel, has the angel Rahab retrieve the book, and gives it back to the couple.

The Sefer Raziel HaMalakh then travels from hand to hand: Enoch receives it — the very one who becomes the archangel Metatron — then Raphael entrusts it to Noah, who uses it to build the Ark, and it finally reaches Solomon.

Raziel is absent from the Bible. He belongs to the Kabbalah and to Jewish literature — his oldest known mention is said to be in the Targum of Ecclesiastes, around the year 500 — and the Zohar shows him appearing to Adam to reveal a book of wisdom. He is an archangel of knowledge, not of Scripture.

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What are Raziel’s powers?

His domains all turn around the same thing: making readable what is not readable yet.

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The 8 guardian angels of the choir of Cherubim

Raziel does not watch over you directly: he rules eight guardian angels who take over from one another five days at a time, from 1 May to 10 June. Yours is one of them if you were born inside that window.

Not sure which one is yours? Your date of birth is all it takes.

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How to invoke Archangel Raziel?

Raziel has a very light energy: when you call him, his presence is hard to feel. That is why you speak to him in a very quiet place, with a settled mind — not because he demands it, but because otherwise you will not notice him.

His colours are those of the rainbow, and that is often how he answers: a rainbow at an odd time of day, a new idea arriving without being looked for. A rainbow fluorite or an azurite held in your hand helps keep the mind clear while you ask.

The Sefer Raziel HaMalakh

The Book of the Angel Raziel is both his symbol and his summary. Tradition makes it the work that would contain all secret knowledge, and the reasoning is simple: Raziel stands beside the divine throne, so he records everything said there.

In the Middle Ages it was treated as a book of magic, and it circulates in several forms — the Hebrew Sefer Raziel, a Latin version, the Sefer ha-Razim. What the story really says is that knowledge was given, lost, then returned: which is exactly what people ask Raziel for.

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Frequently asked questions about Archangel Raziel

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Going further

Raziel rarely answers with something obvious: he works through signs, dreams and numbers.

Raziel rules the Cherubim; the choir of the Archangels answers to Michael, and the Virtues to Raphael. A feather found on your path or your angel number are other ways of hearing what they have to say.