Archangel Zadkiel: forgiveness and violet flame

Zadkiel is the archangel who holds back the arm. Tradition credits him with the hardest gesture there is: stopping a hand already raised. His name means “Justice of God”, yet his Sephirah is Hesed, mercy — and that is exactly where he stands, between the two. He is one of the nine ruling archangels.

If you were born between 23 July and 2 September, Zadkiel is the archangel who watches over your guardian angel.

Who is Archangel Zadkiel?

Zadkiel rules the choir of the Dominions, the fourth of the nine choirs of the Kabbalah, under the Sephirah Hesed — kindness, grace, generosity that overflows. He is also met under the name Hesediel, formed on that Sephirah: two names for one archangel, which our own encyclopaedia long treated as two separate figures.

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Abraham’s arm, or justice that stops itself

Zadkiel’s founding story comes down to one gesture. Tradition says it was he who held back Abraham’s arm as he was about to sacrifice his son. Genesis does not name that angel — it is rabbinic and Kabbalistic tradition that gives him this face. The gesture says everything about his role: he does not prevent justice, he prevents it from going too far.

His Sephirah is Hesed, the fourth on the Tree of Life, the one of kindness that gives without counting — while his name speaks of justice. That tension is his own ground: mercy only means something where the sentence was deserved. The Dominions he governs regulate the work of the lower choirs: they hold the order, not the rule.

Hesediel is his other name. Astrocenter’s encyclopaedia long gave him two separate pages, one on justice, the other on the reward of effort. It is the same figure: Hesediel is what Zadkiel does when you have struggled in vain — he gives back, but rarely in the expected form. Often time rather than money, a friend rather than a promotion.

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What are Zadkiel’s powers?

Four domains, all pulling in the same direction: undoing what has set hard.

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The 8 guardian angels of the choir of Dominions

Zadkiel does not watch over you directly: he rules eight guardian angels who take over from one another five days at a time, from 23 July to 2 September. 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 Zadkiel?

Find a quiet place on your own and try to picture him: tradition represents him as a violet flame, the kind that transforms without destroying. Let that colour settle around you, then state your request clearly.

A purple fluorite or an angelite held in the hand supports this energy well. And if your request is about forgiveness, name the person: a grudge is badly stated in general terms.

Prayer taken from the previous version of this page, after Archangels and Ascended Masters by Doreen Virtue.

The violet flame

Every archangel has his colour; Zadkiel’s is a violet flame, and the image is more precise than it looks. A flame does not move things away: it transforms them. What burns does not vanish, it changes state.

That is what tradition ascribes to him: the transforming power of joy. You picture that flame around yourself, or around the situation that is stuck — not to erase it, but so that it stops weighing the same.

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Frequently asked questions about Archangel Zadkiel

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Going further

Forgiveness is rarely asked for only once: Zadkiel’s signs usually come in small touches.

Zadkiel rules the Dominions; 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.