Raziel — “the Secret of God” — is the archangel of mysteries and divine secrets in Jewish mysticism: the keeper of the hidden wisdom of the cosmos, who stands close to the Throne and hears the secrets spoken there, and who is the supposed author of the Sefer Raziel, the legendary “Book of the Angel Raziel” containing all the secret knowledge of heaven and earth. He is the angel of esoteric wisdom.
The Secret of God
Raziel’s name means “the secret of God” or “God is my secret,” and his nature is bound to the divine mysteries. He is the angel who stands closest to the curtain (the pargod) before the Throne of Glory, and who hears the secrets of the universe spoken by God and the celestial council — the hidden wisdom of creation, the mysteries of the cosmos, the secret workings of all things. He is the keeper and the revealer of esoteric knowledge, the angel of the deepest secrets of heaven.
The Book of Raziel
Raziel’s great legend concerns the book that bears his name. According to tradition, after Adam and Eve were expelled from Eden, the angel Raziel took pity on Adam and gave him a book — the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh, the “Book of the Angel Raziel” — containing all the secret wisdom of the cosmos: the knowledge of the heavens, the stars, the angels, the mysteries of creation, and the secret names and magic by which the world is governed. This book of all wisdom was passed down (in the legend) through the generations — to Enoch, to Noah (who used it to build the Ark), to Solomon — the supreme grimoire of divine secrets. The actual Sefer Raziel, a medieval Kabbalistic and magical text, claims this celestial origin.
The Keeper of Wisdom
Raziel is honoured as the patron of secret wisdom, esoteric knowledge, and the deep mysteries of the Kabbalah — the angel to whom the hidden truths of the cosmos are known, the keeper of the book of all wisdom. In some traditions he is associated with the sefirah of Chokhmah (Wisdom) on the Tree of Life. A figure of profound mystical importance, Raziel embodies the longing for the hidden knowledge of heaven. In Raziel, Jewish mysticism gave form to divine secrets and esoteric wisdom — the archangel who stands by the curtain of the Throne and hears the mysteries of creation, the keeper of the Book of all wisdom given to Adam, the angel of the deepest secrets of heaven and earth.