The Fallen Realms

THE FIRST OF THE FALLEN ANGELS

According to the Book of Enoch, each one of the first of the fallen angels was responsible for teaching mankind something that led them to sin. Take Asbeel. He's the one who gave the evilest of counsel to the "holy sons of God," and introduced them to the wonders — and basest evils — that came with hooking up with women. Kasdeja was the one who brought mankind knowledge about spirits and demons, and who showed them "the smitings of the embryo in the womb" and "the smitings which befall through the noontide heat."

The creation of a race of giants (half-angels, half-human) was said to have been the work of one angel in particular: the leader of the fallen, Shernihaza (via the Gnostic Society Library). Other sources cite variations of the name, like Samjaza, but he was the one that led to the ultimate imprisonment of the fallen and the end of the world with the Flood. The Book of Giants tells the story of some of his children — like Ohya and Hahya — but sadly, much of the manuscript has been lost.

Perhaps the strangest of all was Penemue, the fallen angel credited with giving mankind something that led to all kinds of evil: the written language. With writing came the knowledge of destruction, and writing was supposedly responsible for widespread death and descent into darkness.

There's one fallen angel in particular that warrants talking about on his own, and that's Gadreel. According to the Book of Enoch, Gadreel was responsible for a lot of trouble on his own and even though most might not recognize his name, they're familiar with his work. He's the one who's credited with enticing Eve with the forbidden fruit and leading otherwise unsuspecting, holy humans down the path of sin in the first place. He's also the one who gave mankind "all the weapons of death," along with shields and armor, and he first showed people how to kill each other.

That's completely different than the picture many have about just what went down in the Garden of Eden, an act of temptation that's usually credited to Satan in the guise of a snake. But according to the Biblical Archaeology Society, that absolutely wasn't on anyone's mind when it was first written, mostly because at the time there was no concept of the devil as we think of him today. Personification of the snake started with Enoch and Gadreel, but it took a few centuries before the fallen angel morphed into one much more well-known.

Quick, describe a fallen angel. There are probably some scowly faces, bat-like wings, maybe even some horns or cloven hooves. But National Geographic says it wasn't always like that. In early Christian art, fallen angels looked pretty much the same as their holier counterparts. One of the earliest representations of the idea that there were angels and fallen angels opposing each other in an otherworldly battle is featured in a mosaic (above) in the Basilica of Sant' Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, Italy. Jesus is in the middle, and on one side are an angel in red with some sheep. The sheep are the faithful, and red was originally used to depict the holy kingdom. (It didn't become associated with brimstone and hellfire until later.)

On the other side is a figure thought to be Lucifer or Satan, but he doesn't look very Satanic. He stands next to goats instead of sheep, and he's wearing blue, which was the color of the damned. The mosaic also suggests fallen angels kept their iconic halos, which were a symbol of power, not holiness.

According to the British Library, this image of fallen angels started to morph into something much more grotesque in the Middle Ages, and they were designed to be an evil interpretation of a traditionally angelic form. Still, fallen angels retained the ability to disguise their true form, and that's extremely creepy.

If fallen angels started out looking like, well, angels, why do we think of them as horrible, twisted, demonic creatures? The answer, says National Geographic, involved John Milton's Paradise Lost and his depiction of Lucifer. But it's more complicated than that. Milton — who was writing in the 17th century — tapped into what was essentially a pop culture depiction of a fallen angel who wasn't described in the Bible at all.

Throughout the Middle Ages, a strange thing started to happen. Creatures from ancient Babylonian texts — called Lilitu — started to take on a new life as these winged seductresses became associated with Adam's first wife, Lilith. At the same time, parallels were drawn between Satan and the ancient Canaanite deity Beelzebub, and the ancient Roman half-goat, half-man god of nature, Pan.

Then, in the 14th century, Dante described Satan as lording over the deepest depths of hell, and gave him his bat wings. Milton hopped on board a bit later — when Satan had been transformed from a passive adversary into an active evil — and wrote the descriptions of the fallen angels that we now think of today, existing in "Adamantine Chains and penal Fire." (Above, Milton's fallen angels are illustrated getting totally wrecked in battle.)

FALLEN ANGELS WERE A HUGE PROBLEM FOR THEOLOGISTS

The existence of fallen angels has presented theologians with some serious problems; namely, how could they even exist? Since God created everything, that also meant God had created something evil or with the capacity to be evil, and that just wasn't going to fly with most Christian scholars. The implications of that were terrifying, so there had to be another explanation.

Until the 12th century, "pride" was the typical answer as to why fallen angels fell. But that meant God would have had to create something with a crippling, all-powerful amount of pride, and that didn't fly. So scholars came up with the idea that angels had been created with a natural love that allowed them to love God, themselves, and each other. Part of that love was involuntary, and another part was voluntary. That voluntary love was further divided into the idea of friendship and the idea that some love exists because it makes someone happy.

It was further argued that angels' love of God was the involuntary kind, and all was fine. Until, that is, one angel realized that he loved God because God made him powerful, and that made it voluntary. Once that angel — Lucifer — realized how nice it was to love and be loved for selfish pleasure instead of simply for love's sake, well, that's when all the problems started.

AFTER LUCIFER, THE OTHER ANGELS FELL BECAUSE THEY WERE LONELY

The idea that Lucifer kicked off the fall of the angels because he started experiencing love for a selfish reason is all well and good, and it kind of makes sense. It's another side to the pride coin, but a twisted, dark, selfish love ... that's something most people can understand. That may have made it possible for that Lucifer to fall, but what about the other angels that went with him?

That presented another theological problem because other angels just weren't on the same level as Lucifer, God's most beautiful creation. Scholars thought it was a little unbelievable that lesser angels could possibly love in the same way, so what's up with that? The explanation is actually pretty heartbreaking.

The theory developed by thinkers of the Middle Ages says those angels fell not because they hated God but because they loved Lucifer. God was largely an absent, distant figure, after all, and Lucifer was their friend. Rather than condemning themselves to struggle for the acceptance of an unreachable father, perhaps they followed their brother into exile.

FALLEN ANGELS' LACK OF LUST FOR MEN WAS USED TO CONDEMN ANYONE WHO WAS GAY

Religion impacts the material, human world in strange ways, and one of those ways, says scholars from the Mirabilia Journal, is that the idea of fallen angels impacted just how homophobic the world was for a long time. Scholars have long debated about whether fallen angels and demons are capable of love, and some described it not as a love like most know it, but as a desire for other creatures as a sort of stepping stone in the creation of their own evil ends.

Since Christian writers as far back as Paul warn women of attracting the lusty gazes of fallen angels, it's safe to say they believed there was something going on there. But it's not so much love as it is lust, and the male demons and fallen angels seem to only have these affections for women. Early scholars declared that since not even fallen angels would lust after their own s*x, there was something very fundamentally wrong with humans who did that. The role of fallen angels is to tempt in the most horrible and basest of ways, and even they wouldn't tempt other men. Cue centuries of persecution.

OTHER ANGELS ARE TASKED SPECIFICALLY WITH PUNISHING FALLEN ANGELS

If you think about it — really, really think about it — there's nothing in our contemporary version of things that suggests there's really any kind of punishment for the fallen angels that joined Lucifer from his descent from the heavens. Sure, there's a hell, but they're not exactly at the mercy of all the demons there ... they are the demons. Right?

Not quite. According to the Jewish Virtual Library, the seven archangels counted the punishing of the fallen angels among their heavenly duties. Each one of the archangels was in charge of particular facets of the otherworldly life: Jeremiel, for example, keeps watch over the souls in the underworld, while Michael protects Israel, Gabriel is the overseer of Paradise, and Uriel leads the host. They're the ones with direct access to God, and they're also in charge of punishing the fallen.

Punish how? Take Azazel, who was the one who taught mankind how to make weapons. According to the Watkins Dictionary of Angels, he was punished by Raphael, who put him in chains, threw him in a pit full of sharp rocks in the middle of the desert, and brought the darkness down on him while he waited for his condemnation after the final judgment. Sounds like a grand ol' time.

Birds of paradise are a species from New Guinea and the nearby islands, and they're so breathtakingly beautiful, they don't look real. But beauty in the animal world comes with a devastating price — National Geographic says their feathers were so prized that hunters nearly drove them to extinction. When those birds were first seen by European eyes, they were already dead and dried, with legs and wings removed. The Public Domain Review says it wasn't until the 16th and 17th centuries that explorers and traders brought the birds to Europe, so unsurprisingly, people had a tough time trying to decide just what these lifeless things were.

They had no doubts that they were something special: the earliest arrived in 1522, and were said to have come from a "terrestrial Paradise" and, in spite of the feathers, they supposedly never flew. It's no wonder that it didn't take long before the birds were described as angels — fallen angels that had lost their ability to fly, and instead lived in the magical, mystical world that was the Far East. They became mythologized in religious texts, works of art, and allegories as beautiful, ethereal beings who had clearly done something terrible to lose their wings.

In the early 17th century, naturalists got a hold of other birds, ones with their wings and legs intact. The fallen angel mythology faded a bit, but they've long remained a symbol of the flightless fallen.

Few modern-day cultures are as closely tied to their ancient traditions as Ireland, and consequently, everyone's familiar with the idea of the fairies and the fae folk that have inhabited the Emerald Isle since time began. But Irish fairies aren't of the typical flowers-and-glitter sort — and one of the theories as to where they came from is that they were originally fallen angels. W.B. Yeats cataloged old Irish beliefs in Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry, and he wrote of the fairies: "Who are they? 'Fallen angels who were not good enough to be saved, nor bad enough to be lost,' say the peasantry."

Legends say that these particular fallen angels were less guilty than the ones that actively opposed God, and were sentenced to an eternity in the most remote places on earth: some were cast into the ocean and became merfolk, some went underground to become goblins and trolls, while others were sent to the harshest areas of the countryside, and became leprechauns (via Texas State University).

The other theory of fairy origin is that they were once ancient heroes and deities who ceased to be worshiped and began to fade into creatures of lesser power, but Yeats says there's a lot of support for the idea that fairies could trace their lineage back to fallen angels. Most telling of all was their behavior: they were always said to be good and kind to those who were good to them, but would unleash hell on earth to those who were evil or disrespectful.

WHY HAVE THEY ALWAYS BEEN SO IMPORTANT?

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Fallen angels are something of a consistent, running theme throughout numerous religions, which brings up a question: why have we so regularly told stories of them, and why have we been so fascinated with them? Dr. Miryam Brand of the WF Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem attempted to answer that question (via The Torah), and says there's a few things at work. First, they give us an answer to why we sin, and why human evil exists. It's not our fault, not entirely, at least, but it's the fault of the fallen angels we were corrupted by. And it's nice to have a scapegoat.

They also explained why mankind continues to sin — because we're still being tempted by them — and at the same time, they present us with something surprising: hope. If sin and evil is the cause of the fallen angels, when the ultimate battle between good and evil comes, there's going to be a redemption. Everyone loves a good redemption story.

And, there's just one more thing. The presence of these angels gives God an out because now, He's not the one that's behind sin and temptation, disease, hate, or any of the other approximately one million evils present in the world. It's those pesky fallen angels, and having them take a prominent place in religious beliefs means people have someone besides God to blame for all that's bad.

HOW FALLEN ANGELS CONDEMNED MANKIND BY SHOWING THEM THEIR BEAUTY

Ever start to think that it's mankind's vanity and sense of self-importance that's going to be the end of us? That's not a new thought and in fact, one of the first things fallen angels taught us to kick-start our own fall from grace was vanity.

Originally, New Dawn Magazine notes, it was said that there were 200 fallen angels that headed to earth to cause some serious havoc. At their head was an angel called Lucifer, Azazel, or Lumiel, and he's the one that taught men how to make armor so that, you know, it took a little more effort to kill each other. But he taught the women something too: how to use cosmetics and specifically kohl, a black eye product popular since ancient times. He also introduced them to the idea of jewelry like bracelets and rings, and how to use their finery and their feminine wiles to seduce men. 

And this, says Dr. Miryam Brand of the WF Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem (via The Torah), was considered forbidden knowledge that started mankind on the road to corruption. It's also the reason for an age-old practice in numerous religions: the tradition that women needed to cover themselves, lest they tempt the men around them. Even St. Paul was a huge supporter of the idea that women needed to cover their hair, and we can all thank fallen angels for that one, too.

THE ETERNAL PUNISHMENT OF ONE FALLEN ANGEL

Surely, fallen angels will have to pay for all this trouble they've caused mankind... right? There's one fascinating tale that says at least one already has — and we see him all the time.

Shemyaza is another name given to the leader of the fallen angels, although researcher Andrew Collins notes that at some point before the Book of Enoch, Shemyaza and Azazel (or Lucifer) became two different angels. At any rate, it was Shemyaza who taught men the art of magic, and along the way, he also meets a mortal woman named Ishtar. The story varies in the telling — sometimes, it's said Ishtar was already a Babylonian deity when he fell in love with her (via New Dawn Magazine) — but either way, she promised him a little bedroom action if he would just let her in on one little secret: God's true and hidden name. (Other versions (via The Manitoban) say that she pestered him until he let her try on his wings.) He, of course, caves to her demands and she uses her newfound knowledge — sometimes she uses it to ascend into the heavens, sometimes she uses it to turn from a mortal woman into a deity.

Whatever the details are, Shemyaza pays the same price: he's sentenced to hang for an eternity, upside-down, among the stars. He's still there, as a constellation in the night sky, although we more commonly call him Orion.

THE FALLEN ANGELS THAT SORT OF ACCIDENTALLY FELL

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Take a deep dive into the various religions of the world, and you'll find they have a lot in common — and as Harvard notes, Christian, Jewish, and Islamic texts all feature the story of twin angels who fell and were punished for eternity.

Take Harut and Marut, fallen angels Britannica describes as "unwittingly" becoming evil. Their story is a little different than that of, say, Lucifer, as they didn't consciously decide, "Hey, the heck with Heaven, this evil stuff seems pretty fun." Instead, they were part of a group of angels who laughed at mankind for their apparent inability to resist sin and temptation. God overheard it and, declaring that angels would fare no better in the face of the same temptation, selected Harut and Marut to go to Earth and try to resist. They absolutely couldn't: They were immediately seduced by a human woman and then killed the man who'd seen them with her. Harut and Marut were forced to admit that they'd been wrong, and they were allowed to choose their punishment.

The story says that they're trapped on Earth until Judgement Day — in Jewish sources, they're confined to the Mountains of Darkness (along with the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, and Gog and Magog), trapped behind a barrier put up by Alexander the Great. Still, humans occasionally visit them in search of knowledge: It's said they gave Genun the Canaanite musical instruments, beer, and iron weapons, although most of the people who go to see them are looking to learn magic.

THE   BELIEF OF ALIVE 

Fallen angels are usually rebelling against God, right? But here's the weird thing — according to Founding Gods, Inventing Nations, that's not always the case: Sometimes, they fell with God's permission.

Qur'anic texts suggest that God and the fallen angels are essentially in cahoots, working to prove which humans are good and which are evil. And it started way back with Iblis: When God casts him down, he asks for permission to lure humans away with the promises of evil and sin. God 100-percent gives it — Iblis is the one that's ultimately also known as Satan, and in spite of the fact that Iblis is full of constant mockery and backtalk, he's only allowed to do what he does because God says it's okay.

And he does a lot — even convincing mankind that the worship of idols is a good idea is all his doing ... still with God's permission. Other fallen angels — like Harut and Marut — pass on knowledge of magic and gifts that promote sinful behavior to mankind, but they, too, are doing so with God's leave. What's in it for God? It's a handy way to separate the true believers and the faithful from the wicked and sinful.

Dante's view of the world we're all destined for is nothing short of terrifying ... if you're a sinner, at least.

As Dante is escorted deeper and deeper into the circles of Hell by his guide, Virgil, he sees the punishments that await sinners of all kinds. And the fallen angels are there, too — they're guarding the walls of the City of Dis. They slam the gates shut on Dante and his guide, and that's about the time that the Furies and Medusa show up to cause some more chaos. Virgil assures Dante that an angel — a real, heavenly sort of angel — is going to come and open the way for them, and one does. Clearly, he's the one in charge here: He opens the gate and reproaches the fallen, reminding them what happens when someone steps out of line.

Dante and Virgil pass and get to see what the angels were guarding. The city beyond is the sixth circle, and immediately beyond the gates guarded by the fallen angels are the heretics. They're the leaders of cults and their followers, and their punishment is an eternity confined to tombs engulfed in flames, heated red-hot. Further on are other groups of sinners, including the violent and fraudsters (flatterers, false prophets, alchemists, and the like).

ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS DESCENDANTS OF THE FALLEN ANGELS: GOLIATH

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When it comes to Bible stories, the tale of David and Goliath is one of the most famous, the story of an underdog coming out on top in spite of facing insurmountable odds. Those odds get even steeper if you subscribe to the theory that Goliath is a giant because he's descended from the fallen angels.

It's compelling stuff, and it starts with the Nephilim. According to Answers in Genesis, when angels fell, they hooked up with mortal women, who gave birth to a race of giants called the Nephilim. (As a side note, it's worth mentioning that this is just one theory acknowledged as having Biblical support — when it comes to Biblical tales, there's always more than one version.) 

The Nephilim then, in turn, bred as well and split into different lines. One of those lines was the Anakim, a group of giants living in Canaan during the Exodus. Hold that thought, and let's jump over to Goliath. Goliath, Joshua tells us, was from a place called Gath, and Gath was one of three places where the Anakim lived. Given his stature and his hometown, scholars say it's entirely possible that he could trace his lineage back to the fallen angels. Mentions of other giants in the Bible can also be interpreted as supporting the idea that they were born of the Anakim, who were, in turn, part of the Nephilim.

The true story of the fallen angels is not what people want to hear, but here it is. Below is the timeline of creation that I have laid out from my earlier postings, based on the work of Origen of Alexandria and early Christianity.

Before the beginning of John 1:1, God created Jesus out of Himself with the same essence, love, beauty and creativity as He is as The Only Begotten Son.Thorough Jesus, Heaven was populated. Lucifer was the firstborn, followed by the other five archangels. Together they are the seven “Spirits of God”. (Rev 4:5) Jesus and the six archangels.God made Jesus the King of Heaven, and all His creation was to bow down to Jesus.After an eternity, Heaven was populated with countless angels, including 24 elders forming 12 tribes under the three houses of Heaven. (See the Menorah– our spiritual family tree as describes in Rev 4:4-5)After another long time, the firstborn, Lucifer defied God with his free will. His sin was against Jesus and God, not just God. By wanting his own throne, he was placing himself equal to Jesus, above his siblings.One third of Heaven agreed with Lucifer. Heaven had become so vast that it somehow made sense to have two kings, and Lucifer sold this story. But that was not the will of God. So, Armageddon followed – the battle for Heaven that resulted in 3 of the seven Spirits of God, 10 of the twenty-four Elders and 1/3 of angels being cast into hell. (See Rev and Isaiah below.)God had the choice to kill all His children that were disobedient or to teach them a lesson. He chose the loving path of reconciliation. But this is a long, long path. The first attempt to reconcile His children was in Paradise, a place in the ethereal world (the highest reaches of hell). Two of the ten fallen Elders were chosen to be tested, but they failed. So, all the fallen needed to be tested, but this time in a material world, one where we have the chance to regain our virtue without the conscious burden of our past.God sent the hosts of Heaven to teach (prophets) and to prepare the way for the redeemer. Then Jesus came to teach the firstborn a lesson. He battled Lucifer during his life on earth, showing us how to resist evil and to live the life God wants. After resisting Lucifer’s temptations in life, then he was ready to meet him in battle in hell. Sure, God could have done anything to Lucifer, but this way Lucifer was beaten fairly and could not cry foul. Jesus defeated Lucifer in battle, and he did not have to kill him. Lucifer yielded and accepted defeat. In victory, Jesus passed final judgement on Lucifer, taking away his ultimate reign over the fallen, allowing Heaven an equal chance to bring the fallen home.In the middle of #7 is when the world was created, the material universe we currently live in. We are all incarnation of fallen angels

Lucifer started gathering his followers in Heaven #5. Lucifer went from the Light Bearer to the adversary over a very long period. When he was cast out of Heaven he was called many, many names including the devil, Satan, the serpent and the great red dragon. His betrayal had torn Heaven in two.

Humanity was created as a path of reconciliation and as vessels for the fallen angels of Heaven to regain our virtue. Man is corrupt from the beginning of time because of following Lucifer and not remaining true to the only King of Heaven. It is God’s Gift of Free Will that got us to where we are and He expects us to use His Gift to return to Him. God did not create puppets and has patience

“And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” (Rev 12:9)

And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. (Rev 12:4)

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! (Isaiah 14:12)

You want the true story? First of all, Lucifer is not Satan. Lucifer is a name that was given to the King of Babylon by Isaiah. It is meant as a derogatory title. It means daystar or morning light. Isaiah gave it to the King because the King was so arrogant. He thought himself equal to God. Satan was not given a name by God. He doesn’t deserve a name. Humans, myths and the media have given Satan many names but none from God.

Satan was a angel in heaven and he was good. Until he saw what God had created on the earth. Angels have free will and Satan convinced himself that he should be ruler over the humans. He wanted the praise for himself that God was getting from the other angels and the humans. Satan let his wrong desires change him. So he started working on the one thing that God told Adam and Eve not to do. To eat of the fruit. Eve was young and inexperienced. Satan convinced her that if she ate of the fruit she would know as much as God and be able to make her own decisions about what she wanted to do. Like a rebellious child she ate of the fruit. Then she gave some to Adam. Now Adam was the head of the family and he could have told Eve no and explained to her why. He knew what God had said about eating of the fruit. Then the couple could have approached God and begged his forgiveness. But they did not. When asked by God if they had eaten of the fruit they both blamed someone else for what they had done. Adam said it was Eve’s fault and Eve said it was Satan’s fault. Neither Adam nor Eve said they were sorry nor did they ask God to forgive them.

This presented a big problem for the couple and also for any children they would later have together. Satan and other angels were watching to see what God would do.

Satan and his angel or demons will be destroyed eventually.