Estelle Ana Baca

Category: Graces

The purest matter of creation. They have twelve distinct expressions, with three variations per expression. Grace is what makes an angel an angel and gives her her power.

  • Keys

    While we’re all still waiting for this book to come out – it will be soon, I promise, and I don’t make promises lightly – let me share with you some information on Keys.

    Within the Ministers of Grace universe, all angels and Nephilim have two innate musical components: the Magnificat and Keys.

    The Magnificat is the sound of Grace, the very essence of the divine, that exists within their soul and fuels their lifeforce. Only other creatures with Grace can sense it, and every Magnificat is unique. If you could hear it, it would sound like a song or a chant. It can gradually evolve over time, so that while you would still be able to name that tune from day to day, year to year, the instrumentation and tempo will differ with that angel or Nephil’s general state of mind or being or health.

    Keys are similar, but they run deeper. They are the core quality of angels and Nephilim. They operate as something as a default emotional response, and they are expressed musically. There are twelve Keys: Joy, Comfort, Inspiration, Protection, Gratitude, Unity, Harmony, Renewal, Freedom, Fortitude, Lucidity and Fulfillment. Three pairs of Keys are twinned: Comfort and Protection; Renewal and Fulfillment; and Freedom and Lucidity.

    How do they work? An angel with the Key of Protection would feel safe and secure when she’s at rest, whereas a Nephil with the Key of Lucidity would feel that all existence is alive and bright, infused with clarity, when he’s at his most calm state. As infants and children, angels and Nephilim broadcast them clearly. As they mature, they learn to control them, and there are two reasons for this. The first is that it is telling to know what it is that motivates them. A Nephil with the Key of Freedom might not be reliable in a situation that requires a great deal of patience and long-term toil, just as an angel with the Key of Fortitude might not always be yielding and understanding in a scenario that would require more subtlety and delicate finesse. The second reason Keys are controlled is that they tend to record all the experiences that an angel or Nephil has had over her lifetime. Unless a mature Nephil wants an angel to know everything he’s lived, then he would be better off keeping it to himself.

    What might Keys sound like, if we could translate them into Western Music? I’ve compiled two Spotify playlists that demonstrate what they might sound like, one with classical music and the other with popular music. Embedded playlists are at the very bottom of this post.

    Classical

    Joy – W.A. Mozart, Overture, Le Nozze di Figaro
    Comfort – J.S. Bach, Suite for Orchestra No 3, BWV 1068, II. Air
    Inspiration – Modest Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition, XI. Limoges, la marché
    Protection – Gabriel Fauré, “La Cantique de Jean Racine”
    Gratitude – G.F. Händel, Serse, “Ombra mai fù”
    Unity – Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No 6 in F Major, “Pastoral”, I. Allegro ma non troppo
    Harmony – Edvard Grieg, Fire Salmer, II. “Guds Søn Har Gjort Mig Fri”
    Renewal – Benjamin Britten, Hymn to St Cecilia, III. “O ear whose creatures cannot wish to fall”
    Freedom – Jean Sibelius, Symphony No 6 in D minor, I. Allegro molto moderato
    Fortitude – Carl Orff, Carmina Burana, “Ave Formosissima” into “O Fortuna”
    Lucidity – Igor Stravinsky, The Firebird, Finale
    Fulfillment – Arnold Schönberg, Verklärte Nacht, I. Grave into II. Molto Rallentando

    Popular

    N.B. The Spotify playlist is incomplete, as they’re lacking the Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Radiohead’s In Rainbows ☹. I’ve provided a link to where you can listen to the track elsewhere on the interwebs.

    Joy – The Beatles, “I Saw Her Standing There”
    Comfort – Goldfrapp, “Let It Take You”
    Inspiration – Stevie Wonder, “As”
    Protection – Depeche Mode, “Home”
    Gratitude – Jimi Hendrix, “May This Be Love”
    Unity – Earth, Wind & Fire, “That’s the Way of the World”
    Harmony – Queen, “Bohemian Rhapsody”
    Renewal – Jeff Buckley, “Morning Theft”
    Freedom – Elton John, “Rocket Man”
    Fortitude – Led Zeppelin, “Kashmir”
    Lucidity – Björk, “It’s Not Up to You”
    Fulfillment – Radiohead, “All I Need”

    If you really think about it, it’s not really all that difficult to conceive of all life of being composed of music. If you don’t believe me, just check this out.

    If I had a Key, it’d probably be Gratitude. What would your Key be? Just think of a time of when you were most content. What did you feel then? Tweet or Facebook or G+ or comment me below if you want to share what your Key would be, although you might want to keep that to yourself.

    ♥ EAB

  • Musical Interlude #2: Joy

    As I mentioned in a previous post, angels’ Keys are the core of their Graces. It’s part of what makes them immortal, and on a certain level, it operates as a guiding principle. If we humans were able to sense Graces and detect the Key beneath them, they would sound distinctly musical. Nadiel has described the music within them as reminiscent of a humming, chanting engine at work, and the angels refer to this audible quality of the soul as the Magnificat. I’ve always imagined that a Magnificat might sound like a large stadium crowd in which, if you listen carefully, you can pick out various bits of speech. Since Keys are related to Graces, Keys are the music within those Graces, or the song that’s sung by the most hopeful person in that crowd. If you aren’t listening for it, you won’t hear it, but it’s there.

    Each of the twelve Archangels has a different Key with Graces that correspond to it, which isn’t the case with the other angels in all the other Orders. Some angels have Graces and Keys that don’t quite match up. For example, the Watcher Kivati, who had a role in Nadiel’s most recent tale, has a key of Freedom with the Graces of Sympathy, Mercy and Interdependence, which can seem a little contrary.

    The Key that’s associated with the Archangel Camael is Joy. Ironically, if one were to seek expressions of Camael’s brand of Joy within music, one of the last places I’d look would be Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and its Ode to Joy. I invite you to disagree with me, but Beethoven’s 9th Symphony is anything but joyful, for it is a devastatingly beautiful piece that is marked by alternating passages of angst and triumph. Beethoven’s Ode to Joy is about the search for joy in adversity, which isn’t quite the same thing as Joy for Joy’s sake. If I were to identify a piece that embodies Camael’s Joy, it’d have to be Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. Pick any part of it, and it’s joyful. Yes. The whole thing. He wrote it while he was still a newlywed, after he had a child who survived infancy and while was enjoying a more than decent amount of acclaim in Vienna at the time. It’s easy to infer that he was expressing his joy within the music of that entire opera. Even the tense parts of the opera can’t refrain from expressing Joy. I invite you to have a listen to the Overture. You’ve probably heard it before somewhere, and this particular version features an orchestra that’s about the same size as would have played in Vienna when the opera opened in 1786.

    But what if you were looking to listen to something composed within human memory? Well, the Beatles are a good band to listen to if you want to hear some Joy. I recommend earlier Beatles, though. They stopped being explicitly joyful around the time of Revolver. If I had to choose one song, though, it’d most definitely be this one.

    Nadiel has informed me that she might be going away for spring break next week. If she’s isn’t, you’ll get a fresh recollection from her. If she’s out of town, you’re stuck with me for another week. Either way, have a great one!

    ♥

  • Astaroth’s Wager, Part X

    Back to Astaroth’s Wager, Part IX.

    “What will you have me do now, madam?” Caius asked.

    “Well—Stolas should be calming down right about now and on his way to come kill me,” Astaroth said. “I know you’re partial to the body of that Prussian primate, but it’s time to let it go. Leave it, and leave here. You don’t want to be around when at least one angel shows up. I’ll call for you when I’m finished here.”

    “As you wish, madam,” Caius replied. He sat down in a chair in their suite. The body that he had possessed went limp, falling into the deep unconsciousness characteristic of a coma. The essence of his Neku self had departed.

    “Did you have to destroy my Kazuko as well when you destroyed all the other Nekus?” Svipul asked Astaroth. “It’ll take me at least two centuries to develop that kind of loyalty in another Neku.”

    “I can’t argue with that. Nekus don’t really grasp their utter dependence upon their Apokomistai masters for at least half a millennium,” Astaroth said. “But you do realize, my dear Svipul, that you have a better chance at getting an audience with God than you do in extracting even the slightest apology from me.”

    “So—what is your plan now?”

    “I give Stolas not long at all before he’s here to try to take back my ellamadus,” Astaroth said. She migrated to the middle of the suite where there was an open space on the carpet.

    “And then?”

    “There’s the rub, isn’t it?” Astaroth said.

    “You’re not even going to provide a hint as to what to expect?” Svipul asked, joining her in the open space.

    “You can expect fun. Draw your sword. If you would be so kind as to provide me with support, I’ll see to it that you’re rewarded for your bravery.” Astaroth held the Ashera Didilak in her open palm. She muttered a few phrases, and the ellamadus glowed brightly again.

    “Is that the Ashera Didilak?” Svipul asked.

    The ellamadus went dull in her hand. “Break my concentration again and you’ll find out just how much damage the Ashera Didilak really can do. Now—be ready. We don’t know how ready for battle the half-primate will be,” Astaroth ordered.

    Svipul drew her sword.

    Astaroth pronounced a few more phrases in the ancient, forgotten language, and for a few moments, her voice changed, so that the timbre of her voice more closely resembled a percussion instrument than a vocalized sound. The Ashera Didilak’s lavender light grew as unbearably bright as the sun for a fraction of a moment, until its light collapsed in on itself. The ellamadus phased out of sight for a similarly tiny amount of time and reappeared in Astaroth’s palm as it had before she had channelled its magics.

    Rose Nielsen materialized out of thin air, and she fell on her knees onto the floor. She looked as if she had been awakened from a nap. Nonetheless, it appeared that she had sensed that she was being unexpectedly ripped from the comfort of where she had been, and with the one hand she had, she had gripped what was closest to her to anchor her. Much to her horror and Astaroth’s delight, it was a similarly sleepy and disoriented Adelaide Grayson.

    Rose and Adelaide quickly tried to scramble to their feet, but Svipul held her blade at Rose’s throat. Svipul said with a voice filled with unnatural menace, “Keep to the floor and quiet. Both of you.”

    Adelaide’s shock took the better of her. Her entire complexion turned grey, and she fainted again.

    “Look, Svipul! Sitri isn’t the pathetic warrior we thought he was. I’ll go out on a limb here and guess that you’re unarmed, Miss Nielsen. I’d be willing to bet that you’ve forgotten your blade, too,” Astaroth said with an unnervingly giddy expression.  “That primate might be able to lend you a hand in a very literal sense, but unless you brought your own weapon to disarm her, she’s useless to you now in every other meaningful way.” She directed her attention to Svipul and said, “What do you think? One pun too many?”

    “Why do you want Adelaide?” Rose demanded.

    “This has nothing to do with her, and everything to do with a miscarriage of a wager. I might even let the primate go when this is all over,” Astaroth said.

    “My father and Kivati will be here soon,” Rose threatened.

    “I’m counting on that,” Astaroth retorted. She held up the Ashera Didlak again and resumed eliciting its magics. The lavender light flowed out of it in long threads that circled Rose until they formed a faint chamber around her. Rose tried to protest, but the chamber only echoed her own sounds back to her. She looked panicked, and she started pounding on the walls of the chamber.

    “Take the female primate with you and leave,” Astaroth said.

    “I’ll meet you at my flat in Antwerp,” Svipul replied. She lifted Adelaide off the floor, and the two of them vanished.

    Astaroth was alone in the suite with Rose inside her mystical chamber for no longer than a few long moments when Stolas appeared.

    “Astaroth! I want it back!” he cried.

    “I told you I just wanted to borrow it. You’ll have it back before you know it,” Astaroth said.

    Rose was furiously kicking at the walls of the cocoon in a demonstration of futility when the entire character of the room shifted: Itzamná and Kivati had arrived.

    Human eyes would never have caught everything that happened during the few seconds in which it all transpired: Astaroth tossed the Ashera Didilak in the air, drew her blade and vanished; Stolas caught the ellamadus; Kivati struck Stolas down and killed him; Itzamná struggled to break into the chamber to save his daughter; Astaroth rematerialized behind Itzamná, struck him with her blade and killed him. There was a jarring blast of light that burst in the room from Itzamná’s death, like supernova in the supremely miniature, and while Kivati was stunned by the explosion of Itzamná’s Graces, Astaroth seized the Ashera Didilak. She issued one final command to the Ashera Didilak, and the walls of chamber around Rose rapidly drew in to crush her and kill her. Kivati struck out at Astaroth to engage her in battle, but Astaroth’s merely lobbed the Ashera Didilak back at her and vanished.

    The hotel suite went still. Kivati was alone in the silence with Caius’ dying human host and a clump of black material that resembled obsidian where Stolas had met his end. There was a shift in the atmosphere of the room from the detectable metaphysical markers that an angel and a Nephil had perished there.

    Kivati reported back to Heaven that Astaroth had been involved in Itzamná’s death, and she requested permission to pursue, detain and destroy her. The response she received infuriated her: no further action was to be taken, for Itzamná had disobeyed when he left his post once again to save his daughter from an Apokomistis with a reputation like Astaroth’s. Rose hadn’t had much of a chance in the hands of any Apokomistis with an ellamadus. Had they not responded, Itzamná’s lifeforce would have remained in tact, and he wouldn’t have died. Without an ellamadus, Astaroth was no more dangerous than the average Apokomistis, and pursuing her wasn’t of the any immediate importance. Kivati was ordered to return to her post immediately and without complaint.

    Kivati eyed the Ashera Didilak carefully in her palm. Her fingers closed around it, and she smashed it, obliterating one of the most powerful magical objects in ever in existence.

    *          *          *

    Adelaide was still unconscious on the floor of Svipul’s flat when Astaroth joined them. Svipul said, “I have an idea on how to tie up this Thomas Carver loose end. You can use the Ashera Didilak to—”

    Astaroth interrupted, “I gave the Ashera Didilak to Kivati before I left the scene, and I’m sure that by now she’s turned it into a useless pile of metallic powder.”

    “Why?”

    “Stolas is no more. I will lay claim to all his territories and possessions at the soonest, after we’ve taken care of Thomas Carver.”

    “But the ellamadus—your power would be unquestionable with it.”

    Astaroth grinned. “My power is unquestionable without it. The only purpose it could serve in the future would be to deliver my own downfall, just as it did for Stolas. The only reason one ever needs a ladder after one has ascended to a rooftop is if one has the intention of coming down. I have no intention of ever relinquishing my title of Queen, and I no longer require the ladder that allowed me to reach this height. That, Svipul, is power.”

    Dominus tecum.

    On to Astaroth’s Wager, Part XI.

  • Astaroth’s Wager, Part VIII

    Back to Astaroth’s Wager, Part VII.

    Demons, like angels, have their own system of classification that is remotely similar to the angels’ Orders. Apokomistai and Nekus alike are divided into what demons call Estates. Whereas our Orders are were permanent and were assigned to us by God based upon the gifts we received from our Graces, the Estates are, for the most part, a hierarchy based upon a demon’s abilities in terms of their strength and intelligence, with strength typically tipping the balance whenever there is a dispute. Unlike the Orders, a demon’s Estate can change over time, so that a demon can acquire more power and/or territory over time, and many demon wars have occurred as a result of attempts to ascend to a different Estate. There are thirteen Estates, and they are, from the highest rank to the lowest, Kings and Queens, Princes and Princesses, Presidents, Chancellors, Dukes and Duchesses, Margraves and Margravines, Counts and Countesses, Viscounts and Viscountesses, Barons and Baronesses, Knights and Dames, Generals, Devils and Demons. To date, no Neku has ever been able to claim an Estate higher than General, although there have been a few exceptions in which a handful have received the Estate of Knight or Dame as an honorary distinction that isn’t recognized by anyone except their master. All the other ranks are reserved exclusively for the Apokomistai.

    Temple of Athena Nike
    A contemporary postcard of the Temple of Athena Nike.

    Princess Astaroth, as she was styled at the time, went to Athens to seek out the Apokomistis Stolas, who was then the King of Greece and Anatolia. Stolas’ power wasn’t necessarily in the territory he held but in the objects that were within his control. He had obtained his Estate when he rescued all the grimoires, both ellamadi and a shocking number of other magical objects from the destructive fires that consumed the Library of Alexandria. The result was that Stolas was able to wield a profound amount of magical power and he gladly took the credit for having burned the Library to the ground in 48 BC, even though the true source of the blaze that swallowed all that ancient human knowledge came from a drunken dare gone horribly wrong by a few of Julius Caesar’s soldiers. After he left Egypt, the Viscount Stolas went to Athens and made a play for King Dantalion’s territories. Dantalion’s magical knowledge wasn’t enough to compete with Stolas’ dumb luck, and Stolas encased him within a mystical pocket in which he is still trapped at this very moment. King Stolas remained in Athens, minding his treasures and his reputation with a legion of Nekus in his command to help him look after the wares that propelled him upward from his relative obscurity as a Viscount. However, given the method of his claim to King, he often looked after his affairs with a more than adequate measure of paranoia. He consequently steered clear of almost all of the other Apokomistai and had an alarmingly high rate of turnover with his Nekus, usually killing them within a year of their birth. Most Nekus live to be a few hundred years old at the very least.

    Astaroth arrived alone and unannounced on the steps of his opulent palace in the late evening hours of that same day, June 4, 1936. The twenty-nine infant Nekus who were serving as the outdoor sentinels provided some resistance to her confident march into the palace, and they invited a dozen more from inside the palace to join in the struggle until they all understood what she was based upon her strength. They immediately backed off in fear and sent word to their King that a Princess had arrived. She strode unaccompanied into a drawing room in which Stolas was feasting upon a young boy that his Nekus had kidnapped for their master’s enjoyment.

    “I need it,” Astaroth announced.

    “No. But it’s nice to see you again, Asta,” Stolas answered, and he wiped the boy’s blood off his hands with an embroidered handkerchief. “You know I don’t like being interrupted, and I know you wouldn’t come in here asking for such a valuable object. Not really. You have something else in mind, don’t you?”

    “I don’t. I want it. You’ll have it back in a year. Exactly a year from today, if you like. I’ll give you whatever you want as collateral,” Astaroth said.

    Stolas issued an amused chuckle. “It’s not for loaning. It’s not for anything except admiring with genuine awe. It’s mine, and it’s not going anywhere.”

    “Fine. King Sitri wants it,” Astaroth said.

    “Sitri wouldn’t send you on an errand to claim such a thing. He’d come to claim it personally. So let’s not dwell on that non-negotiable,” Stolas said. “Would you like a boy before I throw you out? My Nekus brought me a fresh batch just today. They’re from Crete. You can actually taste the Mediterranean in their flesh. Come on—try one.”

    “I’ve never acquired a taste for primate flesh,” Astaroth replied.

    “You’re missing out if you only dine on their souls,” Stolas said. He turned to a Neku and said, “Bring her a boy and a proper soul-drinking vessel.”

    “I suppose I could stay for a moment. I might be able to convince you to part with it—” Astaroth said.

    “Not a chance. But I’m not having all my Nekus forcefully eject you from the premises until you’ve tried one.”

    Astaroth remained in the palace for an hour, carefully extracting the soul of the boy that Stolas’ Nekus had brought to her and savoring it slowly. She thanked Stolas for his hospitality, made a final plea for it, left without further complaint and went to meet Caius in the hotel suite that he had secured for her barely a couple of hours prior.

    “Was my initial diversion large enough?” Astaroth inquired.

    “It was perfect, madam,” Caius answered.

    “You were able to get in?”

    “Yes, madam.”

    “And were you able to lift it without any of those incompetent Nekus ever suspecting anything?” Astaroth asked with growing enthusiasm.

    “Yes, madam.”

    “And you’ve got it now?!” Astaroth demanded excitedly.

    “Indeed, madam,” Caius said. He handed her a small, silvery mechanism that looked like a combination of a pocket watch and a tiny globe. It was the same object that Stolas had refused to loan her. It was the most powerful thing he had, for it was a store of the most potent magics available. It was an ellamadus.

    Happy New Year to all of you who mark time using the Gregorian Calendar! Dominus vobiscum.

    On to Astaroth’s Wager, Part IX.

  • Orders, Part III

    Back to Orders, Part II.

    As you’d expect, Jiang Xuande’s skill at magics improved significantly after he joined forces with Ninalla. In fact, his skill as an alchemist and an astronomer spread throughout the land, and so it was no surprise that Duke Xiao invited him to join his royal court in 361 BC.

    If there is one force that is paramount within the Universe, it’s love. It’s the connecting thread within all our Graces. When it comes to love, there’s nothing else in the Universe that is more diverse in form and expression. There’s also nothing stronger. Love makes all the difference.

    When Jiang Xuande summoned the demon Ninalla to his side and offered his wife Zhou’s body for her to possess, neither of them had any idea of what was to come. Over the years, a curious thing happened: Jiang Xuande and Ninalla fell in love. It might seem hard to believe, but even demons can feel love. The catch with demons is that most of the time, they don’t know how to express it in a constructive way, and when love is misdirected, it has the ugliest consequences.

    I mentioned last week that Jiang Xuande had theorized that a demon’s possession of his wife’s body might alter her ability to bear children, and he was correct. A Nekudaimon possessing a human (or animal) body has a few effects. Its metaphysical energy is able to simultaneously boost and drain the physical lifeforce of its host. A Neku must have a living host in order for it to wield any power, because the bond it makes with the soul of its host is, in part, a source of power. A Neku also halts the aging process of its host and lends its adopted physical form additional brawn and hardiness. However, if a Neku remains within the same mortal body for a while—more than a few days, for example—the host dies almost immediately when the Neku departs, for the Neku will have consumed most, if not all, of the physical energy of the host. Additionally, if the host dies while the Neku is still in it on account of some horrible damage to the body, the Neku has to find a new host in order to manifest. (These rules don’t apply to Apokomistai.)

    When Zhou was Zhou and Zhou alone, she could not bear children, but Ninalla possessing Zhou was a different story. (Do note that only an Apokomistis is capable of creating an Anathema. I’d explain, but Estelle has called dibs on this one.) The offspring of a Neku and a mortal creature is called an Epiklasmon, and it’s usually a creature that is weaker than its genetic kin. Their tragedy is that they don’t usually survive very long, which is typically a good thing, for they would live a cursed existence as the children of demons if they could live more than a few days. Still, the creative will that seizes those under love’s spell isn’t enough to deter them from trying to defy the odds.

    And so it was that in 355 BC, after thirteen years together, Ninalla was with child. Everyone at the court of Duke Xiao was astonished by the news, for Jiang Xuande and his seemingly-barren wife had been a quiet (but nonetheless feared) couple who appeared resigned to being childless. It was considered a miracle, and Duke Xiao extended the boundaries of the lands of his favorite alchemist and astronomer as a gift for his seeming good fortune.

    La mort du fossoyeur by Carlos Schwabe
    “The Angel of Death” as depicted in Carlos Schwabe’s The Death of the Grave-Digger. Azrael operates more quickly than humans can fathom. He doesn’t look like this model at all, but he does really like black and green.

    But fortune is fickle.

    Among the most feared and most misunderstood of angels is the Angel of Death. His name is Azrael, and he was tasked by God to maintain the balance of life and death within the Universe. One of his specific duties was to help the souls of the dead—especially those of children who weren’t strong enough to survive infancy—return to the Earth. He was also tasked with being close at hand to make sure that the soul of a creature that was cursed wouldn’t contaminate the pure waters of Earth’s well of souls.

    Jiang Xuande’s misfortune was that Azrael was close at hand when Ninalla gave birth to their Epiklasmon on that bright spring morning. Not long after the poor creature had taken its first and only breath, its heart stopped. Azrael then escorted the dormant soul of Zhou from the plane of the physical into the cavern of the metaphysical, and then he went to an isolated corner of the Universe to contend with the curse that was present in the soul of the dead Epiklasmon.

    Azrael is typically too quick for mortal eyes and most Neku senses to catch, but, of course, the exception to the rule came to pass on this occasion. The Angel of Death’s scent had lingered just long enough for the room for Ninalla to gauge what had happened when she realized that the body of her host was no longer ensouled and, consequently, dead.

    Until next Tuesday. Dominus tecum.

    On to Orders, Part IV.

  • Orders, Part I

    Not long after we angels were created by God, He separated us into the Orders. Angelic Orders can best be described as the different types of jobs that God assigned to us. Contrary to what has been written about angels by most humans, there are more than nine Orders. Most things relating to angels come in twelves (although on occasion, you can find concepts in sevens and fours and nines), and accordingly, there are were twelve Orders in the employ of God. Each angel was assigned to his or her Order based upon his or her unique talents. The Orders gave us purpose in the Universe, and our Graces helped us to execute our mission to care for the Universe.

    detail of Michael from Beccafumi's Fall of the Rebel Angels
    Detail of Michael from Domenico Beccafumi’s Fall of the Rebel Angels. Michael prefers this likeness of himself, even though it doesn’t resemble his typical human manifestation. He doesn’t have wings, either. (None of us do, actually.)

    I, Nadiel, was assigned to the Order of the Archangels. There are twelve of us: Camael, Ariel, Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, Uriel (pronounced OOH-ree-ell, if you please), Raziel, Sachiel, Anael, Cassiel, Barakiel and me. The twelve of us are the strongest and brightest of all angels, and Michael is the strongest and brightest of all. The Archangels were given the task of envisioning how the Universe should work and unfold, and we were chosen to rule over all of spacetime from a promontory point in Heaven after everything was up and running. Within this Solar System, I was given the responsibility of the planet Mercury and everything within its orbit (space), and one-twelfth of the duration of each planet’s revolution around the Sun (time). The month of Nadiel on Earth begins at sunrise on May the 20th and ends the moment before the sun rises on the morning of June the 19th. I do love to nurture creation in full bloom, and my brother Sachiel, who oversees oversaw the transition from spring into summer before the other solstice, was kind enough to let me assist him in the Southern Hemisphere.

    Archangels’ strength and brilliance come from each of us being the embodiment of one particular type of the Graces. Just as there are were twelve Orders, there are twelve Graces. I am the truest expression of the universal concept of Inspiration, and my Graces of Adaptability, Judgment and Mindfulness extend from that concept. (Give it a good think and you’ll arrive at how each graduates to the understanding of the next.) We worked together with the other angels to put the formulae in motion for the Earth to evolve into the incredible planet it is now. Gabriel, Cassiel, Camael and I included the capacity for all living beings to appreciate beauty, along with the desire to protect it and create it within the world. I also added a bit of code, if you will, which successfully led to the creation of music.

    Matters got very interesting on Earth a little more than 20 angelic generations ago—41,398 years ago, to be exact. I shan’t go into it now, Estelle won’t let me but suffice it to say that it wasn’t only homo sapiens that caught our attention. God reassigned several angels from the Order of the Watchers to observe and report back on what was transpiring here. As you can imagine, the Watchers’ mission throughout the Universe was almost exclusively observation and documentation. (Bear in mind that the Watchers who were assigned to Earth shouldn’t be confused with the fiction that was spun in the Book of Enoch, for Nephilim have different origins, appearance and purpose that she won’t let me talk about, either.)

    Watchers were never allowed to interfere with creation unless the orders came from God, but nevertheless, God did give directives for intervention from time to time. There was one occasion in particular, in which the situation deteriorated in such horrific fashion so as to require a squadron of God’s army, the Heavenly Host, to set things right again. It all started when the Watchers Sabrathon and Kochabiel informed Michael—

    Oh dear. The sun rises. Dominus tecum.

    On to Orders, Part II.

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