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The famous Ribaudo Angel found in the Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno, sculpted by Onorato Toso in 1910. This monument was introduced to pop culture as the cover image for the (1980) Love Will Tear Us Apart 12" single by the British band, Joy Division. (YouTube video.) For more images from the Staglieno cemetery, try here. (All images in this post can be clicked-on for a larger view.) |
“The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us, and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone.”
- George Elliot, from "Scenes of a Clerical Life."
"A professed belief in angels would, inevitably, involve me in a belief in the supernatural, and that was the golden snare I did not wish to be caught in. Without committing myself religiously I could conceive of the possibility of there being, in dimensions and worlds other than our own, powers and intelligences outside our present apprehension, and in this sense angels are not to be ruled out as a part of reality - always remembering that we create what we believe. Indeed, I am prepared to say that if enough of us believe in angels, then angels exist."
-- Gustav Davidson. from his introduction to A Dictionary of Angels (1967), a compendium of angel lore which served as a major source for this post.
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Where deep thoughts are a duty,
Where Love’s a grown-up God,
Where the Houri glances are
Imbued with all the beauty
Which we worship in a star.
Therefore, thou art not wrong,
Israfel, who despisest
An unimpassioned song;
To thee the laurels belong.
Best bard, because the wisest!
Merrily live, and long!
The ecstasies above
With thy burning measures suit -
Thy grief, thy joy, thy hate, thy love,
With the fervour of thy lute -
Well may the stars be mute!
Yes, Heaven is thine; but this
Is a world of sweets and sours;
Our flowers are merely—flowers,
And the shadow of thy perfect bliss
Is the sunshine of ours..."
- Edgar Allen Poe, from his poem "Israfel". Inset (above) is an illustration for Poe's poem by Edmund Dulac, found here. Another illustration for Poe's poem, by Hugo Steiner-Prag (shown after the jump, inset, right) can be found here.
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Which brings us to the fallen angels... entities which had somehow "fallen" out of grace with the Godhead - or, perhaps, merely "fell" into the "hell" of the material realm - due to the "sins" of pride, rebelliousness, and the unforgivable crime of mating with humans. We are indoctrinated to perceive these dark angels as "demons" ... the progenitors of all the evils in the world, although, in more enlightened minds, neither pride, rebelliousness nor sensuality are considered diabolical offenses. Moreover, depending upon the source, life as we know it may not have existed without these offending angels. For instance, according to Gnostic texts, it was due to a "flaw" or a "passion" within the angelic entity, or Aeon, which inadvertently created the material world...