Michaelmas

The seventh day of Mabon is the Feast of Saint Michael the Archangel, Prince of Israel, and the time around his feast is Michaelmas. Michael is the Cardinal Angel of the East and the Intermediate Angel of the Southwest, and the time of Michaelmas until Allantide is his. In Christianity is the most important angel, the angel who fights the dragon in the Book of Revelation. Apocgypha has lended it much to his story. He is the only angel capable of matching Satan, and he is the chief defender of the Church against diabolical and physical enemies. He the only angel one ever sees wearing armor. When I was coming of age in the Catholic Church I remember this prayer, and remember it begin recited before Mass every afternoon at Saint Hedwig's down the street from me:

"Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil; May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen."

At the Yom Kippur service I was surprised to see dear Michael again, under the title Prince of Israel. He is petitioned in Neilah, the closing service.

Michael, Gabriel, Elijah, 

Come! Your hopeful tidings tell.

Let "Redemption!" be your cry,

As the closing hours draw nigh!

According to Jewish and Christian Apocrypha, the various nations had angelic princes, a holdover from the belief that each nation had a deity, and Michael is the Prince of Israel. Michael shows up in the Bible five times, three of those times in the Book of Daniel, the other two in the New Testament, In the Jewish Bible is a great angelic prince who aids Daniel.

Well, now we've given our book report on Michael, but what does all of this mean in the context of Young Tradition which, in the end is the Craft, and borrows from and is descended from Christianity and Judaism, but which is neither? Very often a church was called after him when it was built on a spot of previous mighty pagan worship, probably because Michael was strong enough to combat what Christians viewed as demonic, but what does he mean for us. He is the aid of the visionary prophet, and it wouldn't hurt to read some of the passages about him in the book of Daniel. Daniel was, and this is hard to deal with both for Jews and Christians, the equivalent of a magician, and served as a mage in the Babylonian court. His dreams were spiritual journeys and Michael aided him against spiritual enemies. While we are reincorporating the maligened imaged of the serpent, the dragon still has the potential of grace and destruction. Apophic, Tiamat, Nidhoggr and Python are all symbols of the dragon of destruction and Michael is the spirit who controls these destructive forces.  In the Occult there has always been the idea of the Secret Church, not a church that excludes actual and existing churches or condemns Christians, but an inner congregation, the congregation of ones dreams and aspirations that supercedes the messiness, the blindness and the politics of actual churches. One can say there is an inner sangha and an inner Ummah as well. I would say this of Israel too. And Michael is the Prince of this Secret Israel, which is us all.