What do we know about Angels, Archangels and the Archai?

For decades I have thoughtfully studied the spiritual hierarchy, these nine levels of beings on which the regulation of this universe depends. From the transience of a breath of wind, every movement of clouds to the dependable movement of planets and stars, all purposefully guided by beings beyond our imagination.

Whenever I contemplate this hint of knowledge I try to see its place in my life otherwise such knowledge is empty theory. What place do Angels or Archangels have in my life? Naturally, these beings are complex and since we hardly understand the makeup of our own being, how can we expect to know theirs. Not to be defeated we should have confidence to start somewhere.

What we can know is that all efforts to understand and even experience the work of the angelic beings connect us with them in some small way, which in turn assists them to experience the human condition. Even though these beings guide and regulate the universe for our benefit, they have a different consciousness to ours. Just as we don’t understand them, they also do not understand us. It is as if we are in separate rooms and the thickness of the walls depends on the level of our own conscious awareness. The more we can connect to our I AM as discussed in this bLog – and in my book I Connecting – the more we can connect up with these beings and see them at work in the universe.

This spiritual hierarchy is best viewed as three teams of three: Angel, Archangels and Archai; Powers, Mights and Dominions; and right at the top Thrones, Cherubim and Seraphim. The Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit are a level higher.

So let’s look at the group closest to human beings; Angels, Archangels and Archai. Put simply; Angels guide people, Archangels guide nations and Archai regulate human evolution.

We could say that while we remain unaware of our I AM our guardian Angel acts on behalf of our I AM leading and guiding us through life. As we connect up with our I AM our Angel can stand back a bit. What a comforting notion to think that we are held and guided by an angelic being in all that we do. If we have any prayer life at all it should be directed to this being who lovingly embraces all that we do, even our shortfalls. You will find some more ideas about Angels in a previous bLogs Are Angels Real? and Angels and Archangels are everywhere

Prayer to the Angel: You, my heavenly friend, my angel, You who have led me to the earth and will lead me through the gate of death into the spiritual home of the human soul; You, who have known the path for thousands of years; Never cease to enlighten me, to strengthen me, to advise me, that I may emerge from the consuming fire of destiny a stronger vessel and learn ever more to fill myself with a sense for the goals of the spiritual world. Rudolf Steiner

The Archangels are a step higher than Angels. When a person has a great influence on a nation, either by leading it or by influencing it, we could say that they are connected to an Archangel. They have their archangelic being within them assisting them to do their work. Whenever a new leader of a nation is elected I have always watched them very closely to see how the Archangel of the nation changes them, and when they step down you can see that the Archangel has left them. Of course, it isn’t the same Archangel for every leader.

The Bible only uses the term Archangel twice, in 1 Thess 4:16 and Jude 1:9, in other places is just uses the names of the Archangels closely connected to the evolution of mankind; Michael, Gabriel, Raphael or Uriel. In Daniel 12:1 we read, “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people.” Note that his passage points to the task of the Archangels “charge of your people.”

There are various orders of Archangels and each has a leader. Michael is the leader of all the Archangels, some of the other leaders are Gabriel who cares for mothers preparing to give birth, and Raphael the guardian of healers.

The Archai lead mankind as a whole and their work is influenced by the numbers of human beings who increase their spiritual awareness. When we do not work on become more spiritually aware we weigh down these beings. We find reference to these beings in the Greek word arche or beginning. This word is sometimes rendered ‘principalities’ or ‘rule’ and indicates the work of these beings on human consciousness. When changes in the consciousness of humanity occur, it can indicate a change in the activity of the Archai.

These ideas give us a sense of movement and change. The more conscious some of us become the greater the activity of these beings which in turn affects us all.

This is a big topic and I will endeavor to expand what I have written here by giving examples from the Bible in future blogs.