The Book of Raziel

Raziel is the Angel of Secrets and Hidden Knowledge — the angelic mediator between divine mystery and human understanding. His name is built from raz, “secret” or “mystery,” and El, “God”: Rāzīʾēl, “God is my Mystery” or “Secrets of God.”

In Jewish mystical and Kabbalistic tradition, Raziel is the revealer of hidden wisdom: the one who stands near the divine throne, hears the mysteries of creation, and transmits them to humanity when humanity is ready to receive them. His central myth is the gift of a Book of Raziel, given to Adam after the Fall as a way back toward divine knowledge.

Raziel: Angel of Secrets

Names and titles

• Raziel — “God is my Mystery,” “Secrets of God,” or “Mystery of God.”
• Gallitsur — “Revealer of the Rock,” an alternate name associated with Raziel’s heavenly office.
• Angel of Secrets
• Angel of Mysteries
• Transmitter of Secrets
• Keeper of All Magic
• Guardian of Hidden Knowledge

Various spellings include Raziel, Ratziel, Razial, Ratzial, Retziel, Reziel, and Rezial.

Raziel’s role is not merely to conceal secrets, but to disclose them rightly. He represents hidden wisdom made available through revelation: the mysteries of God, creation, speech, nature, the soul, and the unseen structure of reality.

Offices and Correspondences

Raziel’s place in angelic hierarchy varies across Jewish mystical and occult sources. Different traditions describe him as:

• An archangel of mysteries and revelation.
• An angel associated with Chokhmah, the sephirah of Wisdom.
• A companion or counterpart of Jophiel, another angel of wisdom.
• A ruler, with Jophiel, over the choir of Cherubim in some hierarchies.
• A cherub, a member of the Ophanim, or chief of the Erelim in other traditions.
• Under the name Gallitsur, the ruling prince of the Second Heaven.
• A teacher who expounds the divine wisdom of Torah.
• A protector of ministering angels from the living creatures that uphold the universe.
• In some occult correspondences, an angel under the Starry Heaven, again linked with Jophiel.

These variations all point toward the same essential function: Raziel governs the threshold where divine wisdom becomes intelligible to angels, prophets, magicians, mystics, and human seekers.

Raziel and Adam

The central Raziel tradition begins with Adam. After Adam and Eve eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and are expelled from Eden, Adam falls into grief and confusion. In response to Adam’s prayers, God sends Raziel to teach him the hidden laws by which creation is ordered. Raziel becomes the angelic instructor of fallen humanity: not undoing the Fall, but providing a path of wisdom through it.

Occult and grimoire traditions intensify this relationship. Some describe Raziel as frequently speaking with Adam in Eden. Agrippa says Raziel had a “familiar habit” with Adam, while other versions portray him as Adam’s governor, guide, or instructor.

Raziel reveals to Adam mysteries concerning:

• The spiritual laws of nature and life on Earth.
• The knowledge of planets, stars, and the laws of creation.
• The power of speech, thought, and the soul within the physical world.
• The esoteric meanings of the Hebrew alphabet.
• Divine names and their powers.
• Angelic orders and the hidden structure of the heavens.
• Protective and magical knowledge.
• The path by which humanity may return toward God.

In this sense, Raziel is not simply a magical figure. He is the angel of esoteric restoration: the one who gives fallen humanity a book of return.

The Book of Raziel

The Sefer Raziel HaMalakh, or Book of Raziel the Angel, is the legendary book of secrets attributed to Raziel. It is often described as a grimoire of Practical Kabbalah, written in Hebrew and Aramaic, and associated with medieval Jewish magic.

The book is said to contain the hidden mechanics of creation: the divine names, angelic hierarchies, planetary and zodiacal correspondences, talismans, amulets, protective prayers, gematria, sacred speech, and the laws by which visible and invisible worlds interact.

Tradition says Raziel stands near the throne of God and records what is spoken in the heavenly court. Because he hears the mysteries of the divine realm, he is able to transmit them below.

The book is said to include:

• The mysteries of the universe.
• The seventy-two letters or names of God and their esoteric meanings.
• Hundreds of hidden keys and mysteries.
• The five names or levels of the human soul.
• The seven hells.
• The divisions of the Garden of Eden.
• Detailed angelology.
• Uses of the zodiac.
• Gematria and sacred number.
• Divine names.
• Protective spells.
• Talismans and amulets.
• Instructions for commanding or invoking spiritual forces.

The book’s mythic purpose is not only magical power. It is the recovery of orientation after exile. Adam receives it so that he and Eve may “find their way home” and better understand God.

The Theft and Return of the Book

When the other angels learn that Raziel has given the book to Adam, they are disturbed. In some versions they are angry that such knowledge has been given to humanity. They steal the book from Adam and cast it into the sea.

God does not punish Raziel. Instead, God causes the book to be retrieved and returned. In one version, this is done through Rahab, the primeval sea power. In another version, the archangel Raphael retrieves the book.

The book of mysteries descends from heaven to humanity, is rejected by jealous or fearful powers, is cast into the abyss, and is then restored by divine will. Hidden wisdom may be submerged, but it is not lost.

The Lineage of Transmission

The Book of Raziel is said to pass through a sacred lineage:

1. Raziel receives or records the mysteries near the throne of God.
2. Adam and Eve receive the book after the Fall.
3. The book is stolen by angels and cast into the sea.
4. God has it restored to humanity.
5. Enoch receives the book; in 3 Enoch, Enoch is later transformed into Metatron.
6. Raphael gives the book to Noah.
7. Noah uses its wisdom to build the Ark and survive the Flood.
8. The book eventually comes into the possession of Solomon.
9. Later texts claim to preserve or transmit the Raziel tradition.

Some versions say that the book given to Noah was inscribed on sapphire plates. Another tradition says the book itself was originally inscribed on a sapphire stone.

Sefer HaRazim

The Sefer HaRazim, or Book of Secrets, is a distinct Jewish magical text, generally dated around the fourth century AD. It should not be confused with the mythical-spiritual Sefer Raziel HaMalakh, though both belong to the broader Raziel tradition.

According to the preface of Sefer HaRazim, the angel Raziel gave the book to Noah. It then passed down through biblical history until it reached Solomon, becoming one source of his wisdom and reputed magical power.

Unlike later Kabbalistic speculation, Sefer HaRazim is especially practical and angelological. It functions as a sourcebook for Jewish magic, invoking angels for various operations rather than directly invoking God. Later parts of Sefer HaRazim were incorporated into the Raziel literature under their original title.

The two books may be distinguished simply:

• Sefer Raziel HaMalakh — the Book of Raziel given to Adam; a medieval Practical Kabbalah grimoire tied to the myth of post-Edenic revelation.
• Sefer HaRazim — the Book of Secrets given to Noah; an older Jewish magical text associated with angelic operations and later absorbed into the Raziel tradition.

Raziel and Manda d-Hayyi

Raziel may be compared with Manda d-Hayyi in Mandaeism. Both figures function as heavenly intermediaries who bring sacred knowledge to humanity, especially to Adam.

In Jewish mysticism, Raziel gives Adam the Book of Raziel, containing the mysteries of creation and divine knowledge. In Mandaeism, Manda d-Hayyi instructs Adam in the mysteries of life and creation, helping and protecting humanity in the material world.

The Book of Mysteries and the Word Raz

The word raz also appears frequently in the Book of Mysteries, an Essene text found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. There, raz means “mystery” or “secret,” especially a form of wisdom known by God and made available to humanity only through revelation.

One important phrase is raz nihyeh, “the secret of the way things are.”

The Book of Mysteries also presents an unusual eschatology. The end does not come primarily through battle, catastrophe, or dramatic judgment, but through a steady increase of light in which darkness disappears and iniquity dissolves like smoke. Wisdom is treated as an inevitable force. Those capable of receiving it yield to it and are transformed by it.

Raziel in Esoteric Symbolism

Raziel is often seen as the angel of:

• Alchemy.
• Sacred geometry.
• Divine mathematics.
• Angelic languages.
• Sigils and signs.
• The hidden codes of creation.
• Planetary and zodiacal forces.
• The four elements.
• The threshold between prophecy, magic, and mystical insight.

Later esoteric traditions sometimes picture Raziel as surrounded by rainbow or prismatic light, the color of divine mystery refracted into intelligible forms. In this symbolism, Raziel is not merely “secretive.” He is the prism through which hidden divine light becomes knowable.

Historical and Textual Note

The Raziel tradition has two layers that should be held together but not confused.

The legendary layer says that Raziel gave a primordial book of divine mysteries to Adam after the Fall. This is the mythic Book of Raziel: the heavenly book of return, containing the secret structure of creation and the wisdom needed for humanity to reorient itself toward God.

The historical textual layer is the surviving Sefer Raziel HaMalakh, a medieval Jewish magical and Kabbalistic compilation. This text gathers older strands of Jewish mysticism, angelology, astrology, divine-name practice, amulet lore, cosmology, and Practical Kabbalah. It preserves and elaborates the myth of Raziel, but the extant medieval book should not be treated as identical in a simple historical sense with the primordial book of Adamic legend.

Textual History of Sefer Raziel HaMalakh

Sefer Raziel HaMalakh appears to be a layered work rather than a single book written at one time. It draws together several streams of Jewish esoteric tradition:

• Practical Kabbalah — especially divine names, angelic operations, protective formulas, and sacred speech.
• Merkavah and Hekhalot mysticism — visionary ascent, heavenly palaces, angelic hierarchies, and throne imagery.
• Astrological and cosmological lore — planetary forces, zodiacal correspondences, and the structure of the heavens.
• Amulet and talisman traditions — sacred writing used as protection and spiritual technology.
• Alphabetic and linguistic mysticism — Hebrew letters, names, permutations, and the creative power of speech.
• Older magical texts, including material related to Sefer HaRazim.

In this way, the book is less a single doctrine than a treasury of revealed operations. It belongs to the world where prayer, cosmology, angelology, sacred language, and magic are not separate disciplines but different faces of one revealed order.

The Book as Talisman

The Book of Raziel was not only studied as a text. In Jewish folk tradition, copies of Sefer Raziel could also function as protective objects.

A physical copy of the book might be kept in the home as a talisman against fire, danger, illness, evil spirits, misfortune, or spiritual attack. In this sense, the book itself becomes an amulet: not merely a container of protective formulas, but a protective presence in its own right.

Raziel stands at the boundary between holy revelation and forbidden knowledge.

The other angels are disturbed. They fear that humanity has received knowledge too powerful for its present state. The book grants access to names, forces, heavens, and operations that may allow human beings to act upon the invisible world.

Relationship to Other “Books of Secrets”

The Raziel tradition belongs to a wider family of Jewish and esoteric “books of secrets.” These texts share the assumption that hidden wisdom exists in God and must be revealed from above.

• Sefer Raziel HaMalakh — the Book of Raziel given to Adam; a medieval Practical Kabbalah grimoire tied to post-Edenic restoration, divine names, angelology, cosmology, and magical protection.
• Sefer HaRazim — the Book of Secrets given to Noah; an older Jewish magical text centered on angelic operations and later partially absorbed into the Raziel tradition.
• The Book of Mysteries — an Essene wisdom text from the Dead Sea Scrolls, centered on raz, “mystery,” and the idea that true wisdom is revealed rather than merely reasoned.
• Solomonic books of magic — later traditions in which secret knowledge grants Solomon wisdom, authority over spirits, and mastery over hidden forces.

Raziel and Chokhmah

Raziel’s association with Chokhmah is central to understanding him.

Chokhmah is Wisdom, but not wisdom as systematized doctrine. It is the primordial flash of insight before it is arranged into understanding. It is the lightning-strike of divine knowing: immediate, radiant, and generative.

Raziel fits Chokhmah because he does not merely explain religion or teach moral rules. He transmits the hidden pattern behind creation. His knowledge is archetypal, luminous, and compressed — the kind of wisdom that must be unfolded through symbols, letters, names, visions, and sacred operations.

The Book of Raziel restores the hidden grammar of reality. The Book of Raziel is the Book of Return: the heavenly revealer.

He stands near the throne, receives the mysteries, and transmits them downward.

His book is the primordial grimoire: the first book of hidden knowledge, given to humanity after exile from Eden.

His myth gathers several great themes:

• Mystery — divine wisdom hidden in God.
• Revelation — secrets disclosed to humanity by angelic mediation.
• Exile — Adam receives wisdom after the Fall, not before it.
• Restoration — the book is a path back toward God.
• Language — letters, names, and speech reveal the structure of creation.
• Magic — sacred knowledge can act upon the visible and invisible worlds.
• Wisdom — Raziel belongs to Chokhmah, the primordial flash of divine insight.
• Transmission — Adam, Enoch, Noah, Solomon, and later sages inherit the mystery.
• Light — hidden wisdom gradually dispels darkness.

From Jareth Tempest’s Books

Pronounced: RAW-ZEE-EL

Pathworking Inside a dark cave. A waterfall at the exit of the cave in the distance. At the exit, the sun shines through the waterfall creating rainbows. A light-filled forest of pine trees.

Powers Will help you grow in wisdom. Guides you through the great mysteries of magick and the inner world. Reveals secrets, not only about magick, but about things in your life. Frees you from your old ways of thinking and breaks you out of old behaviors. Helps you find answers. Brings inner peace when you are troubled. Increases psychic abilities. Guides you and connects you to other spirits.

The Pathworking Ritual - Jareth Tempest

You always start with Raziel because she is your guide. Magicians have long used her to aid in connecting with other spirits, not only angels. Her role as guide is the cornerstone of this whole system of magick. I have made connections with the angels without Raziel, but the strength and clarity of the connection is always so much stronger with her. So I don’t care how repetitive it gets, always start with Raziel. You begin with her pathworking. It begins with, “Inside a dark cave.” You would then imagine that you are inside that cave “A waterfall at the exit of the cave in the distance.” Now you’ve moved from the deep darkness of the cave to where you can see the light from the way out. And there is a waterfall just outside the exit. “At the exit the sun shines through the waterfall creating rainbows.” You are now at the exit, just inside the cave. You are still in the dark, but the light is just outside, with only a thin sheet of water falling between you and it. The light shines through that waterfall and as you gaze through it, you see rainbows. “A light filled pine forest.” You just go straight to the forest and imagine seeing the light coming down from the sun in the sky and filling the forest with it’s brilliant light. Then while imagining yourself standing in the forest bathed in light, you say, “Raziel.” Something may happen right away, or it may be gradual. Don’t force anything. How Raziel appears to you will be different for everyone depending on your gifts and how your mind and spirit interpret her energy. You may want to say, “Raziel, hear me.” And begin repeating her name. This isn’t a chant or a mantra. You are calling to a living being. Think of it as calling out to a friend in the next room.

Now you will say, “Guide me to Sitael” or whatever angel you are working with. If it was Vehuel, you would say, “Guide me to Vehuel.” In this example, I will use Sitael. Then you go straight into the pathworking for Sitael. It begins, “A sword laying on the ground.” ….”

“You always begin with Raziel. You perform her pathworking and then you say her name. You wait for a moment to see if you get a response. Once you do, you ask that she connect you with the angel that you have chosen to work with. Then you do the pathworking for that angel and say its name. Then you will wait a moment to see if you receive a response from that angel. Take a moment to feel your need. Then you state your request. Wait again, to see if the angel has any questions or needs clarification. If so, speak normally and explain the situation. If not, say thank you and the angel’s name, then thank Raziel. Finish by returning back to the inner cave at the beginning of Raziel’s pathworking. This concludes the ritual, and you can go back to your regular life.

Jareth Tempest: Raziel, thank you for being with us. Is Raziel the name that you are most comfortable with? Or do you have a different name that you would like us to use? Raziel: You use Raziel, so that’s what I am most comfortable with you. Other people might call me other things, but this is us, this is how we relate. JT: What other names are you known by in other cultures? Raziel: (hard to discern so I will spell phonetically as best as I can) SAL-yah, ah-REL-yah, ah-MEN-no, im-in-NOM-in-ay

From Raziels Paths of Power Volume I 72 Angels of the Name by Jareth Tempest