Angels and Paganism.

It is a common misconception that angels are not part of the Pagan tradition, angels feature in all the major religions of the world, from Islam to Celtic and Hindu to Norse mythology.

Naturally all religions have absorbed the concept of angels into their mainstream philosophy to suit their religious understand of angels and their relationship with the main religions deity(s). As an example angels figure prominently in the Christian tradition but did not feature in early Hebrew texts it was only when the Judaism was influence by other traditions and philosophies that the celestial entities, angels, began to be recognised, or at least their place in the scheme of things.

For the Pagan the guiding philosophy is the concept of the Mother Earth and natural magic, and therefore we would expect that angels within this concept would be recognized as having a close connection with the Earth. These were originally represented as the Spirits of Earth and Water. Remember they do not have to be called angels to be angels. In Norse mythology the equivalent to angels were known as Valkyrie's, In Celtic mythology faerie's were seen as the helpers to mankind. To this you can even include various astral denizens.

Remember the Pagan path has adopted and modified much of the magical practices of other magical traditions such as the Western Magical Tradition, various Ritual Magic practices and the Jewish Kabbalah. Therefore it is not uncommon for new celestial names to be adopted, and old ones lost.

To Pagans, angels are simply highly evolved souls who, have taken on the commitment with the Cosmic Creator the structure to be messengers, guardian or the teachers of spirit between the Cosmic Creator and developing incarnated beings. The name from this context is not so important; it can be angel, a faerie or even a wood spirit.

From a practical working perspective Pagans have accepted the dominions, roles and correspondences of the angels as originally devised from ceremonial or ritual magic and successfully integrated these into their working practices.