I am writing this piece on Michaelmas Day. In the Catholic calendar, it is the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels — Michael-Mass, similar to Christ-Mass about three months later. This day has obvious ties to folk festivals which predate the Christianization of Europe, which happened for the most part between the 4th century and the 6th century. It is one of the marks of the yearly cycle, happening about a week after the Fall equinox. Obviously, it is a portal to the new season.
Rupert Sheldrake, a quite renowned and controversial British scientist, explains in a wonderful video lots of things about the meaning of this feast day, his reasons to believe in angels, and his collaboration with Matthew Fox on the very topic of angels. As angelology is a controversial, fascinating, and complex matter, I will limit myself in this DM to pointing out a few remarkable ideas that I found in the dialogue between Sheldrake and Fox as reported in their volume The Physics of Angels (2014).
- Angels have been ridiculed and called “a superstition” out of the modern materialistic consciousness, which does not allow for the existence of immaterial entities; by the same token, God is also a superstition; if, however, one adopts a different, post-modern frame of understanding — there are several, such as process thought based on A.N.Whitehead — the possibility of the existence of entities who do not have a physical body comes back;
- Angels have been considered in ancient and medieval cultures as “intelligences” which can act at great distances in the material world; their representation as winged creatures is just indeed a representation which people understood as such; to them, wings simply meant that these intelligences can move at a very great speed;
- Sheldrake offers a line of explanation that can satisfy our modern minds to some extent, which is the following: C.G. Jung described the archetypes of the collective unconscious as real forces that impinge on individual minds, even though they are not a product of such minds; angels should be thought of in a similar fashion;
- Fox brings to the table very relevant historical information: the New Testament is full of angels, and what the issue of angels really meant back then was: “Can we trust these invisible forces of the universe that are moving planets and the elements?”; angels as cosmic forces are really about spirituality in the sense that they raise the question: “To what extent is the universe a friendly place?” — a central question for us living in a decentered universe;
- Sheldrake and Fox explore the potential meaning for us today of Thomas Aquinas’ description of angels as individuals who can move from one place to another with no time lapse; Sheldrake compares such a description to Einstein’s description of the movement of a photon of light; Matthew likens such angelic quality to the power of intuition: Whereas human knowledge comes as much by discursive reasoning and struggle as by intuition, angels are paragons of intuition;
- Angels are traditionally organized hierarchically — especially in the Christian tradition; Fox is not a lover of hierarchies, but he is intrigued by Dionysius’ description of the angelic hierarchies as holy order and knowledge and activity participating in the divine likeness; Sheldrake suggests understanding such hierarchies as holarchies, which is how the natural world is organized anyway.
There is so much more in the book, reflecting the magnificent intensity of the dialogue between these two deep thinkers. But I hope that these snippets can make us think deeper already. Whatever may be our position on the existence and the activity of angels, we live — even against our will — within the cage of the modern materialistic understanding of the world, until we start the process of breaking free from it.
With all the AI craziness happening, and all the craziness in general, we need all the help we can muster. I won’t let, therefore, my modern mind dictate that angels don’t exist. As I work on next year’s pilgrimage to the Abbey of St. Michael, I will explore more in depth these reflections on angels which were published 30 years ago and perhaps have not received the attention they deserve.
Banner Image: “Michaelmas EJette” Paintings of St. Michael and the dragon by students of The BEarth Institute, a Waldorf-based homeschooling curriculum. On Flickr. CC by-NC 2.0.
Queries for Contemplation
Did you have experiences with angels? Does any content of this DM change your understanding of angelology (i.e., the discourse on angels)?
Related Readings by Matthew Fox
Matthew Fox and Rupert Sheldrake, The Physics of Angels: Exploring the Realm Where Science & Spirit Meet
Hildegard of Bingen’s Book of Divine Works: With Letters & Songs
Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen
Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality
Charles Burack, ed., Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
A New Reformation: Creation Spirituality & The Transformation of Christianity
5 thoughts on “Michaelmas and Angels”
We are so conditioned by traditional images that we can hardly think of angels without imagining humanoid creatures with wings and feathers. But the name “angel” comes from the ancient Greek and simply means “messenger.” The four evangelists are “eu-angelistes,” auspicious messengers, carriers of good news, good angels. If I receive a message from a tree, the tree is an angel. My dreams are angels if they carry messages, even if the only feathers involved are those of my pillow. Denying the existence of angels is denying the existence of immaterial messages. Of course, the very notion of “messenger” implies a source and a receiver. If I am not open to receiving immaterial messages, angels are ineffective and I may as well say that they do not exist. Our need to organize angels in legions and battalions as we organize armies says a lot about our mindset. The antonym of “evangelist” is “dysangelist,” the carrier of bad news, but that is another story, because good and bad are highly interchangeable qualifiers. As Mark – whose comments I deeply appreciate – wrote in his comment yesterday, “My point is that it’s impossible to know with certainty what is good and bad.” Black swans often turn white and vice versa. Black sheep too.
I believe humanity will soon awaken to the existence of other realms of dimension beyond this physical plane of existence. It ties in with the whole understanding of reincarnation. I am certain it also relates to more evolved dimensions around the other planets of our solar system, helping us to understand “vimanas” (celestial flying chariots in Eastern religions), the “Star” seen over Bethlehem; the Angel Gabriel, and people ascending and descending in “clouds” as recorded in the Christian religion, and the emergence of “flying saucers” (now called UAPs) in our present culture. The existence and reality of extraterrestrial intelligence stands to be the greatest game-changer in our entire history and evolution. I’m amazed that people, especially religious people, are so closed to the concept. Is it because it rocks and challenges their whole belief system? It shouldn’t. Indeed, it should radically transform it into a far greater understanding of life and God. Sorry for the rant. Perhaps I can be excused as it is my birthday! 😊
Thank you GG for today’s DM on angels. The enclosed YouTube video on Rupert Sheldrake’s, British scientist, talk on angels is especially very informative. The recommended book he wrote with Matthew Fox, “The Physics of Angels: Exploring the Realm Where Science & Spirit Meet,” probably has more information in depth on angels.
Even though I don’t have any personal experiences of angels and spirits, I along with many people on earth, including our ancestors, have Faith that they either exist or have experienced them. In the last few years of my retirement, I have developed a strong interest and openness to the subtle spiritual realms/beings within and around us, especially in Mother nature. These studies and openness on my spiritual journey include Incarnational Spirituality (lorian.org), Shamanism, and prominent psychic spiritual teachers such as Elizabeth Wysen (twelvedimensionalpath.com). The interrelated Contemplative and Creation Spiritual Traditions continue to be important to me on my daily spiritual journey, including contemplative prayers and small contemplative internet spiritual support groups.
I will admit to having a very limited understanding of the concept of angels. I do think about angels like Michael as shared archetypes. It’s fitting that Michaelmas happens during a transition from the light part of the year to the dark part – and that he is depicted slaying demons, or protecting us from dark things.
I tend to frame these sorts of spiritual/religious topics in terms of the natural world – what would I create to help me through the dark part of the year when food and resources are scarce? I would want a protector! (Of course this is biased towards the northern hemisphere.)
That said, since my awakening this summer, I’ve been distinctly aware of two energies, spirits, angels, that follow me around and are always present. I frequently ask them for grace. I can’t explain them any other way than to call them angels. We are in constant dialogue.
I am looking forward to learning more!
Dear Father Mathew,
May your health and goodness still be awailable to us. Please stay strong amidst the chaos unleashed against you. When my son, Geoff, died in 2021 right before the vaccine came out, my family’s heart went out Each child of our children had a closeness, but Geoffrey was our heart and comedian, comic jesterfor everyone. Since he has died, I have felt a blanket-like formation of individual creatures slowly cover me and my husband. At first I was afraid. Put up my hand to wave them off. They would swirl with my hand and change colors and shapes but still continue drifting over me. My husband doesn’t see them. But he talks to Geoff everyday. So whose crazy?