Need help with an obscure Hebrew word – this one.
It’s almost certainly a religious term of some kind, possibly derived from occultism. Could be Biblical, Kabbalistic or maybe Theosophical. Could very well be the name of a female demon. Could be a neologism, too.
Anyone?
The word is “Hanniel”, a rather obscure Biblical name and the name of a very small town in central Israel. Only it’s misspelled - an extra א was added after the first ח -
חאניאל
instead of
חניאל,
Which is the correct biblical spelling.
Also, my Google search gives me nothing. My guess? Gibberish.
Haniel is also the Archangel in Netzach. In modern Hermetic Kabalistic theory, she’s kin to Venus/Aphrodite, Bast and Kuan Yin. Planet is Venus, color green, associations with joy, beauty, mirth and sexual love. The ecstatic divine, tending towards female.
Probably some modern magickian’s Love talisman. In need of a proof-reader.
Ah! A (clumsily misspelled) “Haniel” sounds like the right answer for sure. I’ve seen the word appear on drawings made by a Danish occultist, dated between 1907 and 1912, of, uh, pretty damn ecstatic-looking female gods/demons… So yeah, “joy, beauty, mirth and sexual love” makes perfect sense.
A follow-up question: Where could the guy have encountered the term in the first place? Was Haniel a big deal in Lévi, Blavatsky, the Martinists, the Golden Dawn…?
Yes, very much so. She (while angels are gender neutral, Haniel is often referred to as she in casual conversation) is one of the big 10 - the Archangels on the Tree of Life. Big deal to Theosophists and Golden Dawn and OTO folks alike.
Metatron has the best PR guy, and Gabriel and Michael got the best bits in the Bible, but Haniel is one of their coworkers. You’ve probably heard of the Elohim? Haniel is their boss.
Uh, I’ve heard enough about Elohim to know that He is their boss, unless the mystics have some other interpretation.
And Metatron is the PR guy.
Well well well, what do you know – as it turns out, our occultist artist friend wasn’t the only one to misspell Haniel’s name like that: See this, for example, from an Israel Regardie book.
Don’t know if the misspelling in question actually originated in the Golden Dawn, though, or if they, in turn, picked it up from an earlier source.
WhyNot was referring not to Elohim the Big Cheese, but to the order of angels called “the Elohim.” It is a plural noun, after all. They’re the class of angels attributed to Netṣaḥ which is the 7th sefirah of the Tree of Life, as seen in the illlustration linked to by Steken. Netṣaḥ is the bottom circle in the column on the right (Pillar of Mercy). The names around it list its archangel: Hani’el; angelic host: Elohim; and divine name: YHWH Tṣava’ot. I agree it must be part of a love talisman, since as WhyNot noted Netṣaḥ’s planet is Venus.
Question: The OP link is spelled with ח while the Regardie drawing spells it with ה. How do you know which is correct? (The medieval angel name is not necessarily spelled the same as the modern Israeli town.)
Kabbalah is basically the Judaism Expanded Universe; whether or not it’s canonical depends on who you’re asking.
The “ח” version gets far more Google hits, although the “ה” version also comes up. As for roots, חניאל is based on the ח.נ.נ. (Ch.N.N) root, which signifies absolution; other names with that root are Hanan, Elhanan, Hananel and Hannibal (different god for the last one). I can’t tell you the root for הניאל - it doesn’t resemble any word I can think of. My guess? חניאל is more correct.
There’s one more name derived from that root appearing in this very thread… can anybody guess which one it is?
nm
Your name, no?
Yep - also Yohanan, or John. Can’t believe I forgot those.
