As the occupants of nine of the Ten Sephirot on the Tree of Life, also known as the “Nine Choirs of Angels,” the 72 Angels are said to be the energetic embodiments of the 72 Names, Person and Qualities (both descriptive and numerical) of the Divine. Thus each of the 72 Angelic Energies has a specific name, quality and function, as well as particular days and times of governing. At every moment of every day there is a specific nameable “Presence” through which we may engage certain aspects and energies of the Divine to facilitate, strengthen or heal corresponding aspects of ourselves. Furthermore, and of deep personal relevance to us as individuals, the tradition says that we each contain and are “watched over” from within us by at least three of the 72 Angels which correspond to our date and time of birth. Through our three Birth Angels, we are given the tools of transformation to meet our challenges and fulfill our potentials to become who we truly and deeply desire to be.

Our three Birth Angels are our personal “lifelines” to the Divine. Metaphorically speaking, they act as amplifiers to communicate our desires, prayers and praise to the Divine, as well as “stepdown transformers” to “answer our prayers” by activating specific energies and qualities of the Divine within us. Mystically, as the edible fruits of the Tree of Life, when we ingest them into our awareness, they become a means to increase the presence and likeness of the Divine within our physical, emotional and intellectual aspects so that we might become more wholly human and more fully realized in our dreams and purposes.

It would seem from the variety of spiritual traditions, mystics and masters that all roads can lead home for the willing heart. Whatever path a seeker chooses -- there might he or she be met by the Divine in a way and language that best speaks to that individual’s cultural and experiential context. Although the 72 Angels tradition emerged through the mystical counterpart of Judaism known as the Kabbalah, its elements were systematized by mystics and scholars from many traditions, including mystic Christianity, Sufism, Neoplatonism and the ancient mysteries of alchemy and astrology. Like most mystical traditions, the core premise of the 72 Angels is based on the unquashable idea that each individual, if he or she so chooses, has the right and the ability to seek and commune with the Divine without organizational interpreters or other facilitators and go-betweens. The 72 Angels suggest that our “salvation” is not the road we walk, the scenery we enjoy or endure, or the language and props we use--or don’t--but rather the quality of heart that drives us on. The 72 Angels, as the embodied Names and multi-faceted Person of the Divine, remind us that “God” is made up of many qualities, and those many qualities--which are embodied as the Angels, human beings and every other kind of creature and created thing--are made up of God. Like the cliché, “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” each thing and being created by the Divine--however small or great--embodies particular aspects of the image and likeness of That Which created it. What this says about human life is that we each represent a fragment of the Divine’s total identity and “isness,” and as such, it takes each and all of us to complete the Divine’s manifestation of Itself as the “Bigger Picture” of Life. Like a giant jigsaw puzzle, each piece of Creation (“microcosm”) is imprinted and shaped to represent a piece of the Bigger Picture (macrocosm). Though we sometimes struggle with recognizing which “piece” we are and the “location” of our place and purpose, our personal Birth Angels can help us to find where we belong in the Bigger Picture, and thus where we belong in the picture of our own lives. The 72 Angels are the conveyors of the blueprint and the cosmic reflection that there is a unique and important place and purpose for every single one of us. They remind us that each of us, as an embodied quality of God, has within us a way to reconnect to our Source that was and continues to be given to us by the Source Itself.

The discovery and revival of this heart-driven tradition of the 72 Angels, which lay buried behind Inquisition-suppressed walls since 1492, is very timely. Whether a seeker desires to walk an autonomous, private path to the Divine, or to rejuvenate a sectarian, religious or other organized spiritual practice, the 72 Angels can be facilitators. This is because their venue is the human heart --something all of us have in common, whatever language we speak or ideologies we express. They work in big and small ways in our lives, always meeting us where we are with what we truly need or desire. They are our ultimate “inner soulmates,” and they use external circumstances and relationships to help direct our attention to the things within us that need strengthening or healing. When we look at our world through the eyes of the Angels, we can see that life is always giving us an opportunity to choose the higher road, to do “what love would do” for ourselves and others.