Angels-LUNAR MANSIONS

Traditional cultures attributed great significance to the phases of the
Moon, particularly to the waxing and waning cycles. Our seven-day
week is derived from the ancient custom of further dividing up the
lunar month according to new moon, first quarter, full moon, and last
quarter. The lunar mansions represent a refinement of this tendency,
subdividing the Moon’s phases according to its day-to-day increase or
decrease. With respect to traditional angel lore, the twenty-eight
lunar mansions are associated with twenty-eight different angels.
For example, according to a seventeenth-century manuscript
about magic in the British Museum, the fourth mansion (fourth day of
the lunar cycle following the new moon) “destroys and hinders buildings,
fountains, wells, gold mines . . .” (McLean, p. 127). One might
thus anticipate that the angel ruling the fourth mansion would have
some connections with these matters. According to a source cited in
Gustav Davidson’s Dictionary of Angels, the angel ruling the fourth
mansion is Azariel, a Talmudic angel said to govern the waters of the
earth. If we think in terms of the waters under the earth (as would a
biblically informed scholar), it is easy to see how groundwater might
“hinder” certain buildings, mines, and so forth.
To choose another example, the ninth mansion “destroys harvests
and travellers and makes discord amongst men” (McLean, p. 128).
The ruling angel of this mansion is Barbiel, an underworld angel and
thus seemingly related to ninth-mansion matters.