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Angels
exist in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
The characteristics
of individual angels may stay the same even when their names change.
Mystical movements and offshoots of the main religious traditions
often give the most detailed accounts.
In Judaism the
semi-secret lore of the Kabbala (Cabala) reveals countless facts
about Heaven and its inhabitants.
The Islamic angels
are most fully developed in Sufi mysticism.
In Christianity,
the richest sources are:
- the Apocrypha
(the not-quite-reliable books which were dropped from the standard
Bible)
- the Gnostic
tradition (a long-running parallel version of Christianity)
- and the Hermetic
tradition the Hermetic tradition associated with alchemy (alchemist
invoked both angels and demons in their attempts to know and control
Nature).
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