For most of European history the sky was not a void crossed by bodies, but a system of spheres in ordered motion. Who moved them? Philosophers and theologians gave an answer that linked astronomy and angelology: the celestial intelligences, soon identified with the angels. From this idea arose, in the Renaissance, a rich tradition of planetary angels.
The moving intelligences
Aristotle, in the Metaphysics, argues that the eternal motion of the heavens requires unmoved movers, substances separate from matter that move the celestial spheres as objects of desire. The first mover moves the heaven of the fixed stars; other movers preside over the spheres of the planets.
Arab philosophers such as Avicenna developed this idea into a system of intelligences proceeding one from another, each linked to a heaven. In the medieval Latin world theologians identified them with the angels. The step was a natural one: both were pure spirits, intermediaries between God and the material world.
Dante, in the Comedy, renders this synthesis in poetic form: each of the nine angelic choirs moves one of the nine heavens.
The cosmos of spheres
In the Ptolemaic model, accepted for centuries, the earth is at the centre and the spheres revolve around it in the following order:
- Moon
- Mercury
- Venus
- Sun
- Mars
- Jupiter
- Saturn
- Fixed stars
- Primum Mobile
The seven traditional planets, which included the Sun and the Moon, became the hinge of many correspondences: metals, colours, days of the week and, indeed, angels.
The angels of the days
One of the most influential texts is the Heptameron, a short treatise on ceremonial magic attributed, probably wrongly, to the physician and philosopher Pietro d'Abano. It associates each day of the week with a planet and an angel.
| Day | Planet | Angel |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday | Sun | Michael |
| Monday | Moon | Gabriel |
| Tuesday | Mars | Samael |
| Wednesday | Mercury | Raphael |
| Thursday | Jupiter | Sachiel |
| Friday | Venus | Anael |
| Saturday | Saturn | Cassiel |
This scheme spread widely in later esotericism. It should be remembered, however, that the attributions vary from source to source: in some authors, for example, Raphael is linked to the Sun and Michael to Mercury.
Trithemius and the seven rulers of the world
Johannes Trithemius, Benedictine abbot of Sponheim, humanist and scholar of cryptography, wrote a treatise entitled De septem secundeis, «On the seven secondary intelligences». In it he proposes a vision of history governed in turn by seven planetary angels, each for a long period of years, in a repeating cycle.
The order given by Trithemius is:
- Orifiel, angel of Saturn, who rules the first period after the creation;
- Anael, angel of Venus;
- Zachariel, angel of Jupiter;
- Raphael, angel of Mercury;
- Samael, angel of Mars;
- Gabriel, angel of the Moon;
- Michael, angel of the Sun.
According to the abbot, each period takes on the character of the planet that governs it, and the events of sacred and secular history are placed within these cycles. The treatise is a fascinating example of how the Renaissance sought a heavenly order even in human history.
The role of the planetary angels
In Renaissance authors such as Cornelius Agrippa, the planetary angels perform precise functions within a wider hierarchy:
- God is the source of every influence;
- the angels or intelligences govern the planets by his mandate;
- the planets transmit influences to the sublunary world;
- earthly things, such as metals, plants and stones, receive and reflect these influences.
The angels thus become the links of a chain joining heaven to earth. They are not blind forces, but intelligences responding to a higher order.
The symbolic value today
The cosmos of spheres is no longer the reference model of astronomy. It remains, however, a rich symbolic language. The Studio Esoterico Cornelio reads it as a map of inner qualities:
- Saturn and its angel indicate discipline and limit;
- Jupiter breadth and generosity;
- Mars strength and courage;
- the Sun the centre and consciousness;
- Venus harmony and relationship;
- Mercury speech and exchange;
- the Moon rhythm, memory and dream.
Associating each day of the week with one of these qualities, as the Heptameron tradition suggests, can become a simple exercise in attention: devoting each day to reflecting on one aspect of one's life.
In short
- Aristotle attributed the motion of the heavens to unmoved movers, which medieval theology identified with angels.
- In the Ptolemaic cosmos the seven traditional planets anchor a system of correspondences.
- The Heptameron assigns each day a planet and an angel, with variations between sources.
- Trithemius imagined history governed in turn by seven planetary angels.
- Symbolically, the planetary angels represent inner qualities to be recognised and cultivated.
