Uriel

An unemployed single mother opens a prosperous business. A pennypincher overcomes his stingy habits. A widow uncovers a creative talent that evolves into a profession. These and other true stories, recounted by Richard Webster in Uriel, demonstrate the impact this powerful archangel has had on countless lives. Known for transforming misfortunes into blessings, Uriel can heal emotional trauma, enhance creativity, enhance prosperity, develop intuition, and bring tranquility. Whether you need spiritual enlightenment, creative inspiration, or prophetic insight, the practical techniques in this book-involving meditation, color, music, and crystals-can put you in touch with the Angel of Salvation.

Uriel is the Archangel of the Sun in John Milton’s Paradise Lost (Book III) first published in 1667. Although not as prominent as the archangels Michael and Raphael, Uriel is the angel in charge of the Orb of the Sun and as such serves as the “eyes of God”. In order to get past this “watcher over the sun”, Satan disguises himself as a cherub and tells Uriel that he has just come from the heavens eager to see this newly created Earth. The archangel is unable to recognize the evil before him and unwittingly points Satan toward Paradise where Adam dwells with Eve. Eventually, Uriel, described as the "sharpest sighted spirit in all of Heaven", views Satan down on Earth and quickly concludes he is not what he said he was (mainly because cherubs have a permanent expression of joy marked on their faces, and Satan’s face is distorted). Uriel immediately warns Gabriel to watch out for this “fallen” one.

Uriel is a poem written in 1845 by Ralph Waldo Emerson which Robert Frost later called "the greatest Western poem yet". Emerson wrote “Uriel” as a commentary in the aftermath of the controversy surrounding a speech he delivered to The Divinity School at Cambridge (1838). His speech was considered non-conformist and subversive and therefore scandalized the elder clergy members. But Emerson was a philosopher and transcendentalist – a great thinker – who challenged the status quo. To him, Copernicus freed religion by pointing out that the Sun was the center of the universe and not Earth. Earth was nothing more than a tiny, insignificant planet. Emerson borrowed the Archangel of the Sun from John Milton’s “Paradise Lost” as the poem’s brave protagonist. From the vantage point of the Sun, Uriel would have the best view of the ordered universe and their beautifully choreographed dance around the sun. Emerson was not an atheist; rather he did indeed see “God” in all of this order. He was bucking tradition in his poem, no doubt, by placing a higher value on Nature. From Emerson’s perspective, this was advancement in truth and there were those out there not ready to hear it. Uriel upsets his fellow gods in the poem by announcing relativism over absolutism. With “low tnes” and “piercing eye”, Uriel “Gave his sentiment divine / Against the being of a line.” In other words, Nature/God/Universe is round, eternal and progressive. Not stagnant and absolute. At the words of Uriel, “A shudder ran around the sky” and “the gods shook, they knew not why.” Emerson was a philosopher who believed that the universe was composed on Nature and the Soul – that all things were connected to God and therefore all things were divine. God reveals truth through Nature. Emerson’s religious views were considered radical and thus threatening to members of the Christian Church. “Uriel” is a poem that summarizes a decade of Emerson’s philosophical developments.