INTRODUCTION

In my research on the Watchers, I've come across several connections of interest that link them to other gods - primarily gods of non-Jewish and non-Christian pantheons. Gustav Davidson lists 103 Fallen Angels [1], but looking through the list, I find many of the names to be linked together or alternates for one another. This group of essays will describe some of what I have found. It is my purpose here to put together as much information as is available to me and present it to those of you who are interested in knowing more about the Watchers. I will begin with the ancient texts that tell the story of the Watchers.

BOOK of ENOCH

The main source for the names of the Watchers comes from the Book of Enoch (BOE). The various chapters (6, 8 and 69) that name the watchers are fraught with discrepancies. Names are spelled differently or completely different. The number of names given does not add up to what it should. In Chapter 6, there should be 20 chiefs of ten, but there are only 19 listed. Two of those listed, Rameel and Ramiel are the same angel. Ezeqeel (who taught the knowledge of the clouds) and Zakkiel (an angel of storms) are also most likely the same angel. See Table I, below.

[Chapter 6] ...And Semjaza, who was their leader, said unto them: 'I fear ye will not 4 indeed agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin.' And they all answered him and said: 'Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations 5 not to abandon this plan but to do this thing.' Then sware they all together and bound themselves 6 by mutual imprecations upon it. And they were in all two hundred; who descended in the days of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn 7 and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. And these are the names of their leaders: Samiazaz, their leader, Arakiba, Rameel, Kokabel, Tamiel, Ramiel, Danjal, Ezeqeel, Baraqijal, 8 Azzael, Armaros, Batarel, Hananel, Zakkiel, Samsapeel, Satarel, Turel, Jomjael, Sariel. These are their chiefs of tens.

[Chapter 8] 1 And Azazel taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals of the earth and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all 2 colouring tinctures. And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they 3 were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways. Semjaza taught enchantments, and root-cuttings, Armaros the resolving of enchantments, Baraqijal (taught) astrology, Kokabel the constellations, Ezeqeel the knowledge of the clouds, Araqiel the signs of the earth, Shamshiel the signs of the sun, and Sariel the course of the moon. And as men perished, they cried, and their cry went up to heaven . . .

[Chapter 69] 1 And after this judgement they shall terrify and make them to tremble because they have shown this to those who dwell on the earth. 2 And behold the names of those angels [and these are their names: the first of them is Samjaza, the second Artaqifa, and the third Armen, the fourth Kokabel, the fifth Turael, the sixth Rumjal, the seventh Danjal, the eighth Neqael, the ninth Baraqel, the tenth Azazel, the eleventh Armaros, the twelfth Batarjal, the thirteenth Busasejal, the fourteenth Hananel, the fifteenth Turel, and the sixteenth Simapesiel, the seventeenth Jetrel, the eighteenth Tumael, the nineteenth Turel, 3 the twentieth Rumael, the twenty-first Azazel. And these are the chiefs of their angels and their names, and their chief ones over hundreds and over fifties and over tens].

[Chapter 69 cont].: 4 The name of the first Jeqon: that is, the one who led astray [all] the sons of God, and brought them 5 down to the earth, and led them astray through the daughters of men. And the second was named Asbeel: he imparted to the holy sons of God evil counsel, and led them astray so that they defiled 6 their bodies with the daughters of men. And the third was named Gadreel: he it is who showed the children of men all the blows of death, and he led astray Eve, and showed [the weapons of death to the sons of men] the shield and the coat of mail, and the sword for battle, and all the weapons 7 of death to the children of men. And from his hand they have proceeded against those who dwell 8 on the earth from that day and for evermore. And the fourth was named Penemue: he taught the 9 children of men the bitter and the sweet, and he taught them all the secrets of their wisdom. And he instructed mankind in writing with ink and paper, and thereby many sinned from eternity to 10 eternity and until this day. For men were not created for such a purpose, to give confirmation 11 to their good faith with pen and ink. For men were created exactly like the angels, to the intent that they should continue pure and righteous, and death, which destroys everything, could not have taken hold of them, but through this their knowledge they are perishing, and through this power 12 it is consuming me. And the fifth was named Kasdeja: this is he who showed the children of men all the wicked smitings of spirits and demons, and the smitings of the embryo in the womb, that it may pass away, and [the smitings of the soul] the bites of the serpent, and the smitings 13 which befall through the noontide heat, the son of the serpent named Taba'et.

The names Jeqon (Yeqon or Yikon) and Asbeel are unknown entities and seem to be epithets rather than actual names. Curiously, if the name Asbeel is changed to Az-bael, the translation is something like 'lord strong', which is similar to a name in Mesopotamian myth that might be associated with Azazel, Ninagal - 'lord strong-arm', the smith god. Of Jeqon, Davidson says the name means 'inciter' and : "a ringleader of the fallen angels". Nothing more is known other than what can be read here. My guess would be that Jeqon is another name for Shemyaza, who was the one who incited the angels to do what they did.

Gadreel, Penemue and Kasdeja's teachings are given here 'in depth' and seemingly should be included in Chapter 8, as they are equally important to the others mentioned there. It almost seems they were added as an after-thought. Gadreel's teachings seem to coincide somewhat with Azazel's, but it does seem that Azazel only showed men how to make these items, whereas Gadreel taught their usage - a weapons and armaments master. It is entirely possible that Gadreel and Azazel are one in the same. The word 'gad' has several meanings - 'troops', 'encampment' (as in an army) and 'fortunate'. A mother in the Bible names her new-born son Gad, when she sees that an army of troops has come into their town that day. This connection is evidently the basis of the statements that Azazel also taught the daughters of Adam sexual secrets - from Gadreel being the one who seduced Eve. But of course, so did the Serpent/Satan. Here we begin to see where the tie-ins forming through the different traditions with Azazel, Shemyaza, Lucifer and Satan. For more, see the Shemyaza link above.

On the other side of the coin, Araqiel, Ramiel, and Uriel (who is sometimes equated with Sariel) are said to be of the five angels who lead the souls of men to judgement. The other two are Samiel and Aziel. "Samiel is an" immortal angel of God", grouped with Michael, Gabriel and other spellbinding angels. However, according to Voltaire in his "Of Angels, Genii, and Devils," Samiel is one of the leaders of the fallen angels, and hence evil. To Voltaire, apparently, Samiel was another form for Samael, prince of evil. In Bar-Khonai, The Book of Scholia, Samiel is described as "blind, malformed, and evil." [1]

THE WAR SCROLL

Sariel appears in The War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness from the recently discovered (1947) Dead Sea Scrolls [2]. His name is one that appears on the shields of the "third Tower". There are four Towers in all and these appear to be a fighting unit. This is also called The War Scroll. The introduction to this scroll the translators write:

"Armageddon: the war to end all wars. These words stir up images of inevitable conflict, the final focus on the dark side of human nature, the ultimate catharsis that ushers in an age of peace. All of these issues come to a head in the War Scroll a text that describes the eschatological last battle in gory detail as righteousness is fully victorious and evil is forever destroyed. This vivid account gives us insight into how, at about the time of Jesus, some Jews conceived of Armageddon....

"The first battle finds the adversaries led by the Kittim of Assyria. (Although the name Kittim is often used in the scrolls as a reference to the Romans, its basic sense seems to have been "archetypal bad guys.") The Kittim of Asshur come in alliance with the biblical enemies Edom, Moab, Ammon, and Philistia. Cooperating with this unholy alliance are the "violators of the covenant": Jews who had spurned the message of the Yahad and in so doing aligned themselves with the Sons of Darkness. The second stage expands the war's influence to the Kittim who dwelt in Egypt, and then finally to the Kings of the North.

"Although this war is said to extend over forty years, the writer of the scroll was particularly concerned with the details of the very final day of battle. After six bloody engagements during this last battle, the Sons of Light and Sons of Darkness are dead-locked in a 3-3 tie. In the seventh and final confrontation "the great hand of God shall overcome [Belial and al]l the angels of his dominion, and all the men of [his forces shall be destroyed forever]" (1QM 1:14-15)

The scroll goes into great detail, describing how such things as the banners, battle trumpets and shields are to be made. Column 9 of the scroll reads thus:

"Upon all the shields of the tower soldiers they shall write: on the first, "Michael," on the second, "Gabriel," on the third, "Sariel," and on the fourth, "Raphael."

If you look quickly, you will see reference to this in the battle scenes Thomas views in the cave and in church, in the movie "Prophecy", where the piked standards of the celestial armies are marked with the sigils of the Wing Commanders....

In spite of the subtitle of The War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness, this is obviously a real war with real people and kingdoms involved. These are not good angels fighting bad angels, but rather those of the Covenant with Jehovah fighting their enemies, who are not part of the Covenant. It IS a holy war (jihad), but NOT a war in Heaven between angels. Moses and his brother Aaron are mentioned as participants in this war. Given the time frame of it as explained in the translators comments, (in the time of Jesus), this is a literary device used to lend more power to the side of 'good'.

BOOK OF JUBILEES

The Book of Jubilees may - or may not - have been written by Moses as an addendum or a 'rough draft' to Genesis about the Watchers. What is said also appears in other writings like the Book of Enoch or The Scroll of the Patriarchs. The Book of Jubilees is in much better shape (not as many gaps as The Scroll of the Patriarchs) and offers a few more details. Interestingly, the 'begats' in Chapters 3 and 4 of the Book of Jubilees list the names of the wives of the patriarchs and their fathers. You keep seeing the same names over and over, only spelled differently. Betenosh, the wife of Lamech and mother of the suspect infant Noah, is the daughter of one Baraqi'il - Baraqijal? Trying to put this into a 'today' context, there are many people who have the same names in our own time - many Johns, Marys, Lindas and Roberts. While it is tempting to say 'aha!' over these similarities in names, it cannot be used as any sort of marker to prove anything. There are two Enochs alone in the family of Adam - one the son of Cain and the other the son of Jared. Again, the duality of the good one and the bad one.

Perhaps the most interesting part of Jubilees has to do with Chapters 6 and 7, where reference is made to the eating of blood. It is here that we find the 'vampire' connection that has attached itself to the Nephilim or Naphidim. It is never directly stated in anything that I've read or that is readable (not full of gaps) that the sons of the Watchers were eaters of blood, but it is implied by literary inferences and juxtapositions:

21...For owing to these three things came the flood upon the earth, namely, owing to the fornication wherein the Watchers against the law of their ordinances went a whoring after the daughters of men, and took themselves wives of all which they 22 chose: and they made the beginning of uncleanness. And they begat sons the Naphidim, and they were all unlike, and they devoured one another: and the Giants slew the Naphil, and the 23 Naphil slew the Eljo, and the Eljo mankind, and one man another. And every one sold himself 24 to work iniquity and to shed much blood, and the earth was filled with iniquity.

All these names, the Naphidim, the Naphil (Nephil) and the Eljo all refer to the offspring of the Watchers. Are they all different from each other? How? The Naphidim were 'all unlike'. What does that mean? Unlike one another? Unlike their 'brothers', the Naphil and the Eljo? Questions that I cannot answer for now. Keep in mind that according to the Book of Enoch, the fact of the sons of the Watchers 'devouring one another' and slaying one another is God's judgement against them from the Book of Enoch. God laid this curse upon them and their fathers for their iniquities. The more you read of these texts, the more you will see this technique used, see-sawing back and forth between what God caused to happen and the blame of it shifted to the enemy or presented as the enemy's sin or weakness.

And after this they sinned against the beasts and birds, and all that moves and walks on the earth: and much blood was shed on the earth, and every imagination and desire of men imagined vanity and evil 25 continually. And the Lord destroyed everything from off the face of the earth; because of the wickedness of their deeds, and because of the blood which they had shed in the midst of the earth 26 He destroyed everything. 'And we were left, I and you, my sons, and everything that entered with us into the ark, and behold I see your works before me that ye do not walk in righteousness: for in the path of destruction ye have begun to walk, and ye are parting one from another, and are envious one of another, and (so it comes) that ye are not in harmony, my sons, each with his brother. 27 For I see, and behold the demons have begun (their) seductions against you and against your children and now I fear on your behalf, that after my death ye will shed the blood of men upon the earth, 28 and that ye, too, will be destroyed from the face of the earth. For whoso sheddeth man's blood, and whoso eateth the blood of any flesh, shall all be destroyed from the earth. 29 And there shall not be left any man that eateth blood, or that sheddeth the blood of man on the earth, Nor shall there be left to him any seed or descendants living under heaven; For into Sheol shall they go, And into the place of condemnation shall they descend, And into the darkness of the deep shall they all be removed by a violent death. 30 There shall be no blood seen upon you of all the blood there shall be all the days in which ye have killed any beasts or cattle or whatever flies upon the earth, and work ye a good work to your 31 souls by covering that which has been shed on the face of the earth. And ye shall not be like him who eats with blood, but guard yourselves that none may eat blood before you: cover the blood,

In this section, once again, the propensity of these religions based on these writings to dis-place blame upon 'demons' is seen. In these writings, God does not make Man take responsibility for himself - ever. It's always the fault of the demons and fallen angels; the unrighteous who do not agree with their ways. This philosophy is divisive at the outset. It plays heavily on duality and further separates Man from his own salvation and God - not to mention one another. Automatically, anyone who does not agree with ones own religious views or moral precepts becomes suspect and 'evil'. Automatically, another who may in some way cause your own downfall becomes the enemy. YOU did not make a choice to follow them. THEY led you astray. God comes to be seen as something or someone separate from Man, when in fact, Man and the manifest universe is the material extension of the Spirit of God.

In Christianity, it is Jesus who redeems Man. Man is seemingly incapable of redeeming himself. The weakness and temptations of the flesh are far too cumbersome to be easily disposed. Man is conveniently given an excuse to behave in wretched ways and shun all responsibility. "The Devil made me do it." Repeatedly in the books of Kings in the cannonized Bible, the Children of Jahweh succumb to the evils of the flesh, seduced - always seduced to it by another group who does not hold the same beliefs. Always, God sends a savior to lead them out of their misery. Always, they fall again. The same scenario is seen here. - "For I see, and behold the demons have begun (their) seductions against you and against your children."

32 for thus have I been commanded to testify to you and your children, together with all flesh. And suffer not the soul to be eaten with the flesh, that your blood, which is your life, may not be required 33 at the hand of any flesh that sheds (it) on the earth. For the earth will not be clean from the blood which has been shed upon it; for (only) through the blood of him that shed it will the earth be 34 purified throughout all its generations.

Here, in verses 33 and 34, we have the concept of the 'eye for an eye' . The earth will not be clean from the blood which has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it.

At the time these documents were set down in writing, the religion of the Hebrews was struggling against innumerable foes in the highly resistant 'pagan' religious practices that refused to bow to Jahweh or Jehovah. Human sacrifice and idol worship from earlier times always seemed to lead the Children back to their baser expressions or 'animal natures'. Warfare was everywhere as jealousy and greed moved tribes against one another for better lands and more food. The Middle East is a land of harsh extremes with barren desert wastes fried by the sun and scoured by hot winds. Flats of land permeated through and through with the tars and oils of the rich petroleum deposits that have become a source of dissention in our own times. Nothing grows there in the oil fields and if it does, it is poisoned by naturally occuring chemicals. It is a land of rugged mountainous terrain and sparse vegetation, peopled in those times with hundreds of tribes trying to eke out a place to stabilize their lives with few real choices of prime real-estate near rivers and the sea, and in the lee of the mountains. Reasons for war were as numerous as the battles that were fought. Yet all excuses boil down to "You don't worship the same God that we do." Might makes right, and the Hebrews were out to conquer the known world and banish all other religions.

In the Book of Enoch, the discrepancies and alterations of several names into other names smacks of literary 'padding' to bolster the claims of the author and make his case. His case is clearly to assign blame for the wayward behaviors of Men and these 'others', who too are but flesh and blood and the justification for the 'punishments' of God against both Man and the Watchers and their offspring. In reality, these punishments are no more than natural disasters - floods, plagues, typhoons, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and famines - and a story to explain why they happened.

HISTORICAL FICTION WITH AN AGENDA

The most intriguing part of all this is the Watchers, themselves. Who were they, really? A literary device used to further the 'no blame on me' policy of the Hebrews and Christians? Historical beings, refered to in belief systems all over the world variously as the Seven Sages, the Nine Immortals or the Seven Seers? Were they simply a codification of those wise souls who guided their lesser brothers and sisters on how to understand the world around them and make their life better? More intriguing still, the idea that several have latched onto, that the Watchers were either another race entirely from the stars; from an earlier epoch or left-overs from Atlantis/Lemuria/Mu. Evidence does seem to point to them being from an earlier time that had advanced sufficiently to understand the workings of the cosmos, and how to make use of the treasures of the earth - metals, gems, minerals, plants, herbs, etc..

The similarities of mythologies and campfire tales around the world seems to point to a pervasive race of 'immortals' who knew all the 'secrets and mysteries' of Heaven and Earth. They show up everywhere, in vastly different times - always seeming to end up as pariahs for one reason or another. Always shouldering the blame for the actions of lesser beings - Men - as well as their own foibles. There is what is basically hard evidence for their being one in the same race or group of beings in references in the Bible, ancient Hindu myths and Celtic mythology. They are 'the Sons of the Goddess' - the bene Elohim in Genesis and Job, the Danavas (the sons of the early earth-mother goddess Danu or Diti in Hinduism), and as the Tuatha de Daanan - again, 'the Sons of Dan or Danu'. These references span thousands of years and give creedence to the statement that all myths are from one source - a repetition of the same stories altered as to Time and Place. The Danavas and their 'brother' giants, the Daityas are considered asuras - anti-gods or demons - remnants of earlier gods worshipped by aboriginal peoples:

In "Hindu Polytheism", Alain Danielou is specific about the reasons for the unpopulatity of the asuras or anti-gods:

"It is significant that is was not for their sins that the antigods had to be destroyed but because of their power, their virtues, their knowledge, which threatened that of the gods - that is, the gods of the Aryas....

"With new political alignments and alliances, as well as with changes in moral conceptions and ritual, some of the gods changed side. The teachings of the wise asuras come to be incorporated into those of the Vedic sages and often, more or less openly, replaced them.

"On the other hand, the asuras gradually assimilated the demons, spirits, and ghosts worshiped by the aboriginal tribes and also most of the gods of the other non-Vedic populations of India. In the later epics the term asura becomes a common name for all the opponents of the Aryan gods and includes all the genii, the daityas and danavas and other descendants of the seer Vision (Kashyapa), although not usually the demons (rakshasa) said to be descended from Smooth-Hair (Pulastya)."

One can only assume that elsewhere - in a world of wars and territorial squabbles - the situation was much the same. Don't be seduced into imagining that our most remote ancestors weren't fighting and even killing one another over water-holes and downed meat - such as is portrayed in the opening moments of Stanley Kubrick's "2001 - A Space Odessey". It has always been thus, for Man is seldom content with what he has been given.

It is significant to note that on the other side of the mountains, in Iran and Afghanistan, the gods are the asuras and not the anti-gods. Ahura Mazda or Azhura Mazda is nothing more than a corruption of the word asura - which has flip-flopped meanings on the other side of the geographical barrier. "Our gods become your demons" and visa-versa. Clearly, in many of the mythologies, this rendition of some original conflict is repeated over and over again, as if we cannot help ourselves from repeating our atrocities and failures in the name of religious belief, endlessly.

It occurs to me that all this talk of war and sin that has been inculcated into us is somewhat akin to telling a child continuously that he or she is bad and/or worthless. What do you get? A grown-up with low self-esteem, utterly contemptible and lacking in any redeeming virtue who is exactly what he was always told he was. You've planted the idea, that this is how things are. This is the way Man is and it's all because of someone else's doing. As long as we have the scapegoats to carry off our sins, we don't have to think about it. Man is inately rebellious, because he is chained to the pleasures and miseries of the flesh and does not wish to give them up so easily for a redemption or salvation that is at best a mythological chimera to which he cannot relate or even conceive. He would rather suffer masochistically in what he knows than venture into a realm that cannot be perceived through the five senses. Yet, some part of most men's souls will yearn for that release now and then. Some will follow and many will turn away - unable to give up the life of the flesh. What if we'd all grown up and lived in a world where the stories we lived by were tales of kindness, harmony and brotherhood? Could we have been brain-washed the other way? Would that have served the purpose of a group of religions who sought to take over the world and dominate the people in it? Not hardly. Would we be so overcrowded, our resources stretched to their limits and our planet dying of abuse and excess, had we not been told to 'be fruitful and multiply' by a religion that sought to conquer the world by sheer force of number?

THE WISE SERPENTS

It was while watching the movie "Excalibur" that I realized that Merlin (superlatively played by Nicol Williamson) seemed 'magical' and 'godlike' to others only because he knew a lot more than they did. A man with a Bic lighter in a tribe of aboriginals who've never seen one, would seem like a magician - able to summon fire with a flick of his finger from a sacred implement. This is not to detract in any way from the possibility that an historical Merlin might not have truly been a 'magus' or Master of Mysteries and could actually perform some amazing acts, like disappearing into thin air or appearing in two places at once. The phenomenon remains today, where people of high intellects or interests that are not generally socially acceptible are regarded with suspicion and even distrust by the great ignorant masses. Again, it comes back to this divisiveness of dualism - Us and Them - and the inability of men to accept responsibility for their own actions.

The Wise Ones were once revered in the ancient shamanic rituals and celebrations of the Earth Goddess cults, when people lived in tune with the Earth and it's other inhabitants. There, was the true Garden, when those who lived were care-takers of Nature, instead of attempting to conquer and subdue it. In what is perhaps the last stand of the Watchers on Earth, it seems that they finally met a people whom they could teach the old ways and trust to keep them - the North American indiginies. These people, like the ancient race from which the Watchers came, lived in tune with the earth and the stars. It was not until the white missionaries and the white usurpers of their lands brought with them the Bible and its teachings of enemies, bloodshed and warfare that they became a people torn and tortured. Nonetheless, tribes like the Hopi have managed to hold on to the old truths and live again in harmony with the 'world gone mad' (koyannis'qatsi) around them.