A couple of weeks ago I attended a very interesting lecture in Glastonbury by the well-known esotericist and musician R. J. Stewart. Last autumn, RJS had spoken about his magical apprenticeship with the near-legendary occultist W G Gray. RJS had intended to talk about an angel that is important to Gray's system but not discussed anywhere else. This was the Angel Suvuviel.
I was extremely keen to hear about this, because I have many years' study and practical experience in angelic lore. In my apprenticeship I had worked with Gray's indications for some time and was struck by this unusual angel name, which was actually spelled Savaviel in the works of Gray that I had read.
As it happened, RJS did not have time to treat Suvuviel/Savaviel in the autumn lecture, so he was invited to give an additional lecture solely on this subject. The lecture covered various topics, including Gray's attribution of the English (i.e. Roman) alphabet to the Paths of the Tree of Life. But it did not explain the name Suvuviel/Savaviel to my satisfaction.
Being a good Qabalist (or perhaps incurable Qabalist), I went away, meditated and researched, fired by interest and dissatisfaction. Angel names in Hebrew generally end in 'EL' or 'IAH'. Both suffixes indicate the Divine. Because Angels are regarded as being servants of the Divine, linked inseparably with the whole Host of Heaven and the Divine Mind, their Hebrew names represent their character and quality, as an integral part of the Divine in manifestation.
Thus Michael means 'who is like God?', Raphael means 'God has healed', Gabriel means 'strength of God' and so on. Hebrew has no vowels as such: the first part of Gabriel's Hebrew name is GBR, from the root meaning strength. The fifth Sephira of the Tree of Life, Geburah, comes from the same root.
So while RJS' thoughts about how the letters S and V in the name Suvuviel may relate to the Arcana of the Chariot and the Wheel of Fortune are indeed helpful for practical work upon the Tree, the Qabalist in me went away thinking, "BUT WHAT DOES SAVAVIEL MEAN"?
Fortunately, in the age of the Internet, we have access to useful Hebrew dictionaries and concordances. I was sure that Bill Gray had modelled the word Savaviel/Suvuviel on a real Hebrew word. But what was it? As mentioned above, Hebrew does not have vowels in the strict sense. In addition, there are two forms of S - Samech or Shin. While I was fairly sure the S concerned represented Samech, it could conceivably be Shin. Also B and V are often interchangeable in transliteration.
Because RJS suggested that the Angel's name was Suvuviel, I began by Googling the root 'Suvuv'. There was nothing directly relevant, although the root 'Shub' is Qabalistically important. It means to turn back or return. This is the root of the term Teshuvah, meaning Repentance, which is a crucial turn. It does not have the sanctimonious connotation that Christianity later give it, but the spiritual connotations of a change of mind; a turning around from error to the right direction; restoration of the right relationship between humanity and the Creator. This is also connected to the concept of Tikkun Olam, the restoration or repair of Creation. Once again, the sanctimonious word 'redemption' has far more important connotations - the spiritual path repairs our relationship to the Divine, enabling us to be what we are truly meant to be.
Interesting, but not quite right and not quite convincing. This 'S' root is often connected with words connoting the twisting or encircling, in a serpentine fashion. But what if Savaviel is a more accurate spelling than Suvuviel? To test this I googled the root 'savav' and struck gold.
Savav - or SBB in Hebrew means to turn about, go around or surround as can be seen in the relevant extract from Strong's Concordance. As noted above, B and V are interchangeable, for example Geburah is best pronounced "Gevurah". A cord is something that goes around or surrounds a space. This is beautiful, and quite evidently what Gray had in mind by Savaviel.
The Hebrew letter Samech means a prop or tent pole, and Beth means house. One image implied by SBB is that of a peg placed at the centre of an area, and then a circle created by a rope attached to this peg. A length of rope can then be laid along the perimeter to indicate the circumference, having turned about, or surrounded, the space enclosed in the circle (if the rope or cord is long enough).
The cord or rope is a vital and neglected "magical weapon" or tool and Gray was the first Western magical teacher to explain its significance in public.
It was the publication of certain rituals of the Golden Dawn, such as the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram, that popularised the link between the Dagger, Wand, Cup and Pentacle and the Elements of Air, Fire, Water and Earth. The use of these tools in relation to the Quartered Circle was then developed by Dion Fortune and later by Bill Gray. From these two teachers, numerous neo-pagan teachings sprung up, often without attribution or any idea how innovative their work was.
Magicians have become used to correlating four elements - and the tools associated with them - with the 4 directions. But what of the transitions between the elements, what of the circle as a whole? Whether we are magicians circumambulating to invoke spiritual light, or Wiccans 'casting the circle', this circle or periphery is vital, as is the distinctly feminine quality of binding and encircling.
Gray popularised the concept of incorporating - beyond the 4 horizontal directions - the other directions of Above, Below, Within and (by implication) On The Periphery.
The cord is related to the Cincture of monks and to the Rosary. It is also a traditional witchcraft tool in its own right. It connects us to the deepest mysteries of binding and weaving, even to the oldest magics of knotting and tying.
Here we touch one of the neglected angelic functions of the Divine Feminine.This is the domain of the Angel (or Archangel) Savaviel - (S)He who surrounds, who binds the multiplicity of manifestation into a unity.
James North April 2018