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The Gabriel Guild Newsletter
Volume I, Number 1
Fall 1992
Hello

The Latin Word ‘ave’ means hail, a greeting of hello and goodbye.  It was the first word spoken by the Archangel Gabriel to Mary in the story of the annunciation.  It heralded a message of something wonderful to come, a promise of a blessed fruit that would be yielded through acceptance of an invitation to cooperate with the Divine.  This is a message that transcends religions because we are all, as individuals, invited to work with our own inner light, a work that yields divine reflections in our lives.  It is in this sense that The Gabriel Guild hears the message of Gabriel as its own, and is dedicated to hearing artistic fruit to contribute to the world.  Gabriel is our patron saint.

Although most often depicted in art as the angel of the Annunciation, Gabriel is known in many other areas, from biblical references to folklore and literature.  There are Jewish references to Gabriel as the angel who appeared to Daniel, and as the angel who meted out punishment at Sodom and Gommorah.  In the Christian tradition, Gabriel is best known as the angel who visited the Virgin Mary and told here she would become the mother of Jesus.  Other Christian allusions to Gabriel come from such diverse sources as the early Christian philosopher Origen and the dogmatic St. Jerome(1).  Mohammed, the founder of Islam, name Gabriel (in Persian known as Jibril) as the angel who dictated the Koran, the sacred book of Islam.

In the pre-Christian Gwyn cult of Glastonbury, Gabriel is associated with Herne, the hunter.  Gabriel is also known as the Hebrew counterpart of Hermes, the official herald and mystagogue of Mt. Olympus(2).  In the French epic The Song of Roland, Gabriel is “God’s courier”, who comes to stir Charlemagne to further adventure.

Although angels are considered to be without gender, we often consider them to be either male or female.  Gabriel is unique in being the only female archangel.  It has been suggested that that is why Gabriel sits on the left side of God, the “feminine” side, with the Archanhel Michael on the right.  Gabriel is considered the angel of child birth, and of creativity.  Whether thought of ad male or female, Gabriel’s attributes encompass them both.  It was Gabriel who inspired Joan of Arc to go to battle for the King of France And Gabriel has been named as the angel of dreams, hope, mercy, death, revelation and, along with Michael, as the angel of war and justice(3).

As Patron of the Gabriel Guild, the Archangel Gabriel stands as a powerful inspiration for an existence rich in diversity, tolerance, compassion and service to all people.  Gabriel is a passionate being.  It is with great passion that we dedicate our work as artists and human beings to such a light in the universe as Gabriel.

(1) Gustav Davidson.  A Dictionary of Angels.  The Free Press, Macmillian, (1967) p.117.

(2) Robert Graves.  The White Goddess. New York, Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, (1966) pp.89,288.

(3) Malcolm Goodwin. Angels, An Endangered Species. New York, Simon & Schuster, 1990, pp.43-44.