Amavisso wrote:My own path was full of mistakes and misconceptions. At some point many years ago I myself actually tried working with Samael as if He was some Evil Being. Of course He is going to be "Evil" (or rather punishing) to those who treat Him as such - all those poor souls who are lost in their ignorance. Thankfully, I had great books and great spiritual help from outside, so I managed to escape all this ignorance though it costed me years and some wounds.
All those Kabbalists and Demonologists made a huge mess with all their Samaels, Camaels, Azraels, Satans and such. Out of books which were written after XV century, only a few authors actually had understanding of what they were writing about, the rest were busy mixing the unmixable and "demonizing"/"angelizing" everything that isn't convenient with their own line of ignorant thought.
There is an old text, which itself has tons of mistakes but it is much more readable and practical than most later texts, its name is Heptameron and it provides a good groundwork for those who want to work with Angels. And it itself lists Samael as main Angel of Mars. Sadly there are some big mistakes in Heptameron, but it requires a full another topic to describe them.
And I'll tell you, a single page of Heptameron is worth many times more than all works of Aleister Crowley and most of other contemporary and modern "magicians" taken together. This is the work of great potential, though it is definitely not for beginners.
As you say its flawed.Here is some info to help:
Camael
Camael (prob. alternate spelling of either Chamuel חַמּוּאֵל (from chammah חַמָּה: "heat", "rage")—"anger/wrath of God" or Qemuel קְמוּאֵל (from qum קוּם: "to arise", "to stand up")—"God is risen", "raised by God", "one who sees/stands before God" also spelled as Khamael, Camiel, Cameel or Camniel) is the Archangel of strength, courage and war in Christian and Jewish mythology and angelology. He is known as one of the ten Kabbalah angels, assigned to the sephira Gevurah. Camael's name is also included in Pseudo-Dionysius' 5th or 6th century AD, "Corpus Areopagiticum" as one of the seven Archangels along with Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Jophiel, and Zadkiel.
Samael Southern Semitic Ge'ez 'a [strong] Idol in the Earth'
or
Samael derived from סםאלd (the vernom of God) an appropriate name for the angel
of death, or it perhaps could be a corrupt form of an insignificant Syrian god,
Shemal.
Prince of the demons, and an important figure both in Talmudic and in post-Talmudic literature, where he appears as accuser, seducer, and destroyer. His name is etymologized as = "the venom of God," since he is identical with the angel of death (Targ. Yer. to Gen. iii. 6; see also Death, Angel of), who slays men with a drop of poison ('Ab. Zarah 20b; Kohut, "Angelologie und Dämonologie," pp. 69, 71). It is possible, however, that the name is derived from that of the Syrian god Shemal (Bousset, "Religion," p. 242).
Samael is the "chief of Satans" (Deut. R. xi. 9; Jellinek, "B. H." i. 125), quite in the sense of "the prince of the devils" mentioned in Matt. ix. 34; but, on the other hand, he is "the great prince in heaven." (Pirḳe R. El. xiii., beginning), who rules over angels and powers (ib.; Martyrdom of Isaiah, ii. 2). As the incarnation of evil he is the celestial patron of the sinful empire of Rome, with which Edom and Esau are identified (Tan. on Gen. xxxii. 35; Jellinek, l.c. vi. 31, 109, etc.). He flies through the air like a bird (Targ. to Job xxviii. 7), and, while the ḥayyot and ofannim have only six wings, he has twelve, and commands a whole army of demons (Pirḳe R. El. xiii.). In so far as he is identified with the serpent ("J. Q. R." vi. 12), with carnal desire (Yeẓer ha-Ra'), and with the angel of death, all legends associated with Satan refer equally to him, while as a miscreant he is compared to Belial ( = "worthless"; see collection of material in Bousset, "Antichrist," pp. 99-101).
All these descriptions of Samael show that he was regarded simply as the principle of evil that brought upon Israel and Judah every misfortune that befell them. Even at the creation of the world he was Lucifer, who ever sought evil and who began his malignant activity with Adam. His opponent is Michael, who represents the beneficent principle, and who frequently comes into conflict with him (comp. Jew. Encyc. viii. 536 et seq.; Lucken, "Michael," pp. 22 et seq.).
Samael in the History of Mankind.
The evil nature of Samael may be illustrated by a number of examples. He and his demonic host descended from heaven to seduce the first human pair (Pirḳe R. El. xiii., beginning; Yalḳ. Gen. i. 25), and for this purpose he planted the vine, the forbidden tree of paradise (Greek Apocalypse of Baruch, iv.). He was himself the serpent, whose form he merely assumed (ib. ix.; "J. Q. R." vi. 328), and was one of the leaders of the angels who married the daughters of men (Gen. vi. 1-4), thus being partially responsible for the fall of the angels (Enoch vi., in Kautzsch, "Apokryphen," ii. 238 et seq.; Lucken, l.c. p. 29). His former wife was Lilith (Jellinek, l.c. vi. 109). He endeavored to persuade Abraham not to offer up Isaac, and, failing in his purpose, he caused the death of Sarah by carrying the news of the sacrifice to her (Gen. R. lvi. 4; Sanh. 89a et passim; Pirḳe R. El. xxxii.). He wrestled with Jacob (Gen. R. lxxvii. and parallels), and also took part in the affair of Tamar (Soṭah 10b). He brought accusations against the Israelites when God was about to lead them out of Egypt (Ex. R. xxi. 7; Bacher, "Ag. Pal. Amor." i. 25, 473), and was jubilant at the death of Moses because the latter had brought the Torah (Deut. R. xi. 9; Jellinek, l.c. i. 12 et passim). Entering into King Manasseh, Samael caused the martyrdom of the prophet Isaiah (Martyrdom of Isaiah, i., in Kautzsch, l.c. ii. 124); and he considered himself victorious over Michael when God decided that the ten pious scholars during the reign of Hadrian must suffer death (Jellinek, l.c. ii. 66, iii. 87, vi. 31). On the Day of Atonement, however, Israel has no fear of him (Lev. R. xxi. 4).
In the Cabala.
In the quotations from the Slavonic Book of Enoch (vi.) Samael is represented as a prince of the demons and a magician. He is, therefore, frequently mentioned in the cabalistic writings of the Middle Ages, from which Eisenmenger compiled a rich collection of passages ("Entdecktes Judenthum," i. 826 et seq.), to which must be added those in Schwab's "Vocabulaire de l'Angélologie" (p. 199). As lord of the demons, Samael is regarded as a magic being, and must be considered in the preparation of amulets, although there is no agreement as to his power and activity. He presides over the second "teḳufah" (solstice) and the west wind of the fourth teḳufah, as well as the third day of the week ("Sefer Raziel," 6a, 40b, 41b; see also Schwab, l.c.). In Hebrew amulets Samael is represented as the angel of death ("Revue de Numismatique," 1892, pp. 246, 251). Eve is supposed to have become pregnant by him (Targ. Yer. to Gen. iv. 1); and the cabalists add many details to this legend (Eisenmenger, l.c. i. 832 et seq.). The spot in the moon is supposed to have been caused by the filth of Samael (Menahem of Recanati, p. 140, c. 2).
The name first appears in the account of the theory of angels in the Ethiopic Book of Enoch 6, which includes the name, although not in the most important place, in the list of the leaders of the angels who rebelled against God. The Greek versions of the lost Hebrew text contain the forms Σαμμανή (Sammane) and Σεμιέλ (Semiel). The latter form takes the place of the name Samael in the Greek work of the Church Father Irenaeus in his account of the Gnostic sect of the Ophites (see below; ed. Harvey, I, 236). According to Irenaeus the Ophites gave the snake a double name: *Michael and Samael, which in the Greek work of the Church Father Theodoretus appears as Σαμμανή (Sammane). The Greek version of Enoch used by the Byzantine Syncellus retained the form Σαμιέλ (Samiel). This form still retains the original meaning derived from the word sami (סמי), meaning blind, an etymology which was preserved in various Jewish and non-Jewish sources until the Middle Ages. In addition to Samiel, the forms Samael and Sammuel date from antiquity. This third version is preserved in the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch 4:9 (from the tannaitic period), which states that the angel Sammuel planted the vine that caused the fall of Adam, and therefore Sammuel was cursed and became *Satan. The same source relates in chapter 9, in an ancient version of the legend of the shrinking of the moon, that Samael took the form of a snake in order to tempt Adam, an idea which was omitted in later talmudic versions of the legend.
In the apocalyptic work "The Ascension of Isaiah," which contains a mixture of Jewish and early Christian elements, the names Beliar (i.e., Belial) and Samael occur side by side as names or synonyms for Satan. What is recounted of Samael in one passage is stated in another about Beliar. For example, Samael dominated King Manasseh and "embraced him," thus taking on the form of Manasseh (ch. 2). In chapter 7, Samael and his forces are stated to be under the first firmament, a view that does not accord with his position as the chief of the devils. Samael is mentioned among the "angels of judgment" in the Sibylline Oracles 2:215. In the tannaitic and amoraic period, Samael is mentioned as being outside the alignment of the hosts of the *Merkabah. Drawing from Jewish tradition, several Gnostic works refer to Samael as "the blind god" and as identical with Jaldabaoth, who occupied an important place in Gnostic speculations as one of, or the leader of, the forces of evil. This tradition apparently came down through the Ophites ("the worshipers of the snake"), a Jewish syncretistic sect (Theodore Bar Konai, Pagnon ed., 213). Partially ecclesiastical traditions of this period, such as the pseudepigraphic versions of Acts of the Apostles, Acts of Andrew, and Matthew 24, retain the name Samael for Satan, acknowledging his blindness. He is mentioned as head of the devils in the magical Testament of Solomon (Testamentum Salomonis), which is essentially a superficial Christian adaptation of a demonological Jewish text from this period (ed. Chester Charlton McCown (1922), 96). Undoubtedly Simyael, "the demon in charge of blindness" mentioned in Mandean works (Ginzā, trans. M. Lidzbarski (1925), 200, and The Canonical Prayer Book of the Mandaeans, ed. E.S. Drower (1959), 246), is simply a variant of Samael.
In rabbinic tradition the name first occurs in the statements of Yose (perhaps b. Halafta or the amora Yose) that during the exodus from Egypt "Michael and Samael stood before the Shekhinah" apparently as prosecutor and defender (Ex. R.18:5). Their task is similar to that of Samael and *Gabriel in the story of Tamar (Sot. 10b), in the statement of Eleazar b. Pedat. Samael retains the role of prosecutor in the account of Ḥama b. Ḥanina (c. 260 C.E.; Ex. R. 21:7), who was apparently the first to identify Samael with Esau's guardian angel during the struggle between Jacob and the angel. His name, however, does not appear in Genesis Rabbah (Theodor ed. (1965), 912), but he is mentioned in the old version of the Tanḥuma, Va-Yishlaḥ 8. In the parallel version in Songs of Songs Rabbah 3:6, the amora has Jacob saying to Esau: "your countenance resembles that of your guardian angel," according to the version of the Sefer Mattenot Kehunnah (Theodor ed.). Surprisingly, in the section of the Midrash Yelammedenu on Exodus 14:25, Samael fulfills a positive function during the dividing of the Red Sea, pushing back the wheels of the chariots of the Egyptians. In gematria, Samael is the numerical equivalent of the word ofan ("wheel"; in Ms. British Museum, 752, 136b; and in the Midrash Ha-Ḥefeẓ ha-Teimani, which is cited in Torah Shelemah, 14 (1941) to this verse).
Mention of Samael as the angel of death first occurs in Targum Jonathan on Genesis 3:6, and this identification frequently appears in late aggadot, especially in the legends on the death of Moses at the end of Deuteronomy Rabbah, at the end of Avot de-Rabbi Nathan (ed. Schecter (1945), 156). In Deuteronomy Rabbah 11, Samael is called "Samael the wicked, the head of all the devils." The name "Samael the wicked" is repeated consistently in Heikhalot Rabbati (1948), chapter 5, an apocalyptic source. The Hebrew Enoch 14:2, acknowledges him as "chief of the tempters" "greater than all the heavenly kingdoms." This text differentiates between Satan and Samael, the latter being none other than the guardian angel of Rome (ibid. 6:26). In traditions concerning the rebellion of the angels in heaven (PdRE 13–14 (1852)), he is the leader of the rebel armies. Prior to his defeat he had 12 wings, and his place was higher than the ḥayyot ("holy heavenly creatures") and the seraphim. Several tasks are attributed to him: Samael is in charge of all the nations but has no power over Israel except on the Day of Atonement, when the scapegoat serves as bribe for him (ibid. 46). It is he who rode on the snake in the course of the fall of Adam and hid in the golden calf (ibid. 45). In Midrash Avkir (see *Midrashim, Smaller), Samael and Michael were active at the time of the birth of Jacob and Esau, and even on the way to the *Akedah of Isaac, Samael intervened as a prosecutor (Gen. R. 56:4). The war between him and Michael, the guardian angel of Israel, will not be completed until the end of days, when Samael will be handed over to Israel in iron shackles (Gen. R., ed. Albeck, 166, following Mak. 12a, and similarly in the messianic chapters (pirkei mashi'aḥ) in A. Jellinek, Beit ha-Midrash 3 (1938), 66f.).
Particular motifs on Samael in later aggadah include the following: Samael does not know the path to the tree of life, even though he flies through the air (Targ. Job 28:7); he has one long hair in his navel, and as long as this remains intact his reign will continue. In the messianic era, however, the hair will bend as a result of the great sound of the shofar, and then Samael will also fall (Midrash Piyyutim, quoted in a commentary on Ms. Munich 346, 91b). In Jewish astrological sources, which in time influenced those of other groups, Samael was considered the angel in charge of Mars. This idea recurs at first among the Sabans in Haran, who called him Mara Samia (D. Chwolson, Die Ssabier und der Ssabismus, 2 (1856); Picatrix, ed. H. Ritter (1933), 226) and later in medieval Christian astrological magic literature. He appears as the angel in charge of Tuesday in Sefer *Razi'el (Amsterdam, 1701), 34b; in Ḥokhmat ha-Kasdim (ed. M. Gaster, Studies and Texts, 1 (1925), 350; in *Judah b. Barzillai's commentary on Sefer *Yeẓirah (1885), 247, and in many other works. In demonological sources known to the brothers *Isaac and *Jacob b. Jacob ha-Kohen, Spanish kabbalists of the mid-13th century, an echo of the ancient etymology is still retained and Samael is called Sar Suma ("blind angel").
n later literature, Samael often appears as the angel who brought the poison of death into the world. These same demonological sources contain the earliest references to Samael and *Lilith as a couple in the kingdom of impurity (Isaac ha-Kohen's essay on aẓilut, Madda'ei ha-Yahadut, 2 (1927), 251, 260, 262). These sources are full of contradictory traditions concerning the roles of Samael and the war against *Asmodeus, then regarded as guardian angel of Ishmael. Different systems were constructed of the hierarchy of the leaders of the demons and their consorts (Tarbiz, 4 (1932/33), 72). According to one view, Samael had two brides (resp., Sidrei de-Shimmusha Rabbah, Tarbiz, 16 (1945), 198–9), an idea which also appears in Tikkunei Zohar (Mantua, 1558). The couple Samael and Lilith are mentioned many times in the *Zohar, mostly without specifically mentioning the name Lilith (e.g., "Samael and his spouse"), as the leaders of the sitra aḥra ("the other side"; i.e., evil). In Ammud ha-Semali by *Moses b. Solomon b. Simeon of Burgos, a contemporary of the author of the Zohar, Samuel and Lilith constitute only the eighth and tenth Sefirah of the left (evil) emanation (Tarbiz, 4 (1932–33), 217f.). In the Zohar, the snake has become the symbol of Lilith, and Samael rides on her and has sexual intercourse with her. Samael is cross-eyed and dark (Zohar Ḥadash 31, 4) and has horns (Tikkunei Zohar in Zohar Ḥadash 101, 3), perhaps influenced by the Christian idea about the horns of Satan. However, the image of Satan is linked with the goat in Targum Jonathan to Leviticus 9:3. The party, hosts, and chariots of Samael are mentioned in Zohar part 2, 111b; part 3, 29a. Different classes of demons, all called Samael, were known by the writer of Tikkunei Zohar (published in the main body of the Zohar 1, 29a). "There is Samael and there is Samael, and they are not all the same."
The conjurations of Samael often appear in magical literature and in practical Kabbalah. In 15th-century Spain a system was developed in which the heads of the demons were Samael, the representative of Edom, and his assistant Amon of No, representing Ishmael. A legend telling of their downfall at the hands of *Joseph della Reina appears in several sources (G. Scholem, in Zion, 5 (1933), 124f.). After Isaac *Luria had introduced the practice of not pronouncing the name of Satan, the custom of calling him Samekh Mem became widespread (Sha'ar ha-Mitzvot (Salonica, 1852), Exodus; Sha'ar ha-Kavvanot (Salonica, 1852), Derushei ha-Laylah 1).