Auriel is known as the Archangel utilized as the guardian and representative of the earth. Unlike the other three, who have all been canonized as saints by the Roman Catholic Church, there is little printed information on Auriel and just exactly what aspects of the earth that he represents. Standard workings in the Golden Dawn Grade of 1=10 begin with "communing" with him and learning from personal experiences thereafter. Indeed most documented work with Auriel (also known as Uriel) appears to be of a personal nature.
While the other three, Micheal, Gabriel, and Raphael are purported in various canonized writings to have done many things on a grand scale, often affecting many people, the only fleeting reference to Auriel is in the book of Genesis where he wrestles on the ground with Jacob. Most other available sources of experience with Auriel appear to be either channeled by individuals or some form of close personal experience. This may lead us to believe that Auriel is such a Personal experience for the individual that perhaps there was little need or desire to propagate much written opinion of him as a being. Often people do not wish to relate personal miracles to others. Perhaps Auriel has affected humanity, as a whole, just like the other three but in a different way; one person, intimately, at a time.Perhaps, if we take a look at Auriel’s nature and look at some of the sparsely available accounts of individual experiences with him, we can grow to understand this little known, but oft called upon, archangel better.
The meaning of the name Auriel or Uriel is "The Light or Fire of God." He is said to be related to Haniel and Phanael, both of these archangels are considered to be in the Briatic aspect of the sephira of Netzach which relates them to Venus. Haniel means "The Grace of God," Phanael means "The Face (appearance) of God." Depending on the situation, Auriel can express himself in our lives in either one of these aspects. The energies represented in these names can be summed up in the quotation:
"The Lord makes his Face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee."
The Light of God gives the ability to perceive, and give life to, his images. As The Face of God, his images are there to be perceived by the Light. As both The Light of God and The Face of God, he is constant creation and recreation, he is truly the living aspect of earth. The face of God can be seen in the stones beneath our feet, in the trees that grow and in all else that is manifested in the earth, and the Light of God gives it life.
Within ourselves, we imitate Auriel in our attempt to understand God and the world in which we live. We are capable of reflecting both the Light and Face of God within ourselves. In this way, we create the images of the world as we each know it and breathe life into those images with the Light of God within us.
"As The Archangel of the Face (appearance) of God, Auriel is responsible for our perceptions of divinity in even the most ordinary ways. It is all very well for isolated Mystics to have blinding visions of spiritual heights unreachable by common mortals, but Divinity should be closer to us than that." Through the devotion of his Venus aspect, Auriel brings divinity to us.
