Melahel: angel no. 23, regency dates, psalm and symbolism

Who is Melahel?

Melahel is the twenty-third angel on the list, of the Choir of Thrones. His name is read as “God who delivers from evil”. He is associated with journeys, nature and plants. In popular literature he has been made an angel of healing, which no evidence supports. He is the second angel to share Psalm 121 with his neighbour Yeiayel.

To understand this name, one must go back to Exodus: by reading verses 14:19 to 14:21 (72 letters each) according to a precise rule, one extracts 72 groups of three letters, among them מלה (mem-lamed-hé) for this angel. With the ending -el, meaning “God” in Hebrew, this gives Melahel, which French esoteric literature translates as “God who delivers from evil”. This meaning is an interpretation, not the translation of a common Hebrew word.

This page is part of our guide to the 72 angels. The correspondences given here (dates, hour, choir, psalm) are presented according to the Kabbalistic and esoteric tradition: they are symbolic reference points, which everyone is free to accept or not. The historical background is detailed in the introduction to the 72 angels.

Melahel’s reference points

Here are Melahel’s reference points, as the tradition gives them.

From one source to another, the dates shift a little. Our page applies the rule of five days per angel, one after the other, starting on March 21 in a 365-day year; some sites prefer to align the periods with the signs, hence possible differences. The quinary is the 5-degree slice of the zodiac linked to this angel; it does not exactly match the actual position of the Sun on these dates. The decan (10 degrees) and its planet come from classical astrology: see the page on the sign of Cancer and the profile of the associated planet.

Melahel’s psalm

The associated psalm is Psalm 121, verse 8: “The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in, from this time forth and forevermore.” (Vulgate: Psalm 120). It is the last verse of the same pilgrim’s song as Yeiayel’s: two angels thus share a single psalm, five verses apart. The text is a blessing for the road, which is readily linked, in both Jewish and Christian use, to departures and journeys. It speaks of “going out” and “coming in”, that is, of the two ends of a path. It fits well with the name “God who delivers from evil”: setting out is often a way of shedding what weighed on us.

Traditional symbolism

Melahel evokes getting out of a difficult spot and contact with living things. Esoteric authors connect him with nature, plants and travel. This link with plants is symbolic: it reminds us that tending a garden or walking through a landscape brings calm. It is not medical knowledge.

• Deliverance: shedding what weighs us down, step by step
• Nature: rediscovering simple gestures in contact with living things
• Departure and arrival: caring for both ends of a path

These attributions come from the esoteric literature of the 19th and 20th centuries; they differ from one author to another and rest on no established ancient text. They are themes for reflection, never guaranteed effects.

Melahel’s season and hour

Melahel’s period comes just before the French National Day on July 14. It is the time when the lavender fields of Provence are in bloom: flowering generally runs from late June to late July. The days are long and walks are easy. This atmosphere of landscape and plants in full summer matches the angel’s theme.

In the division of the day into 72 slices of 20 minutes, Melahel occupies the interval from 7:20 to 7:40 a.m. According to the tradition, this is the “angel of the hour” for people born at that moment. Legal time, as written on the birth certificate, is the most commonly used; solar time is sometimes preferred, and the sources do not agree. See the calculation page.

A gentle practice with Melahel

Make a small herbarium: take three common leaves or flowers (respecting protected species and forbidden places), press them between sheets of paper inside a heavy book, then note the name, the place and the date. Never taste or consume a plant you cannot identify with certainty. If in doubt after an ingestion, call 15 (in France) or the poison control centre in your region, and 112 (the emergency number throughout the European Union).

A few questions to ask yourself, in writing or aloud:

• Where do I need to leave or arrive, literally or figuratively?
• Which plant or landscape calms me, and why?
• What weight would I like to be free of?

These exercises belong to personal reflection and do not replace medical advice or psychological support.

What belongs to tradition, and its limits

Keep in mind that the 72 angels form an esoteric system from the Renaissance, popularised in France in the 19th century, which the Catholic Church does not recognise (it names only Michael, Gabriel and Raphael). The dates, hours and psalms are conventions, and they vary. No plant and no angel replaces a doctor or a pharmacist. If someone close to you is ill, Melahel’s tradition must in no way delay a consultation.

To put this guide in perspective, see also the guide to the archangels and the page on angel oracles.

Frequently asked questions

Also read

The meanings mentioned belong to tradition and symbolism. They are neither promises of results nor medical advice. Back to Guide to the 72 guardian angels.