Fallen and heavenly angel wheel
Descriptions of angels in the Bible are pretty weird — wheels with rims full of eyes. Here’s relevant verses from Ezekiel 1:15–21 (New International Version):
15 As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces. 16 This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like topaz, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel. 17 As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures faced; the wheels did not change direction as the creatures went. 18 Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around. 19 When the living creatures moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose. 20 Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. 21 When the creatures moved, they also moved; when the creatures stood still, they also stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
William Blake did various images of weird angels covered with eyes like this one: The Four and Twenty Elders Casting their Crowns before the Divine Throne
In this new piece I am mixing various things:
- The snake from the garden of Eden, and representing evil/Satan.
- Tree branches (the tree of knowledge).
- A neuron (tree of knowledge again).
- Angel wings.
- The names of fallen angels from Paradise Lost, written on the snake.
- Multiple eyes on the fallen angel snake.
- The names of heavenly angels from the scrying sessions of John Dee.
Here’s the initial design, just the outlines, done in various thicknesses of fibre-tip:
I wrote the names of the angels with a Lamy calligraphy pen. I haven’t practiced with it much, but I still quite like the look of the names.
Next I added details, again with fiber-tip:
I added little organelles to the neuron/tree. The leaves on the tree are feather-like, for angel wings.
Next I scanned it and imported it into procreate for colouring. I tried various variations. I quite like this tinted version:
Note that I made a second copy of the inking, reversed it, then applied it as a lightening layer, so the heavenly angel parts are light and the fallen angel parts are dark.
Here is the fully coloured final version:
So what is the meaning? That’s for you to work out…