“He walked with God, and was not; for God took him” — and what God took, He crowned with fire.
The Archangel
Metatron is the highest of the archangels, the Prince of the Countenance who stands nearest to the throne and beholds the face that no lesser being may look upon. He is the celestial scribe, the recorder of all deeds, whose pen never rests as it inscribes the merits and the failings of every soul in the great ledger of heaven. So exalted is his station that the tradition dares to call him the lesser YHWH — not a rival to the divine name but its appointed vice-regent, the voice through which heaven speaks and the seal by which its decrees are made. He sits at the summit of the great scheme, at the Crown of the Tree of Life, Kether, the first and highest emanation, and from that height the whole ladder of being descends. He is the twin and counterpart of Sandalphon, who stands at the Kingdom, Malkuth, at the very foot of the same central pillar: the top and the bottom of the axis, the crown and the ground between which all creation is strung.
The most striking of the traditions surrounding him is that Metatron was once a man. The patriarch Enoch, seventh from Adam, who “walked with God and was not, for God took him,” was carried up living into heaven and there transfigured — his mortal flesh turned to flame, his body enlarged to the measure of the world, and seventy-two wings and countless eyes given to him — until he became the angel of fire, greatest of the sons of heaven. That a human being could be raised to the highest of the angelic orders is the secret heart of his meaning: Metatron is the promise that the human soul, at the top of the ladder, may stand transfigured before the face of God. He is depicted robed in white and gold, radiant beyond bearing, the scribe’s reed and the open book of life in his hands, seated at the right hand of glory.
Correspondences
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Name meaning | “Metatron” — uncertain; “one who guards / one who serves behind the throne” |
| Planet / Sphere | Primum Mobile / Kether |
| Sephirah | Kether |
| Role | Celestial scribe, voice of God, Prince of the Countenance |
Related
Archangels — Michael · Gabriel · Raphael · Uriel · Haniel · Sandalphon Choirs — Seraphim · Cherubim · Thrones · Dominions · Virtues · Powers · Principalities · Archangels · Angels
- Kether · Kabbalah · Tree of Life
- Biblical Angels
- Angels & Demons
- Metatron (System 777) — his embodiment as a member of System 777