5. Dwelling (Ma’on—the refuge, a place of peace from the struggles. Home of the ministering angels mentioned in Deuteronomy 26:15, “Thy holy habitation.”
6. “City of God” (Makon—the changeless, perfect residence, containing the template or prototype for all life forms. This is the storehouse of good, eternal treasures. The name is taken from Psalm 46:5-6, “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God will help her right early.”
7. “Vast Plains of God” (Aravot—the highest heaven, the vast expansive plains of Infinity. This is the Divine Womb from which all life originally came into being and to which it returns, as taken from Psalm 68:4-5, “Lift up a song to him who rides upon the infinite plains; his name is the Lord, exult before him! Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.”
Notice that the first three heavens are associated with physical life, the second three with mental dimensions of consciousness, and the last with Infinity—a quality that human beings would have difficulty knowing directly because of their finite focus. Yet, through careful passage during deep meditation and transcendent ecstasy, we can rise to levels of consciousness in the Infinite Mind of God.
The most important heaven for us is the lowest one, the Veil or Curtain, because if we can perceive it and develop a conscious awareness of it, then we have made the first big step toward total spiritual awakening. Despite what you may think, we know this veil well and are familiar with the qualities of our mind on both sides of this veil. To use a familiar example, how many times have we had a dream that impressed us (either scared us or inspired us or simply caught our attention), and as we came closer to waking, we noticed that our bladder was full, so we decided to go empty the bladder and then come back to the bed and reflect on the dream? Yet, when we returned to our bed, the dream was completely gone! We had no recollection of it. How is this possible? It is because we just experienced the veil, a most subtle yet opaque veil! When in the dream, we were in our soul mind and were quite comfortable there. We knew it as a part of ourselves. Then, as we engaged our body to walk to the bathroom, we passed through this veil into our outer mind, which is awakened to move the body. However, our outer mind did not have the dream! It has no content of the dream, only a sense that the inner mind has content that is going to be reviewed. But it does not contain that content. Now we see just how subtle and yet opaque this veil is. We do not even notice when we pass through it, and yet, once on the other side, we cannot see back through it.
Fortunately, that’s only partially true, because if we practice becoming more aware of the subtle aspects of our consciousness, we will come to perceive the movement through the veil and know which side of the veil we are on at any given time.
Now that we have some knowledge of the heavens, let’s look into the classical understanding of angels.
The Angels
As crowded and busy as earth is, the heavens are many times more crowded and busy. How many angels are there? Well the apostle John wrote: “I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand.” (Revelation 5:11, NIV) The study of angels and the doctrine on angels are called Angelology, and were once widely accepted as a serious part of Theology. The term angel appears in the Bible 194 to 196 times, depending on which version you’re searching. And in some cases, angels are implied and understood by the scholars to be angels even though the term is not used. For example, in Genesis 18:1-2, the Lord appears to Abraham in the form of three “men,” which Abraham immediately knew were physical expressions of angels from heaven, and he treated them as such. But for all outward appearances, they looked like men. This is when Abraham debates with the three angels over how many righteous people need to be among the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah to keep the angels from destroying the cities, finally getting them to agree to ten righteous people.
As to the appearance of angels, even the Scriptures warn us that sometimes we “entertained angels unawares.” (Hebrews 13:2, KJV)
Let’s begin our study with Edgar Cayce’s comments on angels.
(Q) Is the guardian angel a healing force for physical betterment?
(A) The guardian angel—that is the companion of each soul as it enters into a material experience—is ever an influence for the keeping of that attunement between the creative energies or forces of the soul-entity and health, life, light and immortality. Thus, to be sure, it is a portion of that influence for healing forces.
And as may be experienced in the activities of individuals, it may become so accentuated as to be the greater influence in their experience. Thus it is as has been given of old; that to some there is the gift of healing, to some the gift of speech, interpreting of tongues, to ministering. Yet all are of the same Spirit. For these are ever that which is the assurance, in that as has been given—God hath not willed that any soul should perish but hath with every temptation, with every condition prepared an association, an activity, a manner, a way for the regeneration of those influences or forces that may cause the overcoming of fear or any of those things that would separate a soul from the Creative Forces.
Hence, as has been indicated for this body here, the making of the physical adjustments is necessary; but it is just as necessary for the activities of the associations through which the energies of the bodily forces may be attuned to the spiritual and mental self—through the closer association and walk with creative energies within self.
For all must coordinate. Just as in the Godhead—Father, Son, Holy Spirit—so within self: Body, Mind, Soul. Mind is the Builder; Mind is the Way—as the Christ-Consciousness. As it is directed then through the influences of the bodily functions it becomes aware of its oneness, and thus is the guardian force made to be at-one with the whole of the purposes and desires, and the will of the individual.
Do these things then, as we find, as indicated, and we will bring to the physical forces a better cooperation and coordination; and thus through the mental application of the at-onement with the Creative Forces, better reactions in every manner.
(Q) Is it through the guardian angel that God speaks to the individual?
(A) Ever through that influence or force as He has given, “Ye abide in me and I in thee, as the Father abides in me, so may we make our abode with thee.”
Then as the guardian influence or angel is ever before the face of the Father, through same may that influence ever speak—but only by the command of or attunement to that which is thy ideal.
What then is thy ideal? In whom have ye believed, as well as in what have ye believed? Is that in which thou hast believed able to keep ever before thee that thou committest unto Him?
Yes—through thy angel, through thy self that is the angel—does the self speak with thy Ideal!
1646-1
Notice this last line, because it reinforces the teaching that we are of Divine origin and, despite our present physical condition, we remain connected to our Creator through an unseen portion of our being that is angelic: “through thy self that is the angel.”
Notice also that Cayce ties the angelic portion of our being to our ideal. Again and again Cayce’s readings ask us, “What is your ideal?” and “In what and in whom do you believe?” Is it our ideal to be among the children of God or simply the children of men? Do we have room in our hearts and minds for heavenly things? Or is it earthly things that matter most to us? You would not be reading this book if earthly things were