Paul Laffoley
(b. 1940, Cambridge, Massachusetts)

The Metatron
1979
Oil, Acrylic, Lettering on Canvas
73 1⁄2 x 73 1⁄2 in.

Subject: The Numinous Nature of Revelation

Symbol Evocation: The interaction between Cosmos and Chaos

Comments: Transformative symbols can be considered as having aspects that track the natural systems of revelation, and those aspects can be considered as messages from The Metatron to humans by means of methodological revelation. The Metatron is one of the most important angels in the Western Traditions of Angelology. He is the supreme Angel of Death to whom God gives orders as to which souls will be taken, and is the link between God and humanity. His name means “little yahweh” or “one who occupies the throne next to the divine throne”. According to the Kabalah, The Metatron is the angel who led the children of Israel through the wilderness after the Exodus, as the “vox mystica”. Although the name metatron originated within the history of Judaism, the two parts of the name are from ancient Greek which may indicate a gnostic influence:

META: That which is beyond, more comprehensive of transcendent (a prefix)
TRON: That which is a complete instrument (a suffix). Therefore, metatron means a transcendent instrument, i.e. an angel.

There are three modalities to the revelation that humans receive: The Sacramental, the revelation of the body; The Mystical, the revelation of the spirit; and The Prophetic, the revelation of the soul. Each modality uses meta-energy-an eternal energy which is efficacious without motion that can interact with Kato-Energy, the energy of time that is efficacious with motion. The meeting of these two energies results in the extinction of the three phases of time: The extinction of the past, the extinction of the present, and the extinction of the future. The phases are replaced by the now of eternity.

In each of the three modalities of revelation the now manifests as three distinct symbols:

The sacramental symbols are those rituals which prepare for the now of the divine as nourishment;
The mystical symbols are those cosmologies which prepare for the now of the divine as being made to face the ultimate unknown; and
The prophetic symbols are those projections of good and evil which prepare for the now of the divine as the paradoxical tension between Free Will and Fate.