Origin 1050 to 1105
Mahasiah is the 5th of the seventy-two angels of the Shem ha-Mephorash, the divided Name of God. The seventy-two names are drawn from three consecutive verses of Exodus (14:19, 14:20, 14:21), each exactly seventy-two Hebrew letters long; taking verse 19 forward, verse 20 in reverse, and verse 21 forward one letter at a time yields seventy-two three-letter roots, and to each is added the suffix -IAH (YAH), invoking the aspect of God on the Pillar of Mercy. This angel governs 20 to 25 degrees of Aries, the third decan of the sign, ruled in the Chaldean order by Venus; in the Golden Dawn tarot this decan answers to the Four of Wands. In the traditional arrangement of the Name it belongs to the choir of the Seraphim under the archangel Metatron, the octad attributed to Kether (the Crown). Its sphere of influence is harmony, balance, and self-improvement. The verse Psalm 34:4 is traditionally recited to invoke its aid.
Facts
Origins
Origin Period1050 to 1105 1Tradition: Rashi's commentary on the Babylonian Talmud Origin Period1150 to 1200 2Tradition: Sefer ha-Bahir Origin Period1270 to 1300 3Tradition: Zoharic Kabbalah Origin Period1517 4Tradition: De Arte Cabalistica (Johann Reuchlin, 1517) Place of OriginGerman Rhineland for Reuchlin's Latin treatment 5 Place of OriginNorthern France for Rashi's comment 5 Place of OriginProvence and Languedoc for the Bahir; Castile for the Zohar 5 Attributed Author / CompilerDerivation is Jewish and medieval; the angelology is Christian Kabbalah 4 Attributed Author / CompilerJohann Reuchlin (1455-1522), German Hebraist, De Arte Cabalistica, 1517 4 Attributed Author / CompilerNo author for the derivation 1 Attributed Author / CompilerRashi (d. 1105) describes the names as already marked out, not found 1 Attributed Author / CompilerTreats the seventy-two groups as angel names, adds -el/-yah suffixes 4 Origin of the NameConstructed from Exodus 14:19-21, each verse seventy-two letters 6 Origin of the NameNothing in Exodus prescribes this reading 6 Origin of the NameRead boustrophedon: forward, reversed, forward, one letter each 6 Origin of the NameShem ha-Mephorash first meant the Tetragrammaton, not seventy-two names 7 Origin of the NameTalmud discusses twelve- and forty-two-letter names, not this derivation 7 Attestation
Meaning in the Attesting SourceGives no angel a quality, degree span, psalm, planet or card 1Tradition: Rashi's commentary on the Babylonian Talmud Meaning in the Attesting SourceNames the three adjacent verses of Beshallach, and no more 1Tradition: Rashi's commentary on the Babylonian Talmud Meaning in the Attesting SourceQualities, degrees, psalms and zodiac signs are not in his list 4Tradition: De Arte Cabalistica (Johann Reuchlin, 1517) Meaning in the Attesting SourceRashi's comment on Sukkah 45a is the earliest clear description 1Tradition: Rashi's commentary on the Babylonian Talmud Meaning in the Attesting SourceReuchlin's list gives the names and the two pronounceable suffixes 4Tradition: De Arte Cabalistica (Johann Reuchlin, 1517) Status
Standing as a Comparative CategoryA modern system making claims scholarship never entertained; it never held scholarly standing 1 Derivation first attested by Rashi (d. 1105) Learn More
The Name and Its Place Among the Seventy-Two
Mahasiah stands at number 5 of the seventy-two angels of the Shem ha-Mephorash, the "divided" or "explicit" Name of God. The seventy-two names are produced by an arithmetical procedure applied to three consecutive verses of the Exodus account of the crossing of the sea, Exodus 14:19, 14:20 and 14:21, each of which contains exactly seventy-two Hebrew letters.
Written out in three rows and read in alternating directions (the first verse forward, the second in reverse, the third forward), the letters yield seventy-two three-letter groups, and to each group is added a divine suffix, either -el ("God") or -yah (from the Tetragrammaton), to form the angelic name. In the zodiacal scheme each angel governs a five-degree "quinance" of the circle, since three hundred and sixty degrees divided by seventy-two is exactly five. Mahasiah rules the segment from 20 to 25 degrees of Aries. Each ten-degree decan holds two such quinances; as the first quinance of its decan, Mahasiah is reckoned the ruler of the day.
Attribute, Planetary Ruler, and the Dating of the System
The influence traditionally ascribed to Mahasiah is harmony, balance, and self-improvement, and in the later planetary overlay its quinance is placed under Venus; the name is commonly paired with Psalm 34:4, a verse whose Hebrew letters are said to correspond to those of the angel. These correspondences are best dated honestly.
The letter-counting technique that yields the names is medieval, discussed by commentators drawing on Rashi, but the systematic apparatus now printed alongside the seventy-two, the zodiacal quinances, the planetary sub-rulers, the paired Psalm verses and the fixed catalogue of "offices", is largely early-modern and modern. It was drawn together by Christian Kabbalists such as Athanasius Kircher in the seventeenth century, set out in French by Lazare Lenain in La Science Cabalistique (1823), and elaborated by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and by Aleister Crowley in 777 around the turn of the twentieth century. The scheme is presented here as a documented esoteric tradition, not as ancient scripture and not as a claim about angelic agency.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Sources
1. Rashi's commentary on the Babylonian Talmud
2. Sefer ha-Bahir (The Book of Illumination)
Anonymousthe sections working with the seventy-two-fold nameView the Source 3. The Zohar
4. De Arte Cabalistica (On the Art of Kabbalah)
Johann Reuchlin, Abaris Books, 1517the treatment of the seventy-two three-letter groups as the names of angelsView the Source 5. Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism
Gershom Scholem, Schocken Books, 1961the chapters on the Bahir and on the ZoharView the Source 6. The Hebrew Bible (Tanakh)
7. The Babylonian Talmud
Anonymous (multiple authors), Soncino Press, 1935Kiddushin 71aView the Source La Science Cabalistique
Lazare Lenain, Published by the author (Lazare Lenain), Amiens, 1823On the angel Mahasiah and the seventy-two namesView the Source Liber 777
Aleister Crowley, Walter Scott, 1909Zodiacal quinance and correspondences of the Shem angelsView the Source Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
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