LittleBuddha said:
I was hoping, since I have tried to search for this information and have come up with a lot of different opinions, that someone may be able to tell me who the angels in the Rider pack are and what significance they have to the said cards. I was hoping to then go on and study the angels; hopefully, giving me a greater understanding of the card.
The angels are on -
Judgement
Temperance
The Lovers
Appreciate all responses ...
LB
As with many symbols and cards in the Waite deck, not is all that it seems.
The Angel on Judgment is perhaps the easiest to identify. We know it is Michael because it is identified as such in Golden Dawn documents, and used in their rituals.
The next two are far more difficult. Paul Foster Case at one time says the 'Angel' on the Lovers is Raphael and another time says it is Michael. There are some reasons as to why someone might believe it to be either. For example, Raphael is associated with the sixth Sephira Tiphareth, and on the other side, the flames on the angel's head suggest it could be Michael.
But all this speculation, begs the question of whether the figure in the Lovers is an angel at all. Waite simply calls it a "great winged figure". And, if Waite fails to identify it as an angel, what else could it possibly be?
The Golden Dawn symbol/diagram called "The Garden of Eden before the Fall" is closely associated with this card. You can see a modern version of it here;
http://www.hermeticgoldendawn.org/eden1.htm
but if you have a copy of Israel Regardie's Golden Dawn, there is a much more detailed version.
If you read the essay, you should be able to see why the "great winged figure" might not be an angel, but something else entirely.
Which brings us to Temperance. Unlike the Lovers, Waite identifies the figure in Temperance as
"A winged angel..."
but he has earlier given this caveat regarding this 'angel';
"The winged figure of a female--who, in opposition to all doctrine concerning the hierarchy of angels, is usually allocated to this order of ministering spirits--is pouring liquid from one pitcher to another"
Waite sees no apparent reason why the figure should be an angel.
The figure is undoubtedly descended fom earlier depictions of Temperance as one of the four Cardinal Virtues, and was traditionally shown as a winged angel.
Vincent