Description
The Unholy Trinity
(The Co-rulers of the left side)
According to tradition, Samael is the king of all demons, the angel of death, the husband of the demonic Lilith, and the archenemy of Michael, the archangel, and of Israel. He is associated with Mars, the left side, the north, and Tuesday. His name is not to be spoken aloud in case doing so draws his attention, and thus, he is referred to colloquially by vocalizing only the first two letters of his name.
The conception of Samael and Lilith as coupled manifestations of evil was incorporated into the Sefer ha-Zohar, a classic text of medieval Kabbala. Sefer ha-Zohar presents a dualistic cosmological conception of the universe, in which Samael and Lilith are the co-rulers of the “other side” or “left side” realm, a dark world in which God does not rule. In the text, the name Samael is the prominent name of evil power in the universe. This cemented the status of Samael, and by extension Lilith, in Kabbalistic and other Hebrew literature and tradition in the ensuing centuries.
© 2023† Jeff Echevarria
