Supernatural creature of the week: The angel Anael

The history and mythology of the mysterious angel Anael who made her debut on Supernatural during season thirteen.

This post will be the first in a series of “Creature of the Week” pieces I plan on doing each week following an episode of Supernatural. It’ll feature a creature/angel/demon or whatever that appeared in that week’s episode and discuss the mythology behind it. This week’s creature is the angel Anael, or rather Haniel, as her name is more commonly spelled.

There was some confusion when actress Danneel Harris Ackles appeared on the show as the angel Anael. If you can recall, there was a recurring angel named Anna during seasons 4 and 5 who fans theorized to be Anael because of her high rank and similar name. This theory was never confirmed by either Eric Kripke or any other Supernatural writer, and Anna’s real name never came up. At least we know she wasn’t Anael.

Even though angels are genderless, I’m referring to Haniel/Anael as a “she” because in most stories she appears as a female. Large silver wings and a turquoise dress accompany her in most artwork.

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• Is a new episode of The Winchesters on tonight? (March 14, 2023)
• The Winchesters Season1 finale explained: Did it connect to Supernatural?

Introduced in season 13, episode “The Devil’s Bargain“, Anael was a low-ranking angel whose job was to count the souls in Heaven. Living as a human on Earth, she poses as a faith healer named Sister Jo and uses her natural angelic powers to heal people for profit. She later made a deal with Lucifer that bought her a more powerful position in Heaven in exchange for healing him. Her character behavior on the show is a clever tie-in to the real-lore angel she’s based on. In Supernatural, Anael heals physical ailments but in myth, she heals the connection between man and God.

Her name means “He Who Sees God”, “The Joy Of God”, “The Glory of God” and also “The Grace of God.” In Jewish lore, she’s listed as one of the seven archangels of Heaven and represents joy. The Angel of Benevolence, she’s considered to be the channel between humans and God and is who we are meant to turn to when searching for guidance. She makes it her duty to spread joy and harmony to all.

The angel who was having weird grace sex with Lucifer in a shifty motel bed invokes joy and harmony. WTF?

Taking care of the Netzach was one of her original jobs (the seventh sphere of the ten Sefirot in the Jewish mystical system of Kabbalah), but it expanded quite heavily over time. Her role of enlightening souls grew into other aspects of human life. Aside from guiding souls towards joy, she also guided them towards knowledge. Of course, this all depends on which story you’re reading.

She appears in some Babylonian myths to help priests and astronomers discover new facts about astrology and physiatry. She then appeared as one of the archangels encrypted in the Sigillum Dei Aemeth (an amulet that allowed people who used magic to have power over all creatures except Archangels) designed by Dr. John Dee and Edward Kelly, two occultists.

In recent years, after the upsurge of new age feminine spirituality, Anael has morphed into a symbol of female empowerment with connections to the moon. Many spiritual exercises are guided by the moon’s cycle and Anael, being an angel who guides, naturally was seen as a moon symbol.

Type Haniel’s name in the Google search bar, and you’ll find about a hundred websites detailing “spiritual healing” techniques involving praying to Anael during the full moon and such. There are even some over-the-top complicated rituals listed to summon Anael. The way some of these sites portray her, you’d think she was a Goddess rather than an angel. I think the wires got crossed somewhere.

Anael is most famous though for her task of escorting Noah’s great-grandfather, Enoch, into Heaven. In the Bible, there is a brief mention of a man (Enoch) who doesn’t die but rather goes straight to Heaven.

"“Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more because God took him away” (Genesis 5:24)."

The Christian Bible doesn’t go much further when discussing his death, but “The Book of Enoch” expands on it. Part of the Jewish and Christian Apocrypha, “The Book of Enoch” names Anael as the one who went to Earth and picked Enoch up. She came down in a fiery chariot and escorted him up above. Pretty impressive.

The Supernatural version of Anael appears to have lost the powerful title mythology gave her and is a little power hungry, but Supernatural has shown her original traits through the faith healer gig and her secret wish of having a family. And in this most recent episode, I think she’s going to become an official ally this time.

Catch the next episode of Supernatural on Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET on the CW.