Charlie Brown
It hardly matters how many books claim it's Raphael if Waite never does.
Perhaps, but Abrac specifically asked me why I thought it was Raphael in the first place. I was answering him, not trying to provide evidence.
It hardly matters how many books claim it's Raphael if Waite never does.
Oh, I agree, and I apologize if I implied that if Waite didn't say it, it isn't true. You're right that Waite was vague, and you're right that scholars will and should fill in the blanks. I'll also add that I have no objection to the angel being seen as Raphael by any given reader or scholar. Airy Raphael works very well for the Lovers card. I just think that we can also box ourselves in if we say (or think) "it's obviously Raphael" as there are no clues on the card to support that (never mind what Waite said). We have the Angel with a trumpet on the Judgement card, a good clue that it's Gabriel....(or wait! Others argue it's Michael who blows the Judgement day Trumpet...I dunno, but if we're going to box all the RWS's meanings to what Waite just says, we're never going to get really far. I mean, his book on the subject is not that detailed. Waite was pretty vague on the point after all (I mean, "great winged figure"?), so experts are of course going to weigh in and give their own interpretation on the matter.
Yes, RWS is chock full of Christian imagery, and, again, other evidence in the Lovers card (Adam and Eve) would support seeing that winged figure as an angel rather than, say, a greek god. But there are a lot of other types of iconography in the RWS, and we do have to be careful of going into Judeo-Christian default. Take the Wheel of Fortune: there are Egyptian sphinxes, Hebrew letters, and a "Set" (Egyptian god) figure along with an angel in the upper left corner there...but wait, all creatures in corners have wings! They stand for the four zodiac signs (making that winged man NOT an angel but Aquarius with wings!).I think that with the RWS being chock full of Christian imagery and with other major arcana cards having angels too, thinking that it's an angel is quite reasonable really.
Uriel..."stands at the Gate of Eden with a fiery sword",[6]....In the Life of Adam and Eve, Uriel is regarded as the spirit (i.e., one of the cherubs) of the third chapter of Genesis. He is also identified as one of the angels who helped bury Adam and Abel in Paradise.
Stemming from medieval Jewish mystical traditions, Uriel has also become the Angel of Sunday (Jewish Encyclopedia), the Angel of Poetry, and one of the Holy Sephiroth.