Grigori Magic

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown.

— Genesis 6:4

In the days before the flood, beings of great power walked the earth, sharing wisdom with humanity and taking human women as their wives. The offspring of these unions were the gigantic Nephilim, who are described in detail in Realms of Power: The Divine. But who were the fathers of the Nephilim, and what became of their teachings?

Genesis describes these beings only as b'nai elohim, the sons of God. Prior to the fifth century, the Church's interpretation was that these beings were angels. Indeed, b'nai elohim is only ever used in the Old Testament to refer to angels. This view caused problems for the Church, however. Celsus and Julian the Apostate both used it to attack the philosophical underpinnings of Christianity, arguing that the divine could never take on material form without being defiled. The Church also became concerned about the worship of angels, which St. Paul warned against in his letter to the Colossians. Finally, the idea that angels had fathered children was potentially at odds with Jesus's words in the Gospel of Matthew, where he says, "For in the resurrection they

shall neither marry nor be married, but shall be as the angels of God in heaven." As a result, a different interpretation arose, found first in the Chronicle of Julius Africanus. He argued that the "sons of God" to which Genesis referred were the descendants of Seth, the third son of Adam and Eve, who were righteous and godly, while the "daughters of men" were the descendants of Cain, the first murderer. This "Sethite interpretation" found favor with the Church, and in the 13th century it is the orthodox view.

And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born

Despite the widespread acceptance of the Sethite interpretation in Mythic Europe, the fathers of the Nephilim were in fact angels. This does not mean, however, that orthodox clergy take kindly to magi suggesting that they were anything other than the descendants of Seth. It also means that most post-fifth century Church histories and commentaries do not contain useful information about the celestial nature of the Grigori, making the process of finding their legacy a more daunting task.

unto them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: 'Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children.'

— I Enoch 6:1-3a

The belief that the fathers of the Nephilim were angels did not simply disappear. This view was supported by a number of texts cited by the early Church Fathers. Some factions, however, held that these noncanonical works were "contaminated by Jews and heretics," and after the Council of Laodicea in 364 AD they were excluded from the Christian canon. (The Council also explicitly condemned the worship of angels as a form of idolatry.) The single passage in Genesis remained the Church's only acknowledgment of the Nephilim, and even it was obscured, as the Greek and Latin versions of the Old Testament described them merely as "giants." Other groups did preserve this knowledge in numerous texts, including the work that came to be known as the First Book of Enoch. Allegedly written by the grandfather of Noah, who ascended into Heaven and became the Archangel Metatron, I Enoch contains five separate sections dealing with different subjects. The first section, however, called the Book of the Watchers, provides considerably more detail about the fathers of the Nephilim than does Genesis. It is explicit in describing them as angels, and it calls this rebellious group the Watchers or, to use the Greek term, the Grigori.

And all the others together with them took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go in unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught them charms and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and made them acquainted with plants... And Azael taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals of the earth and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all coloring tinctures. And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways. Semyaza taught enchantments, and root-cuttings, Armaros the resolving of enchantments, Baraqijal taught astrology, Kokabel the constellations, Ezeqeel the knowledge of the clouds, Araqiel the signs of the earth, Shamsiel the signs of the sun, and Sariel the course of the moon. And as men perished, they cried, and their cry went up to heaven ...

— I Enoch 7:1–2, 8:1–3

In Enoch's account, the Grigori did far more than father children. They taught their wives arts and sciences; these teachings then spread to the rest of humanity. The Watchers instructed the people in agriculture and astronomy, about stone cutting and blacksmithing, and with this knowledge, humanity thrived. Most importantly, the Watchers taught them the secrets of magic.

Many people were not ready for such power, however, and they used their magic for evil. The students of the Grigori grew powerful and built up great empires. They forgot the ways of God, and they used their powers for sinful and unrighteous purposes. It was also at this time that the gigantic Nephilim, with their insatiable appetites, began to lay waste to the earth. Enoch wrote that the whole world was filled with blood and unrighteousness and that the earth itself cried out because of what the Grigori had done.

These cries did not go unheeded, and the Watchers could not escape God's punishment forever. God instructed Noah to build the ark in preparation for the flood. He stripped the Watchers of their place in Heaven and commanded the Heavenly Host to seize the leaders of the Grigori and bind them until the day of judgment. Some of the Watchers, including their leader Semyaza, rebelled and became demons. When Noah was prepared, God sent the flood to cleanse the earth of the wickedness that had been wrought by Watchers. In the deluge, the evil and unrighteousness spread by the Watchers' students and offspring were washed away. None who knew the secrets of the Grigori survived, and only the pair of righteous Nephilim who stowed away on the Ark were saved. With their leaders bound and their students destroyed, the Grigori and their magic passed from the world of men.