Somewhere around the astral region of the Earth Zone, we are likely to meet some of the members of the huge Ashim, Mesharthim and Animistic families.
The Ashim are the “souls of fire”. Their alternative names are the ashes or issim. They were mentioned in the verse of Psalm 104:4. They are the “Order of blessed souls”, or “The souls of justice brought to perfection“. Jewish legends placed the Ashim onto the Fifth Heaven. Pico dela Mirandola says that they live on Yesod, the 9th sephira of the Tree of Life. Some modern authors like William Gray agree that the Ashim are in Yesod. But Moses Maimonides says that they are in Malkuth. Eliphas Levi agrees that they are in Malkuth. His suggestion was generally accepted by Golden Dawn and other occult organizations. Contemporary hermeitis also usually place them in Malkuth.
Pico deal Mirandola wrote that the task of the Ashim is to glorify God’s name. Madame Blavatsky says that the Ashim’s act through atomic consciousness and that they represent natural consciousness of solid matter. The Ashim’s intelligence penetrates each matter down to its atomic level. For that reason, they can also be present at several places at the same time.
The Ashim like to gather around temples, towers, castles and other sacred places in Malkuth. Dion Fortune says that they help in manipulating the matter through magic, but that only a few magicians know how to do that. As the matter gets harder, the harder it gets for the magician to control it. The master behind the secrets of manipulating the matter is archangel Uriel.
According to Zohar, the head of the Ashim is Zapahniel (or Zephemiel).
Some of the most important Ashim are the supervisors of the Earth:
Azriel, Admael, Arkiel (Archas), Arciciah, Ariel, Harabael (Aragael), Saragael, Yabbashael, Haldiel, Tebliel, Phorlakh, Raguel and Samuil.
Mahidiel, another important Ashim, is one of the most important angels of Malkuth. There is one magical practice: The magician should set up a time and a place for his future love to appear, and it is said that Mahidiel would surely bring her or him to that place.
There are many angels of the Earth in Muslim traditions and they are similar to the Ashim. Among the most important ones are: Ridvan who stands at the entrance of the earthly paradise and Rusvon, the key keeper of that paradise.
Similar to the Ashim are the Mesharthim or Mesarepim, the human souls whom the angels of Malkuth accepted as their equals.
There is practically no difference between the Ashim and Mesharthim, they are both angels, except for the Ashim being of angelic origin and the Meharthim being of human origin, though some of them are also of angelic origin, but with experienced human life.
The Swedish mystic Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) made a quite revolutionary observation when he said that the angels are ascended human beings, while the demons are also humans but the ones who failed with their virtues.
The Meshartim are mentioned in the Third Book of Enoch as representatives of the Order of heavenly singers. According to Enoch, their leader is Tagas. In some cabalistic scripts Tagas is so important that the four great archangels: Raphael, Michael, Gabriel and Uriel, bow to him. Probably, this was a reflection of the ancient teaching about God gathering angels to bow to Adam when he was created.
The Animistics are similar to Meshartim. Their epithets are “powerful and mighty.” According to some cabalistic sources they live in Malkuth like counts, princes and lords. They used to be people from this world but now they have half-angelic and half-divine nature, because they have made many good things to humanity.
According to Agrippa the Animistics were:
Wizard Merlin, Priapus, Aphrodite, Hippo, Vertumnus, 12 apostles and 72 Christ students.
According to Agrippa, many saints are also the Animistics. Agrippa says that the Animistics give people more rewards than angels. Among other things the Animistics offer to people “the knowledge and wonderful understanding of things, diligence and
providence”