EL CIUDAD ENCANTO Part V: The Seraph , the Dragon and the Battle of Cibicue Creek

Daniel Chapter 12 דָּנִיֵּאל א וּבָעֵת הַהִיא יַעֲמֹד מִיכָאֵל הַשַּׂר הַגָּדוֹל, הָעֹמֵד עַל-בְּנֵי עַמֶּךָ, וְהָיְתָה עֵת צָרָה, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-נִהְיְתָה מִהְיוֹת גּוֹי עַד הָעֵת הַהִיא; וּבָעֵת הַהִיא יִמָּלֵט עַמְּךָ, כָּל-הַנִּמְצָא כָּתוּב בַּסֵּפֶר. 1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince who standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time; and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. ב וְרַבִּים, מִיְּשֵׁנֵי אַדְמַת-עָפָר יָקִיצוּ; אֵלֶּה לְחַיֵּי עוֹלָם, וְאֵלֶּה לַחֲרָפוֹת לְדִרְאוֹן עוֹלָם. {ס} 2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to reproaches and everlasting abhorrence. {S} ג וְהַמַּשְׂכִּלִים--יַזְהִרוּ, כְּזֹהַר הָרָקִיעַ; וּמַצְדִּיקֵי, הָרַבִּים, כַּכּוֹכָבִים, לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד. {פ} 3 And they that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn the many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." It is said that this chapter is specifically about the period in time called the Techiyas HaMesim or the resurrection of the dead.

{P} The Basilica Saint Francis in Santa Fe was built from the year 1869 and completed in 1886 by Archbishop Lamy. He is one of seven archbishops whose remains are interred within the cathedral. While it was being built in the year 1881 the famous Battle of Cibicue Creek happened on the White Mountain Apache land in Arizona to the south.

"The Battle of Cibecue occurred on the White Mountain Apache Reservation and took place on August 30, 1881. It was brought on by the influence of a shaman, Nock-ay-det-klinne, who preached a doctrine of raising the dead". After an army expedition of scouts and soldiers arrested the prominent medicine man and took the prisoner back to the fort, they were ambushed on Cibecue Creek by hostile Apache. The Prophet, as he was called, was killed in the skirmish, as well as several soldiers under Colonel Eugene Asa Carr. Most of the soldier casualties resulted from the mutiny of most of the 23 Apache scouts, the largest such action in United States history. The soldiers then retreated to Fort Apache, and on the following day, the Apache mounted another attack." The seven calvarymen that fell on that day in 1881 are all buried in a row in the national veterans cemetery in Santa Fe.

Seven bishops are also interred in the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis. It is said that the Divine Source of Love(God) loves the number seven which is a symbol of spiritual perfection and completion as in the seven days of primordial creation."By the time we get to the Hebrew bible the number 7 is already built into its foundation. We find there the 7 days of creation, Job's 7 sons, 700 sheep, seven pairs of clean animals, seventy nations of god. Legends of the Jews by Ginzberg begins with, "In the beginning, two thousand years before the heaven and the earth, seven things were created: the Torah written with black fire on white fire, and lying in the lap of God; the Divine Throne, erected in the heaven which later was over the heads of the Hayyot; Paradise on the right side of God, Hell on the left side; the Celestial Sanctuary directly in front of God, having a jewel on its altar graven with the Name of the Messiah, and a Voice that cries aloud, "Return, ye children of men." Later there are seven heavens, Reish Lakish said: There are seven firmaments, and they are as follows: Vilon, Rakia, Sheḥakim, Zevul, Ma’on, Makhon, and Aravot." Chagigah 12b" There is a tradition within the Jewish teachings about the slaying or "binding" of the angel of death who is called Samael and is sometimes perceived as a serpent or a dragon in various writings. He is also considered the guardian of Jacob's brother Esau and the very angel that Jacob struggles with all night long in the story in Sefer Genesis. He also by extension in Judaism becomes the angel associated with the Romans and the Catholic church. In the famous passover holiday song Chad gadyah the last event that occurs to bring the geulah or redemption and renewal of the world is the binding or "slaying" of the angel of death called the Malach haMavet.This here is the last stanza of the song: "Then came The Holy One, Blessed be He, and smote the angel of death, who slew the slaughterer, who killed the ox, that drank the water, that put out the fire, that burned the stick, that beat the dog, that bit the cat, that ate the goat, Which my father bought for two zuzim. One little goat, one little goat. וְאָתָא הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא וְשָׁחַט לְמַלְאַךְ הַמָּוֶת. דְשָׁחַט לְשּׁוֹחֵט. דְשָׁחַט לְתוֹרָא. דְשָׁתָה לְמַיָּא. דְכָבָה לְנוּרָא. דְשָׂרַף לְחוּטְרָא. דְהִכָּה לְכַלְבָּא. דְנָשַׁךְ לְשׁוּנְרָא. דְאָכְלָה לְגַדְיָא. דְּזַבִּין אַבָּא בִּתְרֵי זוּזֵי. חַד גַּדְיָא. חַד גַּדְיָא The santero tradition in New Mexico has the santo carving of the Seraph angel Mikael as slaying this dragon although the dragon is not shown as being dead but just being constrained. The Santeros or carvers of various saints in the Roman catholic tradition were taught by mekubalim(kabbalists) in Spain according to tradition and understood the mystery wisdom within these teachings which they brought to New Mexico. The year 1881 as mentioned in an earlier section is a rare palindromic number where the digits also add up to the number 18. This number is very important in the Jewish tradition since the word for life in Hebrew is "Chai" which letters add to the value 18. In Hebrew the letters are also numbers so words have numerical equivalents. Chai and it's value of 18 is very culturally and religiously significant in Judaism. The phrase for the "enlivening of the dead"- "Techiyas HaMesim" has the root word chai/life in the first term Techiyas. So it seems that the battle of Cibicue Creek and the building of the Cathedral Basilica took place in what might be called a wrinkle in time with unusual astronomical and numerical associations. That is of significance for us folks today who are enchanted by the history, life and sacredness of this city of holy faith.