The word "Angel" is taken from the Greek word "Angelos" which means "Messenger". The name "Michael" means "Who is like God".

 

     There is a lot of New Age garbage masquerading as truth on the net, so be discerning of what you read, but much of the lies is mixed with an element of truth. Here are a few interesting tidbits I gleaned from the web:

 

     The idea of angels is significant in Judeo-Christian religious thought. In both the Old and New Testaments, angels are identified as belonging to specifically named groups, in a kind of celestial hierarchy. Before the advent of Christianity, angels as messengers had their belief counterparts in ancient Greece, where Hermes  was considered a messenger of God, and in Rome where he was called Mercury. The Vikings also had a messenger God called Hermod.

 

     According to ancient lore the seven planets were each governed by a specific angel, and Michael was assigned the planet Mercury.

 

    Michael is often pictured, especially in art from the Middle Ages, as carrying a sword and fighting the great dragon. St Michael is the Patron Saint of soldiers and the hugely successful selling of prayer-engraved pendants and medallions of St. Michael to servicemen in Iraq shows that this tradition is being kept.

 

     Joan d’Arc, the famous Frenchwoman who was tried and burned by the English and Burgundians for heresy, blasphemy and witchcraft, claimed Michael was the voice that commanded her, in God’s name, to free France by waging war.

 

    Michael  is another name for rain in Arabic.

MIK'AIL is the Arabic name for the great archangel Michael.

Michael is said to have been the angelic messenger who warned Noah about the impending flood.

 

    Michael the archangel is specifically mentioned in the Bible in several passages:

    Daniel 10: 12-13:  "Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia."

    Daniel 10: 21: "But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince."

    Daniel 12:1.  "And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which 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." 

    Jude 1:9. Yet Michael the archangel,  when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

     Revelation 12:7-8: "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven."

    On Wednesday, Nov 8, 2006, Mercury will transit the Sun for the first time since 2003. The feast of St. Michael is also November 8. Could all this be purely coincidental? I believe the Lord will give discernment to those who ask, just as He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.