The Book of Enoch

If you've already read my new fantasy novel, Daughter of Two Realms, you may have noticed that some of the angels and demons in my story are not drawn entirely from the Bible. That's because even though I touch on the concepts of Heaven and Hell and God and Satan, all the characters and settings aren’t only based on the Christian religion.

Angels like Samyaza and Azazel, the concept of the Watchers, and the settings of Heaven and Hell, all have roots in another ancient book that most people have heard of but very few have actually read: The Book of Enoch.

Despite its name, biblical scholars don't believe Enoch himself wrote it. The Enoch mentioned briefly in Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament, as the great-grandfather of Noah, lived thousands of years before the book was written. In fact, most historians date The Book of Enoch somewhere between the third and first century BC, and many believe it was written by several different authors rather than just one.

The book is a bit controversial to say the least, and whenever the subject of it comes up in conversation, the first question people ask is almost always the same:

“Why isn't it in the Bible?"

Many have debated that question, and you can find countless discussions about it on the internet, so it is unnecessary to repeat it here. But whether you view the book as a valid religious text, fiction written by someone claiming to speak on God's behalf, or simply an ancient collection of fascinating stories, it's an incredible window into how people viewed the unknown before the time of Christ.

For me, it was full of fascinating ideas, and many of the people found within, including The Watchers, Azazel, Samyaza, Raguel, and Michael all found their way into Daughter of Two Realms.

The Watchers were supposedly a group of heavenly beings who descended to Earth (the fallen angels), took human wives, and had children who were known as the Nephilim. They taught humanity knowledge that was considered forbidden by God.

Samyaza, Azazel, and the other Watchers are blamed for teaching humanity many of these forbidden arts. They introduced things like metalworking, weapon-making, enchantments, and astrology. Even the use of cosmetics, heaven forbid, was taught!

In the book, Azazel is bound for his defilement of God’s laws and cast into darkness. Later, it is Enoch who, by God’s command, tells Azazel he will suffer for eternity and convinces him, and other fallen angels, to put a petition to God for forgiveness. When you read my book, you’ll see how that plays out in the realms I created.

Raguel, who is the character Raquel, or Roxy, in my book, was mentioned in Chapter XX of The Book of Enoch: “Raguel, one of the holy angels who takes vengeance on the world of the luminaries.” It is understood that the term luminaries, generally refers to heavenly lights or stars, some of which are later described to be heavenly beings that have transgressed God. I don’t want to give any of the story of Daughter of Two Realms away in case you haven’t read it yet, but let’s just say its Roxy character fits the description of Raguel very well.

I think one of the most enjoyable parts of writing fantasy is asking, "What if?"

What if the people and events written about in this debated book were true?

What if there were another ancient canon that had not yet been found? What would be in it?

What would happen if I merged beliefs from different religions, myths, and philosphies into one story?

Those questions eventually became the foundation for much of my story, characters, and scenes, many of which were heavily influenced by The Book of Enoch. Whether or not you accept Enoch's visions as divinely inspired, they certainly inspired me to imagine realms that were different. I wanted them to be surprising. I also wanted them to be familiar, yet unlike anything we experience here on Earth.

While researching The Book of Enoch, I stumbled across another interesting work I'd never heard of: the Sefer Raziel HaMalakh, or Book of Raziel the Angel. Like The Book of Enoch, it explores hidden heavenly knowledge, but through a completely different story. It was intriguing to discover because my own novel centers around an entirely fictional Book of Raziel, which I created years before I discovered the Jewish text even existed. That's a story for another day…

One thing I love most about writing fantasy, or any fiction book for that matter, is using things from reality and making them my own, or discovering that reality is often just as bizarre as fiction. I get a lot of enjoyment from taking historical facts or current technologies and twisting them in my books just enough to make my readers ask:

“Is that true?”

And then promptly looking it up on the internet.

Ancient history is filled with forgotten books, mysterious traditions, and questions that people have debated for thousands of years. Sometimes the best stories don't begin with answers. They begin with a single question:

"What if?"

If you'd like to see how The Book of Enoch inspired my modern fantasy novel, you can get your own copy of Daughter of Two Realms here.

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