Dalyrada

Dalyrada

Art by

When I died I didn't see a tunnel or a white light or any of that. I saw the Angel of Death sitting cross-legged in front of me.

My death was the result of a suicide attempt (and a damned effective one at that), and this Angel was very angry at me for trying to whack myself. We argued for about 8 hours (Earth time) before I grudgingly went back into my body. During the out of body time it was made clear to me that the Angel of Death was:

(a) God's messenger and (b) Frequently confused with, or assumed to be, Lucifer / Satan.

He looked fierce, made out of black shadows, humanoid form, angular face, glittering eyes, huge black wings pinioned behind him.

Although he looked it, he didn't seem frightening, for whatever reason. The Lord (or Angel) of Death possesses a very wonderful sense of humor which nobody ever seems to comment on and he has a high level of compassion towards the beings that he "takes." He is very self-aware and sees irony in his job.

Kevin, your mentioning the Lord of Death from the Tibetan Book of the Dead is, in my experience, a perfectly accurate description of who he is and what function he performs -- at least in my experience.