Sefer Raziel HaMalakh contains a detailed cosmological map of the seven heavens—a tradition rooted in early rabbinic literature (Chagigah 12b) and expanded dramatically in the Hekhalot (the heavenly palaces) texts of late antiquity. Each heaven has a name, a governing angel, and a distinct function in the architecture of creation.
The first heaven is Vilon (וילון), meaning "curtain." It contributes nothing of its own but rolls back each morning to reveal the firmament, then returns each evening. The angel Tahariel stands guard. The second heaven, Rakia (רקיע), is where the stars and planets are fixed. Here the fallen angels Shemhazai and Azazel hang in chains, awaiting the day of judgment—a tradition drawn from 1 Enoch and preserved in rabbinic sources.
The third heaven, Shechakim (שחקים), contains the heavenly millstones that grind manna for the righteous. The fourth, Zevul (זבול), holds the heavenly Jerusalem, the heavenly Temple, and the heavenly altar where the archangel Michael serves as High Priest—offering the souls of the righteous as spiritual sacrifices. The fifth heaven, Maon (מעון), houses the ministering angels who sing praises during the night hours, falling silent by day so that Israel's prayers on earth can be heard.
The sixth heaven, Machon (מכון), stores the destructive forces—snow, hail, dew, rain, wind, and storms—each in its own treasury, each governed by its own angel. The seventh and highest heaven, Aravot (ערבות), contains the Throne of Glory, the souls of the righteous yet to be born, the heavenly dew with which God will resurrect the dead, and the celestial creatures—the Ofanim, Seraphim, and Chayot HaKodesh—who ceaselessly proclaim "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts" (Isaiah 6:3).
Sefer Raziel uses this seven-heaven framework as more than cosmology. It maps the spiritual journey available to every soul—from the material curtain of Vilon to the blazing intimacy of Aravot, where the boundary between Creator and creation nearly disappears.