This talk explores how Jews in antiquity imagined, structured, and enacted communication with angels through ritual and magical practices. Drawing on late antique Jewish texts—including amulets, incantations, and ritual handbooks—the talk examines the frameworks these sources provide for imagining conversations with invisible beings, from modes of address and ritual sequencing to techniques of compulsion and negotiation. Far from being marginal or “superstitious,” these materials reveal a sophisticated ritual grammar that overlaps with contemporary Greek and Christian magical traditions while articulating distinct Jewish theological concerns.

By attending to language, material practices, and ritual expertise, the talk situates Jewish angelic communication within broader ancient conversations about divine accessibility, authority, and the boundaries between prayer, ritual, and magic.

Mika Ahuvia is an Associate Professor of Classical Judaism at the University of Washington.

She is the author of On My Right Michael, On My Left Gabriel: Angels in Ancient Jewish Culture (University of California Press, 2021), and her research focuses on ritual practice, angels, and lived religion in late antique Judaism, in comparative perspective.

This talk is part of the “Conversations with Gods: Divination in the Ancient World” speaker series