Why Angelhorn?

For starters I should make it clear that I don’t believe in angels. That doesn’t mean I don’t like them. I don’t believe in magic or dragons or faeries or aliens either – I still like them. I like pictures of angels, I like stories about angels, and I like angels’ names, like my name – Gabrielle.

Angelhorn refers to the Angel Gabriel, a character in both the Old and New Testament of the Holy Bible (I don’t believe in the Bible either, but I still like most of it.) Gabriel is a character important to Christians, Jews and Muslims, who call him “Jibreel”. He carries out some pretty important tasks in Abrahamic myths. He’s not the lead guy, obviously, but he’s an important supporting character. He is the patron saint of telecommunications, postal workers and diplomats. I kind of like the fact that I share his name.

Anyway, legend has it the among the other tasks assigned to the Angel Gabriel is the job of announcing the end of the world.  For this he will blow his horn, apparently.  While Gabriel’s horn does not appear anywhere in the Bible, it is well established in folklore, although this time, only Christian folklore. The Islamic Jibreel is no Miles Davis, apparently. In Christian art, Gabriel often appears with his horn, as do other angels.

Gabriel’s Horn  is also mathematical concept, a geometrical figure that has an infinite surface area but encloses a finite volume. And Angel’s Trumpet is a very pretty, albeit poisonous member of the Datura plant family.

So, there’s the explanation of Angelhorn – the angel Gabriel’s horn, his namesakes, a perplexing geometrical figure, a poisonous flower, and me.