St. Raphael is the Catholic Saint that corresponds to Inle. Those of you familiar with ceremonial magick will remember that St. Raphael represents the East, where the Light is born. Likewise, Inle is an Orisha that represents the spirit of good. Inle never did evil to anyone. Inle was a fisherman and a hunter. He also was a healer. For this reason, many people receive Inle to rid themselves of certain diseases. Inle was a very handsome young man and Yemaya fell in love with him. She eventually took him to live with her in her palace under the sea. While living with Yemaya, Inle saw all the secrets of the great queen. For that reason, when their affair was over, Yemaya cut out Inle's tongue, so that he could never reveal her secrets. That is why when you receive Inle, Inle does not speak through his shells, but through the shells of Yemaya. Later on, after Inle returned to the earth to live in the forests, he had a wife called Abbata. When a person receives Inle, they also receive Abbata. Abbata is represented by a serpent. For this reason, the symbol of Inle is a metal arrow, surrounded by two serpents. It is very similiar to the caduceus of Mercury that one sees on ambulances. Perhaps the Greeks and Romans adopted this symbol for Hermes and Mercury, as Hermes or Mercury was also the god of healing for them.
Thoth was the Egyptian diety of wisdom. He weighed the souls of the dead with his balance and their fate was determined. Because he was the god of wisdom, he was also the retainer of occult knowledge and therefore also the guardian of spells used in occult healing. It is said that a Mystery School based on the knowledge of Thoth was formed in the Middle East, even before the end of the Egyptian Empire and their domination of what was the known civilized world at that time. This Mystery School later passed to the Greeks, as Hermes took the place of Thoth in the Greek world. To the Egyptians, magic and healing were regarded as part of the same body of knowledge. Healing was the practical application of knowledge. Writing itself was considered to be an act of magic. Thoth is sometimes accredited with being the inventor of heiroglyphs and writing. With the coming of the Greek and later Roman civilizations, the healing energy of the green ray was transmitted from Thoth to Hermes and later to Mercury. In esoteric circles, it is well known that the cosmic green ray is associated with the earth and healing. No surprise that green is one of the colors associated with Inle, as he usually lives in a green ceramic container.
