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Julia Jablonski

"We not only live among men, but there are airy hosts, blessed spectators, sympathetic lookers-on, that see and know and appreciate our thoughts and feelings and acts."
    - Henry Ward Beecher

You might be surprised to learn that I can be a bit of a skeptic. Those of you who have been reading the magazine from the beginning have read about my beliefs and experiences with seeing the aura, talking to the "dead," and leaving my body at will. I was in fact skeptical about all of these things until I experienced them first hand. The same is true of the subject of angels. I considered the existence of angels unlikely at best, and the belief in them a holdover from biblical and religious myths. That is, until I experienced an angel first hand. I'm still skeptical about UFOs, by the way, so any aliens desiring an interview at this magazine are going to have to produce some evidence!

Basically, I had been working professionally as a medium for years, and never had a direct experience of an angel during that time, at least, not an angel in the way angels are described by others. I had plenty of contact with loved ones in spirit, and was able to bring through evidence such as names and other details that validated those experiences. In a similar way, I had lots of contact with what I call "spirit guides;" benevolent and wise teachers in the non-physical who work with us and help us to find our ways. I had heard of many people I respected having contact with angels (you get to know a lot of interesting people in this line of work!), but not having had the experience myself, I had neither a belief nor a disbelief in angels, and no great passion for figuring the angel thing out, either. Perhaps this is what kept me from experiencing angels for so long!

One day I was performing a typical reading. When I reached out to bring through messages from Spirit for the woman I was reading for, I suddenly felt this very large and rather impersonal or dispassionate (but benevolent) presence fill the room. I immediately was telepathically shown this angel, and knew this was no ordinary spirit. I gave the details of this angel to my client and the name he had given me to give her, and of course, she was most pleased to communicate that she had had dreams about this angel for years, and his name and the other details were the same as she had experienced. The reading validated her own communication with this angel, and similarly, her experience validated the reading. At this point, I began to give the question of angels another look!

It helped that in recent years there has been a remarkable surge of interest in angels. Books, movies and television shows that focus upon this subject are almost guaranteed popularity. I am often struck by how the esoteric knowledge that was the providence of a small spiritual minority just ten years ago has moved more and more into the mainstream, and gained incredible acceptance. Perhaps this new interest in angels is reflective of a general shift in spiritual consciousness as we question the nature of life and death at the doorway to the new millennium.

The belief in angelic beings is of course ancient, and spans many cultures. In the West, many associate angels with Christianity, Judaism and the Bible, but references to angelic beings can be found in Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, and Islam. Even some Native American teachings include angels, and other shamanistic spiritual belief systems include interaction with birds or other winged creatures who bring guidance. Created prior to these more "recent" religions, depictions of angelic beings can be found in ancient Egyptian art, and Isis is traditionally depicted with angel wings. In all of these religious cultures, angels are believed to be messengers of God, aiding and guiding humans through life.

The word "angel" derives from the Greek "angelos" which means "messenger." The New Age Dictionary defines angel as 1. Messenger, heavenly envoy (Greek) 2. Someone who understands and manifests the Order of the Universe in daily life (Michio Kushi) This second definition brings to light a lot of questions about angels. Are angels fundamentally a different kind of creature than humans? Is it true that angels have no free choice, as humans do, and never live in the physical as humans? Is it possible to become an angel when we die? Do angels really have wings? Are angels real?

I long believed that angels were the same as spirit guides, and that they have been traditionally depicted with wings because they are not bound by the laws of gravity, being spiritual/non-physical beings. I still consider this to be a possibility, for I know that Spirit can present itself to us in whatever form we are most likely to accept and understand. Spirit translates its energy into forms that make sense to us. Someone who believed deeply in angels, for instance, may tend to see guides from spirit with wings, while someone who was a UFO buff may have experiences of meeting with benign creatures from other planets. The same spirit can present itself in different forms, depending on what that form might mean to the person receiving the energy of the spirit. It's similar to how a man's wife in spirit may show herself to him at the age of 20, the age at which they married and were most in love, rather than with her aged appearance at the time of her death. She may present herself to a beloved caretaker who only knew her in her last days, however, as an elderly woman.

Just as with experiences of loved ones or guides in Spirit, there is a range of intensity or rather "physicality" to angelic experiences. For someone who is in high vibrational harmony with the non-physical world, angels may appear only telepathically. I have noticed through the years that the more refined my abilities, the subtler my experiences become. When I was first opening psychically, I literally perceived spiritual energy with my physical eyes, and physical manifestations such as books flying off the shelves or other physical "signs" were common. Now there is no need for Spirit to go to such extremes, for I know how to recognize and "hear" or "see" spirit within.

Depending on one's primary mode of perception (visual, auditory or kinesthetic) and level of spiritual vibration, an angel may be seen, heard or its presence felt. Sensing the presence of an angel from within involves the least amount of physical perception, it is like the spirit in the triad of mind, body and spirit. It is intangible, but no less real than the vapor that water transforms into when its vibration (temperature) is raised. When a vision of an angel is seen or heard, this is like the mind of mind, body and spirit. It involves the mental perception of light or sound waves, and may be seen either with the physical eyes or with one's inner vision, or heard within or through the physical ears. It may occur when one is either sleeping/dreaming or awake. This is like the perception of a thin film of water. We can see it with our eyes, though if we try to try to grasp it with our hands, it slips away from us and evaporates.

To physically experience an angel, either as another human being or through physical contact, correlates to the body of mind, body and spirit. It is like a big hunk of ice that we can touch with our physical hands. It is believed that angels can take the form of humans, that they walk among us here on earth. "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." Hebrews l 3:2

I recall a fascinating story by Penny Donovan, who channels the Archangel Gabriel. She told how one day as she was walking from one room to another, she ran right into something in the doorway. She could not see anything with her physical eyes, yet there was something solid there, nonetheless. She stopped, backed up, and reached her hand out, and felt a very distinctive "body" there, a male sort of chest, very large. This was her first encounter with Gabriel, hence the "gross" energy of the experience. Interestingly, in the Koran, Gabriel is the archangel who conveys God's message to all God's prophets on earth. It is said that Gabriel conveyed the messages of the Koran to Muhammad, the Gospels to Jesus, and the Torah to Moses.

While Gabriel and other "archangels" may have specific and grand missions, angels in general are seen as servants of God, their purpose being to protect and bring guidance to the living. It is said that each of us has angels who are appointed to watch over us. They are like intermediaries between humankind and divine non-physical realms. I believe that the physical is no less divine than the non-physical, they just exist at different levels of vibration. Just as we on earth have our shamans, mystics, seers and healers, angels have the unique ability to travel between the worlds; they're like shamans from the other side.

It is said that the difference between humans and angels is that angels do not have free choice, their lives are dedicated to service. Perhaps those who also dedicate their lives to doing the work of Spirit in the world become "angels" in their own right, for they give up the free choice to follow the whims of the ego, making service to humankind their main priority. Those who later allow the ego to overcome them again, might be said to be fallen angels. This does not mean that anyone who does not commit their lives to the service of God is a fallen angel. A fallen angel would be one who knows better, one who has attained the consciousness of and seen the light of God, yet has chosen the desires of the ego anyway.

In pride, in reasoning pride, our error lies;
All quit their sphere, and rush into the skies.
Pride still is aiming at the blest abodes:
Men would be angels, angels would be gods.
Aspiring to be gods, if angels fell,
Aspiring to be angels, men rebel.
Alexander Pope. 1688-1744.

There are many ways to undertake opening to an angel experience without creating a major crisis in our lives. These same techniques can be used for trying to contact any being in spirit. If you're not already in conscious communication with Spirit, I recommend asking for an angel to come to you in a dream. Our dream selves don't have all the limiting beliefs about what is possible and not possible that our conscious minds do. Ever notice how anything is possible in a dream? One way to ease into such conscious communication is through starting in the dream state.

As with all psychic/spiritual work, I also recommend beginning a program of regular meditation. This does not have to mean sitting silently for long periods of time. Any period of time in which you get quiet and more aware of your thoughts and feelings, and the things you are normally not aware of (such as sounds, sights, and energies in your environment) can be meditative. If you finding sitting in meditation difficult (and many Westerners do, you're not alone!) try a walking meditation, where you are in heightened awareness of every movement you make, every breath you take, the feeling of your body as you slowly pick up one foot and then set it down, the shift of your weight from one foot to the other. My favorite form of meditation is running. It allows me to blow out unwanted residual energies and reconnect the flow of energy from the highest spiritual bodies down through the physical.

If you're open to more direct methods of contact, you might try sitting down with a nice piece of paper and some colored pencils, markers or crayons, and begin allowing your inner spirit to inspire you in drawing a picture of your guardian angel. Just allow whatever comes to mind to flow through onto the paper. You may even find yourself hearing messages or seeing symbolic visions. Write them down!

Of course, you can always take the old-fashioned approach of prayer. Sit quietly and reach out with your heart and mind, letting your desire for contact from an angel to rise up and flow through you. Over the years I have received many stories at my story contest from people who reached out in a time of personal crisis, and got amazing results in the form of contacts from angels or Spirit, many of which involved physical contact such as feeling someone holding their hand or stroking their hair.

If you have trouble getting results with the above methods, or simply lack the patience for really applying yourself to them, you can certainly explore the possibility of having someone who is in regular communication with the non-physical (such as a psychic or medium) act as intermediary for you.

Once you achieve contact with an angel or non-physical being, it's wise to question and evaluate the experience. Jesus taught "By their fruits you shall know them." Angels always point the way to God, or to greater love and compassion. In this way, anyone who aims to uplift and expand love and peace is doing the work of an angel. Angels help us to grow spiritually, to overcome the challenges in life. They underscore our faith in the benevolence of the Universe and in our own ability to create positive changes in life. At this unique turning point in history, people are rumbling with a deep spiritual hunger. It is most comforting to know that whether we view angels as divine messengers from heaven, or as any being who is devoted to doing the work of God or Spirit, angels are real, and never far away.