GateKeeper Alternative Guidance

By Virginia Waldron

What the heck are angels?  I was asked that question recently, and it is a good question to ask.  Most of us experience angels through things like Christmas cards, cemeteries, commercials for women’s undergarments, wrapping paper, paintings (esp. 15^th century through 18^th century), sometimes statuary in Church or Temple, and at places like Seven Rays Bookstore or The RoseHeart Center.  We hear the word angel much more often, we can be angels to someone by simply finding and returning lost keys or fetching a beer from the fridge, we can eat angel cake, we can even look like an angel.  But none of these can answer the question.  So lets give it a try in another way.

I was inspired to study and then prepare a class about angels and I had a lot of help and guidance, both human and otherwise.  My own inclination is to start at the beginning, or as close to it as I could get, so I started with books and researching the history of angels, or at least the history of human and angelic relations, starting with the dictionary. Angels are messengers from Spirit, pure and simple.  The word, Angel, is based on the Greek work Angelos, which means divine messenger. In Hebrew the word for Angel is Malakh, which also means messenger and in Persian the word for angel is Angaros, meaning a courier. Before culturally based organized religions there was the seemingly worldwide belief in Animism (thought to be the original structured (loosely) belief system of humans) that taught spirit is all around us, and nature spirits including faeries, divas, dryads, and other elementals that inhabit all things on the earth plane. So, basically these beings that in more modern society we refer to as angels, have been around since ancient times.  There have always been such supernatural beings that can act as mediators and messengers between humans and Spirit.  Belief in these messengers can be found, in one form or another, in just about every organized religion, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Native American and other tribal systems, etc.  As Aynne McAvoy said, they come in all flavors. 

So that is a brief version of the history but it does not answer our original question - WHAT, exactly, IS an angel? When I ask that question of my Guides this is what I get - Pure Spirit, Beings of Light, non-physical entities with consciousness and will of their own.  All that other stuff, all the trappings of names and specific job titles, wings and halos, stones, crystals, colors and candles, that is all human, it all comes from our human need to define and structure with labels and assigned tasks.  We need language as a verbal or written placeholder in order to connect with each other (at least for the time being) with a common goal.  They don’t need that stuff but they don’t mind if we do.  As long as we make the connection, its ok to use whatever trappings we like.  They can wear whatever appearance we need them to, they can bring whatever focus and intention we need them to bring.  If we need an angel named Sarakiel to help us find our way back to our life path, then that is what we ask for and what we get.  Behind the word is the belief and behind the belief is the intention and intention creates reality. 

Well, ok, but what does that mean?  It means that each one of us has our own way of making that connection and your way is just fine for you.  Prayer, meditation, channeling (I find I can open best to chat with them when I am doing something else that distracts my physical body and mind, like walking through the woods or riding my bike), writing, alone or with others, whatever works for you is fine with them. 

Some other questions I’ve been asked are about hierarchies, Guardian Angels, Archangels, what is the difference between angels and spirit guides, do we all have personal angels, can anyone talk to angels, how can I communicate with my angels, are they dead people, are they related to faeries, what dimension are they from, and so forth.  I teach a class about angels and angelology and I will be offering it at the RoseHeart Center on Tuesday nights in August.  In that class we explore all these questions and more, in depth, but I will give a brief run through of the more obvious ones here:

Since ancient times we believed we are born with personal angels who look after us as best they can (never drive faster than your guardian angel can fly); the ancient Greeks and Romans and even the ancient Hebrews believed that they are with us when we are born, through life and when we die they escort us back to Spirit/Heaven/Home. 

Angels have never been human – the only exception appears to be Enoch who became the Archangel Metatron (long story).  Loved ones who die sometimes hang around for a while and act as a spirit guide, but they are not angels.  Spirit Guides (we all have them) been human and they have evolved to such a spiritually (vibrationally or energetically) high level that they no longer need to incarnate. They help us (when we allow them to) as we move along our own earthly path.  Remember, we are not human beings on a spiritual path, we are spiritual beings on an earthly path, adventure. We are never alone, and we have help and guidance all around us, as close as our next breath, if we ask. 

As for dimensions, all I know about is this one, earth plane and our spiritual home.  I read/study and meditate to learn what I need in order to serve, and I guess my human brain can only deal with this level of awareness.  Edgar Cayce did channel a new angel, Halaliel, who said he governed the law of Karma. This name has no known etymology and is not mentioned elsewhere in any angel literature.  Halaliel identified himself as coming from the higher spiritual realms, and being on the side of Michael’s host who fought against the Fallen Angels.  He indicated that he was as important in other worlds as The Master Soul known as Christ was here on earth.

Hierarchies – again, this is a human concept and most theologies come up with one that fits their structured belief system.  We seem to be most familiar with the Pseudo-Dionysius Hierarchy, which is thought to have been put together by a Catholic Monk in the 5^th century.  It has 9 choirs or orders of Angels - Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels and Angels.  The highest ones are closest to the throne of God and the lesser ones are closer to the earth plane.  Archangels are the highest level that works directly with the earth plane, although they mostly concern themselves with the cosmic earth connections.  Angels are the ones that work with us as individual humans.  This system is Catholic and seems to be based on the hierarchy of the Catholic Church.  The Hebrew and the Islamic theologies have their own hierarchies, based on their worldview, too. 

Fallen angels and the battle of light and dark is an interesting story with many sources. Basically there was a battle between those who agreed with God/Spirit and those who did not.  Michael and the leading Archangels fought for the good guys (the ones who won) and Lucifer and his gang fought against them and lost.  They retreated even deeper into the earthly plane, further away from God’s Grace.

This is all very interesting and very Judea-Christian. I prefer to think of it as the internal and eternal battle of light and dark within all of us, the struggle between our higher and lower levels of consciousness, between human ego mind and higher spiritual or heart mind.  We can bring in archetypes and metaphors, etc. and it is a lot of fun to examine, but this is neither the time nor place. 

There is so much more here and far more than I have time to explore in this lifetime, but I hope it is enough to be getting on with. If you have other questions, or if you want to go deeper into the history, mystery, myths & channeling about angels, sign up for my class in August.  There are lots of books about angels.  I searched out the ones that talked about angels and human history, about different belief systems, and the evolution of angels to modern times.   Some of the authors that I found most helpful were Edgar Cayce, Robert Grant, Rosemary Guiley, Ted Andrews, Ruth White, Richard Webster, and Barbara Mark.