On the Wings of an Angel; of Daemons and Men.

The curious reader of my last blog might have noticed an incongruous point in the telling of the tale of Art’ur. The Lord of Brittaine was born of two mortals, and lives today! He lives in the Land of the Fae and the Elfin, a place of No-Time, so is essentially immortal too. This leads me on to a tale long remembered and loved by many. It is of Thomas the Rhymer and the Queen of Elfin Land. To read the whole story see Ellen Kushner’s book Thomas the Rhymer.
Thomas falls asleep under a tree. In a ‘dream’ he thinks he awakes in heaven, whereupon he sees a Queen of immense beauty. Except she is an Elfin Queen, come to visit him. Her beauty leads Thomas with her to Elfin Land, where he spends seven years in her service. When he returns to his earthly existence, Thomas finds only a few hours have passed. This is a favourite ballad of mine that means more than story to me. There is a striking resemblance between Thomas’s adventure and an out of body experience. Falling into a deep trance like state, Thomas could think he was dead and in heaven. The Elfin Queen tells him she is not of heaven, but of another existence. The ‘time’ in Elfin Land is no time. Subsequently when Thomas awakes, he has ‘lost’ only the time spent asleep. This is as it is with near death experiences.
Many people have had NDE’s. During my open heart surgery, my heart was stopped so that the surgeons could replace a defective aortic valve. After the operating team had finished with me, I went to the Intensive care unit. Two or three hours later, the surgeons were called back after I developed complications. During all this time I was not aware, of course, of any activity at all. Before that complication was ‘sorted’, Sue, my wife, had a bad feeling and went to see if things were OK. She was met by a nurse coming to tell her things were not OK. Eventually, I was sewn up again and back in the ICU. Looking back eight years, after wondering: had I had an NDE?, now I can say yes, sort of. A week ago, I was tweeting to my friends, sharing the love and joy we all feel when we ‘meet’. This went on for a while, when suddenly I had an amazing and intense feeling of utter joy and love within a beautiful glow. So hard to put into words, I could not explain it other than a glimpse of heavenly love. Had the twitting jolted my repressed memory of that NDE? Without doubt, for I also felt I had been given a chance to share my love with all Earth’s souls. Sounds incredible? Yes it is.
How many of us believe in angels? Yes, I do, and not only believe, experienced their work too. I have always been aware of my many fortunes in this journey we call life. Without realising, I have been listening to my guardian angel. When that realisation finally dawned, I watched for signs (I cannot hear a voice in my head, as some do). When a white dove suddenly appears where non have ever been seen before, you notice. When the devastating anxiety you feel over a particular issue eases and then disappears whilst the white dove is there, you know it’s not You! Then when the dove vanishes, never to be seen since, well, that is special. These signs are beyond rational. Then why do others not know of their guardian? Perhaps they aren’t listening or watching for signs; more probably, they do not believe.
Guardian angels are not a ‘new’ phenomena, they have been around for thousands of years. Spirits of the ancestors have guided their progeny in many cultures, since time began. Socrates believed he had daimonion (a Devine ‘something’) that frequently warned him, by voice, against mistakes, but never told him what to do. This is exactly what Lorna Byrne describes of angels in her books. Your guardian angel can communicate a warning but can never overstep your free will. They exist to guide us through life and remain with us in death.
But there is more to daemons than this. As I have said, a guardian can warn or advise but never tell you to do something. As with Faeries, if we choose to ignore their warning, then ‘things’ can go really pear shaped. The foolish may prefer to believe they have been ‘wronged’ some way. Would it seem natural for the foolish to believe these daemons actually demons? Whatever, the name stuck. Even within the Church of God. And that is a sad thing indeed.
Why oh why do we twist things round; why deny the good, in favour of the bad. Is it due to insecurity, the feeling that we are alone to the realities, the ‘horrors’ of life? Is it the fear of separation? We do not listen to our guides, or watch for their signs. We deny their existence as scientifically impossible, since there is no empirical evidence that will stand up ‘in court’. And we go on blundering about, in darkness.
Time then to turn back towards the Light. In This uncertain Reality we see with our eyes; we must start to see with our hearts. Therein is a much different world; one of Love and Light. A Love so pure, it is beyond sadness or fear. A light so beyond reasoning, it comforts and tenderly holds us with all the Joy of that Love. Never will you imagine such a feeling till you see ‘heaven’. And, when your time has come, all the way there, you will be carried on the Wings of an Angel.
Love and Light,
Andrew.