angel wing in cloudsI had a client last year who’s grown up daughter was going travelling. She wanted to give her something as a keepsake and also to protect her.
The odd thing was that she confessed to not having any superstitions or beliefs and yet she was basically looking for an amulet or protective charm.

For many, the St Christopher has fulfilled this function over the centuries. In the legend St Christopher was serving Christ by carrying people across a dangerous river that was causing many fatalities and, in the course of his labours, ended up carrying the child Christ across as well.

Back to my client, you can see how when sending a child out into a dangerous world, you would want to call on any form or protection that you could lay your hands on, and this clearly overrides the rational materialism of the age.  ‘Well, It can’t do any harm.’ is a common response.

We decided on a an angel in the end. The concept of a guardian angel is so personal and it feels like you’re handing your loved one on to someone who can care for them in your stead, rather than just trying to invoke some mechanism within the unseen Universe. I sent her a picture of the piece when it was finished and she emailed me back saying, “Now you’ve made me cry.”

This is what makes my job worth doing. Not making people cry, but the privilege of being involved in significant events in the lives of those with whom I have to do.

If they exist then angels are not the wafty white things that we tend to picture or the chubby, winged babies of the Renascence; they’re clearly both more serious and more incognito than that. I know people who believe that they’ve had encounters with angels in their lives so it would interesting to collect some stories. If you’ve got one then please contribute it below. The most convincing one will win a free Angel Pendant. Make it up if you want to but remember that you’ll have to convince me. The winner will be announced on my Facebook page.

You can see and buy the Guardian Angel Pendant in the Rogue’s Gallery and there’s a video to accompany the images on that page.

21 Comments:
20 October 2017

I was going through a very difficult time following the break up of a 7 year relationship (which was doomed from the start but I couldn’t see it!!)

I was painfully listing lots of clothes to sell on ebay, taking several pictures of each item when this appeared on one of the photos…. (Please see your Facebook PM for photo evidence!!) ?

20 October 2017

I was involved in a car accident on a motorway on my way to work. It was early in the morning and was dark & wet. A massive lorry crashed into the side of me and caused extensive damages. The issue caused me to be severely affected by anxiety and fears & reoccurring feelings of dread.

A few time the feelings have become quite intense and hard to deal with. One of these occurrences was when I was at home & feeling quite low. I was home alone and heard a loud noise from upstairs. I went upstairs and found that something had fallen in a closed cupboard which had not been touched at all that day. When I opened the cupboard to find out what it was I noticed it was one of my willow tree angel ornaments that had fallen. I have a few of these, and it was the one holding a dog in its arms. I had lost a puppy a few years past & I like to think & hope it was my little puppy ‘Amber’ who was running around & knocked into the cupboard. It makes me feel that she is still there running about to hele cheer me up & make me smile.

20 October 2017

My beautiful Grandad Clayson passed away while I was in a violent relationship, but the thought of him invisibly throwing his arms around me like a shield allowed me to survive many shocking beatings. I thought of everything he’d been through to protect us in the war and wondered why I was allowing someone to take away my liberty. I thank my Grandad, who I have named my son after, for being the strength that helped me leave. My true guardian angel. ???
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20 October 2017

My children and myself must have a guardian angel. After having my first son the midwife told me that he had a natural knot in his umbilical cord, I am not a religious person but I did that day for the blessing of our beautiful healthy boy,
We were also blessed to have another healthy boy delivered by emergency c section due to having a prolapsed cord.
I feel that we are so lucky to have both our boys and we cherish them, as the outcome on both events could of been completely different.
So I do believe that someone/something up there is watching over, but not every day!

20 October 2017

You made my wedding rings Jez so your jewellery has always had a special place in my heart. Then my son passed away aged three days old and I was fairly lost and wanted to find ways of cementing his presence within my family. You probably remember that my friends all contacted you and arranged for you to make a necklace with all my children’s names on. I can’t even begin to tell you what that meant, and what it continues to mean. My friends really did act as guardian angels – and continued to in the weeks and months after Freddie’s death. If they see wildflowers or birds (which both have become linked to him), they text me pictures, or if they see a beautiful sunset they will let me know that they thought of him. It can feel after losing a child like other people move on and forget them, but my friends make sure that’s not the case. I wouldn’t have survived without them. I would love to repay their kindness somehow.

20 October 2017

I’m an adoption SW. One of the little ones I placed for adoption and their family keep in touch. Recently the little one informed me that their Mum says I am their guardian angel on this earth. One of my proudest moments.

21 October 2017

My dearest and oldest friend Carol moved to Spain to live around 15 years ago,almost every year i went to visit her ,and we had many happy times, she loved animals, especially cats and every time i visited there would be more and more strays that she looked after. Although i have a mother i considered Carol as my “real ” mum. Sadly 3 years ago she slipped on her stone stairway and very badly damaged her skull, she died 3 weeks later . I miss her terribly, it took 7 months to get her ashes home, as the Spanish authorities were not very helpful, her ashes are now buried in a very pretty village churchyard close to where her brother still lives. When i am feeling down or on her birthday i go and sit on a bench close by and remember the times we had together. The first time i did this as i walked into the churchyard i noticed a very beautiful cat sitting on the plaque which commemorates Carol, it was a chocolate brown Burmese. When she first went to Spain she took 3 cats with her, her favourite Olly was a chocolate Burmese. I truly believe she is my guardian angel.

21 October 2017

I met my guardian angel frank when I was very ill in hospital. I had broken my ankle and had been fobbed off by various doc etc. I knew something was very wrong but getting nowhere I called my cousin who is a surgeon in London. I was immediately taken in as I had 4 blood clots in my leg and any movement would have caused stroke etc. I was put on drugs for 8 hour infusions every day for 2 weeks whilst they did tests. My mother had past away and I was very scared though over the passing days I dreamt of her. One night whilst very heavily drugged as I was talking to my mother and then she suddenly morphed into an angel and started growing really tall. We started face to face and then frank grew and grew and we started tilting so I was lying down on the bed and he filled the room above means I felt peaceful and safe. Then he stared to gently blow in my face and I went into a very deep sleep lulled by the breeze. The next day I was incredibly ill and they sent me for an mri I was in there for an hour and a half but the enclosure and the air in my my reminded me that Frank was with me and I stayed calm all throughout so that they could get all the tests done on my heart. In my darkest hours I am now confident that I am never alone and Frank is there to keep me safe, whatever happens to me physically. When I ask for advice from Frank I will always see a white feather, or something that will let me know they have heard me. my mother is always a white butterfly, I know in my heart and head that we carry on in some way and that angels are everywhere waiting to help we just have to ask . Xox

21 October 2017

I was a 20 yrs old student 32 yrs ago. My dad had died in the summer & I was sad. I was also worried about my finals & getting a job. My stomach hurt. I could not sleep. I could not eat. I’m a greedy pig to this day so when I’m not eating, something is not right. It was 1985 so no mobiles or email. I was desperate for mum to ring on the hallway payphone. The phone duly rang but I knew it would not be her because it was not her night. Alarmingly it was my mum. I was shouted downstairs by one of my housemates. Mum was, & still is, stern. She does not handle emotion well. Without a greeting she simply said ” Hilary, what is wrong ?” Holding back tears I assured her everything was ok. She persisted. “Hilary, what is wrong ? I was standing at the kitchen sink and your dad told me to phone you so I know something is wrong”
3 hrs later she picked me up and nursed me back to health & strength over the next 2 weeks.
That was dad’s angel helping us both out xx

21 October 2017

Hi my name is Tracie, in 1994 I lost my son Harry, he was born a sleeping angel ? & in 1995 I lost another son George, i was in labour, it was nite time when I went into hospital, but because of Harry the year before, i had extra checks, i was being monitored all nite, except for about 1/2hr while they checked the monitor results, then straight bk on monitor, anyway to cut a long story short, around 6.30 am the houseman in charge came to my bed, looked at chart n said, “if u don’t get up n walk around ur not going to have the baby anywhen soon ” trusting him, thats Wot i did, then the worst happened.. In 1997 I was pregnant again,( I’m quite a spispiritual person anyway, ) I was obviously really scared about the pregnancy anyway, cos of the last two babies, this nite / early hrs of the morning, something made me look at the bedroom door, standing at the door, was i thought my eldest son, who wld of been around 5/6 yrs, he was just standing there reaching up for the handle, i waited to hear wot he wanted, but nothing came from his mouth, so I rested up on my elbow n Wot’s wrong son? The lil child just looked at me, then his head turned to the right, as my eyes n head turned to c Wot he was looking at, to my shock, standing at the foot of the bed to my left, i saw another small child, i cld’nt believe my eyes,, standing in my bedroom was my children I’d lost, Harry n George!! As much as I was over joyed, they looked just as I’d imagined, beautifully presented, so so cute, i suddenly got scared, very very scared, confused, panic had set in, u c I’ve always been told, when u die, someone u no will collect u when the time is rite, , so u can imagine wot was going thru my head, they’ve come to collect the baby I’m carrying!! Thankfully I had a friend who was a spiritual Dan, i rushed to call her, by this time I’m a wreck, crying, panicking, cos of Wot I’d thought, i remember saying upto the sky, i cant go thru it again, pl dont make me go thru all that again,, after explaining to my friend wot happened, Wot I’d just seen, i cld’nt believe wot I was hearing, she told me to calm myself down n listen, the boy’s have not come to take anything away from u, they no how anxious u r, so they’ve come together to let me no that the bump will b ok, n not to worry, they felt I needed to c them, n also needed to no that the bump will b ok,, n it was, Jeremy was born in March 97, 4wks early, but alive, he was born with a hole in the heart, but it was the best hole out of all the heart problems u cld have, no surgery needed, just lot’s of heart scans, n by the age of 1yr old it was closed ? he’s now 6’8 n in March 2018 he’ll b 21,, to this day I can still c there lil faces, i feel so very very lucky to of had this experience, not only that, but to get the chance to c Wot my babies looked like at 2yrs n 3yrs old, even now all these yrs later, i can still describe wot they looked like,. Thank u for listening to my story x

22 October 2017

I have two friends, two stories which makes me feel a very lucky lady.
The first one Mel: married two children. Sister died of cancer fostered her two children wasn’t allowed to adopt them that’s going through now years later. Her mum died shortly after her sister, her house burnt down with all her belongings in it. Photos of sister and Mum.. memories which can’t be replaced. Last year she found she had cervical cancer and had to be operated on. Oh did I mention she works full time so does her husband and ask for nothing. She is the most positive person I know. Always has a smile on her face. A legend. They are currently living in a rental property which is very cold and they sleep in jackets.
My other friend Emma. Single mother works full time. Lives with her mother who she nursed through breast cancer. Both her brothers have lived with her at some point due to silly life decisions.
She works in her aunties florist on a Saturday, looks after her brothers son, she nurses her grandfather on a Sunday. She has currently lost 21kg through determination and her positive attitude.
These people deserve some recognition for their positive attitudes and still manage to smile everyday.

22 October 2017

Have I already got a Guardian Angel thanks to my wife and Jez? It all started a couple of years ago on Valentines Day while out with my wife and friends, as I arose to leave the theatre having enjoyed the production ‘Taken at Midnight” I noticed that my ‘Heavy gold and silver bracelet’ was missing from my wrist, fortunately a quick search beneath my seat,and I found it! After the matinee we went of to a restaurant for dinner then made our way to the railway station for our journey home – I did not feel great and was lagging behind.
On arrival home my wife went up to bed and I took the opportunity to catch up on England’s rugby union match. After a short while feeling uncomfortable I made my way to bed. My wife asked if I was alright to which I replied – no not great – lets now cut to the chase she rang 111, ambulance arrived minutes later had some checks all seemed OK but then I slipped to the floor my heart having stopped – resuscitated, saw the light – it was the kitchen ceiling light – ambulance to hospital (time is now close to ‘midnight’), then transfer to Guys, straight into operating theatre, operated on, stent inserted, it is now the early hours of Sunday morning. Left hospital on the following Tuesday with in fact a clean bill of health no residual damage but with remedial drugs. On arrival home went up to my study, where on the Saturday I had just finished recording LP’s on to digital – the sleeve that I then picked up to put away was ‘Queen’s Shear Heart Attack!
Perhaps it had nothing to do with the bracelet at the time, but it does now, and 3 years on it is still looking after me.
Thanks Jez perhaps this was your first Guardian Angel piece of jewellery?

23 October 2017

I was very ill 4 1/2 rears ago, at one time being in Intensive Care. I was told that if I hadn’t been treated when I was, I would have had a massive heart attack, which it would have been fatal. Whilst lying there having lines inserted into my neck, I felt as if someone was looking down on me and I felt a great calmness. I am sure that this was my guardian angel. There have been several other instances where, when feeling helpless, I have found white feathers, which have always made me feel confident that everything was going to be alright and it always have.

24 October 2017

In 2003 I suffered a massive brain haemhorrage. Going into Theatre to be put to sleep I saw the room from the sides of my eyes become covered in massive feather’s, which then stretched out around the operating Theatre and then above my head across the ceiling came my Angel’s face (of pure comfort) and body. The room was totally wrapped in his presence. During the following 6 months we found massive white feather’s all over the house and I stuck them outside my bedroom door, thanking him each time I found one. In December of the same year I was having another bleed in my brain and on our way to the hospital I was absolutely totally terrified. When I got out of the car I stepped straight into a puddle, in which was really large sure white feather. I remember turning to my mum and saying ‘he’s here I’m going to be okay’. 14 years later my angel still leaves the odd signs for me and I am totally blessed to have had his support in keeping me alive to raise my son. This is not a religious post it’s a real experience. It’s still tough but I know I’m supposed to be here for a lot longer yet. Thanks for reading. ?

24 October 2017

This is now 11 years ago but will remain forever in my mind.

I’d suffered a spontantious lung collapse and ended up being rushed to A and E, having had a drain placed into my lung cavity I was placed into the transition ward ( between a and e and a ward) I was feeling very nervy when a feather floated around my bed. I instantly thought of my husbands grandmother, whom due to her death before our relationship I had never had the chance to meet. Anyways I thought of her and felt instant calm, reasurance and warmth. Now I believe her to be my guardian angel as she was someone i’d never met and had no cause to think of, but gave me the strength I required at that time. For this I am ever thankful to her spirit and may it bring comfort to others.

25 October 2017

My dad passed away in 1996 and my mum in 2007. Both of these amazing people brought me up to believe in myself and not to let anyone or anything stop me getting where I want in life. I’m now a single mum of 3 amazing children 2 of them have adhd and one of these 2 is also autistic. Without the constant guidance and belief from my parents I don’t think I’d be where I am today. They were my best friends in life and still are through spirit. This pendant would be a symbol that they are constantly with me and my children. ??

28 October 2017

Many years ago my grandfather was standing on the pavement and was about to cross the road. A truck was approaching and the moment it passed he took a step into the road to cross behind the truck. As he began to move forward he felt a strong hand on his shoulder pulling him back onto the pavement. He immediately looking behind him, but there was no-one there. It was only at that moment that he saw the truck was towing a trailer and he was about to step into the gap, which would have been fatal. He was totally convinced that an angel had saved his life. He was a very committed Christian who believed that his life was in God’s hands and had been miraculously saved.

31 October 2017

Hi Jez!
I’ve had 2! One visible & one not.

In the mid 1980’s I was working for an organisation that involved me travelling frequently into Eastern Europe (behind the Iron Curtain!) There were a group of us in former Yugoslavia distributing leaflets which the government viewed as “propaganda” so we were being careful. However one of my colleagues & I were apprehended, arrested & taken to the police station. After a while we were released on the condition that we got on the first train back to Vienna. We had nothing but what we stood up in, our passports & some emergency money. It was mid summer, we were hot, shaken & jittery. We were followed to the train station & then had to confront huge queues for tickets.
Eventually it was our turn & we were brusquely waved away as it was the wrong ticket window.
Getting near despair, we were approached by an unusually very well dressed young man who asked, in perfect English, if he could help. (This was a very unusual thing back then)
We were so grateful & explained we needed tickets to Vienna & didn’t know where to get them. He then took us out of the main hall, down a long corridor, into a small room with a ticket window, which we would never have found, & helped us get our tickets, then left.
A few seconds after he left I thought of something I had to ask him so went to the door & looked out… the long corridor was completely empty. He had vanished. He should have been only a few steps down the corridor but he wasn’t… there was no obvious place for him to go … he was just gone.
I went back to my friend who asked what he’d said… I told her that he had vanished… we looked at each other & both said- he was an angel.
In a scary situation, alone, far from home, no mobile phones or internet, we were at the end of our tether. In our moment of greatest need I believe this angel came to help us.
We caught our train & got back to Vienna with no further incident.
I’ve got goosebumps just thinking of this!

The other incident involved driving at night, at speed on any icy road in an East German forest (where we weren’t allowed to be), and the van started to spin out of control on a corner. I was waiting for the crash when the van suddenly righted itself & carried on. I let out my breath & said “good save” to the colleague driving. Her reply was “that wasn’t me. I’d lost control”… more goosebumps!
I still smile at the mental image of an angel straining to keep our van on the road!
If we’d crashed, apart from injury or death, there would have been all kinds of negative repercussions not only for us, but for a lot of other people. It was another desperate situation in which I believe we had angelic help to save us.

Hope you enjoyed these tales ?

31 October 2017

On 25 th November 2010 I had been to an evening meeting in Keynsham, at the Baptist Church. Driving back to Cheltenham up the M5 at about 11pm it became clear that something was wrong with the car. I lost control and smacked head on into the central barrier . The car went into a spin and came to a stop facing the oncoming traffic, ( in the outside lane) with totally smashed front so no lights.In my shock, I apparently opened the door and tried to get out.
By some miracle, no vehicle crashed into my car and three people phoned 999. I was rescued with not even a scratch or whiplash.
I seriously believe my guardian angel was with me that night.

1 November 2017

Maternity leave turned me inside out. The buzz of a challenging job, and a commute with my husband where we planned our day each morning and put the world to rights on the way home, melted into seemingly endless days alone with a tiny human in the wan January light. I knew my baby boy like the back of my hand, and yet he was an ever-changing mystery to me.
Ely is my adopted hometown, different in every way from the mountains and sea where I grew up in Ireland. I passed the cathedral twice a day on my way to and from work and loved how it looked different in every changing light. One grey November afternoon at 38 weeks pregnant I sat under the intricately painted ceiling of the nave and looking up found that right overhead was the Annunciation, the angel Gabriel presenting a lily. The first day I took the boy to the cathedral I heaved the pram through the ornate door and into the silence. He looked back at me blankly. I dug him from the snug blankets and carried him around. I whispered about windows and columns, arches and tiles and altars. He was nonplussed.
The angels look down from every corner of the cathedral. Colourful carved angels in the ceiling of the north transept. Happy, sad, serene and stern from the stained glass windows. Spare and beheaded in the Lady Chapel. And most thrillingly, 32 statuesque guardian angels peer down from the panelling on the awesome central octagonal tower. Through the seasons we visited time and again. As the boy’s sight developed I rocked him on his back in my arms or lay him in my lap to look at the ceiling or the patterns cast by sunlight through stained glass. As his posture developed he rested against me cheek-to-cheek while we looked at windows filled with angels and saints and I whispered that just maybe, somewhere in this huge building, was the saint with the same Irish name as him. As he found his voice we spent afternoons all by ourselves in the Lady Chapel, where my la-la-las and his tentative babbles echo gloriously. We have explored sunlight and shadow; music and silence; vast tiled floors, and tiny repeating patterns on the brass handrail of the pulpit. I have cried more than once. And all the time, the angels looked down on us, from every corner.
I am a scientist. I am a happily-lapsed Catholic. My son almost bursts from his pram with pure delight when we near the cathedral door. We are welcomed warmly every time. The longest hour in mid-afternoon flashes by, and all the time those angels look down on us. Winter draws in, my boy is turning one, and the long commute beckons. The angels whisper to remind me that time is flying.

2 November 2017

Well we’re into November now and I have to wrap this up, but I wanted to thank you all for the stories that you’ve contributed. So many of them concern difficult and painful times in our lives and I’m grateful that you’ve taken the time to share such personal details.
It’s been very hard to choose and I’d love to be able to give a pendant to each of you but I have just the one to give away and I’m awarding it to Gwen for her ‘Escape from Vienna’ story, partly because it’s so tangible and inexplicable and partly because it reads like a Cold War thriller.
However, I’m offering two runner-up prizes to Lizzy for her story of human angels because it reminded me of the vital part that real friends play in keeping us on the rails in times of trouble and also to our last entry Sarah J for a beautiful piece of writing. These two will receive a 50% off coupon to be redeemed against an angel pendant should they want to purchase one.
Thank you all once again and I wish you good fortune and angelic protection.
Jez

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