Touched By An Angel - Heavenly Angel Therapy

If you ever thought you had a guardian angel, you’re not alone. Many people believe they have special angels watching over them, whom they can call upon for help when life gets difficult. Whether they are having health problems, difficulty getting or maintaining a love-life or even financial worries, they see communication with angels as being the key to success.

If you are one of those who believes your angel is waiting to help you – but are finding it hard to make a connection with him or her – help is at hand. Angel Therapy is a way that self-proclaimed “Angel Therapy Practitioners”, or ATPs, help us mere mortals get in touch with our angels, to facilitate our healing - and make them some cold, hard cash at the same time. It’s a win-win for everyone!

Origins of Angel Therapy

At its best, Angel Therapy mixes forms of traditional psychological counseling with the belief that angels exist, while helping the client facilitate his ability to become aware of them and make use of the wisdom and guidance they can offer. At its worst, it takes money from sad folk who think that believing in an ethereal being with wings will solve all their problems for them.

The center in the cloud of angels is one Ms Doreen Virtue, who is seen as a the “mother of all angel therapists” – and all angel therapy courses, workshops, seminars, television shows, radio guest appearances, magazine columns and book signings. Years ago she got her Ph.D. from California Coast University, which bills itself as a “pioneer in distance learning since its founding in 1973”, although it no longer accredits doctoral level programs.

For all intents and purposes, after Ms Virtue was awarded her doctorate she became a normal, run-of-the-mill psychologist with a decent practice in San Francisco, consistently claiming Virtue to be her real last name. Although she believed herself to be gifted with clairvoyant abilities from childhood, she had put her spooky imaginings on hold in both her personal and professional life – until the mid 1990s.

One day, the story goes, Ms Virtue heard a voice telling her that her car would be stolen. She disregarded the voice, and soon found herself in the midst of a car-jacking. “Despite this, the angel did not abandon Doreen in her most dire moment—as she was parking, two armed men, intent on a carjacking, brandished weapons and physically accosted the unsuspecting Doreen,” according to her website, www.angeltherapy.com.

“The voice spoke to her again—it was loud, distinctly male, and it instructed her to scream with all her might. This time she listened, and her life was saved by passers-by who became alarmed and sent her attackers running.” From then on Ms Virtue’s life was changed – she left her conventional practice and became the founder of Angel Therapy, devoting her lifework ”to teaching us all how to clearly hear the messages from our angels”, as she did.

“When you work with angels, you can lean upon their light to help you heal at miraculous rates and in amazing ways. The angels can help us heal physically, spiritually, emotionally, and financially,” Ms Virtue says. Well, judging from the money she has certainly made from her angel business, they certainly have helped her with the latter!

Angel Therapy for Healing – and More

Learning from an Angel Therapy Practitioner is a heavenly business. Clients learn visualization techniques as well as how to channel in their own personal angel’s presence, and how to make best use of the wisdom he or she will provide. They also are taught how to interpret auras and medical intuition (!) as well as how to distinguish between guidance that is true and false. Sometimes this is accomplished with added extras, such as crystals, essential oils and Tarot cards.

ATPs will teach you not only how to channel into your own personal guardian angel, but also how to learn from loftier spiritual guides such as the Archangel Michael, who “escorts away fear and darkness”, and Archangel Raphael, who is purported to improve your sense of well-being and health. By learning to focus on particular issues while focusing on angels, you will gain more awareness and confidence on the whole, regardless of what you want to achieve.

However, the use of Angel Therapy is not limited to mere health issues. Oh no. People often see an Angel Therapist to ask their guardian angel for guidance on a variety of issues, including those that are financial and job or career-related. Should you fire your secretary for the cute blonde in Accounts? Ask your guardian angel. Should you invest in one stock or another? Ask your guardian angel. Which color shoes looks best with that new dress? Your guardian angel knows.

“Your angels have important guidance for you about your career, relationships, health, and more,“ Ms Virtue’s website proclaims, advertising a course called How to Hear Your Angels. “You’ll learn to distinguish true divine guidance from imagination, and discover your personal psychic style and gifts. Please call for pricing.”

And if you don’t have the time to see an Angel Therapist in person, why not do it by phone? An Angel Reading by ATP Margaret Ann Lembo, for example, costs just $125 an hour. “Using gemstones, color, the Voyager Tarot and various Angel Oracle Decks by Doreen Virtue, Margaret uses her intuition to interpret the meanings and answers to your questions. You don’t have to do it alone,” proclaims her website, www.margaretannlembo.com. Now that’s a bargain!

And for those who eventually hope to bring the good news to others, you can even participate in special courses given by Ms Virtue. They teach not only how to channel your angel, but also how to counsel, teach and give spiritual healing to those who could benefit from her teachings.

A recent six-day course held by Ms Virtue in Ireland cost almost $1,500 per person – limited to 125 people. That’s over $187,000 in total – not bad work if you can get it! Other courses taught by less distinguished teachers, or Ms Virtue’s “disciples,” come cheaper.

Heaven…or Hell?

While harnessing angels for our own personal use is highly contested – not only among those who see it as heresy, or those nasty skeptics who believe ATPs are doing it just for the money – some people do seem to benefit from it. One reason Angel Therapy has attracted followers is because it deems itself to be non-denominational. This idea rests on the premise that many religions see angels as part of their belief systems, and that healing connected with spirituality also is not limited to just one faith.

Another reason is because it combines real counseling with religion and the supernatural – a holy trinity which many find irresistible. For many, having someone listen to all your problems secure in the comfort that a divine presence is there to reassure and protect is a soothing balm indeed. And an added New Age dimension is a bonus.

“The angels are with us as a gift from our Creator, and their aim is to establish peace on Earth, one person at a time,” Ms Virtue says. “Working wing-in-hand with the angels, I believe that this goal is possible. May your inner light burn brightly today, and all the days to come.” Amen, sister.