Willow and I got to talking the other day about angels. A friend had stopped by to show off her angel tattoo. Well, as you can see — angel wings. After she left, I said that growing up Catholic had given me a different perspective on angels than our peers. I had to explain a bit more.

For me, angels are God’s messengers and His soldiers. I love what Doreen Virtue has brought to the world with her angel therapy, and yet, I said, it’s a weird occupation for angels to have….. You’d have thought I suggested going out and buying some crack.

I understand why it seems weird to people. We’re all looking for guidance — spiritual guidance, divine guidance, plain old guidance. And what better place to look than at these celestial beings? I might lose some readers here, but I think of the angels as being metaphors for possibilities within myself. If Gabriel is the patron saint of messengers (like broadcasters and mail carriers), then why can’t I think of “Gabriel” as the part of me that knows the answer and can share it?

I “call” on Gabriel, but what I’m really doing is trying to wake this sleeping part of myself. Some of the people we deal with, me and Willow, don’t believe enough in themselves — and believe too much in the outside world to heal and help them.

OK, so I didn’t mean for this to be a rant or an anti-angel blog post. It’s not that at all. I am fascinated by the angels and their meanings and how my friends interpret them. Anything tool that helps you look within, be it tarot, psychic readings or angel therapy cards, I’m all for.

It funny how this all started with an angel tattoo. As so often happens, I’ve seen more angels wings tattoos in the last few days than I’d ever seen before. I saw a girl at the Quick Joe coffee shop studying angel tattoo designs and the next day, the guy in front of me on the bus had an angels wings tattooed in the same place as our friend Marnie.

I’m interested — are you seeing more angel tattoos or is it just my neighborhood? What do you think about angels?