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Heaven Cents

Photo by Erin N. Calmes

Winging It: Karen Hayes started Angels Bearing Gifts in Aptos following a series of dreams in which an angel threw sparkling light that guided her toward a decision to open the store.

Angel sightings are on the upswing, and marketing the miracle contacts is a new boom industry

By Sarah Phelan

Writing about angels has been a divine revelation. Not that I saw any shining towers of light at the end of my bed, although I prayed I might. If the whole heavenly host could turn out for Jesus' birth, you'd think one little angel could show up to get me off the agnostic fence. But nada, niete. Nothing happened. Not that angels are hard to imagine: Dante's vivid visions inspire me to see hordes of angels, swathed in blue silk, swooping through that shaft of light splitting through a towering cloudbank to brush the earth with shimmering wings.

It's just difficult to believe in them, because whether they are plucking harps of gold, proclaiming virgins pregnant or scaring the bejeezus out of a bunch of simple shepherds, angels always manage to look like Hollywood's idea of heavenly with their halos and to-die-for hairdos. Despite all that high-altitude, long-distance commuting, they show no signs of jet lag and always appear fresh, radiating light and love. They'd make out-of-this-world airline attendants.

As it happens, this celestial crew is onboard a spiritual hijacking that has taken off with the American imagination as hostage, spiraling upward on a miraculously high-profit commercial flight path. As angels abandon their yearly yuletide nesting sites atop Christmas trees to roost in alternative year-round sites--from the Internet to bumper stickers--sales of angel magnets and music boxes ring out loud. This angel business poses some tricky metaphysical questions: Did angels engineer their own popularity? Do they covet the power and the glory that popularity brings? Or are they ethereal bystanders far removed from us earthbound, dollar-channeling humans. God only knows.

Visions or Hot Flashes?

One thing's for sure--there's been an upsurge of interest in seraphim and cherubim. Maybe it's the millennium thing that has us searching for spiritual crutches on which to hobble into the 21st century. Or maybe we're in such bad shape that angels have been dispatched en masse to aid us. Whatever the reason, sightings and stores surrounding the angel mystique are on the upswing.

Angels allegedly take whatever form you're capable of seeing--a chubby cherub, a statuesque seraph or even no form at all--a dream, a burst of energy, a feeling of guidance. If you're irritated by the vagueness of this theory, that's because you lack belief. Believe it or not, angels mirror the culture of those to whom they appear, in which case the mechanical angel with blond hair and white everything--skin, wings and robes--in the window of Angels Bearing Gifts in Aptos speaks silent volumes about the all-white world of gift-shop kitsch.

Owner Karen Hayes opened the store because of vivid angel dreams in which she sees "angels in their light bodies, bright and see-through, so big, so beautiful, they make me feel very comfortable, very safe, and give me specific directions, exactly the perfect things to fix a situation. In this particular dream, an angel threw some sparkly light and there was the store," she says, sweeping her hand dramatically to indicate a boutique bursting with candelabras, kissing cherubs, and cutesy chintz.

Hayes also uses her angel dreams to hire staff, which I guess is a form of high-end affirmative action, though heaven knows if it's constitutional. Joan Dotz, a tall, creamy-skinned redhead who was hired this way, says, "All kinds of people come in, not only the metaphysical types. Many come in terrible crisis, often going through a triple trauma like divorce, job loss and the debilitating illness of a loved one. An abrupt spiritual crisis seems to open people up to a whole new dimension of possibilities. They find solace in the store, admitting that they don't know why they're here, but it makes them feel better, and they love to share their stories."

Dotz admits to wondering, "What's with the wings? But," she adds, "unlike religion, which we can argue about until we are blue in the face, angels are a concept that pulls us together rather than fractionalizes us."

Hayes doesn't lay out her personal beliefs. As far as she's concerned, "Angels and a God, or Supreme Being, are common factors the world over. For me, angels are really about people living their lives well."

From Here to Eternity

Certainly angels and humans go way back. Earliest recorded history shows winged griffins in Mesopotamia and winged Isis were common finds in the Egyptian tombs. These incredible hulks softened up as they spread into the ancient civilized world of the Mideast and eventually westward into Italy, where they became the forerunners of today's more emasculated fairies. If images of medieval seraphim and Milton's sexy devils merely reflect prevalent cultural attitudes, then you'd expect avant-garde angels to be perfectly PC and remain in a transparent, shapeless, sexless form.

The universality of angel images proves little other than that interesting ideas wing their way across cultures. Once the prophet Zoroaster introduced a monotheistic deity, the Babylonian and Assyrian gods promptly morphed into archangels, who grew wings and went celibate. So if they weren't having sex, what were they hanging around in midair for? Apparently they were necessary intermediaries between a single, more distant deity and humankind. The idea took off and spread into Judaism and Christianity, where angels showed up to blow trumpets, hold lilies, deliver amazing news, destroy cities or watch over someone.

History notwithstanding, Hayes is convinced that "angels are all around. Everybody gets help from the universe," she says, "but not everyone talks about it. It's very personal, but it's part of everyday life. We need to make room for spiritual experiences, and be filled with expectancy--not expectations. "

People come into Angels Bearing Gifts with tales of small everyday miracles, amazing sightings, near-death experiences, or being under incredible stress but feeling as if they are held by angels. "It affects me to see they know they are in the hands of the angels," Hayes explains. "Near-death experiences, whether true or not, give us a gift of a changed attitude. And maybe we have earth angels too--people who are incredibly loving and on a mission, who step into a messy situation to help."

What amazes Hayes is how the store functions as a resource center. "Visitors can use the prayer basket to leave or take a prayer home," she says. "We refer people to spiritual help available locally, and a wide selection of angel books and tapes. Once a week, someone comes in and cries, because they're inspired by the store. Too many of us plug into the battery, instead of into the wall. All this help is available but untapped."

But can too much of a good thing be a bad thing? Not necessarily, but Hayes says, "I'm thinking of organizing a 12-step program for people addicted to angels. After all, how many does any one person need?"

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