For me, one of the most striking things about angelic energy, now that I understand it, is that it has always been there and I just did not recognize it. As you do the meditations for the individual angels, you will realize this for yourself. Truly, nothing is accomplished without the angels — and they have always been there. We always could have "seen" them if we knew what to look for.

My Introduction to the Angels

The angels were first brought to the forefront of my consciousness when my friend Donna and I attended a meditation group. The evening began with a brief prayer spoken by the group's leader, an attractive woman in her fifties named Elana. During this prayer, I could feel the room becoming filled with angelic presence. The room's vibration seemed to speed up, and I could even detect a faint scent of roses.

And as a result of this prayer, it seemed that all the people in the room had changed. A light played on their faces, and they spoke differently. I found that I was no longer aware of their personalities, of their shortcomings or strengths. Everything was happening in a dimension where those things did not matter.

I dreamed that night of a Violet Light that transformed my life.

Donna phoned me the next day and asked, "What did Elana do? The whole room changed after she said that prayer." And I realized I knew the answer. "Elana called in the angels."

Writing Angel Letters

Elana and I had been introduced on other occasions, and I had been impressed by her looks and elegant self-composure — but now I was drawn to her spiritual knowledge. In the following weeks and months, Elana taught me about the angels — including her special angel, Martinez, who had given her the name "Elana" — and how to write what she called Angel Letters.

Angel Letters are written to ask for help with specific situations or to move one's life in a specific direction.

One begins by writing to a specific angel or Archangel: "Dear Angel of [quality desired] or Dear Archangel [name], Thank you for [whatever it is that you are asking]." Elana made a point that we should always thank the angels for their help before receiving it. The letter is "sent" by burning it.

I know from experience that amazing results can occur from writing Angel Letters.

Elana also taught me that the angels answer our prayers as quickly as possible, often by creating situations that "push our buttons" to teach us to change rapidly.

These techniques and prayers changed my life. Within six months, I began working as an intuitive counselor, and since then have even been able to "quit my day job." Now I do spiritual readings, teach, and write for the Spirit of Ma'at.

When I began doing readings and listened to my clients' problems, I received insights as meditations that focused on sound, imagery, and physical sensation. I was surprised at how quickly these techniques worked until I learned that they were truly given to me by the angels.

Sound and color change the speed of our vibratory fields very quickly, and the information and meditations "I" created for my clients were actually techniques to attune to the angels' vibratory fields.

Through experience, I was learning what Elana had taught me all along: "Stay out of the picture. Let the angels do the work."

Recognizing Angelic Presence

The angelic energies make it possible for us to transcend any condition, lack, or need on the material plane. The angelic field is composed of energies that connect to God or the Divine. The angels each have specific qualities, characteristics, and abilities.

Just as we perceive light as seven colors and hear sound on the octave (seven individual notes in each eight-note scale), and just as we perceive the grass to be green or a musical note to be treble or bass, so we perceive the angels, not simply as pure light or vibration or as God, but with specific characteristics.

All energy on Earth has dimension, measurement, and scale. Therefore, when we call upon the angels for transcending, it is important for us to know their characteristics and to commune with these qualities.

Our understanding of angelic energies is part of our move from the third dimension to the fourth and fifth dimensions. The angels enable us to understand that the movement of energy from duality to wholeness is part of the shift of the time we are in. The angels are the connecting energies between God and our selves.

If the angels are energy, then we can transform our own energy by focusing on their forms and how we each as individuals relate to them. The following descriptions of the Archangels may be used to heighten your own understanding and transmute your perception of duality.

These descriptions or visualizations were given to me to help myself and others transmute their our visions of duality. No one description can possibly encompass an Archangel's qualities, so these descriptions are meant only as a guide, and you should feel free to intuit other details that make sense to your own inner knowing.

Raphael — To call in Raphael's energy, imagine an emerald that shines forth light, the purity of each facet of a highly cut stone and the intense green color. You can also bring in the smell of freshly cut herbs or plants, and pull this into your heart chakra. This energy can heal old hurts and wounds. It also may be used to increase the growth of plants. You can imagine holding this energy in your hand and extending it to the plant or seeing an individual plant bathed in the emerald light.

Raphael's energy is used for healing, and this color, shape, and dimensional quality may be used for healing the self or sent to others. Raphael's energies also may be used to heal aspects of the self in beginning a new project (as in planting a seed), and for bringing growth or prosperity to any project already begun.

In using Raphael's energies, remember that anyone can choose to accept or reject healing. Sometimes it may be more appropriate to simply see the person as happy, whole, and active, rather than sending healing energy. Also, people sometimes become so unhappy or in so much pain when they are ill that they cannot be receptive to Raphael's energy until they have first received happiness. So when you do send Raphael's energy to another, it works well to first hold an image of the person's happiness — what they are like when they are happy.

Raphael is the healer who reflects the wholeness of God.

Gabriel — Think of Gabriel's horn. See this golden horn, shining and beautiful, and think of how it is small on one end and large on the other. When vibration becomes sound, it becomes larger, and it radiates outwardly. When we hear messages from the angels, we receive an actual vibration. The interpretation of the messages depends on our ability to hear or receive with our intuition.

In other words, Gabriel speaks to us in the language we call "intuition." If you need to hear a message or receive an answer, you can ask Gabriel. In the times of our lives when we move effortlessly from one thing to another, we are being led by our intuition, this special perception.

Imagine that you wish to receive an answer to a specific question. Think deeply about the question and imagine the horn of Gabriel filling your ear, your mind, your body with golden light. At some point, you should "feel" that you have received an answer. The answer will become clear in the next few days. It may be a hint, such as to call someone, or it may manifest as a set of very clear instructions (in which case you should write them down).

Gabriel is said to be a female Archangel. She also helps those who wish to communicate through writing or the arts by ensuring accurate transmission of spiritual and creative energies. In other words, just as Gabriel is a messenger from the spiritual to the material world, so she also helps those who long to be messengers in third or fourth dimensional reality through written or artistic communication.

To call in Gabriel's energies, you can imagine a golden light tinged with purple touching your workspace and thoughts before you begin. Gabriel is the messenger, and she also helps us to share messages.

Michael — Archangel Michael seems to be available to everyone. He is easily felt, and the room will often "zing" with blue color and warmth when he is present. For souls who are weighed down with responsibility, sadness, or burdens, I often ask them to imagine a blue pyramid around their body. Fill the pyramid with the vivid blue color and ask that all inappropriate ties and connections with the material world be broken. You can recreate the pyramid as needed. It is particularly good to use in situations in which you feel that someone is moving into your boundaries, your space, or emotions.

If it is applicable to your situation, you may want to imagine the blue spiraling out to the universe, and then perceiving what the spiral contacts. Pull the spiral in when you have finished.

It is also interesting to note that all of us have a divine blueprint or a pattern that is perfect for us. You can imagine that you see your divine blueprint (my blueprint always appears as a spiral), and see the blue light of Archangel Michael illuminating it. Write down the information you receive and ask that it be protected and activated.

Uriel — Have you ever had the just-right information delivered to you so that you were able to put together the answer to a mystery? So that suddenly all the studies on a particular topic came together in a magical way?

This is the energy of Uriel — the catalyst for making information come together in one gestalt moment. Imagine that you are recalling an "aha" moment, and feel this subtle energy come into your field. Direct the energy toward any project on which you are working and feel it come together.

Uriel's energy is very subtle, like a fine spring breeze that barely moves the plants and trees but brings the magical feeling of a new season. Focusing on this meditation can bring a transformational quality to any aspect of study or mental focus.

Ariel — Ariel often appears in the form of a lion or lioness in dreams. She brings the spiritual down into physical form and rules the sphere of the physical body as well. It is useful to call upon this energy before making a garden — for instance, the day you draw the plans or put the garden into the earth.

A powerful meditation with Ariel is to focus on your life as though it were a garden. Begin by seeing the tilled earth in a very beautiful setting. Think of the things you want in your life, and imagine them as plants. Each day you can tend this garden in your mind and see the plants growing and blooming. In this garden of your life, discordant thoughts may be looked upon as weeds.

You may want to find pictures or photographs in magazines and use them to create a physical collage of your garden showing the desired outcome — a display that reflects the completed situations.

Ariel also may help us in becoming physically stronger. Imagine an orange light and a huge lion or lioness that looks you in the eye, extending its strength to you. Pull this into your body — and then exercise.

Jophiel — To summon the energy of the Archangel Jophiel, imagine that you are eight, nine, or ten years old. It is the middle of summer and the days flow smoothly and slowly into one another, like molasses from a jar. You are lying on the earth, and the sky is incredibly blue with slow-moving white clouds. There is absolutely nothing to do, so you merge with the sky and earth. The dark green trees move with your breath, and the wind speaks through the trees.

Move the energy into your being, possibly into the heart chakra, and hold the color of the sky. Imagine how your life could flow with this smoothness, this beauty and grace. This is the energy of Jophiel, the slow ease of God's movement and rightness in our lives. Feel the Grace of God as you hold the color and sounds while allowing them to move out structures or tensions in your life that resist the energy of Jophiel.

Jophiel's energy works well when you feel overwhelmed by small tasks, or don't have time to hug your child or pet your dog or cat. Often, time will seem to slow down when you call in this energy. Jophiel brings beauty, fun, and happiness in a quiet, peaceful way.

Raziel — The power of Raziel is to see through to the truth. Imagine an ancient blue volume with gold writing. You open it, and it is full of esoteric writings and drawings. Immediately you realize that you turned to just the right page. Feel this knowledge and pull it into your body. Resonate with it, and know that all of us are given a very special place of knowing, of personal truth.

If we are honest, all of us know what is happening all or most of the time, but like coyote in the Medicine Cards, we fool ourselves and think we have lost track of the trail or can't decipher the meaning of events around us. If you want to know the answer to a baffling situation in your life, Raziel's is the right energy. Raziel cuts through the illusions to help us see the truth.

Raziel also helps with interpretation of esoteric truth, which is useless until we understand it on a personal level and apply it in service. Raziel is the truth of God that ends duality in thought.

Chamuel — The energy of Chamuel is like the excitement you feel when everything is going correctly or you know something is going to happen, when you have goosebumps because you "feel the energy." When you know that you are about to meet the right person or fall into the exactly right situation, you are feeling the energy of Archangel Chamuel.

Now think about the fear in the pit of your stomach or tightness in your throat when you panic because nothing is going right. Chamuel can bring calmness and peace in the place of panic. Call upon Chamuel as a pale pink energy that shimmers golden around the edges. It encases you in a pink cloud with golden, shimmering edges. Ask for the right people, the right situations, and the right conditions. If you have specific insights, write them down.

If you tend to panic or become anxious frequently, this is a good exercise to practice on a daily basis. You can also practice this exercise to move emotion, and then use the Violet Light of Zadkiel for transformation.

Zadkiel — Imagine a beautiful Purple-Violet Light that comes down from the Heavens and transmutes any situation or relationship that is not working perfectly. Begin with the situation as it exists, then create a wonderfully "impossible" solution. Now imagine the original situation and see it in your mind moving from the present into the idealized situation. You may want to use the idea of the 16mm squares of a filmstrip moving from one picture to the next. See the Violet Light move between the images.

When we use these kinds of techniques to let go of negative emotions and thoughtforms, situations will automatically resolve themselves. Call upon Zadkiel for transmutation.