Learning to Trust What You Cannot See
Encounters With An Archangel Brought Meaning Into our Lives
Photo of Kris by Jo Brenzo — Personal Collection
“The heart has its reasons, which reason knows nothing of” — Blaise Pascal
Seen or heard from angels lately?
Because when we tune into these Divine messengers, astounding things happen. The unseen becomes seen, the paranormal turns out to be normal, and miracles become a day-to-day occurrence (except for materialists, who exclude other ways of knowing).
Lately, I’ve been getting in touch with these celestial beings. To me, such experiences are not a figment of my imagination and certainly not a product of my going soft in the head. Each message from beyond worms its way into a new awareness about growth areas for my soul.
Ever since childhood, I’ve known about angels from Bible stories who visited the likes of Abraham and Mary. But I’ve been skeptical that such elevated beings would have anything to do with me, which has made me question my openness to divine signs.
Hints from beyond
The long-term care facility was the last place where I would have expected to meet angels or find a soul mate.
It was here that I met Ariel. Not the angel, but a patient with the same name. That meeting put the name Ariel in the long-term care facility on my mental map. The night before, I’d met her in a performance of Shakespeare’s Tempest. Synchronicity?
Ariel was one of those so-called difficult patients. No one on the medical staff could connect with her or even glean enough information to get an accurate case history.
One day, as I was wandering down the hallway, daydreaming about going home and riding my bike, I caught a glimpse of Kris, my soon to be soul mate, in Ariel’s room. Something stopped me in my tracks. I watched Kris out of the corner of my eye. She had silently entered the room and begun interviewing the patient effortlessly.
My initial thought was “that’s amazing. How does Kris make such a deep connection with a patient deemed to be unreachable?” What I did not realize at the time was that I was about to begin a life journey with this scientist/mystic with deep empathy and sensitivity.
A few months later, Kris was again at Ariel’s bedside. She stood behind Ariel and cradled her head in her arms. A part of her sensed that these were Ariel’s final moments and there were no family members present to accompany Ariel across the veil. Shortly after Kris left the room, the patient exited from this life.
Up to then, I did not associate the name Ariel with the realm of archangels. But the name lodged deep in my consciousness and set the stage for more auspicious meetings.
The archangel crept up on me.
“The more faithfully you listen to the voice within you, the better you will hear the sounds outside.” — Dag Hammarskjöld,
About two years ago, I began to explore the topic of angels as guides and protectors. I was ‘led’ to read “Talking with Angels” by Gitta Mallasz.
It’s the story of how angels communicated with three Jews and one Christian while the dark cloud of a Nazi occupation loomed over Hungary in 1943. These divine messengers prepared them for the work that lay ahead: death in a concentration camp and the rescue of hundreds of Jews from inevitable deaths.
A nagging question started to rattle around in my head like a BB in an empty railcar.
“Could I go beyond just knowing about angels to actually meeting one? Furthermore, could I ask for help with a very real struggle in my life?”
Be careful what you ask for.
At the time, every second spiritual teacher we met referred to the reality of angels in our lives.
As I dug deeper into the world of angelic beings, the names Gabriel, Raphael, and Ariel frequently flashed on the screen of my mind. I learned that each served a different function in connecting me to my original home, the realm beyond my physical being, and the one of oneness and love.
Enter Ariel — center stage
Reading about nature is fine, but if a person walks in the woods and listens carefully, he can learn more than what is in books, for they speak with the voice of God — George Washington Carver
I read about Ariel, the archangel, before my first direct encounter. For starters, her mission is to protect and heal all parts of the natural world, including animals.
My holy place of communion with Spirit has recently been through nature. My ‘church’ was no longer a building but our favorite hike along what we named “Spirit trail.” This sage-covered paradise crests the Rio Grande gorge in N. New Mexico and is circled by the snow-covered Sangre de Cristo mountains.
I also read that Ariel is the patron of New Beginnings. And that thought alone hit a nerve. I was going through a brain fog with a nagging confusion about the direction in my life as I approached my mid-eighties. I wrestled with questions like,
“What was I being called to do in these sunset years of my life?”
So, why not invoke her name, pop the question, and see what happens?
As I began my hike, I shifted to a walking meditation that took my logical brain offline. At first, all I saw on the screen of my mind was a dark surface.
I then chose to believe that Ariel was right there. I asked for evidence of her Presence. (They love to give us signs — call it serendipity).
The key is to let them take the lead and set aside stereotypes about how they should appear. I did not, for instance, expect to hear the flutter of angel wings.
A blue/magenta light slowly broke through. It seemed like the sun emerging from dark storm clouds. Later, I asked Dr. Google, “What are the colors associated with the appearance of the archangel Ariel?”
Bingo. The answer was blue/magenta.
That’s not scientific proof, but trusting signs like colors or feelings can help us discern genuine divine guidance.
My next step was to ask the archangel.
“What do you want me to know about the current direction of my life? You know how lost I feel.”
It was then that I heard her voice in my head. Not a literal voice, but she communicated telepathically.
“Each day is a new beginning” (Live one day at a time)
“Retain beginner’s mind” (Stay open with wonder to new information)
“Don’t despise small beginnings.” ( Hit a home run, but don’t try to hit it out of the park every time, and don’t discount even getting to first base.)
Ariel came to me from the world both beyond the veil, from the heart of my higher self, and with a message that hit home. She was closer than my breathing.
That day on Spirit Trail I developed a new willingness to attend to an inner prompting. I continued the longest journey of all, from my head to my heart. I experienced the miracle of a direct encounter with the Divine.
I moved from thinking to knowing.
If I could commune with an archangel. So can you.
But that was not the last word from this magnificent divine agent.
Another visitation
Ariel, our rescue dog — Photo by Kris MacKain
Months after that first angelic encounter, we found ourselves at Spirit Trail once again. As we set out on our walk, I sensed that this was going to be an important day. In fact, I told Kris, “I feel something spiritually significant is going to come our way today!”
Before I’d walked fifty yards, I felt an overwhelming presence. Intuitively, I sensed it was Ariel. Usually, such appearances last no more than a few minutes. But the feeling that I’d encountered the archangel lingered for the duration of the whole walk. This time there was no voice — just a comforting presence.
Why was she there? I had to wait a couple of days for the answer.
She was leading us to a new rescue dog.
One of our friends was always on the lookout for stray and abandoned dogs. She carried dog food and water in her car and, in the past months, had rescued dozens of puppies. One day, as she drove by a burned-out fruit stand near our village, she glimpsed a mother dog with six puppies. They had not been fed for days and appeared emaciated. When our friend stopped to see what was going on, a whole new chapter opened up in our lives.
A few days later, Kris accompanied our friend as a companion rescuer.
As Kris made a soul to soul connection with the mother that day it felt like a spiritual nudge. She realized that she had been brought together with a soul-mate and not just a needy dog.After her first visit, she stared the dog in the eyes and told her, “I’ll be back, and we are going to take you home.”
When Kris told me the story, even though I was not in the market for another rescue, I trusted her intuition, and we adopted the young mother dog.
Out of the blue, I blurted out, “We should name her Ariel!”
That’s why the archangel appeared to me. As the protector of animals, Ariel had known all along that Kris would meet her abandoned daughter.
I’m certain that’s not the last I’ve heard from the archangel. Like the beloved mother pooch we adopted, Ariel is becoming a regular presence in our lives.
The theme of our lives could well be “dancing with archangel Ariel” as well as embracing the teacher introduced into our life by the lion of the Divine.