Back and Forth Communication & Praying with the Angels
Receiving messages from angels is one thing. But how about sending a message to an angel? Or even more exciting, back and forth communication with the angel realm. The angels are showing me an image of a red telephone—an old-fashioned landline. This used to be the symbol of a direct line, a phone that you could pick up and someone important was immediately available on the other end.
The angels want me to tell you that’s exactly what it’s like when you try and contact them. All you have to do is pick up the metaphorical phone (in other words: pray, journal, or send a thought to your angels), and an angel is waiting on the other end, ready to receive your message and, when appropriate, engage in a brief conversation with you.
There’s no receptionist, no phone menu, no elevator music to endure while you are placed on hold. Angels always answer on the first ring! That said, there are some useful guidelines to keep in mind to achieve optimal communication with angels.
Sending a Message to the Angel Realm
The idea of talking to angels is an intimidating one for some, though the angels want to assure you that it needn’t be. In fact, communicating with angels is actually easier than communicating with another human! That’s because angels are always available to you. You don’t have to hope they are home when you stop by for a visit or wait for them to read your e-mail.
You never have to plan out what you want to say to angels ahead of time. They aren’t here to judge you, so you have nothing to hide. You don’t have to play the diplomat with angels, or worry about their feelings or reactions to what you say—their love is unconditional. You never have to wonder if your angels will take you seriously, or understand what you are really trying to express, because angels are master communicators who can see right into your heart when you address them. They will never be angry or withdraw from you no matter what you tell them. You can be completely, brutally honest with angels. As with Spirit, you can even tell your guardian angels when you are disappointed with them or angry at them. Angelic communication is a safe place for you to express anything and everything. Isn’t that a relief?
You can speak to the angel realm on any subject you wish, and you can also ask for almost anything: answers, wisdom, solutions, patience, miracles, peace, comfort, love, help. Sometimes you might want to pour out your heart to an angel, as you would to a trusted friend, not hoping for anything more specific than a loving ear.
You may also want to speak to angels simply to express gratitude for their presence, the blessings they have sent in the past, their guidance, and their unconditional love. Angels are just like humans in that they appreciate a simple thank you every so often.
Now that you know you can say anything to your angels at any time, there are still some useful guidelines to follow regarding the most advantageous times, places, and ways to send a message to the angel realm. Note that you can and will receive messages from the angel realm at any moment: while you are doing the dishes, while you are talking to your mate, while you are asleep. The following are merely guidelines for sending a message to the angel realm.
Angel Affirmation: Angels are always available to me, always happy to listen, and never judge me for what I express to them.
Ideal Times to Speak with Angels
Like a parent whose hearing is trained for the slightest noise or stirring from an infant, the angel realm is always listening and anticipating communications from you. But both in the early evening and early morning, the veil between this world and the next becomes thinner. Take a walk outdoors as the sun is either rising or setting, and you will no doubt feel this subtle, temporary shift, when the realm of Spirit feels closer, more immediate than usual. These early evening and early morning hours, especially outside near nature, can be an ideal time to commune with angels.
It is recommended that you address your angels when you are in a calm, open state of mind, say when you are cleaning the house or taking a walk and your mind becomes quiet and meditative. Any time you are feeling peaceful you are less likely to cling to preconceived ideas and solutions about the situations in your life, and will be more ready to receive the guidance of your angels, guidance that might be unexpected or out-of-the-box. Of course you will also seek angelic help and wisdom in times of crisis or emotional upheaval, when it feels like you are screaming or begging for assistance rather than asking! This is to be expected. But overall, the calmer your nervous system is when you address your angels and the more peaceful your mind, the better you will be able to recognize, and be open to, answers from the angel realm.
Ideal Places to Speak with Angels
The most beneficial place to speak to your angels is a place that is quiet. Again, this is so you can have the peace to compose your thoughts and hear, sense, or—if you receive mental images from your angels—see your angels’ responses. This quiet place where you commune with angels should also have a degree of privacy. Either a room with a door you can shut or perhaps a park bench where you can sit alone with adequate space between you and those around you. Praying with other people is a potent practice. But when you are trying to have a two-way conversation with the angel realm, it is best done on your own, without the distraction of others or their energy. Sometimes you will send a message, a question, or a request to the angel realm and not receive an immediate reply, but other times you will—and you don’t want distractions when those angelic communications are coming down the wire.
Talking to your angels in a peaceful setting in nature can be helpful, since most people feel closer to Spirit in nature. Likewise a place that you consider extremely beautiful can be a sacred spot to commune with angels, since beauty also makes us feel closer to Spirit. You might designate a special sanctuary for angelic communication in your house, such as a home altar. Or you might like to visit a holy place of worship to conduct angelic communication, such as a chapel or a cathedral. Anywhere that heightens your connection to Spirit is always an excellent place to address your angels.
Ideal Ways to Speak with Angels
How should you send the angel realm a message? The most common way is just through your thoughts. You can structure these thoughts by simply thinking, “Dear angels,” at the beginning of your communication, and end with, “Thank you, angels, for listening,” when your communication is finished. If you aren’t sure which angel you want to speak with, simply addressing “angels” or “the angel realm,” is fine. If you want to speak to your guardian angels, you can start with “Dear guardian angels,” or even address them by name (see chapter 1). If you want to address a helper angel, make sure you include their area of expertise: “Dear angel realm, I’m addressing this communication to a helper angel who specializes in emotional healing.” And if you are addressing an archangel, definitely call upon them by name, as in, “Archangel Michael, I need your help.” Be sure to give the angel realm some details about your situation and what you need. While the angels already know all the details, it’s an important exercise in free will for you to lobby for what you want.
Other ways to send a message to the angel realm include journaling or speaking to them out loud (just as you might say a prayer to Spirit out loud). If you journal to your angels, you might find that they respond in your journal, much like automatic writing (letting your mind go blank and allowing Spirit, your higher self, or the angels to write through you). When your communication is completed, you may look back over your journal entry and see several ideas staring back at you that were not your own, or seem like fresh, new ideas or breakthrough “aha” moments. These could have been inspired by your angels.
If you find that your angels like to speak to you through images they place in your mind, you could always open communication by sending the angel realm a mental image that expresses your question or situation or desire. If you hope to conceive a child, for instance, picture yourself pregnant with a large belly. Then perhaps the angel realm will send you an image of the time of year this will occur: a dark, snowy winter afternoon or a bright, flowery spring morning, for example. Or you might be shown a month from a page of a calendar. Or you might see an image of yourself in a doctor’s office, perhaps signaling that there are some fertility issues you need to address with a healthcare professional before you will be able to conceive.
The best way to send a message to the angel realm will vary from individual to individual, depending upon what feels most comfortable to you.
Having a Conversation with an Angel
Once you get used to directly sending messages, requests, and questions to the angel realm, you might find yourself in a lively exchange with the angels, where you are asking questions or voicing concerns and then immediately getting replies from the angel realm. These angelic responses can come via hearing your angels’ voices, thoughts that appear in your mind that are not your own, images that flash into your mind, a gut instinct, or by the sudden understanding of a complex situation as if you are receiving a download from heaven.
It can be very exciting when this kind of back and forth between you and the angels occurs. Although usually this type of exchange between humans and angels is brief, or at least much briefer than a conversation between two humans over coffee or on the phone. The angels don’t talk for very long, but what they say is very dense, filled with wisdom and insight. Think of the conversations between Luke Skywalker and Yoda as a reference point.
As stated before, sometimes you will send a message to the angel realm and answers will not immediately come. The important thing is that you participate in two-way communication by addressing your angels and sending them your messages. Their answers will come at the appropriate time, in the appropriate form. Just because you do not receive an immediate response does not mean the angel realm didn’t hear you, or that the angels cannot help. Angels always hear you, they can always help, and an answer from the angel realm will always come—though sometimes it will come in a form that cannot be immediately communicated. The answer from your angels might come to you in a dream while you sleep, or in the form of a person or opportunity the angels send at a later date.
Your guardian angels want you to remember that there is no right way or wrong way to communicate with the angel realm. The more you practice sending messages to angels, the more comfortable you will get with the process, and the more you will settle into a routine and style of communicating with angels that works best for you.
Angel Affirmation: Sometimes talking to an angel will be like talking to a friend: I will ask a question and an angel will immediately respond. But even if an angel does not reply right away, the angels still receive and value all of my communications, and will always respond in their own time.
The Power of Prayer
Your guardian angels want you to take in this phrase for a few moments: the power of prayer. You don’t need to be strong, healthy, rich, grateful, or popular to harness the power of prayer. Much like superheroes in comic books have special abilities, prayer is your supernatural power. Prayer enables you to address the heavens, to summon your angels. Prayer is your magic wand, and when you wield it you wield nothing less than the power to change the world.
Every prayer is heard, whether it is screamed in a moment of desperation, thought hurriedly in passing, or offered up with great reverence and ceremony. Prayer is your ability to exercise your free will here on earth. So much of your life is determined already, from the family you were born into to many of the challenges you will face to lots of the people who will be significant to you on your human journey. Prayer is one way you make edits to the screenplay of your life. It’s your chance to write in a scene, or rewrite a scene—to influence the casting. Prayer is your opportunity to tell Spirit and the angels what you need help with, what you desire, what you dream of for a loved one, what you hope to change about the world, what you want to change about your life.
Every prayer is heard, and every prayer is also answered, although often not in the way we expect. Spirit and the angels see your life from a vantage point that allows them to help you in the most advantageous ways, and bring the people and opportunities into your life that will serve your highest good (and the highest good of everyone involved). We may pray for something that, without our knowing it, will drastically take us off our life path. Like praying to get into an early childhood teacher-training program when you’re meant to be a full-time artist. Or praying to move to one city, when your soul mate lives in another. Or praying to become independently wealthy so you don’t have to work, when your next job will provide the skills for you to realize your potential as a gifted healer. Spirit and your guardian angels hear the nugget of your prayer, the basic longing or need once all the details you’ve added in have been stripped away. They will work to bring you the opportunities and people that are your best next steps regarding this prayer. Your job is to then listen and watch for guidance and signs from your angels about your prayer—and to take action.
Your angels particularly want you to be aware of the power of prayer to influence the lives of those around you, even strangers. Praying for a country that has just experienced a natural disaster, praying for people living on the street, or even praying for someone who looks sad on the subway, are not only sacred acts of kindness and compassion, but powerful acts. Your energy of love and good will leaves your body when you pray over these situations, and travels through the world, influencing life in ways you will probably never know or even be able to guess at.
Test out different ways to pray: with others around the dinner or breakfast table. Alone or in a group at church. Silently while you get ready for work in the morning. In hushed whispers as you rock a baby to sleep at night. While you kneel or stand in front of an altar in your home. As you hold an angel figurine and imagine your prayer going straight to the ears of your guardian angels.
How you pray doesn’t matter. It’s only important that you do pray, that you accept Spirit’s invitation to dance through this life together—as partners. You and Spirit are co-creators not only in your own life, but in influencing the lives of those around you and throughout the world.
Angel Prayer: Guardian angels, please help me to remember the importance and power of prayer, and inspire me to make prayer a routine and cherished part of my daily life.
Angel Exercise:
Pray for a Stranger
This exercise will help you develop more compassion and allow you to see each human as the angels see them: precious and worthy of unconditional mercy and love.
First, pick out a stranger to pray for. This can be someone you see regularly, like the teller at your local bank, or someone you only glimpsed in passing, like a man on the street begging for money. Maybe you have an idea about what this person needs, like the homeless man on the corner. Or maybe you don’t have a clue about the desires of this stranger’s heart, like the bank teller.
Your prayer for this person might be something specific, like, “Spirit, please bring love and shelter and food to that homeless man I saw today.” Or your prayer could be more general, like, “I don’t know what the teller at my local bank needs, but surely there is something she’s praying for. Let the energy of this prayer speed her highest good along.”
You can pick a different stranger to pray for now and again, and think of that person several times throughout the week. Just get a mental image of them, and think a concrete prayer in your mind, or say one out loud. Or you might simply send the stranger loving energy, or imagine yourself giving them a hug or a pat on the back. Sending positive energy to another person is a very practical gift. On some level they will feel that love, even if they don’t know where it’s coming from.
See if there are also any action steps you can take for this person in addition to your presents of prayer and good vibrations, like donating time or money or clothing to a local shelter. Make an extra effort to smile at your bank teller or thank her sincerely for her help. Angels get so excited when you put on a set of wings and go out to do angelic work in the world that they want you to imagine them doing back flips and spirit fingers, like divine cheerleaders, whenever you pray for strangers.
As you perform this praying for strangers exercise, you will notice that the people you pray for become quite dear to you. Even if they seemed angry or curt when you encountered them, as you picture them in your mind and send them loving energy, your heart will soften to them. You will also get a sense of personal satisfaction and joy after praying for a stranger. This is the same sense of joy and satisfaction that your guardian angels get when they help you! That is why this exercise brings you closer to your angels. Now you have a glimpse into what an angel’s life is like.
Angel Exercise:
Start a Gratitude/Prayer Jar
This exercise will help you incorporate two of the most significant lessons your guardian angels want to emphasize: the power of prayer and the power of gratitude. Gratitude jars are something I first heard about from Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love and Big Magic, who encourages her fans to write down what they are grateful for on slips of paper and collect them in a jar or bowl. When you’re feeling down and need a lift, you can reach in the jar, pull out a slip of paper, and remember how many blessings you experience each day. Prayer bowls are something I’ve seen mothers blog about online. Anytime these mothers think of a person to pray for—a friend who needs a new job, a family member who needs healing, a stranger on the street who needs a home, or some need of their own—they write down the person’s name and their need on a slip of paper and place it in the prayer bowl. Then at dinnertime one of the children at the table reaches into the prayer bowl, pulls out a slip of paper at random, and the entire family prays over the matter together. It’s a wonderful way to teach children about prayer, and get the adults in the house in the habit of genuinely caring about the needs of others. I insist you also write down prayers for yourself, because the angels want us to understand it’s just as important to tend to our own needs and learn to ask for what we want.
For this exercise you will need two stacks of paper, each a different color (I use pink for prayers, blue for gratitude); a pretty, medium-sized jar or bowl (I invested twenty dollars in a gorgeous purple glass bowl at one of my favorite boutiques, but a mason jar will do); and a pen. Anytime you hear of a person who needs a prayer (it can even be a stranger you encounter in a store or hear about on the news), write it down on the pink paper, fold it, and place it in your Gratitude/Prayer Jar. Anytime you think of something you are grateful for, write it down on the blue paper and place it in your Gratitude/Prayer Jar. Don’t worry that you won’t be able to come up with enough ideas to fill your Gratitude/Prayer Jar. In time this exercise will become a routine part of your daily life, and you might need to invest in a bigger jar! Sometimes simply walking by the jar will inspire you to write something down, which is why your Gratitude/Prayer Jar should be kept out in the open at all times, with slips of paper and a useable pen beside it.
Whether the exercise is for your benefit alone, or you involve other members of a household like roommates, partners, or children, your Gratitude/Prayer Jar will bring you closer to your angels. Feeling and expressing genuine gratitude has the ability to draw more blessings to you, and, just like humans, angels love to receive a thank you for all their hard work on your behalf. Praying for yourself and others activates your free will, and thus enables the angels to do more to aid both you and those you pray for. Gratitude and prayer are powerful spiritual tools that have the ability to change your life and the lives of those around you.