Have you ever noticed that babies lie there looking all over the place? They are watching the angels and spirits of all kinds! Children can readily see angels and spirits until they are discouraged from doing so. Unfortunately, many adults unwittingly stifle young childrens' "sight" because of their belief system, or simply fear. Never discourage a child’s "imagination." That "imaginary" friend is really an angel, spirit guide, or nature spirit. Just because you can’t "see" it doesn’t mean it’s not there! Set an extra place at the table and honor the child’s "friend." You’ll have a much better adjusted child than you might realize!

Here are some questions to ponder:
· Where do they come from?
· Where were they created?
· What do they look like? (see The Use Of Color In Your Life: The Aura to learn how to see them)
· Do they have free will?
· Can people become angels or spirit guides?
· Do they ever come to Earth and take on human form?
· Are they external entities, or merely aspects of our souls?
· Are they reflections of our future selves toward whom we are evolving?

What follows is information about angels and different kinds of spirit guides so you may develop a greater understanding of who they are and their purpose.

Angels

Angels have always been with us, in every time and culture. Through pictograms, paintings, poetry, and children’s stories our ancestors down through the ages have passed on whatever they knew about these beings. Angels transcend all religions and are apparent in most.

Angels�?messages come to us in the form of feelings of unconditional love, bring deeply cared for, greater self-acceptance, and inner peace. These are all signs of angelic connection.

It is of historic belief that angels, like people, belong to families or clans. Many names have been given to them, but in the opinion of a number of angelologists, the most familiar can be arranged in three categories, or spheres, starting with those closest to God/dess, and moving down to those who are assigned to the physical world. This is by no means the only classification system in the history of angels, but this will give you an idea as to what is believed to be their hierarchy.

Orders of Angelic Beings

Metatron: is the celestial scribe (God/dess's secretary) and oversees all angelic activity.

The First Sphere: Angels who serve as heavenly counselors are the Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones:

Seraphim: is the highest order of celestial beings said to surround the throne of God/dess.

Cherubim: are the guardians of light and of the stars.

Thrones: are the companion angels of the planets. At this time in our history, it’s important for us to be aware of the particular throne, the Earth Angel, who is guardian of our planet. We often refer to her as our Earth Mother or Mother Nature

The Second Sphere: Angels who work as heavenly governors are the Dominions, Virtues, and Powers:

Dominions: govern the activities of all the angelic groups below them in the hierarchical order integrating the spiritual and the material worlds. Although they take their orders from God/dess, they rarely contact individuals.

Virtues: are of particular importance to us now because they are able to beam out massive levels of divine energy. As more of us learn to work with the virtues, there will be a greater infusion of spiritual energy available for our planet. This is happening now.

Powers: are the bearers of the conscience of all of humanity, the keepers of our collective history.

The Third Sphere: angels who function as heavenly messengers

Principalities: are the guardian angels of all large groups, from cities and nations to recent human creations such as multinational corporations.

Archangels: tend to the larger arenas of human endeavor; the four we are most familiar with are Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, and Auriel. There are billions of archangels and they are having more contact with humanity than ever before.

Angels: are the ones we’re most familiar with, the ones most concerned with human affairs, known as companion angels or guardian angels. As we enter a time of increased light and love on our planet, they will not need to guard us so much, but rather they will be our guides to higher and greater levels of consciousness.

As A Pagan priestess and an ordained minister, I often contemplate the origin of the "Elder or Old Gods and Goddesses" that were honored and worshiped prior to the monothesiastic patriarchial "one male god" religions of Judism, Islam, and Christianity. I believe that they existed as actual spiritual and/or nature beings that interacted with human groups and individuals. When these "Deities" were no longer called upon by a person or group of people, then they no longer interacted with humans. As we once again recognize them, honor them, and call upon them again with our growing religious awareness and movement back towards the old ways and the honoring of our Earth Mother (which by definition above is the Earth Throne Angel), they are again interacting with and becoming a part of our human experience. Some Pagans look upon the Elder or Old God/desses as symbols of the Divine energy instead of actual spiritual beings that existed then and still exist. Personally, When I invoke a deity, I feel a presence of that spiritual being who is there to assist me in my work. These beings have been seen by sensitive individuals when doing ritual work. I do believe they are real beings that will help when called upon. Who is to say that these "Deities" were not actually "Angels", as defined above, from one of the various angelic orders that are connected with the Divine Source/Energy of the God/dess.

http://www.moondragon.org/alternative/angelspiritguides.html