This is my story from the book, When Angels Speak. I am blessed to be 1 of 22 authors in this Amazon best seller. 

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At age seven, I encountered my first angel, Catherine. I was one of five children and quiet time was not always possible. It was a warm day in Michigan, so I went outside and lay in the grass to think about this day. It was important to me to make sure that everything I did was okay I was excited to take First Communion, but I also knew that the priest and the nuns were strict about how you walked down the aisle, and how you took the host, so I began to worry about messing up in front of everyone. I had closed my eyes from the sun, but suddenly this bright light came through my eyelids. I opened my eyes to see what it could be and the light came closer to me. I knew it was not the sun as I could see the sun behind this bright light. It was as if this light had merged with my body. I heard a soft female voice that told me not to be afraid. I wasn’t. I was mesmerized by the brilliance of this light. I had been told, in Catechism class, that there is a Guardian Angel that watches over each of us, and I’d say a prayer to my angel every night. So, I wasn’t afraid— I knew without a doubt that this was my Guardian Angel.  I asked her if she had a name, and she told me that she did not, but if I wanted to give her one, I could. I choose to call her Catherine, as my name was Cathy and the nuns would make fun of me and call me ‘Just Cathy’ as I did not have a proper saint’s first name. She told me she was a messenger from God. She said that I had a mission in life, that I would need to trust my path and listen to the messages as I moved through it. She also said she would always be beside me and that I could call upon her any time I wanted. I told only my mom what I had seen and heard. My mother never scolded me or said I had dreamt this, but to hold it quietly to my heart. I was giddy with this secret and I would call upon Catherine as I moved through life. I learned through her how to work with my intuition and how to follow my path. Little did I know how big my path was and how many other angels would show up to help me.

Over the years, I learned how to hone my intuitive gifts. I knew I could feel, which is also known as an empathic or gut feeling. I could hear voices, sometimes in my head and sometimes outside of it as I had when I met Catherine. I could also get clarity when a song played on the radio and I was able to know what to do next. I also learned that my strongest intuitive gift was inner “knowing”. I didn’t understand how I knew something without having read it in a book, seen it on TV, or heard it from anyone. I simply knew. That gift, over the years, was the hardest one to explain to anyone. I tell my students and my clients that it is as if you are standing in a library, a book falls on you, and you absorb the information. As I moved through life, I did not know that this path would lead me right to the threshold of opening Angel Wings in Scottsdale, AZ, — a beautiful store full of angels, fairies, books, music, jewelry, and amazing artists.

In April 1994, I began to receive signs that I was to open a store. I had never read an angel book until I was suddenly gifted with two books. An article out of the Detroit Freepress about an angel store arrived and I saw a PBS special about Tara’s Angels in CA. The PBS featured angel artist Andy Lakey and I knew he was someone I needed to meet in person. All of this transpired over the course of one week. By October 1, 1994, on my 44th birthday, I opened Angel Wings in Kiva Courtyard in Scottsdale.

I called Andy Lakey, I told him I’d seen him on the show and that I had recently opened my Angel Store. After a near-death experience Andy saw seven angels that told him to paint 2000 angels. From 1990 to 2000 Andy painted, even though he had never painted before. I asked if he would be willing to come to Angel Wings and do an event with me. He was so thrilled, we set it up for February 1995. His art hangs in the Vatican, as well as in many schools for the blind and is included in the art collections of many celebrities.

There were many incredible experiences with Andy and his work at Angel Wings. The one that comes to mind foremost happened the day before Thanksgiving. I had started to turn out the lights at Angel Wings when I felt this intuitive pull to leave my doors open for a little while longer. It was already dark outside. I had turned on the outside spotlight and had started to bring my 8’ angel that was tied to the palm tree in front of the store, inside. When I felt the energy guiding me to stay open, I left my door open and went to the shop next door to tell my son that I would be another 30 minutes. I was gone for no more than a few minutes. When I returned to my store, I saw two women hugging each other and crying and I saw a boy and a girl standing behind them. They were in front of two of Andy’s angel paintings. I approached them and asked if they were okay. They said they had been walking down the street and saw my large angel and it appeared as if the light was shining on her head. They were both guided to come into the courtyard and check it out. I asked them if they knew each other and they said no, one was from Ohio and the other from Pennsylvania. Both of these women had lost a child on the same day four years earlier, hence my “seeing” the boy and girl. Both women had been searching for just the right angel to help with their grief. Each purchased an angel painting that day. Had it not been for that inner voice, that intuitive nudge, I would have closed my store earlier that day, as the business had been very slow because of the Thanksgiving Holiday, and these women would not have met and shared a very heartfelt moment in their grief.

I knew I had the ability to read people, to see their Angels, Guides and loved ones who had crossed over. However, I was not ready to share this with the world…I was intimidated by the inner programming, “Who do you think you are?” It wasn’t until 1998, when I attended a workshop on angels, that I did my first reading. I had not intended to participate in the workshop. Angel Wings had set up a display in the back of the room to sell angels. The workshop instructor was very insistent and persistent that she needed an additional person to assist her. In compliance, I went to the front of the class to do a reading on a woman there. When I closed my eyes, I saw muffins floating all around her energy field. I could see that she was taking the tops off the muffins and putting something inside them. I was told by the guides that when she baked, she infused love into her muffins and that she was well-loved and sought after for her work. She did indeed bake muffins for a living and she also put pie filling inside them before they were baked.  To my amazement, I was then asked by others to do readings on them. It was as if the universe opened up and said, “We knew you would awaken to your path; we have been waiting for you.” I started offering my Angel Readings and Mediumship inside Angel Wings.

In 2000, I invited another angel reader to teach classes on how to communicate with your angels and guides. The instructor wanted to know why I was not teaching the classes and I told her I did not feel I was qualified. After all, “what did I know about teaching?” Again, the record in my head played “Who do you think you are?” One stormy night I had 12 people in the shop and we were waiting for the instructor to arrive. I was surprised so many had shown up for the class. I called the instructor to see if she was okay and on her way. To my surprise, she was in the middle of a long hot bubble bath and had totally forgotten the class. Her comment was, “I guess it is all up to you now.” I did, indeed, teach this class and many classes after. My classes are called “Angels at Play,” and the angels had, most assuredly decided that I needed to play that night.

There are so many ways in which we can communicate with our angels and guides. I often sit and do what is called automatic writing. I find my quiet space and with my pen and paper, I ask a question. The question can be as simple as, “What do I need to know today, who is with me right now, or what should I do about a situation?” Sometimes the answer is instant, other times it could take a while, but the angels will always answer you. You may not always like the answer, but if you trust your intuition, you will know it is the right answer for the situation you are asking about.

In 2001 I asked my angel, “What do I do with my angel store and my readings?” I was doing 20-30 readings a week while running Angel Wings seven days a week. I was exhausted and knew that this was not what the universe wanted for me. It was one of those answers that I didn’t like or understand, but I also knew it was the right answer. The angels told me that I was to turn my store purple. Angel Wings was done in a beautiful blue with cherub wallpaper. I loved the design and layout of the store. I asked them, “Why?” They told me that the new buyer liked purple. I called my friends and told them what the angels had said. My friends enthusiastically replied, “Let’s do it!” For the next two weeks, Angel Wings was in chaos, but in the end, it was a beautiful purple. Then I waited for months for the buyer. I was even given the name of the buyer and at one point, someone with that name came to me and asked to purchase the store. I went back to my angels and they informed me “No, not her.” I waited another few long months before a man wandered into the store looking at everything. I offered to assist him. He said he was in a state of confusion as he was retiring from his job and moving to Galesburg, a small town in IL that I most likely had never heard of. I started to laugh as I had had a client phone consultation the night before from this very town. I asked him why he was moving. He told me that he and his wife had a dream of opening a store just like Angel Wings and there was a store in Galesburg for sale. I then inquired why they did not open a store in Gilbert, AZ as I believe that is where he was from. He said he did not want to compete with Angel Wings as he knew my store had become a destination from all over the world. It was at that time that I felt a slight push on my shoulder from my angel. I asked him what his wife’s name was and when he told me her name, I laughed – it was the name of the buyer that my angels had told me about. I asked if she liked purple and he said her favorite color was purple and her favorite song was “Lavender Blue.” It wasn’t until then that I told him my store was for sale. I moved on from Angel Wings in April of 2002 and continue, to this day, to do my Angel Readings and Mediumship work.

When I work with clients suffering from the loss of a loved one, I am always guided by their loved one with a message that assures my client and communicates in a variety of ways. It could be white feathers, pennies, playing with the electricity, roses, hummingbirds, or even crickets. Always, the message is that they are loved. Sometimes the loved one shows me what they did in this lifetime or shows me their hobbies, verifying to my clients that the message is, indeed, from them.

Sometimes there is some confusion—, a crossed path of sorts. A client once came to see me after the loss of her husband. During the reading, a motorcycle went past her energy field, not just once but twice. The second time the person on the motorcycle shouted to me to let his family know he was all right. I did not feel that this person belonged to my client, but I did inquire. She said no. That night I received a call from my best friend in CO who informed me that his son-in-law had been killed coming out of a motorcycle show. When he stepped into the street, he was struck by a motorcycle. You never know when or how the message will come in but it will always be right.

We all have intuitive gifts. Some come in the form of a nudge, a song, automatic writing, gut feeling, a knowingness, or we see with something that others call our “third eye.” It may be that you are guided to go right instead of left or you are running behind for work, when you are told to go back and double-check that you turned off a burner, only to find it is all okay. On the way to work, you may pass a bad accident and realize that it could have been you. Or, you may witness an exceptional sunrise that lifts you up. Talking to your angels is as easy as talking to a friend or writing a letter to a loved one— listening to your angels puts you on the best path. Angel Blessings.

Andy Lakey Artwork