What Do Angels Look Like?

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We readily concede we'd much prefer to encounter the lovely angels portrayed in religious art--or in the old popular television series "Touched by an Angel." We doubt that any human being has ever seen the angelic beings as they themselves appear to each other. For one thing, angels are spiritual, rather than physical, entities, created to serve God. Throughout our many years of research and our interviews with hundreds of people who have claimed angelic contact, it has seemed to us that angels always take a form that is most acceptable to whomever they are appearing.

We long ago came to believe that the physical appearance of the manifesting angels depends almost completely upon the witnesses' personal cosmology--their religious background, cultural biases, level of spiritual evolution. Therefore, even in this technological, scientific age, a person of a conservative or fundamentalist religious persuasion may behold angels in their traditional winged and robed personas, while a member of a more liberal religious expression may be more likely to perceive an angel minus the wings and other sacerdotal trappings. On the other hand, even those who consider themselves avant-garde may still cherish the traditional and comforting angelic images.

Throughout the years of our research, we have continued to be impressed by the remarkable adaptability of the guardian angels. In one instance, an angel could be the fireman who carried smoke inhalation victims to safety and who later cannot be found by grateful survivors. In another situation, one may be the traffic cop who prevented a fender-bender during rush hour from becoming a 12-car pileup with inevitable casualties and fatalities--and who then disappears before the real officers arrive on the scene.

Sometimes they are ordinary men and women who just happen to be there at the right time to listen with an attentive ear and offer the right words of advice to prevent a troubled soul from taking his or her life.

Of one thing we are certain: If an angel should appear to you, you will perceive the heavenly messenger in a way most acceptable and understandable to you.

So forget those stories of angels being ugly creatures with beautiful souls and hearts of gold, and focus on the gentler, more attractive image of angels as depicted in our religious and cultural traditions. You'll be happier meeting a smiling angel than a scowling lamassu.

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