Angel Wings
(Feb, March, April & May 2016)

As many of you know, I love rainbows and angels, as featured on my Festival posters. Last fall, on a cold, sunny day, I went outside to do something when Danny, one of the crew at the Retreat Center said, “Look up, ice crystals are making a rainbow in the clouds.” I looked up, then rushed back to the lodge and got my camera. I snapped several images as the colors faded and the cloud dispersed.

Months later, as I looked at the many possible photographs for a front cover, I hesitated, wondering if the rainbow colors would show up. Computers use light to show images, while printers use four colors of ink, which creates darker images. I thought to myself … one angel wing does not look very interesting, so I copied and reversed it and put the two halves together. That’s when the image of the tree became the head of the angel, with eyes, a nose and even arms. I was elated.

Mother Nature was showing me that indeed I do have a celestial angel looking after us, proof positive for those who think I am crazy because I hear their voices. I am glad Doreen Virtue and others now talk openly about angels, as it has allowed this part of me to be more bold. For the longest time, angels were mostly stained-glass images in churches and only the clergy could have that connection.

When I do distribution, l drop magazines off in the town of Hope, well known for the many large carvings that decorate the landscape. My attention was drawn to some angel wings on the sidewalk, right downtown, with words that said Stairway to Heaven. It had four small steps with a set of foot prints at the top to place your feet in. I thought I would try the wings on for size and they fit perfectly, so I asked a passerby to click a few pictures with my cell phone. It was time to change my image, so I hope you will enjoy seeing the real me behind the rainbows I wear.

If you want to see my favorite angel wing picture, go to the Issues website and click the Musing tab at the top, it has 25 years of front covers along with my blog. That photo was taken of me sitting in front of the angel wing doors that lead into the Great Hall at Findhorn in Scotland. We were there for our honeymoon in 2006 as we wanted to learn more about intentional communities, which I feel are needed in Canada. I have told my angels they have only a few years left to manifest this vision as I continue to find ways to attract people with the skills and money to take over the Retreat Center. This is an ideal setting for a group of six people, younger than I, who are vegetarians, spiritually minded and can work together.

In the winter, I spend more time on my computer and we take the time to watch a few videos on the big screen. This year we watched all six episodes of Star Wars, in order. Now I will be able to connect the dots when I see episode seven. I enjoyed the director’s comments as he envisioned the saga, the struggles and the technology that was not yet invented. Hearing how strongly influenced he was as a student of Joseph Campbell’s mythology class made sense. He even got Joseph to go over the story line.

When Star Wars hit the big screen in 1977, I was married and living in Terrace. I was spell-bound with the dramatics of this fast-moving world of weird-looking creatures and fascinated that Luke Skywalker was being taught to use his intuitive sense. Afterwards, when outside the theatre a friend asked me what I thought of the movie, I said without blinking, “There is life on this planet.” This was not a thought process, it was my angels talking.

Part of me wanted to find these New-Agers who believed in ‘the force’ but I had little kids and a husband who was a truck driver, and I was busy with chickens and a garden. Just knowing these people existed gave me a feeling of hope. In Terrace, even being involved in our organic food co-op seemed out of the social norm. Around that time, I remember protesting when Canada sanctioned aspartame as a food. Back then, I did have inklings that my real job would be to educate those who did not know the truth about many things, and that it would just be a matter of time.

I have asked myself a few times how many people really believe in Nature devas, angels or the power of prayer. Do we create our reality so that our soul can learn to be whole and balanced? Do our bodies have a wisdom that our mind can’t relate to? Are our minds more powerful than we can comprehend? Most of you have probably heard the quote by Marianne Williamson that it is not our darkness that most frightens us but our light, our greatness. If we are all One, then we are a collective, each contributing energy to what happens on this planet and beyond. The stars, the invisibles, past-life vibrations, microbes, etc. are creating this all-inclusive, complex flow of energy we call life.

In early January an email gave me hope that we are at the tipping point. It said Monsanto is going to be on trial at a Human Rights Tribunal in The Hague, charged with fraud, depletion of soil and water resources, species extinction and declining bio-diversity, and the displacement of millions of small farmers worldwide. Then I noticed the trial date was October 16 of this year, International World Food Day. Maybe I’d better check the facts. Yes, it is happening, but the mainstream press says it will be more about theatrics than politics. Still, the charge is being led by Vandana Shiva, an internationally respected Indian scholar, environmental activist and anti-globalization author. She will be joined by an alliance of organic, food sovereignty and environmental groups. I send her and those groups a blessing of support.

Even the WHO’s new classification of glyphosate, the active ingredient in a widely-used brand of Monsanto herbicide, as a 2A product or “probable” carcinogen was more watered down than I had hoped. This newer definition is for those who use it, not those who eat it. This reminds me of the bumper sticker that says, “It will be a great day when the schools get all the money they need and the air force has to have a bake sale to buy a bomber.” Let’s keep envisioning Monsanto letting go of their horde of lawyers and cleaning up the many hazardous waste sites they have created, plus no more farmers or governments buying ten billion dollars’ worth of their chemical products.

In the Star War movie, villain Darth Vader has a change of heart. It is my hope that Monsanto will too, for they like to portray themselves as an agricultural hero, a friend of farmers and a savior of the global South. Like Luke Skywalker though, we each have to learn what truth feels and looks like.

Buckminster Fuller once said, “To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” I know how frustrating it is to grow food because the weeds always seem to win, but we need to work with nature and micro-organisms. We need to go back to live foods like yogurt and sauerkraut so our internal bacteria can keep us healthy.

Farmers need support. Doing it the easy way using weed killer has taken its toll. Many a family farm has been sold to the corporations because the children did not have the interest or the skills to make a living looking after the land. Chemicals have now destroyed the agricultural bio-diversity that has served mankind for thousands of years. With more people to feed and less useable land, food and land prices will just keep increasing till the masses can no longer afford either.

Truth and love are as real as my one angel wing in the sky. Real change happens from the ground up, until it reaches a critical mass or the tipping point. I think the yang energy that likes holding power over others while exploiting the Earth’s resources is in decline. These days, the feminine or yin principle is becoming stronger. Women are feeling empowered and speaking up. They know about raising kids and caring for all creatures. Children raised in a nurturing environment where inner guidance is reinforced will have a profound and far-reaching effect that will transform our future. Once one learns to feel the truth, as in the Avatar movie, The Matrix, or even the Harry Potter series, the old programming and society’s rules of conduct will fade and be replaced by a new model of understanding.

Like the cosmos, we are not dead matter but a living presence. Reflection or meditation will help quicken the revolution in human consciousness. Many amazing websites reflect this cultural change. New souls coming onto this planet will continue to raise the quality of vibration that the masters and gurus of the East have gifted us with. The voice we all have and hear from within will continue to expand as people like me explain how they hear or use invisible energy.

Once we accept our greatness, in all its craziness, the world will change. We are more powerful than we realize. If I had not listened to my inner voices oh so long ago, you would not have an Issues magazine to read and I would not have a life worth living. Thank you to the many who support Issues and the Festivals for the past twenty-five years. You are helping to create the change you want to see in the world.

I would love to meet you at one of the many Festivals that happen this summer. Come to Johnson’s Landing for a restorative holiday, away from the bustle of the city, so you can restore your chi and return refreshed to do the work you do. The Issues website has been updated, if you subscribe, you will get notice when the new Issues has been posted. The online version now includes some added bonus pages.