One of Lorna Byrne’s earliest memories is of lying in her bed trying to play with the angels which were all around her.
She says she could see them from a very young age and used to try to catch them.
“From the moment I opened my eyes they have been there for me,” says the international bestselling author of Angels in My Hair whose new book A Message of Hope from the Angels is a Sunday Times bestseller.
“I was tiny. I opened my eyes and there they were,” says the woman who claims to see angels every day.
She says they have a human appearance and she sees them physically as she would see a person sitting in front of her. “Even when I started to walk or crawl, they were there. I didn’t know they were angels.”
Speaking in the Augustinian Church recently at a fundraiser for the AIDS Partnership with Africa charity, she said the church was full of angels. “Every church you go into is always full of angels in prayer. I can see four beautiful massive angels on the altar at each side of the tabernacle. There are angels scattered all over the place, some are uttering the odd prayer. I’m told the host is in the tabernacle.”
She says we all, both believers and non believers, have a guardian angel and they are with us from before we are born until after we die. “Guardian angels are a gift from God, they bring your soul back to God. To your guardian angel you are the most important thing, they were assigned to us before we were born, they come with us the moment we are conceived. You are never ever alone, your guardian angel never leaves you for a second, they are yours exclusively.
Guardian angels
“Every human has a guardian angel, no matter what religion you are or even if you don’t believe. Today in Shop Street I was watching all the people and their guardian angels and other angels. There were four guys playing music and the other angels were mimicking them. Angels do that all the time. There was a mother walking with her little girl and her guardian angel was dressed all in yellow. The angel held the arms and hands down the side of the little girl.”
Sometimes guardian angels will tell her that a person is very ill even if s/he is not aware of it. “Sometimes a guardian angel or God will tell me a lot about a person and sometimes I’m allowed to see the souls of loved ones. In Dublin I saw a young man aged between 17 and 19 and his guardian angel said to me to pray for him...for strength and courage. He was ill but he didn’t know it. But you can’t go up to someone and say you are going to become ill as that would stop them living life.”
She was told by the angels that she would meet and marry her late husband Joe. She met him in 1971 in the garage her father ran. He died in his 40s in 2000 leaving her with four children, the youngest of whom was just five-years-old.
“I was told about him at age 10,” she said, “and that he would become sick. From the moment I met him walking up towards the garage for a job I knew he was sick. I knew he was going to die. I never told him. You don’t tell people [these things]. He could have become withdrawn and got sicker.”
She does not know why God gave her the ability to hear and see angels. From a very early age they told her she would write a book about them. She used to laugh at that saying it was unlikely because she had dyslexia and could hardly write. In 2003 she started to work on the book and she says people came into her life who were able to help her. In May 2008 her first book, Angels in my Hair was published. It is now an international bestseller, has been translated into 26 languages and been published in more than 50 countries. Both her second and third books, Stairways to Heaven and A message of Hope from the Angels are also bestsellers.
Times of crisis
“I have asked can anyone in the world see the angels physically like I can and I’m told “no”. Everyone is gifted in every single way, try to discover the gift you have. I never believe anyone has one gift. I didn’t choose this time to do what I do. I can’t read or write. I talk into a computer.”
She believes little children, and older people, at times, too, can see angels. “I know quite a lot of elderly would have seen an angel at some time but they are afraid to tell others. Lots of people around the world report seeing an angel, it is usual in times of crisis.”
Our guardian angels are “great teachers”, she says and communicate to us through our sixth sense. They may also allow the souls of our loved ones to give us messages. When we get an intuitive feeling about something it can often be a message from our angel.
“Keep on asking your guardian angel for help. You are not alone, you are being given help even if you don’t see it. Remember, you have to listen [to their promptings] - these are probably the first thought that come into your mind [about something] and play your part. When you get that feeling that your guardian angel is speaking to you listen to them every day, even about trivial things. Many times an angel will give you a sign. Angels use feathers, they can be any colour. You may find a feather in an unusual place. When you listen to your guardian angel and God you become happier and peaceful. You enjoy the simple things in life. The important thing is your guardian angel will never tell you to be mean or selfish or do anything wrong. They give you a guilty feeling [sometimes] - adults are great at pushing that feeling away.”
She says guardian angels are the gatekeepers of our souls. She describes our souls as “specks of light of God” and says when we pass away it is only our human body that dies. “Anytime God has taken my soul to Heaven I have never wanted to come back. You literally never want to. That is incredible. If God wanted to take me today I couldn’t say ‘no’.”
Go to heaven
Lorna Byrne says as we pass away we see our guardian angels. “When your time comes - at that moment - you see your guardian angel and the souls of all those you loved. You go freely, it’s only your body that reacts. Your guardian angel, the gatekeeper of your soul, has already his arms around your soul. I believe everyone goes to heaven, your guardian angel brings you there and stays with you.
“Everyone will see those we love when we go to heaven, they are all there. Our loved ones are alive, only our bodies die, our souls live on.”
She emphasises that life is very precious and urges people “who may be very depressed and thinking of taking their own lives that they are not meant to.”
“I would beg people thinking of suicide not to do it. Their life is very important. They will get through it. Guardian angels are right there with suicide victims and were right there doing everything possible to stop them. They are in a very dark place and they had that free will. I would appeal to families and loved ones not to blame themselves, [when a loved one dies through suicide] these people didn’t mean it. They go straight to heaven. God wraps them in a beautiful blanket of his love.”
