I see angels all the time, and have seen them every day since I was a baby. I see them physically just as I would see you if you were standing in front of me, and if there is no one around, I talk to them and listen to them in the same way as I would communicate with you. The angels have been my friends, companions and teachers all of my life.
As a young child I thought there was nothing strange in this, that everyone saw angels. But as I got a little older I learned that this was not the case. The angels told me to keep quiet what I was seeing and hearing a secret. I never talked about it until I wrote my first book "Angels in My Hair" in 2008. I didn't even tell my family what I was seeing.
I see angels every day, but during the holiday season I see many more angels than at other times of the year -- millions of angels come to join us for the celebrations that happen across many religions and traditions at this time. I love this time of the year!
What I call "Christmas angels" look completely different to other angels I see. It's hard to describe but it's as if these angels are denser, broader, their feet closer to the ground. They are also not as bright as the other angels I see. It's as if they don't show me their full brightness. They wear a something like a very beautiful cloak to dim their light. The cloak is dark in colour but has bright gold threads woven or platted through it, and their internal light seems to shine through these golden threads. They also move differently to other angels. I occasionally see angels falling from Heaven, as if tumbling down. But I see these angels coming down slowly as if they are walking down a mountain. Last year I was in New York at this time and sitting in a restaurant in Manhattan I was given the wonderful sight of a Christmas angel stepping down between the skyscrapers.
They don't seem to interact with us or with other angels. I have never seen them turn and talk to a Guardian angel, for example. They come and walk among us at this time in a solemn way, and they reach out and touch people in the centre of the chest or sometimes at the same height from the back. They are touching our souls. They do this with everyone regardless of their religious beliefs.
When I see these Christmas angels touching people I am filled with hope. They come to help us to understand that we are more than flesh and blood, that we have a soul. They come at this time to touch our souls and enhance that connection that we all have -- regardless of religion, or lack of it, with God. They come to give us the gift of peace that this connection with God brings.
I only see them in the period from November to January and then they are all gone -- until the next year. The angels have told me that they belong to the spiritual festivals of different religions that happen around this time all over the world. Perhaps they should really be called the "Winter angels," but as I first saw them as a child in Ireland where the only spiritual festival I knew was Christmas, I started to think of them as Christmas angels -- and still do.
At this time of the year these and other angels are working to help us to understand that there is more to life than material things -- that love and friendship are more important than anything else. The angels work so hard at this time of the year to bring families together, to make sure that people are not left alone or lonely. They need our help, though. So please listen and make that phone call, or send that card or invite that person in. Don't let anyone around you be lonely during this holiday season.
If we feel prompted to invite someone we know is on his or her own round or feel prompted to give a gift -- it really doesn't matter what in material terms - then that may well be the influence of the angels who are around us all the time.
Lorna Byrne is author of 'Angels in My Hair,' an international bestseller, which has sold almost half a million copies. It is on sale in 47 countries and is translated into 25 languages, including Taiwanese, Korean and Russian. 'Angels in My Hair' is published in the USA by Three Rivers Press.
Lorna is a widow with four children and two grandchildren. She lives in rural Ireland.
More information at LornaByrne.com