Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Women who believe they are angels
Michelle Gordon is one of thousands who believe they have been sent from heaven to make the world a better place
MICHELLE Gordon realised that she wasn’t like other children when she started having out-of-body experiences at age 3.
“At night I would see myself flying over my garden,” says Gordon, now 34. “I know it wasn’t a dream because the garden was always exactly as it was in real life.
“I vividly remember running down the stairs in the morning wondering why I couldn’t fly any more.”
Many children go through a phase thinking they have magical powers. They’ve usually grown out of it, however, by the time they stop believing in Father Christmas.
Yet Gordon’s sense that she was somehow different to those around her only intensified as she grew older.
She’s been incredibly sensitive to other people’s emotions since childhood. And she’s become convinced that she has a purpose – a special mission to do good in the world.
Yet it wasn’t until a decade ago, she says, that it all finally made sense. Gordon has come to believe she is an “Earth Angel”, one of thousands of women convinced the only explanation for their uncanny powers of spiritual intuition is that they are actually angels, sent from heaven to make the earthly world a better place.
For Gordon, who lives in the Forest of Dean, it was a huge relief to discover she was not alone. She says she was bullied at school because she was “different”, and her extraordinary ability to empathise is a gift and a burden.
“It can be very painful,” she says. “I pick up instantly on moods. Being in a crowded place such as a supermarket can be terribly upsetting as I absorb other people’s negative emotions.”
Those who claim to be Earth Angels share many traits: they say they have always felt different from their peers; feel other people’s pain acutely; are driven to help others; have experiences they feel can only be explained by the existence of a spiritual world; and often have a strong sense of having lived previous lives on earth.
Like other Earth Angels, Michelle devotes much of her time to carrying out small acts of kindness.
She volunteers making clothes for Cherished Gowns, a charity that donates clothes for stillborn babies to be buried in, and buys food and warming drinks for homeless people.
“Most of all I’m convinced that my job is to educate the world,” she says. She adds that Earth Angels have a heavenly form that is often different from their earthly bodies. “The real, heavenly me is taller, slimmer with long grey hair and called Velvet.”
Gordon, currently single, says she is terrified of having children – which she attributes to her memories of past lives on earth.
“I’m convinced that in one of my many previous lives, I died in childbirth,” she says.
To many, the idea of Earth Angels will sound bonkers, but scan the internet and there are rafts of websites, books and videos devoted to the concept.
Meanwhile, many Earth Angels have had a deep-rooted sense of themselves as an angel from childhood, long before they could read about it online.
Kelly Draper was just 5 when she squatted down in the school playground, gazed up at the clouds, squeezed her eyes tight shut and prayed as hard as she could: “Please angels, let me come home.” “I desperately wanted to go back to heaven,” says Draper, 39.
Today, her conviction that she has a special connection with heaven is stronger than ever, though she acknowledges others will think the idea eccentric at the very least.
“I know it may sound bizarre, but I am convinced I am an angel,” she says, a support worker who lives in Derby with her husband Carl, 39, a learning disability support worker, and their children Thomas, 4, and Frances, 2.
“I can’t think of any other way to explain the deep sense I’ve had since childhood that I’ve got a heavenly mission. As a child I was hugely sensitive and never felt like I fitted in. I’d regularly come home in tears because the teacher had got cross with a classmate and I had felt her pain. I believed I’d been an angel in heaven in a previous life and I longed to go back.
“Like other Earth Angels, though, I now believe I am on earth for a reason. The world is such a cruel, scary place. Our job as angels is to make people feel a little happier – and help to open their hearts,” she adds.
“I’m still particularly attuned to people in need.
I can’t walk past a beggar without giving them a sandwich or a cup of coffee.
“If I see an ambulance, I say a silent prayer for the patient inside and visualise it speeding safely to hospital on angel wings.”
It wasn’t until four years ago, during a time of emotional turmoil, that Draper decided to fully embrace her Earth Angel role. Previously it had been a side of herself she kept private.
Having tried for a baby with husband Carl for 10 years, she finally conceived. But not long afterwards she learnt her mother, Joy, a nurse, was dying of lung cancer.
“I was 19 weeks pregnant with Thomas when mum was told she was terminally ill. Within weeks I went from utter bliss to devastation.”
Joy clung to life until Thomas was six months old.
In the depths of despair, Draper suddenly decided she had to use her pain – and angelic calling – to help people.
“I realised I have a mission to bring comfort to the sick and dying, so I am retraining as a Reiki masseuse,” she says.
“This form of massage uses touch to encourage the flow of the body’s energies. My dream is to be able to drive round helping people in their homes.”
She also has Carl’s support: “I joke that Carl is an angel for putting up with me. He doesn’t choose to explore the spiritual side of life, but he supports my beliefs.”
Ruth Bradshaw is also convinced she was sent from heaven with a mission – in her case, to communicate with animals. Two years ago she quit her successful marketing job and retrained as an “animal whisperer”. Now she divides her time between volunteering for an animal sanctuary and using her abilities to help animals in distress.
Bradshaw says she knew she was different at the age of 11, when she started seeing ghosts. Bradshaw, 41, who lives with her husband, IT consultant Chris, 37, says: “The first time it happened I was with my best friend. We were playing in her swimming pool when I looked up and saw her mum – who had died – gazing down at us from her bedroom window.
“I’m convinced her mum was using me as a channel to reassure my friend she was still taking care of her. I wasn’t scared. And when I told my friend, she was reassured.”
She adds: “For as long as I can remember I’ve had an affinity with animals. Wounded animals gravitate to me. It was often distressing because I felt their pain like a physical ache.’
An experience with a rescue cat she re-homed six years ago convinced her she could communicate with animals.
“The cat started peeing on my bed,” she says. “One day she looked me in the eye and I instantly knew she was saying, ‘Stop leaving me at home alone’. She’d been wetting my bed in protest.
“Now I explain every time I leave how long I’ll be gone for. For example I say: ‘I’ll be back in two sunsets.’ And there has not been a problem since. I realise there will be people who are sceptical and think it sounds mad, but it’s true.”
She adds: “Like many Earth Angels, endless coincidences happen to me. I’ll be thinking of a friend at the very moment they ring me. I once changed a flight on a whim and found myself sitting next to a total stranger who has since become one of my best friends.”
Like Michelle, Ruth is convinced she has lived past lives on earth. “It’s a standing joke with my husband that I know intimate details of places I’ve never visited before,” she says.
“He is a very logical man. But even he can’t explain the weird things that happen to me.” – Daily Mail
● Michelle Gordon’s books about Earth Angels are available through her website, michellegordon.co.uk.
For more information visit earthangelsanctuary.com.