The Leger Marketing Survey of Canadians of October 21, 2001, indicated that nearly 60 percent of the population of Canada believes in angels.
On December 20, 2001, Scripps Howard News Service released its findings that one out of every five Americans believes that he or she has seen an angel or knows someone who has.
A 2002 Gallup Poll stated that 72 percent of Americans believe in angels, compared to 96 percent who believed in God and 90 percent in heaven.
Our fascination with heavenly beings has been going on for centuries. As early as the third millennium, the written records of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia recognized a hierarchy of supernatural beings that ruled over various parts of the earth, the universe, and the lives of human beings. All the great world religions have some kind of tradition of a guardian angel or a spiritual guide assigned to each individual human soul.
Brad and Sherry Hansen Steiger have been collecting and investigating reports of close encounters of the angelic kind for 40 years, primarily from respondents to the Steiger Questionnaire of Mystical, Paranormal, and UFO Experiences. Thousands of contemporary men and women from every walk of life have reported their interactions with guardian angels and spiritual guides. Of the more than 30,000 respondents to the survey, 42 percent claim to have witnessed angelic activity; 52 percent believe that they have a guardian angel or spirit guide; and 38 percent say that they have had an encounter with a benevolent being of light. These participants generally describe the beings as appearing youthful, commanding, beautiful of countenance, and often majestic and awesome, frequently with manifestations of light.
Drawing primarily from this survey, 'Real Angels: Guiding Spirits, Benevolent Beings, and Heavenly Hosts' relates these stories in 22 provocative and groundbreaking chapters that examine angelic encounters by type, including invisible defenders; meeting spirit guardians during near death experiences; grandmothers who act as guardian angels; benevolent healing visitors; shamanic and totem guides; and benevolent beings who intervene during crisis situations. Across all religious and international boundaries, 'Real Angels' recounts inspirational stories of guidance, rescue, illumination, healing, and teaching from spiritual beings who were quite separate from the men and women who received their wisdom and divine intervention.
As 'Real Angels' demonstrates, the belief that angels are among us, indeed watching over us and at times, intervening on our behalf, defies the science and cynicism of our age. For those who have experienced an encounter, the event is very real, and the results tangible to mind, body, and spirit. As Neil Young recently remarked after having an angel-like encounter while recovering from brain surgery in the hospital, 'I don t know what it is, but I believe in it.'
'Real Angels' explores that sense that other dimensions exist and that the heavenly and the earthly sometimes overlap. Filled with gripping, life-saving, life-changing stories of encounters with angelic beings, 'Real Angels' will inspire the soul and imagination while providing a glimpse behind the heavenly veil.
