If you haven’t noticed, angels-the winged versions-are everywhere. On top of your neighbor’s Christmas tree. On your daughter’s dresser. On Aunt Ann’s china pattern.
While designers may soon feel that gilded cherubs have overextended their welcome, it’s clear that angels have gone far beyond a design trend-a sweet motif for the guest bath.
As long as people believe, halo lapel pins will sell.
Do you believe in angels? A recent Gallup survey asked that question and found 72 percent of adults do believe. In 1988 only 50 percent believed that heavenly messengers exist. A Gallup Youth Survey this summer revealed that 76 percent of teenagers believed in angels as well.
The widespread belief in angels is being courted heavily, too. NBC aired a documentary on angels earlier this year. Angel Times, a magazine containing poetry, artwork and interviews with believers, published its debut issue this summer. An angel program, examining encounters with, history of and meaning of angels, is available on CD-ROM. The New Jersey-based Angel Watch Foundation circulates a newsletter for members to share their encounters.
Specialty stores that deal exclusively with angel merchandise are popping up across the country and are enjoying brisk business. They sell angel T-shirts, angel figurines, angel pins, angel afghans . . . angel everything.
Angel collectors Deborah Piper and Diane Waller of Birmingham, Ala., opened such a store, A Wing and a Prayer, in May, and the owners say that business is doing very well. But they say their greatest satisfaction comes from bringing a sense of hope and love to their customers.
“We’ve brought a lot of comfort to people, I think,” Piper says. “We’ve heard wonderful stories about guardian angels.”
Then there are the books. A trip to most any large bookstore reveals shelves of books that cover everything you ever wanted to know about angels-from fiction to real-life encounters to advice on getting to know your own guardian angels.
“I think people find comfort in them (angels), and people are looking for spiritual comfort,” says Lynn Grisard Fullman, author and free-lance writer.
Fullman’s latest book, “Alabama Miracles: Real Life Stories to Warm the Heart,” was published this year and includes stories from people who say they’ve seen and heard from angels.
She’s working on another book that deals entirely with stories of angel encounters.
Fullman says she isn’t sure that angels truly are revealing themselves to the earthbound more than ever, but she does credit a mushrooming awareness of angels with the popularity of the books.
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“I think people who’ve had experiences feel more comfortable talking about them,” she says.