Accessing Your Angels:
A Divine Conversation with Doreen Virtue, Ph.D.

By Jan Deremo Lundy

She has been dubbed the “Angel Lady” by many. A clairvoyant from birth, Doreen Virtue has been communicating with the angels for as long as she can remember. Today she travels the world teaching people how to connect with them personally and how to heal with their help. No “airy fairy” persona presides here, despite what some might think. “Dr. Virtue” is, indeed, just that. A remarkably well-educated woman, a doctor of psychology who holds B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in counseling psychology. She is the author of 22 books on mind-body-spirit issues and has a work-life history deeply rooted in psychiatric administration, specializing in treating women’s psychological issues.

As she attests, her journey to living her clairvoyance publicly, and finally listening to the angels which have been speaking to her from birth, was a rocky road to walk. Doreen confesses, “The angels (and my guides, which are deceased loved ones and relatives), have been talking to me literally since I’ve been a child, telling me that I’m supposed to teach mind, body, spirit information and I fought them, saying ‘No, no, no, people will laugh at me, I’m a successful psychotherapist, I’ll lose everything.’ I would say, ‘You angels don’t understand what it’s like to be here on earth, you don’t have bills to pay.’ The last time I argued with them, I almost died.”

I’m intrigued by her story, to say the least. “It was on July 15th, 1995,” she continues, “and I was getting ready to go to an appointment in Anaheim from my house in Newport Beach. One of my angels, very loud and clear, told me to put the top up on my convertible car or it would be stolen. I was so accustomed to arguing with my angels at that point, that because I was running late for my appointment, and the electric motor on my convertible top was broken, I just argued with them once again, and I said ‘No, I don’t have time to put the top up.’ They argued back, they insisted. I replied in frustration, ‘Just protect me, just protect me.’ So I get to my appointment, and this is the pivotal moment of my life, which I’m just so grateful for now, that as I’m getting out of my car to lock it, I was jumped by two armed men with a gun and a knife. They had a getaway car and this man accosted me and said that he was going to take my car and my purse. It’s so bizarre to be in a situation like that. You think this isn’t really happening. But my angels were still there, even though I had ignored them, they didn’t abandon me. They told me to scream with all my might, NOW, and it was such a breakthrough moment, because I finally obeyed my angels and I screamed, louder than I knew I had it in me. This got the attention of people who were in this church that I was going to and they came out, and their presence scared the two men away.

“Within moments, I got down on my knees in the parking lot and asked God, ‘How can I repay you?’ I just heard the same thing I’d heard all my life and that was ‘Teach about us. Teach what you know.’

“So the very next day I was already scheduled to be at a health conference to talk about my book Constant Cravings (a book on emotional weight issues) and I came out of the closet that day as promised. It no longer mattered what people would think, although I have to admit that I did ask my angels, ‘I will do this for you, but I really want you to protect me. I want you to keep mean people from me, keep the harsh skeptics away. I don’t mind the gentle skeptics because I can shepherd them, but no loud angry people—keep them away from me.’ And they said ‘Done.’ And they’ve kept their promise since 1996, and I’ve kept my promise to them. Since that day, I have been nonstop teaching about the angels.”

Her story makes me pause and question if Doreen is one of those “chosen” folks, people who seem to wander into this world, fully birthed with capabilities that most of us experience only in movies or enchanted fiction, possessing knowledge not given to the common folk. And I can’t help but ask if it’s possible for angels to speak as loudly to any one of us as they seem to speak to her? How can the average Joe or Josephine access angelic wisdom or assistance?

“The angels are these nondenominational pure love beings that everybody can agree on, no matter what religion (or non-religion) you are. Everybody can agree on the archetype of an angel,” she explains, “whether you call it a bodhisattva or a goddess or a spirit guide; we’re all talking about the same thing. Ultimately it’s a benevolent, unconditionally loving being who’s with us spiritually at all times. We get stuck because we don’t think we deserve their help. We don’t ask for help often enough or we think that other people deserve their help more than us. We’re strong, we can suffer through life, we can do it all ourselves.”

Doreen goes on to remind me, “We don’t have to suffer. Just like we don’t want our own kids to suffer, our Creator doesn’t want us to suffer in any way. But because it’s free will, we have to ask for what we want. We have to ask for the guidance, for the answers.”

After listening to Doreen explain how accessible the angels are, I wonder about all those big pickles we’ve found ourselves in time and time again, all the times we’ve fallen down and scraped our knees pretty badly. Where were our angels then? And the big question that gnaws at me now and again, ‘Why do bad things happen to good people?’

“I reiterate,” says Doreen, “that we do have to ask for help. We do have free will and the angels honor that. Do the angels ever act on their own behalf without us asking? Yes. What they’ve told me is the only time they and/or Creator can do this is if we are in a life-endangering situation before it’s our time to go. What’s interesting, since my car jacking, I’ve interviewed and received letters from thousands of people from around the world who’ve been in the same sort of situation. Sometimes they hear a voice of warning, sometimes it’s an angel that incarnates as a person who saves them, and then before the person has a chance to turn around and say thank you, that person disappears. I’ve found that about half the time, if the angels are trying to save you in a life-endangering situation they will give you very loud, very blunt, to the point divine guidance. Someone screaming at you, ‘Change lanes now,’ ‘Check on the baby,’ and so on.

Doreen’s newest book, Angel Medicine: How to Heal the Body and Mind with the Help of the Angels, is being hailed as a spiritual adventure story and a reference book. It recounts her experiences in Greece (and England) which led to the revelation of ancient healing practices, particularly with light, color, crystals and angelic help. Angel Medicine is based upon the concept of “Light plus love equals healing,” and as she explains, “... it means paying attention to both the physical (light) and spiritual/emotional (love) aspects of ourselves, or whomever we are intending to heal.”

Over the years, Doreen Virtue has tirelessly created tools, workshops and books, that people can use to better access their angels. One might also call her “The Queen of Decks,” as she has created no less than 6 different decks of cards, specially designed cards for which Doreen channels messages from angels, goddesses, fairies, ascended masters and more. Two new decks have just been released: “Archangel Oracle Cards” and “Goddess Cards” (Hay House, 2004). In mini-books which are included with each card set, Doreen instructs even the most skeptical believer in how easy it is to make divine contact. “Anyone can call upon an angel, goddess or guide. You needn’t say a formal invocation, have special education or religious training, or live a “perfect” life to elicit their attention. Just thinking their name is enough to call one to your side.”

I take her advice and decide to spend some time with the angels. I quiet myself, breathe deeply and ask for guidance. I spread the Archangel cards out in my lap, asking for one of the angels to “speak” to me. As my hand passes over the deck, I feel a strong tug above one in particular and touch it with my forefinger. Turning it over reveals the Archangel Raziel, who looks a bit like God the Father with wings (or is it Moses in The 10 Commandments?). The guidance card says, “Use your God-given power and intention to manifest blessings in your life.” Hmmm... the message resonates and within seconds a warmth and sense of peace flood through me. Could this be the angelic presence Doreen speaks of? Time will tell, so I think I’ll just sit here a while longer and bathe in the bliss.

To learn more about Doreen Virtue, visit her website: www.angeltherapy.com. Products can be ordered from the publisher, Hay House: www.hayhouse.com; (800) 654-5126.