Carole’s husband passed to spirit very suddenly at the age of 47 as the result of a massive heart attack. Tragically, this awful event took place whilst Carole was out of the house and her husband was in the company of their two teenage children. As you can imagine, it was a terrible time for the small family, but gradually they began to get back some sort of normality and were coping well.
Carole firmly believes that her husband is her guardian angel and I have to agree. From what she tells me, he is guiding and guarding his family just as much as he ever did whilst he was here in his physical life. Carole tells me that whenever she has to take on a task that her husband would have performed in the past, such as checking the oil in the car or fixing something in the house, she sees a white feather somewhere in her path. She has grown to expect them now and is never disappointed!
In her quiet times Carole often reflects on days gone by. She tells me that on such occasions she feels her husband’s presence strongly, even to the point of feeling a slight pressure on her shoulder or her hand being gently held – proof indeed that her husband has not gone away but is there as much as he ever was and no doubt always will be.
So the symbolic white feather brings huge comfort to a bereaved wife, confirming to her that her husband is safe and well and still caring for her from the world beyond.
Rebecca is also been the recipient of white feathers.
Rebecca suffered serious depression after a horrendous and almost fatal attack by an ex-boyfriend of her mother’s. Whilst still on medication for her depression she went out with her friends one night. She was unaware that taking an alcoholic drink would affect the medication she had been prescribed and returned home even more depressed and upset than ever. She attempted to commit suicide but fortunately was found in time and taken to hospital, where she stayed overnight.
When she arrived home, she went straight to bed. The windows and door to her bedroom were tightly shut. After a long sleep Rebecca awoke to find a large white feather on her bed. She is convinced that it was from her grandfather in spirit, who also suffered terribly with depression, and that he had come to give her comfort and tell her that everything would be alright.
Since that incident Rebecca tells me that she has been finding white feathers every now and again in some very strange places. I have to agree that it is very likely that her grandfather is in visitation. He is letting her know that he understands what she is going through and is watching over her.
Maureen inherited a small dog named Leckie after her cousin and his wife sadly passed on to the spirit world within 18 months of one another.
A year or so after taking Leckie into her home, Maureen began to suffer with arthritis that was sometimes so severe that she was unable to walk. Happily, the little dog was there to comfort and amuse her and keep her company. On really bad days he would cuddle up close to Maureen as if he was comforting her.
Sadly, in time Leckie too passed on to the spirit world. Maureen was very upset at losing him and felt an unreasonable anger at her cousin for leaving him with her in the first place. She felt so bitter and angry that she had lost her cousin, his wife and little Leckie that she went along to her cousin’s grave and removed the dog’s photograph that she had placed there three months earlier.
The following morning Maureen found the most beautiful soft white feather lying next to her sofa. It was in the exact spot where Leckie used to lie and sleep. Maureen wondered whether it was a calling card from an angel to help her through her grieving period or whether it was from Leckie himself to reassure her that he was still close by when she was lying alone and suffering with her arthritis.
Since that day Maureen’s anger and bitterness at losing her family members has left her. The love that she always had for them has been restored. That little doggie angel’s work has been done!
Wanda was holidaying with her family in a sixteenth-century cottage in Cornwall. She felt very uneasy after the first day or so and was sure it was haunted. Because she knew that she had almost two weeks left of her holiday she decided that she would pray to the angels for protection for her family from whatever was in the cottage.
The next day her sister reported that she had seen a figure with huge wings walking past the front window. She was convinced it was an angel and added that it had left a large white feather.
Wanda’s partner was not convinced and said that if angels existed, could they leave a sign, such as another feather. Moments later Wanda’s son rushed to where his parents were sitting. ‘Mum, a huge white feather has just dropped down from the ceiling in the living room!’ he shouted.
Wanda thought he had probably been listening to the conversation and told him, ‘Yeah, sure it did!’, but he was insistent.
Wanda’s sister went to collect the feather that she had found earlier and Wanda’s son produced his feather. They were both pure white! Was it a coincidence? We will never know. What is known, though, is that Wanda was not bothered for the rest of her holiday by the ghostly resident of the cottage.
Lois is also convinced that she has experienced angelic visitation.
Lois tells me that in the early spring of 2005 she was at her workplace. The radio was playing in the background and she got up to change the station. She tuned in to a programme that featured an interview with me. At the end I described my experience with the angel who brought me such peace and comfort just prior to the passing of my beloved dog Cara.
Afterwards Lois walked over to the window and as she stood there looking out and thinking about the story of the angel, what appeared to be a feather floated down from the sky and landed gracefully on the ground right in front of her. Thinking it was her imagination, she rushed downstairs and ran outside to where the feather had landed. She was amazed to see that there on the ground lay a beautiful white feather. She picked it up and brought it inside.
Later that evening Lois showed her husband the feather and told him about the radio interview. She says that she did feel a little stupid and thought that she might be reading a little too much into the arrival of the feather, as it could well have been a coincidence that a bird’s feather had fallen whilst she was thinking about angels. She says that her husband Craig may have felt that too.
The following week Lois and Craig travelled to America. On the day that they were leaving to travel back to the UK, as they were loading up the car with luggage, a large white feather blew into the hallway, stopping at their feet.
Two weeks after returning to the UK Lois’ father passed on to the spirit world. She was devastated. There have also been a number of other events that have caused her concern, not least the danger of losing her sight due to her diabetic condition However, she writes that things are starting to get much better in all areas, including her eyesight. She says:
‘Although I have never told my friends or family aboutthe feathers, as they’d most probably think I wasoversensitive and losing the plot a bit, I firmly believethat the significance of the feathers in my life was to letme know I wasn’t alone and to give me strength for thetough times that were to come, to comfort me with theknowledge that my dad hasn’t left me and is beinglooked after in spirit. The feathers did not protect mefrom or stop any of the pain and difficulties that wereto enter my life, but I am sure my ability to copewould have been much less without them. I believethat my feeling that the angels had given me a signmade me think about things more spiritually andallowed me to put my difficulties much more inperspective in relation to the bigger picture of humanexistence. All of us have difficult times in our lives,some more so than others, but I feel it is how we chooseto deal with the difficulties that teaches us the lessonswe need to learn. For this I am eternally grateful to theangels for their interaction in my life.’
I could not have put it better myself!
Of course the arrival of a white feather is not necessarily a sign that there is an angel around. I recall sitting in the passenger seat of my vehicle one day whilst Ray Rodaway, my tour manager, was driving me to a theatre venue in the south of England. We had been travelling for a couple of hours or more and had decided to stop at a motorway service station. It was a very cold day so we both put on our jackets prior to leaving the vehicle.
We returned to the car approximately half an hour later and took to the road once more. We had been travelling for no more than a few minutes when I heard Ray say, ‘Aye, Ackers! You know what you were saying about angels – when there’s one about you sometimes see a white feather?’
I nodded.
‘Well,’ Ray continued, ‘I think there must be one about now because a white feather’s just drifted down from the roof of the car. You don’t think we’re being warned that we’re about to have an accident, do you?’
I looked at Ray sharply but could see from his expression that he was really very serious. In fact he looked rather nervous. And sure enough, when I looked at the dashboard of the car, there sat a small white feather.
As I looked in Ray’s direction again I could see a small pinprick of white sticking through the outer material of his jacket. I pulled it and out popped a small white feather.
‘No, Ray,’ I said dryly, ‘there aren’t any angels around just now. The only feathers being shed at the moment are by you and your duvet jacket!’
An expression of relief spread across Ray’s face, followed quickly by one of embarrassment. ‘Don’t tell anybody about it, will you, Ackers?’ he said.
By this time I was convulsed with laughter. ‘Oh, Rods! This one is too good not to share!’
CHAPTER 3 (#u27d1af38-f748-5a32-ae27-2566ad9d94cb)
Following Our Destiny (#u27d1af38-f748-5a32-ae27-2566ad9d94cb)
Guardian angels, spirit guides and family members in spirit do not of course reserve the right to make their presence felt in our lives only when we are in mortal danger or when we need reassurance. Our guides and guardians are designated to us at birth to ensure that we conduct our lives in the manner chosen by us prior to our incarnation into this physical life. Because we have free will, our God-given right, we may put ourselves in danger of choosing the wrong pathway and veering away from our chosen life’s experience, and it is the job of our guardians and guides to make sure that we do not stray.
My own life is the perfect example of somebody who started off on one pathway only to be forced some years later to meet my destiny – just as my grandmother had foretold many years previously.
The one aim in my life when I was a child was to become a professional footballer. If anybody asked me what I was going to do when I grew up, my answer would always be: ‘Play football for Liverpool!’ If pressed to consider another possibility, I might reluctantly say that being a train driver might be interesting, but I never seriously considered it. I had my heart set on playing football.
Throughout my childhood I experienced proof of the existence of a spirit world and I had been told by my grandmother that I would follow in her footsteps and work for spirit by one day becoming a medium. However, I had proclaimed that I didn’t want to ‘be a gook’ and privately had pooh-poohed the idea. I did not question that there was a world beyond and that people came from that world into our world and mingled with us just as they had when they were in their physical lives – I had received more than enough proof of that – but I did not want to work with those spirit people. I wanted to be a footballer!
Finally my ambitions were fulfilled – I was signed at 15 years of age as an apprentice professional footballer with Liverpool Football Club. Gleefully I would tell my mother, ‘Gran was wrong! Look! I’m a footballer!’
What I did not know at that time was that although my ambition was being fulfilled, my ultimate destiny would still have to be met. Before incarnating into this physical life I had made a promise and that promise had to be kept.
I was allowed a certain amount of success as a footballer, but did not achieve the standard that I wished. My footballing career came to an end at a relatively early age and I was left with no choice but to follow the pathway that was meant for me – the pathway that I myself had chosen whilst still resident in the world of spirit prior to my incarnation here. As my grandmother had foreseen and as I myself had promised, I would become a worker for spirit – a medium – and a medium I became! It was my destiny!
I had reason to be talking to a young man in his thirties one day. I will respect his wish to remain anonymous and will merely call him ‘David’. His story is one where spirit, rather than working in mysterious ways, brought this young man to the realization that he was on the wrong pathway rather abruptly.
David’s story began in one of the poorer areas of Liverpool. He was the youngest of three brothers in a family which was not very well off at all. In fact most of the time money was very tight indeed. David’s mother and father both worked when there was work available and consequently were away from the family home most of the day. David and his brothers were left to a great extent to fend for themselves. Boys will be boys, and in their harsh environment it was not long before David was playing truant. Time went by and his appearances at school became less and less frequent. By the time David was 14 years of age he rarely attended school at all. He was a tall well-built lad who appeared older than he was, and eventually he became part of a group of teenagers who were known as ‘no goods’ in the area. If ever there was trouble David would be there in the thick of things. Stealing cars and joy-riding were activities that took place on a weekly basis. David thought there was nothing like the excitement of stealing a car with his mates and driving to Southport at high speed. On one such occasion the car he was in careered off the road and ended up in a field. David and his friend were badly cut and bruised – they were fortunate to escape with their lives.
By the time David was 15 he was well known to the local police and had been in court on numerous occasions. The day eventually arrived when he was sent away to a correctional institution for a number of months. When he was released he merely picked up his old lifestyle, but now with the reputation of being a really bad lad.
One day, however, things changed dramatically.
‘It was really strange, Derek,’ David told me. ‘I was walking along with me mate, just talking about this and that and planning our next bit of mischief, when I suddenly felt a really hard slap to the side of my head. It really hurt. I looked at my friend and said, “What was that for?” I was just about to fetch him one back when I realized that he couldn’t have done it because he was too far away from me. He’d stopped to light a ciggie and I’d carried on walking, so he was a few yards away.
‘We carried on towards me other mate’s house, but when he asked me in I told him that I was going home. I needed to have a good think. For some reason that slap around the head affected me more than any copper yelling at me or any court of law sending me down.’
