Angels in her hair
May 2011
Meet Lorna Byrne, an obscure and impoverished Irish mystic whose books on living with angels have catapulted her to fame
Once in a while to derail a sceptic world, God sends his power to simple, trusting souls. Lorna Byrne, a widow from rural Ireland previously living a shuttered existence, shook an indifferent world in 2008 with publication of her autobiography, Angels In My Hair. The book talks about her extraordinary capacity to see and talk with angels ever since she was a baby. Lorna’s heart-touching message that each of us has a guardian angel irrespective of religion, nationality, personal belief or the lack of it, has brought hope, faith and strength into people’s lives.
In an hour-long conversation with her, Lorna confesses: “I don’t know why God chose me and not anyone else because I am just an ordinary person. But He did choose me and He sent His angels to teach me. When I see an angel, I want to stop and stare. I feel like I am in the presence of a tremendous power.” Born and raised in abject poverty with a learning disorder (later identified as dyslexia) Lorna was declared retarded by her doctor. Shunned from school and an embarrassment to her parents, she found solace in angels – her best teachers till date. The cherubs swore her to secrecy but revealed she would eventually write books on them.
Doing God’s work
Despite her dyslexia and the fact that Lorna has never read a book, Angels in my Hair is now an international bestseller, which has sold almost half a million copies, is on sales in 47 countries and has been translated into 20 languages. Her book signings last up to nine hours and currently Hollywood is knocking to make a film on her life.
But success for the 56-year-old modest homemaker is “doing God’s work.” Her message that we are never alone under any circumstances, and are always protected and guided by our guardian angels has resonated with people regardless of their religious beliefs. She tells me that guardian angels are the gatekeepers of our souls. They accompany our souls even before conception in the womb and stay with us until the crossover to the other side after death. We may be reborn in other bodies and belong to other families, but our soul and guardian angels will be the same and are inseparable. Guardian angels let other angels into our lives to help with different situations; these are known as angel teachers. “For the guardian angel you are its hero,” Lorna affirms.
Being different
Lorna sees angels everywhere peope are . She talks with angels as she talks with other people, but also communicates with them without words. She sees guardian angels as a column of light about a yard high, appearing about three steps behind a person. Sometimes, a guardian angel will open this light to reveal a very beautiful, perfect human appearance. However, there are other distinguishing factors: angels’ feet never touch the ground; they don’t always have wings and they possess glowing eyes full of life energy. Lorna calls them her best friends and companions. Angels walk with her; twirl her drying laundry, sit down at her kitchen table or companionably by the fireside even though they don’t feel the cold.
When Lorna was young, the angels generally adopted a human form — to make it easier for her to accept them. Now that’s not required. Sometimes they are like flames of fire, and yet have shape and solidity. One of her favourites is the bird angel appearing at various times to comfort her. He has a radiant golden-coloured face, and his clothes drape over his figure, but when he moves not a fold changes. He is surrounded by golden birds in flight and on the ground around him are smaller birds — crows and jackdaws, robins, sparrows.
Besides her guardian angel, her support system consists of an invincible trio: the first is the gleaming Archangel Michael who, like the sun, gives life to our planet; then comes Hosus who makes Lorna laugh but also gives her knowledge and finally Elijah, a strong, broad, rust-coloured angel appearing at crucial times in her life to give strength and courage.
By narrating what lies ahead, the angels have helped Lorna recognise that in the ultimate analysis her destiny is preordained. When she was nine, the angel Elijah appeared and gave her a vision of her future husband Joe, adding that they would share love and children but would never grow old together on account of Joe’s early death due to serious bouts of ailments. Sure enough, Joe was ill right from their wedding day and after 25 years of togetherness and four children, passed away at age 47.
All through, the shadow of poverty never left the couple. Most times everything was scarce to the bone: food, electricity, clothes. Joe was frequently laid off owing to ill-health.
To sustain the family of four children they often pawned their engagement ring, only to finally lose it one day. All they had was their love, dignity and, of course, the angels.
Her visions
Lorna’s second book, Stairways to Heaven, is about her role as a healer and the visions she has encountered for our planet Earth. People suffering deadly diseases like cancer come to her and she conveys to them the message of their guardian angels while praying for them. In her books and interactions, she shares the powerful healing prayer given to her by God through Archangel Michael. She says, “Anyone who finds me has been sent by God.” If the angels show recovery, she helps the afflicted person and family work towards that end. At times the only message is of death.
Stricken mothers who have lost their young children come to her to share their grief. Lorna also acts as a medium to help the spirits of those who died an unnatural death to cross over into heaven. I ask Lorna how guardian angels allow death and accidents to happen to our loved ones. With the quiet wisdom of a lucid soul she answers that angels do not let bad things happen to us and do their all to protect us. But we are to remember and accept that it is only a human life, our bodies are not perfect but our souls are. She says, “It’s hard for me to understand also and I constantly give up to God as we have to live this human life.”
Once the angels told her she would get pregnant with her third child but the baby would not survive and would return to God. At three months, Lorna lost the baby and felt her soul holding her baby’s soul and rising out of her body towards a brilliant light. She knew the baby had died and she was dying too.
There was unbelievable peace in the path towards heaven but an angel blocked her path and asked her to return. Lorna saw her lifeless body with her anxious husband trying to feel a pulse. She pleaded not to return from this place where there was no pain and sadness. But return she did. Her near-death experience helped her understand death as a release, where we leave our physical bodies like an empty eggshell.
Lorna’s visions about Planet Earth are mixed. Some are disturbing and she doesn’t want to be around in those times; others are better depending upon our present choices. She talks about the gigantic angel, “Jimazen”, guardian of our planet, and how his frequent appearances to her are a sign that our planet is hanging in balance and why it is so important that we listen to him. His left hand holds a staff that he bangs on the earth out of frustration because he is doing everything to protect the Earth but cannot save it from man’s greed and he feels helpless. She talks about “glowing babies”, blessed souls born with a brief earthly span. They are beautiful and everyone wants to hold them, so much so that it bewilders their parents. But we are not ready for them and therefore they are taken away. Right now we would destroy them. They are a part of future spiritual evolution, when the body and soul come closer.
Lorna’s special message to Life Positive readers is that life is a precious gift from God and that we each have a part to play in it and to remember that “your angel is a gift from God.”