Review by Solandia
“The angels of love want to help you experience the eternal love your soul is longing for. Be open and receptive to receive assistance. The love angels patiently wait for you to ask for their help. How do you attract their assistance? Through recognizing your desire, praying, meditating, searching, contemplating questions, finding awareness, developing relationships, and taking actions that are motivated by the desires of your soul.”
The Reverend Kimberley Marooney is a Californian ‘author, speaker, minister and spiritual path counselor’ with degrees in ‘angelology’ and music. She is the author of ‘Angel Blessings’ and the ‘Angel Blessings Cards of Sacred Guidance and Inspiration’, and now the Angel Love Cards. To Kimberley, each angel is ‘a real and powerful spiritual being who wants to help you in life’ and the cards are designed to help you create closer connections in all your relationships – with family, with friends, with partners, and with the Divine. In her words:
“As messengers from God, the angels are watching for opportunities to present you with personal experiences of God’s love, which comes in a limitless variety of qualities or flavors.”
The cards are described as and intended to be non-denominational and for use with the God of your own religion, whether that is the Christian God, Jesus, the Universe, or another. It does however have quite a Christian appearance and feel to me, in both imagery and terminology: aside from the use of angels, Jesus appears in the first card, Love, and Liberation (33) and card 38, ‘Generosity’, features the Madonna and child. It’s by no means exclusionary, but users with an affinity with Christian spirituality may feel more comfortable with the cards.
That said, the angels run a wide gamut of love feelings from the ethereal to the earthy, and aren’t all sweetness and light (though there is a Sweetness card). The images are not the creation of the conceptual author, instead a selection of stock images with an angelic theme. There are paintings from Renaissance Italy, nineteenth century France, American in the modern age, and Holland in the 1600s. A few of the love energies expressed through the angels:
Companionship
Depth
Trust and Faith
Appreciation
Sexuality
Connection
Action
Rejoicing
Ecstasy
The set comes in a solid, heavy hard cardboard case, which opens out from the side to reveal the ‘Angel Love’ 160-page book, and underneath that the 40 cards in two piles. The cards are on thick stock with a very matte lamination – they’d stand up well to being left on a table or altar without warping - and the backs are burgundy with an angel and the text ‘Angel Love’ in the centre. The book is lovely quality, with very white, properly bound pages and a glossy cover.
Part I of the book helps you with using the cards, through attracting angels, finding your focus (which suggests questions to ask and how to ask them); choosing your angel of the day (ways to select a card and the process of finding meaning in it); keeping your focus going all day (or watching for the influence of the angel in your life); how angels help you, and how to ask for help.
Part II explains the card meanings (unaccompanied by card images). There is a proverb or quote to introduce the card; some from the Bible, others from spiritual figures, authors, mystics and psychologists. Kimberley talks about the feeling of the card at length, and then presents the ‘Actions to Attract the Angel’. These range from possible prayers or affirmations, writing in a journal about your feelings and experiences of that day, to songs to play or books to read to enhance the energy of the particular angel. Actions are tailored to the specific love energy of the angel: an action for Vulnerability might be making an apology to someone, or cheering up a person you love (for Encouragement).
The back of the book has a bibliography, sources for the quotations, a discography (for all the songs suggested in the action section of the meanings), and illustrations and art credits.
The Angel Love Cards would be suited to those looking for a Christian-oriented deck with a positive and helpful spin. It’s not for readings or interpretative spreads; these cards are used individually to concentrate on the energy and manifestation of a single angel at a time. It’s best used to select a single card on which to meditate, to leave on your desk and altar, and to enhance the presence and quality of the angel’s quality of love in your life. It’s especial strength is that - while it’s very spiritually focused in theme - the set also offers substantial practical advice and actions to take to manifest the specific love energy in your life.
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