In The Beginning
According to Judeo-Christian mythology, Lucifer fell to Earth after being defeated by Archangel Michael. The naughty angel, said to be consumed by pride and desire for the divine throne, landed on a blackberry bush. He cursed it, spat on it, stomped it with his hooves, and then urinated on it to show his utter disdain for the prickly bramble. In all, that fateful October 11th was a no good, very bad day for who would become God's archnemesis and humanity's fall guy for all eternity.

Early Christians loved this story so much, they decided to deem Lucifer's eviction from Heaven a holy day. To add salt to the fallen angel's wounds, the Christians named this holy day of October 11 “Michael’s Mass.” But when the first European countries made the switch from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar in 1582, Michael’s Mass--now "Michaelmas"--was moved up from October 11 to September 29, and European Christians still celebrate it to this day.

Dancing On The Head Of A Pin
But if you give just one angel his holy day, all the other angels are gonna start huffing and complaining. Thunder starts rumbling, lightning starts streaking, a village goes up in flames, and then nobody’s happy. Gabriel and Raphael were lucky enough, as they had stellar public relations with the humans. The two angels would be awarded their own feast days in the spring and autumn, respectively. Alongside Michael, that's only three angels, though, and we all know there’s a hell of a lot more angels than that, pardon my language.

​Angels have always been gender fluid. They are divine creatures of spirit who take on a gender identity only to better connect with us, their human siblings. Reflecting back to us our own projections and expectations, an angel may present male to one person, female to the next, nonbinary, or whichever gender in which that person finds comfort. 

"But...but, the Bible calls them 'sons of God, Chantel!'" Indeed, it does. That is how angels were perceived by the writers of the Bible. But the Bible is merely one book. That, and the angels are not and never have been sole property of any one religion or belief.  

The angels are here for all of us. They are here to help guide us through this life experience, and because there are over eight billion experiences happening right now on our planet, the angels will present themselves to us eight billion different ways. There's no need to argue over, for instance, whether Michael is male or female, black or white, blond or brunette, stoic or passionate. He is all of those things.

And none of those things.

Michael is a facet of the Creator, a bite-sized portion of divinity created and designed for human consumption. Such is the nature of all angels. Through the ages and civilizations of our world, Michael has been the warrior angel, vanquisher of demonic forces. (Even that is a loaded statement accompanied by varying interpretations.) But as we change, as humanity changes, so does Michael.

So do all the angels.

When I arrived on the scene with my first book fifteen years ago, I presented Michael as this swaggering, West Coast, surfer dude. I presented him that way because that's how he presented himself to me. Apparently, that’s what I found comfort in, despite having never lived on the West Coast, nor being a fan of the ocean, much less surfing. I don’t know what subconscious element within me chose to dress Michael up as such, but I didn’t question it. I accepted it, despite all the portrayals of angels throughout history. Michael didn’t speak Early Modern English, as the angels in the KJV Bible. His patois was contemporary and snappy with a whole lot of snark. This is how he approached me, and now I can’t really picture him any other way, even though my calling as an angel medium demands otherwise. Recognizing an angel without relying on their appearance is absolutely paramount in my line of work because the angels can easily change their appearance based on the clients they accompany. More on that later.