Angel Quote

We shall find peace.  We shall hear the angels.  We shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds.

Anton Chekhov

Divination and the Zodiac

Taurus

Element: Earth
Ruling Planet: Venus
Dates: April 21-May 21
Quality: Fixed
Gender: Feminine
House: Second (Money)

Elemental Goddesses and Angels

Soko

Sky god.  Nupe [Nigeria, West Africa].  The name refers specifically to the dark sky that stimulates the growth of crops at the beginning of the rainy season.

Soko is also the name of an angel in the Elemental Angels Series.  She's the goddesses of storms, with golden brown skin, white hair and hazel eyes.  She's in the classification of angel called Thrones and is an ophanim, which is a high-ranking type of angel.

http://dccowanauthors.blogspot.com/
Source: Encyclopedia of Gods by Michael Jordan

#angels, #goddess

Angel Quote

I just listened to the crowd and listened to the music and I thought of
angels and clouds. I thought "I can do this." and just enjoyed myself.

- Michelle Kwan, after winning her third U.S. Figure Skating Championships

#angels, #quotes
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Divination and Angels

According to Merriam and Webster, divination is defined as the practice of using signs (such as an arrangement of tea leaves or cards) or special powers to predict the future.  Divination includes things like astrology, numerology, talismans, tarot readings and in a way alchemy.  In a literary sense, I have always enjoyed connecting the divine, such as God and angels, to divination such as astrology and alchemy.  In many of my books I use these two types of divination as a reoccurring theme.  In the Elemental Angels Series, many angels are named after the 12 zodiacs and in the Angelic Heroes Trilogy, alchemy is an important part of the story.  When you think about it, divination is meant to see into the future and it's very similar to religion in the way that religion foresees future events such as in the bible there are many prophecies.  I'm not saying that I am a believer in divination, but I certainly enjoy using it in my work.

One book that inspired me since I was in high school is The Book of Divination by Ann Fiery.  I enjoy the pictures and the author's depth of understanding different types of divination.

Picture Source: Pinterest

Angels in Religion

Angels in Religion

Angels in Protestant Christianity

In Protestant Christianity, angels are messengers and carry out God's will but have less elaborate characteristics and less prominence than in Catholicism.  Angels are most important in their gospel role of ministering to Jesus and assisting the disciples.

Angelic Form
Angels are created as spiritual beings - not as humans.  They can take on a corporeal form if doing so will help them do their work on earth.  They are genderless and invisible.

Heavenly Intervention
They provide guidance and assurance to believers and pray for them in heaven.  John Calvin rejected the concept of guardian angels, saying, "All the angels watch over our salvation."  Not all angels are good however.  Satan, or Lucifer, the rebel angel, is a constant threat to unwary souls.

Important Angels
All biblical angels are important.  Most protestant theologians, however warn against the Catholic practice of praying to angels (which they view as idolatry) and the angel hierarchy of Catholicism because these traditions are not biblical and are not seen as having pagan roots.  The devil is prominent as the "ruler of this world" whom humanity must struggle to overcome.

Source: Big Book of Angels, by Editors of Beliefnet
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Sample Chapter | Volume 12 of Elemental Angels eBooks

Chapter 1

Queen Uno sat on her throne, holding a champagne glass of wine between her fingers.  Delicately with her chin rested on one hand, she watched the wine twirl around in the glass.  She did not have much of a taste for the forbidden fruit, but she did enjoy a glass every now and again.  She yawned then noticed a vassal standing before her throne; he patiently waited for her desire to hear his message.  But he would have to wait longer; she looked away from him to all the people standing around her court.  Her children stood towards the front of the crowd staring at her along with the rest of the nobles.  The grand doors opened, and two guards dragged Calypso in, walking up the steps to her throne, and tossing him to her feet.  She leaned down into his face, as he sat up.  Calypso jumped back stumbling down the stairs, into the aisle then bowed low to the floor in front of her.  She slammed down her wine; the crystal glass fractured and almost shattered with the impact.  Her scowling face softened into a smile.  “Now that you’re here you will wait your turn to be addressed.”  Calypso gulped, moving to the side.  She waved the vassal up to her, and he stepped forward bowing to her.  “Read me the news... but only what’s important.  I just don’t think I can handle any more deaths.”  Uno said thinking about her half-brother, Dawn.

“Well, I’m afraid that… that is all I have to report.”  The vassal gulped and started to close his scroll.

“Oh, go on.”  She waved her hand.

“Yes, your majesty!  [Contents Removed Spoiler] the Head of the Tau School and Safe-house was shot down by a royal guard who sacrificed himself in the line of duty to save his fellow guards.”

“Then we must send something nice to his family, who did he kill again?”

“[Contents Removed Spoiler].”

“Hum... I recognize the name.  I used to know her a long time ago.  One of those resistance fighters...”  She said thoughtfully winding her index finger around the edge of the wine glass.  “What else?”

“The woman who killed the officer was killed by the gas chamber, [Contents Removed Spoiler].”  He read from the scroll.

“Hum... what a shame, my brother cared so much about her safety.  If only she had not killed that officer I’m certain I could have spared her.”  She yawned then waved the vassal along.  She stared into space for a while thinking to herself, while the court watched her.  Her tiara lay slanted on her head, as she leaned back into her throne.  Gaudy jewels dotted her neck and twinkled against the light of the crystal chandeliers above.  She tapped her finger to her chin, and leaned back in her cushion, her gown hanging loosely on her thin frame.

“Um... mother...”  Calypso started to say, but her head snapped sharply towards him.

“You do not speak, until you are spoken to!”  She tossed the glass at him, spilling wine on his white trousers.  She laughed.  “Oops guess we’ll have to burn another pair of clothes.”  She stood up from her throne and crossed the room over to him.  He stood perfectly erect, while she encircled him like a vulture over dying prey.  “I don’t know why you’ve been so rebellious lately.”  She flung his ponytail over his shoulder, and laughed in his face.  “Then again, I guess you are used to being insubordinate, huh?”  She leaned onto his shoulder, and played with the glasses over his eyes.  He would not and could not look at her; he stared straight ahead at the throne.  She crossed in front of him to meet his eyes.  “My dear boy, why did you leave the colony?  Have I not made a perfect home for you here?”

“Well...” Calypso started to say.

“Please, son, you must understand, everything I did was for you and your siblings.  All of them are submissive so why can’t you be?  Isn’t that right, Taro?  I have you eating out of my hand like a puppy.”  She laughed, as Taro glared at her.  “Why can’t you be like a puppy, Calypso?  My weird little son…”  She pinched his cheeks in her hands.  “You have no chance of ever ruling… I would have expected this from Taro, but not you.  I guess he hasn’t got the guts.”  She laughed at Taro, passing by him and grazing his face with her fan.  “Why hate me?  I expect your brother to, he’s so close to ruling he can taste it.  He probably wants me dead.”  She laughed at Taro staring him in the eye.

“I don’t.” Calypso shouted.

“Don’t what, my boy?”  Uno turned away from Taro.  “Want me to die?”

“I don’t hate you...”  He said and adjusted his glasses.

“You’re alone then.”  She frowned and returned to her seat.  She rubbed her hand over the gold trimmed armrest, glaring at him.  “I just have to know.  Is it true what you did?”

“Well, I...”

“Just tell me!”

“I didn’t mean...”

“I need to hear it from your own lips!”  She shouted, the room resounding with the echo of her screech.

“I married [Contents Removed Spoiler].”  He bit his lip.

“Not Australis anymore, now is it?  Now she’s a Borealis.  Thank you so much, for messing up the lineage.  Our family only marries inside the Sigma Clan, another Borealis, or royalty.  Marriages with a… a demon such as your... wife are annulled immediately.”  Uno yelled.

“You can’t!  I’m old enough to decide for myself!”  Calypso said.  “During the time I was away, I turned of age to decide who I want to marry.  I’m old enough to make my own decisions.”

“You’re only old enough to disobey me and the family you were wrongly brought into.  I always knew you were the black sheep that would mess up everything.  I should have done as my ancestors and buried you under the castle when I knew you were different!  You and no one else who is in this castle can think unless I order it!  Haven’t you understood that?  Now I have a half-blood vampire for a daughter in law.”  She wrinkled up her nose.  “Not for long I won’t.  We have many means to dispose of such unwanted necessities.” She laughed, fanning herself off.

“You don’t touch a hair on her head!”  He pointed his finger at her.

“Or what…?”  She chuckled.  “You’ll do what?  Will Calypso, the black sheep who always has his head in the clouds actually stand up for himself?  I guess we’re starting to see your real self, the one that deliberately defied me by marrying my enemy!”

“No!”  Someone from the court yelled.  Everyone spun around to see who dared speak out of turn.  Pluto stood in the doors, the light from the stained glass windows striking a brilliant shine onto his dark hair.  “You should learn from his courage.  He did something you could never do!”  Pluto shouted.  Uno stared at him, without a word.  Her facial expression softened and she stood from the throne.  During all the confusion with Priestess Pax, Uno did not have a chance to meet with him that day or even see him except at a distance.  Now, there he stood, like he had in her dreams and memories.  He had grown older in their years away from each other, but so had she.  Age had formed him into a gallant and handsome older man.  He looked exactly how she had imagined he would.  In this silence while she stared at him, the court expected for her to explode and to demand his imprisonment or execution.  Lifting up her arms to him, she felt as if she could embrace Pluto once again.  Oh, how she wanted to run to him and forget everyone else?  With all the eyes on her, she broke out of her trance and sat back down on the throne.

“Pluto…”  She said gently.  “What are you doing barging in here?  I am not to meet with you…  You have lost, or have you not heard the news that your friends are all dead?”

“I know what happened, but I’m still here.”  Pluto said as he approached the throne.  Her heart fluttered with every step towards her.  “Why haven’t you killed me Uno, I was the leader of the organization against you.”  He walked up beside Calypso.

“What?”  Uno said turning her face away to hide the tears forming in her eyes.  “I never had plans to do anything with you except the negotiations with you and the priestess.  Wherever the priestess is now, I’m certain peace for the citizens is the least of her worries now.”

“That’s no excuse.”  Pluto said.  “I have resisted you up until now and so I am just as guilty as any of the others; you’re letting a resistance fighter roam freely around your castle…”

“Be quiet, I can have you killed any time I want.”  She swallowed the knot in her throat.

“Then why haven’t you?”  Pluto asked.  The queen fell silent, and the court began to whisper.  Uno bit her lip looking around at them all.  “I’ll tell you why.  It’s for the same reason you are jealous of the marriage between Calypso and Styx.”

“You’re senile.”  She laughed nervously.  “I can have anyone I want, why would I be jealous of my son married to that albino demon!”

“Can you really have whomever you want?”  Pluto said and stepped passed Calypso and closer to her.  “Not everyone agrees with you Uno, and you know it.  You’re afraid of people like me; that’s why you keep me out.  You think because the negotiations have been delayed, and my resistance shredded that I will join you on your path of destruction across the colonies.  Well, I’ll tell you now, I’ll never agree with what you are doing.”

“But Pluto…”  Uno asked holding her hand out to him as he approached her.  She pulled her hand back to her chest. “Then why did you come here?”

“Because I was hoping for a compromise…  Something that I always wanted from you…  I don’t know why you can’t compromise… everything has to be the way you want it to be.  Even about us...”  He stopped in front of the steps leading to her throne.  The people in the court began to whisper, and Uno looked around, standing from her seat.

“Stop…!”  She said to them.  There was never an ‘us’...”  She started down the stairs towards him.

“Do you deny me, in front of the people?”  Pluto asked her as she stopped in front of him.  “The plans we had together?  I never wanted it to go as far as it did, but you insisted.  You have charm Queen Uno, to manipulate the heart of a weaker male.  The prince was mad for you.  You could have had anyone in this kingdom, though you chose me.”  He grabbed her hand and started to kiss it.  Hesitantly, she snatched her hand away, slapping him across the face.  She trembled from anger, and took a moment to steady her breathing.

“Guards…”  She said nearly in tears. “Have this delirious man removed from my court!”  She commanded while staring at Pluto.

The guards rushed around him, fighting to pull him from the room.  “Why don’t you tell the truth, Uno?  About what really happened to the king!  What we really had together!  What I lost my whole life over!  How we truly feel about each other!  Maybe even, the real reason why Calypso and Styx shouldn’t be married…”  The room fell silent waiting for the response of the queen.  Her lip quivered, and she turned her back on the court, heading up the stairs.  She leaned over on the armrests, breathing sporadically.

“You could have been a happy man...”  She whispered to herself as if she spoke to Pluto. “But you insist on being difficult.  If we ever could have had something together... never more...”  With her back to the congregation, she played with the lion’s head carved into armrest.  “Have him thrown in the dungeon, where he’ll rot with his children...”  She said just loud enough for them to hear.  The guards started to pull him from the room, and he struggled against them while crying out for her.  The Delta Soldiers who worked for the queen had many of the same dark powers as Pluto and they easily subdued him.  “Wait!”  She held her hand up for them to stop.  Pluto and the court held their breath as they waited for her next command.  Would she admit to something or would she release him?  “Bring his daughter up... I want to see the newlyweds done away with together...  Kill his son on the spot; I don’t want him to have company down there...”  A twinkle of hatred sparkled in her eyes.  She had always hated Krono and Styx because they were a remnant of Orcus, Pluto’s wife and a woman she had always abhorred.  The guards waited with her final commands for Pluto.  “Take him away.”  She said.

“Uno…!”  Pluto shouted.  “Don’t do this!  You know this isn’t right!  Just take me!”  He cried in vein as they pulled him from the room.  Silence overtook the hall again, and the people stood motionless afraid to budge in front of her.

“Guards…”  She growled.  They clicked their heels together, slamming the doors shut to the grand room.  They raced into the aisle pointing guns and swords at the people in the court.  They all screamed, and huddled among each other.  Valaro grabbed her two younger siblings, and Taro started walking towards her, but a guard cut him off.  She leaned up from her chair, still facing away from.  “If any of you take what you heard in this room and tell to anyone... you will die...”  She grabbed up another glass of wine from an attendant and started to sip slowly.  She leaned her elbow on her armrest and her head fell into the palm of her hand.  Without looking at anyone in particular, she whispered, “Get the hell out...”  The guards shoved the people through the opened doors, with screams and cries as they stampeded from the room.  Once the room emptied out, she curled her knees under her chin, tears rolling from her cheeks onto her gown.  She took the last sip of her wine and let the glass roll from her hands and down to the ground.

“What is wrong with you?”  Taro shouted and tried to run back into the room; he cared not for the soldiers with swords pushing him back from the room.

She stared into space, gripping onto her head and trembling in her seat.  “I don’t know…”  She whispered to herself.

Sample Chapter | Volume 11 of the Elemental Angels eBooks

Chapter 1

The nights of Dionne lit up with the neon lights from its clubs and casinos.  Corruption lined the street like icing on a cake.  The police, the military, and the royal family were just sprinkles on the top.  Aikido rode through the city of sin, in the back of Aysa’s limo.  The Mihos limos were sent out to personally escort Aikido and others to the meeting for the civil organization called the Last Forces for Freedom.  They had to fight because no one else would.  Since the time of Aikido’s grandfather, the clans that fought for the rights of the commoners had long been extinct.  She longed for the times of old, where she could be happy with her daughter.  The driver parked in front of an old abandoned building.  He opened the door for her, and she slid from her seat.  She used her cane to pull her heavy aging body from the cab.  The driver promptly bowed, and returned to the driver’s seat of the car.  She stopped in front of the door of the boarded up and decaying abandoned building.  “What’s the password?”  Said a muffled voice from behind the door.

“There was no password.”  Aikido stomped her cane down.

“D––.  That’s what Aysa said too.”  Pluto said.  He looked around, and waved for her to come on.  The decaying boarded door spun around, like a revolving door to let her in.  The dilapidated exterior of the house vastly differed from the sleek modernized interior.  Officials raced around inside; they talked on phones, and rushed papers from office to office, running up and down floors.  “This is the central base that we all use.” Pluto said to Aikido.

“Good idea to place it in the abandoned house.”

“Yeah, Aysa’s idea…”  Pluto said. 

“I would think no less of her ideas.  They are always brilliant.”  Aikido followed Pluto into an elevator.  He pressed the button, and they shot up to the next floor.  The doors slid open on people wandering around with maps and documents.  “Did you discover anything?”  Aikido asked Pluto.

“Yes, that’s why we need those outfits you brought.”  He replied.  “You can get off here; I have to greet Dawn and Knight at the door.  Just go to the end of the hall, and you should hear Aysa through the door.  You can’t miss her.”  He pointed pass her, as the doors closed shut.

She meandered to the end of the hall, looking around at the people and the paintings.  The sound of Aysa complaining to a client over the phone could be heard along the whole hallway.  Aikido searched for a handle, or a lever to open the door with.  Aysa saw her struggle and stood up from the table.  She pressed a button to allow Aikido entrance into the room all this without skipping a beat while complaining to the party on the opposite end of the phone.  The doors slid open, and Aikido walked through looking around at the others in the room.  “Thanks.”  Aikido said and Aysa nodded still with the phone on her ear.  “I guess I’m not use to all this new technology.”  She said to herself.

“Fine... I’ll take care of it... don’t worry about where I am right now!”  She clicked off the phone and tossed it to the floor.  “That man, I swear.  He’d be complaining about his stocks even if the world came to an end.”

“Bad trading…?”  Aikido asked motioning to the chair around an oval table.

“My crazy ex-husband thinks it’s a good idea to invest in companies that have just opened, regardless of whether they do well or not!  Some do well, and there’s a big payoff.  A lot of our assets are still tied in together so we have to make sure there are enough funds in our shared accounts to purchase stock.  But it always seems to be my responsibility to sell stock that doesn’t do well.  Not only is he getting on my nerves, but he’s using my money to do all this.  I could care less what he does with his own money!”  Aysa ready to pull her hair out, slumped down at the table.  She wiped her face, and leaned on her finger.  “I bet he’s caused ever wrinkle on my face and white in my hair.” She frowned at her reflection in the table.  “He drives me crazy.”

“At least you have someone to drive you anywhere...”  Aikido said to herself.

“Sorry about that... I just have outburst when it comes to him.  Syria was the only reason we got along, you know.”

“Kind of like China and I… we got a long better when Lynx came along...”

“Yes... I hope you enjoyed the ride over here, I only thought it best.  I didn’t trust giving anyone the address; they could lose it or give it away to the enemy if threatened.  At least I’m sure that none of you go anywhere else before or after you leave here.  It helps to exclude that suspicion.”

“It’s afterward that you have to worry about.”

“You are stranded here, in an abandoned building.  My butler has that covered as well.”  They heard voices drifting down the hall towards the room.  They watched through the glass walls as Pluto traveled down the hall between Dawn and Knight. 

“I just can’t believe I didn’t tell you a password...”  Pluto said standing outside the door trying to figure out how to get in.  Dawn walked up and pressed a button springing the doors open.  “Oh… thanks…”

“There was a password?”  Dawn asked him.  Everyone shook their head, and Dawn turned to Knight and shrugged.

“Why did you think you forgot it?” Aikido instigated.

“Sort of...”  Knight said.

“Afraid you’d get it mixed up with another password?”   Aikido hinted at the password used between the royal guards.

“No, of course not…”  Pluto stepped in.  “We are all together on this...”

“Don’t be so confident.”  Aikido glared at Pluto then to Dawn.  “Under this tyrant we call a queen, if we straddle the fence it will only lead to the fall of the whole Dionne Galaxy.  I don’t care what your relation to her is.  We need a full allegiance between all of us here.  Agreed?”

“I concur.”  Pluto said looking at Aysa.

“Agreed…”  Aysa slammed her phone down looking at Knight.

“I... agree...”  Knight eyed Dawn and they all waited.

“... Yes...”  He managed to say.  “We’ve all agreed, now can we start?”

“Not everyone, just yet.”  They heard a soft voice from behind the door.   

Who came through the door?  A surprise and blast from the past.  Find out who in Volume 11 of the Elemental Angels Series.