How Many Angels?

This year we got a little Christmas tree--at the grocery. No more wrestling a big tree into a stand. No more lashing it to the top of the car. No more chance of my forgetting it was up there only to be reminded by the crash as I drove into the garage and it hit the wall over the garage door.

This year a tiny three foot tree. On an end-table.  Which meant we had to decide among the ornaments.  And among the angels. How many angels....no doubt you are thinking about the classic angel question: how many of them can dance on the head of a pin. 

Our answer about the angels on the tree, was all four of them go on the tree. Every one of them. And you might ask which one goes on top. To which our answer is an acorn goes on the very top.   A tribute to nature and Jean Giono's story of The Man Who Planted Trees.

And since the angels have tended to take a tumble from time to time  and as we have picked them up we put them any old place near the top of the tree, they have found themselves changing places.  First one is higher and then another.

All this has started me wondering:

If angels are good, why just one? Where did that limiting notion come from and are there other similar limits to goodness in our heads.

Who do the angels represent?  This year I think they represent those no longer among us here on earth. Our four parents. Others.

Are angels OK?  That question was the title of a dialogue among artists and scientists in New Zealand. For scientists, is it even ok to even think about angels, let alone talk about them? And perhaps it was an unspoken question among
nine of us who are just completing a book about spirit and sustainability.

What about our "better angels"...our finer selves?   Where are they most present these days?

So with all this I hope I've left you counting angels too. And if you want to throw a few extra blessings in the count this season
that would be great.

Hugs to all,

Judy Brown