Pagan Book Reviews

Guardian Angels: Discover the World of Angels and How To Communicate With Your Guardian Angel
Hazel Whitaker and Cynthia Blanche
Barnes and Noble, 2000
80 pages

Well, here’s the very first Bargain Bin Book Review, straight from the clearance rack at Half Price Books! This is one of those cute little gift books that the major chain stores just adore. Less than 100 pages, hardcover, and full of bright pastel and shiny gold painted illustrations. In short, it’s a fairly typical New Age angel book, at least on first glance.

The authors did a pretty decent job of researching the history of angels, starting with angel lore in Zoroastrianism and later monotheistic religions, through Renaissance artwork and into today. Granted, they didn’t go into any great depth, but it was nice seeing a brief discussion on the angels associated with the various sephiroth on the Kabbalistic Tree of Life.

Of course, the book does has plenty of fluff, too. The authors talk about faeries and devas in the same breath as angels, and paint them all with the same pink and sparkly brush. And although they do admit that angels (especially cherubs) weren’t always innocent, pretty things, they do persist in continuing to treat angels as innocent, pretty things.

The organization of the book is also lacking somewhat. The section on traditional angel magic seems to be out of place with its commands and controlling, surrounded by an angel love spell, how to talk to your guardian angel, and how to teach your children to talk to their guardian angels.

And, for the most part, there’s just no substance to it. It’s not even a 101 book. More like 001. Though I do have to give the authors credit for at least doing some research, and including their bibliography, which does have some good sources for the reader to check up on.

Overall, this is pretty much what you’d expect–a cute little gift book to give to an angel-obsessed New Age or Christian friend, but not something that serious magical practitioners or any sort would really be interested in.

Two glitter-encrusted pawprints out of five.

Want to buy this book?