The package is so small it fits neatly into the palm of the hand. Inside, 52 tiny Angel Cards await, ready to be used for “support, for guidance, for gifts or as friends to play with.”
That may sound a bit cuckoo, but this “Play with the Angels” idea is a serious one-and has quietly reached more than a half-million people since the cards were first introduced nationally in the early 1980s.
With the renewed interest in all things angelic-as chronicled on magazine covers and TV specials-the cards “are a hot item,” says Matt Jackowiak, an employee at Healing Earth Resources, 2570 N. Lincoln Ave. “I think the attraction about them is the feeling of surprise that you get-that’s what’s angelic about them. It’s that spark of creativity. I like to keep at least 20 decks in stock.”
At Transition Bookplace, 1015 W. Armitage Ave., the cards also “sell very well. We’ve sold several dozen (decks) in the past few months,” says assistant manager Patrick Ramirez. “People come in specifically looking for them. They’re definitely a word of mouth item.”
Cathy Metry, owner of ADXL, a promotions business in Detroit, read about Angel Cards in a book on angels and searched for them for months before finally locating them in the tarot card section of a local bookstore. Publicist Sherri Gilman-Maddick of New Bedford, Pa., was introduced to the cards by a friend and now uses “one a day. Many times I’ve been surprisingly haunted by how true the card can be on a particular day.”
Angel Cards, which sell for under $10 a deck, are deceptively simple. Each card, or “pure essence,” is printed on the left with a different positive word: “transformation,” “gratitude,” “harmony,” and “play” are a few examples. The right side of the cards contains colorful illustrations of the angels in action: the “honesty” angel gazes at its reflection in a mirror; two angels embrace on the “compassion” card; the “humor” angel is dressed in a clown outfit; the “expectancy” angel is unwrapping a package. The instructions suggest finding a quiet space before drawing a card and meditating on the meaning of the word. On the surface, that’s about all the instructions that are necessary.
Angel Card co-creator Joy Drake says, “I love that the cards are do-it-yourself. I think the cards are very empowering, not complicated. There isn’t a ritualistic thing with it, you don’t have to study to understand it. It’s just a word, and if you don’t relate to words, there are images. I love that people can find their own resources inside them.”
The cards are not meant to have religious implications, explains Kathy Tyler, Drake’s partner.
“We use the angels from more of a spiritual point of view,” she says.
Although each pack contains 52 words, they also include blank cards “so that people can personalize their deck,” Tyler says. Tyler and Drake offer a few suggestions: “accountability,” “passion” and “commitment.”
“We like people to just listen to themselves,” Drake says, “and not follow any external rules or any memories or other associations, `What does it mean to you now, this week, in this relationship?’ “
Drake recalls that “the cards emerged organically through sweat and laughter and through friendship and tears, and I see it as an offshoot of larger impulses moving through the world right now.”
The Transformation Game
The idea for the cards grew out of a series of workshops that Drake hosted with Tyler; the two had met in 1978 at the Findhorn Foundation, a “spiritually-based alternative learning center” in Scotland. They began to develop what would eventually become the Transformation Game, a board game for 2 to 4 players, which is described as “a joyful and profound way to receive insight into our lives at the deepest level.”
Angel Cards are used in the game and eventually were marketed and sold separately. “People wanted to go through the interactive process we were developing, but because we couldn’t respond to all the requests we thought, `How can we make this more available?’ ” Drake says. “It happened naturally-over 13 years! We never sat and thought, `Well, we’re going to create this product for people to use.’ “
The pair originally invested $75,000, and now their company, Innerlinks, based in Seattle, direct markets the games, cards and other products. A sterling silver angel pendant, following the design of the “Integrity” card, hit the stores in time for Christmas. The products are distributed worldwide, with the cards now available in French, German and Spanish.
According to Tyler and Drake, reactions worldwide follow a similar thread: “It’s cross-cultural; it’s totally multi-cultural,” Drake says.
The cards also seem to have no age barrier. “We have parents of very young children write to us and tell us the impact that the cards have on (the children),” Drake says.
Business owner Metry, who has had her own deck for six years, echoes this: “It’s a way to spread positive faith and light to young, old, everybody. Kids love them because of the mystery behind them.”
Prized possessions
Metry keeps her cards in a special bag along with a crystal. “The crystal intensifies them for me; there’s a possession about them that I love. I love having the cards with me.”
Gilman-Maddick agrees: “I always have the cards with me. Everyone asks me where I get them. Women think it’s cooler than men.”
Most of the cards are purchased by women, retailers agree, although they have no explanation why.
Metry insists that “men are equally as excited, maybe a little more reserved, a little more cautious. They remember their card forever. Women want to pull 10 or 15 cards. I have heard from men that pulled a card five years ago from my deck and they still remember their words. Men really take it to heart but they don’t let you know it!” she says with a laugh.
This is exactly the kind of questioning dialogue Drake and Tyler would like to see happen with the Angel Cards. Both have sensed this spiritual exploration for years.
“I look back and there was an industrial revolution which changed the way that people lived,” Tyler says, “and then there was a technological revolution and that whole thing has changed the way that people live, and now there’s sort of a consciousness revolution, I think.”
Drake continues, “I think measurements of success and fulfillment have really changed over the years from external trappings-the big car, house, whatever it is. People are looking inward and saying `What is really influential here? What are my values? Can I have that as an indicator of my success?’ “
Today, Drake travels the world, conducting workshops with a variation on the Transformation Game called Frameworks for Change, which was designed by the duo three years ago specifically “for businesses and for teams.” Tyler, meanwhile, “trains facilitators for the Transformation Game,” does personal counseling and handles “the administrative aspects of our company.”
The tiny Angel Cards, Drake says with a touch of awe, “have in some way, beautifully or gracefully, infiltrated our lives, and we’re really grateful. They’ve helped us to work with more relaxation and inspiration and feel peace as we go about our daily lives.”
