Recently at Torah study someone expressed surprise that angels are part of the Jewish tradition. We are so used to angels being associated with Christianity that it's easy to forget they're an Abrahamic motif, present not only in the New Testament but in the Torah and the Koran, "Praise be to Allah, the Bringer into Being of the heavens and earth, He Who made the angels messengers, with wings - two, three or four.(Surah Fatir, 1)" Other traditions have Bohdisattvas with so many arms being waved through the air they appear winglike. Perfect for multi-tasking. Too bad the bodhisattvas have better things to do than help me fold laundry!
Perhaps it's the prayer pose you often see that gave the woman at Torah study this idea that Christianity owns angels. There are many many ways that hands are held during prayer throughout the world and history, sometimes held cupped as if to receive a drink from heaven, or crossed over the chest preztel style, to name two of an infinite variety.
The thing that I've always liked about the contemporary Christian prayer hand gesture is that it seems to connect my mind with my heart. And then I realize how hungry my mind was to be grounded there. I can't help but see it as one of a wide variety of mudras, or positions for hands during prayer or meditation, which all seem to make subtle connections within that grant a sense of transcendence.
My angel so far today is a woman named Susan Fox (another red head!)who gave me a bag of really nice hand-me-downs for Nora, things nicer than I'd ever buy, especially since I find shopping so difficult and troubling.
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