The Peace Angel

"These photos are from the Republic or Ireland. Photos from Belfast (the song's subject) are on their way. Thanks for your patience."

OK, so there was a typo; it was supposed to read "Republic 'of' Ireland." But there it was, a message from the Peace Angel, in blood red ink, scrolling across my computer screen against the backdrop of a photo of Nuala and a gray Belfast sky. And I sat back, awestruck. How on Earth did it get there? How could it have possibly appeared at that critical sequence in the video? And where did it come from? I had only typed the word "peace" into the text editing box in iMovie.

iTunes was on shuffle and Ester and Jerry Hicks' "The Amazing Power of Deliberate Intent" was playing, in fact the track of the chapter about how our individual thoughts can collectively influence world affairs was on. They believe that Ester channels a Being called Abraham whose from another dimension. Earning my living as a professional psychic, I'm open minded about these things and quite accustomed to metaphysical experiences. But when this happened, I had to call my work-mate Chris.

"You're not going crazy," she sweetly assured me with a voice as calming and encouraging as could be. "You're just channeling the Peace Angel."

Maybe not, but maybe so. In any case, the experience was all the inspiration I needed to forge ahead. It was the long Labor Day weekend, temperatures were soaring in the 110F degree range, and after unsuccessfully trying to work with two directors who "just didn't get it" with this project, there I was, holed up in my heavily air-conditioned and shaded apartment, with my Mac and 400 photos of Catholic and Protestant students from Strangford Integrated School in Co. Down, Northern Ireland.

The order of the story seemed logical enough to me: conflict, negotiation, transition and celebration. The kids had acted all of them out and I had sorted the photos accordingly. Then I sat down to work out the exact sequence. One of the photos that didn't make it into the conflict section was of a young man who died on Bloody Sunday. It was the most poignant image. Shot and bleeding to death in the snow, he laid there dying as an older man compassionately placed a blanket or coat over him. With what could I possibly follow this anguishing picture? There were photos of stained glass and St. Anne's, the church where interfaith prayers were held while the Good Friday Accord was being brokered. But to me religion seemed all too mired in the region's infamous Troubles. I had made an extra folder I had labeled "Angels" which contained several shots of a piece of art the locals have dubbed "Nuala with the hula" also known as the Peace Angel or Angel of Thanksgiving. The Angel was the only one I could turn to in that moment. My mind had no other way to reconcile the senselessness of the loss of that young life in the photograph. For me it wasn't about whether or not the subject was Protestant or Catholic. It spoke to me Universally, about the tragedy of all young lives lost in wars. We who are the elders and keepers of societies fail them so completely when we find no better way to solve political problems than war. So I pulled up an image of Nuala and typed in the word "peace."



Then, as I tried different text effects, the aforementioned incident with the text occurred. I later realized that I had typed those words into iMovie two years prior when I had first bought the computer, on the one and only day I had opened that program. It was a quiet cloudy Saturday and the psychic phone line I worked for was slow, so I was noodling with my new toy. But how did I know photographs of Belfast were on their way? How could I have? And what were the odds that those words would appear at that moment?

"These photos are from the Republic or Ireland. Photos from Belfast (the song's subject) are on their way. Thanks for your patience."

I decided Chris was right. After all, on the following Saturday, September 8th I had plans to attend Dr. Doreen Virtue's seminar on International Angel Day. I believe in the Angels. Only they could have arranged this I thought.

Next, I moved on to the negotiation sequence. As the second verse to the song concluded, the photo that was on the screen was the one of two main characters, one warm and very willing to make peace and the other unconvinced. I love and identify with both. There are times when we're truly ready to be free of the past and to let bygones be bygones, and there are people and events we find much harder to forgive. The girls portrayed each so well. And as my eye scanned the horizon of that photo, who was there, patiently watching over them both? Nuala. By this point I felt certain as to who the video's lead character and narrator was. No wonder things hadn't worked out with the other directors. This was how it was supposed to happen.



Onward I pressed, feeling more and more humbled by the experience and ever more inspired by the tale itself the pupils in the photographs were telling me and the world. Peace is attainable. War is in the past. Peace is now. There is Peace in Northern Ireland and anywhere else people want it to be.

But the Angels weren't quite done with me. As I dropped the Waterfront Hall, Big Fish and Queen's Bridge pictures in and the song came to its final set of choruses, they had one more gift to share. Two evenings previously a good friend and I had had a terrible falling out. I had needed him to be there for me while I went through all of the ups and downs of making this video, and all he could do was call me "hormonal." He was mean about it and said he wanted to end our relationship. Of course I was tempted to fire right back. When you know someone well, you have all of the psychological weapons at your disposal and can do a lot of damage. But as this man, excuse me, Marine, had really tried with me, even through my "difficult artist" phase, I couldn't bare to make the situation any worse than it already was. And really, how could I attack him when I was trying to make a video about peace? Sacrificing our friendship was hard enough, but I was determined to salvage what I could of the goodness we had once shared, even if only for memory's sake. I had no idea how to respond to his harsh, insensitive email, so I literally sat in front of my computer and asked the Angels to compose my response. Here is what they typed:

Go to your woods
deep into your Truth
Overturn every stone, every layer
Unearth all
until
your anger relents to peace
Know Light
Know Love
Know the Oneness of all Beings
and you will see all I've held for you


Obviously this became the poem the Peace Angel delivers in the end. And it worked so perfectly with the photos of the kids lifting something big, that we ultimately come realize is the Peace Angel.



So there you have it, the story of me, Nuala and the students from Strangford. Thank you again to teachers Leah McBride and Richard Gray, Michael and Emma from NICIE, all of the photographers, Billy Dickson the tour guide, Chris, Mark, Joy and everyone from work, Diane, Sandy, Nicole, Garret (for the great hairdos left on the cutting room floor), and especially to the kids.



I woke on St. Bridget's Eve/Candlemas in early February under a full moon and could only recall that I was told in a dream to make a video about peace. With all of my love, here it is.



In Light,
Elizabeth

P.s: Coincidentally, on Labor Day when I emerged from my cosmic cave of creativity with my rough draft completed, I picked up my iPod. The song title beaming back at me was Steven Halpern's "Angel of Peace."

Btw, 10% of all proceeds from my music is donated to the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education, NICIE.