Mother Mary is called the “Queen of the Angels” because she’s considered the feminine overseer of heaven, which is home to the angels. She lives and works among these beings, and is herself the supreme Earth angel. She is one of the humans documented in the Bible as having a profound angel experience.

The term Queen of Angels is based on the vision of a sister of the Bernardine order, who saw evil harming the world. In this vision, Mary asked the sister to pray so that the Blessed Mother could dispatch Archangel Michael and other angels to send the evil away. The sister asked why we would need to pray for this action when Mary and the angels could see the evil. That’s when the Beloved Mother explained that God made us with free will, and that we must pray for intervention.

Mary, like God, Jesus, and the angels, is unlimited. She’s able to be with everyone simultaneously, having a unique and individual experience. She helps people of all faiths, and she answers all prayers.

She goes by many names and titles, some of them derived from church councils, several from devotional prayers, and others from Marian visitations (people being visited by Mary). She is referred to as a tower, throne, queen, and virgin. Some of Mary’s other names include:

• Mystical Rose (or Santa Maria della Rosa). Mother Mary is associated with roses and the mystical legends of the rose lineage and the Holy Grail. As you’ll see in my new book Mary, Queen of Angels, many people smell the fragrance of roses when they experience a healing or visitation from Mother Mary.
• Our Lady of Guadalupe. This name stems from the Marian visions near Mexico City, where the Basilica of Guadalupe now stands. Such visions occur around the world, and Guadalupe is among the most visited of these locations.
• Star of the Sea (or Stella Maris in Latin). Mother Mary is referred to as the protectress of sailors. Indeed, in many languages the word for ocean is mar, which is a derivative of the name Mary.

In Catholicism, Mother Mary is revered with Feast Days, which are holy days in which saints and sacred events are commemorated. Mary’s major Feast Day is August 1, the date when scholars believe she ascended to heaven. December 8 marks another important Feast Day called the Immaculate Conception, on which St. Anne conceived Mary.

I’m frequently asked if it’s blasphemous to pray to angels, to which I reply that angels don’t want to be worshipped. They simply want to know our prayers so they may act as intercessors for God. There has been much criticism, similarly, of worshipping Mary (and other deities) and making them false idols. 

I believe that Mary, like the angels, desires that all glory go to God, our Creator. We aren’t honoring her above God or instead of God.

So why appeal to Mary or angels at all when you can just as easily talk directly to God? Since God is 100 percent love, the mind of the Creator only knows love. When your heart and mind are open with a loving outlook, you can easily hear and feel the presence of the divine. But when you’re stressed or afraid (and need God the most), your vibrations lower to the point where you feel distanced from the Creator. That’s where Mary and the angels come in: they can match your vibrations, no matter how low you’re feeling, and lift you back up to divine love.

Mary, like the angels, is free from the fear and guilt that antagonize those who eschew religion. Many people connect to Mary through the sorrow she must have felt at her son’s death, yet we all recognize that she’s risen above the pain into great compassion for all who suffer. In this way, Mary is a role model and guide for turning our life pain into useful lessons to help others.