Guardian Keyrings: Why is Angel Paraphernalia So Popular?

Photo by Darrell Fraser from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/willow-tree-angel-figurine-2259622/

'Everyone needs their very own Guardian Angel sometimes...even if just for the comfort and strength they may bring.'

This is an extract from an Etsy listing for a small, porcelain pebble laser printed with the image of an angel on one side and the words 'guardian angel' on the other. The angel costs £8.25, and is sold by a ‘shop’ or ‘storefront’ through the online marketplace Etsy, alongside various other product categories including 'Jewellery & Keyrings', 'Religious & Spiritual', 'Thank You & Good Luck', 'Home Gifts & Décor', 'Mum to be & Baby Gifts', 'Fairy World' and 'Spiritual Holistic'. The shop, LittleHouseEtsy, is evidently successful, with 13,953 sales as of 19/4/23, and is one of many Etsy shops selling similar angel-themed products.

Be Not Afraid!

Etkin et al. define angels as 'spiritual beings who are intermediate between God and human beings'. (1) This belief is largely consistent across cultures and religions, with angels primarily taking on messenger roles. (see also TDW). For the purposes of my research, I have focused primarily upon the Christian background to angelic belief, as Christianity still significantly shapes British society, yet, as I will discuss later, this does not mean that the figures sold on Etsy are explicitly Christian. 

Most readers will be familiar with the biblical story of the angel Gabriel delivering the message of Jesus' forthcoming birth to Mary (Luke 1:26-27), however, most angels in both the Hebrew Bible and New Testament are unnamed. Certain messages related by angels in the Hebrew Bible share similarities with Gabriel's message to Mary, sharing positive news such as the revelation of pregnancy to Hagar in Genesis 16:11, however many others present angels as objects of fear and instruments of God's wrath. In 2 Kings 19:35, 'the angel of the Lord set out and struck down one hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians', and in 2 Samuel 24 God decides against having an angel destroy Jerusalem at the last minute. In the New Testament, angels similarly inspire such fear that their messages are prefaced with a reassuring 'Do not be afraid' (e.g. Matthew 28:5, Luke 1:30, Luke 2:9-10).  In Acts 12:23, King Herod is rather abruptly 'struck down' by an angel, 'and he was eaten by worms and died'. At other times, these fearsome beings offer protection: in Exodus 23:20 an angel guards and leads the Israelites out of slavery and into the Promised Land, and an angel protects Daniel from being eaten by lions (Daniel 6:22). 

Biblically Accurate Angels

Very little is said in either the Hebrew Bible or New Testament about angels' appearance. John 20:12 mentions angels dressed in white, and the angel who saves Peter from prison in Acts 12:7 is accompanied by a bright light. Those angels who are described, particularly in the Hebrew Bible, are a far cry from most of the figures sold on Etsy:

they had a human likeness, but each had four faces, and each of them had four wings. Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf's foot. And they sparkled like burnished bronze. (Ezekiel 1:5-9)

Even in Matthew 28 when Jesus is resurrected, the angel who rolls away the stone is described in rather confusing (although admittedly impressive) terms:

 His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. (Matthew 28:3-4).

Amy Schindler traces the evolution of angelic motifs back to the earliest images of 'supernatural winged beings' discovered in Mesopotamia, which were 'fierce guardian figures with the bodies of lions'. Portraying spiritual beings or concepts in art was prohibited under Jewish interpretation of the Ten Commandments, thus Schindler focuses on early Christian angelic depictions, which began as wingless and human-like. Through the adoption of wing motifs present in Greek depictions of gods Nike and Hermes, the image of winged angels began among Christian artists by the 4th century, and remained popular ever since, comingling with the Renaissance portrayals of angels as predominantly young and female. (2)

Angels in the 21st Century

Today, angels are omnipresent in Western society, to the extent that Peter Gardella argues in American Angels that ‘angels have become subjects of public entertainment and tools in corporate marketing strategies’, which has helped form them into ‘an informal but coherent American religion of angels’. As angels are incorporated into American culture as a whole through commerce and the media, adherents of this religion 'relate primarily to angels but often also belong to Christian churches or other formal religious group' but 'no firm line separates angel believers from other Americans'. Gardella contends that angels are appealing (and sellable) to Christians and Neopagans alike because of their 'generic spirituality'.  These angelic representations frequently bear messages of appreciation, love, and peace as well as 'reverence for human emotion', a trend which is also present on Etsy. (3)

Folk Angels?

According to a poll commissioned by The Bible Society, 1 in 3 people in Britain believe in angels, yet there is evidently significant diversity of belief within this category. (4) Scott Draper and Joseph Baker argue that ‘Angels are diversely conceptualized, flexible supernatural beliefs employed for a variety of reasons, by a variety of believers', proceeding to argue that contemporary angelic belief falls into the category of 'folk religion', a similar category to Gardella's angelic religion. Folk religion has been subject to much academic debate, but it provides a useful framework for understanding contemporary angelic belief, which mostly falls outside of the boundaries of organised religion. Draper and Baker define folk religion as:

a set of religious beliefs and practices that are distinguished from beliefs and practices more explicitly affixed to formal expressions of religion [...]  It is derived from organized religions in the sense that it is how adherents apply religious mental schema to their everyday experiences. (5)

Folk religion and organised religion overlap and influence each other in many ways. In the case of angels, beliefs from a variety of cultures and religions have mingled and morphed into our modern idea of beautiful, kindly beings who offer guidance and protection. In my opinion, the angel paraphernalia sold on Etsy falls, perhaps imperfectly, into the category of folk religion, offering a fascinating case study in modern popular religiosity.

Etsy's Angels

Amy Schinlder has identified a similar pattern in the commercial popularity of angels, highlighting the 'veritable tidal wave of angel products' available in the 1990s, which included  140 establishments in the United States that were dedicated simply to selling angel merchandise. (6) Today, the sale of angelic products, as with most commerce, as moved online, with Etsy as a particularly popular site. Susan Luckman identifies Etsy as ‘the highest profile website in the online design craft marketplace’, providing a platform for sellers from a variety of locations and backgrounds to sell their (usually handmade) products. A search of the term 'angel' on Etsy yields 421,997 results, of which I gathered data on the top 50 results, in order to gain some insight into their immense popularity. I also interviewed two Etsy sellers who sold angel paraphernalia on their storefront, in an attempt to understand the thought process behind the creation and sale of these products.

Angel Makers

My investigation revealed several distinct trends, the first of which was that 88% of the angel products posted for sale on Etsy were handcrafted. It's interesting to note that five out of the twelve results that weren't described as handmade were produced by the same firm, East of India, despite the fact that the five items were sold by three different Etsy stores. According to their website, Kent-based East of India is a modest company that sells its goods to independent shops on a wholesale basis. The five products from East of India that turned up in my search were all variations of their 'matchbox angel', a porcelain angel that is sold in a tiny box that is imprinted with a message. A Google search for 'East of India matchbox angel' returns thousands of results for this particular product on numerous websites, proving popularity. The fact that these angel figurines are white, faceless, and largely featureless (outside of their wings) may help to explain their widespread popularity.

Porcelain, which made up 10% of the raw materials for the products in my search, is used to make the East of India angels. The most common categories were metal (20%) and glass (16%), while 24% of products had no information about the material listed in the tags or description. Wood and resin were utilised in 8% and 6% of the goods, respectively, while crystal or stone made up 12% of the total. The materials that are utilised for angel paraphernalia don't appear to follow a consistent pattern; rather, they appear to vary depending on a number of considerations, including aesthetics, the purpose of the product, and availability. 

Angel for Sale!

Since all of the items returned by my search could be categorised as gifts, I divided each item into subcategories according to the function it was intended to fulfil, as stated in the listing title and/or description. The majority (32%) of the products fell under the umbrella category of decoration, primarily consisting of angel figurines with no specified intended use. 12% of the products were specifically marketed as suncatchers, and another 6% were candle holders, indicating a connection between angels and light. Additional popular categories included key rings (16%), clips (6%), and jewellery (8%), all of which were more likely to offer personalization options, such as engraved initials or birthstone charms. 

Surprisingly, 20% of the items returned by my search appeared to be primarily designed to be carried or held. A metal angel charm with a pink ribbon attached, sold under the name 'Guardian Angel for Health', was characterised in the product description as 'Perfect for popping inside a hospital bag or taking to hospital appointments as a token of strength and support'. My search also turned up advertisements for 'guardian angel coins' from two different stores, one of which had the words 'protected by angels' inscribed on it and the other had angel wings.

In my interviews, the idea of angels comforting us also dominated. When I asked one respondent about their personal views on angels, they replied:

I can never ever thank them enough. Their love and guidance have shaped my life and given me great comfort through some huge  lows and some strong highs. Simply put, I want to share this with everybody and everyone else who is receptive. (7)

 My other interviewee explained that the inspiration behind their products:

  came from having something to hold on to, to bring you hope and strength when you need it the most. By producing pocket Angels this allows my customers to have hold [sic] of something small but something powerful. 

They acknowledged that writing the messages that go with their products may be both tough and fulfilling because they are frequently for grieving customers who need comfort, a topic I will explore further in my next blog post.

Spiritual-but-not-Religious

Similarly, 'little' was the sixth most popular term in listings for angel products, appearing in 14 of the 50 entries, trailing behind 'love' (15), 'special' (16), 'gift' (23) and 'guardian' (26), which were all in the top five. The graph below illustrates some additional common search terms, including friend (9), keepsake (11), and crystal (10).

I thought it was fascinating that, except for more abstract ideas of love, comfort, and healing, none of the most popular keywords had any particular religious connotation. The bulk of products were characterised in more generic terms, with sporadic allusions to New-Age spirituality, such as the healing crystal angels pictured below, with only 5 listings using the term 'Christmas' and one listing with the title 'communion angel'. As a result, these items seem to follow tendencies noted by academics like Gardella and Engelke, who argue that angels are less in line with organised Christianity than a 'generic spirituality' or a 'spiritual but not religious imagination''. (8)

The Angels Made Me Buy It!

Following my initial research, which focused more on the people who made and sold angel paraphernalia, I decided to look at the comments of these listings, in order to discern why people were buying these products. There were a total of 7618 reviews for the 50 listings in my initial search, although the vast majority were solely star ratings, with no additional comment. I further discounted any reviews which simply expressed product satisfaction, or referred to buying the product as a general gift, and was left with 193 reviews expressing a specific reason for purchase and/or their intended use of the product. Below is a breakdown of these reasons into 8 major categories.

In my next blog posts, I will dive deeper into the categories of grief, health, 'bad time', carried, and travel, exploring what these angel products and their uses can reveal about wider societal anxieties and angelic belief as folk religion.

References

1. Etkin, D., Ivanova, J., MacGregor, S., & Serota, T., 'Risk Perception and Belief in Guardian Spirits', SAGE Open, 4:3, (2014).

2. Schindler, Amy, ‘Angels and the AIDS epidemic: The resurgent popularity of angel imagery in the United States of America’, Journal of American Culture, 22:3, (1999), pp. 49-61.

3. Gardella, Peter, American Angels: Useful Spirits in the Material World, (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2007)

4. Bible Society, 'A third of all Brits believe in guardian angels', (2016),  https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/latest/news/a-third-of-all-brits-believe-in-guardian-angels/ (accessed 3/4/23).

5. Draper, Scott & Baker, Joseph, ‘Angelic Belief as American Folk Religion’, Sociological Forum, 26:3, (2011), pp. 623-643.

6. Schindler, Amy, ‘Angels and the AIDS epidemic: The resurgent popularity of angel imagery in the United States of America’.

7. For full interview transcripts, see my 2023 unpublished research paper, 'Pocket Angels: Angel Paraphernalia on Etsy and Folk Belief'.

8.  See Gardella, Peter, American Angels: Useful Spirits in the Material World, and Engelke, Matthew ‘Angels in Swindon: Public religion and ambient faith in England’, American Ethnologist, 39:1, (2012), pp. 155-170.

Further Reading

Yoder, Don, 'Toward a Definition of Folk Religion', Western Folklore, 33:1, (1974), pp. 2-15.

Clark, Lynn Schofield, From angels to aliens : teenagers, the media, and the supernatural, (Oxford University Press, 2003).