Columnist Susan Snyder: Sixth sense not just film fodder

Tuesday, April 24, 2001 | 8:25 a.m.

Susan Snyder's column appears Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at snyder@lasvegassun.com or 259-4082.

Doreen Virtue says it's not a myth.

"Angels really are there," the 42-year-old California psychologist, author and clairvoyant says.

On Thursday she'll be in Las Vegas to prove it by showing people how to hear the angels that watch over them.

"I'm not coming to convert anybody," Virtue said. "But if we lose the fear of death, it helps to make us happier people."

Virtue, a psychotherapist who used to help people with eating disorders, said she has been able to see dead people since she was a child.

"I saw these people constantly. They were total strangers. I couldn't hear them, but we'd carry on these pantomimes -- like charades," she said. "It was pretty unnerving. Kids teased me, so I quit talking about it."

She says she ignored the spirits and angels that talked to her daily until a July 1995 carjacking attempt in which she was accosted at gunpoint. When the two gunmen grabbed her, Virtue says a loud male voice told her to scream. Her cries attracted a passerby's attention, and the assailants took off.

She decided on the spot to stop ignoring her own angels and help others find theirs.

"I literally got down on my knees to God and asked what I could do," Virtue recalled. "I figured life after that was a freebie. I still was afraid of being teased, but this time I didn't care."

The change shows in the list of 22 books she's written since 1988. The first 10 are mainstream guides on relationships with emotions and food. The next 12 talk about relationships with angels, chakras and God. She has appeared on 32 television shows, from MSNBC's "Morning Blend" to "Oprah."

Her workshops rely heavily on audience participation and questions. Virtue spends most of her time helping people open lines of communication with angels and deceased loved ones. She says we all have them.

Angels give global advice that help us make the world better. Loved ones speak about personal matters. Virture recalled a Texas woman whose late husband kept telling her to rotate the tires.

"The woman looked at me and said, 'Well, the car has been wobbling,' " Virtue said.

About half the people who attend want to communicate with a loved one who has died. The others are looking for the answers to life's big questions. Virtue spends about three hours being the telephone booth through which people talk.

"I only remember about a quarter of what happens," she said. "But I've had people show me videotapes, and they show me saying incredible details that I couldn't possibly have known."

All people have a sixth sense and the ability to talk to angels, Virtue said. Children are better at it because they aren't concerned about what's real or being right. Adults are afraid of being wrong and of seeing dead people. The biggest revelation for some is that dead people aren't scary-looking.

"They're healthy-looking. They're rested," Virtue said. "They have no more bills to pay. How would you look?"

Virtue's three-hour workshop begins at 7 p.m. at First Church, 1420 E. Harmon Ave. It costs $25. Skeptics, she says, are especially welcome.

"Why not at least try to connect with this help before you decide?" Virtue said. "I've never seen people who don't have angels."