Come, sit awhile in a tranquil space and hear the story of Clementina “Tina” Angeli’s remarkable leap of faith.
Angeli was born in the Southern Italian town of Calabria. When she was two years old, she began receiving messages from the spiritual world. “A beautiful lady came to me,” Angeli says. “She had no wings and was veiled, with dark, wavy hair. This happened right after my one-year-old sister died. I was too young to understand what this vision meant, but it’s something you never forget.”
When Angeli was 12, her father, who was struggling financially, brought his family to the U.S., seeking a better life. “He was one of many who believed in the American Dream, and he was a U.S. citizen, born in Bronx, N.Y.,” Angeli says. “His mother brought him back to her hometown of Calabria when he was two.”
Angeli attended public schools, learned English, but remained bi-lingual. At age 16, she returned to Italy, where she was married, but later returned to Connecticut, where she raised her two daughters and earned a degree in architectural drafting. For 26 years, she worked for the State of Connecticut in Hartford, most recently with the Commission on the Arts. In 1984, she moved to Granby.
It was in 2005 that Angeli had a vision that inspired her to build a labyrinth that would bring people to her property in search of healing and peace. “It was something I had to do, a nudge, so I kept putting money aside for it,” Angeli says. “I’m a psychic medium. The nudge was one of my spiritual two-by-fours. I had my labyrinth built on a quarter-acre that was all weeds and a leaching field. Although I had been accumulating a lot of stones, 14 tons more were brought in to create my labyrinth, which three people worked on for a week. Once it was finished, I had a great feeling of relief and satisfaction.” Angeli’s labyrinth is the largest such structure in Connecticut.
The labyrinth is intended to heal…body, mind, spirit. It is a place of quiet solitude that draws many to walk its 11 circles, which takes about 30 minutes, depending on one’s pace. Surrounded by flowering plants, a pond and small fountain, the labyrinth provides a calming interlude to clear one’s mind, contemplate life and heal. People who come often leave items of special meaning at the foot of the central angel statue: a red dog collar; a plastic statue of St. Joseph; a bronzed baby shoe; a set of yellow plastic ducks; a fairy statue. Chairs and benches invite visitors to sit, to clear their heads, to whisper to a lost loved one, to heal.
“The man who cleaned my oil burner brought a quartz rock that he and his girlfriend found together,” Angeli says. “He wanted it here to bless their relationship, which had just ended, so they could both peacefully go on with their lives.”
Angeli says that the angel who first visited her in Calabria has been to Granby.
“She came to me here, over my garage,” Angeli says. “It was early April, around 9 p.m. I was coming home from work in Hartford, and it was dark. I was struggling to find my keys, when a voice, coming from all around me, said, ‘Turn around.’ I froze. The angel’s wings stretched three or four times the length of our four-car garage! She told me her name is Naomi, and then she asked, ‘Is this big enough for you?’ The night before, I had watched a spiritual TV show and learned that the energy of your spirit is equal to how important you are in life. I sometimes don’t think my spiritual work is important, that I’m small, and I get down. I guess she could feel my frustration.
“She said, ‘You chose this work, you’re an instrument, all you have to do is trust, and we’ll do the rest.’ She gave me the confidence to allow the voices of so many lost loved ones to come through me.”
When Angeli was writing the book that explores how her angel visits and near-death experiences have shaped her life, guiding her through poverty, illness, anger and abuse, her daughter Olivia was four years old. “We were baking cupcakes, and I told Olivia that I was writing a book but had no title for it. Olivia started whispering, and then she turned to me and said, ‘They said to call it We Are Angels.’ I have two daughters and four granddaughters. We have lots of female energy.”
Angeli self-published We Are Angels in 2021. It is available at the Granby Public Library or from weareangels.yolasite.com and draft2digital.com
If you would like to visit the S.O.U.L. Center Labyrinth, please email a request to cangeli@cox.net to arrange a day and time and to receive directions to Angeli’s home.