Angels. They have visited us since time before time. Ethereal beings they are, with the power to appear and disappear, amassing a history in art, myth, religion, and legend. As recently as the New Year of 2017 there was a series of sightings across the North American continent which involved such visitations with a specific creature, showing herself unexpectedly in the form of a young and flawless woman.

Sweeping across the frozen towns and villages of Canada, the phenomenon was brewing, beginning in British Columbia where the spectacle was hard to explain and harder still to deny as evidence continued to pour in, attracting the local, and eventually international media. The fact that only females and young children could see the apparition, and in many cases commune with the beautiful stranger, became an integral part of the exceptional story. Why, the public and authorities continued to ask, did this feminine entity only engage in dialogues and intervene ethereally in the lives of other women?

The flurry of occurrences sparked heated debate and interest in the exceptional event, ranging from dismissing the whole affair as a hoax, perpetrated by some feminist group or another, to more religious considerations, treading deeply and philosophically into matters of faith. It was acknowledged early on that a vast majority of such legendary encounters with "angels" were historically among and between only men. And these encounters often became the impetus for fundamental religious movements or manifestos which many in the world still adhere to today. Christianity, Islam and Judaism—as well as more diverse and ancient belief systems, have all had in their sacred literature or creeds explicitly male intersessions with such creatures. And in each of those instances the unexpected arrival of an "angel," seen as a paranormal being, had descended from the "heavens" to inform or enlighten the masses through a solely masculine intercessor.

In the case of this celestial messenger, or "Winter Angel," as she became known, there were simply no observations, witnesses, or reported interactions involving adult males. And this intriguing anomaly to the "angel story" quickly made the whole event even more sensational as the winter season passed, and the sightings among females grew across the northern continent. The saga would continue through the whole of the wintry season, covering an expanse of some three thousand miles, the entirety the Canadian woodlands from Vancouver Island to Nova Scotia.

The attributes of the "Winter Angel" were in many cases inspirational, said to change lives forever, and burgeoned eventually into a spiritual movement. The mere presence of the celestial messenger was, in the end, seen as a gift which rekindled hope and extinguished despair across the land. For she became through the frozen cold, a fiery vehicle. True hope to a world many had come to believe was devoid of even the smallest flame. This is her brief but lasting story.