Often, but not always, Maitreya is dressed in white. He always looks different, depending on the circumstances and the person he appears to. Descriptions, and reactions, therefore vary.

1. Unforgettable visage
"A magnificent, unforgettable visage: smooth, golden-brown skin, large dark almond-shaped eyes set widely apart, a classic medium-sized nose and mouth and an unusual feature: high cheekbones." This is how, in The Asian Times, Colombian journalist Patricia Pitchon described a vision she had of Maitreya.

2. Awesome force
Five hundred children from Emilia Auginaldo Elementary School on the island of Luzon, the Philippines, witnessed a vision in the sky.

On the afternoon of 19 November 1982, a ten year old girl was sitting in the playground of the school. When she looked up at the sky, she saw three angels, Mother Mary with a baby in her arms and an old man standing next to her. Other children saw the same vision in the sky.

They described the vision to a reporter in great detail: Mary was wearing a gown and a gold crown on her head; the angels had golden hair and wore long flaming gowns; one of them had a key in her hand.

One teacher who had seen the vision told the reporter that she felt an awesome force making her kneel down.

3. Vision in Paraguay
In Villarica, Paraguay, there was great excitement when a woman reported having seen a vision of the Christ. "During the night, after I had said my prayers, a shining vision of the Christ appeared to me," she said, "and when it vanished it left marks behind on the wall of my hut." 
(From Share International magazine, September 1986)

4. Virgin Mary in Cairo
In 1986, an old Coptic church in a slum suburb of northern Cairo became a place of pilgrimage for thousands of Egyptians when numerous visions of the Virgin Mary were reported.

Mary has been seen not only by devout Christians but by Muslims too. Miracles of healing were reported to have taken place.

5. Medjugorje
For many years, a group of six children saw visions of the Madonna in Medjugorje, Bosnia. Many miracles happened and millions of people visited the village.

6. Irish Medjugorje
Three women received visions of the Virgin in a humble shrine in Ireland, The Irish News wrote in 1988 (six years after the apparitions had begun). As at Medjugorje, people’s lives have been transformed for the good as a result of visiting the shrine.

7. Jesus in Nicaragua
In Nicaragua, quite a stir was caused when people stated they had met Jesus. Some of them claimed to have been healed of illnesses. In several Nicaraguan news publications, Rosalia, a market stall holder, gave an account of her experience: one day while she was at work on her stall a man came up to her and introduced himself with the words: "You wished to meet me, here I am, my name is Jesus." The man went home with her where he cured her sick child. Another stall holder recounted how Jesus had visited her home and from that moment on her three alcoholic sons were cured of their addiction. (Report from June 1992.)

8. The Madonna in Manila
An estimated one million people gathered in a small Philippine town north of Manila on 6 March 1992 to witness a visitation of the Virgin Mary. Many people in the crowd, including top Philippine government officials, journalists, and the local Catholic bishop -- acting as a representative of the Pope -- attested to seeing a silhouette resembling the Virgin Mary appear above a guava tree for approximately five seconds. This was followed several minutes later by flashes of red, yellow and blue lights moving towards a "dancing sun."

9. Madonna of the Angels
On a hill in a forest near Giubiasco, in the southern part of Switzerland, stands the chapel ‘Madonna of the Angels.’ On the 13th of every month pilgrims from Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Liechtenstein and France come there to attend prayer healing meetings with Pino Casagrande, to whom, during the meeting, the Virgin Mary appears. The rosary is sung for some hours, healings take place and photographs taken show signs of the regular appearance of the Holy Mother.

10. Meetings with Jesus every Thursday

On 15 February 1994, Kenyan nun Sister Anna Hadija Ali, held a press conference in Rome and spoke about her experience of meetings every Thursday since 1987 with Jesus Christ. Two photographs she had taken of Jesus in 1987 and 1988 were displayed at the conference.

11. Virgin Mary manifestation in Florida
In 1992, thousands of people were flocking to a modest Florida house to hear a woman deliver messages from the Virgin Mary. Rosa Lopez said that she received daily messages from the Virgin.

After making a pilgrimage to a town in Georgia where visions of the Virgin had been reported, Rosa began seeing visions of both Jesus and Mary in her own bedroom, and these visions eventually became a daily part of her life.
(Source: Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, USA)

12. Vision of the Virgin in San Francisco
In 1996, hundreds of people each night visited the Immaculate Conception Church in San Francisco to see an image of the Virgin Mary which appeared on the church’s gabled roof. The image appeared after dark, and was visible throughout the night. People gathered each evening to pray and sing religious songs. Some said they smelled the scent of roses. There have also been reports of healings. Four local television stations and both major newspapers in San Francisco reported on the story.

13. Australian vision of Virgin Mary
The Adelaide Advertiser newspaper in South Australia reported that "pilgrims and sightseers are flocking by the thousands to a small country church in South Australia after its priest described an image of the Virgin Mary and child on the altar wall."

Parish priest Andrew Nutter said that the image has grown stronger since he first noticed it in late 1994. "... now everybody’s coming in. Sceptics, secular humanists, atheists, doubters, people who have no time for the church, and people who are faithful, see it... This has become a people’s shrine,’’ he said.

14. Vision of the Virgin in Cameroon
The Tablet, an international weekly Catholic magazine, carried an article in its 21 September 1996 issue which alleges that the Virgin Mary appeared in the small village of Nsimalen near Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, in May 1986. She was seen by seven teenagers over a period of nine days. Belinga Luc Marc, a pupil at the local primary school at the time, was one of them: "It was about 1pm and there was no sunshine and little wind," she said. "We could see her on the tree tops dressed in pure white. She was accompanied by men also dressed in white. They appeared to be floating in the air. At this time, only the children could see her."

15. Meeting Maitreya
For the past several years, hundreds of readers of Share International magazine have reported special encounters with someone who, they think, could have been Maitreya. Often this had indeed been the case, Benjamin Creme confirms. A selection of these Letters to the Editor from people describing experiences of Maitreya, gives an indication of the many guises in which he appears.

16. Syrian woman meets the Madonna
Mirna El-Akhras, a Catholic woman from Damascus, Syria, has been receiving messages from Jesus and the Madonna since 1982. 
(Source: Télévision Lumière, Beirut, Lebanon)

17. Tuesday miracle
On the first Tuesday of every month, crowding the highways by bus and car, people travel to Sara Piqui in Costa Rica to witness the appearance of the Virgin Mary in the sky. As well as this miraculous vision, sometimes glitter has suddenly manifested on the arms of the people present. They say it is very real -- that they can pick it up with their fingers.

18. Native Americans see 'deities'
"A spiritual renewal swept through Navajo country after deities reportedly appeared in May to two respected tribal women," according to a Dallas Morning News article in 1996.

For further articles about miracles, please see the "Signs of the Times" section of Shareintl News, both the current issue and previous issues.