What is a spirit guide? What is a guardian angel?
I have asked many people and here are some of the answers I’ve heard:
“You must read my book to find out about your guides.”
“I read about Shamanism, so I am trained to assign you a spirit guide.”
“You must study under me. Only I can tell you who your spirit guides are.”
“I will give you a spirit guide because God has given me the power to do so.”
“You must be a “card-carrying” Native-American to have a spirit guide and they must be an animal like a wolf or a buffalo or a hawk.”
“You must have a spiritual advisor to tell you what guides you can have. Some are evil and should not be trusted, but you can trust me, I am the only one who can protect you!”
“There are no spirit guides, only guardian angels!”
“You must be Christian to have a guardian angel. Spirit guides are only for heathens and are the devil’s work!”
“If you want a guardian angel, you must read the bible and go to church.”
“I know all about guardian angels. I’m certified. I know all their names so I will tell you if you have a real one or not.”
“My guardian angels are at a very high level in the hierarchy because I am so enlightened. That is why I have more than one. Yours, of course, will be a lesser one.”
These are actual answers and are all based in ego and fear. Yes, fear. The ones who spout these proclamations are afraid. They are afraid of what the truth might be. They must protect what they believe and protect those that taught them these fallacies because those are the people they chose to follow. Their judgement of character is at stake. No one wants to be the fool. But in the back of their minds is a smidgen of doubt. That is why they must defend. That is why they must proclaim.
Ego is a survival tool. Ego says you are the most important one in the universe so you will protect yourself from harm. It protects your beliefs regardless of what they are, because those beliefs have now become part of you; whether they are grounded in truth or not.
Fear and ego keep us alive. They are our defense mechanisms. Doubt is, too. When we feel doubt about what someone has told us to believe, it reminds us we have our own minds. Are you feeling any doubt?
We’re supposed to listen to spirit guides and guardian angels and do what they say, right? They are supposed to watch over us, protect us, and guide us… so we’ve been told.
Well, who are they?
Are guides and angels the same thing?
What do they look like?
Where did they come from?
How do I get one?
How many can I have?
How long will they stay with me?
Do I have to have a spirit guide or guardian angel?
The search for what we can trust in the universe is a very personal journey. The answers are different and unique for each one of us.
Here is what I’ve found to be true from my vantage point of experience. I believe that each of us comes into this life from Source (or whatever label we choose), encapsulated in Its energy of unconditional love that I define as total and complete acceptance of individual being. As we enter the physical world, we appear to be separated from this love energy because it isn’t perceived through our physical senses. We rely on these senses to interact with our physical environment…but there’s more. I believe each of us has a knowing in our hearts; a memory of this original love. This energy that surrounds us can and does protect and guide us through our life lessons, if we let it; if we listen to it.
For us to comprehend a source of information and protection with our physical minds (which requires us, by our mind’s very nature, to categorize and label), the energy takes on the form of whatever we can best accept. I believe our needs and expectations determine how these energies manifest for us.
If we expect beings with wings, this would probably be what we would experience. A lot depends on our spiritual base.
If our lives have been centered in observing the wisdom of the animal world, the energy might take animal form.
A culture rooted in specific gods and goddesses might produce manifestations of a favored deity.
Beloved ancestors who cared for and protected us in life have left a layer of love around us, also. I believe that even when the souls of these ancestors have moved on in their own spiritual journey and are not connected to this plane of existence any longer, the layer of love they have surrounded us with can be accessed, activated and manifested in our ancestors’ basic forms.
I truly believe the universe is the context of this unconditional love; supporting the manifestation and transformation of all things. Impersonal, yes, but in total acceptance of existence without judgement. Invisible threads of intention weaving together like a net, connecting all things in common influence. It radiates from distant stars and galaxies. And from cosmic beings, whose concentrated energies bring greater awareness of these vital connections that have always included us. Could the beautiful nebulae from which newborn stars emerge be manifestations of universal love? I think so.
As we reach out with our lonely human hearts for something to make us feel whole, or at least not so abandoned, our personal energy patterns draw this all-inclusive love to our awareness. As it flows through our matrix of experience and expectations, it takes a shape, something to which we can relate, so we can recognize it and trust it.
If we see it at all. An expectation of misfortune might blind us, so to speak. Also, expecting the experience to come through on only one particular channel excludes many possibilities.
Our heart knows divine, unconditional love when it feels it. It remembers. Trust that. Your heart can tell the difference.
However, in our human existence, we have gotten used to looking for reassurance from other humans. We look for someone else to say,
“Yes, it was an angel/animal guide/ancestor/goddess/god/faerie, that you experienced. Yes, it is real, trust me.” This eases our fears of nonphysical presence and we feel blessed but confused. How do they really know if that is what they say it is?
If we look to recorded accounts of other’s spiritual encounters to find answers, what we find might not fit our experience. Those descriptions are just that; someone’s attempt to verbalize a personal, profound, extraordinary event. We try to fit ours into their matrix and, amazingly, can sometimes rationalize our experience to absurdity just to be acknowledged as part of something bigger than ourselves.
There are those whose personal fears drive them to be judgmental and egotistical. They demand that others accept what they believe and their way of seeing things as the only way. For example, remember the answers that I spoke of earlier. No individual holds the only key to spiritual fulfillment. No one holds the “Master Key” that opens all doors for everyone. There is no such thing. It is a very personal journey to discover that unique, individual perception that lies within ourselves. We must not let others determine for us our spiritual understanding.
One thing these spirit energies seem to have in common is that they have an extraordinary component to their appearance. They might shimmer or have a transparent quality. There might be an aura of light, color or sound enveloping them. In the case of animal energy, the animal might behave differently than normal, or appear and disappear quickly.
Sometimes, very profound messages come through other people, often without their knowledge. Listen carefully to what children and strangers say in passing.
Just because something or someone seems a bit odd, does this mean it/he/she is our guardian angel or spirit guide?
You could always ask them, of course. In many instances, we know only after the fact that a helping energy outside of ourselves, has influenced our lives. Some believe these spirit helpers are really one’s higher self; the part of one’s spirit that is tied into the greater universal consciousness and projected into an acceptable manifestation.
How many guides or angels do each of us have?
I believe this is also based on our need. If this love energy can become what it is we need to see, hear, or feel, it can also become how many we need. I have personally experienced one-on-one interaction with a guiding energy and, at times, felt surrounded by a community.
I have noticed, through my work as a psychic minister that some guardian angels/spirit guides can be with a person from birth, even guiding them through many lifetimes. They can also appear just for a particular event or crisis, as in a miraculous rescue or near-death-experience.
I have what feels like a group of energies that claim to have been with my soul for several lifetimes, and a few who have worked with me three or four times in my present life, and two distinct energies whom I’ve only seen once. How did I know if they were good ones? I felt good when they were around. I felt loved. What they had to teach me made my heart open and expand. Their wisdom taught me something I recognized as truth for me. I felt a deep sensation in my heart that was uplifting.
There is a saying that if you get goose-bumps or a tingling sensation, you are in the presence of truth. I believe this to be true. However, this doesn’t mean the truth will be helpful or nurturing to you. The truth might be that the energy you have contact with is against your personal, ultimate good.
Ask the question
“Is this energy I’m experiencing for my greater good?”
“Does it come in love and trust?”
If there is a tingly feeling or a tug on your heart that feels good, you can continue a dialogue to determine why it is there.
If there is no positive response, you can ask,
“Is this energy against what is me?”
If you feel a sudden chill or the hair on the back of your neck standing up, if you feel fearful or uncomfortable, you can demand that the energy leave your space, for it is trespassing. If you feel judged and beaten down or controlled by the energy, regardless of where it came from, it is not promoting your greater good.
There are many ways to clear your space of this kind of energy. Some are dedicated to specific, indigenous traditions that may or may not work for some outside that culture. Do not be disheartened if they don’t work for you. Do not compromise your understanding of how the world works. You instinctively know more than you realize.
Think of how you would handle someone entering your personal space in a confrontational or disrespectful manner. What would you do or say to get rid of them? Spirit energies can disregard boundaries, too. Use the same techniques to remove them. Do it in confidence; that is where your true power lies.
“Be gone!” stated three times with great strength is usually all that is needed to convince your inner self that your energy field is clear. Follow this with an increase in your awareness of the supportive, protective energy that is always there for you, and integrate that.
The concept of good and evil is a human thing. Those are subjective labels. Energies in the universe and in us are neutral. Energy is just energy. How it is used and what our belief base is, determines for us whether it is good or evil.
Your personal energy matrix will attract that which you have invested expectations in. If you are fascinated by, or significantly fearful of what would be labeled as evil, that is what you are inviting into your space. If you desire helpful, loving guidance for your spiritual journey, know that it can manifest for you. We all have hidden fears and desires that can influence what we experience in our lives. Sometimes we need a challenge or two to wake us up to awareness of spiritual guidance.
Do we have to have guides or angels?
We come into this life with all the help we need. However, we always have the choice to not listen to them. We can reject and deny them all we want, but if we need them, they are there. Like a baby who is crying too hard to accept the bottle, we often are so agitated and desperate that we fight against that which we want most in life: to be loved and accepted for who we are.
No one can take spiritual guidance away from us or determine whether or not we deserve it or even how much of it we are entitled to. We are children of the Divine. We have that pure spark within. The universe is ours for we are the same.
“If thou dost feel abandoned by life,
Look to the Universe, Beloved.
Thou art never alone.
All elements of creation be thy confidantes,
And Spirits, living unseen, thine advisors be.
Thou art forever cradled in the arms of the Mother.
Thou art forever glowing in the light of the Father.
If thou dost feel abandoned by life,
Look to the Universe, Beloved,
Thou art never alone.”
