By Lisa Caza
What are Spirit Guides?
How do I connect with my spirit guide?
How can I get direction from my guides?
How do I work with my guides?
These are some of the most frequently asked questions when folks begin connecting with their innate spiritual natures. Before I offer some answers, however, it is important to understand that spirit work must be taken seriously, with the intent to develop and grow, to align yourself with your Highest Purpose.
Traditionally, Spirit Guide connections have been reserved for the Shamans and Chiefs, the tribal leaders, and the advanced souls amongst a group… and then undertaken only after days and weeks of preparation, cleansing the body and soul, often with some sacrifice, going without food and drink for long periods of time, walking off into the desert, or climbing to the top of a sacred mountain, or trekking to a sacred site. Spirit Guides would only be approached with great respect, reverence, and only when absolutely necessary… to stop a plague, to get help with crops, to ask for rain – or to stop the rains, or to get guidance and support in advance of an important battle. There was great purpose in calling on one’s spirit guides and much ritual required in order to make a clear and useful connection.
Times have changed. In today’s world, spirit guides are very active, and more and more of us are aware of their presence in our lives. My guides have been instrumental in making both my personal and professional more productive, as well as a whole lot more joyful. Connecting with your guides can be a life-changing experience, but it does demand some preparation – and a willingness to notice their communications, and to listen from your heart.
What are Spirit Guides?
There are many different kinds of spirit guides, some come to help us heal, some to help us heal others. We will often have many different guides, each coming to help with a specific task. Some come as our “Muses”, inspiring and guiding us in our creative endeavours, whatever they may be. Some come to guide us in our business or career goals. Some come to help us with our family relationships, to guide us in our roles as parents or lovers, or friends. Some come for a specific purpose and leave when they have accomplished thier mission. Others act as gatekeeper guides, protecting us from invading entities, and calling in those guides we need when we need them. Whatever their purpose in coming to us, there is one basic rule that all spirit guides must accept: Guides cannot interfere in our free will, they cannot help without being asked.
Guides can be considered a specific “class” of spirits… I get the sense that spirits who want to be guides must undertake some special training on the other side. Many guides are Ascended Masters, souls that have worked through many lifetimes to lift themselves into the higher realms. It is unlikely that your grandmother would come back as your guide or even your children’s guide. Although she may come around to help the family where she can, it would be in the role of Grandmother-in-Spirit, as opposed to a Spirit Guide.
Guides may show themselves to you as images, or speak in your mind, or come through writing
and journalling. What I know for certain about my guides is that some are with me all of the
time, listening, waiting for me to ask so they can swing into action. I can feel them, and
sometime hear and see them… but most of all, I feel them, I notice when they are listening and
responding.
How do I connect with my spirit guide?
The thing about Spirit Guides is that they will find you, more easily than you can find them.
They will manifest around you when the time is right, when they are needed, and when you are
receptive to their guidance. That said, meditation and holding an inner focus will help you to
open the doors to communications with your guides. I have a wonderful meditation/visualization
technique that I use – which is outlined in my article regarding ANIMAL spirit guides – which in
honesty so far has been successful for many folks that I have given it to. Please refer to my
Communicating with Animal Spirit Guides article for the specific meditation technique.
How can I get direction from my guides? How do I work with my guides?
Once you make that first connection with your guides, you will want to create other opportunities
to connect, but these connections need to have a purpose. It is important to understand that spirit
guides are guides, not bosses, not even leaders, but guides… their purpose is to shed light on
your path, to give you insights and information that will help you make good decisions. Most of
all guides come around to help us heal, to help us to look within so we can see what we are
doing, thinking or feeling that is hindering us.
If a guide tells you what you should do, you are probably not working with a real guide. Guides
have no ego, they do not judge us – which also means that they don’t give us a lot of attaboys…
so if you have a guide who keeps boosting your ego, you probably don’t have a real guide.
Guides will always be loving and encouraging, but they will also encourage you to be real, and
grounded. They show us where change is desirable, and even how we can make the changes, and
they will often help us to attract whatever resources we need to accomplish our goals. But if they
insist that you follow their direction, you definitely do not have a real guide.
Getting answers and insights from your guides is really just a matter of learning to ask the
questions and then to notice their communications. The answers may come to you immediately
during meditation through spoken words, telepathic images, body language, gestures – or all of
the above. Or, it might take a bit of time for you to get your answer … it may come in a dream,
through a song, a movie or a book that falls on your toe, or through a friend you encounter, or a
stranger you run into at the bank… Ask a question, ask for help, and then watch, listen, and trust
that the answers will come when you need them.
Changing Guides Over Time
Spirit Guides change as you and your needs change……. and so does the way we work with
them. It is not unusual to go through changes with spirit guides. Sometimes, when you least
expect it, you will get a new guide. As you grow and your life’s path progresses, new guides are introduced who are better suited to guide you through new and upcoming times.
