Folks interested in developing their psychic powers and mediumship skills often have questions about spirit guides.
- What are they?
- How many do you have?
- Do they change over time?
- Can they be deceased family members or friends?
- How do you know who yours are?
Depending on who you ask, there are lots of different—often conflicting—answers to these questions.
My approach to mediumship and spirituality is: what works for you, works for you. What resonates with you is your truth. You know the feeling of hearing your personal truth, it’s like a bell rings inside you and you vibrate at the same frequency, or you suddenly well up with tears you didn’t know you had. Go with it.
What are spirit guides?
Spirit guides are considered to be ethereal entities (beings not in physical bodies) who are around to help you in some way. Many people consider them separate entities from you: beings that have existed for eons and have evolved to help others, ascended angels or even aliens.
Here’s what I think: the entities we connect with and call our spirit guides are really aspects of our own higher selves. They are us. They are a way we conceptualize our own soul and connect with it to gain wisdom, knowledge and clarity.
In general, when it comes to spirituality, we externalize and look for meaning and connection with something outside ourselves. Yet everything we need can be found within. We are connected to everything that is in this universe, we are part of one mind—the universal life force energy that makes up everything on this planet and in existence.
Thinking of our spirit guides as distinct entities helps them make sense to us, just as the concept of linear time helps us make sense of our lives. But consider that they are really a part of you, of your own soul or higher self that is so much more expansive than you can understand while in the physical body.
How many spirit guides do you have?
Different books and different people say vastly different things about this. Some say you have two guides: a master guide and another guide. Some say you have just one. I was taught you have a band of seven guides—gatekeeper, teacher, doctor, philosopher, native, master teacher and joy guide. Other books suggest an inner band of guides that stays the same and an outer band who change over time.
Are you confused yet? Does it really matter how many spirit guides you have? I don’t think it does. I think it might be different for different people, depending on their needs and where they are in their spiritual journey. If our guides are really just reflections of our own higher self, then we have as many as we need or are able to understand we have at the point in time we’re at.
Do spirit guides change over time?
Some people say yes, others say no. What do you think? Friends and loved ones in your physical life come and go. Some people are with you for your entire life (your parents or siblings) while others are around for a few years or months. Perhaps it is the same with the spirit guides we create for ourselves.
My guides (facets of my higher self) have stayed fairly constant over the past 15 years, with certain aspects coming to the forefront as I work on different skills, e.g. healing work or mediumship. Since my guides are actually part of me, rather than separate from me, then they can change over time, take on different personas and faces, but are still ultimately the same.
Can friends and loved ones who’ve died become spirit guides?
Yes. And no. My mother is currently acting as a guide. It’s what she needs to do as the next part of her journey, and I’ve decided to let her. Yet she’s not an aspect of my own higher self. Will she be a spirit helper for me forever? I don’t know. It’s nice having her around (and she’s much less pushy and judgmental in spirit).
I believe that friends and loved ones in spirit step in from time to time to connect and help out in their behind-the-scenes way. They’ll forever be connected to me, but aren’t always at the forefront.
How do you know who your spirit guides are?
Meditation is the best way I know of connecting with your spirit guides/higher self.
There are guided meditations that take you step by step through the process of meeting and connecting with your guides. These usually involve climbing a staircase and going through a locked door for which you have the key, going to a place of beauty that resonates with you, and asking your guides to step in and say hello.
From there, you ask for some kind of identifying characteristic—a name, a color, a face—so you can connect with them again more easily. And then you build a relationship. You spend time together in meditation, you check in throughout the day, you call on them when you do mediumship or healing work or practice.
When I do readings, I will often connect with your spirit guides and bring them through. This can be a helpful initial contact, giving you a name, description, a feeling of their energy, to later connect with again on your own. Sort of like being introduced to a new friend at a party.
Whatever you choose to believe about your spirit guides (whatever resonates the most with you) know they are on your side and are with you to help you on your journey. They are your band—your marching band playing your triumphant tune and your protective gang always watching your back. They always want your highest and best good, are available with only a thought and can be an unending source of love, wisdom and comfort.
Get to know them.