Messages and guidance might come in unexpected ways. Plus, not everyone has the same sensing abilities. For instance, some people are more adept at hearing messages (clairaudience), while some are better at seeing images in their mind’s eye (clairvoyance).
Some people only see colors, some get epic psychic downloads, while others may only get gentle energetic “nudges” in the right direction. Trust your instincts in whatever form they show up, and don’t expect any of this to feel or look a certain way.
A beautiful way to connect to your guides is through a meditation or visualization process. Get yourself into a relaxed, meditative state. You can picture yourself in a beautiful, peaceful place or just see where your mind takes you.
When it feels right, ask to meet one of your guides. Be patient and sense what comes up. Traditionally, any person, animal, or other spirit you meet three times on your subconscious journey is your guide. You can then ask:
It’s called a spiritual practice for a reason. Like many things in life, it’s easy to understand how things work or have a philosophical relationship with them —and it’s much harder to actually practice!
Set up a time every day to sit in silence, reverence, and gratitude. You might want to add some journaling, meditation, or a Tarot card pull —whatever you feel connected to is fine. The most important part is choosing something that helps you connect to your spirituality and practice it daily.
Herbs are powerful allies for spirit work, helping to cleanse and clear the auric field and open the upper chakras so you can better hear your guides’ messages. Work with the following herbs and herbal blends to support your connection with your team.
Palo Santo is one of the most powerful energetic, and physical, purifiers you can find. Indigenous to Central and South America, healers and indigenous people have used it for centuries for direct communion with the spirit world. Use it to help clear energetic space for communication with your guides before ceremony, meditation, or dream time.
This ethically crafted Palo Santo Oil or Water, is a potent botanical perfume you can keep on your altar, bedside table, or in your bag for on-the-go spiritual work. Or if you’re looking to ward off energy at home, you might want to burn the wood itself.
Sacred smoke blends are made with herbs and flowers that offer different benefits and spiritual correspondences. For instance, some herbs relax the body and mind, helping to increase your connection with the spirit realm or help open your third eye. You can use this Flores Sagradas blend ceremonially and mindfully to conjure and open the crown chakra. Or, this botanical blend designed to relax and create feelings of euphoria to more deeply connect you to the spirit realm.
Kalea Sacatechichi is a powerful herb that’s scientifically shown to boost dream recall. And the better your recall, the more likely you are to remember your guides’ dream-based messages. Traditionally used by the Chontal Indians of Mexico, Kalea is also known to increase lucid dreaming, inner reflection, imagination, and soul-gazing. Be aware that it’s incredibly bitter, it is often used in tiny amounts in tea, with fellow plant allies like Lemon Balm, or Chamomile. Or, traditionally it’s also used as a smoke, or smudge.
The blue lotus flower is a gentle, yet potent ally known to induce a deep meditative energy, enhance third eye function, and promote lucid dreaming. This is perfect for spirit guide work as it can help relax your nervous system, open your upper chakras, and create a feeling of euphoria conducive to speaking with spirits.
Draw upon herbs that grow around you, as they speak and contribute deeply to your reality. Ask for their permission, and add them to your altar, herbal bath, or use them as a special ofrenda, divine offering. Adriana Ayales
Tending to your guides is a beautiful way to show respect and foster an ongoing, mutually beneficial relationship.
Just like a person, a guide is happy to help, but it’s always nice when a relationship goes both ways. Honor your guides with these tips:
Many traditions believe that holding your spirit guides’ identities and details close to your heart is a sacred practice in and of itself. That means not posting haphazardly about them on social media or telling everyone you meet about them.
Learn more about your guides by asking them questions about what they enjoy and how they would like to be honored.
Call on your guides often. Communicate with them by writing them letters or speaking with them. They want to help, so don’t be shy about going to them for counsel.
You wouldn’t ask something of someone without first paying them, bringing a gift, or otherwise showing your respect. The same goes for guides. Have a dinner in their honor, set up an altar with their favorite things, or make frequent offerings to show them your gratitude.
Demon PactYour guides want to have a relationship with you. So, even if you’re having trouble connecting or getting clear messages, be patient. Use the tips in this article and you won’t just find a deeper relationship with your spiritual team, but also with yourself and your own intuitive powers.
Take your time and don’t rush things. You can’t force a connection with your guides. And since everyone experiences these kinds of connections differently, it’s essential to be patient, take note of even the most minor signs and signals, and wait for your relationships with your guides to strengthen.
Spirit guides are beings that have transitioned into the afterlife. But rather than reincarnating on earth again, they have chosen to dedicate their existence to being spirit guides as a way of continuing their soul’s evolution. This is a high honor—not all of us have the option of becoming a spirit guide. To have this option suggests a high level of mastery and ascension.
We’re paired with the spirit guides that can best serve us. This often looks like complementary strengths or similar strengths. If you’re known for running late, you may have a spirit guide that was always prompt when living and so they’re able to guide you in being prompt. Alternatively, you may have a spirit guide that was also constantly late and so you’ve been paired to overcome this challenge together. Spirit guides often know us better than we know ourselves. They’re wonderful at helping us out and guiding us in healing and growth.
Yup! We tend to have multiple spirit guides at a time because there is really no limit to how many we receive. Most of us are walking around with an entourage of spirit guides and don’t even know it. If you have the gift of clairvoyance, you might see them with you.
Some guides are with us for specific moments in life. They may come in during a particularly challenging moment and then leave once you’re in the clear. Let’s say you’re in the hospital: A trauma guide may stay with you and hold space for you until you leave the hospital. Some guides are assigned to specific relationships, so if that relationship ends, the guide is no longer needed and will leave. Same goes for work agreements, events, and experiences. There may be a guide that helps everyone involved with that one experience and is around only for that experience. There are guides that we might work with only once in our lifetime. Others are like subject-matter experts and will come and go as needed. For example, you may have a heartbreak guide that shows up to help you mend and then leaves when you’re feeling complete.
Most of us have at least one guide that is with us our entire lives. This spirit guide will see you through it all, emphasize your gifts and talents, help point you in the direction of your path and purpose, and offer guiding light during moments of darkness. A small minority of us will outgrow our original guide and gain a new guide over time. It’s like outgrowing a mentor and then getting a new one.
Most of us have at least one guide that is with us our entire lives. This spirit guide will see you through it all, emphasize your gifts and talents, help point you in the direction of your path and purpose, and offer guiding light during moments of darkness. A small minority of us will outgrow our original guide and gain a new guide over time. It’s like outgrowing a mentor and then getting a new one.
While the guide may offer insight, guidance, clarity, and direction, it’s ultimately up to the human to decide whether they want to follow the guidance or not. Spirit guides know this. There are rules that can help us maximize the potential of this relationship. If a person were to want a new guide, they could call one in. Whether you wish to continue or complete a contract with one of your guides, you have all the power in this.
Many of us refer to our deceased beloveds as our spirit guides. They are in spirit form, and they are absolutely guiding us. However, they’re not technically classified as spirit guides.
Teaching is mastery. Beings become spirit guides as a way of mastering all they’ve been learning and even teaching. Let’s pretend all humans are undergraduate students at the university of life. Think of your deceased loved ones as graduate students or teaching assistants and think of spirit guides as tenured professors. Your TA will surely help you along your path, and you may even have more contact with them than you do with your professor.
For some, interaction can be as simple as acknowledging their presence and starting a dialogue. Others will find more confidence and clarity with a bit more structure. You may light a candle, set an intention to connect with them, and invoke them. You may explore connecting with them through automatic writing and requesting they write through you. You may simply visualize a figure standing in front of you and start the conversation that way.
In nu it school, we head up to the astral plane, where they live, to meet them on their turf and then invite them down to Earth. I teach you how to plug them in so that you may channel their energy. Most feel a decrease in temperature when plugging their guides in. A few feel an increase in temperature. Some people experience a buzzing sensation, and others feel nothing at all. The way spirit guides help can be really subtle, yet so profound and impactful.
Spirit guides exist in the realm of infinite possibilities and are not confined by time or space. There is no limit to what they can do for us. In fact, the more they help us, the more they ascend. I encourage my students to assign at least three tasks to their guides before parting ways. Spirit guides can help with anything big—divorce, health concerns. Or small—like parking spaces, or motivation to do the dishes or go to work.
The deal with spirit guides is that they don’t really have shape or form, and they don’t actually have names. However, our human minds work well with shape and form in helping us identify spirit guides and focus our energies so we may better connect with them. It’s incredible how they’ll present themselves or how we may perceive them when we start connecting with them. Some students see their spirit guides very vividly and in full detail, while others see shadow figures. As long as the connection is strong, you’re good!
A name can do the same thing. It can facilitate our connection with them. It helps us focus and tune in to their energy. While the guides don’t actually have names, I have my students ask for their names, and the majority of the time they hear a name. A few students won’t hear anything, so I’ll ask them to assign names to their guides. It’s the difference between getting somewhere with a map versus getting there without a map. Sure, you can connect to them without a name, but you may get a little lost or take the long way or feel uncertain the entire time. If a map is available to you, why not use it and get there more quickly and easily? Using their names will help invoke them with greater precision and efficiency. All you have to do is ask—they’ll tell you. If they don’t, simply ask, “May I call you ______?” and assign them a name.
Spirit guides are nonhuman or human entities that reside in the spiritual realm and make their wisdom available to the living. They take a variety of forms, including guardian angels, animal or nature spirits, elves and fairies, saints or ascended masters, and ancestors or descendants who have crossed over to the spiritual realm. Spirit guides assist humans in their daily lives even though they are not aware of the guides' presence, according to believers. Those who are interested are encouraged to seek out their guides to gain practical and mystical information, healing abilities, and protection from harm.