I remember the first time I learned about Spirit Guides — and how cool I thought it was. Imagine having a whole gang of invisible helpers at your beck and call: would they do the laundry? Give me lottery numbers? Give me the answer’s to the next day’s Physics test? The answer is no, no and HELLL no. Guides have a more specific purpose in our lives.
The subject of spirit guides has filled several books, but here are the basics as I understand them. Before we’re born, we decide what lessons we need to work on when we incarnate: did we finally learn how to be independent in that last life? Did we work out our issues with commitment, hard work or money? Or do we need some remedial help?
There are lots of individual variations in our life lessons, and our guides are there to help us stick to our plan – because, unfortunately, we don’t remember it when we get here.
Call it Spiritual Amnesia. The only hint we have are the things that keep smacking us in the face: the same type of person who keeps showing up in your love life…the same struggles with money or family. The problems that haunt you are the lessons that will get us to finally (hopefully) tick off that goal that we set way back when we were floating on the proverbial cloud.
We each have at least one guide who sticks with us through all the ups and downs of this life. They sort of function as a spiritual GPS, helping us come back to our purpose.
But since this path is ours and ours alone, we have to ask him or her to get us sorted out on the journey. Their help won’t be obvious — it may come in the form of a helpful person showing up, an article, an e-mail. It’s your job to pay attention and act on the help that’s sent.
Besides our main guide who is with us “from womb to tomb” as the Jets said in West Side Story, there are guides who come and go during our life. Doctor Guides help during health issues, Joy Guides come when we need to inject some lightness…there are literally guides for everything (I could’ve used a Plumber Guide when I replaced my faucet….).
Guides have been human at some point, so they know the drill. Some may have lived relatively recently. Then there are others who existed millenia ago and have since spent most of their time evolving on the spirit plane (which explains why one of my guides shows himself looking like some kind of medieval hippie: white robe, sandals, the works. The only thing missing is the psychedelic bus and the contact high).
I’ve been asked if a deceased loved one can be a guide; the answer is no — and yes. They don’t function as guides in the classic sense, because they’ve been with us — or connected to us — here on Earth. BUT those who’ve crossed over are certainly willing to help. In this, they have two advantages: 1) they know us, what we’re dealing with and our particular human weaknesses and 2) now that they’re on the other side, their perspective is wiiiiiide open. So when you’ve hit a rough patch, by all means reach out to them.
As with Spirit Guides, the same rules apply with someone on the other side: you have to ask them for their help. Even if they were huge butt-inskis in life, they’re encouraged to keep their noses out of your life unless you ask them to weigh in.
When it comes to guides, loved ones, angels, whatever, the main thing is to remember that YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO IT ALONE. All of these entities are here specifically to help us in growing and evolving. And when they do, they get points, too. It’s like that saying that goes something like, if you really want to learn something, teach it. They learn from us, we learn from them…and hopefully, our personal evolution helps someone else.
I’ll do another blog shortly describing how you can meet your own guide, but in the meantime, just ask for what you need and know that your spirit helpers hear you. Prick up your ears and see what they send your way!