Do you know your spirit guide/s?  Everyone has at least one spirit guide accompanying them throughout their lifetime.  Some of us have more than one, and other guides also come in and out of our lives depending on our needs, purposes, and plans.  We may not always be aware of this.  However, their unnoticed help occurs throughout our lives.  Bound by spiritual laws, those who are our guides can provide us with stronger assistance once we consciously work to elevate our energies and open our hearts.

My spirit guide is Josephine.  (I call her Jo Jo)  She is getting me to write this piece.  Probably because, lately, I have not been consulting her as often as is wise.  No one knows us better than our spirit guide that has been with us since before we are born.  Each of us has met with our spirit guide on the Other Side and our guide knows us better than we know ourselves.  Our guide trains specifically for our life-learning and plan and as Sylvia Browne says they are often the “unsung heroes who stand patiently by – loving, helping and healing us.”

Spirit guides are advanced entities that have had at least one earthly incarnation.  They exist on a very high vibrational level and made a contract with their ‘charge’ to watch over you during this particular lifetime.  Sometimes they have lived lives with you; however, this is fairly rare.  Your primary spirit guide is not a relative who died when you were one, because that would mean that you had been unattended for a period of time.  This does not happen.  Your spirit guide is with you when you enter this earthly plane and accompanies you to the Other Side when your physical vehicle is shed.

Spirit guides come in all sizes and shapes and are from many different cultures.  I know this from seeing the spirit guides who accompany my clients to their angel readings.  They can also be male or female.  While knowing their name is not essential, it does help to make them feel more ‘real’ to you.  I will include one of Sylvia’s simpler exercises @ the end of this piece for you to do should you wish to.  Sylvia is now one of my guides for this part of my life and I have learned a great deal from her in the past.  In fact, I used to practice my psychic skills by watching her years ago on the Montel Williams show on television.  I tested myself by responding quickly to questions for Sylvia from the audience and found that I received the same answers as Sylvia did, although Sylvia received more details.  However, that was BEFORE I took the Angel Therapy (R) Practitioner’s Course with Dr. Doreen Virtue.  I get a lot more details since becoming a professional angel communicator.

Most of us find that we actually know our spirit guide’s name.  Sometimes it is the name that we gave to a doll, toy or pet as a child!  Or, the name we used for our ‘imaginary friend.’  I often find that when a client asks me to tell them the name of their spirit guide during an angel reading that they exclaim that it has always been their favourite name or that it resonates as truth very quickly.  I have clients who ask me to describe their guide to them.  One client, many years ago now, asked me and then when I started she finished the description.  Meanwhile, I was enjoying looking at her guide (I still remember her name ) and her guide had the most amazingly large almond-shaped eyes that I had seen until then.  Since that time I have seen much larger eyes on an extra terrestrial, but that is a story for down the road.

As the spirit guides have lived at least one earthly life, they have at least some conscious memories of the obstacles, difficulties and tragedies that we humans can face.  This is very helpful for them and for us.  They are very comforting, for example, when on our quest for Truth we experience a spiritual crisis.  While they cannot keep us completely protected from our life lessons ( they are not meant to) they can stimulate our insights, help us open up to allow our abundance, guide us and inspire our creativity.  Sylvia calls them “the head administrator of our lives… the finger of God.”  Sometimes you will know your guide is there because of a particular scent such as lavender or vanilla or you may hear popping noises or knocks and other times you may hear your name called or a breeze wafts over you & often when you listen to your ‘gut’ instinct to put on your seatbelt or to avoid a flight or meeting it is your spirit guide.  Children will tell you what their guide looks like if you listen to them.

Even though many of us have used a variety of psychic techniques in our past lives, it still requires proper training & time to re-ignite these skills, so to speak.  Or to re-awaken them.  Although, that being said, the more limited we feel, the more limited we are.  Nevertheless, it is prudent, I feel, to begin or continue slowly and to get proper training unless you are seasoned in the psychic arts and sciences.  Be discriminating & discerning. Follow your own instincts as you develop and unleash your multisensory self.  Care well for your body.  Your energy needs to be cleared, clean, strengthened and prepared.  Close to 30 years of a hatha yoga teaching career, prepared me for psychic work.  Psychic abilities are a natural side effect of a consistent practice.

Of course there are many traditions and many paths and a myriad ways of ‘knowing’ and the veil is definitely thinning.  It is getting easier and easier for us all to experience direct contact with other entities.  However, just as you would not invite a nasty incarnate into your living-room for a cup of tea, do not leave a door open for a trickster or a dark entity.  While these things can be dealt with and resolved satisfactorily, why not prevent intruders?  This is what Jesus meant when he said “do not cast your pearls before swine.”  ( I have nothing against pigs, and I am guessing Jesus didn’t either – I gather he was just using this as a teaching example!)  It makes sense on all levels to be discerning.

If you would like to do a very simple introductory exercise (Sylvia calls it a “training exercise”) I am including it here: ( as you know, I always call in Archangel Michael for protection before meditating)

” In your mind, take yourself to a seashore, and put your back against a palm tree.

Place your feet in the warm sand.  Feel the sun on your face, the breeze in your hair.

You can make this as simple or as intricate as you wish.  Look up at the clouds and take three

deep breaths, feeling all the negativity and hurt flowing out of you, down through your whole body

and out your toes into the gentle waves that are lapping against your feet.  Then out of the shadows

from the palm trees, ask your guide to come to you.  Ask a simple question.  Even ask their name.

As time progresses, don’t be afraid to ask the guide specific questions that you can later validate.”

( CONTACTING YOUR SPIRIT GUIDE by Sylvia Browne)

I love this exercise and it is effective no matter where you are in your journey.  I was fortunate to attend one of Sylvia’s lectures, and she taught brilliantly, of course, and with a wonderful sense of humour that reminded me more of a stand-up comedian!  The audience was doubled over with laughter.  I will never forget that day.  It reminds us not to take ourselves too seriously.  After all, we are here to enjoy ourselves.

So, in closing, I ask you to slow down your life considerably if you wish to consciously establish or deepen your connection with your spirit guide/s.  Prayer, meditation, visualization, rhythmic and deep breathing are wonderful opening up tools to employ.  Remember to set your intention and to keep a journal.  You will be so encouraged and amazed as you progress on your journey of consciousness and it will help you to clearly identify your guides when you write down the impressions you receive.

Love & Light,      Monica