Spirit Guides - The Lantern Bearers of Your Soul By Colleen-Joy Page as published in Namaste magazine (2000) Your soul stands ready at the dawn of another life. You are hesitant because you know that you have signed on for a lot, this time around. You begin to feel weary and then your friend and teacher moves closer and you are filled with her presence. The last words you hear as you descend into the density of the earth plane, is the soft whisper, "I'll be there with you, as always" she says to you with a depth of love and respect for you that you are calm again. You look down to the glowing jewel of the blue-green planet beneath you and are drawn once again to your work. The last words you hear as you descend into the density of the earth plane is the soft whisper, "I'll be there with you, just remember". And now you stand in the heart of your life's story and your invisible friends are beside you. When you find your self in dark times, they are the ones that hold the lantern high to remind you of the light within. They guide you but do not direct, they love you and do not judge, they are your soul's companions, your guides. Some of them have known you from the beginning, some have been called to guide you through specific times, all honor you for your work in this world. What is a spirit guide? You have anything from a few to many guides, in spirit or in bodies and each has a slightly different role. Guides are evolving souls - just like you - with enough experience to take on the role of guiding other souls. It is helpful to remember that even guides and 'guides in training' have their own guides and teachers. How to feel the presence of a guide? The most important thing to consider is that our guides are more easily 'felt' than seen or heard. Your body is a powerful intuitive instrument. It is surrounded and penetrated by energetic, subtle bodies, which are communicating and feeding your physical body with information nearly all the time. You may enter a room and 'sense' that it feels safe and uplifting or you may feel uncomfortable and threatened. As you meet someone, you energetically sense for a basic yes or no about the safety of your relating to the person. Your body feeds you the information as feeling, which you will feel and perceive mainly in the lower abdomen, solar plexus and chest region. The English language so richly captures actual phenomenon like "having a sense of" and "a gut feel" or "feeling it in my waters". When deciding to consciously communicate with your guides, people often think that they have to focus their thoughts on the communication by projecting thoughts or by visualizing. This is certainly a valid form of communication but it is a lot harder to master simply because the mind is typically so full of thoughts that it is difficult to separate out the authentic communication. Instead of using the mind to communicate, you can use your body, this produces the familiar feeling of just "knowing" something. When asked how you just know, the answer isn't because you heard a voice, or saw an image, it is because you just "felt" and knew it to be true. This is the most accurate and powerfully simply way to communicate with guides. In this way you consciously turn on your body's natural higher sense and 'tune in', like one might tune in to a radio station. You already do this when your body is sensing for danger, so you are not learning a new skill, but you are remembering how to Do it consciously and on command and Use it for more than assessing danger. Every soul, including yours has a unique feel, or energetic signature. With practice you can learn to distinguish one energy signature from another. The trick is to get out of your head and learn to "feel" with your body, through your skin as if the inside of your body is reaching out to feel. Here are some of the common body sensations felt when a guide or higher aspects of you as soul are "in touch": Body temperature changes Skin tingling, even gooseflesh Less tension in the solar plexus (when deeply connected) The reduction of fear in the body except for when the energy of the guide or teacher is strong, (or if you have just started this work), then your body may feel fear until it adjusts and realizes that it is safe A feeling of love and of being loved How to communicate with your guides? Your mind is the gateway that other minds will use to communicate with you. Your guides, and all forms of consciousness can be 'talked' to energetically. A tree, animal or mountain can be felt for and interacted with. Energy does not need vocal chords or English. Practice 'feeling for' and interpreting energetic data. Because your mind is the computer receiving and translating the incoming data, your language, vocabulary and knowledge base will define just how much information can come through. Make the unknown, known and support your body through the process. The Centre For Alternative Studies has designed an audio home study course for Guide Communication. Click here for more information. It is helpful to recall that a guide or spiritual teacher always represents, without exception: Unconditional love - There is nothing you could do to lose or lessen the love of your guides. There are no conditions attached to their love and support for you. Non judgment - Because they love you unconditionally, they do not judge your actions. They do not reprimand or punish Non manipulation - They surpass concepts of failure, success, right and wrong because they can see that 'all ways lead home'. They exert no pressure to achieve any goals, they wish only to guide and support you in fulfilling our soul's purpose, whatever that may be. As you grow into spiritual maturity they may step back occasionally to let you cross the street on your own, out of respect for your coming of age. They encourage you to seek your own truth and wisdom. When you find the eyes behind your eyes and learn to awaken your body's higher perception, you open up a new way of seeing and being. When you learn to reach through and beyond your physical body, you discover that you are never without support and guidance and that ultimately you can experience a new and expanded way to be alive.