Building a Relationship With Your Spirit Guides

Meeting Your Spirit Guides: How to Build a Relationship with Them

Let’s Talk About Our Spirit Guides

Spirit Guides, also known as our Spirit Band or Tribe, are helpers from the other side. They walk with us through life, offering guidance, wisdom, and comfort when we need it most. As children, these guides often show up as imaginary friends, but over time, we lose touch with them. School, religious teachings, and societal expectations shift our focus, making it harder to hear or sense our guides.

Reconnecting with your Spirit Guides takes patience and practice—it’s like learning to drive a stick shift after years of driving an automatic car. It might feel clunky at first, but with time and effort, the connection becomes smooth and natural. The good news is that your Spirit Guides never leave your side; it’s just a matter of learning to listen to them again.

Types of Spirit Guides

In Spiritualist teachings, each person has seven primary guides, and each of these guides has seven assistants. This creates a vast network of spiritual support (your band/tribe), ready to help us in different areas of life. Here are some common types of Spirit Guides:

• • Gatekeeper/Protector: Keeps negative energies at bay and ensures safe spiritual communication. Some consider these two separate guides, but in my experience, they are one and the same.
  • Joy Guide: Brings happiness, lightness, and childlike wonder into your life.
  • Healing Guide: Focuses on emotional, physical, and spiritual healing.
  • Animal Spirit Guide: Connects you with the wisdom and energy of animals or nature.
  • Doctor/Teacher – Philosophy: Provides insight into spiritual teachings and personal growth.
  • Doctor/Chemist – Science/Medicine: Offers knowledge in healing and the sciences.
  • Ascended Masters: Advanced souls who guide us in spiritual growth and understanding.
  • Angels: Divine beings of light offering protection, guidance, and comfort.
  • Saints: Figures from the Catholic tradition, revered for their spiritual dedication and miracles. Many people with Catholic backgrounds ask about saints, and they are often recognized as powerful intercessors.
  • Nature Spirits (Fairies, Elves, Gnomes, Sylphs, and Undines): Connect us with the wisdom of the natural world.

Building a Relationship with Your Spirit Guides

The first step in connecting with your guides is to set aside expectations. Spirit works in ways that may not align with our initial hopes. For example, if you expect a specific figure like Jesus to be your gatekeeper, you might miss the guide who has truly stepped forward. Trust and openness are key.

Here are some important tips to build your relationship with Spirit Guides:

• • Create a Contract with Spirit. Set clear boundaries with your guides, specifying how you wish to communicate, when they need to leave you alone, and what your commitment is.
  • Ask Until You Know. If you don’t know who your guides are, keep asking. They will reveal themselves in time.
  • Sit Quietly and Listen. Regular meditation creates space for Spirit to connect with you.
  • Watch for Signs and Symbols. Synchronicities, repeating numbers, and recurring animals are often messages from your guides.
  • Be Open to Unanswered Prayers. Spirit may answer in ways you don’t expect, teaching you to trust the process. As Garth Brooks says, “Thank God for Unanswered Prayers.”
  • Journal Your Experiences. Writing down what you notice helps you reflect, see patterns, and deepen your understanding.
  • Express Gratitude and Adjust Boundaries. Thank your guides after each connection, and adjust your boundaries if needed.

Overcoming Doubts: Patience is Key

In today’s world, we expect instant results. But building trust with your guides takes time—much like making homemade mashed potatoes. Instant mashed potatoes, while convenient, don’t offer the same depth of experience as those made from scratch.

Imagine growing your own potatoes: You plant, tend, and harvest them. Then, after washing, cutting, and boiling, you mash them with milk and butter—perhaps even from a cow you milked yourself! It’s a slower, more intentional process, but the result is far richer. Developing trust with your guides works the same way. Patience allows for a deeper, more meaningful connection to form.

Exercises to Connect with Your Spirit Guides

Here are a few practical exercises to help you connect and build a relationship with your Spirit Guides:

Daily Journaling Practice:

• • Spend 5-10 minutes each morning writing down any signs, dreams, or feelings from the previous day.
  • Keep a running list of questions for your guides. Over time, you’ll see patterns in the responses.

Meditation for Spirit Communication:

• • Set aside time daily to sit quietly. Focus on your breath, and invite your guides to connect.
  • If a symbol, thought, or emotion comes up, acknowledge it without judgment.

Creating a Contract with Spirit:

• • Write a letter to your Spirit Guides outlining your intentions, boundaries, and how you want to work together.
  • Review and revise this contract as your connection deepens and evolves.

Recognizing Your Spirit Guides Through Synchronicity

Many people first recognize their Spirit Guides through synchronicities—those moments that feel too perfect to be coincidences. These meaningful events are Spirit’s way of nudging you, saying, “We are here.”

Once you start noticing these signs, it becomes easier to connect. Meditation helps quiet the mind, creating space for Spirit to step forward. Development circles offer additional support, allowing you to practice and share your experiences with others on a similar path.

Trust the Process

Building a relationship with your Spirit Guides is a journey of patience, trust, and practice. It’s not about instant answers but about developing a deep, meaningful connection over time. Think about how long it has taken to build trust with your closest friends. Developing a connection with your Spirit Guides is not much different—it grows and strengthens as you engage with them.

By setting clear boundaries, journaling your experiences, and practicing meditation, you create a strong foundation for this relationship to flourish. The more you engage with your Spirit Guides, the clearer their messages become, enriching your life in ways you never imagined.

Trust the process, express gratitude often, and know that Spirit is working with your highest good in mind.