A Guide to Spirit Guides & Angels
You do not walk alone in this life.
With you, walks your greatest and most loyal friends:
Spirit Guides and Angels.
Learning how to contact and work with these entities will help you along your journey.
We, as Earthly incarnated, human souls have two unseen helpful forces at hand during our earthly lives.
1. Spirit Guides/Ascended Masters
2. Angels
Spirit Guides
Spirit Guides are simply human souls that have evolved to higher levels and assist those living earthly lives. They are the same 'species' as us, and they strive to help us learn and grow as souls. Spirit Guides, typically have lived many Earthly lives to grow to a higher evolvement as souls.
A guardian Angel is not necessarily an angel at all, but your 'Guardian' or 'Gatekeeper' Spirit Guide. This Soul has been with you from day one during your Earthly life; always there to maintain what comes in and out of your 'realm'; to guide and protect you at all times.
Before you incarnated on Earth, you actually picked the Guide that would be most suited for you and the life you would encounter. This Guide specializes in the type of life you have pursued. Before you incarnated you worked together and looked over your life; obstacles, lessons, goals, etc. This entity took much time to find out who you are and what your plan was for this life. During the time of your infancy, your Guide made an extra effort to come down to the closest levels of the Earthly realm to transform their energies back to a 'human-like' nature. They did this so that they can remain close to you, your energy, thoughts and emotions. Because of this there is a lot of empathy with this Guide; they can truly feel everything you are going through.
Now this may seem uncanny to some, as if all of the sudden a person realizes they have some being hanging around that knows Everything about them. It may be a little embarrassing, but know they hold no judgement against you, they are simply there to help and guide you along your journey.
My Protector Guide's name is Daniel. He comes mainly in the form of long dark hair and grey wings. He chose to come in a form with wings, mainly to emphasize his protection for me. He has many ways of reminding me of his prescence, but the occurance that happens most often is seeing black crows/birds.
The Name of Your Protector Guide
Learning the name of your Spirit Guide is not nearly as important as learning to sense their energy. Spirit Guides don't see names as important in contacting them.
I used to try soooo hard to find out Daniel's name, and I know now that this was highly amusing to him; as it's not that important anyway. I came up with several names for him and finally he gave me the message, "Just pick one and stick with it."
Sensing Energy
For me, learning to sense energy took some time. There are many books out there that I have read, but nothing taught me more than practicing it. Learning to sense energy is an aquired skill; it is necessary in knowing for sure who you are connecting with. It's not something that really can be taught, you just have to try it.....just think about your guide and 'sense' their energy. In time, you'll start to feel a difference between entities and their energies. If you have trouble connecting to the spiritual, first try to sense the energies of everyday people around you; and try to distinguish each.
Daniel's energy comes across as very calm, protective and loving. I could say this about other guides and angels as well, but I feel a difference between his energy and others, something I can't explain in words.
Other Spirit Guides
Other Spirit Guides are not 'bound' to you like your main protector guide, however some may choose to be for awhile to assist you in important matters. Other Spirit Guides mainly come and go and their specialities range from A-Z.
Some examples include:
*People with a sickness/disease - Healer/Doctor Guides.
*People that travel a lot - Transit Guides
*Artists/Musicians - Aesthetic Guides
These Spirit Guides come in and out of your life, to help you along for various reasons. Your main Protector Guide may call upon another Guide for special assistance.
Messages
Spirit Guides send us dozens of messages throughout the day but we have a tendency to ignore them or think of them as our own imagination or coincidence.
Some examples of the many different ways that Spirit gives us an answer or sign may be:
* The first song you hear when you turn on the radio. Or a song that keeps repeating in your head over and over. You know that song that you "can't get out of your head." You turn on the television and someone is speaking about the same concern that you are having.
* You overhear a conversation between other people that has meaning to your condition.
* You may see or hear something repeatedly. An example is constantly seeing the number "11". You may see "11" on a clock, a label, a license plate. Seeing "11" many times means that something spiritual is happening or about to happen in your life.
* You open to a page in a book and your eyes fall upon a paragraph that has meaning to your current situation.
* Maybe you are fretting about a situation with another person, and you decide you are going to call them and "have it out". But, every time you dial their number they are not home or the line is busy. This could be Spirit telling you that now is not the right time to talk about the situation. Or, perhaps you are not in the right frame of mind to talk to that person. Possibly you don't know whether or not to talk to someone about an issue and the phone rings and it's the person you were thinking about.
* Signs often come from the animal world or nature. Maybe every time you leave the house, a crow flies by and caws, or you constantly see two squirrels chasing each other.
* You are about to buy something that you really desire, but don't necessarily need. When you go to pay, your credit card mysteriously won't work or you will have forgotten your checkbook. Spirit could be telling you that the item is not beneficial for you, or it could be that the purchase could put a stress on your finances.
* You're in a hurry to get somewhere, you're racing along in your car, and every light you come to is red. You would probably start cursing and driving even faster. But, perhaps Spirit is telling you to slow down. Maybe you are being told to stop and think about your actions. Maybe Spirit is trying to prevent you from having an accident.
Once I was hiking in the woods and got very lost. I could not find a path back to the road. So, I asked Spirit to please guide me out. Moments later, a crow appeared in the sky above me and circled a few times. Then the crow flew in a certain direction. I knew this was a sign, I followed the crow and made it out of the woods quickly and with no problems.
Don't have expectations and don't read into things. Just ask for guidance and allow it to happen. Not everything you see or hear is a sign. But, if you are open and receptive, the signs will be clear. Through practicing the act of asking for guidance and following it, you will soon understand when you are receiving an answer from Spirit and when you are not. The more often you ask for guidance and follow the guidance given, the stronger the connection will be, and the guidance and symbols will become much clearer.
Contacting your Protector Guide helps become more attuned to spirits and can increase your psychic ability. Your Protector Guide will be very grateful to be acknowledged by You and will work even more closely through your journey in this life.
Angels
What first pops into your mind when you think of Angels?
At a time of great danger or despair, have you felt an angelic hand lift and shelter you from your plight?
Angels are not a matter of belief but of experience.
If you are very intuitive or working to become mediumistic or open to spiritual forces, you may sometimes sense a guiding hand helping you through life. You may feel inspired by an outside force, or may have a sense of moral guidance.
The sudden thought of, "Why didn't I think of that before?", would be the result of an angel or spirit guide giving you a message.
All three major religions in the Western world, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, as well as virtually all of the world's other systems of religious belief, include celestials in their cosmologies. Their scriptures all contain references to angelic interventions.
Angels, like people, belong to families or clans. Many names have been given to them, but in the opinion of a number of angel historians, the most familiar can be arranged in three categories, or spheres, starting at the top with those closest to God, and moving down to those who are connected to the physical world.
The Sphere Of Angels
All angel writers would agree that there are many different kinds of heavenly beings that bridge the spiritual and physical realms. There are numerous opinions as to how many categories exist, what they are named, or what the functions are of each one. The system of organization most commonly followed in the Western world comes from a book that appeared in the sixth century. It was supposedly written by Dionysius the Areopagite, a disciple of Saint Paul. In it there are three categories, or spheres of angels, with three orders in each one.
The word 'angel' itself is used both as a generic term to refer to all heavenly beings, and as a specific term to refer to the members of the third sphere, those closest to the physical. So, too, the 'archangel' is often used as a generic term to refer to all the high orders of heavenly beings, although they are in fact but one of the higher orders.
THE FIRST SPHERE - angels who serve as heavenly counselors:
Seraphim
Cherubim
Thrones
THE SECOND SPHERE - angels who work as heavenly governors:
Dominions
Virtues
Powers
THE THIRD SPHERE - angels who function as heavenly messengers:
Principalities
Archangels
Angels
ANGELS
The angels that you're most familiar with are in the last order. They are the ones who are closest to humanity, the ones most concerned with human affairs. Within the category of angels, there are many different kinds, with different functions. The ones that you know best,and the ones this article is is primarily about, are the guardian angels.
Because of shifts in their functions and your consciousness, it is useful to think of these celestial beings as companion angels. As you enter a time of increased light and love on the planet, they will not need to guard you, but rather will be your guides to greater and greater consciousness.
ARCHANGELS
Beyond the angels are the beings you are used to calling the archangels. But we suggest that you call them overlighting angels, since they tend the larger arenas of human endeavor. These beings are a different family from the angels. There are many different kinds of overlighting angels in this larger family. The four you are most familiar with are Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, and Uriel.
PRINCIPALITIES
Beyond the archangels are the prinicpalities. They are the guardian angels of all large groups, from cities and nations to recent human creations such as multi- national corporations. These might more accurately now be called integrating angels. There are many of these beings involved with your planet, and one particular integrating angel who carries the pattern of a unified global order in its heart.
POWERS
The first order in the second sphere are those beings who have been known as powers. They are the bearers of the conscience of all of humanity, the keepers of your collective history. The angels of birth and death are in this category. They are able to draw down and hold the energy of the diving plan the same way trees draw down the energy of the Sun. In this way, the powers can send all of you a vision of a world spiritual network. Just as you have a heart, liver, kidneys, and other organs in your body, all of the world's religions are diferent organs in the emerging spiritual body of this planet.
VIRTUES
Beyond the powers are another group of beings, the virtues. They are of particular importance to you now because they are able to beam out massive levels of divine energy. As more groups of you learn to work with the virtues, there will be a greater infusion of spiritual energy available for your planet.
DOMINIONS
The dominions are the heavenly beings who govern the activities of all the angelic groups lower than they are. Divine bureaucrats, they also serve to integrate the spiritual worlds. Although they take their orders from God, and rarely contact individuals, their work is still connected to your reality.
THRONES
The first order in the third sphere is the thrones. They are the companion angels of the planets. At this time in your history it is important or you to be aware of the particular throne, the Earth Angel, who is guardian of your world.
CHERUBIM
Beyond the thrones are the cherubim. They are the guardians of light, and of the stars. Remote from your plane of reality, still their light touches your lives, the divine light that they filter down from Heaven.
SERAPHIM
The highest order of the highest hierarchy are the seraphim, the celestial beings said to surround the throne of God, singing the music of the spheres, and regulating the movement of the heavens as it emanates from God.
According to Abigrael, there are four orders within the heavenly hosts that particularly concern us now: angels, archangels, principalities, and thrones.
While it looks like there is a higher and lower echelon, it's more accurate to visualize all these orders in a great circle, with the "highest" and the "lowest" holding hands. For example, seraphim, who appear to be closest to the Creater, also serve the God in us.
The belief in angelic beings is of course ancient, and spans many cultures. In the West, many associate angels with Christianity, Judaism and the Bible, but references to angelic beings can be found in Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, and Islam.
Even some Native American teachings include angels, and other shamanistic spiritual belief systems include interaction with birds or other winged creatures who bring guidance. Created prior to these more "recent" religions, depictions of angelic beings can be found in ancient Egyptian art, and Isis is traditionally depicted with angel wings. In all of these religious cultures, angels are believed to be messengers of God, aiding and guiding humans through life.
The word "angel" derives from the Greek "angelos" which means "messenger."
The New Age Dictionary defines angel as:
1. Messenger, heavenly envoy (Greek)
2. Someone who understands and manifests the Order of the Universe in daily life (Michio Kushi).
This second definition brings to light a lot of questions about angels.
Are angels fundamentally a different kind of creature than humans?
Is it true that angels have no free choice, as humans do, and never live in the physical as humans?
Is it possible to become an angel when we die?
Do angels really have wings?
Are angels real?
I long believed that angels were the same as spirit guides, and that they have been traditionally depicted with wings because they are not bound by the laws of gravity, being spiritual/non-physical beings. I still consider this to be a possibility, for I know that Spirit can present itself to us in whatever form we are most likely to accept and understand. Spirit translates its energy into forms that make sense to us.
Someone who believed deeply in angels, for instance, may tend to see guides from spirit with wings, while someone who was a UFO buff may have experiences of meeting with benign creatures from other planets. The same spirit can present itself in different forms, depending on what that form might mean to the person receiving the energy of the spirit. It's similar to how a man's wife in spirit may show herself to him at the age of 20, the age at which they married and were most in love, rather than with her aged appearance at the time of her death.
She may present herself to a beloved caretaker who only knew her in her last days, however, as an elderly woman. Just as with experiences of loved ones or guides in Spirit, there is a range of intensity or rather "physicality" to angelic experiences. For someone who is in high vibrational harmony with the non-physical world, angels may appear only telepathically.
I have noticed through the years that the more refined my abilities, the subtler my experiences become. When I was first opening psychically, I literally perceived spiritual energy with my physical eyes, and physical manifestations such as books flying off the shelves or other physical "signs" were common. Now there is no need for Spirit to go to such extremes, for I know how to recognize and "hear" or "see" spirit within. Depending on one's primary mode of perception (visual, auditory or kinesthetic) and level of spiritual vibration, an angel may be seen, heard or its presence felt.
Sensing the presence of an angel from within involves the least amount of physical perception, it is like the spirit in the triad of mind, body and spirit. It is intangible, but no less real than the vapor that water transforms into when its vibration (temperature) is raised.
When a vision of an angel is seen or heard, this is like the mind of mind, body and spirit. It involves the mental perception of light or sound waves, and may be seen either with the physical eyes or with one's inner vision, or heard within or through the physical ears. It may occur when one is either sleeping / dreaming or awake.This is like the perception of a thin film of water. We can see it with our eyes, though if we try to try to grasp it with our hands, it slips away from us and evaporates. To physically experience an angel, either as another human being or through physical contact, correlates to the body of mind, body and spirit. It is like a big hunk of ice that we can touch with our physical hands. It is believed that angels can take the form of humans, that they walk among us here on earth.
"Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." Hebrews l 3:2
I recall a fascinating story by Penny Donovan, who channels the Archangel Gabriel. She told how one day as she was walking from one room to another, she ran right into something in the doorway. She could not see anything with her physical eyes, yet there was something solid there, nonetheless. She stopped, backed up, and reached her hand out, and felt a very distinctive "body" there, a male sort of chest, very large. This was her first encounter with Gabriel, hence the "gross" energy of the experience.
Interestingly, in the Koran, Gabriel is the archangel who conveys God's message to all God's prophets on earth. It is said that Gabriel conveyed the messages of the Koran to Muhammad, the Gospels to Jesus, and the Torah to Moses. While Gabriel and other "archangels" may have specific and grand missions, angels in general are seen as servants of God, their purpose being to protect and bring guidance to the living. It is said that each of us has angels who are appointed to watch over us. They are like intermediaries between humankind and divine non-physical realms. I believe that thephysical is no less divine than the non-physical, they just exist at different levels of vibration.
Just as we on earth have our shamans, mystics, seers and healers, angels have the unique ability to travel between the worlds; they're like shamans from the other side. It is said that the difference between humans and angels is that angels do not have free choice, their lives are dedicated to service.
Perhaps those who also dedicate their lives to doing the work of Spirit in the world become "angels" in their own right, for they give up the free choice to follow the whims of the ego, making service to humankind their main priority. Those who later allow the ego to overcome them again, might be said to be fallen angels. This does not mean that anyone who does not commit their lives to the service of God is a fallen angel. A fallen angel would be one who knows better, one who has attained the consciousness of and seen the light of God, yet has chosen the desires of the ego anyway.
There are many ways to undertake opening to an angel experience without creating a major crisis in our lives. These same techniques can be used for trying to contact any being in spirit. If you're not already in conscious communication with Spirit, I recommend asking for an angel to come to you in a dream. Our dream selves don't have all the limiting beliefs about what is possible and not possible that our conscious minds do.
1. Ask / Invite / Invoke
By universal law, as an honoring of Free Will, Beings in one dimension can not assist beings on another dimension unless the request or invitation comes from the dimension wishing to receive the assistance. Consequently, angels are extremely "limited" in the extent to which they can help you and/or interact with you UNLESS you invoke them (invite and ask them to help).
When you ask for their assistance, you literally open the floodgates for their glorious Light to reach you! And if there is one particular angel that you wish to call on, the cosmic protocol is to ask them 3 times in a row. This helps the one being called to distinguish whether you are just "thinking about" them, or whether you seriously want to "get their attention". This cosmic protocol also holds true for contacting any higher dimensional being.
2. Stillness for clear reception.
Emotional turbulence disrupts inner reception - like static in radio reception. The calmer the emotions, the more detail with which you can receive inner communications. When the emotions achieve tremendous calm, then they become like a glassy lake, or a smooth mirror or window - thus allowing the passage of information with minimal distortion. The stiller you are emotionally, the clearer you can inwardly "perceive". Hence, the expression: "Be still and know that I am God." The stiller you are emotionally, the finer the detail with which you can perceive angels.
3. Heart-Sensing
Though angels do on very rare occasions make themselves visible to the physical senses (eyes & ears), this is not their normal operating procedure. So you have to develop the "habit" of "turning off" your external senses and "turning on" an entirely different avenue for receiving information - your internal senses. I think of this as "heart sensing", though others may call it "feeling", or "gut feeling", or "intuition". Try "sensing" angels with the feelings in your heart, rather than with your mind and your outer senses. Like anything else, the more your "practice" this, the better you get at it.
4. "Pay" them by sending them LOVE
You can "pay" angels, in fact even "bribe" angels, to interact with you more, IF you know how to pay them in the form of currency that they value. (Okay, let's just say that you can "entice" angels to be more excited about actually interacting with you.) Their form of currency is just as valuable to them as hundred dollar bills are to us. So what is their form of currency? LOVE! And Loving APPRECIATION. Receiving love, for an angel, is just as rewarding as receiving a huge check is for you! That's because their favorite game is to evolve, and receiving more love from others immediately evolves them further! It actually expands their auras, increases their personal radiation, and accelerates their evolution. So why not pay them in advance? Send them the biggest blast of love and appreciation your heart can muster, and then ask them to interact/play with you!
Spirit Guides Vs. Angels
These are the main differences between Angels and Spirit Guides:
* Angels are not Human
* Angels typical do not incarnate a full life span on Earth
* Angels seem to have more ability to come in direct contact with humans.
Angels are a different 'Species'
Just like on Earth, in other realms there are other species of souls. Angels are no exception, as they seem to lack the great desire to evolve as souls. This doesn't mean that they do not evolve, it just means that they do not have the constant drive to become better and better, as human souls to.
The purpose and great desire Angels hold is to serve. They are servants, protectors, helpers and healers to God and other souls.
Many people ask if Angels have wings. This reminds me of myself asking my grandmother this question as a young child. My grandma's simple reply was, "Why would they need wings?"
Angels can have wings. Some do sometimes, some all of the time. It just depends on how they want to appear to others. For example, Archangel Michael always appears with wings, and he is very proud of them.
The spirit world does not thrive on physical forms like this physical world. Everyone can 'fly' in the spiritual world, some souls have wings some don't. It all depends on what a soul wants.....we are the essence of free will.
I have never heard of an Angel incarnating on Earth. The reason we incarnate is to evolve as souls, and I don't believe this is the main purpose for Angels; so therefore it wouldn't be necessary. I do feel however that they can incarnate into a body to help another if it is an emergency situation.
I have heard so many stories of people coming near death and 'something' miraculously happening to stop it. My grandmother used to tell me these stories about her encounterings with Angels on a monthly basis. And I also had a near death experience, which could not have been stopped without a celestial helping hand.
For some reason, Angels have more of an ability to intervene on Earth than Spirit Guides do. Perhaps, because it is the (spiritual) genetic make-up of their species, the ability to pierce through into dimensions, quicker than any other entity.
I feel that they are more like Rescue workers than spirit guides. They seem to come around just in the nick of time.
Working with your Spirit Guides and Angels can be a very beneficial experience for you. All you need is a clear mind, desire and the will to connect with them. They are always available and willing to help, no matter what the problem is. Open your mind to these diving beings of love and know that they are always there to assist, guide, heal, protect and above all, love you.
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