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Spiritualism mediums have learned that each individual on earth is guided by someone from the spirit world, even though many individuals are not aware of this fact. Many people go through life receiving spirit help but are absolutely unaware of that guidance, or its source.

Spirit guides, guardians and teachers play an important role in Spiritualism. Without them, there would be no communication with those who have passed on before us and we would know very little of the world we will all be inhabiting when we pass from this earth.

Guardians attach themselves to us as soon as we are born and usually stay with us all of our lives, trying to help us over hurdles and trying to impress us with the right sense of direction for our lives.

As we begin to develop in a spiritual way, we attract spirit guides who have been preparing themselves in the spirit world to be of service to humanity. They come back to the earth plane vibration to give their messages through mediums.

They usually strive to find instruments who will present their messages in a manner that is in harmony with their own spiritual and mental development. This is the law of Attraction (like draw to like). It is not logical to believe that Socrates, for example, would choose as his instrument one who knows nothing of philosophy and cannot even speak correctly.

A person who is not honest and truthful will often attract to themselves a guide who is not always careful of their statements. A medium who does not have a good vocabulary to draw upon in expressing themselves will cause spirit manifesting through their vibration to make the same errors. This cannot be helped. The manifestation always takes on some of the individuality of the channel through which it emanates.

Sometimes several different guides try working with a medium until compatibility is found. Spirit guidance is not confined to those seeking to develop as public workers. Many artists, poets, musicians, doctors and scientists are assisted and impressed by spirit souls who wish to be of service in this way.

These spirit guides and guardians have volunteered to assist human beings in their earthly lives. The genuine spirit guide can be likened to a missionary who temporarily renounces the advantages of their spirit advancement in order to assist others in their spiritual understanding.
Their concern for us is not for our material gain and the best of them show humility, constancy, insight and wisdom.

What we do for a job or career is of little importance to our spirituality.  How much money we have holds no measure in spirit, after all, you can't take it with you.

They have lived on earth before us and often represent the different cultures and nations of their former habits. Many nuns become spirit guides, probably because they were people who cared for humanity while on the earth plane.

There is an amazing frequency of Native Indians as spirit helpers. Things of the spirit came very easily and naturally to these people while they were still in the flesh.

Sometimes the communicating spirit's vibrations are so strong that the mediums will reflect their personality, mannerisms and sometimes the native language they used while in the physical body. This does not mean they have assume complete control. YOU ARE IN CHARGE.

When spirit entities are trying to communicate through a medium to a loved one, they may communicate the state of the physical body prior to their transition and this will impress itself upon the corresponding parts of the medium's body.

This can be seen as proof of the communication to the recipient of the message, but if the medium is uncomfortable with these conditions, they can ask them to stop. If, for some obscure reason they do not, then your Door Keeper will assume command and draw them away.

Those spirits who live closest to our material world include many who have not cultivated their spiritual natures and are bound to the earth through ignorance of the laws and conditions of spirit life. Many of them still hold narrow beliefs and much of what they will say will tend to conflict with spirits of a higher order. This will create confusion and doubt in the minds of the beginner or skeptic.

We must never be afraid to question and analyze for ourselves any knowledge or advice that is communicated to us from the spiritual realms. We must remember that our guides and teachers are not infallible. They, too are still learning and progressing.

It is up to us to assess what information is being communicated and if it is good and constructive, then accept and utilize it. If we feel uncomfortable and do not quite understand it, then put it aside until it is made clearer and acceptable to our understanding.

If we follow these simple guidelines, we can have a wonderful working relationship with our spirit friends.

Each of us has a guardian (some would call an angel) that comes into our consciousness and impresses us through our personal energies in the aura, and stays with us throughout our lives. As we grow and change, so also the approach of our guardian changes. But stay they do, throughout our lifetime.

The guardians are from a realm of spirit energy that is the afterlife of our lifetime living on earth. The realms of spirit are full of the past history of humankind in the form of our spirit that lives on and grows in a spiritual manner for eternal progress.

The spirit referred to in spirit guides is the realms from which we will receive guides for our life here on earth. They have lived a life on earth and know of the challenges and opportunities that a lifetime offers. They help us to be open to the many aspects of life from the mundane to the sublime.

They must be able to communicate with us and aid our journey by showing us the paths on our life that would bring the lessons we most need. They, too, will commune with us through our aura using all the five senses we use in material vibration and using them also in an unseen sensitivity we all have within our spirit.

To these senses on the sensitive or psychic level we add our intuition. This is the gut feelings we get about our existence. We may panic at danger or feel the warm fuzziness of our connection to others in our relationships. These impressions are our own feelings as well as the ones that our spirit guides can attune with in impressing us on our journey.

Anyone can communicate with these spirit entities that have forgone their own progression to aid the journey of others, as part of their service. That means that anyone can attune to their spirit within, or higher mind as some like to refer to it, in sensitivities. The more the individual listens, the more will come the impressions and answers we seek.

Yes, we have another worldly entity in our environment to show us the way. And yes, on the law of attraction, we can feel as though this is our own minds leading the way. Either way, it is an aid to the journey we call life.

Some general thoughts on spirit guides:

- our loved ones, past relatives, friends, etc. do not come as our guides. We have information of them and they have information of us that would preclude us trusting that we have a loving entity there just for our own progression. They do come to communicate their continued existence and love.

- spirit guides can give us all the answers is a fallacy. No one can live this life, in this body, but ourselves. The ultimate decision is our own what we will do, how and with whom. That is our personal responsibility.

- spirit guides are not of another species. Angels have been considered as an entity that has never had an earth life. In which case, they would not be our personal guides. Birds and animals that have passed on to spirit realms come to guide us is another fallacy. While all species have their own progression, it would not be as intelligent an approach as another human being coming to aid our progress.

- spirit guides come in humility and do not require identification. We use attunement processes to gain access to the spirit realms. It is an energy exercise and we will know when they are present to communicate. Spirit communication is called mediumship. It uses our psychic senses and then attunes with spirit realms.

Judy Merrill.