Inviting in your guides...

I for one feel that the Guides are in contact with us all the time, but that we are not aware of it. I don't think that they are Inside of us, I think they are connected to us, and that the connection is there inside of us. And this is a subtle difference, but none the less, it is distinct.

When we have more shamanic experiences it is perhaps easy to forget the time before contact, before we actually became aware of the ongoing presence of the Guides. So, I don't think we should minimize the difficulty of opening to the guidance of the Universe, no matter the form. Yes we sometimes make it more difficult than it really is, but that is part of the process. When we finally figure out what is happening, that the contact is there, we sort of understand why we were struggling, and that is part of our biggest spiritual lesson.

At least, this is my own experience and belief.

I suspect you are referring to what I wrote, Satori. I've not forgotten the time before - in fact, I was remembering when I wrote what I did. I first had contact with my guides before I started to learn shamanic work, and I pass on my early experience - which is that when you get out of your own way and don't try overly hard, but work at making yourself open, like a channel, that's when you become aware of them. As you say, their guidance predates any awareness we might have of them, and unconsciously many of us followed it long before we put a name and a face to that guidance. Ask for them - then release the intention - the Tao of spirit guide contact . It really is like love, and that's an experience everyone has.

As for whether they are inside or outside - although I don't agree with you, it's hardly the point here... wherever they are, we are able to become aware of them and of their guidance. To a certain extent, much of our contact with them is through symbols - like HearthCricket's bridge - and they will use the symbols that mean something to us personally and culturally. A bridge for some, for others, an open window, for others, a mirror, etc.

Shamanic work deepens the connection and turns it into a daily, working relationship, but many people who've never had a shamanic-type experience successfully call upon the guidance of their spirits. I don't think people should feel they need to practice shamanism in order to become consciously aware of their guides.

Dreams are an important way of them contacting us, btw.

Hearthcricket, being a very new starter at contacting guides here's an interesting story of mine - I had a very recent experience of purposefully trying to contact my guide/s and ask for advice on a specific matter. I spent something like 1.5 hrs meditating but at the same time asking them to make themselves known etc. Nothing happened..........

Then I went to bed and did a similar thing though without the asking, just being open. Still, nothing happened but I did get the urge to grab my Healing with the Angels deck, which I hadn't used for at least a couple of years. I asked the same questions that I was after guidance on and got the clearest most amazing messages.

Still not content, as I went to sleep I asked them to give me guidance (again), on this particular matter in my dreams that night. Well, I had the most vivid dream, like a 'slap in the face' really, like "how much clearer can we make this for you"? . Anyway, even though I didn't hear/smell/see/feel, I was undoubtedly heard and answered.

As someone else said, its a matter of recognising when a guide has been in touch. Its not always super duper obvious. Its not like you have to invite them in as such, its more a matter of giving them permssion to help or just 'chat'. So yeah, just talk to them and they'll talk back.

goddessof1967 said:

Hearthcricket, being a very new starter at contacting guides here's an interesting story of mine - I had a very recent experience of purposefully trying to contact my guide/s and ask for advice on a specific matter. I spent something like 1.5 hrs meditating but at the same time asking them to make themselves known etc. Nothing happened..........

Then I went to bed and did a similar thing though without the asking, just being open. Still, nothing happened but I did get the urge to grab my Healing with the Angels deck, which I hadn't used for at least a couple of years. I asked the same questions that I was after guidance on and got the clearest most amazing messages.

Still not content, as I went to sleep I asked them to give me guidance (again), on this particular matter in my dreams that night. Well, I had the most vivid dream, like a 'slap in the face' really, like "how much clearer can we make this for you"? . Anyway, even though I didn't hear/smell/see/feel, I was undoubtedly heard and answered.

As someone else said, its a matter of recognising when a guide has been in touch. Its not always super duper obvious. Its not like you have to invite them in as such, its more a matter of giving them permssion to help or just 'chat'. So yeah, just talk to them and they'll talk back.

Click to expand...

Exactly! What you said it's a matter of recognizing when a guide has been in touch. LIke when you felt the urge to pick up the deck, your guides placed that urge in you because they has something they wanted to tell you through the cards. When you said " Still, nothing happened but I did get the urge to grab my Healing with the Angels deck, which I hadn't used for at least a couple of years."....that was something major happening. WHY then did you get the urge to pick it up when you had not done so in years, just after you had asked for help? Why just then? THAT is how they work, when they have something to tell us through the cards, they place and urge in you and you suddenly feel the need to use the medium they want to answer you through.

Or they send signs, answers often come in signs...I often just spontaneiously come across the answer to what I have asked them in a book I pick up or even on TV. Suddenly the next page or the channel you turn on points out a piece of brilliant info you needed to solve your problem. I have found that the more you believe in these signs, the more and more often they show up in your life when you need them most. And I have come to see that as the work of my guides.

And yes, they often answer through dreams.

As for myself it is rare that I see or hear them. It has happened when I have done so quite clearly, but only at first when they wanted to show me they truly exist and later at times when I was very desperate for help. Normally I just feel the effect of their help in my life, more than sensing them through my 5 senses. As for hearing or seeing them, maybe once or twice a year tops. But I am aware of their presence daily.

Babs

SunChariot said:

Or they send signs, answers often come in signs...I often just spontaneiously come across the answer to what I have asked them in a book I pick up or even on TV. Suddenly the next page or the channel you turn on points out a piece of brilliant info you needed to solve your problem. I have found that the more you believe in these signs, the more and more often they show up in your life when you need them most. And I have come to see that as the work of my guides.

And yes, they often answer through dreams.Babs

Click to expand...

Yes, it is a daily thing. I ask a question and the answer is often immediate. A bird flying across my path, the badge on a car, a leaf, a billboard moto . . . .

Its just a different way than journeying or meditation.

We can choose to observe the message, ignore the message or observe and then disagree with the message, thats the double edged joy of free will.

Well, one of the things we talked about, during the reading, was that there was some kind of "blockage" of bad energy that needed to be moved so that I could "hear" my guides better, or rather they could "reach" me more easily. On reviewing my present lifestyle, it makes a lot of sense. I have been very caught up in some busy things and not had as much quiet time as usual. So, when "Owl Spirit" basically attacked me (see other thread on that) I felt like Owl was telling me to listen, to be quiet, to pay attention, as well as reminding me that he is my main totem and mentor, so listen to what he says. I had/have to tap into Owl Spirit before anyone can come through to me. And then I picked, from Ascended Masters, the Listen card. Which was kind of funny. Well, I have been and now I am starting to pick up on a few things. There is some stressful things going on with a friend, right now, whose Dad is pretty ill and all my energy has been going that way for her. But I also know I need to find some quiet time to tap into Owl Spirit, as it is starting to work for me....more on this in a day or so when I know I will have some time to do a bit of meditation work. Oddly enough it is all connecting, which is pretty cool in it own right!

my 2 cents...

Some very nice musings on this thread... I love Doreen Virtue's cards which are so uplifting and simple to understand. My favorite are the angel cards but I also use the fairy, goddess and archangel ones. I also created my own deck which I'm trying to get published. Creating your own tarot deck is a powerful way to tap into your intuitional powers.

Personally I love the whole channeling journey. There are so many ways I have discovered to tap into the wisdom of the universe! Most of all I feel so blessed that one of my guides, my most important one, has actually incarnated on Earth now and I have actually met him and I can call him on the phone any time for guidance. But he is teaching me to depend more on my inner guidance than on anything outside and that is very very powerful and empowering!

Generally, my strongest "intuitional hits" (as Carolyn Myss calls them) come to me in the few moments on waking up in the morning. My mind is in a deep state then but I am awake enough to be aware of what's going on. If I can hold on to that state of consciousness, I can have deep conversations with my guides and get some really powerful insights - including premonitions that really come true. I used to keep a journal by my bed and "take dictation" for hours and hours... Now I feel more trusting that the conversation will continue throughout the day as needed, whenever I ask with sincerity, focus and receptivity to however the answer comes. Whether I pull a tarot card or whether the messages come to me in some other way, I see it as a continuation of this inner question-and-answer process.

The more I receive, the more I believe and the more I believe, the more I receive! True guidance is never forceful (except for very special circumstances such as extreme life-changing moments) but it comes (for me anyway) more quiet than a whisper - and it's always about peace, love and harmony, never telling me to do something "bad".

I'm not so curious anymore about who my guides are or what they look like. I don't think this is really necessary. I know that as long as I am expressing my best qualities, I will attract higher and more reliable kinds of guidance - but I always say "Thank you whoever you are!"

Having just recently begun my relationship with my guide, I don't want to give the suggestion that I even remotely know what I'm talking about...

but...

I want to extrapolate on the idea that one cannot go the "halfway" part of the path to "meet" their guides... The Guides are put in their place by us, to help us on our pathway. They are ready to guide us from the very second we are born. They do not "care" if we are ready to meet them halfway or not... They have no concept of time and will wait the eternity we may need to "get there".

That said...

I do not believe that the "meeting halfway" concept is anything other than a question of our being "ready" and if we aren't ready... for whatever reason, then we aren't ready...

I think at this point one might want to be asking... "What can I do to speed up my readiness to get up close and personal with my guide".

When you're ready, you're ready, there is no "meeting halfway" in my mind, they're already here. There are things that one has to do/learn spiritually that prepare them... learn and understand love, forgiveness, how to give up fear, etc... I am sure there are many other things... but only once we have learned those lessons can we recognize that we ALREADY have that relationship and that we have had it for a very long time already.

I hope that makes sense to anyone other than me.

Anyway, those are my thoughts... I wish you godspeed on your pathway Hearthcricket... it's a wonderful pathway.

On a more personal note, I recommend that you listen with your heart and you will hear your guide(s) more readily. And you might want to read the Disappearance of the Universe.

makes perfect sense of me Demon Goddess. And yes, the way to listen is with your heart before your ears. When you heart is open, the ears will hear what they are meant to.


Babs

Demon Goddess said:

I want to extrapolate on the idea that one cannot go the "halfway" part of the path to "meet" their guides... The Guides are put in their place by us, to help us on our pathway. They are ready to guide us from the very second we are born. They do not "care" if we are ready to meet them halfway or not... They have no concept of time and will wait the eternity we may need to "get there".

That said...

I do not believe that the "meeting halfway" concept is anything other than a question of our being "ready" and if we aren't ready... for whatever reason, then we aren't ready...

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I think you may have misunderstood my first post. I was not meeting my guides halfway. I was having a reading done. I was asked by my reader to imagine a bridge being formed where my reader's Divine helpers and my Divine helpers created a bridge between us...a connection...and met halfway across the bridge. More like all our Divine helpers were holding hands and connecting for the reading, so that we had this spiritual thread between us. When I tried to imagine my Divine Helpers (visually holding hands and working their way up the bridge to meet hers) I realized I felt very empty inside and only felt I had connected with a few. Things are changing, now, and all for the good, though not as I expected they would, nor whom I thought would! I am letting them in, I am learning to listen to them, instead of shutting them out. Actually, I have learned some very valuable lessons lately!