Spirit Guides and Why I Believe in Them

Spiritual Guides and Why I Believe in Them

by Katherine Ari

I have many stories that are based on Spirit Guides, Animal Totems, and shall we say, Beings from other worlds.  In some circles they might be called Guardian Angels.  First, I must include a disclaimer.  I am NOT psychotic, schizophrenic, or bipolar, and I do not have dissociative identity disorder (multiple personalities). I have a pretty normal life – well, barely weird – and to the outside world a rather conservative personality.

I do not do drugs, do not drink alcohol, only cuss and curse just a little, am honest, and try to be considerate of others.  When I was a little girl, I lived out of the city limits in a small town in Oklahoma.  I had no near by neighbors, but I found playmates in my imagination.  Well, that is what the adults called it.  I learned much later that I really did have invisible helpers or playmates but the adult world has a tendency to condition your ability to experience and feel the Other worlds out of your awareness. As I left the hometown behind me after receiving my Bachelor’s degree in Sociology, I began to study and experience other ideas.  The best way to generalize the explorations of other ideas was that I studied metaphysical thought and spirituality – beyond the physical.

It wasn’t that I sought out proof of faeries, spirit guides, totem animal, angels, or little people.  I just found myself in events, meetings, groups, or situations where different people unconnected to each other would start talking about their personal experiences, and they had the same stories.  They usually all experienced them as children and had had the adult world tell them it was childish to believe in such things.  Add to that the books and psychologists and “authorities” would say that there was something wrong with them if they still believed in imaginary foolishness like faeries and little people.  The only place in traditional religion for even a remotely similar idea was that some people were allowed to indulge in the idea of Guardian Angels.  I even had dogma come in one Christmas about angels.

The children were making ceramic angels that were women to sell for Christmas money.  A lady came in the office and got all uptight because according to her, God’s angels are only men (and probably white men, too). She was obviously offended by our female looking angels.

Ancient mythologies and Paganism believed in spirits and other worlds, but when Christianity became the dominant thought, much of the practices that included spirits and guides went underground for fear of persecution and even death as in the Salem witch trials.  Many traditional religions in their own way condemn the ideas still.  I had to decide for myself.  I had experiences all the time.  They were real to me but also they were not something to be feared.  And the “fear” factor is part of many non-traditional thinkers as well a traditional thought. “You mustn’t talk about little people during the daytime.  You have to follow certain rules when you are dealing with the faerie world.  You must ask permissions about this and that.”  And so the interpretations go.

I used to talk to tree spirits when I played alone in my yard.  I knew there were Little People living across the Kiamichi River before I ever heard about them in the Disney Movie, Darby O’Gill and the Little People, and many, many years before I heard any stories about the Cherokee Little People.  I knew where they were and that the reason people went swimming on only one side of the river was because they weren’t welcome on the other side.  It was private property you might say – that of the little people. 

I always had a sense that I was not alone, not ever.  Many people over the years have admitted having that same feeling – that someone or something is watching them.  Again, the psychologists have an explanation for this.  For that matter, religions have their own idea about that feeling too. The various people and psychics that believe in spirit guides say that feeling is being aware of our guides.  Then they take on the authority stance as well.  You have such and such number of guides OR you only have one spirit guide and one totem animal that is with you always.  “Your Guardian Angel is an ancestor that is with you and they are there to protect you.”  And on and on they put their own experiences out there as the only "truth".

And people make things happen with these beliefs.  But how do we decide what is real and what is just belief?  Here is how I have decided what is real to me. 

I always had this sense of a Native American connection to a tribe that has more golden skin than the red undertones.  Those red undertones are why the Europeans called them redskins.  As they moved more westerly, they discovered that some tribes had gold undertones to their skin – not red at all. 

One day I walked in to the office where I was working for a Counselor.  She was a metaphysical person and open to alternative ideas.  She looked up at me and had a surprised look on her face.  “There is a tall Native American with you and he is carrying a dead child.  I can see him in my peripheral vision.”

I immediately sensed not only his presence but also what he looked like.  “Does he have golden toned skin?"

“Yes, and he is very tall and has really long hair.”  (Some tribes, such as the Choctaw, believed their long hair was the life force itself.)

“I am aware of him.  I think he has been with me a while.  I don’t know about the dead child though.”

I became aware of his constant presence on many occasions.  Eventually I learned his name, the meaning of the dead spirit child and what I was supposed to do with him (That will be another story.), and I met some of my other guides.  One proclaimed psychic said you have seven guides.  Well, I regarded her stuff as part bunk.  How can I put this?  She just had a lot of personal ego stuff and I felt that she found me to be threatening. Another way to describe it is that she had a self-absorbed personal agenda.  Maybe that night she said that I had seven I did have seven – maybe not.  It wasn’t that her proclamation of seven was offensive but that she made it sound like only she could see them and only she could help me with them. 

 

I believe that the number of spirit guides you have changes.  Some are just for you and sometimes there are temporary guides.  Sometimes earthbound spirits join the group because of an immediate need and sometimes because you have done something kind for them or others.  They decide they wish to be part of your life.  It IS possible to have an unwanted attachment, but one thing is for certain.  Always, you are in control of what is around you.  It is your life and you are in charge.  If you feel a presence that isn’t friendly, tell it to leave. (For more on this subject, go to the website of Ted Andrews and check out his book The Intercession of Spirits.) Some guides are former relatives and some aren't.

As for animal totem helpers, that number also changes.  You have some that are your helpers from birth though but because of societal programming, you may not realize they are still you helpers.  Some creatures come into to your life for a temporary condition or to try to get your attention for a current or upcoming event.  They are still your helpers but only permanent totems if they constantly come into your field of awareness.   

One of my companions is one of the Little People.  I have never had any sense that I am not supposed to talk about him or to him during the daytime.  It is true that I feel his presence and feel like talking to him when it is usually at dusk but I haven’t ever felt any human emotion like being insulted or offended from him.

I have experienced what I feel are higher beings.  They are Masters or Angels and they are only around me for special reasons.  I have requested help and they “appeared” and sometimes they have come to me unexpectedly and asked me to assist them. 

One time, I was at another friend’s house.  She had taken a seminar about a kind of body energy healing work and wanted to practice the new technique on me.  Okay.  I felt safe with her work.  The method involved movement by her around me sitting in a chair.  As she worked, I felt some things going on around me and suddenly I felt the presence of the tall gold skin man standing in my energy field about 18 inches from my left shoulder.  “We are not alone.  One of my spirit guides is making his presence known to me.”  I told her.

She stopped for a second asking if I thought she should stop.  She also wanted to know where he was.  I didn’t answer her about his location but told her that he just wanted to make sure she knew what she was doing and wasn’t going to put me out of balance.  I had innocently allowed an incompetent chiropractor to do Applied Kinesiology on me when I first moved to Georgia and he threw my body out of whack for three months.  This male figure was an ancestor and wanted to protect me.

She started moving around me again and when she moved behind my left shoulder, she felt the heat of his presence.  “Is he standing here?”  She asked. 

“Yes, he is there.” 

When you have the same experience over and over again without sharing the personal information with another but they come up with the same experience, you can’t help but begin to question whether there is something real in the unreal, unseen, feeling of a presence of something beyond the physical.  I work really hard to not let fears rule my life.  These experiences are unknown and not logical, but I choose to NOT fear them. 

Here is the question though.  Do I depend on this feeling that I have spirits attached to me to give me directions and ideas for my everyday life?  No.  I believe that my inner guide is for want of a better title, God.  As long as I am in tune with my God part, these “helpers” are quiet.  And I do not believe that because they are in the spirit world, that they died and became experts or “Divine underlings”.  Most of the time, they are just there with me.  I know that (most of the time), and I feel some reassurance and comfort. I think the most obvious time I actually call on them is when so much is going on that I can’t be still enough to know the right answer.  They each have special talents that for centuries they have perfected.  They are earthbound to be with me and teach me when it is appropriate.  It is like they offer perspectives that are out of my consciousness or way of thinking. 

There have been a few instances where I felt that they collectively wanted my attention.  They had something to share with me that I could use in my work or to help others.  They may have had to go to extremes to get my attention by doing something drastic.  I had to sit down and think about why whatever it was just happened.  I would journalize or meditate and I would be aware that they were all in the room with me.  “Hey, we want to talk to you today!”  The tall golden one would announce. "They would usually let me know that I had been ignoring them too long."  After the respectful apologies we would go to work.

I remember telling someone at a gathering one time that I was aware of most of my guides.  The person asked me if I knew their names.  “Some of them, sort of, and others, no,” I answered.  I went home and as I went to bed, I thought to myself would I be able to understand their names?  I didn’t think about it anymore.

Sometime later, I was about to close my eyes and I heard one of those unexpected whispers.  It was a name.  I repeated it, and had the guide’s face enter my head.  Gradually, almost all of them in some way told me their names.  The man I consider from the world of the Little People said there isn’t a human way to translate his name so he let’s me call him my own name for him.  There is a young Cherokee woman who likes the English translation of her name.

Are they my ancestors?  Yes, in the sense that we are all related and all are ancestors.  Do I feel they are my direct grandfathers or grandmothers?  I only feel that way about 2 of them.  I only count six at this time that I feel are with me all of the time and 2 of those came to be with me after I moved to Georgia long after the psychic woman said I had seven.  If I really have seven, the others have not made their presence known and since two joined me in Georgia, does that mean I really have nine? It doesn't matter.

And what about animals and plants and other aspects of nature?  I believe that God is everywhere present all of the time.  It is just as present in a cardinal or robin as it is in me.  It is One Power.  Nature has always been trying to tell us things.  The Native Americans tribes pretty well believed in One mysterious power in everything.  They did NOT worship the animals.  They believed that each living being, plant or animal or insect, had certain God given talents and strengths.  If it is my personality to be a source of light and to be important, those are also characteristics of a cardinal or red bird.  The red bird then could be said to be my totem animal.  Because it is a little version of me, it is my little brother or sister.  Sometimes it seems to be everywhere I turn like the little brother is reflecting back to me something I need to think about myself.   OR maybe it is NOT what I know about myself and if we know what their characteristics are, we can find out why we are seeing them everywhere.  We need to BE a shining light and recognize our self-importance.

An animal may appear on your path because of something that you are involved with at that moment.  You may just think, “There’s a turtle in the road.”  But that turtle in the road getting your attention is telling you something about what you are doing or about to do.  It may be a small insignificant fact but in some cases, it may be a life changing warning.  It is up to each of us to decide if we want to know what they are telling us.  For me, I like to know what they are saying because they usually have a different perspective especially when I miss something.  It may be something simple like the way the birds are flitting about means it is going to rain or something big like there is a Great Blue Heron about to come down and eat your pet koi fish or a cat is about to catch a baby blue bird.

Animals and nature elements appearing in dreams are usually messengers.  In the Native American beliefs as well as other ancient spiritual beliefs, dream objects were no different than encounters in everyday awake life.  And this is true especially if the bird or animal that has a message for you is not something you would ordinarily see where you live.  It comes to you in a dream to get your attention through your sub-conscious mind. First you ask yourself, what does that elephant or peacock mean to me. What do I find significant or symbolic?  Then if you feel there is something more, check out an animal totem book.

For me, my sub-conscious knows that I turn to the books of Ted Andrews (see the link on the sidebar) or perhaps other bird or animal cards I have in my library collection.  It sends me messages in my dreams all the time because that is where I can get my answers and understanding of the meanings.  If I relied on some other book, even something like the Bible, it would give me messages that I could find there.  And the truth is, it is all God.  And anyone that is totally connected to God all the time does not need to get answers from animals or birds or insects or nature. You can find the answers inside.  It is just that those birds living in your yard or your pet cat or dog pay attention to you and what you are doing in your life.  They are totally instinctual and intuitive.  They only come from their God part.  Nothing has conditioned them away from it.  Hear what I am saying.  The yard creatures are watching you too.  They are connected to your world. 

Even if you never pay any attention to what they may be telling you, they will continue to tell you because they don’t argue with what God is saying to them.  A gold eagle flew across the road and landed in a tree in front of us in Southeastern Oklahoma one time.  Gold eagles are not recorded in that area.  It didn’t know about the records.  It just had to fly in front of me and sit in that pine tree and look in my eyes before flying away.  I was on a journey to heal something in my life and the whole trip was a spirit lead journey – even ending up on that road in that part of Oklahoma. 

In Animal Speak Pocket Guide by Ted Andrews, he says, “Eagle – (healing visions) Spirit Vision and Healing surround you.  Look at things from new perspectives.  Take a different path.  Trust what you are becoming.”  We took a different road.  I was on a personal healing journey and had to go to the cemetery of my Great, Great-Grandmother who was forced to leave her home with other Choctaws to move to Oklahoma – certainly about Spirit Vision.  And the journey would give me a new perspective about my mother, about being inappropriately touched by a friend’s father when I was a teenager, about my ancestor, and about the person I was becoming.  There are many bald eagles seen in that part of the state, but she was a gold eagle.  The gold eagle means something more than the bald eagle with the white head.  The little book referenced just came out. This journey was over 21 years ago.

I believe that I have Guides that are with me all the time.  I believe that there are sometimes visiting guides that may or may not be Master guides or Angels.  I believe there are other worlds and sometimes we communicate and share the same space.  I believe that animals and nature communicate with me and are part of my earthly experience and the sometimes they are telling me important things.  And I choose to listen and say thank you to them.  They are my friends and allies.  We care about each other.  It happens naturally.  I don't go looking for "signs" and I don't obsess about what I encounter.  Sometimes what happens is so unusual like a crow living in my trees that quacks like a duck that I do have to stop and ponder and study on that meaning.  And for the novice learning about animals, sometimes the message is just a little message, not a major event.  For instance, an owl, in many cultures has been considered an omen of an impending death.  It may mean simply a death of an idea that no longer serves you or not a death at all.  It may mean that there are some spirits around you that you need to listen to (Ted Andrews).  

So, if you are reading this informational essay (and personal journey story), you may have personal questions or comments.  Please let me hear from you.