Guides, Guardians and Messengers
Excerpt from Expanding Horizons - Growth and Beyond - a new work by Jaie Hart...
(copy right, Jaie Hart, March 2011)
Some of us are lucky enough to have real life guides like the kind so many write about in some of the truly wonderful metaphysical books out today. But, don’t be disheartened if you do not find any on your path. I would encourage you that not all of us end up with a guru to show us the way or a quirky and yet revered elder who shows up specifically to guide us on our way. Sometimes we have to find our own way and our own guides. Sometimes your guides may manifest in the physical and sometimes they never do. They remain by your side from the seemingly ethereal realms and dimensions.
When I was almost twenty, I saw my guide for the first time. I was living in a haunted apartment and had spent about 30 minutes watching my bathroom light click loudly on after I had just shut it off. Frustrated and scared, I didn’t know what else to do so I prayed. Just then I saw Jacob’s face. I don’t know how I knew his name, I just did but he appeared to me and without ever moving his lips told me it was time for me to pack up and head home. I did just that…at 1:00 a.m. that morning. Luckily, my father lived across town.
I didn’t see Jacob again for almost twenty years. But I heard from him next at age 27. I was reading the Celestine Prophecy and I heard a voice very loudly say, “Pay attention to this. You are going to need this information.” I just about dropped the book startled because the voice came right into my left ear as if a man were standing behind me. It was during that time, I met another guide named Joseph. Jacob is an elder, a father figure but Joseph is much younger and he always called me Ali when I spoke time him during meditations. It was during this time of life that I was very active with meditation and actually met Joseph during an automatic writing experiment.
So, times were getting challenging for me and although I met these otherworldly guides, I became frustrated with spirituality and pretty much set it down for probably a good 10 years. I received many other wake up calls during that time frame but I pretty much gave up searching. Life was too hard and things hurt too much to deal with so I just shut everything down as a matter of survival. I pouted like a baby because I didn’t have a guide in real life. Little did I know that my guides stood by the entire time giving me suggestions, inspiring prophetic words through my poetry. I’m so grateful today.
If you have not met any angels or guides, you can. It just takes intention, patience and perseverance. You can meditate on this topic quite simply. Get comfortable as you normally do for meditation and conducting any breathing or relaxation techniques you normally do (I start very simply with 5 very slow in and out breaths to relax and clear my mind). The say your prayers or positive affirmations and then set your intent such as:
1. Dear God, please send to me my angels or guides to assist me on my journey. I need to see and hear them and I want to know their names.
2. Sit very patiently and wait and see what starts to happen in your mind’s eye. Notice any sounds, pictures, sensations or colors. Guides can appear in many different ways.
3. State once more, dear angels and guides who have my highest intent and good in mind, come to me now and reveal yourselves. Again, wait patiently and notice any sensations.
No matter what happens, stick with it until you get a response. When you set your intent, believe it will be. Keep at it. It takes time and dedication to meet your guides. Once you meet them, you can test them if you like to make sure they really have your best intent at heart. If you take the time to ground yourself and surround yourself with white light before you begin along with setting your intent that no one who doesn’t have your highest good at heart can come through the white light, you will have set the necessary boundaries.
The relationship you have with your guides is a very personal one. A good guide won’t tell you what to do and would never ever cause you any kind of harm. They are there to provide you with guidance and to assist you in interpreting your life lessons. If you’ve ever been to a counselor, they try hard not to give you all the answers but lead you into your mind where you can find the answers yourselves. A guide is very similar. They will not give you all the answers but will gently lead you into the depths of your heart and soul to help you find the answers yourself. Nothing anyone gives you means as much as the things you work for yourself. When you work for the answers yourself and you receive the reward of finding it on your own, I cannot tell you what that does for a soul. The spiritual path is not for sissies. There is no pill or other substance you can take that will bring it to you. You really have to be ready to do the work, remain committed and take charge in keeping communications open for your own learning. Communicating with Angels, Guides and other Messengers can be very valuable.
I can tell you that periodically during my trips to the meadow that other messengers pass through with information I might not have known if I had not let them pass through. Before every session though I am methodical about prayer and white light to clear my space and myself of any negative energy or vibrations. I find when I take the time to do this and I’m very strict about it, I have much better results. Like a surgeon, you want your instruments sterile before you start operating. The same is true of any spiritual work or meditation you conduct. Clear your energy field with prayer and white light, imagine every chakra center infused and cleared with bright white sparkling light, set your intent with words and back those words up with very positive and loving feelings and you will come out of every session feeling like you’ve stretched and grown in some way. Even if its just a matter of becoming more relaxed, that is no easy task in today’s world so you should really be very proud of yourself.
However you decide to connect with messengers, practice makes perfect. If it just isn’t happening for you, try something different. Maybe you’re not quite ready yet for an ethereal guide. There is nothing wrong with that at all. If this is not your style or its just not happening for you, don’t be discouraged. Instead, do a little life review. Take into consideration the defining moments of your recent past. What were some of the tough things happening for you. Now think, did any people randomly show up and impart words of wisdom? It could have been a stranger’s smile, someone online reaching out to give you encouragement, a friend stopping by at just the right time or perhaps meeting a new one somewhere or somehow. Maybe a pet came into your life to ground you and keep you calm. The messengers come regardless of their form. We don’t always have a steady guide in the physical form. Sometimes people pop into and out of our lives once they’ve helped us understand a lesson or at least given us the opportunity too. Maybe an angel comes to us in our dream and makes us feel whole and healed. That’s a messenger for sure.
Maybe we daydream of places otherworldly that brings us a sense of peace. Perhaps its your guide leading you to that place to help provide you with that sense of peace. The thing to remember, this is your spiritual journey. What you observe, you create. Your intent is everything and you don’t have to have an experience lik the books and movies detail. You are beautifully unique and may have your own kind of helpful experience with messengers and they will have the same result for you as physical or ethereal guides have for others. There is no right or wrong way here. There is only what works for you and uplifts you on your journey.
I would suggest to you that you consider dropping all limits and preconceived notions so that you are more open to the subtle language of spirit. This one thing can really help clear your sight and your knowing thus allowing you to understand the subtle spiritual language. Sometimes the messages are so subtle. At some point in your life you may begin to understand certain aspects of spiritual language and you’ll look back at your life and see all of the places spirit was in fact speaking to you. You just didn’t know how to tune in. Later on in this book, I’ll provide a chapter on exercises you can do to help with your spiritual practice.
This Chapter just wouldn’t be complete without touching on other messengers. These are messengers of a different kind and I’m talking about emotions…pain, anger, frustration, depression or fear even. These are not the enemy. They are not something to quickly eradicate. They each have so many important lessons to teach us and that is why we feel them. So, rather than feeling bad about feeling a bad emotion, take some time to consider the underlying emotion. Embrace it rather than resisting it. What we resist persists and if it’s a negative emotion you’re feeling, you’re not really going to want to keep them with you forever because they can inhibit your growth. As I said, embrace them and do what you can to understand their presence in your life. What themes gave them light and life on your path. When you can reach down inside to where your own infinite well of love resides and look at these emotion through the eyes of love, holding compassion for yourself and others, you may find these messengers leave you much more quickly as understand dawns on sleepy minds.
Keep your mind and your heart open and you will discover a great many things on your own journey.
