The 7 Types of Spirit Guides: How to Recognize Them!
Spirit guides come in many forms and types and from many sources.
Your spirit guide could be a deceased relative who communicates with you in a way that you recognize or whose energy is familiar.
They can appear in dreams, bringing messages and ideas straight to your mind or helping you to feel “impulses” that will guide you in one way or another on the physical or spiritual path ahead.
You may have a spirit animal as a spirit guide that acts as a companion or brings you the traits of the animal itself (for example, a dog brings loyalty, or a fox brings wisdom).
Some spirit guides accompany people throughout their lives, and others appear in certain life situations that people have to cope with.
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What are Spirit Guides?
Spirit guides are your spiritual helpers. They guide and protect you. They also help you make difficult decisions.
They protect you from negativity, increase your creativity and allow you to reach your full potential.
Everyone has at least one spirit guide, but most people have multiple types of spirit guides at some point in their lives.
Spirit guides, much like guardian angels, are evolved spiritual beings assigned to your soul to guide, heal and teach you during this incarnation.
Spirit guides have had their own incarnations and lessons on this earth plane, and so they generally have a higher perspective and deeper wisdom to offer when we consciously connect with them.
The 7 Different Types of Spirit Guides
Today it seems to be a widespread trend to believe that spirit guides are primarily power animals or angelic beings, but that is only a small dimension of the many possibilities that exist.
There are no rules as to the types of spirit guides.
Spirit guides can be of unlimited shapes and forms, from an ancestor you once knew on earth, to a being of pure light, to extraterrestrials.
1. Your Higher Self
This is a spirit guide that you always have access to, no matter what is happening in your life. This is because your higher self – is yourself.
It is not a separate, spirit-based version of you, but simply that part of you that is deeply connected to the divine and can easily overlook many earthly things that can get in the way of divine thinking.
The higher self is the kind of spirit guide that sees beyond the surface of things and guides you forward with deep and loving wisdom.
It also has far more information than your conscious mind. This wisdom might feel like your intuition or a “sixth sense.”
Regardless of what form it takes, its perception of this spirit guide can become your most powerful tool.
The archangels are powerful spiritual figures who usually have a certain “specialty.”
Archangel Michael, for example, stands for protection, courage, and truth, so you can access this energy at any time.
Other angels don’t have a specific name, and they feel like they belong to you and only you. If you sense an angelic presence, that could be your spirit guide.
Deceased, loved ones or family members can choose to be one of the types of your spirit guides and actively support you from heaven by helping you in very practical ways, e.g., by providing you with career opportunities or helpful relationships.
One of your grandmothers could be an important spirit guide for you, whether you knew her well during her lifetime or not.
In fact, anyone who has died could become a spirit guide for you.
If you are a dancer, you could have a Spirit Guide on your team who was also a dancer and artist and now wants to guide and inspire you as an artist.
There are people who believe that many of us have ancestral connections to different galaxies.
This concept states that souls are reincarnated not only here on earth but also on stars and planets light years away.
If you have never felt quite at home here on earth or feel a spark of energy when you hear about the possibility of connecting with spiritual entities in the stars, then these types of spirit guides could be for you.
6. Universal and Spiritual Energy
It is the case with many people that they do not see, feel or hear any specific guide but instead tap into the omniscient energy of the universe.
This is the collective sea of unconscious energy that connects us all, a spiritual source of energy that is all around us and within us as well.
You can call them Universe, Spirit, Source, or God. We always have access to it and always have had access to it.
Yes, the energy of the universe can also be a spirit guide.
7. Ascended Masters
Ascended Masters are beings who have already lived on Earth, become enlightened, awakened, or transcended the cycle of reincarnation.
Ascended Masters thus represent the ultimate teachers and gateways to the Divine and are the “strongest” spirit guides of all.
It is said that ascended masters, like all spirit guides, teach all people who turn to them for help to achieve greater wholeness and harmony in life.
The most famous Ascended Masters include Jesus, Babaji, Gautama Buddha, Krishna, Confucius, Mary – the Holy Mother, Kuthumi, Melchizedek, and many others.
How do Spirit Guides Help Us?
Spirit guides can see what is going on in our lives and when it is time for them actually to guide and/or intervene. They can do this in a number of ways.
1. Send people into your life
Our spirit guides sometimes meet with other people’s spirit guides, and together they try to organize a meeting between their “protégés.”
Maybe you think of someone from school and see them around town the same day.
If you’re wondering if this is a chance encounter, the answer is probably – no.
Spirit guides can create synchronicities to alert you to something you need to see or know.
Watch for these signs as they happen because your guide has something important to tell you.
There is almost no adult who has not thought of a person who immediately called them or met them in a completely unexpected place.
Even if someone thinks about a certain topic and then meets people who are also dealing with the same topic, then immediately reads about this topic in the newspaper or hears it on the radio – such or similar events are called synchronicities.
The guides can suddenly send you intuitive insights that sound like a voice in your head telling you to “slow down,” and then you realize you just narrowly avoided a collision involving a bicyclist.
Or “he/she is cheating on you.”
These are thoughts that seem to appear out of nowhere but contain important information that needs to be considered and analyzed.
Many listen to their intuition because it is a valuable source of information.
It’s probably a good idea to pay attention to physical stimuli.
You probably had a feeling that something terrible was about to happen, and that feeling came from your gut.
This is an indication that the guides want to alert you to an upcoming event or situation that it is high time to resolve.
How to Connect With Your Spirit Guide?
It would be great if the spirit guide could just call you and tell you what to expect in the future.
It works the same way for some people. It only takes time and practice to hear, see or feel the guides.
Here are some ways you can directly connect with them.
1. Meditate
Meditate and imagine yourself entering a quiet room or garden and ask the spirit guides to appear in front of you.
Imagine you talk to them, and they give you answers.
Over time, the connection between you will grow stronger, and the answers you receive will be more specific and accurate.
2. Pay attention to the signs
Ask your spirit guide what you want, then pay attention to the signs around you.
For example, you’re not sure whether you should start playing chess, and a few hours or minutes later, you see a flyer advertising a chess school on the street, or you turn on the TV and watch a chess match.
You can interpret such signs as an impulse to start playing chess.
For example, you have business negotiations, and, based on the facts, it seems that the other party will fulfill their part of the agreement, but the feeling in your gut tells you that something is wrong.
Stop, ask for a break, and try to think about what might have gone wrong.
4. Dreams
Open your mind to your spirit guides.
Before you fall asleep, invite them to tell you through a dream what is best for you.
5. Listen to your intuition
Listen for the little voice telling you to slow down or to notice a woman in line ahead of you.
Try listening to your intuition and see what results you get.
Many reject their intuition because they cannot distinguish it from the thoughts that come from their ego, and these thoughts are mostly rationalizations that lead you not to try something.
For example, not asking for a raise because you think you probably won’t get it.
What to Do When You Don’t Deel Connected to Your Spirit Guides?
You shouldn’t worry if you feel disconnected from your spirit guide. You always have and always will have a connection with your spirit guide.
Your spirit guides are there, working for you behind the scenes, whether you are aware of them or not.
Sometimes we feel separated from our spirit guide during the most difficult times in our lives, but it is precisely then that our spirit guide can and wants to help us more than ever.
In times of great challenge, feeling connected to your spirituality and spirit guides can help you.
Perhaps watch a documentary or a spiritually-themed film, listen to a podcast by a spiritual leader that resonates with your personality, or read an encouraging and inspirational book about spirituality for 30 minutes each night before bed.
Your spirit guides are also very interested in a closer relationship with you.
As you open up to them and try to communicate with them more, you may be pleasantly surprised at how many messages you pick up.
Even at this moment, your spirit guides are sending you many messages.
Is a digital marketer, yoga teacher, and writer. She's fascinated with the power of words and ideas to change the world. Kathleen loves exploring new philosophical insights from various spiritual traditions as well as popular psychology and holistic wellness practices.
