Connecting With Spirit Guides 101

Forty years ago, I was taught a method of asking questions to, and getting answers from, my spirit guides.

In those days, there weren’t nearly as many people and organizations teaching spiritual development as there are now. So I’m grateful to my mother for connecting me with the Inner Peace Movement (which still exists). I was told how many spirit guides I had, and what part of the body each might use to get my attention. Then I was shown a way to use my body as a sort of pendulum to receive “yes” and “no” answers to my questions.

Who are your spirit guides?

We all have at least one guide who works with us between lives and who follows us through our life. Deceased relatives may also act as guides, and sometimes guides get involved to help us with certain tasks. Some people distinguish their guardian angel as a different being from a guide. Some teachers call the higher self your “primary guide”. It’s also possible to develop a relationship with a deceased person that you never knew and choose them as a guide, if they’re available and interested. But be careful about the spiritual company you keep! Not every dead person is qualified to act in your highest interest, and the difference between “guide” and “attached entity” could get quite blurred, to say the least.

Jesus/Yeshua is a guide for many people and sometimes shows up as such in Quantum Healing Hypnosis sessions. Beings at his spiritual level are not limited by space and time, and can act as guides for any number of people.

How do guides guide us?

Guides aren’t there to tell us what to do, as they must respect our free will. If you think a guide is insisting you do something, or using fear, shame or blame, that’s not a guide you want to pay attention to!

Rather, guides nudge us in directions that are in our highest interest. Maybe you happened to notice a poster about something that turned out to be meaningful for you. Maybe you missed a bus or a flight, and later you were glad you did. Maybe a stranger helped you in a moment of need. Maybe a meme on social media answered a question you had. Those are some ways that guides can nudge you.

What’s the difference between nudges from guides and your intuition? None, really, unless your psychic senses are so accurate that you know exactly who a message is coming from. Your intuition comes from your higher self, and true guides work with your higher self. However, guides have a different perspective than you (as your higher self) do, so their input may feel different in quality.

Embodying the higher self is the point of spiritual development, so cultivating your intuition is an important task!

Things to watch out for

When learning to connect with your spiritual guidance, beware of self-delusion. If the mind’s beliefs are very strong, it’s hard for the higher self to get through with a different message.

Also, our capacity to tap into someone else’s belief system, is strong! Believe me, there are lots of physical and yes, non-physical beings who want to influence your thoughts and beliefs for their own purposes.

Likewise, if the issue has a strong emotional charge for you, it can be hard to get clear answers. The body pendulum method is a good one for breaking through the delusions, but you can still fool yourself.

There’s also the possibility of developing overdependence on your guides. Don’t ask them to tell you when to cross a busy street! You have eyes and ears for that, and an ego whose job is to keep you safe. Don’t give your power away to this or any other process.

There are questions that can’t be answered. There are things we can’t or shouldn’t know ahead of time, or even after the fact. There are definitely things that aren’t any of our business, and meddling in such may not turn out well for you.

Only work for the most beneficial outcome for all!

The body pendulum method

Do this standing up if you can.

1. Clear your energy field. I was instructed to:
   • Use both hands to sweep your forehead from the center outward to the temples, then shake them a few times as if shaking off water, thinking or saying, “I cleanse my mind.”
   • Then sweep arms up in one smooth motion in front of the body, not touching it, up over the head, behind the head and down across the shoulders, then shake your hands a few times, thinking or saying, “I cleanse my body.”
   • Repeat these steps two more times.
   • Finally, visualize white light surrounding your body.
2. Make a strong intention to connect with your higher self and guides. Perhaps you can feel into your heart area and up through your crown chakra. Maybe you have your own practice to connect inward.
3. Ask to be shown a “yes” movement and a “no” movement. Say or think, “Show me a ‘yes’.” For me, the “yes” is forward and back. Then, “Show me a ‘no’.” My “no” is side to side. Others use a forward movement for “yes” and a backward movement for “no”. Develop a your own consistent signal. It can be gentle. With practice, you will feel the impulse coming in. Feel into where it’s coming from. Practice until it is clear.
4. Ask a question. Feel for the answer.

After some years, I asked my body to show me a less gross-motor way to receive answers. I learned to perceive answers as a vertical feeling in my third eye for “yes”, and a horizontal feeling for “no”. This refinement felt like a big step closer to intuitive knowing.

I’m much more in touch with my intuition than I used to be. But occasionally when I’m not feeling that clear connection, I’ll go back to the method I was first taught.

Other methods

Some people use a pendulum to get answers to “yes” and “no” questions.

Another method is muscle testing, also known as “applied kinesiology”.

Tools such as the I Ching, bibliomancy (opening a sacred book at a random page), tarot cards, and the many beautiful card decks available now, offer more complex answers to questions.

Skillful intuitive card readers (here’s one) can use cards to bring forth remarkable insights. A card deck of your choice may be a helpful tool for you to develop your intuition further.

Intuition is deeply personal, and the connection deepens with practice.

Whatever divination method you use, the same precautions apply regarding self-delusion and overdependence.

Asking ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ questions

Of course, life isn’t as simple as “yes” and “no”. Decisions can be very complex with lots of factors to consider, many shades of possibility.

Asking questions is an art. Here are some tips.

• Ask first for permission to ask questions about a certain topic. If it isn’t related to a choice that you personally have to make, it may not even be appropriate.
• Don’t count on getting reliable predictions of the future.
• If you don’t get a clear answer, rephrase the question, break it down into steps, or ask whether it is answerable.
• If you have a choice between two options, consider asking how they rank on a scale of 1 to 10. More than a 5? Less than a 9?
• Watch carefully for emotions – fear, desire, anger – that can interfere with your unbiased perception of answers. Feel within yourself for a higher channel, a higher floor in the building, than the one the emotions live on. I’m not saying to ignore your emotions or to practice spiritual bypassing! But when you’re seeking guidance, you want it to come from a place that isn’t caught up in the emotion of the moment, nor from the rational mind. Feel for it with your heart.

Sometimes after getting a “yes” or “no” answer, I will feel a more complex explanation coming through. That’s the intuitive connection I’m really looking for.

Remember that despite the guidance you receive, the choices are yours. That’s a big part of this Earth life we’re living: the opportunity to make choices and experience the consequences.

Working with clients

In a quantum healing hypnosis session, if the client has difficulty getting verbal answers from their higher self or a guide, I may walk them through this process of getting “yes” or “no” answers.

By this point, they’re relaxed and lying down, so I’m not going to ask them to stand up. We have already created a safe and sacred container for the session, invoked our intentions and called for our guides and higher selves to draw near.

So I will explain to the client that we’re looking for a way for the higher self and guides to show them a “yes” answer, then a “no” answer. It could be a sign, a movement, an image, a feeling, or a sound perceived internally. Then we practice until the client can get a clear “yes” or “no” each time. I’ll ask more emotionally neutral questions before moving on to the client’s more difficult ones.

My goal in these situations is to give the client a tool to develop a stronger connection with their own guidance.