Your spirit guides are assigned to you from birth and stay until you die, and they include angels, archangels, ascended masters and loved ones on the other side. They will not interfere until you ask them for help, and they communicate through signs and synchronicities rather than words.
This is one of the biggest questions I get asked as a spiritual medium, and it usually arrives with an apology attached, as though wanting to know were slightly embarrassing.
It is not. I would love to normalize this topic so we can all access that higher wisdom.
There are three things worth knowing before you start.
1. Who they actually are
Spirit guides are a tool to help you on your path. They are assigned to you from birth and they are with you until the day you die.
Your team consists of angels, archangels, ascended masters, and loved ones on the other side. They are loving, they are wise, and they are basically the best cheerleaders you will ever have.
That last part matters more than it sounds, because people often approach this expecting judgement. They are not evaluating you. They keep you on track, or bring you back on track when you need support, which is a different job entirely.
2. They will not interfere until you ask
This is the piece almost everyone misses, and it is why so many people conclude they do not have guides or cannot reach them.
Your guides will not interfere in your life until you ask them for help. Free will is the whole architecture here. They will not override a choice you have not invited them into.
So it is important to actually ask them to come in, out loud or otherwise, so you can start to build a relationship.
There is no correct wording. What matters is the invitation itself, and that it is specific enough to be answerable. Your guides are always listening and here to help, but you need to be clear on what you are asking for.
3. How they communicate
Your guides communicate through signs and synchronicities. Repeating numbers. Animals. A song. A conversation with someone that sparks something and makes you think twice.
The mistake is waiting for words. People expect a voice, decide they did not get one, and conclude nothing happened. Meanwhile the same number has been showing up for three weeks.
And it is not always about what the sign is. It is more about what you were doing when you saw it. That is where the actual message usually lives, and it is why generic sign dictionaries are so unsatisfying.
The best way to start is to ask them to come in, then feel and sense and hear and observe the world around you. Use your senses and your intuition. Tune into your body and ask how it feels. It will give you more clues about what you are meant to hear.
If nothing seems to be happening
Give it more time than feels reasonable, and lower the bar for what counts.
Most people are not missing signs because none are arriving. They are discarding them in real time because they do not feel dramatic enough to qualify. The bar is set at burning bush, so a repeated number gets filed as coincidence.
Pay attention to what you see, feel, hear and notice, and let it be ordinary. Then write it down, because the pattern is much easier to see across three weeks than across one afternoon.
And do not worry about connecting all the dots as messages arrive. It tends to make sense later.
Jennifer Spencer is a spiritual medium and intuitive coach. She spent years as a VP inside Fortune 500 companies before leaving to do this work, and now guides people through the identity shift from Sedona, Arizona.
Questions people ask
- Who are my spirit guides?
- They are assigned to you from birth and stay with you until you die. Your team can include angels, archangels, ascended masters, and loved ones who have crossed over. Their role is to keep you on track or bring you back to it, not to judge you.
- Why can I not feel or hear my spirit guides?
- Most often because they have not been asked. Guides will not interfere until you invite them in, since free will comes first. The second most common reason is waiting for words when guides communicate through signs and synchronicities.
- How do spirit guides communicate?
- Through signs and synchronicities: repeating numbers, animals, songs, or conversations that spark something. What you were doing when you noticed the sign usually matters more than the sign itself.
- How do I ask my spirit guides for help?
- There is no required wording. Ask them to come in, and be clear about what you are asking for. Then pay attention with your senses rather than waiting for a voice, and give it longer than feels reasonable.
Keep reading
How do I connect with my higher self?
Your higher self is the version of you that already knows, without the doubt, the fear or the ego. Jennifer Spencer on what changed when she started listening to hers.
How do I know if I am on the right path?
Comfort is the wrong test. Jennifer Spencer on the three signs you are heading the right way, and why the right path so rarely feels like it at the time.
Midlife crisis, or identity shift?
The restlessness in midlife is usually not a crisis. Jennifer Spencer, a former Fortune 500 VP turned medium, on what an identity shift actually is and how to recognize one.
If you want to go further with this
Jennifer writes regularly on intuition, guides, and the practical side of all of it. Her letters go out to people learning exactly this.
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