CONNECTING WITH SPIRIT GUIDES

Spirit guides are not subject to time or space as are we. 
They are always around but not always to be known,
always within call but not always to be heard,
always present but not always to be sensed,
always holding us but not always to be felt.

 

The Ancestors cannot save but only alert, advise and warn and only according to your openness and willingness. They cannot change or deter you from your own insistency no matter to what it’s due. Only you can change!

 

The terms ancestors and spirit guides can be used interchangeably. Many of our guides were our ancestors in past lives. Others may be appointed to help us with our spiritual trajectory both in and outside of dreams.

We are not just influences but also recipients of influences from distant places and distant times.

Artists, musicians and others have their muses. Some call this “narrator” their alter ego when in actual fact “s/he” might be a guide. Guides, ancestors and muses are usually connecting to us from the other side of the veil. 

Southern African tradition believes there are also non human spirits - both good and bad. Terrestrial, Cosmic and Water Spirits that can also be of assistance to us Talking Beings. The Water Spirit is key in sangoma initiation. Terrestrial spirits may include the Still, Growing and Wild Beings all of which are animated by the breath of the Supreme Being and have their own individual vibration and consciousness. These are also there to assists us, for instance; talismans, healing plants, and power animals.

The choices are yours and there are consequences to your choices. 
Consequences are neither reward nor punishment; they simply are consequences, often not immediate but always inescapable…

 

Most of the guides we will encounter are in the Astral realms where they are reconciling with their karma. We all have guides, many who loved us from long before our current lives, and would like to help us now. 

According to sangoma wisdom we also have “foreign” guides – not from our past lives - that are assigned to help us. The African guide who helps me in my divination practice was a sangoma in her past life. She is a “foreign” guide unbeknown to me in previous times.

Once in the Astral they lose free will and the only way they can operate is through the free will of another on the earth plane. In this way they can complete work they never completed in their lifetime and do service to improve their karmic profile. By allowing them to help us we lift them up. They are assigned to help but we must ask to receive and we must ask very specifically. Free will is the cosmic law and they are bound by it. Our guides live in the present moment and for them free will is also in that present moment. Hence it is best to keep affirming the requests we make to them. When we fail to engage with them and do not ask to receive they move away and we become spiritually unprotected.

 

“In every person there is something precious which is in no-one else. And so, we should honor each for what is hidden within them for what only they have.” Talmud

 

Our spirit guides are also there to help and guide us to our God given destiny within the bounds of spiritual laws. After the reconciliation process with a spiritual tribunal they are well aware of these. Our guides have gone through this process and do not want us to make the mistakes that they may have made. They also also know what our life's purpose is.

 

Spiritual laws are operative whether or not we understand them or can explain them or whether or not we even know about them or believe in them.

 

You should wish for yourself not what you want but that what you want is for your good and that of others too.

Our guides are there to help us with our karma but require our integrity or they will move away. They also require an ongoing connection to them made in one way or another because of free will. This essentially can be designing a “Container” – usually an altar and or various rituals by which we can make requests and show gratitude.

Perfected souls exist in the Causal realms. They retain free will, can operate independently and do not have to reincarnate unless they choose to for a special mission. Some of us have guides in these realms as well.

 

“The sages who have died are present in this world to a greater extent than when they were alive.” The Zohar

 

We are watching from endless space
We are waiting in timeless order
Chant your way across the Veil 
Spiral into existence those spirits that are needed.

 

Nurturing Connection with One’s Spirit Guides with the Help of an Altar. 

An altar is a “container” and sacred space to connect with our guides where we can ask to receive – as well as give thanks when we do receive – whether it’s a helpful dream or something else. Lay down a white cloth that is new, special and attractive. Embellish the altar with their photos or mementos which hold their energy such as a walking stick, their favorite book, a ring, a cup etc. If you do not have a photo write down the name. If you have a guide but no name, allocate an object such as a crystal on their behalf. If you have an image from a dream, sketch, draw or paint it. It is best not putting any “skeletons from the family closet” on your altar unless resolution with them has been perfectly made and even then, you may not want that energy around you. Dedicate a dream journal or a recording device for their messages and take it to bed with you. Your smart phone can be used as well. Make offerings, light a candle or incense, bring gifts from time to time – a feather, an attractive pebble picked up on a hike. Always have them in mind.

The Ancestors cannot help you with anything you have not freely, willingly and deliberately given up.

To connect with our spirit guides for help in a particular line of one’s work it helps to create sacred space in which to ask to receive. Open it formally by drumming, rattling, or lighting a candle or incense. Requests will be more easily received and acted upon if made for the greater good rather than for ourselves. If it is for ourselves, it should also be in order to help the greater good. 

For those doing healing or spiritual work, if feasible, it is wise to have a sacred space to invoke one’s guides. Open the space and formally close it and give thanks when the work is complete. If possible, dedicate the space purely for that purpose.

 

The ancients would ask of you to perform good deeds, speak good words and think good thoughts in their memory.
They would want you to be a repository of their instructions, or other wisdom teachers, and their righteous and loving ways.

 

Gratitude and love are how we help them.

 

Celebrate their birthdays and honor the days of their death by lighting a candle or even making a meal and placing a token plate of food and drink out for them while you eat. Your imagination should know no bounds and even though you may not get feedback you can be sure they are around. We empower them when we allow them to do service on our behalf through our free will, now that they have none of their own. 

If all this is new to you, have a party for your guides, “prepare a table for them.” Welcome them into your life and to their altar. Introduce them to your dream container.

 

Be careful of what you taste and where you immerse.

 

We may also be visited or opposed by dysfunctional spirits – tricksters – from lesser vibrations. They are envious of those who have a high vibration and their “light” is a reproach to them. 

 

Lesser vibrations which emanate, from narrow mind are often viewed as needing to sort out and work through their own calling. Beware of those on either side of the veil who would make you their resolution, much less their absolution.

 

“If you have many guides and are greatly beloved you will have many dissuaders and be greatly envied.”

 

In order to connect with our guides, it helps to raise our vibration. This requires a dedicated spiritual practice which can help open the higher chakras especially the sixth or Third Eye - the gateway to our Field of dreams. Love is the catalyst that allows our guides to cross the veil between the worlds and opening our hearts will empower them.

 

SCRIPTED DREAMS # 3 

Dreams can give us an inkling as to information coming from an otherwise “Unknowable Field.”

“The soul is connected to this 99 percent realm and to nourish itself it visits there, when we sleep. It communicates about these visits, information, experiences and awarenesses in what we call dreams. 
The sages taught that even if we did not have sacred texts we could be guided to the 99 percent hidden world by our dreams”.

The Zohar

Dream Interpretation

This can be relatively easy. One should not have to have a PhD. In psychology to be able interpret scripted dreams. Your guides will want to find the clearest and easiest way to inform in a way that you can understand with your own unique receptivity. They also know what that is. One has to ask from the dream and those who sent it: “What are you trying to tell me?” 

I frequently get my messages in metaphor, symbols, sentences, words or a song. On rare occasions – the “Big” dreams as nightmares, an apparition or like acts in a play. An apparition in a dream to me is usually a warning of something drastic that will come soon. 

Yours’ will probably differ but it is useful to categorize the dream.

There are three ways to look at the dream: 

The form of the dream 

The message they are trying to convey

 The sensory aspects of the dream.

 

The Form

Your own particular form may not fit any of these. 

“Big” dreams can be like acts in a play showing you exactly how things are going to “play” out. These are usually prophetic.

I used to think that anything that I had experienced in the last 72 hours on T.V. or in conversation did not count but it may. Your guides are just as likely to use a recent, appropriate message or image to help you. If you have just been watching scenes from a tsunami on T.V. and dream that night that you are in one fighting for your life it may mean the current business proposition you are about to sign is going to “drown” you. Or if you are watching scenes of an earthquake and you are thinking of purchasing a house - and you dream that the house is being covered by a mud slide – it may mean this purchase is going to bury you. 

Sometimes we just wake up with a sense of clarity or the answer to a question that was perplexing us. Your guides may have copied and pasted the answer into your dream psyche for you that night. 

Some folks do not dream but they get intuitive hits while awake especially in a relaxed alfa state. Guides can just as easily copy and paste in awake time too. We should acknowledge our guides with gratitude rather than take credit for the wisdom.

Sometimes we dream our power animals (domestic or wild) that come to support us especially when we are in need. The “wild” ones may come as a metaphor to suite your particular need in that moment. 

Our guides can also manipulate these animals to us in real time as well. They will usually be behaving in an unusual way; a butterfly landing on your head, a humming bird circling around you, a raptor sitting in a tree nearby looking at you. Encountering a rattlesnake on one’s path when awake or in a dream may be a warning if poisonous, an empowerment if not.

Aboriginal peoples dream land and seascapes that tell them about the earth changes that are escalating around them and their dwindling habitats. The Native Americans have been warning us about the “red skies” that are to come and that now are here.

We may get a song in the dream where the words are exactly what we need to know. Words or phrases can guide us or the looking up of a biblical quote, … chapter x verse y – concise in the dream but too complicated in the verse to be scripted. Sometimes we may get a song in a dream and words of the song are the message. Messages in “tongues” require trying as best we can to translate it. 

We also dream travel in the Astral and visit alternative vibrations, parallel universes and even past lives. We meet people we know in the dream but not in real time. Tibetan Buddhists teach that our Astral dreams help us to access our past lives and “Store-Consciousness“ and help us to better correct our karma. They help us to pierce the veil of Maya (illusion) and guide us away from our dysfunctions by seeing who we are or have been more clearly.

 

The Message they are trying to convey.

Essentially guides come to warn, nudge, instruct, teach or empower and even “visit” on special occasions. There are dreams that are important and we do not know what they mean but they still need to be attended. They should be recorded so that one can retrieve them when the right time arises. There is no time on the other side of the veil and a recent dream may turn out to have significant meaning years later. Therefore there is a huge benefit in keeping a dream journal which for some is probably easier to use at night than a smartphone.

The way you drive a car in your dream is the way they perceive you are driving your life at that moment. If you are in the passenger seat or worse still at the back or the car is out of control they are telling you something. Maybe you are driving a model that you had many years ago which may signify you are stuck with some unskillful behavior in the past. If the car feels too small for you then it may be time to move on to higher aspirations. If its large and luxurious you may be coming into your true power  or maybe, are being too hung up on material desires. Your heart will tell you which it is.        

Be careful of saying “only a dream.” Until your dream practice is solid its best to record everything in detail and then decide later if it has merit or not.

We can be psychic in our dreams in different ways We can see, hear and feel things we normally would not be able to realize. Dreams can be telepathic or precognitive and even life-saving. Our sense of ego is less present in the dream time.    

 

Sensory aspects 

Sensory aspects magnify the power and importance of the dream no matter what its interpretation. If the dream is luminous, numinous or has tremendous intensity it is likely to be a “Big” dream. 

Sometimes there may be vibratory kundalini-like energy moving in the body especially up the spine indicating that you are awakening the snake. This may be a sign of some form of initiation

There may be no actual dream but just a sense of something light or dark, good or bad relating to the kind of spiritual energy presiding and whether it is supportive or intrusive. If the latter and it is repetitive you might want to get spiritual help. 

                          

Other dream forms that should get our immediate attention.

The Nightmare. A fear inducing nightmare can be a warning of what is to come unless action is taken. A nightmare may not feel like it – but it is a good dream. The message is overstated to get your attention. The intensity and theme of the dream will usually tell you what to do. 

The recurring dream. If one is getting a recurring dream it means there is something really important that has not been attended. One may need expert help in finding out what it is if one is not sure.

The visitation. Visitations occur outside of the dream state and are propagated by special purpose.

Using other channels or “getting your mail” or you getting someone else’s mail. Sometimes we get a dream for someone else or vice versa.  It is critical that “we pass the mail or the message on” in a skillful way. If you dream that a friend may have cancer phrase it very carefully. The dream could be wrong or even scripted by a trickster to ruin your friendship or discredit you. You are obligated to give them the mail so maybe say; “I had this weird dream about you – it may be nothing but maybe you need to see your physician – it seemed there could be something wrong in your …” 

  

Summary of above

 

Spirits use the easiest channels and preset symbols.

 

Dreams cannot easily be called but it is possible to ask to receive.

 

Beware the interpretation which sets intention and action.

 

Dreams reveal truths but also untruths. Dreams hold the possibility of pollution. This is why your guides may use complex metaphors to bypass the dream hackers.

 

Visitations are not dreams but visits and require tremendous energy on behalf of the guide. They are occasions for celebration and gratitude.

 

Free will rules but dreams tell us “what to see – not what must be.” The outcome can be avoided if we take action.

 

The veil between worlds opens closer to death. 

  

Dreams help us understand our past lives and work out our karma by being able to check into other locas or parallel universes in the astral.

The veil between the worlds is the most permeable in the early hours of the morning in R.E.M. sleep. Most of us do not dream in deep (delta rhythm) sleep. Your “prayer” or request for a dream is best made just before falling asleep. We have to ask to receive and because our guides are bound by the cosmic law of free will, we have to be very specific. 

A spirit guide altar is worthwhile in order to ask to receive as well as give gratitude if one receives. 

We should keep completely still after waking so that we can slowly retrieve the dream. If we reach for our dream journal or smart phone to record, it will usually “escape.” Its best to memorize it before moving, repeat it several times to oneself in as much detail as possible and only then record it when the dream memory is secure.

 

 

SCRIPTED DREAMS #2

Accessing the dream world.

The snake brings the dream.

 

To access the “Cosmic Field” and the spirit world, some form of ongoing spiritual practice is essential to move “The Snake” – the feminine, serpent like kundalini energy that rests in the lower belly. This power is universal – we all have it. Spiritual practice will open up the heart chakra which in turn helps us access the higher chakras and especially the Third Eye – the key to our intuitive abilities and the dream time. Nurturing this "Snake" is all about enhancing our vibration and being able to access information not localized in space in time from the “Field” and from our guides. Some folks do not dream but get downloads in awake time, usually when in a receptive, relaxed or meditative state. 

The snake can also be a messenger in tribal Southern Africa. A mamba in a dream can be a warning, a python an empowerment from the ancestors. Although the appearance of a snake may be intimidating in a dream it may indicate some form of spiritual power both positive or negative depending on the feeling. Fear alone does not mean it is negative, if it is not intrusively ominous.

 

Visitations

Visitations occur outside of the dream state. They usually come when there is an urgent need to convey information or on special occasions such as a birthday or a death date. They are rare, take a huge effort on behalf of the spirit, as well as needing the dreamer to be an open, permeable conduit. They are occasions for tremendous gratitude. The spirit appears to be present as if in real time.                           

Dreams can be as powerful as visitations but are subject to trickster interference.

I once received an instructional dream telling me to use a computer model to better explain how scripted dreams work.

Guides “copy and paste” established symbols and images, both recent and remote into the dreamer’s psyche. These symbols and images are highly individual and may have differing cultural and religious meanings. For instance, to a dog lover, a dream of a dog may signify loyalty or unconditional love – to a Zulu tribesman – maybe witchcraft. A dream of fish to a Christian may have a spiritual significance – to a tribal Venda it may mean money is coming soon. Our guides know our various cultural idiosyncrasies and cater to them in their messages.

It is more efficient for guides to use our memory “banks” to deliver their message. These can be recent image or symbols or ones more remote. They can script their own dream images but this takes much more effort. Sometimes they will also use “photo-shop” to tweak the dream before "copying and pasting" it into the dream psyche. The dream is usually somewhat different to what we know when awake e.g. We may be in our house or car but it may not be the familiar one we know in awake time. Our sense of ego is also lessened in our dreams which might allow us to be more vulnerable than we would be in awake time.

The dark forces can intrude in dreams but keep in mind

that distortions may also be projections of your own fears, doubts, insecurities and questions about yourselves as well.

Furthermore, they relish using such to your disadvantage, confusion and alienation.

Like the internet, our dream psyches are open to light as well as dark influences. Trickster spirits can block our dreams completely and even pollute them by hacking them in “photo-shop” before they are "pasted" by our guides. They also have the power to script their own dreams and even visit as themselves or by shapeshifting into someone you know. Tricksters can be imposters in our dreams and pretend to be a loved one or a friend. However, they are coming with an unhelpful and sometimes ugly message and there is something “off” about their imitated persona. Their persona may not feel “quite right” in the way they present which can alert you. This is why the Ancestors teach that dreams can contain both truth and lies. 

Our shadow, ego, monkey mind, fear and psychic clutter can influence the dream and also lie to us. Going with the heart will usually tell us the truth.

 

As you think it so it can be, as you believe it, so it will be. Think on it, believe in it.

 

The Zohar says that the dream follows its interpretation. The interpretation can set the intention which may dictate what the mind decides to be the appropriate action. Hence it is critical to rather take a positive spin on a dream because this will create a better manifestation. For instance, a dream of death may really represent rebirth. Perseverating on death can create a nocebo effect and possibly a self-inflicted hex. Nevertheless, we should take the necessary precautions in case the dream is true. Getting a medical check-up or being really careful in what we do for the next week may be wise since dreams reflect what we need to know in that present moment of time as well as a little beyond it.

When interpreting for others, the more one knows about the dreamer' culture, the more accurate the interpretation will be. One should always try and look on the bright side with one’s understanding and if we are sure it is a blatant lie, discount it completely. 

Warning dreams are not providential. What has been shown is not inevitable. They tell us 

what to see and not what will be. 

One should take evasive action to prevent what is seen by our guides who have the advantage of not being localized in space and time. The message may not be literal. For instance, if one has booked a flight to some destination (and has no fear of flying,) a warning dream might mean there are going to be issues around the flight. Did you take your passport or will you leave something crucial behind, are there going to be traffic issues on route to the airport or will your flight be delayed? In other words, after waking, dot the I’s and cross your T’s before you fly. If you dream the plane is going down in flames maybe consider rescheduling your flight. 

When we interpret our or another’s dream we also need to be wary of  our ego or shadows' projections. It is essential to have some background about that person as well as retaining an optimistic focus. Each individual is the final arbitrator of his/her own dream.

We need to beware of making the interpretation of the dream fit to what ego or monkey mind desire.

 

The most skillful interpreter, even one who knows you well, can at best only be revealing, suggesting and guiding.

 

DREAMS AS SCRIPTED BY SPIRIT GUIDES

 #1

A purely psychological interpretation of dreams is limited and discounts a guiding non-local spirit source that can be nurtured and is highly personal.

 

There are many ways that dreams can be interpreted – all of them valid and valuable and not mutually exclusive. Psychological and Jungian methods are probably the most popular. Psychological dreaming implies that that the subconscious in R.E.M. sleep is the source of the dream. Jungian dreams are said to come from the Collective Unconscious or the Archetypal World. On the other hand Yoga or Buddhist dreaming requires an advanced level of spirituality and the ability to download information from the Causal realm. Lucid dreaming is usually a gift that most do not have, and in my experience, is difficult to cultivate without some inherent aptitude. 

Dreams also arise from our subconscious’ house cleaning, from ridding ourselves of clutter and apprehension, as well as the replaying of scenes for pleasure or clarification. We sometimes have bad dreams in reaction to bodily discomfort, from being too hot, from alcohol and watching negative T.V. or a horror movie the evening before. We have to be wary of our own psychic garbage. Fear can be our own greatest tricksters in interpretation. 

Shamanic dream interpretation is the closest to the discipline I am going to describe. Here the shaman’s dreams are scripted by their guides that usually are in the Astral realms and sometimes from the Causal enlightened realms. Spirits have a huge advantage over us sentient beings because they are non-local in space and time. Their viewpoint is much broader and well informed. They also have access to our karmic book of life and know to what purpose or destiny we have been assigned. We are all given a unique gift that can help others and the planet. Our task is to find and follow it with gusto. Our guides can help us to do this. If we ask to receive they can help nudge us in the right direction or tell us when we are heading in the wrong one. Because free will is the cosmic law they are usually prohibited from telling us exactly what to do. That is for us to find out. The quest for our destiny is seminal to our karmic journey on the planet. 

These genres of messages can pertain to scripted dreams and can be life enhancing.

Precognitive dreams.

Telepathic dreams.

Visitations.

Consecutive dreams the same night reinforcing the message.

Going back into the dream to complete it or recall it.

Kundalini like energy moving in the body which can support the initiation type of dream.

Initiation dreams. These can be as frightening as in those concerning dismemberment but also empowering if associated with one's spiritual transformation.

Mutual dreams with a dream partner.

 

 Earth-Bound Spirits (E.B.S.) may be voluntary or involuntary. 

It is possible to have dreams - instructive or intrusive - from these earth bound spirits. Voluntary earth-bound spirits may commit to remaining on the earth plane to be of easier assistance if they feel there is the need.

It is not unusual for one to linger between the worlds for a period of time after death and when called upon may respond so that the exchange can purify and strengthen the spirit of the sentient being and that of the one passing on.

Shortly after death spirits may also visit in real time or in dreams to: Announce their death (for those who do not know yet.) They may come to complain they have not been properly put to rest or request attention with regard to the will, unfinished business, burial or cremation etc. 

Be sure to have closure – reassure, give or ask for forgiveness – preferably before death or in the transitional phase after death before they pass over the veil when it is more difficult to contact them.

Dysfunctional dead relatives seeking forgiveness from the other side of the veil can create intrusive dreams. Sometimes we just feel them around us at night or even in the daytime. One may require expert spiritual help to release them if this is an ongoing issue.

Our guides support and guide us through dreams or even visitations. They may send encouragement by manipulating a power animal to you for support.  They can also download information during awake time while one is meditating or when in a receptive state. Many do not get dreams but get their information during the day. Ancient wisdom teaches that real time is no different to the dream time – it is just another form of reality.

 

The Causal Realms.  

The Causal realms house the perfected souls. 

The minority of us will have guides from the Causal. Fewer still from the Celestial realms. Awakened living beings and mystics may be  frequented by these souls in dreams. The Ancestors teach that these may be more present when dead than alive - they are not only non-local in space and time but still retain free will and can navigate freely.

 

The Astral realms. 

For most of us our guides originate from the Astral realms where they lose free will. These guides are usually the ones responsible for our scripted dreams. We return the favor with gratitude, usually in ritual using the “container” of an altar. 

Guides are non-local and can give us invaluable and sometimes life-saving advice – usually through dreams. They have also gained knowledge and insight from the reconciliation process and are not the same as they were previously. They are now residing in a more purified state than they were on the earth plane. You might ask why should I bother to listen to anyone who was illiterate and uneducated while on the earth plane? They love you and have your interests at heart and being non-local gives them an enhanced view which is more informative.

 The dead and the living can best meet in R.E.M. sleep in the early hours of the morning in the Astral when the veil between worlds is the most permeable. Mostly the dead we meet are our guides or are others reconciling with their karma in the Astral before reincarnating. Scripted dreams broadly speaking are “official” and instructive versus unofficial and are meant to help up with our life paths. They help us with the clues on the treasure hunt to our future by keeping us on track with our destiny.