8. Our Guides
I HAVE never worked with a subject in trance who did not have a personal guide. Some guides are more in evidence than others during hypnosis sessions. It is my custom to ask subjects if they see feel a discarnate presence in the room. If they do, this third party is usually a protective guide. Often, a client will sense the presence of a discarnate figure before visualizing a face or hearing a voice. People who meditate a great deal are naturally more familiar with these visions than someone who never called upon his or her guide.
The recognition of these spiritual teachers brings people into the company of a warm, loving creative power. Through our guides, we become more acutely aware of the continuity of life and our identity as a soul. Guides are figures of grace in our existence because they are part of the fulfillment of our destiny.
Guides are complex entities, especially when they are master guides. The awareness level of the soul determines to some extent the degree of advancement of the guide assigned to them. In fact, the maturity of a particular guide also has a bearing on whether these teachers have only one student or many under their direction. Guides at the senior level of ability and above usually work with an entire group of souls in the spirit world and on earth. These guides have other entities who assist them. From what I can see, every soul group usually has one or more rather new teachers in training. As a result, some people may have more than one guide helping them.
The personal names my clients attach to their guides range from ordinary, whimsical, or quaint-sounding words, to the bizarre. Frequently, these names can be traced back to a specific past life a teacher spent with a student. Some clients are unable to verbalize their guide’s name because the sound cannot be duplicated, even when they see them clearly while under hypnosis. I tell these people it is much more important that they under stand the purpose of why certain guides are assigned to them, rather than possessing their names. A subject may simply use a general designation for their guide such as: director, advisor, instructor, or just “my friend.”
One has to be careful how the word friend is interpreted. Usually, when a person in trance talks about a spiritual friend, they are referring to a soul-mate or peer group associate rather than a guide. Entities who are our friends exist on levels not much higher or lower than ourselves. These friends are able to offer mental encouragement from the spirit world while we are on Earth, and they can be with us as incarnated human companions while we walk the roads of life.
One of the most important aspects of my therapeutic work with clients is assisting them, on a conscious level, with appreciating the role their guides play in life. These teacher entities edify all of us with their skillful instruction techniques. Ideas we claim as our own may be generated by a concerned guide. Guides also comfort us during the trying periods in our lives, especially when we are children in need of solace. I remember a charming remark made by a subject after I asked when she began seeing her guide in this life. “Oh, when I was daydreaming,” she said. “I remember my guide was with me on my first day of school when I was really scared. She sat on top of my desk to keep me company and then showed me the way to the bathroom when I was too afraid to ask the teacher.”
The concept of personalized spiritual beings goes far back in antiquity to our earliest origins as thinking human beings. Anthropological studies at the sites of prehistoric people suggest their totemic symbols evoked individual protection. Later, some 5,000 years ago as city-states arose, official deities became identified with state religions. These gods were more remote and even generated fear. Thus, personal and family deities assumed great importance in the day-to-day life of people for protection. A personal soul deity served as a guardian angel to each person or family, and could be called upon for divine help during a crisis. This tradition has been carried down into our cultures of today.
We have two examples at opposite ends of the United States. Aumakua is a personal god to Hawaiians. The Polynesians believe one’s ancestors can assume a personal god relationship (as humans, animals, or fish) to living family members. In visions and dreams, Aumakua can either assist or reprimand an individual. In northeastern America, the Iroquois believe a human’s own inner spiritual power is called Orenda, which is connected to a higher personal Orenda spirit. This guardian is able to resist the powers of harm and evil directed at an individual. The concept of soul watchers who function as guides is part of the belief system of many Native American cultures. The Zuni tribes of the Southwest have oral traditions in their mythology of god-like beings with personal existences. They are called “the makers and holders of life paths” and are considered the caretakers of souls. There are other cultures around the world which also believe someone other than God is watching over them to personally intercede on their behalf. I think human beings have always needed anthropomorphic figures below a supreme God to portray the spiritual forces around them. When people pray or meditate, they want to reach out to an entity with whom they are acquainted for inspiration. It is easier to ask for aid from a figure which can be clearly identified in the human mind. There is a lack of imagery with a supreme God which hinders a direct connection for many people. Regardless of our diverse religious preferences and degrees of faith, people also feel if there is a supreme God, this divinity is too busy to bother about their individual problems. People often express an unworthiness for a direct association with God. As a result, the world’s major religions have used prophets who once lived on Earth to serve as our intermediaries with God.
Possibly because some of these prophets have been elevated to divine status themselves, they are not personal enough anymore. I say this without diminishing the vital spiritual influence all the great prophets have had on their followers. Millions of people derive benefit from the teachings of these powerful souls who incarnated on Earth as prophets in our historical past. And yet, people know in their hearts-as they have always known-that someone, some personal entity individual to them-is there, waiting to be reached.
I have the theory that guides appear to people who are very religious as figures of their faith. There was a case on a national television show where the child of a devout Christian family suffered a near-death experience and said she saw Jesus. When asked to draw with crayons what she saw, the little girl drew a featureless blue man standing within a halo of light.
My subjects have shown me how much they depend upon and make use of their spiritual guides during life. I have come to believe we are their direct responsibility- not God’s. These learned teachers remain with us over thousands of earth years to assist in our trials before, during, and after countless lives. I notice that, unlike people walking around in a conscious state, subjects in trance do not blame God for their misfortunes in life. More often than not, when we are in the soul state, it is our personal guide who takes the brunt of any dissatisfaction.
I am often asked if teacher-guides are matched to us or just picked at random. This is a difficult question to answer. Guides do appear to be assigned to us in the spirit world in an orderly fashion. I have come to believe their individual teaching styles and management techniques support and beautifully integrate with our permanent soul identity.
For instance, I have heard about younger guides, whose past lives included overcoming particularly difficult negative traits, being assigned to souls with the same behavior patterns. It seems these empathetic guides are graded on how well they do in their assignments to affect positive change.
All guides have compassion for their students, but teaching approaches vary. I find some guides constantly helping their students on Earth, while others demand their charges work out lessons with little overt encouragement. The maturity of the soul is, of course, a factor. Certainly graduate students get less help than freshmen. Aside from the developmental level, I look at the intensity of individual desire as another consideration in the frequency of appearance and form of assistance one receives from his or her guide during a life.
As to gender assignments, I find no consistent correlation of male and female subjects to masculine or feminine appearing guides. On the whole, people accept the gender portrayed by their guide as quite natural. It could be argued that this is because they have become used to them over eons of relative time as males or females rather than the assumption that one sex IS more effective than another between specific students and teachers. Some guides appear as mixed genders, which lends support to souls being truly androgynous. One client told me, “My guide is sometimes Alexis or Alex, dropping in and out of both sexes, depending on my need for male or female advice.”
From what I can determine, the procedure for teacher selection is carefully managed in the spirit world. Every human being has at least one senior, or a higher master guide, assigned to their soul since the soul was first created. Many of us inherit a newer, secondary guide later in our existence, such as Karla, in the previous chapter. For want of a better term, I have called these student teachers junior guides.
Aspiring junior guides can anticipate the beginning of their training near the end of Level III, as they progress into the upper intermediate stages of development. Actually, we begin our training as subordinate guides long before attaining Level IV. In the lower stages of development we help others in life as friends and between lives assist our peer group associates with counseling. Junior and senior teaching assignments appear to reflect the will of master guides, who form a kind of governing body, similar to a trusteeship, over the younger guides of the spirit world. We will see examples of how the process of guide development works in Chapters Ten and Eleven, which cover cases of more advanced souls.
Do all guides have the same teaching abilities, and does this affect the size of the group to which we are assigned in the spirit world? The following passage is from the case file of an experienced soul who discussed this question with me.
Case 17
Dr. N: I’m curious about teacher assignments in the spirit world in relation to their abilities to help undeveloped souls. When souls progress as guides, are they given quite a few souls to work with?
S: Only the more practiced ones.
Dr. N; I would imagine large groups of souls needing guides could become quite a responsibility for one advanced guide-even with an assistant.
S: They can handle it. Size doesn’t matter.
Dr. N: Why not?
S: Once you attain competency and success as a teacher, the number of souls you are given doesn’t matter. Some sections (clusters) have lots of souls and others don’t.
Dr. N: So, if you are a senior in the blue light aura, class size has no relation to assignments, because you have the ability to handle large numbers of souls?
S: I didn’t exactly say that. Much depends upon the types of souls in a section and the experience of the leaders. In the larger sections they have help too, you know.
Dr. N: Who does?
S: The guides you are calling seniors.
Dr. N: Well, who helps them?
S: The overseers. Now, they are the real pros.
Dr. N: I have heard them also called master teachers.
S: That’s not a bad description for them.
Dr. N: What energy color do they project to you?
S: It’s … purplish.
Note: As signified in Figure 3 in the last chapter, the lower ranges of a Level V radiate a sky-blue energy. With advancing maturity this aura grows more dense, first to a muted midnight blue and finally to deep purple, representing the total integration of a Level VI ascended master.
Dr. N: Since guides seem to have different approaches to teaching, what do they all have in common?
S: They wouldn’t be teachers if they didn’t have a love of training and a desire to help us join them.
Dr. N: Then define for me why souls are selected as guides. Take a typical guide and tell me what qualities that advanced soul possesses.
S: They must be compassionate without being too easy on you. They aren’t judgmental. You don’t have to do things their way. They don’t restrain by imposing their values on you.
Dr. N: Okay, those are things guides don’t do. If they don’t over-direct souls, what are the important things they do, as you see it?
S: Uh … they build morale in their sections and instill confidence-we all know they have been through a lot themselves. We are accepted for who we are as individuals with the right to make our own mistakes.
Dr. N: I must say, I have found souls very loyal to their guides.
S: That’s why-because they never give up on you.
Dr. N: What would you say is the most important attribute of any guide? S: (without hesitation) The ability to motivate you and instill courage.
My next case provides an example of the actions of a still-incarnating guide. This guide is called Owa, and he represents the qualities of a devoted teacher reported by the last case. Evidently, his early assignments as a guide involved looking after the subject in Case 18 in a direct fashion, and his methods apparently have not changed. My client was stunned once she recognized her guide’s latest incarnation.
Owa made his first appearance as a guide in my client’s past about 50 BC. He was described as an old man living in a Judean village which had been overrun by Roman soldiers. Case 18 was then a young girl, orphaned by a Roman raid against local dissidents. In the opening scene Of this past life, she spoke about working in a tavern as a virtual slave. As a serving girl, she was constantly beaten by the owner and occasionally raped by Roman customers. She died at age twenty-six of overwork, mistreatment, and despair. This subject made the following statement from her subconscious mind about an old man in her village: “I worked day and night and felt numb with pain and humiliation. He was the only person who was kind to me-who taught me to trust in myself-to have faith in something higher and finer than the cruel people around me.”
Later in the superconscious state, this client detailed parts of other difficult lives where Owa appeared as a trusted friend, and once as a brother. In this state she saw these people were all the same entity and was able to name this soul as Owa, her guide. There were many lives when Owa did not appear, and sometimes his physical contact was only fleeting when he came to help her. Abruptly, I asked if Owa might possibly be in her life now? After a moment of hesitation, my subject began to shake uncontrollably. Tears came to her eyes and she cried out from the vision in her mind.
Case 18
S: Oh, Lord-I knew it! I knew there was something different about him.
Dr. N: About who?
S: My son! Owa is my son Brandon.
Dr. N: Your son is actually Owa?
S: Yes, yes! (laughing and crying at the same time) I knew it! I felt it right from the day I delivered him-something wonderfully familiar and special to me-more than just a helpless baby… oh
Dr. N: What did you know the day he was born?
S: I didn’t really know-I felt it inside-something more than the excitement a mother feels at the time of her firstborn. I felt he came here-to help me-don’t you see? Oh, it’s so fantastic-it’s true-it’s him!
Dr. N: (I work on calming my client before continuing, because her excited wiggling around is about to carry her over the side of the office recliner) Why do you think Owa is here as your baby son Brandon?
S: (quieter now, but still crying softly) To get me through this bad time … with hard people who won’t accept me. He must have known I was in for a long period of trouble and decided to come to me as my son. We didn’t talk about doing this before I was born… what a wonderful surprise…
Note: At the time of this session, my client was struggling to gain recognition in a highly competitive business. She was also having marital difficulties at home, partly due to being the major wage earner. I have since learned she is divorced.
Dr. N: Did you sense something unusual about your baby after you took him home?
S: Yes, it started at the hospital and this feeling never left me. When I look into his eyes he… soothes me. Sometimes I come home so worn out-so tired and beat down-I am short-tempered with him when the baby-sitter leaves. But he is so patient with me. I don’t even need to hold him. The way he looks at me is … so wise. I didn’t fully understand what this meant until now. Now, I know! Oh, what a blessing. I wasn’t sure if I should even have the baby-now I see it all.
Dr. N: What do you see?
S: (in a firm voice) As I try to advance in my profession, people are getting … harder … not accepting what I know and can do. My husband and I are having trouble. He puts me down for pushing too hard … wanting to achieve. Owa-Brandon-is here to keep me strong so I can overcome
Dr. N: And do you think it is all right we discovered your guide is with you as Brandon in this life?
S: Yes, if Owa didn’t want me to know that he decided to come into life, I wouldn’t have come to see you-it wouldn’t have been on my mind.
This exceptional case represents the emotional intoxication a subject feels when an in-life contact is made with their guide. Notice the role Owa chose did not infringe upon the most typical role usually taken by a soulmate. He did not come through as her spouse, and never has, in any of her past lives. Certainly, soulmates take other roles besides spouses, but an incarnating guide does not normally take a role which might transgress between two soulmates working on their lives together. This client’s soulmate happens to be an old flame from high school.
Based upon all the information I was able to gather, Owa seems to have moved into the level of a junior guide in the last two-thousand years. He may possibly graduate into the blue level of a senior guide before this client is qualified herself to rise from white to a yellow energy aura. Regardless of the number of centuries this takes, Owa will remain as her guide, even though he may never incarnate again with her in a life.
Do we ever catch up to our guides in development? Eventually, perhaps, but I can say I have not seen any evidence of this in my cases. Souls who develop relatively fast are gifted, but so are the guides who assist them.
It is not uncommon to find guides working in pairs with people on Earth, each with their own approaches to teaching. In these cases one is dominant, although the more experienced senior guide may actually be less evident in day-to-day activities of their charges. The reason for this spiritual arrangement in tandem is because one of the pair is either in training (such as a junior guide under a senior), or the association is so long-standing between the two guides (as with a senior to a master) that a permanent relationship has evolved. The senior guide may have acquired his or her own cluster of souls, which is still monitored by a master overseeing a number of soul groups.
Teams of guides do not interfere with each other in or out of the spirit world. I have a close friend whose guides illustrate how two teachers working together complement each other. Using this individual’s case is appropriate, because I have observed the way this person’s two guides interact in various life circumstances. My friend’s junior guide appears in the form of a kindly, nurturing Native American medicine woman called Quan. Dressed simply in a deerskin sheath, her long hair pulled back, Quan’s soft face is bathed in vivid light during her appearances. When she is called,
Quan provides a vehicle for insight and understanding events and the individuals associated with those events, which are troubling to my friend.
Quan’s desire to lighten the load of the rather difficult life my friend has chosen is tempered by a challenging male figure called Giles. Giles is clearly a senior guide who may be close to being a master in the spirit world. In this capacity, he does not appear nearly as often as Quan. When Giles does come into my friend’s higher consciousness, he does so abruptly. Here is a sample of how a senior guide operates differently from one of junior status.
Case 19
Dr. N: When you are in deep reflection over a serious problem, how does Giles come to you?
S: (laughs) Not the same as Quan-I can tell you. Usually, he likes to … hide a little… at first… behind a shadow of … blue vapor. I hear him chuckling before I see him.
Dr. N: You mean he appears first as a blue energy form?
S: Yes … to hide himself a bit-he likes to be secretive, but it doesn’t last long.
Dr. N: Why?
S: I don’t know-to make sure I really want him, I guess.
Dr. N: Well, when he shows himself, what does Giles look like to you?
S: An Irish Leprechaun.
Dr. N: Oh, then he is a small man?
S: (laughs again) An elf figure-tangled hair all over his wrinkled face-he looks a mess and moves constantly in all directions.
Dr. N: Why does he do that?
S: Giles is a slippery character-impatient, too-he frowns a lot while he paces back and forth in front of me with his arms clasped in back of him.
Dr. N: And how would you interpret this behavior?
S: Giles is not dignified like some (guides) … but he is very clever … crafty.
Dr. N: Could you be more specific as to how this conduct relates to you?
S: (strained) Giles has made me look upon my lives as a chess game with the Earth as the board. Certain moves bring certain results and there are no easy solutions. I plan, and then things go wrong during the game in my life. I sometimes think he lays traps for me to work through on the board.
Dr. N: Do you prosper with this technique of your advanced guide? Has Giles been a help to your problem-solving during the game of life?
S: (pause) … More afterward … here (in the spirit world) … but, he makes me work so damn hard on Earth.
Dr. N: Could you get rid of him and just work with Quan?
S: (smiles ruefully) It doesn’t work that way here. Besides, he is brilliant.
Dr. N: So, we don’t get to choose our guides?
S: No way. They choose you.
Dr. N: Do you have any idea why you have two guides who approach your problems so differently in the way they help you?
S: No, I don’t, but I consider myself very fortunate. Quan… is gentle… and steady with her support.
Note: The embodiments of Native Americans who once lived in North America make powerful spiritual guides for those of us who have followed them to live in this land. The large number of Americans who report having such guides lends support to my belief that souls are attracted to geographical settings they have known during earlier incarnations.
Dr. N: What do you like most about Giles’ teaching methods?
S: (pensively) Oh, the way he-well, trifles with me-almost mocking me to do better during the game and stop feeling sorry for myself. When things get especially rough he prods me and keeps me going … insisting I use all my abilities. There is nothing soft about Giles.
Dr. N: And you feel this coaching on Earth, even when you and I are not working together?
S: Yes, when I meditate and go inside myself… or during my dreams.
Dr. N: And Giles comes when you want him?
S: (after some hesitation) No … although it seems as though I have been with him forever. Quan does come to me more. I can’t just grab hold of Giles in any situation I want, unless what I have going on is really serious. He is elusive.
Dr. N: Sum up your feelings about Quan and Giles for me.
S: I love Quan as a mother, but I wouldn’t be where I am without Giles’ discipline.
They are both skillful because they allow me to benefit from my mistakes.
These two guides are a cooperating team of instructors, which is standard procedure for those people who have two guides. In this case, Giles enjoys teaching karmic lessons by the Socratic method. Providing no clues in advance, he makes sure problem-solving on major issues is never easy for my friend. Quan, on the other hand, provides comfort and gentle encouragement.
When my friend comes to me for a hypnosis session, I am aware that Quan remains in the background when Giles is on-board and active. Giles is a caring guide, as all guides are, but without a trace of indulgence. Adversity is allowed to build to the absolute limits of my friend’s ability to cope before solutions suddenly begin to unfold. To be honest, I see Giles as a wicked taskmaster. This view is not really shared by my friend, who is grateful for the challenges offered by this complex teacher.
What is the average spiritual guide like? In my experience, no two guides are the same. These dedicated higher entities give me the impression of having attitudinal swings toward me from one session to the next, and even within the same session with a client. They can be cooperative or obstructive, tolerant or disobliging, evasive or revealing, or just flat out unconcerned with anything I do with a subject. I have great respect for guides because these powerful figures play such an important part in our destiny, but I must admit they can frustrate my inquiries. I find them enigmatic because they are unpredictable in their relations with me as a facilitator.
Early in this century, it was common for mediums working with people in hypnosis to call any discarnate entity in the room a ”control,” because they acted as the director of communications on the spiritual side for the subject. It was recognized that a spiritual control (whether a guide or not) had energy patterns which were in emotional, intellectual, and spiritual attunement with the subject. The importance of a harmonious energy pattern between facilitator and these entities was also known. If a control is blocking my investigations with a client, I search for the reason why this is happening. With some blocking guides I must fight for every scrap of information, while others give me a great deal of latitude in a session. I never forget that guides have every right to block my approach to problems with souls under their care. After all, I have their people as my subjects for only a short while. Frankly, I would much rather have no contact with a client’s guide than work with one who might assist me at one point and then block the rhythm of memory in the next portion of a session.
I believe a guide’s motivation for blocking information goes far beyond resisting the immediate psychological direction a therapy session is taking. I am constantly searching for new data on the spirit world. A guide who lends support to a free flow of past life memories from one of my subjects may balk at my far-reaching questions about life on other planets, the structure of the spirit world, or creation itself. This is why I am only able to collect these spiritual secrets in fragments from a large body of client information reflecting the discretion of many guides. I also feel that I am receiving assistance from my own spiritual guide during communications with subjects and their guides.
Occasionally, a subject will express dissatisfaction with his or her particular guide. This is usually temporary. At any time, people are capable of believing their guides are too difficult and not working in their best interests, or just not paying enough attention to them. A subject once told me that he had tried for a long time to be assigned another guide. He said, “My guide is stonewalling me, she doesn’t give enough of herself.” The man told me his desire for a change in guides was not honored. I observed that he spent considerable time alone, without much group interaction after his last two lives, because he refused to deal with his issues. He projected anger toward his guide for not rescuing him from bad situations.
Our teachers really don’t get perturbed with us to the point of alienation, but I notice they have a way of making themselves scarce when disgruntled students avoid real problem-solving. Guides only want the best for us and sometimes this means they must watch us endure much pain to reach certain objectives. Guides cannot assist in our progress until we are ready to make the necessary changes in order to take full advantage of life’s Opportunities.
Do we have reason to be fearful of our guides? In Chapter Five, with Case 13, we saw an obviously younger soul who expressed some trepidation right after death about meeting the guide Clodees for debriefing. Typically, this concern does not last. We may feel chagrined over having to explain to our guides why goals were not attained, but they understand. They want us to interpret our past lives so we will have the benefit of assisting in the analysis of mistakes.
My clients express all sorts of sentiments about their guides, but fear is not among them. On the contrary, people are more worried about being abandoned by spiritual advisors during difficult periods in their lives. Our relationship with guides is one of students and teachers rather than defendants and judges. Our personal guides help us cope with the separateness and isolation which every soul inherits at physical birth, regardless of the degree of love extended by our family. Guides give us an affirmation of Self in a crowded world.
People want to know if their guides always come whenever they call for help. Guides are not consistent in the manner in which they choose to assist us, because they carefully evaluate how badly they are needed. I am also asked if hypnosis is the best way to get in contact with one’s guide. Naturally, I lean toward hypnosis, because I know how potent and effective this medium can be to obtain detailed spiritual information. However, hypnosis by a trained facilitator is not convenient on a daily basis, where meditation, prayer, and perhaps channeling with another person would be. Self-hypnosis, as a form of deep meditation, is an excellent alternative and may be preferred by those who have a fear of being hypnotized by others, or don’t want the interference of a second party in their spiritual life.
Regardless of the method used, we all have the capacity to send out far-reaching thought waves from our higher consciousness. Every person’s thoughts represent a mental fingerprint to guides marking who and where we are. During our lives, especially in periods of great stress, most people feel the presence of someone watching out for them. We may not be able to describe this power, but it is there nonetheless.
Reaching our soul is the first step on the ladder of finding our higher power. All lines of mental communication we use to reach a God-head are monitored by our guides on this step. They, too, have their guides further up the ladder. The entire ladder serves as one unbroken conduit to the source of all intelligent energy, with each rung being part of the whole. It is essential for people to have faith that a prayer for help will be answered by their own higher power. This is why guides are vitally important to our spiritual and temporal lives. If we are relaxed and in a state of concentrated focus, an inner voice speaks to us. And, even if we didn’t initiate the message, we should trust what we hear.
National surveys by psychologists indicate one person in ten admits to hearing voices which are frequently positive and instructional in nature. It is a relief for many people to learn their inner voices are not the hallucinations associated with the mentally ill. Rather than something to be worried about, an inner voice is like having your own resident counselor on call. More often than not, these voices are those of our guides.
Guides assigned to different souls do work together relaying urgent mental messages for each other. People unable to help themselves in critical situations may find counselors, friends, and even strangers coming to their aid at just the right moment.
The inner strength which comes to us in our daily lives does not arrive as much by a visual picture of actually seeing our guides, as from the feelings and emotions which convince us we are not alone. People who listen and encourage their inner voice through quiet contemplation say they feel a personal connection with an energy beyond themselves which offers support and reassurance. If you prefer to call this internal guidance system inspiration or intuition, that is fine, because the system which aids us is an aspect of ourselves as well as higher powers.
During troublesome times in our lives, we have the tendency to ask for guidance to immediately set things right. When they are in trance, my clients see that their guides don’t help them solve all their problems at once, rather they illuminate pathways by the use of clues. This is one reason why I am cautious about client- blocking during hypnosis. Insight is best revealed with a controlled pace relative to each person. A concerned teacher may not want all aspects of a problem uncovered at a given point in time for his or her student. We vary in our ability to handle revelations.
When asking for help from your higher spiritual power, I think it is best not to demand immediate change. Our success in life is predicated on planning, but we do have alternative paths to choose from to reach certain goals. When seeking guidance, I suggest requesting help with just the next step in your life. When you do this, be prepared for unexpected possibilities. Have the faith and humility to open yourself up to a variety of paths toward solutions.
After death we do not experience sadness as souls with the same emotional definition as grief felt in physical form. Yet, as we have already seen, souls are not detached beings without feelings. I have learned those powers who watch over us also feel what I call a spiritual sorrow when they see us making poor choices in life and going through pain. Certainly, our soul-mates and peers suffer distress when we are tormented, but so do our guides. Guides may not show sorrow in orientation conferences and during soul group discussions between lives, but they keenly feel their responsibilities toward us as teachers.
In Chapter Eleven, we will get the perspective of a guide at Level V. I have never found a person who is a living grade VI, or master guide, as a subject. I suspect we don’t have a whole lot of these advanced souls on Earth at any one time. Most Level VI’s are much too involved with planning and directing from the spirit world to incarnate any longer. From the reports of the Level V’s I have had, it would seem the Level VI has no new lessons to learn, but I have a hunch a still-incarnating soul at Level V may not know all the esoteric tasks involved with master level entities.
Once in a while during a session with a more advanced soul, I hear references to an even higher level of soul than Level VI. These entities, to whom even the masters report, are in the darkest purple range of energy. These superior beings must be getting close to the creator. I am told these shadowy figures are elusive, but highly venerated beings in the spirit world.
The average client doesn’t know if spiritual guides should be placed in a less than divine category, or considered lesser gods because of their advancement. There is nothing wrong with any spiritual concept, as long as it provides comfort, is uplifting, and makes sense to each individual. Although some of my clients have the tendency to consider guides god-like-they are not God. In my opinion, guides are no more or less divine than we are, which is why they are seen as personal beings. In all my cases God is never seen. People in hypnosis say they feel the presence of a supreme power directing the spirit world, but they are uncomfortable using the word “God” to describe a creator. Perhaps the philosopher Spinoza said it best with these words: “God is not He who is, but That which is.”
Every soul has a spiritual higher power linked to its existence. All souls are part of the same divine essence generated from one oversoul. This intelligent energy is universal in scope and so we all share in divine status. If our soul reflects a small portion of the oversoul we call God, then our guides provide the mirror by which we are able to see ourselves connected to this creator.
