Allies in the Spirit World

Allies in the Spirit World
by Christopher Penczak
Everybody on this planet has a spiritual support team. This group is our
backup in the game of life. Entering the material world is like taking on a
deadly mission for the CIA or MI-6. Pretend you are the next James Bond. You
come in with certain assets and talents from previous missions, but are
placed in situations out of your element. But you are not alone in your
mission. You have backup. Someone will brief you on your mission, outline
your goals, and warn you of the pitfalls. Another person, Q in the James
Bond movies, gives you your equipment. He explains all the special things
you can do. You will meet up with other agents in the field who will pass
new information and orders to you. Some agents are seen and others remain in
the shadows, secretly sending you codes.

As you continue your career, you make your own contacts with other agents
and agencies. You can communicate to headquarters through special equipment,
focusing on frequencies only you and your team know. You have special codes
and signals worked out. They are there for you. Without them, your mission
is much harder.

In the real world, our team is made up of our spirit allies. We come into
the world with this team, and build on it through our spiritual practices
and experiences. We build our team and it changes as we change our beliefs.
Those deeper on the spiritual path, with active, daily pursuit, will attract
more allies, just as Native Americans believe that although everyone has a
spirit ally of some type, shamans have more. If you pursue spirit allies and
wish to complete your life goals, more allies will come because you are
helping them complete their goals. The relationship works both ways.

A lot of the Native American spirits are making themselves known to seekers
living in the Americas, regardless of genetic background. Spirits who lived
as shamans and medicine men are teaching their wisdom by becoming spirit
guides.

The spiritual support team contains many roles. You might find one ally
performing many roles at once or have a very large and highly specialized
team, where each ally has a single function and never works beyond that
realm. Allies also change roles as we progress in our development.

The Guide
The first and most popular spirit is the guide. This ally comes to help us
through life's tough transitions. The guide is really our first spirit
friend, one who talks to us on an equal level. Once we open the lines of
communication with our spirit guide, we can talk about our issues and their
solutions. Guides offer powerful, life-changing advice. Be prepared to hear
the answers to the questions you ask.

Guides are an opportunity for you to simply talk out your day and share with
someone if you have difficulty talking to those around you. Like a good
friend they will not offer solutions if not asked, preferring you to figure
it out on your own. Guides do offer encouragement, though. They are there to
help you find the way. Guides are not a replacement for human contact and
will encourage you to make new friends and meet new people. They want you to
explore your life fully.

Not only are guides for spiritual and emotional support, but they are
available for professional support and simple conversation. Many guides
appear when I am doing a tarot reading for someone, giving me new
information or pointing out things my conscious mind missed when explaining
the cards. Other guides aid me in healing work. I see and feel them working
next to me during a Reiki session. Guides help me in the classes I teach,
urging me to cover a topic I normally would not cover because it fits the
immediate needs of someone in the class.

These guiding spirits are readily available for simple discourse, giving
direct information on somewhat spiritual topics, like explaining the human
chakra system, herbalism, or hermetic philosophy. For those who think they
are simply talking to themselves, these conversations will open your eyes.
You will be amazed at how much information you can get from a guide on a
topic you never studied. Then find a book on it and things will all fall
into place. The information from your guide is correct, but they usually
expand on the subject. If you are simply having an internal dialogue, how
would you know such specific facts and concepts?

Guardians
Doing security detail in our spiritual support team is the guardian. A
guardian is any ally invoked for protection. The main criteria are that they
have power and province over the physical to protect your body. Guardians
protect our entire being, the physical along with the emotion, astral,
mental, and spiritual bodies. Icelandic mages call these beings v?rdhr, or
wardens. If the guardian has no power in the physical, then your flesh and
blood can still get hurt.

Pagan gods and goddesses, ruling aspects of nature, appear as guardians,
among other things. Many gods are called on for protection. They do not have
to be from pagan mythology. Jesus Christ or Buddha can be called on for
protection. Jesus is particularly powerful for banishing harmful spirits.
Also, because Hebrew is a sacred, power language, speaking it can move
energy. Any of the Hebrew names for God, like Yahweh, Jehovah, Shekena, or
Adoni, can be called out for protection.

Guides and power animals serve as guardians. More traditional guardian
allies are our guardian angels. Everyone has one. Angels need to be asked
for help to maximize their protective skills, since they, like other allies,
do not interfere with free will. Allies do not stop the games we play. You
do not need to know their name; simply ask your guardian angel or spirit to
protect you in times of danger. Recently my group was doing a ritual
involving angels, everyone in the group commented that they felt or saw the
presence of everyone else's guardian angels circling us.

The Higher Self
As everyone has a guardian or guardian angel, everyone has a higher self.
The teaching of all religions, at the core, is that we are all divine
beings. The path is to remember our divinity. We are all being challenged to
live with our higher self more fully in the world and not be dragged down by
harmful thoughts and emotions. That doesn't mean we suppress them. We
acknowledge them, work through them, and move on. Anger, hate, jealousy, and
resentment should never be held or ignored, but honored.

The higher self is the prime director of your spiritual support team. From
this chief spirit ally, all others take their cue. No one but you knows what
is best for you. If you invoke your higher self and ask your intentions to
be correct and for your highest good, you are asking that things be worked
into your own grand design. As co-creators, our soul, our higher self, chose
all the variables -- our bodies, parents, family, friends, situations. They
are all perfect for our mission here; they are not random circumstances.
Your higher self is in partnership with the Great Spirit. It makes no
mistakes for you. Other spiritual beings on your team can have a different
opinion. They guide you, but ideally your higher self has the final approval
on everything. Allies are in constant communion with your higher aspect.

The more in alignment with your higher self you are, the easier things
become. The world flows with you. Agonizing choices between extremes are a
thing of the past. The right doors open. You still have challenges and face
difficult circumstances, but you know it's your path and have a great
conscious power to change your path to your liking. You are doing your
dharma, your life's work.

The Shadow
Some consider the shadow self to be the lower self or psychic self,
balancing the higher self, with no stigma or testing associated with it.
Other traditions consider the shadow to be the antithesis of the Holy
Guardian Angel or Higher Self, as an accumulation of all our "negative
karma" or misdeeds. Also known as the Dweller on the Threshold, it must be
confronted and defeated before deeper spiritual enlightenment can occur.
Personally, I see the shadow as part of our lower, psychic, and instinctive
self, but it's the part of our power and ability that we fear and
disassociate from. It is all the thoughts, feelings, and abilities we
repress. It is a part of our unclaimed personal power. To go deeper with
your spirituality, you must recognize it, forgive it and yourself, and
integrate it better into your own self-image. The shadow can have many
layers, and you will develop a relationship with it on deeper levels as your
own awareness expands.

Material Spirits
The last major component of your team is material spirits. These allies are
devas, nature spirits, elementals, or the consciousness of your own body.
These spirits rule in the material, physical world, but sometimes lack
higher consciousness to guide their powers. They follow your instructions
and programming. Most people are unaware of these spirits and let their own
stray thoughts command these allies.

The material spirits have power over your body and health. Everyone has a
deva that forms the structure of their body. Everyone has nature spirits to
fill out the form. Our entire body, from major organs to individual cells
and the DNA within, is conscious. If you continually tell yourself you feel
like a mess, your body will give you a mess. The body listens to every word
of our internal dialogue. Positive affirmations are a way to counter this
habitual programming. Tell your body you feel healthy, balanced, and
beautiful. Reality follows thought. You are what you eat, but more
importantly you are what you think.

Material spirits have power over our resources, like prosperity, career, and
home. We have guides who help us formulate the best goals and career
decisions. Houses and apartments have acquired their own presence, created
by the family living in them. The energy and spirit there are usually
marshaled into magic for home protection, health, and happiness. If you keep
the home happy, it will help keep you happy. Elementals and spirits are
called on in ritual magic to make intentions manifest in the material plane.

TEAMWORK
Spirit allies will take various forms and roles for your benefit. Allies may
be very fluid, changing as you change. There is no deception in this. We
simply see them in the forms most comfortable or needed, as indicated by our
subconscious. Spirit is free form. All beings past this side of the many
veils are in touch with their multidimensional nature. The duty of our
guides is to reawaken us to our own multidimensional existence. Part of each
of us lives beyond the veils. Allies support us by opening new doorways in
our consciousness.

As you work with the team, you discover each ally has very individual
traits. Each has a specific personality. Each has an identity. These
vibrations are recognized, either through their voice if you are
clairaudient, or simply by their presence, even if you see no image of them.
They have a unique energy signature to tune in to, and you are one of the
few people who has a direct line to them.

Position of the Players
Often you can feel allies are in a particular space around you. Those
individuals with many spirit allies are at times adamant about where the
guide is, to their left, right, above them, below them, or off to the side.
Guides seem to be whispering into the left ear or the right. The side of the
body they appear on gives insight into the lessons they share. The left side
is controlled by the right side of the brain, which is more creative and
intuitive and usually regarded as more feminine. Many guides work through
these traits, since intuition and psychic powers go hand in hand. The left
half of the brain controls the right side of the body. The characteristics
considered more masculine, like logic, reason, and aggression are part of
the left side. Esoterically, we usually project energy from the right hand
and receive energy from the left, unless we are left-handed. Once you
understand the flow of energy, you can control the flow of energy from each
hand and reverse it as needed.

If a guide appears lower to the ground or off to the side, it is probably
working with grounding issues, health, and being comfortable in the physical
realm and in your body. You need support and strength. When the guide is
floating above your head, you are working with the mind and perception.

Size of the Team
The spiritual support team varies in size from person to person, being as
few as one or as many as several dozen. When there is only one, that ally
fills all the tasks in the entire team and tends to be a very versatile
spirit. The larger teams bring specialization, with one spirit having
expertise in a particular topic, but no measurable information on other
aspects of life.

Team Communication
Request that your allies work together. They might not start as a team,
particularly if there are cultural or mythic differences among them. They
need to communicate together to effectively help you. Most move in harmony,
working out their differences and opinions beyond our perception of space
and time. When we communicate with them, they already know their group
message. A small core forms, working together to fulfill the roles needed in
a good team. One spirit ally takes the leading role and is in frequent
contact. Other allies come and go as you need them. Some are always present,
but when their talents are not needed, they fade into the background. After
a time of no contact, you start to forget them. Have no fear, spirits do not
hold grudges as people do. Honor them and your experiences with them, but if
they slip your mind, there is a reason. I write down all my experiences with
spirits and periodically review them. Like looking at a journal, reflecting
on the year, I review the experiences with my allies. This way I honor our
time together and value the spirit, even if we are no longer working
together.

Blind Obedience
People who actively work with spirit allies in all forms most often stress
that they are allies, no matter what you call them. They are friends,
helpers, and guides, but equals. The relationship is like having a spiritual
big brother or sister, or even aunt or uncle. Though you often follow their
instructions, you are not meant to follow messages blindly, even when they
come for our highest good. Allies offer help and work in partnership and
cooperation with you. Ask questions for a better understanding.

Even when working with Great Spirit, or any other direct incarnation of the
divine, like the gods and goddess from across the world, you do not have to
follow blindly. Most of these beings come in unconditional love, and while
they need to be respected, like all allies, they do not order.

Do not get into a submissive role with your allies because they do not want
your blind obedience. Only harmful spirits want that. No growth comes from
blind obedience. Strong allies work for the highest good. They want you to
live in love and happiness, doing what you need to do for your own
transformation.

----------------------------------------------------------

This article was excerpted from:

Spirit Allies
by Christopher Penczak.

Reprinted with permission of the publisher, Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC. ©2002.
http://www.redwheelweiser.com
Shared with Love and Light, Rosalie xo