| Chapter 8 in the ongoing series, Unlocking Your Karmic Potential
Reader Note: Unlocking Your Karmic Potential … is series of articles I’ve created to help you navigate your journey here on Earth with greater soul-awareness. Think of it as a foundation from which to build a deeper understanding of the karmic lessons you are working through within this lifetime, the roles your spirit guides play, and why understanding things like energy, dreams, shadow work and chakras can make a profound difference in your life – a life lived with clarity, confidence and purpose.
Remember this, way back in the beginning of this series?
“I’m sharing this with you now because there was a time in my own life when I fought the soul-awareness I had at a very young and tender age (you can read about my story here). I resisted tooth and nail for many years, because I just didn’t understand how to translate what seemed like a foreign language. I felt confused, alone, and angry trying to figure out how to navigate day-to-day life, let alone my spiritual nature or intuitive gifts! I remember wishing I had a map, or a manual to help me.
I didn’t know it then, but Spirit was listening. While the path I took to where I am now was crooked, and at times very dark, Spirit was always with me.
That was one of the hardest lessons I’ve ever had to learn, and it’s one of many that I very much want to help you learn and realize for yourself as you cultivate greater self and soul-awareness: you are never alone. You are always being guided, supported, and loved by Spirit.”
In the story previously shared of my childhood, when I was that little girl lost on Earth – I always felt watched. This sensation has never, ever dissipated for me, up until this very day. As that small and anxious little girl, it seemed as if a chorus of eyes from up on high followed my every move; at times this was a comfort, still others a sense of heightened loneliness (for if they watched over me, it was only a reminder that they had left me here).
It fueled my sense of wonder and confusion: who were they? Why did they watch over me, what were their reasons? There were times when this sense of ‘they’ would filter into a direct experience in my life that served to keep me safe from myself. Or, teach me a swift and hard lesson.
It wasn’t until my early 20’s after a series of bad choices (my own challenge chakras making themselves known!) that I began to earnestly walk the path of understanding and owning my gifts, and eventually my purpose in this life. And slowly, slowly – I developed not only a greater awareness of just who was watching over me, but eventually, a deep and loving relationship with them. When I look back over my life at many moments of ‘divine intervention’, I now recognize that these ‘beings watching over me’ that I felt so acutely, were indeed, my soul guides.
If you’ve ever wondered “Do I have a guardian angel, or a soul guide? Are they real? Is anyone looking out for me?” I’m here to tell you emphatically that yes, you do and yes, they are indeed.
Every one of us are born with soul guides. Some of these guides help us for just one lifetime, others for several.
PERSONAL STORY
It was 1990 and I lived alone in an awesome first-floor apartment near downtown. Earlier in the day, my heater was on the fritz — I would have to wait until Monday to call the property manager. I was watching TV, eating a singleton dinner when someone knocked on my back door.
Through the door’s window, I saw a man dressed in our local energy provider uniform — I asked him through the door why he was there. He said that he was here to fix my heater if I could just let him in. Something struck me as Very Odd; still, I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt, and my first thought was — awesome, how did he know?
As I reached up to unlock the deadbolt, I heard a powerful, strange, booming voice in my head, shooting through my bones: DO! NOT! OPEN! THE DOOR!
My hand stopped in mid-air, shaking a little more than I liked. The man at the door was insistent, “Lady, your manager will be real mad you didn’t let me in to fix this!” After telling him a few times to go away, and that I was calling my property manager, he finally left. The very next day, I heard on the radio about a man going around our area raping women — using local uniforms to gain access to their homes. It felt as if I’d experienced nothing short of divine intervention.
So who are they, these Soul Guides?
Proper Guides
There is the main type of Soul Guide, whom I call your ‘proper’ Soul Guide. Disincarnate, this guide resides on the Other Side. They are more evolved than the soul they are guiding, however, they are also always learning and evolving. They may even be learning how to be guides, in fact (remember, we all start somewhere, even soul guides!).
Soul Guides are focused on the overall arc of your soul’s purpose, in this lifetime and through many others; they are completely dedicated to your well-being and evolutionary success whether you are incarnated on Earth or are in between lifetimes. They were with you when your soul created it’s chosen soul constellation for this life – your life – and therefore, they have unique insight and awareness as to the ingredients of your karmic cocktail. They know your true blind spots, your self-sabotaging patterns, and your deepest hopes and fears that transcend even the trials or the wonderful events of this lifetime. They know what your karma is and how you can move through it.
They know it all (and they love your for it!).
And that’s why they are so important to engage with – imagine, having your very own personal Obi-Wan Kenobi to guide you, walk with you through all the ups and downs of your life. They are here now, helping you with your karmic patterns, gently witnessing every moment, every experience that generates further karma (and praying it will be for the goodness of your soul). They love you and are completely devoted to you – mind, they also practice tough love and are not to be considered push-overs.
Each guide has a distinct personality, just as we do. Some are very serious and somber, some are very light-hearted and fun, even prone to light-hearted jokes and puns. Know, however, that they do not have the same ego attachments to emotions that we have.
Deceased friends and family as spirit guides
A deceased loved one’s spirit can also become a kind of guide for you. The only caveat is that they often have an agenda of some kind; it’s hard for them to distance themselves objectively, just as it’s difficult for us to do this with our friends and family overall.
So for example, if grandma comes through after having passed, and she’s trying to offer support or help in some way, she may also still want something done within the family dynamics, for instance, and is prompting you to complete it. This may be helpful for you and your current needs … but then again, it may not.
This is why I don’t consider these kind of guides as proper ones, because a proper guide is not as concerned with those ego constructs that an ancestor or friend who has passed over may be.
As a medium, I find that it’s important to be clear what aspect of the deceased – the ‘loved one’ someone is seeking connection with, for instance – that you are connecting with: their egoic aspect, or the actual soul of that deceased person.
When doing shamanic-style healing (as opposed to say, a psychic-medium reading), I find there is often an interplay with ancestors and influencers from their soul level, and their egoic aspects from specific lifetimes, such as the role they played as a family member. (If you seek support with mediums, it helps to know that we all connect with those from the other side in different ways, some moreso with the soul aspects, and some moreso with the ego or ‘family member’ ones.)
I have had, however, rare situations where someone deceased has shown up clearly as a proper Soul Guide in sessions with clients; the deceased will usually make that clear to me, and why they are doing so. As with so many things in life, there are always exceptions.
Soul guides are focused on the overall arc of who you are as a SOUL, not merely this specific lifetime and this ego (!). They are looking at the overall purpose, and song that is being co-created by your soul with you, created over lifetimes.
In addition to your Soul Guides, there is also a very special kind of guide, so let’s explore them a bit here. This is your Soul Guardian, or what I also call your Gatekeeper.
Soul guardians are specifically aligned with protecting you, and often you may find that a closely developed relationship with a deity serves this role as a guide better than a proper Soul Guide.
While other guides may be much more inclined to stand by and let you figure out how to fall and get up, a gatekeeper – particularly a deity one – is more likely to warn you against negative influence in your life. (Though this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t practice your own judgment or discernment – you still need to be in charge of your decisions and actions!)
Soul Guardians are very protective in nature. I work with a few – one has been with me for over 25 years and counting, and I trust him deeply. He’s shown me again and again that he will always have my back and my best interest at heart. As with any guardian, he has been incredibly helpful when dealing with energetic cording or interference from an Energy Vampire or Energy Pirate, or similar challenges. (See Chapter Seven for more info on those surly characters!)
I’ve learned this the hard way, though, with some very challenging experiences that occurred when I ignored what guidance was telling me (did I mention that I’m hard headed?). At one point, after countless warnings he put his (energetic) foot down and essentially told me, Listen, you really need to pay attention here, you are about to have a huge problem on your hands and I won’t be able to help.
And in fact, at one point he made it clear that he would ‘fade’ away his support if I continued to refuse to heed his (serious) warnings. It took me a while, and I made a lot of mistakes along the way. But I’m sharing this with you now so that you hopefully can avoid the same road I went down. If a Soul Guardian is warning you, pay attention!
This is just one example of how Guardians may serve as a powerful gatekeepers. They help you establish a threshold – a strong, healthy boundary – that you do not allow others to cross unless in right relationship.
Consider that your boundaries are much like energetic territories in your personal energetic ‘ecosystem,’ where you are sovereign. Respect and honor your own, as well as those of others. Your Soul Guardian can help you with this. (Wolf was chosen here as a wonderful example of guardians of territory, and being in relationship with their ecosystem.)
It’s worth noting that how you ask your guides questions can also mean everything: it’s one thing for me to ask if I can help a person, for instance, and another one entirely to ask if I should.
Always consider your queries when you are engaging guides, especially your guardians! Keep your questions elegant and precise.
This is a complex topic in general, soul guides – and additionally, soul guardians – there is much more to discuss than intended here for this brief article. In hopes of better supporting those who feel called, I created a self-study course where I go into much greater depth, Your Soul Tribe: create a relationship with your soul guides.
You are welcome to check out this comprehensive tutorial that gives you the freedom to cultivate a relationship with your personal soul guide and soul guardian, at your own pace. You can check that out HERE if you like.
For now, however, let’s focus on highlighting some foundational points:
- Your soul guides are helping you with your karmic patterns – and they are most concerned in fact, with your karma. This is one of the reasons why they are so important to engage with, because they know everything about you.
- They love you, they are completely devoted to you – so please don’t think of it in a judgment sense. They are here to help you!
- They know what your karma is and want to help you with it; they want to help you ripen your karma.
Glossary
Energy Pirates: Energy Pirates, unlike Energy Vampires, don’t really mean you ill-will, but they have issues and challenges that handicap them in some way: they may be siphoning energy off others to compensate as needed. In truth, we ALL are pirates at one point or another in our lives. See Energy Vampires.
Energy Vampires: Energy Vampires actively siphon energy from you or interfere with your energy system, and may even attach to you (yes, this happens, though it’s more rare than some would think). Vampires can be active on a very unconscious level, or conscious one, whether discarnate or in corporeal form. See Energy Pirates.
Note: We are called to have compassion for both of these energy types in our personal and greater communities even as we take the necessary steps to protect ourselves. Never allow someone to actively steal or siphon your life force.
Right Relationship: When all is in alignment, we have right relationship – a state of being. If there is an attachment or cording that is undermining one’s well being, or many various challenges, we are not in this state and therefore are not in right relationship. We can experience this within our own physical body and energetic system, as well as with the other people’s energy systems, and the world’s systems (eco, energetic) as well. While this can be a very personal definition for the individual, there are usually core laws of the Universe that apply to all: for instance, never hand over your life force to anyone or any thing. Ever.
