Guides and Trance Mediumship

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Guides Spirit Guides     Introduction There are many schools of thought on Angels, some of which we hope to cover later, but for now lets concern ourselves with spirit guides. A spirit guide is a spirit person who works closely with a medium. He/she has a variety of jobs, but their main concern is to teach the medium spiritual truth. They can be looked upon as helpers, guiding and advising the medium about clairvoyance, healing, and other spiritual skills. Who are they? A guide could be anybody, but often they have lived on earth many centuries ago. Because of the time spent in spirit, they have become highly developed in spiritual ways. They choose to remain close to the earth life, and act as a link and teacher. Many mediums will often tell of their guide as being a Red Indian or from some other exotic race. The reason is simply that Red Indians for example, lived a very spiritual existence, and also believed in their own psychic skills. Based on these backgrounds, they are ideally suited to spiritual work. But it is not always the case, the level of spirituality dictates if they able to take on the work, not the background. A guide could also be, as some mediums report, someone they knew in a previous life, or indeed a family member. Whoever the guide is, and from whatever background, the medium will have some form of affinity with them. It is this familiarity that bonds them and allows them to work closely together. One guide for one medium? For some, yes. But often a guide will be with a medium for a particular part of their life, or to teach certain things. It may also be that a medium has more than one guide, each assisting with various tasks that the medium performs. For example they may have guide that assists them with healing. For some mediums, they meet their guides very early on in their lives and that guide will stay with them until the end of their earth life. It could be that many people meet their guide in development circles, where they learn to know and trust them. Guides present themselves as people, and even have a sense of humour. They are also concerned with your personal growth not just your psychic ability, you don't have to be a medium to have a guide. Guardians & spirit helpers Mediums also have a guardian, this spirit person could be likened to a doorkeeper, he is their to protect the medium and generally keep things in order. He can be called upon to sort things out if the medium becomes overworked or confused. Unlike the guide, the guardian is not a teacher but rather an onlooker with the mediums interest in mind. There are other spirit helpers who may be known or unknown, who will aid you at certain times although it may not always be obvious to you. But if you listen to your 'gut feeling' or recognise an idea or new thought, you may have been listening to your guide or helpers! The purpose of spirit guides The guide acts a link between the medium and the world of spirit. He assists the medium to form a better contact with those who wish to communicate and aids less experienced communicators to get their message across. He will teach the medium how to attune to the spirit world and is both a friend and advisor. Another important role of the guide is in trance communication. Some guides have spoken through their medium, as in the case of Silver Birch. But the guide will also assist when another spirit person wishes to speak through the medium. But a guide does not control or run the life of the medium, he / she retains their free will. A guide cannot force a medium to do what they don't want to and in no way dominates him / her. Nor can working with a guide free you from responsibility or making the wrong decisions in your life. But they will help where they can to lead the medium in the right direction, although ultimately the decision still lies with the medium themselves. A guide and medium will be in partnership, they both have the desire to be of service and let others know their loved ones have survived into a new world. Do we all have a guide? Wherever our life has led us, we all have a guide, although these may be referred to as Guardian Angels. These Angels will watch over us and try to steer us in the right direction. Perhaps you have had that `gut feeling` that made you do something or not do something, often that is your Guardian Angel lending a hand. It is still up to you to follow or reject those feelings. Many of us will go through life totally unaware of these spirit helpers, often only being to able to listen when tragedy strikes. As our spirituality increases, for whatever reason, we tend to attract spirit helpers around us. We may be told by a medium who they are, often this is a general description. But it is when we begin to develop our own psychic skills that we truly become aware of our guides.
Trance Mediumship & Channeling What is it? Making contact with those in the spirit world can be achieved by many methods but none are so intense, so utterly absorbing and emotionally fulfilling as trance, channeling, overshadowing or inspired talking. It is perhaps the closest form of communication between spirit guides and the medium and is usually confined to working circles. A circle by the way is the modern day word for séance, and I am sure you will agree sounds more acceptable. When mediums train they will often sit in a development circle, here they learn to make contact with the spirit world and may find they have the capacity for trance work. They may also be able to listen to the wise and informative words of a spirit guide spoken through a trance medium. Spirit people, when communicating can be of varying distances from the medium, indeed most mediums can usually describe whether a communicator is to the left, right or behind them. But spirit guides who have a strong connection with their medium are able to come closer, some describe this as walking into our aura. If we remember the human aura extends some 4 feet around us, then when a guide enters this area there is a bonding and deepening of contact. But there are also different levels of this type of communication, in one state the medium remains fully conscious and is aware of all that takes place, in the other the medium is apparently asleep and has little or no recollection of the events taking place. Overshadowing So let's explore the first of these, overshadowing. In this particular form of communication the spirit guide or communicator has become very close to the medium. It should be noted all this happens with the complete agreement of the medium, in fact it would be impossible otherwise. It is this closeness that allows the spirit guide to influence the medium, he or she will then be able to speak for the communicating guide. The voice will be hers but the words will be of the guide, and the medium will be able to let the guide address those in the circle. Usually this will be an informative talk on spiritual matters, and on some occasions those in the circle will be able to ask questions of the guide. Full Trance / Channeling This is perhaps the more well known form of spirit trance communication and is when the full co-operation of the medium is utilised. In this form the medium will spend a few moments attuning to their guide, before seemingly falling off to sleep. After a brief period the medium will have become an instrument for the guide, the guide being able to use his/ her voice directly. In explanation our medium has simply withdrawn to allow the spirit communicator through and will be unaware of the words actually spoken by him. Often tape recordings of these meetings are made to enable the medium to benefit from what was said. On these occasions the guide will impart great knowledge and teachings, for he is in direct contact with those about him. Questions are often asked and indeed the communicating guide will often invite them. There is some confusion on whether any voice accent should be apparent, to this I would say yes, it adds authenticity if the details of the guide were previously known, then it might be logical for them to represent themselves accent, mannerisms and all. Public demonstrations of trance mediumship have been given, to mixed reactions. To hear an individual suddenly start talking in a foreign accent and speaking of things we can often not confirm, can to some people be a little hard to swallow. But if we listen, just for a moment and dispense with our logic, so that we can hear the words, we may find great enlightenment. For the words spoken by a guide are eloquent, knowledgeable and reasonable to our intelligence. A truly tranced medium will not be stuck for answers to questions, though we may not always hear what we expect. Inspired Speaking Similar to overshadowing, the guide is directing the medium in what to say. Mediums who give clairvoyant readings in spiritualist churches may precede with a talk, this could be of their own construction or be inspired by their guide. The guide promoting or giving information and insight into what to speak of.