What is your spirit guide?

Well if you look at the thread title is about about "what is your spirit guide?" - so if anyone hasnt guessed its a thread about spirit guides.

Back on topic. I havnt found my spirit guide.... but as of yet Im not really sure I want to find one, I mean...... how on earth are you supposed to know if this spirit is who it says it is? How do you know if it has the right intentions for you? etc......

Originally posted by Scurvy
Your spirit guide is connected to you but it is not you nor is it a part of you. In fact your spirit guide can leave at anytime if you do not entertain them and appreciate their assistance; most shamans have more than one spirit guide in their life. There are also "power animals" which serve similar purposes but there is not as strong a connection and you cannot draw as much energy from your power animals, they are more for special situations (as a metaphor it would be like Tylenol helps relieve pain but does not treat one specific symptom, that's your spirit guide, where power animals would be more like a prescription drug aimed at treating a certain condition).

Hi Scurvy,

I just want to clarify you a bit as seem to be a bit confused about your understanding and other peoples understanding of what you call spirit guides and what power animals are and what they do.

I'm not familiar with the term "spirit guide" in shamanic terms, but what i think your trying to describing is whats known commonly as a power animal or totem animal (which by the way are both one and the same thing). Yes, power animals can change and yes you can even have more than one of them at any one time, however these instances are rare. Most shamans and shamanic healers have only one power animal which stays with them throughout their life. The power/totem animal is the source of the shaman healing powers, you simply cannot do a proper shamanic healing on someone unless you know what your power animal is and are connected to that animal's energy at the time of of the healing.

Another thing that is commonly misunderstood about power animals is that they are somehow separate from us, this is simply not the case. The power animal IS us we are our power animal. This is why the knowledge of what our power animal is so vital to shamanic work because when you learn what your power animal is you reclaim your latent "shamanic power" this power is of course used for a number of things such as journeys into the spirit world, healing, divination, etc.

Before shamans do any shamanic work they have to literally step into their power animal and become one with it, this is when the alteration of consciousness occurs; (say for example it is a healing) the shaman and the power animal inhabit one body and from that place they will perform the healing, once the healing is finished the power animal leaves the shamans body and the shaman obtains normal waking consciousness again.

Oh and by the way I'd just like to mention both to you and other people who may come across this thread that the source of this information is from a diploma in shamanic studies that i am currently doing taught by Dr Rafael Locke who is well respected in the field of shamanism and is an initiated shaman himself with about 30 years experience in this area; and also from my own experiences.

hope this helps

The who was here before the Light was introduced. Dark dragon part of 2 making whole. Located thru my walks in life the happy ups and upsetting downs. Helped me to recognize my independence abilities and not to follow the crowd. Helped me to see the Creator is real as well as his SON the LAMB as to keep me on track with this life within the inperfect kingdom angel satan created. Allows me to see I am not perfect within this realm but I can and should do my best to be as positive as I can amongst my negativness. Helped me to see FEARLESS IS THE ONLY WAY DOWN HERE. Dislikes satan extremely, why dont know. Cannot seek it it seeks you if you are what its looking for. Loves all hates many the balance within it. CARES EXTREMELY FOR REBIRTH OR PERFECT BORNS (ALL BABIES) NOT JUST HUMAN true innocent!

Never seen only visualized the black fire within it as well as the cold eyes nothing more only sense when in deep thought or feeling of life overwhelming me in temp. situations that I myself must overcome before asking Alphas Son Christ for supports Strengthening my soul why surrounded by evil w/o asking for help immediatly. Spawned my love for dragons. Taught me that they who play with ALL SEEING EYE FORGET THE OTHER EYE LOL PREVENTING THEM INTENTIONALLY FROM EVER BECOMMING AS POWERFULL AS NATAS and tho dangerous shall not be feared as well. Non shaman no special skills only unique spirit.

[edit on 8/24/10 by Ophiuchus 13]