I have three special girlfriends known as The Posse. Each of us brings her own unique personality to our group. Stylish and sophisticated, Tracy possesses a strong opinion about every topic imaginable. Holly is blessed with a sharp intellect and even sharper repartee. Energetic and supportive are words that describe Kristy, and she is also the best conversationalist I have ever met. The four of us try to meet once a month, for dinner and to catch up on life events. On those evenings, the other patrons of the establishment we invade know one thing beyond a doubt: The Posse has arrived.

Many of us have friends like these, a group of kindred souls with whom we laugh, cry, and measure the successes or failures of life. Over the last few years, The Posse has supported each other through a wedding, a reconciliation, the birth of a child, and the illness of a parent. I know that as more challenges enter our lives, The Posse will remain a steadfast haven in every storm.

As wonderful and important as our worldly friends are, we also have important spiritual allies that some of us know nothing about. Our spirit guides who dwell on the Other Side care as much about us as our friends in the physical world do. Our spirit guides want to get to know us, just like our best friends are keen to hear all the latest gossip. They want to support and nurture us and, best of all, they want to help us make good decisions as we journey through life.

So who are these spirit friends? Each of us has at least five spirit guides who have agreed to be with us throughout this physical incarnation. These five guides form our band of spirit helpers. Each individual guide has a specific job to do and unique gifts to share.

Your Five Guides

1. Joy Guide: With a winning personality and an infectious sense of humor, your joy guide makes life meaningful by reminding you to be happy. Most joy guides appear as children or teens because young people have not forgotten how to be lighthearted.
2. Protector Guide: Protector guides understand that the earth is a dangerous place, both for the physical body and to the aura, the energetic field that surrounds all living things. Protectors keep us from dangerous situations and chase away negative energies that can adversely affect us.
3. Doctor Teacher (also called Doctor of Philosophy) Guide: Remember that teacher from school that you always liked and worked hard to impress? Doctor teacher guides help us to sort out our spiritual paths and the life lessons we have agreed to take on in this lifetime.
4. Doctor Chemist Guide: We all need help taking care of our health and making our well being a priority. Doctor chemist guides influence us to make good decisions regarding our physical bodies. They can also prepare us to become more open to the world of spirit if we wish.
5. Master Teacher Guide: Like the principal of a school, our master teacher guides oversee the other guides in our band of helpers and touch in with us when great spiritual knowledge is needed or desired.

Our Relationship to Our Guides
So why do these guides become associated with us? Our guides become interested in us through the Natural Law of Attraction, which states that like attracts like. In my Posse of girlfriends, all of us share an interest in the theatre, which is where we all met. Our spirit guides may share certain affinities with us as well, sometimes connected through past lives and common situations we have shared. For instance, my doctor teacher guide lived around the turn of the twentieth century, and he tells me he was a devout Spiritualist during his lifetime. He helps me in my life now when I lecture or write about Spiritualism and mediumship. Your guides may also be connected to you because of certain interests that you share.

Many people ask me if our loved ones who pass away become our spirit guides. For the most part, this is not the case. The five guides in your band come in with you when you are born and are waiting for you on the Other Side when you make your transition. With the exception of your master teacher guide (who may work with others), your guides work exclusively with you. Our guides have also been "trained" in the spirit world for their roles as guides. When our loved ones pass, many become aware over time that they are able to communicate with those in the physical world, and some may check in more often than others to monitor our life progress. Although Grandma Sue or Uncle Fred may send us messages about our lives, they do not fill the same role as the spirit guides in our band do.

Common Questions About Guides
Some folks become confused when trying to differentiate between spirit guides and angels. Although angels can communicate with us, nurture us, and send us protection from their places in the spirit realms, they are completely different energies than spirit guides. We can all work with angelic energies as easily as we can work with guides, if we so choose. What separates guides from angels is the fact that guides have lived a physical experience at some point. Angels are not human beings, and they have never been human beings at any phase of their existence. Our guides relate well to us because they understand the human experience and can lend advice from a "been there, done that" point of view if the situation warrants it. We have a great deal of help available to us if we seek it, but angels and guides are definitely different.

Some people also question the title "doctor" that chemist and teacher guides have in their names. This is an honorary title bestowed upon some guides while they are in the spirit world and does not denote any type of medical training that the guide may have had while she inhabited the physical body during any of her incarnations. Although your doctor chemist is concerned about your well-being, you should always seek the professional medical opinion of a doctor in the physical world if you suspect that you need such attention. Guides may give advice about health, but most of the time, they will recommend you see someone in a professional capacity as well.

Working with Guides
Now that you realize you have all of these guides who are ready and willing to work with you, what should you do about it? Why, get to know them, of course! The best way to connect with your personal guides is through meditation. Many people get nervous about meditation either because they've had a frustrating experience or because they're afraid to try it. Practice the simple meditation included here on a regular basis, and you'll be well on your way to connecting to your spirit guides. Once you've opened up the communication process and asked for guidance, be sure to pay attention to little things that happen throughout the day. Often, people talk to their guides, ask them for help, and then proceed to ignore the messages that the guides send from Spirit. What they don't realize is that guides usually send messages in subtle ways. They don't spray paint the answers to our questions on brick walls where we'll see them as we ride the subway home. They answer instead by playing a song on the radio that reminds you of your dilemma, or they put a book in your path that discusses the lesson you need. These are messages. Just because they aren't flashy doesn't mean that our guides aren't working for us and trying to help us.

I know what you're thinking. Why would Spirit want to work with me? I'm nobody special. Oh, my dear friend, you are so mistaken. You are incredibly special, and your spirit people want to work with you more than you know. Our spirit guides love us, and they are an expression of Divine Love, given to us as helpers as we struggle through our lives. Our guides progress on their spiritual journey as they work with us, just as we grow spiritually as we learn more about them. It is a mutually beneficial relationship, so please stop doubting that you are worthy of this attention. Believe that you are, because there is no greater truth in the Universe!

This brings us back to the fact that we share love in the world, and we all do this within the confines of our friendships. Some friends are here in the physical world; some are as close as our own heartbeats, even if we can't see them (at least not with our physical eyes). Yet just like my Posse of girlfriends, the five guides we meet in spirit are here to support us, no matter what crises arise as we continue on our life journeys. Without a doubt, getting to know these spirit friends will enrich your life. But don't take my word for it—try it yourself, and expect results! Your spirit friends won't let you down.

Simple Connection Meditation
Sit in a chair with your spine straight and your feet flat on the floor. Close your eyes and breathe in and out, taking at least three long, deep breaths. As you breathe, allow your body to relax. In your mind's eye, see yourself standing in the middle of a bright spotlight of white. This is Divine Love, protecting and nurturing, and you feel safe and at peace in this Light. As you stand in the Light, call to one of your guides in your mind. Ask your guide to make himself known to you. Expect an answer, but don't put parameters on how that response will come. Perhaps you'll see a color or a picture of someone. Maybe you'll see a face. You might hear a name or a sound. You may simply feel a chill or a warm presence. Whatever you feel, hear, or see, this is the way your guide is making himself known to you. Remember this expression of your guide. Now, begin to come back to the room around you, to the present time and space. As you open your eyes, you can still remember how your guide made himself known to you. Write down whatever happened. This is your first connection with a spirit guide—congratulations! Continue working in this way every day, asking your guide to come to you so that you can get to know him better. When you feel comfortable with this guide, try the same connection meditation with your other guides until you feel that you have met them all.