Who are they? Why are they there? And is there any way to know when one is around?

I’m talking about an array of beings on the other side, connected to you with bonds of love and emotion that are strong, caring and supportive. Angels. Spirit guides. Deceased loved ones. They’re all there.

I see angels around people who are going through a particularly rough time physically or emotionally. During readings if I see an angel around my client I know they have gone through a devastation or are even suicidal. Often the client has lost a child or a loved one recently. The angels are there to hold you when you feel like falling and giving up. You may not see or feel them, but they are there. They are the most powerful beings I see around people and they radiate pure love. It’s beautiful.

Your spirit guides are always with you. They are there guiding, nudging, and supporting you in life. While not as powerful as angels, your guides never leave your side, whereas I tend to only see angels when my client is going through devastation.

Your guides are broadcasting wisdom, support, insights, and directions to help you navigate the maze of your life. If you can get to the point where you can communicate with them, you will be able to receive their wisdom all the time.

When you are going through a rough time, your guides kick into high gear to try to bring solace, comfort, and change to your life. So where an angel is holding your energy to keep you from falling off the ledge, the guides are out there trying to find you the softest place to land.

Now what about your deceased loved ones who have crossed over? The people who loved you in life often stick around and hover a bit, especially when you’re going through a tough time. Not all spirits do this, but some do stay connected to those they left behind, offering a supportive thought, a virtual hug, and sometimes warnings and advice.

I had an interesting experience with this recently myself. I received some bad news and was feeling very sad. That night my deceased friend, Pam, who died in 2011, came to me in a dream. I’ve only seen her in my dreams maybe half a dozen times since she died, but there she was. In the dream we talked about the news I’d received, but then she showed me every time over the past year that she had been by my side. It was awesome. It was one scene after another where she showed me how she was holding me, comforting me, and trying to tell me everything would be okay. Although I have felt her energy around me many times in the past year, I’m not sure I noticed each and every time she came to me with supportive energy.

The next time you’re going through an emotional crisis or suffering physically, open your senses and try to detect the energies offering you comfort. They are right there, standing next to you, arms open, ready to catch you, hold you, and comfort you. You’re never truly alone. Even when you can’t see them, there are helpers nearby offering you support.

Let their love comfort you when you need it. Let it fill you with hope. Let it guide you to a more positive outcome. Thank these helpers for being with you, and feel their energy. Send them gratitude and their energy will expand. Work together when you can, and let them completely support you when you’ve got nothing left. You’re in good hands.

You can do both and they will hear you both ways.  When you think a thought, it creates energy.  That energy can be received and understood by guides, angels, higher selves, God, anything with a consciousness.  You can cast your thought to one specific energy, like your higher self, or you can cast your thought out to the Universe, like, “I am ready for love, Universe.  Bring it on!”

A lot of people think they need to be in a specific building, praying to God in a certain way.  That works, but it’s not necessary to be in a building, on a certain day, praying in a certain way.  Our guides on the other side can hear our thoughts whenever we think them. 

If you want to hear them back, that’s another story.  They don’t communicate using vocal chords and mouths to your ears.  They will respond energetically, the same way they received your communication.  So if you’re not able to tune in to their frequency, you won’t hear their message. 

But there are other ways of receiving their response or communication.  For one, you may get an image in your head, a form of clairvoyance.  You may hear a thought come back to you like, “Yes, my child, you are indeed loved.”  That’s clairaudience.  You may get a warm tingly feeling in your stomach or chills up your back.  That’s clairsentience.  Alternatively, you may get signs, symbols or synchronicities in your life, which is their way of letting you know they received your message.  Interpreting them isn’t always easy, but you do the best you can.  You can consult an intuitive, someone whose job it is to receive energy from the other side and interpret it for you.  These people, such as myself, have trained themselves to receive and interpret communication from the other side.

Who should you address yourself to?

If you need help immediately, like your life is in danger, call upon the angels.  Specifically, Archangel Michael would be a good choice.  If you need healing, call on Raphael.  If you want to commune with God, Source, Oneness, Love, direct your thoughts to your version of God.  If you want to make something happen in your life, like you want to change careers or find a new relationship, I would address yourself to your spirit guides.  If you want to remember who you really are and consult with the highest version of yourself, talk to your higher self.  If you’re curious about what it’s like on other planets or in other dimensions, ask a high vibration celestial being to communicate with you.  If you’re, uh, more attracted to the dark side, you can ask for a low vibration being to assist you.  I’d watch out for that though.  They don’t always play fair.

How do you talk to them?

Some people use meditation.  Quiet your mind, open your chakras, breathe deeply, and ask them to appear to you in your mind.  Talk to them telepathically and see what they say.

Some people like ritual.  Light some candles, turn on the fountain, add some relaxation music, chant, hum, sing; however you feel like connecting, connect. 

Some people like prayer.  Sit quietly or kneel, go into your heart and/or mind, and commune silently with your God.

Some people do well with journaling or automatic writing.  I especially recommend this technique for the left-brained folks who don’t go in for the woo-woo stuff.  Just write down some questions in a Word document, and type back the answer you see, feel, hear, or just know.  Or the answers you think you just saw, heard, felt, or knew.  Rationalize it later.

You can communicate with the other side in dreams too.  This was a method I preferred growing up.  I would program a dream or ask for a message dream on a certain night and pay close attention to what my dreams were about.  If I got myself a lucid dream, I was good to go!

There are many ways to communicate with the beings in the ether.  Try different methods until you find the one you like best.

How do you know if your guides are communicating with you or if you’re just hearing things or making things up?

Practice for one thing.  Keep communicating and acting on what you get.  See if it turns out like you thought it would.  That will strengthen your communication.  I also find that the deeper into meditation I go, the stronger the connection.  You want to get yourself to the point where you can discern the difference between your ego, logic, intuition, and guides.  It’s not likely going to happen on your first attempt unless you’re already a pretty advanced intuitive and just didn’t know it.

You can talk to your higher self, guides, angels, and God out loud with your voice if you want.  That sends the same energy as doing it in your mind.  Sometimes it feels better to hear your prayer out loud.  You can put some oomph and inflection into it. 

Knowing that the Universe receives your thoughts and wishes, I encourage you to send love and gratitude out whenever you can.  That tends to be returned in kind.  And I encourage you to watch the negative thinking as you don’t want to accidentally manifest something unfortunate for yourself.  The universe responds to our thoughts. Guard yours well or they will become your destiny.