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.

Answer: Spirit guides are non-corporeal entities who have agreed to assist one or more people who have incarnated. The job of a guide is to nudge here and there, inspire, and support human beings as they navigate the maze of life. Spirit guides are selected because of their ability to do this work effectively.

Some spirit guides have had human incarnations, some haven’t. Some guides are more ascended than others.

So is it possible to become a spirit guide? Yes. When you cross over and land on the other side you may be tapped to become a guide for another. It’s an important duty. Just like any job, the more qualified you are to guide, the more likely you will be “hired” by someone’s higher self to be a guide.

On a slightly related note, you could even be tapped to be someone’s guide here on Earth while YOU are still in human form. For more information on that, read this article: Spirit Guides at Starbucks

First let’s go over again who these guides are. Your spirit guides are non-corporeal entities who have agreed to help guide you in this life. Your higher self decides what your intention is for this life, your purpose if you will, and then finds guides who can help you fulfill your purpose. Neither your higher self nor your guides can MAKE anything happen. Once you incarnate, you have free will. So your guides have to watch you running around life’s maze like a cute but bewildered little rat and find ways of getting you to take the paths and turns that will lead to the fulfillment of your purpose.

It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it, and they do it willingly and with great love and respect.

So how does a guide actually help you? Guides broadcast signals to you energetically that you either pick up consciously, subconsciously, or ignore completely.

Let’s take the example of a radio. Right now a song is playing on one of the stations. But if your radio is off, you don’t know what song is playing right? The song is playing, but you’re not tuned in.

Likewise, what if your radio is on, but the volume is turned down? You might get the gist of the song but you won’t consciously notice every single word; perhaps you’ll feel sad if it was a sad song, or charged up if it was a lively song.

But what if you turn on the radio, crank up the volume, and listen intently? Now you’re getting the message clearly!

The broadcast comes in the form of daydreams, whims, urges, desires, sudden ideas, synchronicities, and imagination. Guides use all of these tools to broadcast ideas to you, hoping you will pick up on them and act on them.

They can’t teleport you out of a burning building but perhaps you get a strong urge to double check your iron to make sure you turned it off and you avoid burning down your house altogether.

Perhaps they can’t fix it so your lottery numbers are winners, but maybe they guide you to running into someone who hires you away from your current company for double your pay.

They have to work within the laws of the physical universe. Sometimes serendipitous events occur which may seem miraculous, or one in a million longshots.

Sometimes even bad news turns out to be good news down the road. Like maybe you get cut from a team only to be snatched up by a team that lets you play more often.

Your guides are constantly working behind the scenes to influence you and others, but they will never rob you of your free will. So if you want to engage in destructive habits that will eventually kill you or destroy your life, they can’t stop you. But more than likely you’re getting the feeling that what you’re doing is probably taking you down a dark road. They can lead you to the water but they can’t make you drink.

So how do you tune in to the guides to hear the broadcast so you can get where you want to go faster? Determine your dominant intuitive modality, strengthen it, and use it to tune in. You can use a divination tool like tarot cards or a pendulum, but honestly, your psychic radio is built into your system. You just need to turn it on. Meditation and lucid dreaming are also excellent tools you can use to connect with them when you want to.

This is one of the reasons I teach intuition development in my workshops. If I can teach you how to turn on the radio, crank up the volume, and understand what your guides are telling you, then you can use your connection to help yourself in all the areas of your life like career, finances, relationships, health, etc.

I’m passionate about teaching intuition because I know what a powerful tool it can be once you learn how to use it. And I do readings for those who haven’t yet developed their own ability to tune in or simply want confirmation that what they think they’re picking up is correct.

Your guides are available to you 24/7. They want to help you. Not listening to your guides is like trying to navigate in the dark without a compass. You can do it, but you can get where you’re going faster if you can receive the wisdom and insight your guides are sending.

Stop and ask for directions. Life is easier when you do.

Answer: Great question. Instead of saying “multiple families” I would instead use the term “multiple loved ones.” When you die, you will be greeted by the souls and spirits of the people you have the strongest connection to, whether they are from your most recent life or a past one. Some of these folk may have been your family members in several lives. So yes, you will encounter spirits from previous lives who may not have been with you during the most recent life.

You will also encounter your spirit guides, who have guided you throughout your life but who may or may not have ever incarnated themselves. Love is love. Connection is connection. You will naturally be attracted to and reunited with the energies you felt closest to, from this life or others.

Once you cross over, you may merge right back in with your higher self, remembering all the previous times you’ve incarnated, or you may choose instead to hang on to the most recent personality and stay connected with your family who are still living.

This is why sometimes when I try to connect with deceased loved ones on the other side, they are simply not there anymore. They have sloughed off this ego and have merged back with their collective higher self consciousness. I can’t call “Uncle Charlie” if he, as a spirit, no longer identifies himself as Uncle Charlie. But if he’s around and still interested in what’s going on during this time period, he will often come through with support, love, and advice from the other side.

I am not remotely daunted by this situation, nor do I feel undue pressure to perform. In every reading I do, I am simply a relay. I tune in to a client’s spirit guides and they tell me what my client most needs to know to help him on his path. I don’t have to figure out how to help anyone. I just listen to their guides and pass along vital information.

Your spirit guides know where you are, what you’ve been through, and how to help you. They know what you’ve gotten yourself into, they know what is blocking you from happiness, and they know how to fix your situation. If you can’t hear them, I can do that for you.

Because I’ve done so many readings for people who want to die, I’ve begun to understand the pattern. You want something, you go after it, you don’t get it, and you stop in your tracks. For some people, this is no big deal. They say “shucks,” turn around, back track a little, and try another path. But for others, seeing the dead end in the maze of life is enough to cause great despair of ever finding anything in the maze worth having. They don’t have the strength or energy to keep going. So they decide to either end their lives or wish a bus would slam them into oblivion.

But life doesn’t have to be this way. You don’t need to get to the point of wanting to bug out. Here is what you can do to battle the desire to suicide.

Don’t give your power away
If you decide that the only way you can be happy is to accomplish x or to have y and you don’t have complete control over getting x or y then you are giving your power away. If it’s not in your complete control to achieve it, then you can fail to have it. And if failing to have it is going to cause you to want to end your life, then you are giving your power away to something that was never yours to begin with. Don’t do it. If you’re counting on something external to make you happy, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Instead, be the author of your own life. Work with what you can control.

Listen to your intuition
Your spirit guides constantly broadcast wisdom, insight, and advice your way. That’s their job. They are trying to help you achieve your goals. If you can’t hear them, it’s easy to lose your way in the maze. If you could hear them, you’re more likely to get where you want to go. It’s the simple. Avoid getting lost, learn how to tune in to your own spirit guides and intuition.

Be happy along the journey
So many people think they will be happy when they reach a certain goal. They want to get to the top of the mountain but don’t enjoy the hike. Don’t do that to yourself. If you’re not enjoying the process, you’re going to be that much more disappointed when your goal is denied to you. You will feel like you wasted a lot of time, money, and effort in the pursuit of something you didn’t get. But if you’re enjoying your life, and enjoying the journey, then if you reach a dead end you’ll still have the energy to turn around and find another way.

Have a backup plan
Is there only one way to get what you want? Is there really only one woman who will make you happy? One job that will make you feel successful? Is it really true that if you can’t have children that life isn’t worth living? If having something is outside your control, I highly suggest you have a backup plan. That way if you run into that brick wall, you still have other ways of living that will make you happy. Don’t put all your eggs into one basket, because if the basket hits that brick wall, all you’ve got is a scrambled mess of a life. Stuff happens. Have a backup plan and you will never feel so blocked that you can’t go on.

Ask for help when you need it
You can ask people for help when you are lost in the maze or if you hit the brick wall. Get support from your loved ones. Sometimes you smack that wall so hard, you can’t see straight. Let your friends and family take you by the shoulders and guide you back to a new path. Let them love and support you until you get your wits about you again. People can’t help you if they don’t know you’re stuck or hurting. Reach out.

Carry power tools
Sometimes you don’t have to back track through the maze of life. Sometimes you can bust through a brick wall like it’s not even there. This could mean finding a creative solution to a problem, turning a no into a yes, or ramming the barrier so hard that it simply crumbles at your feet. The power tools you want to take with you into the maze of life include: resourcefulness, creativity, the ability to negotiate, fortitude, courage, strong social connections, discipline, a positive attitude, etc. With these tools at your side, you may never be daunted by a brick wall again.

***
The bottom line here is to guard your energy while you’re walking. Don’t decide in advance that the only way to be happy is to achieve a certain goal, because if that goal is denied to you, you’re going to feel despair and lose all hope of ever being happy.

The trick with life is to be flexible. Once you decide what is you close your mind to the possibilities of what may be. Maybe there’s a reason you didn’t get that job. Maybe there’s a reason she said no to your proposal of marriage. Maybe there’s a reason you ended up not having children. You’ll never know it if you leave the game prematurely.

Trust in the universe. Trust your intuition. Listen to your guides. The maze is big and there’s much to explore. Enjoy the journey every day.

Question: Do spirit guides know the future? – Jordyn

Answer: Yes and no.

Imagine you were flying above a maze and you could see all the little rats in the maze just running around looking for some cheese. The rats can’t see what’s around a corner, or whether they are heading for a dead end, or whether they are about to encounter another rat, but you can, because you can see the whole maze.

So you’re looking down at the maze and you see two rats who are on a trajectory towards each other. They can’t see each other at all, but you can easily see that in a few minutes, if they maintain their current course, they will bump into each other. So… can you see the future? Can you make a prediction? What if one rat stops running and turns around? Will they still run into each other? Will your prediction then be wrong?

You whisper into one rats ear, “Hey buddy, you’re going to run into the most beautiful little rat in about 3 minutes. Just keep on going.” The rat gets excited and, sure enough, in a few minutes, he runs into the rat of his dreams. But what if you whisper into the rat’s ear, “Hey buddy, you’re going to run into a cat if you keep going down this road.” And the rat says, “Oh hell no! I’m outta here,” and changes his direction?

The future is not set in stone, so the guides can’t “know” the future. However, their perspective gives them an advantage so sometimes it appears as if they are predicting when really they are just calculating the most likely outcome based on a current trajectory. Being able to tune in to your guides to get this information is worth the effort of learning how to hear them though.

“How do you know that you’re really talking to spirit guides and not demons?”

“How do you know the memories you have of the ether are accurate?”

“How do you know the information you’re getting is correct?”

“How do you know you’re not just imagining that you’re hearing spirit guides?”

“How do you know what’s going to happen in the future?”

“How do you know there is life after death?”

I want to address this because these are very good questions.

There is a difference between believing and knowing. For example, I know the sun shone yesterday, and I believe it will rise again tomorrow. I know I’ve written 500 blog articles and I believe I will write another one. I know I am a female, and I believe I will remain one until I die. I could be wrong about what I believe.

In truth, there is no way for us to know what is real. We believe we are human beings experiencing life here on Earth, but in reality we could be imagining this entire experience. We could be hooked up to machines and dreaming this entire existence. We could be a bunch of video game characters on God’s computer, or characters in a holodeck on a starship. We just don’t know. We can’t know. And any information we gather could just be part of the simulation or hallucination.

Given that we can’t really know what’s real, what are we supposed to do? How are we supposed to behave? How are we supposed to go on if we don’t really know what’s real? How are we supposed to trust any information our brains give us when all that information could be programmed at the whimsy of a machine, an alien, or a higher consciousness?

The answer is that we can’t know. We can’t ever really know. Even when we die and have some kind of experience, it could all be part of the hallucination.

But so what? We’re here. We’re conscious. So what if we don’t know how we got here or who made us or programmed us into existence? Trying to figure that out could drive you insane. No matter how we got here or who is in charge of us, we’re here. We have free will. We can choose our emotions. We can choose our own experiences. And we can choose our own beliefs.

Now … in MY world, in my existence, I seem to be able to get information from seemingly out of nowhere. Accurate information. I seem to have developed a method to be able to tune in to … something… that gives me information about my clients that helps them on their path. I believe this information is coming from spirit guides, but in truth, it could be that I’m hacking into the program, or the aliens are feeding me info, or there’s an evil demon that broke ranks and wants to help people. I honestly don’t know for sure. The only thing I know is that I can do it, it works, and it helps people.

So going back to the questions above:

I know I can get accurate information that helps my clients. I believe it comes from spirit guides, angels, and higher selves.

I know I have memories of my time before I incarnated, and I believe they are accurate but I can’t know for sure.

I know the information I’m getting is correct because my clients tell me I’m correct and I’ve read for thousands of people accurately. I believe I can continue to do so.

I know I’m hearing something that gives me accurate information, and I believe it’s from the guides but I don’t know it with 100% certainty.

I know I can tell people things that do come to pass, but I don’t know how I’m able to do that. I believe that trusting what the guides tell me is the best way to continue to use this ability.

I know I’ve had the experience of leaving my body behind, so I believe the soul continues on after the body dies. I believe there is an afterlife, but I can’t know for sure until I get there myself.

The point is… we create our own realities using knowledge and beliefs. If you can create your own reality, create something that serves you, that makes you feel happy, or safe, or comforted. Why plug in to a reality where some evil god in the sky can smite you if you sin? Why plug into a reality where you are bereft of hope because you think there is nothing after we die? There is no evidence either way.

In my world, psychic abilities exist, and I can use them to help people find happiness in their lives, careers, relationships, etc. I’ve told people about health problems they didn’t know they had, and they’ve received medical attention that saved their lives. I don’t really care where that information comes from. It hasn’t let me down yet.

I know I am able to help others, and I believe that’s a good way to live a life. So I’m going to continue to do it. And if one day I find out that all the information I thought I was getting from spirit guides was actually coming from a bored alien on a spaceship who had nothing better to do than broadcast this information to me, so be it. I will have chosen to spend my time in service to others, and that’s a choice I would make regardless of what is real and what is not.

Now you can purchase and instantly download the teleseminar to hear it for yourself. It’s full of useful and practical information to help you improve your intuition, connect with your guides, learn how to meditate, and discover your life purpose.

Some of the questions I answered include:

Feedback from those who listened live:
“Your ideas are so grounded and practical. I like that I can use this information immediately to improve my life. Thank you!” – Jack

“Erin, the teleseminar was awesome. Even though I got to hear it live, I would totally buy it just to hear it again. Please make this available so everyone can benefit from your ideas.” – Laura

“You’ve got a real gift for explaining difficult concepts in an easy-to-understand manner. That’s why I love your work so much.” – Chantille

“Thank you for answering my question. I had no idea there were different intuitive modalities, and that explains why I couldn’t connect with my guides before. Can’t wait to try your suggestion.” – Jere

Get the program now for just $19.97.

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This week’s question comes from Alice. She asks:

“Can negative entities masquerade as spirit guides?”

Transcript of the Video:
Hello and welcome to another episode of “Ask Erin Pavlina.” Today’s question comes from Alice. “How can we tell if entities we’re encountering on the astral plane are positive or if they’re negative beings pretending to be positive. I’ve heard that some negative entities will masquerade as guides to deceive and trick us.”

Well, Alice, that is true. As soon as you enter the astral plane, it’s every man for himself. There are definitely things out there that are of a lower vibrational quality than the things that you’re probably wanting to encounter and it is wise to be aware that these beings exist, so that you can avoid them. I like to think of negative entities as bees. So, when you’re at, like, a picnic and you’re enjoying yourself and the bees come or the ants come, it’s very annoying and you don’t want to agitate or disturb them, or they might sting you. So, the same is true of negative beings or lower vibrational entities.

So, there are four things I would recommend you doing before you go astral traveling so that this doesn’t happen to you.

The first thing is: Know your guides. If you know who your guides are, it will be easy for you to tell whether what you’re encountering is your real spirit guide or if it’s something masquerading as a guide. So, how do you get to know your spirit guides? There are a lot of different ways, but I highly recommend meditation and tuning in that way. There are a lot of articles on my website that will help you distinguish and identify your spirit guides and learn how to tune into them. So, if you know who your guides are, and something else presents itself, you’re going to be able to tell the difference. Trust me, you will know. They will not be able to masquerade as guides if you already know who your guides are.

The second thing I would tell you is that negative entities feed off of fear. And because they feed off of fear, when you astral project, if you’re in a state of fear, they’re going to be attracted to you. But if you encounter a negative being, or even if you’re encountering a being whose frequency you’re not familiar with, cast love at them. If they are a negative or lower vibrational being, they are going to flee from your love energy. Poof. Gone. So remember to love, love, love and they will not be able to withstand that energy.

The other thing I would say is before you project at all, or before you go to sleep and are open to projecting, ask your guides and your angels to protect you – to help keep the negative entities away. They can do that. Angels especially can protect your energy from the negative beings. So, if you’re going into a situation where you’re already being protected by angels, let them clean house and let them keep the negative entities away.

The last thing I would say is keep your vibration high so you don’t attract negative entities. Negative entities are only there because you are a tasty treat with your energy. If you are coming into an astral situation and you’re feeling fear, then they’re going to be attracted to you like a moth to a flame. So, don’t be attractive to the lower vibrational entities. Raise your vibration and be in a state of love, joy, and compassion, and gratitude, and you will not attract the lower vibrational beings. In fact, you will attract the higher vibrational beings and that is a much, much better place to be.

Great question! Be safe out there.

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This week’s question comes from Laura. She asks:

“What is channeling and can anyone do it?”

Here is a transcription of the video:

Hello and welcome to another episode of “Ask Erin Pavlina.” Today’s question comes from Laura. She writes, “Can you explain what channeling is, and is that something anyone can do or does it require a certain natural ability?”

Ok, there are three ways to channel. Channeling is basically when you are tuned into a being that is on a higher vibration or a higher plane with the intention of receiving information that’s going to help you with your life. That’s really all channeling is. It’s getting information outside of yourself. So there are three kinds of channeling. The simplest form of channeling is to use your own intuition to tune into your helpers on the other side. For example, your spirit guides or your higher self, angels and maybe even deceased relatives. In this way you do like a meditation and you get in tune with your guides or other people on the other side. And you ask them questions that were designed to give you insight and wisdom into your life path. So that would be – you are completely conscious of what’s happening and you’re completely in control and you’re the one asking all the questions. And then maybe you write down the information that you’re getting so that you can remember it later. The next level up from that would be allowing an entity or a higher vibrational being to sort of step into your body and to use your vocal chords to communicate and express information that is designed to help you or potentially other people who might be in the room. When you do this level of channeling you have to get to a very high vibration and you have to give permission for some higher vibrational being or beings to use your body to communicate, but in this kind of channeling you are aware of what’s happening and you’re sort of just pushed back in your own brain or your own psyche and you’re letting the channeling information come through, but you’re capable of stopping it at any time, and you remember everything that you have stated.

At the highest level of channeling would be trance channeling. And that is when you have agreed to completely step out of your body to let the other beings in and they use your body and your vocal chords and your hands to communicate their messages usually to a group. In this case you will have no memory of anything that you’ve said because you’re not there. You have completely stepped aside and vacated your body in favor of allowing them to use your body to communicate. A good example of that is Esther Hicks who channels Abraham, which is a collective consciousness that gives a lot of wisdom to a lot of people. So there are really sort of three levels.

Can anyone channel? Yeah. You can certainly – definitely – connect to your own guides at any time, that first level of channeling we talked about. You can tune into your guides and get information that will help you with your life and give you wisdom and insight. Everybody can do that with a little practice. The next level up where you allow something to overtake your body while you’re still aware– it’s possible. It’s possible for most people to do that, I don’t know that I’d recommend that because as soon as you start giving up control of your body you run into a situation where whatever you’ve invited in may not want to leave so quickly. So, in the second case that I mentioned, it would be a lot easier to push the entity out if you didn’t want it connecting with you, but still it’s not something that I would dabble with or play with unless you can get yourself to a super high vibration and make sure you bring in the protection of your angels and your guides to make sure you’re not taken advantage of by any kind of entity.

At the highest level – the trance channeling – I do not recommend doing that unless you are extremely well-versed in how to raise your vibration and how to handle any kind of entity that comes through. A lot of people recently that I know have attempted to communicate and channel with beings on the other side and it’s a very cool thing to do and you get a lot of interesting information, but some of them have not reached a high enough level of vibration in order to bring in a high enough – a highly vibrating entity. And that’s very dangerous because if you are channeling something that is of a lower vibrational frequency, you’re going to get information from them that could even be destructive to your life. These would be entities that want to put you in a state of fear, that would make threats, and would not want you to be happy, because they feed off the fear. So, I have seen that happen to some people. They’re channeling, but they’re channeling entities that are not healthy. Let’s put it that way. So it’s not something you want to dabble in but that first level I talked about – tuning into your own guides – is definitely a good idea. You can get a lot of good insights and wisdom from that. So I do recommend that. Hope that answers your question.