New guides — who dis?

I remember the first time I had an experience meeting my spirit guides. As a psi-curious teenager, I laid on my bedroom floor and hit the eject button on my sticker covered boombox. I removed a copy of Metallica’s Black Album on cassette and replaced it with Unleashing Your Psychic Potential by the medium John Edward. My folks regularly watched John’s show Crossing Over on SciFi, and had taken an interest in his work. I was no exception.


I too was intrigued by what he did. While I didn’t find myself talking to passed loved ones as a kid, I had always felt a deep connection to spirit and felt the presence of Jesus as child. I wondered if these guided meditations John recorded could be helpful to me. Did I have spirit guides? Could I meet Jesus? Most importantly, I needed to know if I did have guides, did they have any tips to help me grow taller so I could be a viable D1 quarterback?


As it would turn out I did have spirit guides. And no, they did not and still offer no insight into helping me grow taller :) In fact, my first interaction with my guides was pretty brief and in some ways more underwhelming than I’d imagined it might be. After a peaceful, guided journey up a spiral staircase and into a beautiful landscape led by John’s voice, I came into contact with two spirits: a Disney-like spirited raccoon and a spirit guide that came to me in the form of an older African-American gentleman named Ralph.


These guides didn’t come to me as disembodied spirits or apparitions ghosting about my bedroom like Casper. The experience was internal. To help you get a sense of what it was like — just take a second yourself to imagine an old pet you had in your mind. Visualize them in a familiar space you used to play with them in. Imagine them circling around your feet, looking up at you, running back and forth. Recall their energy — either their excitement or the comfort with which they interact with you. This little day dream you’ve created? That’s pretty close to how the experience played out.


The difference between our short thought experiment above and my experience, was the frame that was set prior to the journey. In John’s tape, he helped me engage in a deliberate guided meditation to enter a relaxed state, create an divinely protected container and intentionally connected me with my guides. This framework is important because the nuts and bolts of this particular experience would eventually become the staple of my own spiritual seeking practice that has been guiding my life for decades.


So, what did my guides have to say?


At first, not a lot.

Initially, the raccoon emerged from the trees in my vision and slowly approached me with ease. There was a feeling of safety and innocence in his presence. I asked him if he was my animal guide.


Without words — he responded, “Yes, you can call me Roger.”


I then asked what message he had for me.


“To help you know when you’re in the right place.”


With that came a subtle understanding that was not put into words, so I asked for clarity, “What do you mean?”


”When you see raccoons, you will know you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.”


Considering raccoons are known for digging around in the trash, I was a little concerned about where this was going ;) A fun fast forward to the future: Roger would pop-in and out of my meditations for a few years, before this message of being in “the right place” would be made known in the physical world. When I moved to Santa Barbara my freshman year of college (a very key season of life in my awakening journey), guess who I would see skittering about outside my bedroom window at night?


Back to the initial story…


Roger then asked me to follow him. My trusted animal guide, Roger the Raccoon, led me to an area where I would then meet Ralph. Ralph greeted me by my full name Jeffrey (my guides have always called me by my full name) and asked me to sit with him. I asked him if he was my spirit guide.


"For now”, he said.


"What do you mean?”


"You have many guides. I am with you now.”


I asked him to explain more.


"You have a whole group of guides. Some of us are with you for short periods, others will be with you your whole life. I am with you for now, until it is time to learn more lessons.”


I then asked, “What are you here to teach me?”


"This. I am here to help you connect with your guides. You can ask me questions.” he replied.


Oh man, did I have so many questions. As if no time had passed at all, I recognized John’s voice winding down the meditation.


“It’s time to go.” Ralph said. “Please, come back anytime. We’re here for you.”


I said my thanks to Ralph and Roger, then began the journey of bringing my awareness back to my bedroom floor I was laying on. When I returned, I scribbled some notes down on a little yellow note pad that was on my computer desk. I felt so at peace. The interaction so brief, yet so powerful.


Then, my Virgo rising kicked in. Was that a day dream? Am I crazy? Did I make all that up? Why did everyone’s name start with an R? Hmmm. Roger the Raccoon. That alliteration is way too good to be true. Creative. Memorable, but a little fishy :) While I had many questions, something unique had transpired. Real or imagined, I had an experience. An experience that left me feeling comforted, safe and supportive. That meant a lot no matter where it came from.


After years of working with this dimension of consciousness and guiding others on their own journeys, I can look back and see this as pretty standard case of a first intentional interaction with guides. A subtle, slightly unusual but distinct encounter. The messages simple, clear and just enough to leave an impact, but not overwhelm me.


The clarity, the lack of intensity — that’s the most important piece I want to emphasize. My interaction with the creative compassionate intelligence that is here to guide us on our journey often comes in the form of very quiet, simple and gentle experiences. That line between intuition and imagination is also very thin. All this considered, it can be easy to miss, disregard or bypass our ability to connect to higher guidance because it’s truthfully a very quiet movement in a very loud world.


In my experience, the most profound guidance is often the most simple. A word. A phrase. A feeling. And in a world where we often confuse complexity with relevance, a message as simple as “come ask questions…we’re here for you”, might be all we need to remember in even our most trying times.

-jb