What are Spirit Guides? A Personal Reflection

There are many ideas, myths, and definitions about what spirit guides are. But for me, this understanding comes from personal experience—how I’ve worked with them, how they’ve appeared to me, and how that relationship continues to evolve over time.

What Are Spirit Guides, Really?

Spirit guides are mostly non-human energies that care deeply about our well-being. Their goal is to help us thrive—not just to live our best lives, but to fulfill the soul contracts we agreed to before coming into this life.

These energies take many forms. I refer to them as energies because I don’t claim to know exactly what they are. Some appear as angelic beings, fae, elemental forces, or animal archetypes. Others show up as deities or emissaries of divine pantheons. Some don’t take physical form at all—they communicate through vibration, emotion, or energetic frequency.

I believe they present themselves in the form that best fits the message—or the receiver. Spirit speaks to us through our personal vocabulary, so it makes sense that the messengers would appear in ways that resonate uniquely with each of us.

Sometimes our deceased loved ones are part of this team. They may join the efforts of other spirit allies, working together to guide and protect us. Humans often create stories and structures to make sense of the unknown. While these energies aren’t just figments of our imagination, we do participate in shaping how we perceive and interact with them. Spirit meets us where we are.

What Do Spirit Guides Help With?

Spirit guides can assist with almost every aspect of human life. They may help us access inner strength, build confidence, or navigate through grief and trauma. They show up when we need to set and hold boundaries or make important life transitions. They support us in relationships, in parenting, in understanding our purpose, and in finding our way through difficult seasons like addiction or loss. They might guide us toward healing—physical, emotional, or spiritual—and they are present in moments of celebration, joy, and deep transformation. Their roles are as varied as the human experience itself.

Some guides stay with us for life—they came here with us. We may have made soul agreements with them before incarnating. In some cases, we’ve known them in another reality or form. Perhaps we’ve even guided them before, in another lifetime or dimension.

We might also connect with guides through the dream realm. If you’ve ever had a dream where this life was forgotten—but everything in the dream felt real and familiar—there’s a reason. It is real. Dreams are a form of reality, and time isn’t linear. Everything is happening now.

You Don’t Have to “Know” Them for Them to Be There

We don’t always need to consciously recognize our spirit guides in order for the relationship to exist.

Here’s a strange but true analogy: microscopic mites live on our skin. They support our skin’s health, and we don’t even know they’re there. They’re a vital part of our physical well-being. Spirit guides are similar in the spiritual realm—they support us in ways that may be unseen but are deeply impactful. They even assist in our transition when it’s time to return to spirit.

These energies evolve, just like we do. They’re not here just to serve us—they also grow and fulfill their own contracts through helping us. The relationship is symbiotic. It’s mutual. It’s sacred.

Give Thanks Anyway

Even if you don’t know their names or faces, give thanks. Gratitude opens the channel.

Thank your spirit guides, your ancestors, and the Universe for walking with you—through blessings, grief, breakthroughs, and everyday life. Yes, you are doing the work, but you’re also being held, guided, and supported by forces much bigger than we often realize.