A spirit guide, in Western
spiritualism
Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (when not lowercase ...
, is an entity that remains as a discarnate spirit to act as a guide or protector to a living
incarnated human being.
Description
In traditional African belief systems, well before the spread of Christianity and Islam, Africans believed and continue to believe in the eternal and ubiquitous spirit of the ancestors and the Almighty God. The ancestors are thought of as the ‘living-dead’, who continue to show a compassionate interest in the daily lives of their living descendants. Ancestor spirit guides are superior to the living and may include deceased parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, uncles or aunts. It is believed that because they have crossed over to the other side of life, the spirit guides act as mediators between the living and the Almighty God. This way of life is regarded as ancestor reverence, communication or remembering, and not as ancestor worship per se.
According to Western
theosophical doctrine, spirit guides are not always of human descent. Some spirit guides live as energy, in the cosmic realm, or as light beings, which are very high level spirit guides. Some spirit guides are persons who have lived many former lifetimes, paid their
karmic
Karma (; sa, कर्म}, ; pi, kamma, italic=yes) in Sanskrit means an action, work, or deed, and its effect or consequences. In Indian religions, the term more specifically refers to a principle of cause and effect, often descriptivel ...
debts, and advanced beyond a need to reincarnate. Many devotees believe that spirit guides are chosen on "the other side" by human beings who are about to incarnate and wish assistance.
Some early modern Spiritualists did not favor the idea of spirit guides. Spiritualist author and medium E.W. Wallis, writing in ''A Guide to Mediumship and Psychic Unfoldment'', expressed the opinion that the notion of spirit guides is disempowering and disrespectful to both spirits and living people. Although he does not deny that seeking people may be helped by spirits here and there, he decries the idea that said spirits are appointed or assigned to do nothing but help the living. He advises would-be mediums to steer clear of the notion that they are being "guided" unless they have demonstrable proof that such is the case.
Firsthand accounts
Theresa Caputo, the Long Island-based,
Pigasus Award
The Pigasus Award is the name of an annual tongue-in-cheek award that was presented by noted skeptic James Randi. The award seeks to expose parapsychological, paranormal or psychic frauds that Randi had noted over the previous year. Randi ...
-winning "medium" of the
reality TV
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...
series ''
Long Island Medium
''Long Island Medium'' is an American reality television series starring Theresa Caputo, a self-professed medium who claims she can communicate with the dead. Much of the program, which premiered on September 25, 2011, takes place in Hicksville ...
'', simply calls her guide "Spirit", claiming that it is an entity that she has been able to sense since she was four years old.
American Spiritualists of the 19th and 20th centuries often described their guides as resembling
Native Americans. One popular spirit guide of this type, encountered by many Anglo-American Spiritualists, was named White Hawk. Among African-American Spiritualists, especially those in churches that were founded by or influenced by Mother
Leafy Anderson, the Native American guide was named
Black Hawk Black Hawk and Blackhawk may refer to:
Animals
* Black Hawk (horse), a Morgan horse that lived from 1833 to 1856
* Common black hawk, ''Buteogallus anthracinus''
* Cuban black hawk, ''Buteogallus gundlachii''
* Great black hawk, ''Buteogallus urub ...
, and was presumed to be the spirit of the
Sac tribe warrior of the same name.
[Berry, Jason (November 1, 1995). ''The Spirit of Blackhawk: A Mystery of Africans and Indians''. University Press of Mississippi.]
See also
*
Channeler
*
Dream guide
*
Traditional African religions
The traditional beliefs and practices of African people are highly diverse beliefs that include various ethnic religions.Encyclopedia of African Religion (Sage, 2009) Molefi Kete Asante Generally, these traditions are oral rather than scriptura ...
*
Spiritualism
Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (when not lowercase ...
References
{{Authority control
Deities and spirits
Spirituality
Spiritualism