A spirit guide, in
Spiritualism
Spiritualism may refer to:
* Spiritual church movement, a group of Spiritualist churches and denominations historically based in the African-American community
* Spiritualism (beliefs), a metaphysical belief that the world is made up of at leas ...
, is an entity that remains as a discarnate
spirit to act as a guide or protector to a living
incarnated individual.
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 (, from , ; ) is an ancient Indian concept that refers to 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 descriptively called ...
debts, and advanced beyond a need to reincarnate. Many devotees believe that spirit guides are chosen on "the other side" by those who are about to incarnate and wish assistance.
Some early modern
Spiritualists
Spiritualism may refer to:
* Spiritual church movement, a group of Spiritualist churches and denominations historically based in the African-American community
* Spiritualism (beliefs), a metaphysical belief that the world is made up of at least ...
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
Theresa Caputo (born June 10, 1967) is an American alleged psychic medium, best known for her TLC reality television series '' Long Island Medium''.
Early life
Caputo, the daughter of Nicholas and Veronica Brigandi, was born and raised in ...
, the Long Island-based,
Pigasus Award
The Pigasus Award is the name of an annual tongue-in-cheek award, which was presented by the late James Randi, a skeptic. The purpose of the award was to expose parapsychological, paranormal, and psychic frauds whom Randi had noted over th ...
-winning "medium" of the
reality TV
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 199 ...
series ''
Long Island Medium'', 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, 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
The University Press of Mississippi (UPM), founded in 1970, is a university press that is sponsored by the eight state universities in Mississippi (i.e., Alcorn State University, Delta State University, Jackson State University, Mississippi Sta ...
.
See also
*
Channeler
New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consid ...
*
Dream guide
*
Traditional African religions
The beliefs and practices of Demographics of Africa, African people are highly diverse, and include various ethnic religions.Encyclopedia of African Religion (Sage, 2009) Molefi Kete Asante Generally, these traditions are oral tradition, oral rath ...
*
Spiritualism
Spiritualism may refer to:
* Spiritual church movement, a group of Spiritualist churches and denominations historically based in the African-American community
* Spiritualism (beliefs), a metaphysical belief that the world is made up of at leas ...
*
Guardian angel
A guardian angel is a type of angel that is assigned to protect and guide a particular person, group or nation. Belief in tutelary deity, tutelary beings can be traced throughout all antiquity. The idea of angels that guard over people played ...
References
{{Authority control
Spirits
Indigenous spirituality
Spiritualism