As Reiki healers and spiritual practitioners, we all have access to a team of loving and supportive spiritual guides. As a Shamanic Reiki practitioner, I regularly work with my Spirit Team in sessions, and have found their help to be invaluable when it comes to experiencing and facilitating the healing process for myself and others. In this blog post, we’ll explore the various members of your Spirit Team and cover how you can begin to welcome them into your practice and your life.
Power Animals
In Shamanic Reiki traditions, your Power Animal is your primary guide from the Lower World. It is believed that your Power Animal awakens and finds you the first time you cry as a baby. It is understood that Power Animals recognize humans are at their weakest state in infanthood. They hear the cry and come to our aid to ensure survival. Your Power Animal is the energetic representation of your protector in this lifetime, and remains constant throughout your life. They offer us wisdom, protection, and guidance, helping us to remain grounded in our purpose during our time on Earth.
Spirit Animals
Similarly, a Spirit Animal is a guardian spirit from the Lower World, but rather than being constant throughout your lifetime, Spirit Animals come and go at different points and carry the energy of lessons we need to learn in each aspect of life. For example, if you are learning to embrace the power of fun and play in your life, the spirit of FoxSquirrel may reveal itself to you in session, whereas if you need additional protection and feelings of security, you may connect with the energy of Bear. You can call upon these Spirit Animals whenever you need them, and you may have more than one to work with at any given time.
Primary Spirit Guide
Like your Power Animal, your Primary Spirit Guide is your constant guardian from the Upper World. This Spirit Guide is with you for your entire life, and is there to remind you of your soul contracts, offer you insight into your purpose, uplift your energy in times of need, and facilitate your connection with the Divine. Your Primary Spirit Guide may also appear in your healing sessions, offering you insights and wisdom to aid in the healing process. Spirit Guides are formless, but often appear to us in human form so we can recognize and interact with them when needed. Our Spirit Guides are always with us, but often wait to make themselves known until we call upon them and are ready to receive them.
Alternative Spirit Guides
Just as you have a singular Power animal and a multitude of Spirit Animals, you have a single Primary Guide, but a multitude of alternative Spirit Guides. These guides often have specific intentions or purposes in your journey. Think about a cosmic conference room, with a number of board members each bringing their own expertise to the meeting. Alternative Spirit Guides can appear to you for any reason. For example, if you are struggling with finances and open yourself up to receiving help from the spirit world, your Treasurer Guide may make itself known, whereas if you are working on deepening your Reiki practice, your Reiki Guide may appear to you. Like your Primary Spirit Guide, these Alternative guides are with us always, but may wait to make themselves known until we call upon them.
Guardian Angels
Guardian Angels appear across many different religious and spiritual traditions, and the beliefs around how they appear to us and what their purpose is are widely debated in the spiritual community. Many practitioners believe that a Guardian Angel is ‘assigned’ to you at birth, much like a Primary Spirit Guide, and helps to protect and guide you throughout your life. Other practitioners believe that guardian angels are more aligned with the archangels, archetypes of helper energies that each have a different purpose. In my personal practice, Archangels Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, and Uriel appear most often in sessions. Raphael assists with the clearing and transmutation of negative energies, whereas Michael assists me in knowing the most effective ways to place my hands and work with a client’s energy. Like all the other members of your Spirit Team, Guardian Angels are highly individual and their presentation may shift throughout your life.
Other Spirit Team Members
The spiritual world is incredibly vast, and there are dozens, if not hundreds, of members in our personal Spirit Teams. In addition to those listed above, you may find yourself connecting with elves, fairies, nature spirits, dragons, galactics, aliens, ancestors, and others. Introducing yourself to new members of your Spirit Team is a lifelong process. To begin this connection, simply allow yourself to be open to perceiving your Team. Keep your heart and mind open during Reiki sessions and meditations, setting the intention that you are ready to develop relationships with them. When you are ready, they will appear. Learning to Shamanic Journey is another amazing way to connect with your Spirit Team, and gives you a tangible way to communicate with them and receive their wisdom. In addition, keep your mind open to experiences in waking life that could signal your Spirit Team is trying to reach you… while I wrote this post, the wind chimes outside my window started playing without any wind! My Spirit Guide was encouraging me to keep writing and sharing this wisdom with the world. Above all, have fun! Connecting with your Spirit Team is a unique and exciting experience. Let yourself enjoy it!
Article by Christine Renee & Isabel Wells
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Christine Renee is a Shamanic Reiki Practitioner and Spiritual Coach with over 20 years of Reiki experience and 15 years of Shamanic experience. Combining the two modalities came naturally to her as she found power animals, spirit guides, angels, and galactics working alongside her during sessions and ceremonies. Christine believes that trusting your intuition, your guides, and your higher self are all integral pieces to embodying the Shamanic Reiki Practitioner. She challenges healing practices which restrain the practitioner’s innate spiritual abilities and ties them to rules, manuals, and gurus! She believes in her clients tapping into their own wisdom, mixing modalities, and breaking old paradigms of healing. She is founder of ReikiCafe University, cohost of the ReikiCafe Radio podcast, and supports a community of over 4,000 members in the ReikiCafe Community Facebook Group
Isabel is a Channeler, Shamanic Practitioner, Reiki Master, and Director of ReikiCafe University working to bridge the gap between science and spirituality. She has a background in nursing and psychology, and her passion for quantum physics, energy healing, and spiritual theory combine to create a unique perspective of the human experience. Her work with ReikiCafe University inspires and empowers Reiki practitioners to think outside the box and expand their practice while diving deep into their intuition. She currently holds space for students in the Soul Rising Shamanic Reiki online course, co-hosts the ReikiCafe Radio podcast, and supports the 4,000+ member community in the ReikiCafe Community Facebook group.
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