This article includes practices you can do to connect with your guides.

The body and mind harden when we feel we are alone. We become naught but a consciousness inside a moving body and the rest of the world feels separated and apart. There is no help, no one who truly understands. Our experience is ours alone, and it hurts.

This more than the story of the individual. It is also the story of our Western culture. To need help is to be weak and dependent. To be soft is viewed as a bad or lesser thing. We need to be independent, take care of ourselves, be strong when it comes to our emotions, and keep being productive members of society. We need to be strong alone.

Sometimes we do not know how terrible this loneliness is until we have a life-changing experience where we feel we are intrinsically connected to and part of the world and the cosmos. 

In a culture that hardens us from a young age, this experience of connection is like experiencing a lush, untouched forest for the first time. The birds are singing, buzzing insects fill the air with a peaceful hum, and deer cross our path. We never knew what we were missing in life before that moment. After that, we cannot imagine life without it.

Experiencing animal guides is like that. You might have always had them. This might be an entirely new concept to you. Perhaps you have dabbled and are curious. Either way, to live in a world with animal guides is to live in an interconnected, beautiful world of wonder. It means to know the song of birds and the footprints of deer as guidance.

To connect with animals as guides means to accept the more- and other-than-human world as a teacher, helper, and friend. Out of this a relationship blossoms that is greater than our human selves. If we tend to and care for it, our lives can change forever.

If we are earnest about desiring animal guides and do so in a respectful way, then this connection can also be a remedy to the extractive ways that are destroying our habitat, which so happens to be one of the core causes of the epidemic of loneliness and anxiety in modern society. The impact of a relationship with one or more animal guides goes beyond the personal. It is important to remember that when we bring wonder and mutual support into our lives, it ripples out and touches the world we live in. What touches the world, changes the world.

How do we go about finding our animal guides in a way that is both meaningful and respectful?

It can help to know that some guides are with us for life and others just for part of the journey. Starting with a mind that is open to relationships changing and developing can help ease the way forward.

The next step is to start paying attention. Is there an animal that regularly crosses your path? Perhaps there is one you feel you have a special connection with. You might get flashes or visions of a particular animal when you are in a magical/spiritual practice. Your awareness might drift to a memory of an encounter with an animal that you had in your life that feels as vivid as if it happened just a moment ago.

If all of the above does not apply to you, you can also seek out an animal guide. Meditations and visualization journeys are great starting points. Inside Book of Magic, our extensive online encyclopedia of effective magical practices, there is one of our favorite visualizations to begin the journey of meeting animal guides and learning how to hear their wisdom.

Book of Magic is part of the Magic is the Key membership and you can access it for free today by clicking HERE. This LINK will take you straight to the visualization after you register. 

Once you feel you know which animal is one of your current guides, the next step is deepening the relationship. It is easy to fall into seeing the animal as the guide and as a result extracting wisdom from them without giving much in return. There are many years in recent history where much of our culture placed humans above all. This is not just a distant memory, it is still a reality today. Therefore it is important to pay attention to how we reciprocate the relationship.

Here is an example of how you can deepen your relationship with your animal guide in a reciprocal and mutually beneficial way. You might begin researching the habitat of the animal. If it lives locally, an effort to clear it of trash is a beautiful offering to make. Offering time to learn about the animal is also a beautiful gift to give. If this animal is endangered, a donation to a cause dedicated to its care might feel appropriate.

Another way to deepen the relationship is to simply be present with its spirit in meditation. Without asking for anything, listen with your heart and your soul. Pay attention and be present. Much like one of the most valuable gifts in our human friendships is to simply share space with each other, so it can be with relationships of the spirit.

On this foundation of relationship, when the time comes where you need guidance, you will receive meaningful answers that blossom out of the connection you share and mutual generosity.

Remember, guidance can come in many mysterious ways. Though you might hear words, this is not necessarily what to expect. In vision you might become the animal as an answer to your question. Or they might pass images, a story, or an emotion to you. Perhaps you receive a song.

Do not worry if it does not immediately feel clear. It might, but in the case that it does not, patience and time spent in reflection will bring clarity.

We hope you found this post useful, helpful, and beneficial.

For a special 30% discount on the Magic is the Key membership, in addition to free access via our free trial, sign up for our Magic Letter below. We look forward to welcoming you to our magic family.