The term Spirit Guide generally makes reference to one or more entities who watch, teach, heal, and help you on your physical journey into spiritual awareness. They are above in higher frequency, while you experience the physical below. Communication is generally telepathic, clairaudience, with archetypes and visual imagery, clairvoyance, observed during meditation, dream time, or just learning how to focus, look and listen to messages received. Some people call this method of connection, channeling. The more you practice, the easier it gets.
The number of spirit guides one has various within that person's experiences. The strongest connection is with the aspect of your soul referred to as your Twin Flame, or dual aspects of a soul above and below, programmed to seek reunion to feel complete, oneness. The twin soul reference to 'spirit guide' remains with you until you rejoin when leaving the physical body.
Spirit guides can go by many names. Often they connect with more than one person at a time, using identities that are comfortable to those they communicate with. Each guide generally comes to you for a specific purpose; creative abilities, healing issues, spiritual development, etc. A guide can save you during an accident, by entering your body or stopping time.
Those with mental illnesses, even unrecognized, yet sensed, will attract negative experiences and blame it on their guides or dark forces. Not true in most cases. Guides are there to do just that; guide you to the positive. If the voices in your head confuse you, place you in conflict, and drive you crazy, please seek professional help and get evaluated, especially if you deal with substance abuse. To help get a point across, spirit guides work with you 'above' to create viable synchronicities that occur below. Synchronicities in general are experiences created by your soul to bring you into greater awareness.
TYPES OF SPIRIT GUIDES
Ascended Masters
These are guides often found by people who do energy work, such as Reiki. A ascended master who appears as a spirit guide is often a being that led a physical life and has moved on to a higher spiritual plane, for example, Buddha, Krishna, even Jesus. Ascended masters usually work with collective groups of souls. In other words, if you have an ascended master hanging around you, you are not the only one he or she is helping. Their primary focus is that of helping all of humanity. It is not uncommon for an ascended master to have access to Akashic records. Also referred to as Master Teacher guides.
Ancestral Guides
An ancestral guide is one who can claim some sort of kinship with you, such as your dear Aunt Mary who died when you were ten. It may also appear in the form of a long-dead ancestor. In some schools of thought, these entities are seen as reincarnated guides, because they are the spirits of someone who loved us during their physical lifetime, or who had some sort of blood connection to our family. Some people, depending on their religious upbringing, may see these types of guides as guardian angels.
Spirit Guide or Teacher Guide
A typical spirit guide is archetypical, symbolic or representative of something else. For example, you may find your guide appears in the form of a warrior, a storyteller, or a wise woman, and they have appeared to you for a purpose. Typically, that purpose is to teach you and guide you along a particular path. They may also introduce you to other archetypes along your journey, and help out with problem solving, based upon your needs. They are known to provide insight by way of dreams or meditation, and may only hang around as long as you need them, then move on.
Animal Guides
Although many people claim to have animals as spirit guides, often these entities are more companions than anything else. It is not uncommon for a deceased pet to linger around, keeping you company through the grieving process. In some spiritual traditions, such as various Native American or shamanic paths, a person may have an animal totem which provides teaching and/or protection.
Benevolent Guides
Many people believe they have spirit guides. Some refer to them as angels or guardians. Regardless, if you believe you have one, a spirit guide is there simply to guide, not as an entity that you need to give yourself over to. If a spirit guide has a negative influence on your behavior, then chances are good that it is not a spirit guide at all, but something else entirely.