Guardian Spirits (ritual, tradition, experience, pagan, spiritual)

[Feathers in Hair]

Originally Posted by zombieharlot

So there was some kind of message relayed to you in that?

*nods* Well... maybe not so much a message as a reassurance. Kreeden mentioned archetypes, which is quite appropriate, as the fox is sometimes seen as one for adaptability and survival. (There being almost nowhere on earth that doesn't have foxes.) It was like having a friend who'd entered your life when you'd had a hard time previously coming back into your life and giving you a reminder that everything would be fine. I can only describe it as being a feeling like a great friend has turned up to give you a huge hug, just when one needs it.

I'm sorry, ZH! I'm realizing that this isn't really answering your familiar question. Let me go make that thread now.

[zombieharlot]

Originally Posted by kreeden

Ok , an excample of what I mean . I visited the Vancoucer zoo last year with a group of friends . We were all there , along with others , walking by the pen with the Moose in it . A young bull looked at my friend's son , stood up and walked over to him . He wasn't playing much attention , but the Moose walked beside him all the way down the fence . I stopped the boy and asked him to walk back the other way . He did , and the Moose kept in step beside him . Also followed him back again .

The young guy didn't even notice it at first . We all got a smile out of it by the third trip along the pen . But there was a connection there . Can't say what it was . And I am quite sure that the connection will remain when and if he returns . { I'm hoping that we will this fall }.

I'm not denying that there is a connection between man and animal. But, I'm specifically looking for something that says it is spiritual or servile. Familiars are said to be servile beings that will do as their masters bidding. They will also act in a way to protect their master and their master's will.That's what I've gathered anyway.

[zombieharlot]

Originally Posted by FeathersinHair

I'm sorry, ZH! I'm realizing that this isn't really answering your familiar question. Let me go make that thread now.

I think it relates well enough. And you know, I'm very able to create a thread on my own. I do appreciate your kindness though. Perhaps another thread would be appropriate though. So thanks!

[michel]

Originally Posted by kreeden

I find that most Spirits are " guardian " to some degree . Well , if they take a liking to you , they will do what they can to protect you or warn you , depending upon their nature . Sometimes without being asked .

I don't know Feathers ? I call them " friends ". But yes , they can take physical form , as all as spiritual . BTW I also call them Benifactors , guides , teachers , and a number of other titles .

I also don't think there is too much difference between a " familiar " and a " guide ", other then familiars are more likely to take physical form .

I tend to agree; I was told by a healer/psychic that my Guide was a red Indian (which I was a little suspicious of, because his house was covered in paintings of Red Indians).

Maybe he was just interpreting what he saw his own way. I certainly believe we do have 'helpers'; I am sure my Father's father (who used a pendulum) has helped me over the years.

[kreeden]

Originally Posted by michel

I tend to agree; I was told by a healer/psychic that my Guide was a red Indian (which I was a little suspicious of, because his house was covered in paintings of Red Indians).

Maybe he was just interpreting what he saw his own way. I certainly believe we do have 'helpers'; I am sure my Father's father (who used a pendulum) has helped me over the years.

I would be a little suspicious myself . And I do tend to agree with you Michel . We all relate to things within your own experiences . What to you could be a beautiful Butterfly , to me could be just a bug . And that is in relation to the physical world . The Spiritual is much harder to define .

Feathers had a beautiful quote about Spirits . Something about them coming into our life for a day , a week , or a season , but they come for a reason . So perhaps you are correct about your Grandfather ?

BTW I have had quite good results with the pendulum .

[kreeden]

Originally Posted by zombieharlot

So, you're not really aware if a familiar can be any kind of personal companion because it is not the case with you?



Aren't humans technically animals too? So, perhaps these spiritual connections you feel are simply personificated connections that you wouldn't really regard as having come from an animal. To put it in other words, perhaps what we look at as human characteristics are really just builds off of an animal character trait base. So, these connections may just be animalistic, rather than spiritual.

The biggest problem I have with " familiar " is the defination . If a familiar is a slave , not only have I never had one , but I never will . If a familiar is a Spirit that takes physical form to aid a person , then yes , I believe that I have had a few . So what I mean by not being able to speak for others really means that I'm not about to define what something is for others . They should do that theirselves . It may be something greater then anything I have knew , or just something different . Either way , it should be theirs .

Yes , humans are animals . I am proud to claim that I am at least . And yes , in a way , you are correct about these " connections " being animalistic , in part . But they can go far beyond that .

The first thing one has to do when dealing with Spirits , and something that I have never mastered , is to stop trying to use science and logic to explain everything . Or , if you do , as I tend to , when science and logic fails to explain something , you have to allow other possibilities to enter the picture . We can explain anything away . A baby isn't smiling , it has gas .... I said that about my niece untill she was 13 . Years that is , and yes , I was teasing her mother . But the thing is babies do " smile " when they have gas . But they also start to actually smile at some point . The same with these " connections ". They may start off as something as simple as an animal looking for food , but may become something totally different . Or they may start off as a person's interest in an animal ...

It is really hard to explain , but in the case of the boy at the zoo , it was something that I saw before he did . Why ? Because I knew what to look for ? Perhaps ? I couldn't say . But I can say that I WAS NOT looking for it at the time .