Finding your spirit allies

Different people need different spirits. Different spirits are attracted to different people. Not every spirit on this wiki will interest you; nor will every spirit be sympathetic toward you. Hence this wiki identifies many, representing a wide variety of traditions and belief systems, so that you can shop around and locate spirits who are compatible with *you*. Consider it a smorgasbord of spirits. The most crucial issue, of course, is identifying *your* spirits, your own best personal allies; those spirits who walk with *you* offering advice and protection; who hear *your* petitions and answer them.

Obviously, anyone can speak to any spirit they choose. The bigger question is: will that spirit answer? If a spirit doesn't communicate with you, that doesn't prove it doesn't exist. That particular spirit may just not be interested in you. Your own spirit allies, guardians, and protectors will answer your call. The trick is identifying them.

* The mystery is whether a spirit will work with you or not.
* Your challenge is identifying your own personal spirit allies.

How many spirits will you need? That depends upon you. Some people are social butterflies: they really enjoy the company of spirits. They create elaborate altars and throw frequent parties for the spirits. Many spirits are sociable, too. Invite them into your life, and they'll bring their friends, family, and animal familiars with them.

Other people feel blessed and content with one spirit ally. Likewise, some spirits are solitary or selective. They will only serve those (possibly very few) people they recognize as their own spiritual children, not humanity or the needy in general.

Some spirits are high maintenance, demanding attention and devotion. Prima donnas, they may not wish to share their spotlight, except perhaps with spirits who are deferential toward them. Others possess modest appetites and desires.

How many spirit allies anyone else has is irrelevant. There is no competition. What suits one person doesn't necessarily suit another. More is not necessarily better. It is the quality of each relationship that counts. These are intimate relationships; what is important is what is best for *you*. The best spirit-human relationships are lifelong symbiotic partnerships, characterized by mutual love, respect, and assistance. Consider them alliances, committed relationships, something like a really good marriage.

How will you find your spirit(s)? How do you choose your allies?

Frankly, they usually pick you. The real challenge often resides in identifying those spirits already hovering near; those already on standby, awaiting your call.

Some spiritual traditions suggest that each of us is born with a pack of spirit allies who travel through life with us, accompanying and guarding us. Some theorize that these alliances are eternal. Transcending death, our guardian spirits maintain their watch, incarnation after incarnation. Although *we* may lack recollections of past lives, the spirits know all. If we are aware of those allies, if we can identify them and explicitly request their help, we then empower them to offer even greater assistance on our behalf. (Many can and will reveal past life information, too.)

Spirits are accumulated as needed. As we journey through life, experiences, accomplishments, behaviour, or crisis may attract or stimulate new spirit alliances.

If a spirit's name or image resonates or lingers with you, then it's very possible that spirit has been hovering near you, waiting for contact. If you have ever felt compelled to spend time and effort researching a spirit, maybe it's playing hide-and-seek with you. As the old saying goes, that which you are seeking which may be causing you to seek.

Spirits may seek to work with you for any or all of the following reasons:

* The spirit perceives that you share something of its nature or essence.

* Some basis for assistance and loyalty exists (ethnic, familial, religious, professional).
* The spirit perceives a need in you, which it can fulfil.
* This spirit just likes you and enjoys your presence.
* Knowingly or unknowingly, you've called upon this power and they've responded.

Clues to help you identify your spirit allies include:

* Look for spirits whose names, images, or myths linger or haunt you, those spirits you just can't forget, whether positively or negatively. Sometimes spirits who initially scare us, become, after further reflection and knowledge, powerful, valued allies.
* Look for spirits who inspire you creatively, who are already serving as your muse.
* Look for those with whom you identify or with whom you share something significant.
* Look for spirits who possess affiliations with what you love.

If there is something you really love, a particularly beloved place, animal, flower, colour, or even a lucky number, look for spirits sharing associations. If you consistently dream of bears or volcanoes, for instance it could signal a bond with Artio or Pele respectfully. If you've been collecting images of pigs since childhood consider one of many spirits associated with swine.

Which spirits appear in your dreams? Which keep popping up in your life? Remember, some spirits frequently manifest in the form of their sacred animals. Read through the pages of this wiki: you may already have had personal encounters and experiences. You just need to recognize and identify them.

This may sound cut-and-dry, but it's not. Sometimes what we perceive as a clear obvious link with a spirit is actually wishful thinking, fear, lack of self-awareness, or some other confusing human emotion.

Allow your self to be surprised. Sometimes shockingly unexpected spirits make overtures of patronage. Spirits see our hidden powers and potential, even those we ourselves fail to recognize.

Many of the spirits on this wiki are *great* spirits, the equivalent of royalty. Their presence is both a blessing and an honour. If they make overtures, consider them; learn from them before ignoring or turning them down too quickly. (Persistent spirits continue to linger quietly, waiting for you to be ready. Others lose interest and won't be back.)

Do you share the name of a spirit? Many traditions consider that sharing a name creates an unbreakable bond. a spirit whose name you share may be obligated to serve as your patron, one reason why so many name their children after powerful, sacred beings.

Were you born on a day associated with a spirit? That, too, may indicate the existence of sacred ties. Brigid's holy day is 1 February. If that's your birthday, consider yourself linked. Various spiritual tradition. including Christain, Aztec, and ancient Egyptian, link specific calendar days with specific spirits. Those born on a spirit's day are believed to share in its essence and/or receive its patronage.

Some spirits are affiliated with the zodiac, Western and otherwise. For example:

* Artemis, Hera, and Yemaya are affiliated with Cancer.
* Ishhara, Oya, and Selkhet are affiliated with Scorpio.
* Kannon is guardian of those born in the Year of the Rat.
* Fudo guards those born in the Year of the Rooster.

Alternatively, consider which spirits might be attracted or sympathetic to you.

Some spirits feel ties of ethnic loyalty. Atargatis is also called Dea Syria, the Syrian Goddess. If you have strong times to that nation, ancestral or otherwise, then you already have her private number. Rachel is the Mother of Israel. Guadalupe is Protectress of Mexico. Juno is Matron of Rome. In African-influenced Brazil, Yemaya, Queen of the Sea, is a national heroine: those who survived the slave trade's Middle Passage, to Brazil or elsewhere, are believed to have done so via her grace. Their descendants retain this spiritual bond.

Some spirits guard and guide those who share their spiritual or religious inclinations. Others mentor those who embrace certain political or social causes.

Spirits serve as professional patrons:

* Ho Tei and La Madama sponsor fortune-tellers, while Tanit protects astrologers.
* Coatlique has a soft spot for florists; Oshun for hairdressers.
* Brigid and Odin love poets
* Ogun, Kwan Kung, and Michael Archangel sponsor law enforcement officers.

Some spirits are attracted to certain issues, needs, or even personalities. Some protect people because of shared experience: Demeter suffered the trauma of a kidnapped child; if that's your personal pain, she shares it. Ezili Dantor raises her children alone; she is the matron of single mothers.

Do you feel in need of greater courage? Maybe it's time to spend time with Maeve or Ogun. Would you like to be more beautiful? Bring Aphrodite, Ezili Freda, or Oshun into your life. Perhaps you seek inner beauty, aspiring to unconditional love and generosity? Jizo or Kwan Yin can lead the way.

Sometimes physical attributes indicate an existing bond with a spirit. (Whether the spirit is merely attracted by these attributes or whether the spirit has actually caused them, essentially marking a person as its own, has long been subject of debate.)

* Obatala is guardian of albinos.
* Simbi's spiritual children may be born with a caul or display heads full of corkscrew ringlets.
* Various spirits of Europe, Asia, and Africa, including Hulda and the Elves, indicate interest in a person by causing hair to spontaneously form locks.

If a spirit resonates for you, odds are it's because it's already calling you, already hovering near you. *However*, if this is not a desired relationship, respectfully decline. Spirits will take "no" for an answer, if delivered politely, respectfully, and honestly.

It may be difficult to extract oneself from an existing relationship, especially if you've already requested and accepted big favours, but no one is ever required to enter a relationship that does not feel absolutely right. Consider these relationships as like marriage; it's not wise to enter casually. (Malevolent or harmful spirits can be permanently banished by more powerful, benevolent spirits.)

Ultimately you will know when you have encountered and connected with your own special spirit allies because there will be some sort of response. Spirit contact may be subtle or obvious: a spirit may openly identify itself by name to you in a dream or show itself in a very recognizable form. Alternatively, the spirit's personal attributes, its signs and symbols, may begin to make constant appearances in your life. Sometimes you'll know you've made contact because the spirit has clearly fulfilled a request.

Not all gifts associated with spirits are pleasant or desired. One method of identifying spirit allies is to take stock of your life, especially your trials and tribulations, then determine which spirits are most likely to soothe your troubles and heal your ailments. Alternatively, check to see which might be responsible for causing these problems.

Spirits don't just solve problems: they control them, removing, bestowing, or maintaining, as they please. The very existence of your problems may indicate that some spirit awaits your call, especially if your situation consistently defies standard solutions.

Spirits are often associated with ailments that resist diagnosis and/or treatment. Disease spirits, in particular, both inflict and remove illnesses. The theory is that the spirit has deliberately inflicted the ailment so that you will make contact and request assistance. They may do this from love. They know no other more graceful, less painful way of making their desires known. The disease *is* their method of communication.

Recurring troubles of any sort may indicate a nudging spirit hoping that eventually you'll ask for help. Once the right spirit is identified and contact initiated, the problem will be solved (and will stay solved as long as you maintain the relationship. Spirits are credited with many inventions, not least the protection racket.) The immediate solving of the problem may indicate that the right spirit has been found.

What happens if you petition the wrong spirit? Most likely nothing. Literally. The wrong spirit is not likely to harm you. You will probably not even register on its radar. (The exception, of course, is if you petition a particularly malevolent spirit.) Spirits lacking interest will ignore you and your petition. You are left exactly where you started, no better but no worse.

Relationships with spirits are like any other relationship. A lot depends on personal chemistry. Sometimes we seek relationships with those who have no interest in us. Sometimes, with effort and persistence, those relationships can be earned. To gain an alliance with a spirit, practice courtship:

* Build an altar for this spirit.
* Become the type of person who would attract this spirit.
* Most importantly, do good deeds on behalf of whatever this spirit loves.

Rituals and visualizations may help identify spirit allies. Sometimes mediums or spiritual advisors can identify your spirit allies. Various commercially available oracle card decks also provide systems of identification. Some are very accurate, the one caveat being that your selection of spirits is inevitably limited by the pre-established number of cards. The oracle may help you identify *some* of your spirit allies, but not necessarily all.

Don't despair if the identity of your allies is not immediately clear. Ultimately you will know your spirits because they identify themselves to you or respond to some gesture or request. No general rule exists: results may be immediate, but sometimes it's a lengthy process involving lots of trial and error.

Not to be too irreverent, but the process is not unlike entering the magical treasure cave in the old Warner Brothers' cartoon *Ali Baba Bunny*. The cave door opens only in response to a password. The guard seeks to enter the cave but can't recall the magic password, and so he experiments: Open Sarsparilla! Open Saskatchewan! When he finally gets it right (Open Sesame!), the door responds. Spirits are similar. When you call on the right one, there will be a recognizable reaction in a reasonable amount of time: a portal of communication will open. Don't be impatient. The process itself is sacred. In addition to revealing your spirits, this is a voyage of self-discovery.

## Information Source

Encyclopedia of Spirits: The Ultimate Guide to the Magic of Fairies, Genies, Demons, Ghosts, Gods & Goddesses by Judika Illes