City Magick: Urban Rituals, Spells and Shamanism - Christopher Penczak 2001
Helping Spirits
Meeting the Makers
Helping spirits are the guides and guardians you find along your travels. Everybody has some form of spirit help in this world, like totems, but those who work in the magical worlds between worlds tend to have, or at least to be aware of, more helping spirits.
Helping spirits come in many forms-and form is the correct word. The form we perceive is not necessarily the shape of the spirit. These helpers can come in a form that is comfortable for you. They are energy and essence, not flesh and blood. Our concepts of form should not be applied to them. They are spirits, after all.
Helping spirits can be distinguished by their function. We have already identified some spirits. You have already met your totem. Totems embody natural animal wisdom from the spirit worlds. Sometimes, thinking is not the right path. Humanity is focused on the mind and brain. Sometimes, however, natural laws and instinctual wisdom are needed. Totems help us with those lessons. They are also great spirit helpers, often guiding us on our meditative journey.
Another spirit helper is our spirit guide. I believe everybody has at least one spirit guide, if not a whole spirit group working together. Acting on the suggestion of a friend, I started calling mine “the entourage” in fun. This friend has an entourage, too. I think many people do. These spirits have agreed to help you in this life as they can. Some are very distinct in function. I have one working with emotional and healing issues, while another is more analytical and full of knowledge. They work together, but approach things from different angles. Sometimes, it takes them awhile to reach a consensus when working together. My psychic flower-essence practitioner wishes my guides would reach a conclusion before talking to him. He often asks advice of his clients’ guides before giving a new essence for emotional healing and balance. With me, his initial answers are often contradictory, until my guides work it out.
Other spirits are more diverse, working with a full range of concepts and characters. gods and goddesses from old mythology appear in journeys. New gods and goddesses of whom you have never heard before may appear, particularly gods of technology and modern living. Some will be in accord with the foundations of life, others will not. It is the same in all pantheons, and in the human race itself. We have discussed some of the possible archetypes. Other paradigms include angels, spiritual aliens, and ascended masters who were once human, but became something more than human when they reached the heavens. Some spirits may appear as demons or beasts, and others may have no real form. The last are probably closer to the form of the spirit world than any other. Because we perceive things in color, shape, form, and sound, the spirits comply, to aid us on our journey.
Those seeking favor from the unseen world enter into compacts with the spirits. An agreement is struck between the journeyer and spirit. The unseen ally will help you do something, if, in return, you do something for it. The task can be as simple as leaving them an offering on your altar. Or they may ask you to build an altar in their honor. Some ask for specific offerings of food or incense. The task is often spiritual in nature, helping them succeed in their own quest. I have been asked to give messages for those not psychically open to their own guides and gods, or to teach simple techniques to get them in touch.
Some seek to bind spirits for all time, making them servitors to the sorcerer. I think such a ploy is foolish. It can anger a spirit, even if you succeed in binding it as your familiar. There are many more spirits out there willing to help you for the highest good. Some minor constructs and servitor spirits can be created by the practitioner for a specific function through willpower and ceremony. This technique is the foundation of spell work. These semiconscious thoughtforms are quite useful as protector spirits. Why get a spirit that does not wish to help, when you can create a helpful temporary thought form? I think compacts and bindings are more trouble than they are worth. In my experience, if I need a specific spirit guide, teacher, or totem for a quest, the Great Spirit provides what I need. No force or coercion is needed.
Discernment is the key to working with new spirits. When asking for a guide, ask for one who is correct and for your highest good. Ask them three times if they come for your highest good, and wait for an affirmative response. Ask them for their names and to send you unconditional love at the same time. Follow your instincts. If a spirit feels harmful or dark, ignore it. Or better yet, laugh at it. Spirits hate to be mocked, while those of a lighter nature will laugh with you and send out love and joy. These are all factors to get a discernment reading. If you have a negative feeling toward a spirit, or feel it is being deceptive in any way, do not work with it. If other guides with whom you have traditionally and successfully worked do not cooperate with this guide, do not work with it. Wait until you can discern the true motives of the spirit. You may simply be unsure or not ready to work with that particular energy. Or it may be a spirit you should avoid. If so, use the banishment techniques found in Exercise 8 (see page 60). In either case, follow your inner wisdom. Let your intuition and your own body be your guides. If you have a bad feeling, honor it, but don’t let it control you. Ignored spirits will leave in boredom. Or you can light a clearing incense like sage and use a banishing pentagram. Each of these will remove unwanted energies from your area.