First of all, an absolute beginner can meet his/her spirit guides. It was one of the very first things that I did. You already know them, you picked them before you were born and they agreed to help you this time around.

To start, I would suggest that you have a pencil and paper handy. Now find yourself a quiet place. Cleanse yourself and the room thoroughly. Get good and relaxed. Fill yourself and the room with a white light (this is a spiritual light, not a light from a light bulb or a candle). If you don't know how to do these things see the sections on Cleansing and Meditation, they can help you. Now call your spirit guides to you. It does not matter at this time that you do not consciously know them, they will be there for you. Now say, "Please touch me." You should feel some sort of sensation somewhere on your body. It could be chills, goose bumps, warmth or a tingling. Whatever it is it will simply be a sign to you that they are there. Having identified (for you) a way to tell their presence, you can go on to the next step, determining how many of them there are.

Ask, "Is there at least one of you?" You should feel the sensation. Everyone has at least one guide. Most people have between one and seven. Now ask, "Are there at least two of you?" If you feel the sensation, then you know that there are at least two of them. Continue this process until you no longer receive any sensation. In this manner you will determine how many guides that you have.

Next step. Say, "Number one, please touch me." Somewhere on your body, (your forehead, back of your neck, arm, back, shoulder, leg, somewhere) you should feel something. It may be chills, goose bumps, warmth, a tingling or whatever, but it will be a pleasant sensation. Remember this touch, in fact it is a good idea to write it down. It is the I.D. of that spirit guide, and he/she will always touch you in the same spot with the same feeling. Continue the process until you have the I.D.'s of all of your guides.

Next step. Ask, "Please tell me hello." If you can hear their thoughts in your head, you are one of the lucky ones. I wasn't, it took me years before I could reliably "hear" them. It was not their fault, but mine, I was cutting myself off. So if you don't hear them, all is not lost.

Assume that you don't hear them. You can still ask questions and get answers, it just takes a little more effort, as it has to be couched as "Yes/No" questions. Ask them, "Please give me a 'Yes' answer." Pay close attention to your body, there will be some movement at this point, the most common being a nodding of your head as though you were nodding a "yes" in answer to someone else's question. The actual motion may be very slight, almost imperceptible, but you will be able to feel it. When I was using this method, I could often judge how emphatic the answer was by how energetic the nodding was, I have had my entire body jerk. Now ask, "Please give me a 'No' answer." Again pay close attention to your body, there will be a motion, the most common being a shaking of the head as if you were shaking your head "no".

Now lets get some practice, and this is an important step. Assume that there is a table lamp in the room with you and it is turned off. Ask the question, in these words, "Is the lamp on?" Did you get a "yes" answer? Were they wrong? Not at all, you asked the wrong question, the lamp is indeed on the table. Now ask the question, "Is the table lamp in this room turned on?" Now the answer should be "No." Assume that the door to the room that you are in is open, ask, "Is the door open?" Got a "No" answer? Is the front door closed? There is a reason for these apparently "wrong" answers, they are not being contrary, only trying to get you to learn to be precise in your wording, and to make sure that you really do know what you are really asking.

As you work with them and get to know them, you will find that most of them have great senses of humor, they like a good joke as well as you or I. And they all have their own individual personalities. Once, I was helping a young man to meet his guides and he referred to one of them as "he." Suddenly, his eyes opened wide and a smile crept across his face. He said, "I just got my face slapped. And I heard, 'I'm not a he, I'm a woman.'"

You will also find in time that they will not be quite so insistent on the precise wording of your questions.

When you go to ask them a question in the future, it is a very good idea to first ask, "Who is with me?" Then look for the familiar I.D. touch. That will not only let you know which of your guides that you are talking to, but will also insure that it is one of your guides and not some stray spirit that happens to be passing by.

When you ask your guides for advice, ask for their opinions. They will NOT tell you what to do, but are more than happy to tell you their opinions. Put your questions to them in the format of "If you were in my position, would you ..." or "In your opinion would it be best for me to ...". Otherwise, you may not get an answer. Remember that it is your life, and you have to make the decisions and live with the results.

Yes, they all have names, they are after all, people. But I have tended to discourage using names until you really develop a discernment in identifying them by their thoughts. The reason is simple. Let us assume that you have a guide named Susan. Now you want to ask your guides a question and you start out by saying, "Who is with me?" and you clearly hear "Susan." OK, you assume that is your Susan. But unknown to you, it just happens to be some confused spirit who has recently died and is still wondering around, lost. And you are willing to talk to her! WOW! She will tell you anything that you want to hear, sure you were Nefertiti in a past life, and Queen Elizabeth, too. Mata Hari? Yeah, you can be her too if you want to. See what I mean? But that touch is a positive ID.

In the future, if a spirit shows up claiming to be a new guide for you, don’t take it at its word, check it out with your known guides before you accept anything that it tells you.

I wish you the very best in your efforts. Please let me know how you make out. And if you have any questions, feel free to go to my website where there is a lot more information, including a FAQ and my email address. The address is http://www.geocities.com/oldsage_1999 Yahoo! GeoCities