Dear Soul Arcanum:
I’ve often heard it said that someone in Spirit is “watching over us.” How does that happen? I mean, what do they do to try to help us?
– Bob
Dear Bob:
Just like our living friends and family, loved ones who pass on will do all sorts of things to try to protect and help us. While spirit guides and angels have their own methods, here I’ll focus on the ways that our loved ones watch over us from Spirit.
The most striking ways spirits intervene on our behalf usually involve warnings of danger, for in matters of life or death, the desire to help us is so strong that it can produce seeming “miracles.” These interventions may manifest in ominous feelings or intuitions, such as a strong sense of foreboding that causes us to change our plans. I’ve often heard from people who had “feelings” that caused them to cancel a trip or reconsider their trust in a certain individual. While sometimes these feelings had an uncertain origin, other times folks had vivid dreams in which a loved one in Spirit was warning them, or they heard or otherwise perceived that spirit communicating a warning.
Occasionally, spirits even seem to be able to affect physical reality. For example, in the moments before a major car accident, a driver may sense the presence of a loved one in Spirit and then somehow emerge from the accident unscathed. Sometimes they may feel the steering wheel gripped by an invisible force, or they may brace themselves for a seemingly unavoidable impact that never comes.
I had such an experience myself long ago. I was driving late at night and I was very upset. I was crying and feeling reckless. I was driving through a deserted parking lot when in my despair I mentally reached out to my first love, who had died many years before. Instantly I felt his presence in the passenger seat. When I looked to see if he was actually there, my moving car shifted from drive into park!
The most amazing part of this experience was the fact that when I was 15 years old, he was the one who had taught me how to drive a car. At one point, I wanted to continue out onto a main road, and he told me not to. When it became apparent that I was going to do just what I wanted, he very calmly grabbed the center gear shift and put the car in park. So the night he put the car in park from Spirit, he was both preventing me from driving when I was upset, and confirming his presence in a very personal way.
Fortunately we’re not in danger often, but whenever something is very important to us, our desire will draw love and support from loved ones in Spirit just as it does from those who love us here on Earth. If we are longing for a health cure, a new job or a soul mate experience, our friends in Spirit will try to help us by guiding us to the answers, opportunities and people who can aid us in fulfilling our dreams.
They do this a number of ways, most of which involve planting ideas, impulses and suggestions in our minds. Sudden urges to go somewhere or do something are hallmarks of spiritual intercession. As this is similar to our own instincts and intuitions, we usually fail to recognize that these “nudges” came from an outside source.
Spirits can plant ideas in others’ minds as well. For example, if we’re desperately needing a new job, they may plant the idea of going through a certain employment service, and then when we’re in an interview, they may plant certain feelings and impulses in the interviewer. That person may inexplicably have a “good feeling” about us or an urge to give us the job. Similarly, when we suddenly find ourselves wanting to help someone or “seeing them in a new light,” it’s often because spirits are casting them in a different light so we will like them and want to help them.
Now, if you’re having a hard time in life, it doesn’t mean you lack friends “upstairs!” We determine the amount of help we can receive from Spirit. Nothing outside of ourselves can energetically align us with what we want – we have to do that. We also have to ask for help through prayer or at least clear longing. In my story above, I prayed with all my heart to connect with someone in Spirit, and “magic” happened.
Further, the more receptive we are to being guided, the easier it is to help us. If we’re blind to our faults and weaknesses or stubbornly insist on feeling sorry for ourselves or blaming outside influences for all our problems, then Spirit is not going to be able to break through our denial to help us. (We might call this “learning the hard way.”)
The people who may be able to help us must also be receptive. The more open and sensitive they are, the more impulses from spirits will be able to “get through.” Mediums often receive nudges from loved ones in Spirit to help the people they care about here on Earth. It only makes sense if you think about it, for we’re psychically sensitive and also already engaged in helping these folks with their biggest problems.
For this reason, mediums must remain especially conscious of strong impulses to “go the extra mile” or “save” clients. There is a difference between caring about people and the intense love of a personal connection. When I suddenly find myself wanting to “adopt” someone, I look to see if someone in Spirit is trying to care for them through me.
I recently did a reading for a woman whose teenage son died a few years ago. This young man is very devoted to his mother, and doing all he can to help her to heal from her grief and find fulfillment in other areas of her life. In the week prior to her reading, all sorts of “coincidences” started to crop up.
For example, she lives on an island, and suddenly, I was encountering references to this place right and left. It was mentioned in movies, books and conversations. I met people from this obscure place and had other people tell me stories about it from out of the blue. I also had a strong urge not only to go there, but to make this woman my new best friend, help her solve all her problems, and devote my life to facilitating communication between her and her son.
When these coincidences finally got my attention, I realized that her son was behind them. As soon as I became conscious that he was trying to get me to love her on his behalf, his influence over me ended.
People who are open and sensitive but unconscious or mentally weak are easy to influence both by the living and “the dead.” As all sorts of entities will try to influence us for both loving and selfish reasons, it’s very important that we are conscious enough to make our own choices. Since I have devoted myself to doing the work of Spirit in the world, my guides often send me on missions, and I have no problem with that. When loved ones in Spirit try to “slip under my radar” however, it’s important to make sure I’m acting of my own free will. If we are conscious of where impulses are coming from, then we’e free to choose to honor them or not.
This is one reason developing the ability to consciously communicate with Spirit is so wise and powerful. Then we can reject those ideas and impulses that won’t serve us well, empower our loved ones and guides to help us, and consciously choose to serve Spirit by honoring kind impulses from beyond. This intuitive way of life is rich with synchronicity, “magic” and endless blessings!
So the next time you get a strong impulse of some kind or you notice others suddenly wanting to help you, stop and put out your feelers for spiritual intervention. If you sense some force working on your behalf, ask for some sign or evidence to validate that intuition. The more you honor and give thanks for all the magic in your experience, the more you’ll empower your loved ones in Spirit to watch over you.
– Soul Arcanum