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A spirit guide can be many things. It just depends on what your specific beliefs are. For me, spirit guides take on the form of loved ones who have passed on, deities, angels, and ancestors. Together they make up a spirit team of sorts, basically a group of energies that work together to help guide you through life.
If you are on a spiritual path, then you’ve likely heard of having a spirit team and might be wondering how you can contact the different members or guides on it. This Spirit Guide Tarot Spread guide will walk you through how to do just that, along with expanding a bit on what it means to believe in spirit guides and the different forms they take.
Bottom Line Up Front
A spirit guide can be many things; it all depends on your individual beliefs. These spreads for contacting your spirit guides will help you understand the messages they are trying to tell you and help you build a relationship with them.
I really loved the spread for contacting your spirit team as a whole, along with the one for contacting a specific guide.
So What Is a Spirit Guide?
A spirit guide can be many things or anything, even animals or pets. I’ve heard of everything from talking dragons to your great great great great grandmother joining in on a spirit team. It all depends on you and your beliefs. Here are some more well-known energies that often join spirit teams:
Guardian Angels: Guardian angels are perhaps the most well-known since they are also ingrained in Christianity. They are simply energies of any type that are choosing to act as a guide for you. Indeed they are also my preferred way of thinking about my spirit team. It feels like an all-encompassing label that is a bit more accessible to the masses than the spirit team.
Archangels: Archangels are supposedly leaders of the angels, so to speak. Powerful beings that will occasionally join a spirit team to help guide someone, usually temporarily. There are multiple types of archangels, and the number and names are heavily debated from religion to religion. They each represent something different and are called on for different things.
Deities: Deities are mostly used in polytheistic religions; each Deity, regardless of what religion they come from, represents something different, has a different back story, and different things to teach you. I work with Artemis and Apollo, The Goddess of the Hunt and The Moon, and her twin, The God of The Hunt, The Sun, and Music.
Loved Ones or Pets: This is pretty explanatory; loved ones who have passed on during your lifetime may choose to join your spirit team once they cross over.
Ancestors: Ancestors or relatives who passed on well before your lifetime may also join your spirit team if they choose to. Check out our Ancestor Spread Guide here.
Energies from past lives: If you believe in past lives, then you may have energies and people you knew from them join your spirit team. Past lives can offer a lot of lessons, so it does make sense. Check out our Past Life Spread Guide here.
Your higher self: Lastly, the one in command here is your higher self. In my world, that means the version of myself that exists in the spirit realm. She knows what’s best for the earthly realm version of me, supposedly. We’re not always in agreement here. Sometimes other people’s higher selves can come through as well.
Getting Messages from Your Guides
You can receive messages from your guides in various ways; meditation is extremely popular and drawing runes and other variations of divination work. Of course, Tarot is one of the most used and potentially accessible ways to contact your spirit team.
Let’s dig into it and look at three spreads that will help you contact your spirit guides, build relationships with them and help you receive the messages you need from the team as a whole. For these readings, I’ll be using the Wild Unknown Tarot Deck by Kim Krans. Additionally, I don’t generally read reversals.
Contacting Your Spirit Guide Spread
This spread has 6 cards that are aimed at helping you get to know a member of your spirit team.
- Tell me something about yourself, please?
- What are your strengths?
- How are you aiding me specifically on my journey?
- How can I connect with you better?
- Why are we working together?
- What is your message for me?
As a card to represent them, I got the Wheel of Fortune, a major arcana card that symbolizes good luck, fortune, and life cycles. This card, along with the others, tells me that his spirit guide is focused on a new life cycle and a new start for me.
As this guides strengths, I pulled The Mother or Queen of Pentacles. She symbolizes working parents and the ability to be both practical and nurturing. She’s the ultimate working caregiver, able to cheer on softball practices and bring home the bacon. This card tells me that this guide was a working parent in the past or they have mastered the ability to keep a home and bring in income.
I pulled The Hierophant to represent what they are currently helping me with. This major arcana card focuses on spiritual wisdom, religious practices, and learning the basics of one’s practice before creating your own path. This tells me that this spirit guide is here to help me gain a sense of spiritual routine, something I neglect.
I pulled The Tower for how I can connect with them. Many people are scared of this card because they see it as a scary, violent change. However, I often see this as a change for the better. It may come with conflict or strong emotions, but that is not always a bad thing. This is telling me that I may need to do something that will cause a sudden change in my life; it may cause some conflict, but ultimately it’s for the best in the long run.
I pulled The Emperor for the card that represents why we are working together. This card focuses on finding your grounded stability in life and is the masculine counterpart to The Empress. This tells me that this spirit guide is here to help me find a sense of groundedness and stability within myself, likely through my spiritual practices. He’s helping me with a situation in my life that this and the next card represents.
The message this guide has for me is the Six of Cups. This cup represents nostalgia and the past. Specifically in this deck, this card represents reconnecting with people from the past. I believe this is my guide giving me yet another message to contact that person I’ve wanted to talk to from my past.
Reading Summary: This reading tells me that this guide is helping me with a new cycle in my life and helping me create stable religious foundations. They are telling me that I may need to make a sudden change in my life that may cause conflict or a struggle at first but ultimately will be for the better and will help me connect with my spirit team on a closer level. They are helping me find stability within my life and, lastly, helping me with a situation from the past.
A Spread to Help You Build a Relationship with Your Spirit Guide
This spread is pretty basic, but I enjoy its versatility and the fact that you can pull a few extra cards if you feel the need to after the first three. Altogether, it has 7 to 9 cards.
The first three ask:
- For a card that represents the guide contacting you
- What can you do to help build the relationship
- What are they willing to do to help build the relationship
The last 4 to 6 simply ask for cards that represent things they want you to know about them. This is open to interpretation. I take these cards at face value but also try to tell a story at the same time.
For the first card, I pulled the 2 of Cups. This is my love or soulmate card. This card tells me that perhaps this is a soulmate or past lover’s higher self coming through.
I pulled The Magician for the second card. This card is about manifesting the things you want in life and taking inspired action toward them. I find this interesting and maybe a bit curious, as I’m not sure who exactly I’m speaking with here. However, this can mean they want me to take more inspired action toward my manifestations or them in general. I will have to give this some thought.
I pulled The Star as the 3rd card. This card is about hope, renewal, and strength. It’s one of my favorite cards and always one of the prettiest. This card tells me they are willing to offer hope and a sense of renewal in our relationship.
As for the last cards, I pulled four cards:
Daughter or Page of Swords: This card tells me that his spirit guide has new ways of communication and exciting ideas to share with me, and they are eager to do just that.
Wheel of Fortune: This card tells me that they bring good fortune and help along the next chapter of my journey.
Son or Knight of Pentacles: This card tells me that this spirit guide is hard-working and productive, and they can help me with that.
3 of Pentacles: This card tells me that they can help me learn teamwork and are good at working together in general.
Reading Summary: This was curious as, supposedly, I was in contact with a soulmate of sorts. They told me that I need to continue taking inspired action toward my manifestations, and in return, they will bring me hope and a sense of renewal in our relationship. They choose to share that they have a lot of new ideas they want to communicate that can help me with the next chapter of my life, help me find motivation and productivity and lastly, help me learn teamwork.
A Spread for Contacting Your Spirit Team in General: Not Just a Specific Guide
This spread allows you to contact your spirit team as a whole, not just one specific guide. It gives you a general overview of how they are helping you on your journey and asks:
- What they want you to know
- Something that has been hidden from you
- How they are assisting with a current situation in your life
- How you can connect with them better
- What you need to release in order to move forward
- A sign they will give you to get your attention
I pulled the Mother or Queen of Swords for the message they are trying to tell me. This card tells me that I need to communicate and create boundaries and work on unbiased judgment. Communicating can definitely be difficult; I’m a people pleaser through and through. I was never taught to create boundaries, so I do struggle with this.
While I have the ability to communicate very directly, I often struggle to have the courage to do that at all. I have been working on it, and this card is just confirmation to keep doing that.
The 4 of Wands is about celebration, joy, relaxation, and harmony. Apparently, my team has been hiding a future celebration of sorts from me. Well, now I’m curious, how rude of them. I wish I knew the details.
Apparently, my whole team is on aiding in this past situation of sorts, as I pulled the 6 of Cups again. This card follows me; it’s rather annoying.
My team suggests I take up acts of self-care and pour love into the people and things that make me happy as I pulled the Ace of Cups. This certainly sounds like a fantastic idea to me. Even the not-so-fun parts of self-care do make life easier at the end of the day.
I pulled the Father or King of Swords for what I need to release. This is an interesting card to get in this position, especially since I pulled the Mother of Swords earlier. At face value, this card means standing in your mental truth and power. Surely my team wouldn’t expect me to let that go, and having mental clarity is important in life.
I think perhaps this card means that to move forward in my life, I need to find a place where I can let my masculine energy go and live in my feminine energy, as that is when I’m happiest.
As a sign that my guides will give me to get my attention, I pulled the 2 of Cups. I’m not sure how I feel about this card in this position. They will send me a soulmate as a sign. While I believe I know what they mean, I’m still confused. However, that’s half the fun.
Reading Summary: This reading told me that my spirit team is asking me to communicate more clearly and learn to set firmer boundaries, as that is what I struggle with a lot in my life. They have been hiding a future celebration, and I’m a little annoyed about that; no details have been given at this time.
They are currently helping me through a past situation that I need to have the courage to resolve using direct communication. They are asking me to pour into my own cup and take up acts of self-care, along with tending to the relationships in my life that make me happy. Time to annoy the bestie with memes!
They are confirming for me that to move forward in life, I need to be able to relax into my feminine energy, but we both know that certain things have to happen before I can do that. For now, they are giving me hope that it will happen sooner, not later. They will send me a sign in the form of a soulmate, to which I say, uh, okay?
Ask, and You Shall Remain Confused
Question: Can I Use Oracle Cards to Connect to my Spirit Guides?
Answer: Yes, there are even oracles cards designed specifically for this purpose. You can also use oracle cards and tarot cards together.
Here are a few decks aimed at this purpose specifically
Angel of Abundance Oracle Cards
The Starseed Oracle Deck
Angel Guide Oracle Deck
Archangel Michael Oracle Deck
Question: Does Everyone Have a Spirit Team?
Answer: In theory, yes. However, not everyone is in contact with them or chooses to walk a spiritual path. Other times they are known by something different within that person’s belief system, ie. guardian angels.
Question: How can I Deepen my Relationship With my Spirit Team on a Daily Basis?
Answer: I think the best way is always acts of self-care, even the hard ones. I also enjoy leaving little offerings; one of my guides likes tequila on Tuesday afternoons. Another likes pennies face up because “you gotta make your own luck sometimes.” The little things mean the most.
Say Hello to Your Team for Me
Contacting your spirit guides is a great way to get help on your journey in life, along with a way to grow your own spiritual skills and learn new ways of moving through life. These figures have a lot to teach us, and a good Tarot spread can give you a lot of insight into your journey and what they are trying to tell you.
I really enjoy the spreads for contacting a specific guide and your team as a whole; getting messages on what they are specifically trying to help you with can be really helpful in aiding the decisions you make in life.
While building a relationship spread is a lot of fun and is a great exercise for strengthening your relationship and learning how to be more open to what they are trying to tell you in general.
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