Spirit Guides: What They Are, How They Help, and Why We Overcomplicate Them
- Hannah Macintyre
- Dec 26, 2025
- 3 min read
Mediumship Matters Podcast — Season 1, Episode 2
Spirit guides are one of the most commonly misunderstood aspects of spiritual development.
In this episode of Mediumship Matters, I talk about what spirit guides actually are, how they work with us, and why so many people struggle to feel or trust their guidance. Rather than focusing on appearances, names, or expectations, this episode explores spirit guides as practical, loving teachers who support growth rather than remove life’s challenges.
This conversation is especially helpful if you’ve ever felt unsure whether you’re “doing it right” when working with spirit guides — or if you’ve worried that you’re not experiencing them in the way you think you should.
Spirit Guides Are Here to Support Growth, Not Remove Lessons
One of the most important things to understand about spirit guides is that they are not here to fix life for us.
Spirit guides support learning, growth, and awareness. They won’t remove challenges simply to make things easier, because difficulty is often where insight and self-development come from. Instead, they work by inspiring, nudging, and helping us recognise what feels right or misaligned.
This is why guidance often comes as a feeling or instinct rather than a clear instruction.
Why Expectations Can Block Connection
Many people struggle to connect with spirit guides because of expectation.
We expect them to:
look a certain way
come from a particular culture or time period
have impressive or unusual names
communicate dramatically
In reality, spirit guides communicate through energy, feeling, and knowing. When we become fixated on what they look like or what they’re called, we miss the guidance, love, and insight they’re offering.
Working with spirit guides is about relationship, not appearance.
Spirit Guides and Loved Ones in Spirit Are Not the Same
Another common misunderstanding is that spirit guides are the same as loved ones who have passed.
In my experience, loved ones in spirit do stay close and offer support, but spirit guides are teacher energies who work with us across lifetimes. Some may stay with us for our entire life, while others step in for particular phases of growth.
Both forms of connection are meaningful, but they serve different roles.
Guidance Often Comes as Feeling, Not Words
One of the most practical ways spirit guides communicate is through feeling.
That quiet sense of don’t do this or this doesn’t feel right is often guidance. When we ignore it, we may still learn — just through experience rather than intuition.
Spirit guides don’t judge when we don’t listen. They allow us to learn in our own way, often with humour and patience rather than criticism.
The Role of Love in Spiritual Development
At the heart of working with spirit guides is unconditional love.
For many people, learning to receive love without expectation is one of the most transformative aspects of spiritual development. Spirit guides don’t demand perfection. They meet us as human beings having a human experience and support us gently as we learn to trust ourselves.
About This Episode
In this episode of Mediumship Matters, I explore:
What spirit guides are and how they work
Why expectation can block connection
The difference between spirit guides and loved ones in spirit
How guidance is often felt rather than heard
Why love and humour are central to spirit communication
How ignoring intuition becomes part of learning
🎧 Listen to the episode here:
If You’re Exploring Spirit Guide Connection
If you’re new to this subject, you may find it helpful to start with the Start Here: New to Mediumship guide for grounding and context. You can also explore The Gateway, my online school for structured spiritual development, or Spirit Social, a community space for shared learning and discussion.
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