Benevolent/Guardian spirits (serious question)

I can only say what I believe, and that is that spirits (or whatever you choose to call them) are the spirits of those who have passed on, and that they do look over the loved ones they leave behind. I think the concept of "angels" is a beautiful one, but I don't think they really exist, certainly not in the form that we are lead to believe (wings and all that). Having said that, I do believe there are entities or beings out there who protect us, and you can call them what you will.

The widely spoken belief out there about "bad" spirits is that they are souls who have died and have not "passed over". While this has been the subject of TV and movie plots for years and years (not always convincingly), I believe it to be true.

To sum up, I think there's good and bad out there and I know there are higher beings looking after us. (in my opinion!)

If there is evil, there is good. It's a natural balance in the universe.

In my Catholic faith, we have guardian angels who watch over us and as children we learn a little prayer asking them to be with us daily.

I also believe - outside of my organized religious teaching - that the spirits of our deceased family members watch over us and help us. I have experienced this myself and do firmly believe this is so.

Some people distinguish between ghosts and spirits with the belief that ghosts have not crossed over, that they either don't realize that their physical life is over or they have unfinished business or are so attached to a place that they won't life while spirits are the intelligent, cognitive spirit of someone deceased.

All ghosts who have not crossed over are not "bad" but some can be. If someone was malicious in life, then their ghost - or spirit - is not likely to be warm and fuzzy.

Angels are their own sp ecies and angels are not nor have ever been human. Guardian angels watch over all of us - you can read eyewitness acounts of interactions in a magazine called Angels On Earth, put out by the same company that publishes Guideposts.

How do benevelent spirits interact? I imagine personal experiences run the gamut from simple "brain messages" to voices and even apparitions. Things as simple as finding coins you didn't drop at home are believed by some to be an indication of spirit communication.

One thing that happened to me - and I'll go ahead and post even though someone may ridicule my experience - was when I was giving birth. I had been in labor for a long, long time and was exhausted. I heard my grandmother's voice in my ear and she told me that I needed to have a C-section immediately to save my baby. Back in the early 1930's, she lost a baby at birth that would have lived IF a C-section had been done so I listened. My doctor walked into the labor room and I told him I was ready for a C-section and I wanted it NOW. He said, "It's time"....because what I did not know and had not been told was that the baby was in fetal distress.

That's my experience I'll share on how benevolent spirits can communicate.

Hope it helps! If you have specific questions, feel free to PM me.

There are lots and lots and lots of ways you could add in benevolent spirits, and not all of them need the concept of angels, or even ancestral spirits, to work.

For one thing, the idea of angels with white robes and harps and halos and wings is relatively recent, as far as I know. Looking into angelology (yup, that's what it's called lol) you'll find that there are tons of different forms, some with lots of wings, some with no wings. Some with lots of eyes, some burning like fire, etc.

Also, many ancient cultures, and modern, too, believed that nature had spirits, such as tree spirits, river spirits, etc. Those sometimes protected and helped people in bad situations and people prayed to them pretty regularly.

Ancestral spirits are pretty common all over the world and many, many people believe in them, as the posters before me have said. They're actually a great thing to put into fiction, IMO, because it makes sense that they'd be invested in someone's wellbeing, since they're family. Also, everyone's got family, pretty much, so everyone gets protectors.

Just a note...the idea of all good and all evil entities is, as far as I know, a semi-recent and very Western idea. Most cultures don't believe that any spirit can be ALL good ALL the time. Even looking into Christianity you see that there are fallen angels. Some might argue that they weren't ever good, but they had to be good at some point, to have been angels, right?

Having well-meaning, benevolent spirits that sometimes, but don't always, help people out would, IMO, add a layer of...reality, in a way, to your work. Nature spirits are good for this because, historically, they tend to help people who've helped them, making it a trade off deal. Ancestral spirits work well, too.

As for how they go about their 'jobs', it really depends on who you ask and everything. People will usually say that they heard the spirit (as johnnysannie heard her grandmother) during a time of distress. Sometimes the spirits can be contact, usually by a medium of some sort, or petitioned, usually using candles. A common way of doing that is to either light the candle and pray to who/whatever you're contacting or to light the candle, write the message on a note, and then burn the note. I forget what belief system that is, specifically, but it's said that the smoke will take your message to the spirit world for the entity to recieve. After that you'd wait to either hear something, or some kind of sign that they're helping you.

I hope I helped some! If you've got any more questions I'd be glad to help.

johnnysannie said:

Angels are their own sp ecies and angels are not nor have ever been human. .

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Ah, but then what of the Nephilim (I think that's the right term), the Angel/Human hybrids?

Genesis 6:4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown.

Don't laugh...but if you are looking for ideas and a little inspiration you should watch the Disney movie Mulan. I thought their representation of benevolent spirits/ancestors watching over a family was cool.
I assume (that whole ass+u+me thing) that it is based on Chinese religious philosphy, but I don't know much about oriental religions. Maybe Taoism, or Shintoism (which is Japanese)
Wikipedia always has good info. Look at that link, and else this one on ancestor veneration.

Benevolent/Guardian spirits, ghosts and the theory of the paranormal has always been somewhat disoriented in this world, and like reenkam points out this ideology is just an idea which often stems from belief systems. Guardian spirits and ghosts are another form of energy like us, and we may never see their complete physical presence. We often see a reflection, that is a field of energy. The image projection can often be created by our own minds, if we are not careful and may want to see something else.

I have come across various energy forms, and even guardian spirits. I present this term as it may be the interpretation that is used here on earth, and in association with messengers. Many have come in form of animals, nature ie; trees, plants etc. and also transparent energies. For me these 'entities', have been doing exactly their job. To pass on a message, and as the receiver I have understood straight away. (Not mentally, but within)

An example, I would give of one doing their job would be the experience I had from a physical dog messenger. I was walking with a friend in the park one day, openly and aware of my own inner spirit when a dog and an owner started walking towards us, and the owner threw the ball and the dog went and caught it, came back dropped the ball by the owner, walked slowly over to me, and then the dog jumped up on he's back legs, and put he's front legs on near my chest-center area and looked into my eyes. We stood there for a couple of seconds, and I learnt the message. My friend was intrigued why that happened, but he knew that it wasn't a surprise and that the dog did what he did as he had to. My friend just wanted to know what the message was. I never did tell him or anyone, as these messages are only meant for me and no one else.

GeorgeK said:

Ah, but then what of the Nephilim (I think that's the right term), the Angel/Human hybrids?

Genesis 6:4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown.

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Angels are their own phyllum; the Scripture quote is - like most of the Bible - open to interpretation and so I view the meaning in a different way than you apparently do. Not to say who is wrong or right - my thought is that we both are in our own way.

You could go for (at least) ancestor spirits, representatives of a bigger benevolent entity (angels or demi-gods), animal or tree spirits, or some kind of benevolent fairies.

What you choose depends on what you want them to be like (besides benevolent), what you want them able to do, how you want your characters to interact with them, and what your cultural setting it.

Without further details I think it's a bit hard to be more helpful

johnnysannie said:

- my thought is that we both are in our own way.

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Fair enough, the vastness of the universe precludes true knowledge. We each only get a small glimpse.


But back on topic, the original thread sounds much like the Japanese tradition of a sort of ancestor worship/reverence. Am I remembering correctly that it is called Shintoism?

efreysson said:

, aside from making it hard to come up with swearwords, .

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Anatomy and politicians can provide curses if you don't want to use deities. ""By the shrivelled nose of the prince!"


Apparently I'm wrong about Shintoism being a form of ancestor worship. I was confusing China and Japan
http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/a/ancestor_worship.html
is a nice general article on the topic

benevolent protectors

There would be several kinds: spirits who were once flesh be they relatives, friends, mentors, even beloved pets or animal companions.

Entities who protect do not necessarily come via the birth-death-rebirth cycle of the flesh but are from another plane of existence who attach themselves to those who follow a certain path. These would cover gods/goddesses of various crafts, beliefs, and activities, others would manifest as 'guardians' at particular spots that are considered 'holy' by many.

An example of the former entity would be Athena, goddess of wisdom, weaving, and war. Unlike Ares who just wants to spill blood, Athena's specality is knowing when to fight. The latter would be a dryad of a sacred tree, or a naiad with a spring of pure water.

Many Christian churches throughout Europe are built on pagan holy sites. Why build on the enemy's ground? People already worship there, it's easier to keep them coming to a familar place with a different face.

Interaction would be at dire need, or during moments of deep prayer, or any other time you wish, it's your world.