Discovering Your Spiritual Allies

The truth is that we all have many spiritual allies. These may come in the form of deities, ancestors, fae, land spirits, animals, plants, or something else. Some of them will come into our lives for just a moment, even for just a single message. Other allies may show up and hang out with us for a bit, weeks, months, or years, and then disappear. At the same time, other spiritual allies will be with us from birth to death, whether we ever connect with them or not. Discovering your spiritual allies is a lifetime’s worth of work, but here are a few ways to get started.

First Connection

Did this ally show up in your life and start making itself known to you, or is it an ally that you desire to seek out? One is not better than the other, but if you don’t know where to start your search, asking yourself if there is already an ally showing up or if you need to be the seeker is a good starting point.
If an ally has been tapping your shoulder for a while, why not start there? The path of least resistance is often a good path to take. On the other hand, if you don’t know what I’m talking about when I say “being tapped, " you might need to take the reins into your own hands.
You should start looking at your interests, ancestry, or behavioural traits and where you want to grow. Start searching out deities, ancestors, plants, or animals that embody or represent where you are right now or where you want to grow.

Google with a Grain of Salt

Step one in starting any relationship is research. Look up your ally on the Internet, read books, articles, blogs, and papers about your potential ally, speak with other practitioners who also work with that entity, and see where your intuition and feelings might take you.
But (and this is a big but), take it all with a grain of salt. Don’t trust any one source to be the end-all-be-all final say on your relationship with an ally. Let the information you discover be a starting point, not the gospel. Use your discernment and intuition to determine truth, conjecture, and validity, and compare that against your personal experience.

Create Space

Once you have researched, make room for this ally in your home. An altar can be complex or straightforward, but a dedicated altar shows your ally that you are ready for them to be a part of your life. Get statues or images of your ally and place them on the altar. Pick out offerings, incense, stones, colours, plants, or foods that may appeal to your potential ally and place them on the altar space. Keep this place clean and active.

Journey

Spend time at your altar in communion with your ally. What does this mean? Well, sit there and be quiet. Listen. Pay attention to messages that may come through as you hold space at their altar. Pay attention to other synchronicities that may happen when you are out and about in your life. Messages may come in seemingly random ways or your dreams. Keep track of any messages, no matter how silly or random they might feel.

Be Patient
Just like a relationship with another human being, a relationship with an ally will take time to unfold. You may learn a ton and feel a bond immediately, or it may take a long time to feel strong bonds. One is not better than the other. Let your relationship unfold and blossom naturally.

Ultimately, have fun!

Go do witchy things,
Phoenix LeFae

​Originally published on Patheos Pagan