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Spirit Guides

Access to Inner Worlds

By
Mike Samuels, M.D. & Hal Bennett
Illustrations by Linda Bennett

A RANDOM HOUSE • BOOKWORKS BOOK

Copyright © 1974 by Michael Samuels M.D. and
Harold Zina Bennett
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American
Copyright Conventions.

First printing, January 1974, 25,000 copies in paperback

1,500 copies in cloth

Cover design and illustrations by Linda Bennett

Typeset by Vera Allen Composition Service, Hayward,
California (special thanks to Dorothy and Michele)
Printed and bound under the direction of Dean Ragland,
Random House

This book is co-published by Random House Inc.

201 East 50th St.

New York, N.Y. 10022

and The Bookworks

1409 Fifth Street
Berkeley, California 94710

Distributed in the United States by Random House and

simultaneously published in Canada by Random House of
Canada Limited, Toronto.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Samuels, Mike.
Spirit guides.

“A Random House/ Bookworks book.”

1. Mental hygiene. 2. Personality. I. Bennett,
Harold, 1936- joint author. II. Title.

RA790.5.S25 133 73-20584

ISBN 0-394-49194-7
ISBN 0-394-70684-6 (pbk.)

Manufactured in the United States of America.

 CONTENTS

Introductions 1

Guides To Inner Worlds 3

Imagination Is Real 4
Going Inside 6

How It Feels 7

Visions, Dreams And Daydreams 7

Gaining Control 9

Ways To Explore 9

A Dream Journey 11

Meetings In Inner Worlds 19

Using Spirit Guides For Health 26
Tools For Access To Inner Worlds ..... 28
Access Through Dreams 31
Access By A Directed Program 33
Many Faces Of Spirit Guides 39
Talking With Spirit Guides 40
Listen For Answers 44
Ego Static 45
Demons, Imagined Or Real 48
Inner World Of Harmony 49
Book List 52
 FOREWORD
This small book accomplishes a large task. It

shows some successful approaches toward expe-

riencing the helpful resources which are present in
those events of fantasy, daydreams, hunches,
intuition, and feeling which we call our inner life.
Immersed in our externally-oriented way of life,
we rarely focus inward and follow the emerging
course of these inner events which nevertheless do
influence us considerably as we form our decisions.
We are masters at observing and controlling outer
events, from a non-involved distance, in the
manner of science and technology. But when the
quest emerges within us for more information
about ourselves, about who we really are as
individuals and what we want out of our brief lives,
then we must turn inward and become acquainted
with ourselves anew.
 Initially we may relate to what we experience
from the familiar non-involved distance — as did
psychologists who saw only “drives,” “auton-
omous imagery,” “infantile wishes.” Yet some of
us now are more comfortable with this inner
world, see it as less alien, as potentially rich in
resources for understanding ourselves, and are able
to establish a helpful, involved dialogue with it.

This is a new frontier for all of us. Thus the type of

experiences shared here, together with the careful
thinking and guidelines accompanying them, are
precisely the sort of descriptions of personal
odysseys which are needed as we all, in our own
ways, approach these inner events.

William B. Goodheart, M.D.

Clinical Faculty
Department of Psychiatry
University of California Medical
Center at San Francisco
 Dedication to the reader:
a special person on an inward journey

Throughout this book you will come across what may

seem to you to be rather strange use of the pronouns
they, their, and them, etc. We have used these
pronouns to avoid gendered pronouns such as he, and
she when referring to an indefinite person. We felt

that this was worth the sacrifice of more proper

grammar.
 INTRODUCTIONS

This book is written as though by one person,

in spite of the fact that there are two authors. Dr.
Mike Samuels’ and Hal Bennett’s method of
writing is to sit down together, relax, then focus
their energies on a particular set of ideas. Although
they speak back and forth as they write, the
experience is like two voices within one conscious-
ness, similar to the internal dialogues which most
people have with themselves. The two authors feel
that their voices merge to create a third voice that
has an identity all its own.
In starting to write SPIRIT GUIDES, they
realized that this third voice was itself a spirit
guide. And so they decided to give this guide full
credit as the author of the book and to look upon
themselves as channels through whom the guide
would speak. That why this book is written in
is

the first person and why the author speaks of Dr.

Mike Samuels and Hal Bennett in the third person.
The name of their spirit guide author is
Kishah. The name means “mountain of energy.” It
is pronounced “Kee-sha.”

1
 GUIDES TO INNER WORLDS

For centuries people have called their feelings

and secret thoughts “inner voices.” I will discuss
how these inner voices can have their own per-
and how these guides
sonalities, called spirit guides,
can be used to tap energies which are in all people.
I see each person as having a secret inner
world, with a mountain of energy at its center. I

picture it as a rich landscape. The mountain

contains same kind of energy which causes
the
electrons to spin around their nucleus, and organ-
izes protoplasm into living cells. It is the life
source, and from its energies people can build,
create, and find inner peace. There are many roads
to this mountain of the inner world, and all can be
freely traveled by spirit guides.

You go to your inner world all the time:

when you pause to think; when you daydream;
when you ponder a complex question. Often a
kind of mental conversation takes place. There is a
voice which you associate with you,andyour self,

a second voice that responds to you. The second

voice is a spirit guide. These inner conversations
take you on a journey into your imagination. On
these journeys, your spirit guide can help you
make full use of your inner world.

3
 IMAGINATION IS REAL

The questions arise, where is this inner world?

Does it really exist? When a person imagines them-
self going into this world and talking to a spirit

guide, does that world or that guide have an exist-

ence similar to the everyday world? Do these ex-
periences any sort of reality outside the
have
mind? Most important of all, “Of what use is all
this to me?”
Serious research is being done to answer these
and similar questions scientifically. But in this
book I ask the reader to base his or her understand-
ing on empirical knowledge. The following mental
model, or theory, is one which Mike Samuels and
Hal Bennett have found to be useful in that
respect:
The world of the imagination has a reality
of its own, though this reality is not the same
as that which most people associate with their
day-to-day realities. However, both realities
are important.
In the day-to-day reality of waking in the
morning, eating breakfast, going to work, etc.,

people generally give attention to relation-

ships with other people, and to objects
outside themselves. In the imagined, or secret
world, people connect with their own inner
resources, which help them improve situations
in their day-to-day lives. In this sense, a
person can use a spirit guide to gain access to

4
 energies and ideas which lie within but which
had previously seemed inaccessible.
Regardless of the nature of the reality, the
spirit guide is a tool with which a person can
purposefully direct the resources of their
secretworld so that these resources benefit
them in their everyday lives.

There are many examples of how people use

ways described above: a
their spirit guides in the
successful businesswoman talks nightly with her
spirit guide, who helps her solve problems about
sales and finance. A schoolteacher tries new ways
to teach in a classroom which he imagines in his
mind, and later employs these new ideas in his real
classroom. A psychiatrist, during hour-long walks
in the country, travels into a secret world where he
is tranquiland calm, where he empties himself of
the tensions he has picked up from his patients
during the day. A young woman, grieved by the
sudden death of her closest friend, talks to that
friend in her imagination and is able to express
thoughts and feelings which the suddeness of the
death had clipped off. A man suffering from a rare
arthritic condition learns from his spirit guide how
to relieve pain and start the healing process.
It is you who determine how you will use

your guides. Whatever questions you feel are

important to you are the ones you can ask your
guide. Whatever energies you want to have more
fully in your command, those are the energies

5
which you can draw from your secret world.

GOING INSIDE

On the freeway during rush hour you can see

people alone in their cars, apparently deep in
thought. The trip home from work is a time to
mentally say things people forgot to say or didn’t
want to say during the day, and to think of
answers to questions for which there didn’t pre-
viously seem to be time.
A person in a car might be thinking about
where they are going for a vacation. They might
have thoughts about different places to go: the
mountains, the seashore, the desert. In their
imagination they try out their feelings for being in
these places. And from these experiences grow
mental conversations with themselves.
After a vivid thought about the beach, for
example, they might mentally ask, “Is that where
I’d like to be?” And a clear feeling comes back,
which means, “Yes, that’s a good place to be.” The
person feels good, feels that a question has been
answered, and feels a release from the tensions of
making this choice. That’s the feeling of a spirit
guide experience, of going inside your secret world
and having a spirit guide help you tap this
mountain of energy.

6
 HOW IT FEELS

Making contact with a spirit guide is like a

light going on in your mind. It brings a feeling of

clarity, peace and inner resolve. It is a feeling of

being deeply satisfied with yourself. The feeling of
well-being itself is the indicator. There is both
pleasure and excitement in the experience. It’s

really that simple. The reason people go inside is

that it feels good. There is pleasure in getting ideas,

in finding answers to questions and resolutions to
problems. All these experiences lie within what I

call the secret world which is in everyone.

VISIONS, DREAMS AND DAYDREAMS

Some people may make contact with their

secret worlds through visions that appear in
dreams. For most people these visions may occur
during daydreams or during sleep. Such visions can
come as you something else, and may
are doing
seem to escape your attention. However, at these
times you are definitely in touch with your secret
world and are tapping your mountain of energy.
Such experiences lend depth to everyone’s day-to-
day existence. They give color and excitement to
situations which may look commonplace to a
passerby.

7
 A working in their garden on a
person
sunshiny day, for example, might seem to be just
pulling weeds in the eyes of the casual observer.
But at that moment the gardener may be experi-
encing a world of deep inner pleasure, filled with
interplays of feeling between the earth, the flowers
and the secret world that belongs only to them.
People have different ways of getting in touch
with their secret worlds. For one person it is done
by throwing themself into gardening, for another it
is done by carrying on conversations in their mind,

for a third it is in the dreams at night which they

barely remember the next day. And for still others
it is done by staring into the distance, seemingly
'‘with nothing on my mind at all.”
These same types of inner visions can also
occur during fever, periods of shock or fear, during
life changes such as moving, changing a job,
divorce, etc., or while under the influence of
anesthetics, tranquilizers, alcohol, marijuana, etc.
They often come when a person has an experience
which brings them close to death, or they may
occur during prayer and meditation. These visions
are sometimes referred to as hallucinations. During
such experiences a person’s physical sensations are
fuzzy and dulled while their mental experiences are
clearand intense. There is an absence of distraction
and a feeling of participating actively in a dream-
like world, of really being in another world. People
can feel that their consciousness exists outside the
confines of their own body and that it is larger

8
than usual or has no spatial boundaries whatsoever.

GAINING CONTROL

Everyone travels inside, into their secret

world, during deep thought, or while having mental
conversations with themself, or during dreamlike
visions.But for many people these experiences
seem random, unimportant and not under their
conscious control. Because of the pleasure a person
can get from simply being in their secret world,
and because of the ability of find new ideas and
answers to questions or problems there, people
often want more conscious control of these inner
voyages.
One method of getting this control work
is to
with the voice or feeling that comes back to you
when you mentally pose questions or problems, or
when you have dreamlike visions. This means
getting acquainted with and learning to use your
own personal spirit guide.

WAYS TO EXPLORE

Getting acquainted with your spirit guide

involves letting go of that part of you which has
doubts, fears, likes, dislikes, loves, hates, etc.

Nature gives us easy ways to do this:

9
 Daydreams, fantasy, imagination, dream-
like visions

Dreams, (while asleep)

Body relaxation and deliberately direct-

ing mental activity for talking to spirit
guides

Mike Samuels and Hal Bennett spent several

years consciously traveling inside themselves and
getting acquainted with some of their spirit guides.
They have fine-tuned themselves so that they could
have more vivid and useful experiences in the
secret world realm. Each has followed a different
path to do this: Mike Samuels through his dreams,
Hal Bennett through body relaxation and delib-
erate direction of mental activity. Their experi-
ences and the methods they used are described in
the pages that follow.
I have attempted to provide sufficient detail
throughout the book so that anyone who wishes to
do so may find the tools to increase their own
abilities to explore their secret worlds. For some
people much of this book will seem like new
material. For others, it will simply confirm experi-
ences they are already having.

10
 A DREAM JOURNEY

As Mike Samuels tells it, “All my life the

most important thing to me has been feeling good
”
inside. Early in his life he thought that the route
to this was by seeking outside help through
teachers, psychiatrists, or gurus, or by trying to
find fulfillment in his career as a physician.
However, he found his deepest satisfactions in
following his own intuitions and feelings.
In his search for greater access to his inner
world, Mike Samuels began to explore photog-
raphy. This art had been a long-time interest that
had brought him, he felt, deep inner satisfactions.
With this art he learned to visually express his inner
world, making it increasingly more real to himself.
Other people shared his excitement in his work and
he began showing pictures at local galleries and art
shows. During this time he became more and more
at peace with himself but continued to explore
other ways to gain access to, and use, more of his
inner world.
During medical school, Mike Samuels had
read the technical works of C.G. Jung. Certain of
his deepest experiences in photography reminded
him of feelings he had had while reading Jung.
Then he happened upon a copy of Jung’s auto-
biography, which he had not previously seen, and
read about Jung’s personal experiences talking to
figures who appeared in his dreams. It occurred to
Mike Samuels, that these dream figures might be

11
the best way to get fully in touch with his inner
world. The following narrative describes his first
experiences with a spirit guide which he, like Jung,
met dream:
in a
“I was asleep. I was in a place in a dream
which felt uncomfortable. I was escaping from
people chasing me, and felt anxious, nervous and
low. Suddenly a voice above me said, ‘Do you want
to get out of this situation?’ I stopped, thought a
moment, and said ‘Yes.’
“The voice said, ‘Come straight up here.’ I
propelled myself upward extremely rapidly and
suddenly was in a place of peace where I felt safe,

warm and at home. Iwas surprised by the whole

event because I didn’t know how I traveled upward
or where I went. I woke up.
“It was eight o’clock in the morning, and I
had to be at the Department of Health Clinic by
nine o’clock, an hour’s drive away. I dressed, went
out to the car, and started driving on the empty,
curving roads to work. I knew an extraordinary
event had occurred. It took me several minutes to
remember it and to be able to describe it to myself.
This was the first time I could remember receiving
help from a dream figure.
“I realized that the dream figure was some
kind of a helper or spirit guide. I said to myself,
‘Did I meet a spirit guide?’ and an inner voice said
‘Yes.’ I said, ‘Can I speak to you, or receive your
help again?’ It said, ‘I am with you always and can
be reached whenever you want just by calling.’ I

12
was skeptical. I wondered if I was fooling myself or
if the experience had a reality that I simply didn’t
understand. At any rate, I continued, and asked
‘What would you help me with?’ It said, ‘Many
things in your life. You now are ready for my help.
Trust yourself and trust me. Our relationship is like
a journey. On it you will have questions that I can
answer.’ I asked, ‘Is going to the clinic good for
me?’ It said, ‘Essential grounds you as an
now, it

identity. It gives you a place to remain in medicine

and healing.’ At this point I decided that whether
or not the experience was real the fact remained
that it was useful.
“Then I was distracted by traffic and I

stopped talking to myself. But each time I would

drive to the would speak to this spirit
clinic, I

guide. I would ask him about practical events in

my life that I was giving attention to in my mind.
His answer would immediately resolve my worries
around a problem by taking me to a place that felt
peaceful and warm. The problem would then
appear more in perspective with my existence and
a solution would be clear.”
In early summer, Mike Samuels heard about a
mind control course being offered at a local clinic.
He asked his spirit guide if he should take the
course, billed as “Instant Psychic Reading.” The
spirit guide said no. Mike agreed but needed a book

from that same clinic. He went there to get the

book and walked into the course. He stayed for an
hour, enjoyed it, and asked the spirit guide if he

13
 Hello Bpaxius . ,

Grounds you ... to re

'
m din
in medicine/ ,„d
could stay longer. The spirit guide said he guessed
it would be all right.

On the third day of the course, the teacher

presented a program for meeting “advisors.” Here
Mike Samuels again met his spirit guide. He
described it way:
in this
“As I looked at the spirit guide, I saw his
head, which looked like emerald plates joined in
the center by red jewels. His eyes were like
many-faceted domes; his body looked like a giant,
jeweled, praying mantis. I said hello and it an-
swered in the voice I recognized as my spirit guide’s,
whom I had met in my dreams. The voice was
mechanical, almost like a computer’s. It paused
between every word. For example: ‘Hello . . .

Michael .’
. He introduced himself as Braxius a
.

being from another galaxy, a spirit guide whose

realm and assignment was in medicine, books, and
world affairs. He said that he had wanted me to
avoid the mind control course because such
courses, schools, or religions were boxes. The best
path for me, he was to receive the informa-
said,
tion I sought for my own growth inside myself. He
promised to help me as a guide, and also would
help me solve practical problems that take time
away from inner journeys.
“Actually, I don’t look at Braxius each time I

speak to him. I just listen to his voice. The voice

sounds the same each time I talk to him, and the
inner place where I am when I’m talking is the
same. The place has a size, shape, smell, and light

15
quality which come to me as an overall feeling that
I recognize each time I return there. I return there
now just by relaxing and saying ‘Hello, Braxius.’
He says, ‘Hello, Biji (my nickname.)’ Then we
begin to talk.
“When we started writing THE WELL BODY
BOOK, I consulted Braxius on all practical book
problems. When Hal and I were bumping heads
over Ego ideas, Braxius said ‘Trust Hal. Do not
stop the book. Leave your voice and another much
stronger voice will emerge.’ And as I would ride to
work at the clinic, I would speak to Braxius. We
would discuss the book and sometimes medical
problems. For other kinds of questions I had I
began to receive answers from other voices. These
voices came from different inner places. I now go
to five separate inner places: each has its own spirit

“When talking with Braxius, in those days I

usually started by saying, ‘Let’s talk about where

the book (THE WELL BODY BOOK) is going.’ or,
‘Let’s do the chapter on ‘Rare Diseases,’ etc. He
would then speak awhile, anywhere from five
minutes to an hour. I found he could talk about
medicine, books, spirit guides, kharma, chakras,
my family, my relationships with Hal or other
people, and he would provide me with solutions to
any problems I felt. I was completely at ease with

his solutions.
“When my Nancy, became pregnant
wife,
with our son, Lucas, Braxius would talk about the

16
child. Through Braxius, Nancy and I could talk to
our unborn son, who we called Roo. We felt we
knew our son well when he was born. Nancy would
ask a question to me; I’d ask Braxius; Braxius
would talk to me; I would tell Nancy what Braxius
said. She would often know the answer before I
told her. So Braxius was communicating directly to
her, in some instances. Her trust in him was based
on those conversations, and on the fact that she
agreed with his solutions to our practical
problems.”
Dr. Samuels’ theory about spirit guides begins
with the idea that thoughts are real elements in the
universe, just as objects, light, computer programs,
or radio waves are real. According to his model,

thoughts have their own lives, and many thoughts

have lifespans that people perceive as eternal in
length. Those who hold this theory believe that
there is of the human mind which can
a part
receive and make use of these universal thoughts, a
process which allows the person to grow. People
can use a spirit guide as a tool to help receive these
thoughts and to apply them in their everyday lives.

People who subscribe to this theory would say that

the idea “thought” for a cotton gin, for
or
example, had a life of its own in the universe long
before Eli Whitney made his machine, just as light
from a star two million light years away had a life
in the universe two million years prior to the time
it is seen by human eyes. Some philosophers have
called the part of the human mind which can

17
receive these thoughts super consciousness.
A second part of the theory that Mike
Samuels holds is that a spirit guide can exist as a
separate entity outside the human mind. According
to model, or theory, the person can com-
this
municate easily with a spirit guide only when their
consciousness is attuned to the proper level of
internal experience. Just as radiosmust be tuned to
FM in order to receive programs on that wave
length, so a person’s consciousness must be tuned
to the “wave length” where they can meet their
spirit guides. That “wave length,” “inner space,” or
level, represents an experience which comes easily

and naturally to humans and which most people

lapse into accidentally, and for brief periods,
almost every day of their lives. It is the level of
consciousness which most people identify as
“intuition.”

People describe their guides in many different

ways: as angels, fairies, spiritual advisors, “little

people,” astral beings, “gods,” the dead, helpers,

enlightened humans, animal spirits, elves, beings
from other galaxies, etc. They have also described
them as “beings without bodies.” All such guides
communicate telepathically, but most people re-
ceive their communications as conversations or
feelings.

18
 There are numerous theories about spirit
guides, of course, but the experience of having and
using one does not depend on whether the person
has a good theory about them. The truth is that
the theories and models are created by people
mainly for the purpose of explaining the experi-
ence to others after it has occurred. Mike Samuels
believes:
“. . . the information I receive from spirit

guides is the information I trust most in my life.

It’s the most important thing I do, talking to the

inner guides and traveling with them. It is a whole
other world, rich and complete, which gives me
answers to both practical and spiritual questions.
Experiences I have in these secret worlds always
jibe with descriptions in books I read later, but my
experiences are much more
me. I can feel
real to
light at the center of the universe, and I can travel
there and see it. I can feel a pulsation in and out, as
the universe creates and destroys. I can feel lands
of silence and beauty, far greater than Earth’s.”

MEETINGS IN INNER WORLDS

Hal Bennett traces his experiences with spirit

guides back to childhood and to an imaginary

playmate who helped him solve some of the
problems of growing up. His most vivid recollec-
tion of this imaginary playmate was when he was
between the ages of five and eleven. As he grew

19
older, Hal’s friends made fun of his claims of
having an imaginary playmate, which caused him
to seek more acceptable ways of expressing these
voices from the secret world inside him.
While a teenager, Hal began writing stories
and poems. His imaginary voices gained a new
reality when he wrote them down. Once he had
found this outlet he could agree with his peers that
his imaginary playmates of earlier years had been
“a bit ridiculous.” Though his secret world found
expression in his stories and poems, the spirit guide
once embodied in his imaginary playmate had been
buried under skepticism which he learned from his
peers.
When Mike Samuels and Hal Bennett came
together to write THE WELL BODY BOOK, Hal
was a skeptic about the spirit guide idea. But as the
two men worked together they began to talk about
and experiment with spirit guide experiences in
many They were challenged by
different forms.
experiences related to them by colleagues and by
an increasing body of literature on the subject.
Hal began to realize that the spirit guide
experience was like creating a character for a short
story. As Mike told him about his own spirit guide
experiences, Hal saw them as being similar to
experiences he had in writing fiction. Even the
physical sensations were similar. The difference
was that Hal had not, since childhood, related to
the characters he created as spirit guide “helpers.”
But it was clear that in his work as a fiction writer,

20
Hal had spent a good deal of time traveling in his
secret world.
About a year after working
they started
together, Mike showed Hal a program he had put
together for his patients and friends to get spirit
guides. Hal was intrigued and wanted to try it.
They sat down on the Samuels’ back porch on a
pleasant summer afternoon and Mike taught Hal
this program. Hal used the opportunity to explore
questions he had had about alternative methods of
the healing arts, one of the concerns of THE WELL
BODY BOOK which he and Mike Samuels were
writing. His narrative of this experience follows:
“Mike read me the program to relax my body
and let go of the Ego-bound parts of myself. As I
relaxed, I had the sensation of my consciousness
drifting in space. It was as though I was moving
weightlessly out among the stars. It was similar to
the way I feel when I project myself into a story
I’m writing. Part of my consciousness felt as
though it could be anywhere in any form I wished.
The intensity of this experience frightened me at
first and I was tempted to draw myself back to my
normal state. But it was also a very comfortable,
blissful experience, and part of me wanted to stay.
“As I gazed over this limitless space, there
came to my vision an English mansion built in the
styles of the 15th Century. It stood among trees
and gardens on about an acre of land that more or
less dissolved into the undefined space around it. I

saw a miniature version of myself standing on the

21
lawn in front of the mansion. The whole scene was
like looking at a tiny model, except that it was
very vibrant and alive. The me on the lawn turned
and invited my had the
limitless self to join it. I

sense of going inside this miniature me. Again my

perspective changed; this miniature world seemed
as large as the ‘real’ one. I approached the house,
went inside, and walked through expansive corri-
dors then finally up some stairs. I came to a door,
opened it and went inside. In the room which I
entered I saw a middle-aged woman with very
close-cropped, salt and pepper hair, a round
friendly face, and myopic eyes which were nearly
hidden behind the thick lenses of her eyeglasses.
Her name was Hilda. For some reason her glasses
stuck out in my mind. Perhaps it was because they
were made of the sort of flesh-colored plastic that
was common during the late 40’s and now seemed
curiously out of date. Hilda was quite short and
stout, and she wore the white lab coat that doctors
and laboratory workers often wear.
“Hilda was a scientist and she was conducting
research in psychic healing. She told me she
believed psychic healing to be a form of bio-
feedback training, and that a healer healed because
the sick person was given a subtle message to
redirect glandular secretions and blood flow in his
body, which had curative effects. She said that
these theories did not explain all such healings. She
told me that I would learn to see beyond words. I

did not immediately understand this.

23
 room there was a dark space. By this
“In this
I do not mean that it was forbidding. Rather, it
was like a hole. When I looked into this place I saw
a tunnel reaching unendingly into space. It was a
little like looking into the eye of a tornado, except
that was not threatening. Hilda explained to me
it

that through this tunnel I could travel to any time

or place I wished.
“She then invited me to move with her into
this space, and as I did I felt a distinct sensation of
falling backwards, twisting, blocking out all my
other senses. Ordinarily such turning motions made
me sick and dizzy; this time I felt comfortable, but
excited. Finally, the twisting sensations stopped
and found myself standing with Hilda in a
I

clearing surrounded by a jungle of fern-like vegeta-

tion. Hilda said she had brought me to this place to
meet a healer whose name I could
,

not pronounce. It was something like Ubanga, but

that is almost a laughable approximation.
“Ubanga was dressed in a loincloth. He was
dancing around a second, shriveled up old man
who sat in a lotus position in the clearing. The old
man sat very Ubanga danced around him.
still as
“I asked Hilda if Ubanga was trying to heal
this man. Hilda said, in a surprisingly cheerful
manner, that the old man was dying and that
Ubanga was helping him to die. She explained that
hismovements guided the energy within the cells
of the old man’s body as they moved in what
Ubanga identified as the rhythm of the leaves. She

24
said that she had seen Ubanga apply similar
techniques when healing people who were sick.
“Then Hilda and I went back to the house. I
asked her about her work. She explained that she
had been observing Ubanga and other healers for
many years. Ubanga communicated only non-
verbally, through dance, but she had learned to
interpret his language and could teach it to me. At
no time during this experience did I feel skeptical
about Ubanga or Hilda, though in my normal
waking consciousness I would have.
“Hilda and I exchanged goodbyes. After I left
the house I went directly back to my everyday
consciousness. Looking back on the experience, I
remembered that the same house which appeared
in this vision had previously appeared to me over
twelve years before when I was working in peyote
research. In both cases the house was ancient, and
had the effect of connecting me with generations
of mankind in the way that walking into any
ancient building often does. I remembered, how-
ever, that in the peyote hallucinations I had stood
outside wondering whether I should enter or not.
“I’ve tried many times since to recall where I
had previously seen the mansion or Hilda or
Ubanga in real life, but I can’t place any of it. For
me it exists only within my secret world. I do not
know how to explain these experiences except to
say that, fabricated or not, they are a very real part
of me.”

25
 USING SPIRIT GUIDES FOR HEALTH

Dr. Samuels’ theory of medicine, upon which

his medical work is key the notion
based, has as its

that “illness is a message from your body telling

you to change something in your life.” By learning
what specific changes to make in order to improve
their life, a person’s overall life is ultimately
improved. Moreover, one learns to locate areas
as
that cause discomfort and disease and to seek
positive changes which bring comfort and health,
one is assuming control of their life and control
over the direction that life will take. Mike Samuels
is of the opinion that this phenomenon leads one

through disease to ease, then to personal fulfill-

ment, and into spiritual growth.
As Mike Samuels and Hal Bennett worked
together within this framework they saw that the
spirit guide could be a basic tool for guiding people

through the processes of locating disease, for

finding the changes necessary for healing, and for
seeking further steps along the path of their
personal growth. In his medical practice, Mike
attempts to help people seek these changes in their
lives. But he sees that people could move much
faster toward health and personal completion if
they could seek their own ways independently.
Once they found themselves on this common
ground, Mike and Hal began exploring ways to use
spirit guides as helpers toward this end.
About this time Mike went further into using

26
spirit guides in his medical practice, helping people
he treated relax areas of their bodies, and Hal
introduced his wife, children and friends to using
spirit guides in their lives. Once they combined the
use of spirit guides with the theory they called
“Disease As a Positive Life Force,” described in
THE WELL BODY BOOK, Mike’s and Hal’s
differing explanations for the spirit guide experi-
ence lost importance. What emerged was the
realization that regardless of how they wanted to
explain them, spirit guides functioned as personal
helpers in one’s secret world. They provided access
to the thoughts which make it possible for a person
to be more in harmony with the universe.
After THE WELL BODY BOOK was
published, the authors received many letters from
readers who had begun to use spirit guides in their
lives. One reader said she had suffered from
chronic asthma combined with nervousness. She
created a spirit guide who was an imaginary doctor,
using a directed program similar to the one you
will find later in thisbook. Her imaginary doctor
told her to relax her entire body during asthma
attacks. He told her to trust her body’s capacity to
breathe normally and to heal itself. The imaginary
doctor told her to relax her mind and breathe as
slowly and deeply as she could. Although this
sounded silly to her at first, and very different
from taking medicines, as she had done all her life,
her trust in her spirit guide increased as she learned
how to control her asthma attacks, and the spirit

27
guides advice worked.
Another reader told of seeking relief from an
unusual type of arthritis. He followed the directed
program for getting a spirit guide and was surprised
to receive an imaginary doctor who called himself
“Merlin.” Merlin told him to imagine that his sore
joints were being wrapped with bandages which
had been bathed in light, which the writer
described as “bright greenish in color, like the
color of lichens that cling to rocks.” After several
such “treatments” the writer said that he got relief
for the first time in his life.

Others told of using their spirit guides for

helping to heal or prevent a number of both
common and unusual diseases. They told of getting
new information on diet, rest and advice on life

situations which increased their body’s well-being.

A common insight seemed to be that all life
situations reflect on a person’s health, since all are
experienced through both body and consciousness.
It seems to be that as a person makes more and

more use of the mountain of energy in their secret

world, their body manifests better health.

TOOLS FOR ACCESS TO INNER WORLDS

People move in and out of their inner worlds

every day, however briefly. The child’s daydreams
of an imaginary playmate, the adult’s conversations
with themselves, and their dreamlike visions — all

28
are evidences of moving in and out of spirit guide
consciousness levels.

Children move deeper into the spirit guide

experience by actively participating in their day-
dreams. Being relaxed and open they talk to and
play with their imaginary playmates. These expe-
riences become vivid and “real” for them.
In the same way that children do, adults can
make their conversations with themselves, their
daydreams and imaginings become real and useful.
As a person allows themself to participate more
and more fully in their daydreams, and to play in
their consciousness, they move with greater and
greater assurance into the secret world of spirit
guides.
you choose to meet your spirit guide by
if
this method, you will find the following instruc-
tions helpful: During a time of day when you are
relaxed and free of distractions, let yourself
remember daydreams or pleasant imaginings, or
conversations with yourself which are already
somewhat vivid to you. Then, in this relaxed and
open state of mind let yourself free associate; take
part in whatever imagined experiences come up. If
you imagine yourself at the seaside, feel the sand
on your feet, the sun on your skin, the sound of
the waves lapping nearby. If you imagine yourself
in a mental conversation, listen carefully to the
thoughts coming back to you. Whatever expe-
riences you imagine, go into them and explore
them freely and in detail. You will feel that you

29
are making it all up. That is the correct feeling to
have. Play with your made up world freely. Have
fun with it.

When you can feel vividly involved in these

imaginary adventures, gently direct your imagina-
tion toward meeting a spirit guide. Remember that
your guide can take many different forms: a
presence or feeling, a thought, a voice, or the vision
of a person or being. Once one of these forms
enters your your conversations,
daydreams, or
continue to freely involve yourself with it. Talk
with it, communicate with it at its level, play with
it. Your spirit guide will become increasingly more
real the more you do so.

ACCESS THROUGH DREAMS

Mike Samuels’ narrative he described how

In
he met his first spirit guide in a dream, if you are
interested in meeting a spirit guide in this way you
will find the following instructions helpful.

Before going to sleep at night, and in a

relaxed state, tell you will remember
yourself that
your dreams when you awake. Keep a notebook
and a pencil beside your bed. Then immediately
upon waking, remember your dreams and write
them down in the book.

31
 At first, you may find this difficult. But with
practice most people remember their
will begin to
dreams with this simple method. When you feel
that you have developed skills in remembering
your dreams, tell yourself before going to bed that
you want to meet your spirit guide in your dreams.
Do this at a time when you feel at ease with your
thoughts and feelings.
Upon waking, review your dreams and write
them down. Ask yourself if you met a spirit guide.
Remember that the guide may take many forms: a
presence, a feeling, a voice, or an imaginary person
or being. Once youawake the memory of the
are
dreamed guide experience may seem distant. Most
people report that they received messages of help
that are clear and these messages brought them a
feeling of well-being. When you stop to think
about this message, you realize it was an unusually
clear experience, out of the ordinary and
important.
When you recognize that you’ve had the
experience in your dreams of meeting a guide, you
can greet the guide in your normal waking state.
Then you can contact them outside your dreams
simply by being in a relaxed state and imagining
their being with you.

32
 ACCESS BY A DIRECTED PROGRAM

This is the program that Mike read to Hal to

help him meet his first spirit guide. It is based on
body relaxation and on deliberately directing
mental activity. These techniques are similar to
skills used by yogins for thousands of years.

BEGIN AT A TIME WHEN YOU ARE COMFORT-

ABLE WITH YOUR THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS.

Lie on your back in a comfortable position

with your legs and arms uncrossed. Or sit with
your back straight. Close your eyes. Inhale
deeply through your nose until your abdomen
rises. Hold your breath for a moment, then exhale

slowly through your nose. Continue breathing in

this way. Focus your attention on your breathing.
Feel your breath coming in. Rest. Feel it go out.
You begin to feel relaxed, and open. Let
yourself enjoy these feelings. Let your breathing
move to a comfortable, relaxed rhythm. Tell
your feet to relax. Say in your mind, “I am
relaxing my feet. They are becoming more and
more relaxed.” Enjoy the feeling of your feet
relaxing. Feel muscles become loose, heavy, and
numb. Feel sensations of subtle, vibrational

33
tingling. Relax your ankles. Say
your mind, “I
in
am relaxing my ankles. They are becoming more
and more relaxed.” Enjoy the feeling of your
ankles relaxing. Relax your lower legs. Relax
your knees. Your thighs. Your buttocks.
Your pelvis. Your genitals. Your abdomen.
Your chest. Your back. Your neck. Your
shoulders and upper arms. Your elbows. Your
lower arms. Your wrists. Hands. Fingers. Now
relax your jaw. Let it drop. Relax muscles
around your mouth. Your tongue. Relax your
cheeks. Your eyes. Your forehead and scalp.
Feel waves of relaxation flow over you, rippling
gently from your feet, across your whole body, to
your head. Deepen your feelings of relaxation
and openness, imagining these numbers in your
mind:

Ten. Relaxed.
Nine. More relaxed.
Eight. Feeling deeper relaxation.
Seven. Moving deeper.
Six. Deeper still.

Five. Deeper.
Four, (pause)
Three, (pause)
Two. (pause)
One. (pause)

You are now deeply relaxed in a comfortable and

open state of mind. In this deeply relaxed state

34
you may become aware of a quiet ringing in your
ears. You have probably heard this same ringing
many times in your life but never thought it of any
value to you now. By listening for and
until
concentrating on this sound you can use it to help
you achieve a deep state of relaxation whenever
you wish. Listen to the ringing sound for a
moment. After it becomes familiar to you, let it
go, recognizing only that it is something you hear
when you are in a particularly relaxed and open
state of mind. Do not attribute any more or less
significance to it than you would to the rustling of
leaves when you sit under a tree, or the lapping of
waves when you sit on a beach, or the hum of
traffic when you are in a room in the city. All are

subtle indicators to help you locate yourself.

Let yourself enjoy a feeling of floating, and

of moving weigh tlessly through space. Feel your-
self traveling toward an illuminated area. Imagine
your physical body behind you, becoming further
and further away.
Your consciousness is now traveling freely
in inner space. You are free to explore this space
however you wish. Both you and your physical
body are perfectly safe, and you can move back
into your normal, everyday state of mind simply
by moving a part of your physical body. Your
body will maintain itself perfectly, at a slow rate of
breathing and heart beat. You are in complete
control.

35
 Imagine a place — an area in limitless space,
or hovering near a planet, or a feeling area in your
consciousness, or a mountain clearing, or a place
by by a beach — wherever
a waterfall, or a place
you wish to be. You might imagine yourself in a
rustic cabin, or a suburban home, or a room in an
apartment, or wherever you are comfortable. This
place is entirely your own space. You are com-
pletely at ease in it.

Look around inside your imaginary space.

Examine what you see. How does it feel to you? if
you around you, focus your attention
see objects
on their shapes, colors, and sizes. If you are
surrounded by limitless space, imagine how this
space looks, feels, and smells. Focus on your
sensations, if you are inside yourself, explore
feelings, textures, and whatever comes to your
attention. If you are in Nature, imagine the
landscape around you: vegetation, air, rocks, the
ground, if in a room imagine walls, floors, ceilings,
and furnishings.
Whatever space you are in, imagine your
spirit guide’s presence making itself known to you
now. You may feel the presence in your body or
around you. You may hear a voice like one side of
a conversation in your mind. Or you may imagine
that you see an actual person.
Let yourself move closer to your spirit
guide, if you feel a presence in your body or
around you, let that feeling and that presence
grow. If the presence involves sensations such as

36
pressure or color, allow those sensations to become
deeper and more intense, if emotions, let yourself
experience them openly — love, comfort, warmth,
etc.
if you hear a voice, listen to the quality of
its sound: ethereal, machine-like, resonant, flat,

high-pitched, or soundless telepathy. Listen for

whatever feelings the tones convey; warmth,
openness, comfort, love. Listen to what the voice is

saying: greeting you, giving you information, com-

forting you, assuring you, etc.
you imagine seeing a person, look at
if
them slowly from head to toe. Note whether they
are male or female. Note their size and bulk. Their
hair, and eye coloring. Look at whatever
skin,
clothing they are wearing. Note how you feel in
their presence.
Greet your guide in whatever way you
wish.
You can now return to this space and contact
your guide whenever you wish.
To return to your normal, everyday state of
mind, simply open your eyes and lift a part of your
body. Let yourself slowly come back to your
normal state just as though you were awakening
from a long sleep.

37
 MANY FACES OF THE SECRET WORLD
For some people, moving into the secret
world means becoming involved with a whole cast
of characters. Just as in complex dreams, the
events and interactions of these characters provide
knowledge and information. Understanding the
messages of these interactions requires the same
kind of process that one goes through to under-
stand a play or a novel. To do this a person studies
each character, object and action, then asks them-
self what elements of their life these things express.
Gestalt psychologists use similar techniques, and
sometimes have their clients act out the parts of
characters in their dreams to bring about resolu-
tions to conflicts. People who contact guides in
this way also think and make judgments in their
lives similarly, so understanding those interactions
is a natural process for them, requiring only that
they observe or “read” their dream-like expe-
same way that they would approach
riences in the
a book. Picking out plot and theme, and getting
acquainted with the main characters, leads the
“reader” to an understanding of their dream’s
meanings.
Just as you can meet new friends, so you can
meet new spirit guides. You are not, by any means,
bound to stay with the first guide you get. And
don’t feel bad about rejecting a spirit guide,
because you may find that they will become
helpful to you at some later time in your life. In

39
other words, you are in complete control. You
choose your guides, and you spend time only with
the ones you like and trust.
Many people have different spirit guides: one
for practical or “worldly” problems; another for
body or health matters; and still another for
spiritual matters. People usually meet new spirit

guides as they develop new interests in their lives.

Sometimes this causes confusion. For example,
you might ask the guide who usually helps you
with practical matters for help with a spiritual
matter. The guide may become confused by your
questions, responding to your spiritual question as
though it was a practical or worldly question.
Spirit guides are not infallible any more than real
people are infallible. Spirit guides have limitations
to their knowledge just as all of us do. But in the
areaswhere spirit guides have their knowledge, that
knowledge often seems boundless.

TALKING TO SPIRIT GUIDES

Begin with trust. Trust yourself in what you

are doing; it is both useful and meaningful. In the
beginning this trust may not be as solid or clear as
you might wish it But it will grow. This
to be.
doesn’t mean just to trust on the basis of blind
faith. Instead, understand that you will be building

experience in something that is probably new to

you. Your trust in yourself will increase as the

40
communications with your spirit guides begin to
prove useful in your life. Just as in learning how to
do anything new your self-confidence and trust in
your skills are weak at first, but grow as you learn
to use your inherent knowledge to build new skills.
The more you communicate with your spirit
guides, the more you acquire experiences and
mental skills that further justify your self-
confidence. Your actions provide you with new
material for building new areas of self-trust.
From the beginning treat your guide as
though it had a life of its own. This holds true
whether your spirit guide is a person, a voice, a
vision, a body feeling, a plant, an animal or insect
— whatever. Most people report that their guide
behaves with its own characteristics and ideosyn-
cracies, much in the way that people or characters
in novels do. Over a period of time, you get to
know your guide and can recognize their personal-
ity traits: humor, degree of stubborness,
sense of
personal warmth, likes and dislikes, limits of
knowledge, quirks of character, fallibility and
eccentricities. You get to know them in the same
way that you get to know people, even to the
point of being surprised by their breaking away
from familiar behavior patterns by acting
unpredictably.
Most people find that because a spirit guide
has its own personality and ideosyncracies, there is

a definite feeling, a sort of “shock of recognition”

which occurs at the moment they make contact

41
with them. It is much like answering the phone and
hearing the voice of someone who does not
introduce themself. You are puzzled, then suddenly
you recognize who it is by the particular way they
speak or the interests they express.
Howyour guide communicates to you will
depend on many things, if the guide is a person
who speaks, then normal conversation will
probably be the model for communicating with
them. If the guide is a presence in your body, a
voice, or a vision they may or may not com-
municate to you with words. You may experience
their communications as feelings in the body, or as
visual images coming into your consciousness; as an
abstract sound; as an emotion; as pure thought. In
other words, guides communicate both verbally
and non-verbally.
On the other hand, how you communicate to
your guide will probably be on a verbal basis. The
reason for this is that most people have developed

their verbal skills more highly than they have

developed the non-verbal ones, and so they tend to
trust the verbal ones more. This doesn’t mean that
you form words with your mouth, but that
will
you will probably form them in your conscious-
ness. As communication with your spirit guide
becomes a familiar and comfortable part of your
life, you may find yourself communicating with

them on non-verbal levels. This evolves naturally

out of the relationship you and your spirit guides
establish.

42
 So begin communicating with your guides in
the manner most comfortable for you. This might
mean greeting your guide much as you would greet
a friend. If you think about it, most people have
rituals they go through in their greeting: hand-
shakes, a hug, a few words such as “I’m glad to see
you.” You may wish to create such a ritual for
greeting your guide. Remember your greeting
that
has a way of establishing the tone, mood, and
content of the meeting that will follow. So if you
want an open and warm meeting begin it with an
open and warm greeting.
Some spirit guides have names, which they
tell you when you meet them. Less human forms,

such as presences or visions, may not communicate

a name to you. However, you may wish to give
them one. if it feels right to you simply ask your
spirit guide its name. Likewise you may wish to tell

your spirit guide your name.

Most people find that the old adage “ ask and
you shall receive is applicable to spirit guides.
This means, ifyou want an answer from your guide
you will most likely get one if you take the time to
form your question in a very clear way.
You contacted your guide, you have
have
greeted them, and you have asked your question
clearly. The next thing for you to do is to listen for
their answer.

43
 LISTEN FOR ANSWERS

Answers from spirit guides come in many

forms. Listening for them means leaving your mind
open, quieting your own and leaving space in
voice,
your consciousness for the answer. For example,
let’s say that your guide communicates to you

through a voice that you imagine in your mind.

You ask it, “What can I do to heal myself?” Then
you listen, leaving a space in your consciousness to
hear your guide’s voice. At the same time you have
attuned yourself to expect the communication to
come to you with all the characteristics and
ideosyncracies you have come to associate with
your guide’s personality. Be patient. Give your
guide time. There may be a lag between your
asking the question and the answer.
There are, then, three parts to communicating
with your guide: asking, listening for answers and
recognizing your guide’s personal characteristics.
After you establish communication with your
guide let the relationship between you flow.
Converse freely just as you would converse with a
trusted friend. Most people find that their con-
versations come easily, become clearer and more
real with each new experience. Clarity and the
feeling of realness are signs that communications
between you and your guide are going well.
As your experiences with your guide
multiply, you will recognize a feeling of intense
clarity and reality about the relationship. At times

44
when this clarity and reality are experienced you
may also notice that outside distractions are all but
non-existent. Your full attention is focused on the
spirit guide experience, and it seems to permeate
your entire being. The experience becomes enjoy-
able and exciting and brings with it the feelings
you probably have already come to associate with
time spent with a close, trusted friend or a loved
one.
Most people will find particular times and
places that are best for meeting with their guides:
early in the morning, in the middle of the night,
while sitting in a certain chair or under a certain
tree, while driving on a familiar road, etc. You and
your guide will automatically work out times and
places which are best for you.

EGO STATIC

Ego static occurs when you have feelings of

murkiness, distraction and discomfort instead of
feelings of clarity, and comfort when
reality,
communicating with your spirit guide. Ego static is
your own voice intruding on the conversation with
your guide. By your own voice I mean the voice of
your personality with its individual likes and
dislikes, fears and confidences, loves, hates, in-
truding thoughts, worries, etc. Ego static is when
you hear or focus on these interferences rather
than focusing on the voice of your spirit guide. It

45
most often occurs when your own personality has
been triggered by negative feelings such as fear, loss
of confidence, self-doubt, or distrust.
Let’s say that you have contacted your guide
and the guide talks like your mother, with whom
you do not get along. This triggers inside you
feelings of distrust and doubt, and you start
thinking and feeling the same thoughts and feelings
you usually have when you are with your mother.
These thoughts and feelings predominate, blocking
all communication with your guide. Instead of

these psychological associations, some people may

find themselves experiencing even more intense
Ego static: worries about home or business
matters, intellectual interpretations, thoughts
about doing something other than what they are
doing now, etc. Treat these interruptions as Ego
static, too.
What to do about Ego static? First of all,

learn to recognize it. It will characteristically give a

murkiness to the overall communication with your
spirit guide, and may make you feel distracted,
and jittery. You will come
tense, restless, defensive
out of a relaxed and open state of consciousness,
where you ordinarily contact your guide and will
become aware that your body is tense and slightly
uncomfortable. Slight tension, or irritability in the

neck and shoulder regions, or in the abdomen, or

in the pelvic regions, seem to be the most common
physical experiences.
During Ego static the voice of the spirit guide

46
changes. It may become more difficult to under-
stand, like a badly tuned radio, if it can be heard at
all. Also, the personality of the guide may change
— asthough an entirely different person is talking
to you. When the voice of the guide changes it is
usually your own voice, your own thoughts and
feelings that you are hearing. Occasionally, how-
ever, the second voiceof an entirely
is that
different guide. If you can get yourself into a
relaxed and clear place when you hear this new
voice, you can simply start communicating with it,

instead of with your usual guide. You may find it

interesting to ask them why the voices changed.

What happens when you have identified Ego
static, and it seems for the moment to make it

impossible for you to communicate with your

guide? The answer is, relax. Say to yourself, “This
is Ego static and I will stop it now.” Then take one

or two deep breaths to take you into a deeper state

of relaxation. Resume the conversation.
If you still are unable to resume the con-
versation with your guide, return to your normal
state of consciousness. There are a number of
things you can do. You can wait for a time in the
future when your thoughts and feelings are more
positive and open. Or you can do the relaxation
exercises at the beginning of “A Directed Pro-
gram,” with the goal of getting your mind in a
relaxed and open state. Or if you have other
techniques for getting yourself into a comfortable
state of mind, such as meditation, body

47
techniques, physical exercises, positive thinking,
etc., use Then return to the level of
them.
consciousness where you meet your guide and
resume your conversation. You are in control of
the level of consciousness at which you wish to be.
As you learn how to deal with Ego static you
acquire a set of mental skills which will be
naturally useful in all parts of your life.

DEMONS, IMAGINED OR REAL

Demons are usually manifestations o f Ego

static. Nearly everyone has had experiences with
them in their everyday lives. You’re alone in a dark
room and you imagine that the strange sounds you
hear are people coming to get you. Or you’re
walking down a dark and you feel that
street
someone will jump out at you at any minute. Or
you feel that you are no good, that you are
unloved, or that you will fail in something that is
important to you. I look upon all of these as being
experiences with demons.
Occasionally, during Ego static, and when the
voice of your usual spirit guide changes, the second
voice will be that of a demonic spirit guide. This
guide may give form to situations which may
frighten you, can give form to situations where you
fail or do poorly, or can give form to doubts or

fears you may have in relation to someone you

love. It’s like having a nightmare. Understand that

48
you can recognize every spirit guide and its level,
and you can simply leave it; you can immediately
return to your normal state of consciousness or try
to converse instead with your usual spirit guide.
Mike Samuels, Hal Bennett and their families
demons in a positive way
are learning to use their
when they do appear. They now relax and listen to
the “demons,” making themselves calm by recog-
nizing that they themselves are in complete
control. Demons give form to one’s own inner fears
and doubts, just do characters in classical drama.
as
They can show you areas of your life that you can
change for the better. Simply examine your
demons with the same critical eye that you use
when relating to a friend, or when critically
examining a character in a novel, film or television
program.
Encounters with demons are ordinarily
fleeting. If you have one, remember that you can
leave the demon at any time you wish. If your
demons puzzle you, discuss them with your usual
guide, and ask how you can use the experience of
the demon for your own personal growth.

INNER WORLD OF HARMONY

I believe that for all of us there is a part of the

self which at all times is in perfect harmony with
the Universe. The part, of which I speak, is always
in touch with that source which sustains the

49
working order of every atom and life cell in the
Universe. It is in touch with that source which
directs one cell to be a part of a kidney and
another to be part of a finger, and which directs
one gene to make blue eyes while another is
directed to make brown eyes. We know that the
reproduction of cells within each person’s body,
and the specialization of cells to do one job rather
than another, all take place without deliberate
directionfrom the human mind. Yet, the knowl-
edge to sustain all this, the knowledge to direct
one cell to do one thing and another to do
something else, is definitely a part of every
person’s consciousness. The part of each person’s
consciousness which includes the knowledge that
keeps the Universe in order might well say, “The
Universe makes no distinction between me and it.”

Although this self is always present, and

always sometimes
alive, it is not seen by that part
of the person which has its own likes, dislikes,
fears, confidences, loves, hates, etc. Much as Ego
static clouds the voice of the spirit guide, the same
sort of static can account for being out of touch
with this universal self. But as a person grows to
see and understand his or her own personality, as
they tap into mountain of energy in their
the
secret world, the universal self becomes more and
more evident and strong. As this happens that
person gains greater personal power, becomes
healthier, and finds peace wYh his or herself and
the world around them.

51
 The spirit guide is a useful helper for people
who wish to explore their own likes, dislikes, fears,
confidences, loves, hates, etc. The guide can help
to see beyond personality for a glimpse of the
universal self, so that a person can see how their
own evolution in matters of the world, health, and
personal growth become inseparable from, and
important to, the universal order.

52
 A SHORT LIST OF SOME OTHER BOOKS
ON SPIRIT GUIDES

MEMORIES, DREAMS, REFLECTIONS,

published by Vintage Books, the autobiography of
C. G. Jung. Jung describes many meetings with
spirit guides. He tells that he imagined going down
“a steep descent” into something he calls a
“cosmic abyss.” He explains how his spirit guides
are “things in the psyche which I do not produce
but which produce themselves and have their own
Jung explains that he used these spirit guides
life.”

to help him explore the unconscious. A valuable

guidebook for people exploring inner worlds.

CENTER OF THE CYCLONE, by John C.

Lilly,M.D., published by Julian Press. The author
describes how, in a coma, he “traveled into other
spaces and met other beings.” These beings he
describes as “points of consciousness, sources of
radiance.” He tells how his spirit guides helped him
in his evolution and in his personal explorations of
consciousness.

Carlos Castenada’s popular books, A SEP-

ARATE REALITY andJOURNEY TO IXTLAN,
both published by Simon & Shuster. Castenada, an

53
anthropologist, about exploring secret worlds
tells

through his apprenticeship with a modern day

Indian “sorcerer.” He tells of meeting a “type of
spirit,” “a true ally,” a “giver of secrets and
. . .

power,” and of how he used these powers in his

own growth.

SUN CHIEF, an autobiography of a Hopi

Indian, published by Yale University Press. The
author, Don Talayesva, tells of meeting a spirit

guide which saved his life. While hospitalized,

Talayesva saw “a tall human being standing by my
bed in Katcina costume.” This spirit guide told
Don that he was his “guardian spirit.” He took him
on a journey to the House of the Dead and showed
him what happens to a Hopi after death. Upon
return he gave Don instructions for getting well
and guided him in his life thereafter.

THE WELL BODY BOOK, published by

Random House— The Bookworks. In this book Dr.
Mike Samuels and Hal Bennett tell how to use a
spirit guide, in the form of an imaginary doctor, as

a helper in personal health and preventive med-

icine. A 20th century, home medical handbook.

54
 AUTHOR’S PAGE

Since the publication of their book

first

together, THE WELL BODY BOOK, Dr. Mike

Samuels and Hal Bennett have received a large
number of letters from people telling how they
have used spirit guides in their lives. Some of the
techniques described in SPIRIT GUIDES were
suggested by readers in this way. The authors see
this process as a way of creating an ever-expanding
aura of energy and information to promote a
system of health wherein each person recognizes
themself as their own primary healer. The authors
welcome letters and suggestions to expand their
aura of energy and information. Write to the
authors:

c/o The Bookworks

1409 Fifth Street
Berkeley, California 94710

55
spiritguidesacceOOsamu
 This book tells

how to use

body relaxation,

together with a

directed program

of fantasy techniques,
for developing your
inner voice.

v •'
i

Illustrations by Linda Bennett