For a while there, it seemed that the popular trend was for everyone who consulted a medium to get the name “Running Water,�?�?SPAN>Standing Bear,�?�?SPAN>Silver Fox,�?or something like that for their guides. Now I’m not trying to dispute the fact that there may be some Native American spirit guides, but it just seems that during my many decades of research, I would have encountered one of them. However, as with everything else, if you do hear a name, roll it around in your mind, see if it feels right, and then use that name �?or change it, as I did with Francine, my own Spirit Guide. Just do whatever feels comfortable to you. Even though it makes it more personal to call a guide by name, I fully believe that it doesn’t matter what you call them �?as long as you do call on them.

Some guides will appear to us as children when we’re kids ourselves. My son Christopher, whose guide’s name is Charlie, came to him in the form of a little boy and grew up with him. Francine, on the other hand, and grew up with him. Francine, on the other hand, always seemed to be about 30 years of age and stayed that way. This is somewhat aggravating to me, since I’m now much older and she’s still 30!

I’ve done enough research to believe that given my childhood (which featured a somewhat absentee mother figure), Francine took on the persona of an older and matriarchal person, while Christopher, who had a strong mother figure (me), might have chosen to have his guide be a helping buddy. In fact, imaginary playmates are spirit guides 99 percent of the time. Guides will come in as children to make it easier for their young charges to learn from them.