Who and what are the spirits? We live our lives often aware of "presences" that do not have normal, concrete forms and cannot be defined with material specificity. They may enter your consciousness through emotional reactions to events or in the simplest moments of our existence. They are nonrational in the sense that they defy normal physical definition, but they are real in that they are present in our lives and affect our feelings and, ultimately, our actions.

A spiritual life is a life inhabited by spirits, and the degree to which you can benefit from these beings is directly related to the openness that you have to the possibility of their support. If you have ever felt — at one time or another in your life — that you have had some sort of interaction with the spirit realm or that you have drawn support from an otherworldly life force, you have connected to an important facet of the mystical universe.

Beyond this awareness, the next stage of your spiritual development is learning how to cultivate relationships with these spiritual allies and drawing on their friendships and power to create a lasting bond that will provide you with newfound strength and joy.