I just read on a thread on spirit guides that they choose you before you are born. This is true. This is how I know: as a small child, I did not know I had witches in my ancestry. And Chritians, my mother being the main one, had taught me that magick was bad. Nevertheless (I know now that it was my spirit guide,) for some reason, when I would take long hot baths, I could feel a powerful, yet gentle energy inside me. I then began to pull it out through my hands and send it from one hand to the other. I'm sure glad mom did't walk in on me. She probably would have had all the church leaders lay hands on me, not knowing I would only draw their energy and have more to play with that night.LOL!!! Christians use the magick of energy too. They just don't know what it is. Then, at eighteen, I met a man who helped me develop some skill in directing energy. But, for some reason (I think it may be because I was born a witch and he may not have been), I always felt and seemed stronger than he. I, from very early on, exeeded him in basic energy exercises, like transference and dispersing clouds. He never spoke of spirit guides, but I'm sure he has one. But mine quickly developed our bond, AND my skill and knowledge and understanding of earth energy without books. I'm now learning in books what my guide taught me almost 20 years ago. So, lately, I rekindled my bond with my spirit guide, and I'm loving it! He (I say "he" to avoid being so degrading as to say "it") even told me his name through my own mouth (sorry, that's private). He showed me in a vision, in the same bonding session, that he is a hawk spirit. Now I'm learning here that many spirit guides are animal spirits. And now I see it's no coincidence that the hawk has always been my favorite animal. So, friends and brethren, bond with your spirit guides. They will guide us in all things. Mine guided me in my first ritual, at 18 years old, with no instuction from people or books, and the ritual worked like a charm.