When I tell people I’m an evidential psychic medium, one of the most common questions I get is about spirit guides. “How do I meet my spirit guide?” “Can you connect me with my guides?” The language of “spirit guides” is everywhere in modern spirituality—from Instagram posts to meditation apps to spiritual bestsellers.

But here’s what rarely gets discussed: Where did this concept come from? What are we really invoking when we use this language? And does it matter that we’ve stripped these ideas from their cultural contexts?