Hiya MysticDreamFairie,
When I first began to explore spiritual reality, I used meditation as the vehicle for those explorations. There are loads of ways to meditate, and I found a few that worked for me.
Building an astral temple is an excellent exercise if you want to make contact with other etheric or spiritual beings. The objective of creating one is to heighten or increase one's vibration, give one a safe space from which he/she can explore his/her astral and spiritual surroundings and community, and achieve a level of calmness and relaxation that will enable the subconscious to tune in to the cosmic and spiritual forces to unfold, understand and manifest what is truly, "real" for you.
Here are the basic steps to effectively build an astral temple or house of pscyhe:
Meditate and work in stilling your mind, I believe this site can give you some tips, methods and ways of meditating. It is best to try different methods and then settle on the one that best suits you.
Set a place where your astral body can go to relax. This could be a lake, beach, a mansion, temple or something. It depends on you. Though, it should be very specific, for example, a lake with a beautiful sunrise scenery. Imagine yourself standing at the visualized place. This the place that reflects your inner world. Take a good look at it. Is it the kind of condition that you would like? Is this the kind of temple that you want?
Create a clear concrete picture of where you want to go in your inner mind. Include as many details as possible including colors (deep blue lake), texture (sandy), sounds (birds chirping), and weather (sunny). Look around you. Make your astral temple more comfortable and beautiful. Focus on it. Feel the air, the earth, the water and the warmth of the sun you're perceiving in your astral temple.
Now do whatever you need to do. In this case, because you're actively seeking a connection with your spirit guides, you might want to form it as a question, and focus on the question in meditation. Like, "who is with me?" I think it's important that you approach the question without any expectations as to the answer; simply listen for it. Once you ask the question, the answer might not come right away. If that's the case, watch for it even when you're not in meditation; you can receive answers, clues or even just some useful information through more mundane means.
You might want to give that a try. Know that you can always return and that any time you do work on your spiritual level, it will filter through the rest of your pscyhe and body. Looking forward to hearing what you find as you explore.