The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 6 plus 4 letter word GENIUS LOCI
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
G
E
N
I
U
S
L
O
C
I
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Guardian spirit" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case guardian spirit = genius loci.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.