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By now you've probably heard of animal communication. Penelope Smith
and others began their pioneering work almost a quarter century ago;
recently the phenomenon has become very popular, with the success of
books and films on the subject, and Animal Planet's Pet Psychic special.
Having a communication session
with your companion animal is a bit like
having a psychic reading or healing, only
for your "pet!" Thoughts, feelings,
impressions, opinions: all come through the
communicator as s/he tunes in to your animal's
energy-many finding their way into words,
sentences, phrases-conversation, from the
animal's point of view.
As an animal communicator,
I am most often consulted when there is a
difficulty-a behavior or health problem that
hasn't been solved in the more conventional
methods, such as training or veterinary assistance.
I don't have a secret formula, and I can't
guarantee success, but what I do is listen
to the animal and find out what is occurring
from their perspective. This awareness is
almost always accompanied by potential solutions.
People also contact me when
their animals have trouble getting along
with each other, or respond negatively to
a particular member of the household. More
and more I find that there is a deep sadness
underneath a frightened or aggressive animal.
My work with them involves clearing away
this sadness so that they are able to feel
as relaxed and happy as they would like to.
Some people just want to
know what their animals think about, how
they feel, and whether they are satisfied
with their homes and lives. These calls are
fun for everyone: "owner," animal
and communicator. Imagine your animal's personality
translated for you into language! It's fun
and fascinating to hear the things they say,
the particular way they express themselves.
And it's never quite what you expect!
When people ask me about
my work, I often find myself struggling to
find words to express how it makes me feel. "There's
an incredible sweetness to what I do," I
tell them, wondering if something of my meaning
will find its way into my face or voice,
or if the word "sweetness" will
resonate with them as it does with me.
Communicating with animals
is sweet, indeed. It is also very rich, and
deep, and intense, and sometimes melancholy
or even heartbreaking. And mostly always
fun, and always fascinating. As an animal
communicator, I feel as though I've been
given a key to a secret world, one richer
than my own, which I can enter and reside
in whenever I choose. It's a world of conscious
presence, a world of deep feeling, a technicolor
world of multi-sensory experience. It's the
everyday world of animals' experience.
How can I explain it to
you?
I have a friend named Zeke.
He's a two-year old golden retriever. Zeke
and I have never "met" in the conventional
sense. I've never seen him in person, never
even seen a photo of him, nor heard his bark
from the other side of a door or over a telephone.
Yet I feel that I know Zeke, and I call him
a friend because he has shared with me intimate
details of the joy of his daily experience.
I know something very important about Zeke,
and I know it because he told me. Because
of this sharing, I may know Zeke better than
I do many of my human acquaintances.
Zeke's "mom" was
concerned about his running away-getting
out the door, and not coming back when called.
Zeke told me, "I love the feeling of
hurtling through space." Simple enough
words, it's true, but as I heard them I also
saw Zeke at play, and felt, very, very deeply
his absolute exhilaration, the complete joy
he feels when flying across an open field
with no regard for destination. Zeke lives
for this experience, and the opportunities
he has to fling himself full-tilt into the
air with total abandon are his happiest moments.
Everything that is alive
has consciousness. Consciousness, because
it is shared by all creation, communicates.
To communicate with any creature, or any
aspect of creation, one need only to learn
to listen. It isn't a matter of "doing" anything.
It is rather, a learning to allow the natural
flow of information-- images. thoughts, feelings,
perceptions-to enter and reside in our consciousness.
This appears difficult because we have created
many distractions. In fact, we've become
so adept at creating distractions that we've
mostly forgotten how to listen, and how to
trust, identify and interpret what we receive.
As healers, human beings
have a responsibility to reconnect with the
natural world. Reconnection will heal humans,
and it will also heal the natural world,
particularly the animal kingdom. Animals
exist now in a largely forgotten realm of
distance from our immediate experience. Despite
all of our affection and attention, we rarely
truly respect them, or endeavor to truly
understand them. Instead we project our own
thoughts, feelings and desires onto them,
and we expect our companion animals to provide
us with comfort, companionship and attention,
primarily on our terms.
Animal communication is
not, however, a movement which is attempting
to change the way people relate to animals.
If it is a "movement" at all, its
purpose is to give voice to the animals-their
thoughts, feelings, ideas, and concerns.
Once these are revealed, human behavior will
change as a matter of course. Truth heals,
whether we like it or not.
As I was writing this article,
I was paid a surprise visit by my cat Merlin,
who passed into spirit last November at the
age of fourteen. He had an interesting message
for me and you, and I'd like to close with
it.
"When I lived
as a cat I was loyal and very loving
and affectionate; now, I am a teacher
of the highest order, a teacher and healer
of animals and people-more specifically,
of the relationship between animals and
people. Talk to us. We always welcome
you. Talk to us, but more importantly,
talk with us and listen because what
we have to say may not always be what
you want to hear."
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