The REIKIDOGS Blog

Ingrid the Ghost Comes Back to Visit

2018-05-12T09:18:00.000-04:00

I would like to show you where I used to live. I don’t live anymore in the sense of physical life as you understand it but I live in another dimension that gives me some flexibility of movement. From here I can gently re-enter the earth plane, almost like a whisper, tugging at my mom until she is still enough to sense me.

I share this not for her but for all of you who seemed to know so much about me from my mom’s words and pictures. I read the good words you wrote when I left and was touched because I was not a famous dog or a winner or a champion of any sort, just a deeply loved girl who had the luck to land in the right home. I want to show you the best parts of my life, which means where I lived because my home was my life. Take a look around the room - the living room, the kitchen, the family room –all those flaws you see in the walls and ceiling are really welcoming caves where my spirit has settled. I’m in every crack in the wall, every fold of fabric, every scratch on the furniture. I’m stuck in her necklaces, in the laundry basket, underneath the couches -- in small tufts, big dust balls and little knots -- in the bathroom mat which mom hasn’t taken up to wash yet. It is too hard to shake me away, she says. Whoever buys this house will find me embedded even in the shadows.

Pretty simply, I loved my life. I had opportunities to be more than just a housedog but didn’t like the spotlight and preferred instead to curl up on a soft bed or chair and live as a companion which I did, the best companion, and everyone knew it. I was the baby sitter of all the other dogs because I was so trusted. I was the nurse when mom had surgery. See over there? There used to be a different couch and that’s where I helped my grandfather who also had cancer. I did healing touch on him.

This is my special chair, a big black tufted leather chair and a half, really. Mom brought it home on Christmas Eve two years ago and as soon as she put it in the room I knew it was mine. She started to say, “Here, Ingrid, this is for you” and before she could finish the sentence I had climbed in and curled up. I rarely left that chair and no other dog could go in it ever. Well, it wasn’t just that they couldn’t – they wouldn’t because they knew I had my eye on them. Every day I would rest there for hours and lay my chin on the arm and fall asleep. Now the whole room has been rearranged,. My chair is suddenly in the corner on the other side of the room with the floor lamp behind it. Mom kept seeing the chair where it was, crying over its emptiness. She swirled the furniture around as if a big wind had shifted it. But I see what she does before she goes to the bedroom to sleep. She turns off the light and sits in the chair silently for a minute.

Now in the living room under the love seat you will see some of my toys that are still there. I would carry them into the backyard and on the way back to the house mom would say, “Ingrid pick up your toy” and I would carry it in usually, but more than a couple of times when I didn't the lawnmower mowed my toys and the next day there was shredded pink pig and green frog all over the grass.

*****

I knew it would not be a quick trip to the vet. I knew I was going to die later that day. We both knew for a long time I’d be leaving, just not which day or exactly how. She thought it would be the cancer and prayed with me every night to ”go gentle.” But I didn’t.

It was probably better this way -- sudden, with no time to think, no messy lingering.

There on the dining room table is a picture of me taken at the vet’s office just minutes before I closed my eyes for the last time. Look: I wasn’t scared, although I couldn’t move, although I couldn’t stand by myself. I was smiling,looking up. If you ever want to know what love looks like, that’s it, my face, where it seems that all the love in the world had collected. You see the crystallization of love every time you give your heart to a dying dog.

Beside the table is the wee-wee pad that sits like a rug. It's for those little rescue boys who are sweet but ill-mannered. In my last couple of years I’d wake up in the middle of the night, use it, then quietly climb back to into bed. But I never positioned myself correctly in the center, and every morning, Mom cleaned up the overflow, sighing,”Oh, Ingrid,” loud enough for me to hear.

This house has solid and sturdy and cool walls (knock on them), but so few windows that it always felt dark. I never sat on the couch and looked out at the world, never sprawled against the patio doors to watch lizards or hear the wind. When the other dogs would bark at someone walking by, I hardly reacted, especially lately , with my voice hoarse from age. I didn’t like to use it, an unwelcome reminder of impermanence, Mom said.

I was comfortable with darkness except at night in the yard where sometimes I froze, not knowing where I was. Mom would walk onto the grass and take me gently by the collar, leading me back to the patio like a slow horse, repeating the whole way home, “I’m here, Ingrid. I’m ‘here.”

Ingrid 6/24/2003 - 4/18/2018

2018-04-19T08:04:00.002-04:00

Ingrid was the boss of the house, the boss of the toys, the boss of the boys, but never, ever, the boss of me. She was my princess and in her last year, everything she requested was hers without question. If I was busy on the computer and she wanted to push her head under my elbow to demand some petting, I stopped typing. When we came in from outside at night, she sat facing the fridge, looking at the top of it like a star gazer, waiting for me to take down the jar of treats and reward her for nothing more than coming back into the house. I dread taking my shower this morning, because she was the bathroom girl and i always wobbled getting out of the shower in an effort to avoid stepping on her. But the bed -- that was the throne from which she ruled. I bought her a leather ottoman last year to help her climb into it which she did immediately without any prompting or instruction. She slept on the lower right quadrant of the queen size bed but sometimes inched her way up next to me which displaced the anxious, pacing, desperate Luinigh, who was afraid to get back into the bed because she'd rise up like a dragon and snap at him to ward him off. She didn't dislike him. She just loved her role as queen and liked to wield nocturnal power. Then again, she would assert herself diurnally, too. I would find his tennis balls in her crate. She took them just because she could. And again, he would whine and pace back and forth until I took them from her to quiet him down. He never thought to bring a toy into the yard but Ingrid would not leave the house without one, much like a lady who doesn't leave home without her purse. Sometimes she would reach the patio door and suddenIy stop -- I could see her thinking, "Wait. Let me get my purse" just before she turned around, found a ball, and carried it outside, where she waved it at Luinigh without any intention of releasing it to him. Last night the bed was empty even though Chester was there and Luinigh slept in it for a while; it was as if a Divine outline had been drawn in the space she kept for so many years, almost eerie. Neither dog would roll into that space or walk through that spot en route to a more comfortable position. I thought the big L would revel in the extra footage he was allotted but no, he spent most of the night on the floor in the exact spot onto which Ingrid fell during that violent seizure, the last place she occupied in "her" bedroom. Her house, her bedroom, her kitchen, her yard, her couch, her special chair A house full of animals now bears an emptiness too familiar, too eager to return. That's how Ingrid came to me. When my soulmate IWS Seamus died unexpectedly, a black hole usurped his space for months despite the fact that my schnauzer and Frenchie were there.. Four months after his death, in April nearly 14 years ago, I brought her home from Georgia. The moment she entered, the hole was erased, the grief instantly transmuted to a what I thought was irrevocable light. But yesterday it returned. Grief is sneakly like that, stubborn and persistent. It invites me to took elsewhere, where the joy can eclipse the darkness: the eager girl who loved travel and couldn't wait to jump and claim hotel beds as hers, the painfully shy girl who did not like the show ring and after three failed attempts was relieved to be just another homegirl, the air-snapper who objected to other Irish Water Spaniels getting my attention, the paw, that adamant and surprisingly forceful paw hooking my arm and pulling it to her, the cancer survivor who almost didn't make it but who romped in the yard just days after so huge an ordeal, the bashful girl who hid from every guest and cowered when strangers approached her in my house, the nurse who sensed my father's cancer and relinquished her shyness to sit alongside him with her her paw in his lap, comforting him, the water dog who didn't much like the water or at least pretended she didn't, that silly protruding tooth smile she invented for photos, not the first four footed love I lost, not the last, but the most faithful, compassionate, intelligent, loyal, trustworthy, humanoid and loving friend I've known. I missed her in the first second she stopped breathing.

Living with an Old Dog: Every Moment a Blessing

2017-07-09T10:39:00.001-04:00

This morning I thought my old girl, Ingrid, had died, and I was stunned as I tried to lift her head and leg and they just fell, heavy, onto the bed. I didn't even see her breathing. It felt as if there was no life in her body at all. I surrounded her with my body, thinking she was gone, calling her name.....and then she moved. :-'(. I thought, "this is the way I want you to leave," peacefully, without drama. Maybe she was practicing. I cried much of the morning. But she's still here....a blessing.

She turned 14 last week and quietly enjoyed a small birthday party attended by her two housemate dogs and three other dog friends. She was subdued but enjoyed enough birthday treats to the point of vomiting them up onto the couch at midnight.

She can no longer climb into the bed and anxiously paced back and forth along the foot board until I lifted all 50 pounds of her and she curled up and slept till morning. On occasion I would awaken in the middle of the night to find her sprawled out alongside me, much to the chagrin of my other dog who always claimed that at his space. But what Ingrid wants, at 14, Ingrid gets.

In December she began falling down, back legs failing, walking into walls and doors, and seemed blind. Panicked and thinking she was dying, I rushed her to the vet, who diagnosed vestibular disease, the harmless version akin to severe vertigo and , easily treatable with medication. She overcame two bouts of that within a month and slowed down significantly since then.

She has cataracts that impair her vision but she is not blind. She has hearing loss which she uses selectively when she isn't interested in what I have to say. Some nights she doesn't eat all her food.

Once in a while she leaves the entire bowl full. But she'll eagerly grab a cookie, steal a slice of ham from my hand, and sit wagging her tail by the refrigerator looking up until I acknowledge her request; she knows that's where the Pupcorn snacks are.

Before bed she positions herself at the kitchen cabinet waiting for her thyroid medication.

She is allowed to go out the front door off lead for a quick pee at 11 p.m.

She has privileges reserved for aging queens and takes advantage of each of them.

I bought her a leather ottoman to serve as a stepstone to the bed. She managed to climb onto it but fell backwards, temporarily hurting her legs. I thought then she had done some damage but she was prancing happily in the yard within 10 minutes.

She taught herself to use that stool to hoist herself into the bed and seems very grateful for the lift.

I hold her every day and meet her third eye to third eye. We just breathe together and transfer thoughts, She knows her significance in my life. She knows she is my life.

At one time there was a palpable hole in the air in my house after my first Irish Water Spaniel left us. I still had two other dogs whom I adored, but every time I came home, no matter how much I loved them and they me, I was greeted first by a black hole, a cold empty space that nothing repaired.

The day I brought 10 month old Ingrid to live with me, the hole disappeared and the energy in the house was seamless, smooth, peaceful, joyful and has been since. She is the matriarch -- no, the monarch -- of our domestic world.

I think I have the hopeful idea that if I write about her here, she will never leave.

www.reikidogs.com

God’s Covenant With Animals: Stewardship, Not Rule

2017-06-09T08:30:00.003-04:00

What is our human responsibility to the earth and its non-human inhabitants? Traditional Biblical scholars would say one of master-servant and ecologists would say one of caretaker. However, using either frame, neither movement has responded in full view of the evidence presented throughout the Bible that God clearly included animals in covenantal relationships. With Biblical scholars neglecting the sanctity of animals and secular environmentalists neglecting God. A closer look at the Old Testament reveals that God designed humankind’s role in relation to the animals as one of stewardship rather than domination. Traditionally religious people often cite Scripure justify a master/servant relationship between humans and animals rather than one of partnership, but deeper investigation invites us to see texts rich with references, both literal and figurative, to the partnership between humankind and the animal world. From Genesis through Prophets and Wisdom Literature, the writers of the Old Testament expose God’s instructions for this relationship and the responsibilities inherent therein through clearly stated covenants beginning in Genesis and reverberating elsewhere in the Old Testament.

Understanding this relationship requires an initial analysis of the word covenant. While modern secular usage restricts covenant to a “bilateral contract or agreement,” theological dictionaries add critical divine dimensions. The St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology distinguishes between modern day contract and covenant. “From the Latin word, convenire (to come together or to agree)” covenant as currently used “ neglects the Biblical sacred context of the word berith and offers as analogy “the difference between prostitution (contract) and marriage (covenant). or between owning a slave (contract) and having a son (covenant).”

Secondly, theological commentaries underscore the unilateral nature of God’s covenants. Humans are not God’s equal; thus it is God, not man, who “ formulates all the conditions” and “stipulates all the results.” Theopedia provides further insight: ” …the inequality between the parties (Creator and creatures) is absolute. It is always made clear that the initiative is God's - that He makes covenants with his people and not vice versa. God initiates, confirms and even fulfills.” The argument extends beyond mere definition to incorporate the concept of relationship. Ralph Alan Smith implores us to lay down the argument differentiating between “agreement” and “relationship” since one is often a precursor of the other: “an agreement may establish a relationship and be considered an aspect of it.” Accepting God’s relationship with his creation, then, means accepting the intimacy of relationship. Terence Fretheim concurs with his assertion that Genesis lays the groundwork for our perspectives on “the relationships between God and the world, and human and non-human interrelationships” (71).

Translators tackle challenges when interpreting covenant, which has no accurate translation; as the St. Paul Center explains, its unknown origin requires contextual definition. Scholars actually translate two words, the Hebrew word berith and the Greek word diatheke, each with individual connotations. In fact, an appropriate etymological irony here is that, berith relates to a word meaning "to cut" and covenant is a metaphor for ‘cutting,’ refererring the ancient practice of “ dividing animals into two parts with the contracting parties passing between them, in making a covenant” (Theopedia). In Genesis15, God told Abraham to bring in a ram, a heifer, a goat, which he split “and placed each half opposite the other.” After a “terrible darkness” enveloped Abraham, a “flaming torch” passed through those pieces.” This is immediately followed by, “It was on that occasion that the Lord made a covenant.” The St. Paul Center points out that Abraham’s passivity signifies the “unilateral nature of this covenant…” Indeed, his slumber, as opposed to God’s deliberate activity, enforces this notion.

Animal Covenants throughout the Old Testament

Throughout the Old Testament, God proclaims his care for both humans and animals, which begins in Genesis beginning with, as Diane Bergant notes, our shared origins as both man and animals are created from “ the substance of the earth” (“The Bible Tells Me So”). Our shared creation is further evidenced by Greenway’s assessment of God’s dietary instructions: we were given plants and fruits for food, and so were all the other animals who have "the breath of life" in them… neither animals nor we are given other animals to eat.”

Terence Frethheim identifies significant passages in Genesis where the world, including the animals, are “caught up in God’s saving work (6:19 -7:3), God’s remembering (8:1), and God’s promising (9:10)” (44). In Genesis 6:19 God instructs Noah to bring two kinds of each of the “birds,” “beasts,” and all kinds of creeping things” into the ark “to stay alive.” In Genesis 8.1, as the rains continue, God’s remembrance of Noah and the animals compelled him to end the flood: God remembered Noah, and all the animals, wild and tame, that were with him in the ark. So God made a wind seep over th earth, and the waters began to subside.” After the flood, when God blessed Noah and his sons, he enters into a covenant with him and all the earth’s creatures. I t is written in the frequently cited Genesis 9:10, “See, I am now establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you.” God promises never to destroy the earth by water is clearly extended to the animals: “ never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyed by the waters of a flood” and repeats with the appearance of a rainbow, the triangular covenant that is “between me and you and all living beings.” In fact, between Genesis 9:8 and 9:17, God repeats his promise no fewer than six times. Hiersl writes , “Clearly this was not an anthropocentric covenant, rather it was made with and for the benefit of all kinds of living creatures and calls covenant with the natural world the most significant of all the covenants because precedes the other covenants Abraham and his descendants and it covered all life (5).

Historical, Literary, and Theological Associations

The most debated element of our relationship with animals centers on the controversy over one word in the Old Testament: dominion. Theologians have treated it as synonymous with rule and subordination, but examination suggests otherwise. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language assigns its derivation from the Latin dominiom, meaning property, from dominus, meaning lord; also related to domain and dungeon. Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary offers the synonyms sovereignty, control, rule, and authority. In Biblical contexts, the word has been linked to domination. Although radah/dominion is used most often to speak about kings and national rulings, James Limburg concluded that a study of the Old Testament yields evidence that “humane and compassionate rule that displays responsibility for others … results in peace and prosperity,” supporting the interpretation of dominion as caretakaing (Bunge).

In considering its application, theology professor Ellen Bernstein calls for primary attention to context. “You have to consider the derivation of the words under consideration the meaning of the neighboring words and verses, the message of the Bible as a whole, the context in which it was written, and how others have understood the verse throughout its 3000 year history”(2). She suggests that we often miss the sacred context of the word dominion as it was written in Genesis. “The concept of ‘dominion’ in this context is a blessing/bvracha, a divine act of love” (3).

She continues to explain the intricacies of Biblical Hebrew, a “more symbolic, multilayered and vague language than English – any single word root can have multiple meanings and often a word and its opposite will share the same root” (3) Bible scholar Norbers Samuelson demonstrates that the word kvs/master comes from the Aramaic “to tread down or make a path” and in Sechariah the root is interchangeable with akl, the word for each. This demonstrates that in one case it can be translated as master but in other cases “it appears to have agricultural implications” (3). “Have dominion over” –rdh, “generally refers to “rule of subjects.” If we are righteous and rule wisely and responsibly we are above animals, but if we misuse our power, we “sink below the level of animals and bring ruin to ourselves and the world”(4). The duality of meanings is at play here as it is in many Biblical passages. “graciousness and domination” (5).

Diane Bergant also supports the nurturing context of dominion, citing Gensis 2:15: ""The Lord God then took the man and settled him in the Garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it. " Jeanne Kay relies on the benevolent monarchy – “good shepherd stewardship” rather than tyrannical rule (221), and noting the limitations of dominion, reminds us that “Adam cannot eat the animals” and God gives Noah the task of saving them. (222). Man cannot claim authority “to subjugate” animals. In Job 39:9-10, God asks, “Who has given the wild ass his freedom, and who has loosed him from his bonds?.” declaring, “ I have made the wilderness his home and the salt flats his dwelling.” He uses this line of questioning in lines 26-27 to demonstrate that he alone rules the earth: “Is it by your discernment that the hawk soars” and “Does the eagle fly up at your command to build his nest aloft?” Only God can dominate nature, Kay contends. “Humans may, on good behavior, serve as nature’s managers, but true dominion belongs only to God” (227). Bernstein speaks of “perpetuity” in defining the role of dominion: we cultivate the garden to ensure that its creatures continue. Likewise, only God can take a life. The dietary directions given to Noah after the flood are explicit in their prohibition of consuming an animal’s blood which Tubbs contends “ is presented not as a cultic ‘dietary law’ but as a universal ordinance: " Even when man slaughters and kills, he is to know that he is touching something, which, because it is life, is in a special manner God's property…” and as a sign of this he is to keep his hands off the blood." It was not God’s intention for humans to behave as "tyrants" in the natural world, “but rather to preserve and care for God's creation in the image of God's own providence.”

Theologians frequently justify the rulership model of dominion through Adam’s naming of the animals, a task given to him by God. However, Tubbs offers contrary evidence: “the Yahwist Adam names his human partner no less than the animals, and the Priestly account certainly does not indicate any human "dominion" over other humans..”

Writing in the Theology Today, Tubbs shows us how God attends his creation “quite apart from any human agency.” God sends rain to areas with no human inhabitants (Job 38:26-27) and provides habitation, food, and drink for animals in the wild (Job 39:5-6; Ps. 104:10-27).” “Clearly, such depictions of the natural (nonhuman) creation as subject to God's ownership and providence imply strongly that its proper value and status extend far beyond its utility to humankind.” Bunge interprets God’s speaking to Job through the storm in (Job 38 and 39) in a similar vein: “God's first speech from the whirlwind (Job 38,39), indicate that God takes great delight in non-human creatures and did not create them for human benefit alone:

Who puts wisdom in the heart,

And gives the cock its understanding?

Who provides nourishment for the ravens

When their young ones cry out to God,

And they rove abroad without food?

(Job 38:39-41)

Tubbs writes that it was not God’s intention for humans to behave as "tyrants" in the natural world, “but rather to preserve and care for God's creation in the image of God's own providence.” Greenway concurs, writing “True dominion lies not in us, but in God. If we are rightly to understand how to exercise our dominion, we must strive to imitate and understand God's dominion.”

How Covenant with Animals Contributes to the Wider Theology of the OT:

The covenant between God and animals is referenced throughout the Old Testament with animals used in various capacities: as agents of God, messengers, and teachers. Hosea 2:20 the reiterates the covenant: “I will make a covenant for them on that day, with the beasts of the field, with the birds of the air, and with the things that crawl on the ground (Bergant). Animals also serve as teachers in many instances. Jean-Yves Lacoste writes that “Directives and reprimands may come to humans through animals” and Murray suggests that animals offer a Divine model for human behavior .

Ezekiel’s vision of a chariot (43) serves as evidence that animals and humans will share a place in God’s heaven as blended creatures. The characters within the chariot in Ezekiel 1:5-15 are presented as “living creatures” that possess both human and animal characteristics that include multiple wings rounded feet (“the souls of their feet were round”) “ but each had four faces and four wings” and “the soles of their feet were round.” Their animal faces are very specific: each of the four had the face of a man, but on the right side was the face of a lion, and on the left side the face of an ox, and finally each had the face of an eagle.”

Tova Forti explains that Old Testament literature, particularly Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes, “embed empiric observations of animal’s [sic] behavior as well as illustrations of zoological characteristics as examples reinforcing various teachings about human behavior” (120). In Proverbs, “minute creatures, such as ants, badgers, locusts, and lizards, are considered to display some of the wisest models of behavior in spite ote their lack of physical strength. Proverbs 30:24-28 lists numerous creatures who have lessons for human beings:

Four things are among the smallest on the earth

And yet are exceedingly wise

Ants, a species not strong, yet the store sup their food in the summer.

Rock badgers – a species not mighty,

Yet they make their home in the crags

Locusts – they have no king,

Yet they migrate all in array;

Lizards – you can catch them with yoru hands,

Yet they find their way into kings’ palaces.

The locusts, usually seen as a destructive force are seen in Proverbs as admirable because of their “efficient organization” (Forti 121).

Throughout the Old Testament, God proclaims his care for both humans and animals. Addressing God’s care for all creation, Robert Murray notes, “Human beings share with animals the condition of being creatures” (42). This means also that they share the condition of mortality. Psalm 49 warns humans against valuing the “folly” of wealth, reminding us that our demise is contingent upon our lack of wisdom: “If mortals do not have wisdom, they perish like the beasts.” Bergant says we are interdependent with all creation and thus bond with the animals, even in our blessings as Psalm 103 indicates: “Bless the Lord, all creatures” (“The Bible Tells Me So”).

More than messengers and models, animals are often used to do God’s bidding, as Kay shows. It is written in Exodus 23:28-30 and Leviticus 26:22: that if the Israelites’ behave righteously,” hornets will drive out the Hebrews’ enemies and wild predators will not attack them as they escape from Egypt and head for Canaan (223). In 1 Kings 17:1-6, God directs Elijah to hide in a wadi in Jordan during a severe drought . God assures him, “You shall drink of the stream, and I have commanded ravens to feed you there….Ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening.” In 2 Kings 2:24, on the way to Bethel, the prophet Elisha is ridiculed by children and the wrath of nature is set upon them:
“Go up, baldhead,” they shouted, “go up, baldhead!” The prophet turned and saw them, and he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two she-bears came out of the woods and tore torty-two of the children to pieces.” Another instance of an animal carrying out the wishes of God appears in the story of Jonah, as the fish does God’s work of transporting Jonah safely to shore. “Out of my distress I called to the Lord…From the midst of the nether world I crid for help and you heard my voice,” Jonah says, and continues describing his life-threatening experience “enveloped” in the “abyss;” when he acknowledges that God has the power of deliverance. In Daniel 6:23, we see a similar scenario (226). Surviving the lion’s den, Daniel proclaims, “My God has sent his angel to close the lions’ mouths so that they have not hurt me.” A drastically different fate befalls Daniel’s accusers, their wives, and their children, who were killed by the lions even “before they reached the bottom of the den.” The most widely known instance of creatures doing God’s bidding is evident in Exodus, through the Plagues, “the role of the nonhuman as mediator in God’s delivering activity (Fretheim 44).

In nearly every book of the Old Testament, we witness the relationship with God and non-human creation. Even the genealogies in Genesis demonstrate more than historical lineage, according to Fretheim: “it shows that every person is kin to eveyr other; even more…human and nonhuman are linked together in one very large extended family” (68). The Book of Psalms concludes with a testament to God’s relationship with all life: ‘Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!’ (Sharp).

Practical Ministerial Applications of the Theme

In “The Role of Nature in Natural Disasters,” Diane Bergant sees a causal relationship between “anthropocentric imperialism” and ecological destruction. “We, like every other creature of the natural world, are embedded in the realityof this world, we are not above it. Furthermore, like every other creature of the natural world, we are subject to its laws, laws established in the beginning by the Creator.” Greenway accuses traditional Biblical scholars of ignoring ”a pivotal theological teaching” “that we are to love all creatures. ” Bunge credits Fretheim with teaching us that through Psalms, we witness that “God is active in nature and intimately involved in every aspect of natural order” (2).

Furthermore, Bunge highlights an important connections between the environment and social injustice: how can we love our neighbors without considering their vulnerability to environmental hazards? (2). The Bible “points out the commonalities between human beings and other living things” and “provide powerful grounds for environmental responsibility” (webofcreation.org). Referring specifically to divine covenant, we receive blessings from our covenant with God, but such That receipt is contingent upon how we fulfill the duties assigned to us in our living relationship with non-human inhabitants of the earth. Relationship with God is not limited to humankind, as Yale Divinity Professor Carolyn Sharp reminds us that “every living creature hears God’s voice” .

This concept assumes a new level of importance today because of our heightened sensitivity to the environment and earth’s creatures, both suffering devastating loss and destruction. It gives us a Biblical imperative for cultivating relationships with non-human elements of the earth and it spiritually validates those of us who have chosen to live and work for their benefit. It adds Divine impetus to “humane” living and lets us reassess ourselves in relation to the Bible as we learn that our moral standards – not shared by all – lead us to be activists for Divine justice. It invites us to rediscover purpose of our relationship to the non-human world we share. I deal with people in grief over the loss of their animals – these insights validate their choices and can draws them in rather than away from organized religion that has traditionally neglected the potency of human-animal relationships. People often experience discomfort when their religions leaders proclaim human superiority over animals because their experience tells them otherwise. They often become disenfranchised. This research elastics religion to embrace a more holistic spirituality reserving for them a place where they are not only welcome but blessed by God for their loving stewardship of the garden. As Bergant writes, “The human creature is placed in the garden to serve (the same verb as ‘till’) and guard it” (“The Bible Tells Me So”). Tubbs maintains that giving attention to our role in dominion and nature offers us opportunity through reflection to assess our values which may “deepen and broaden our appreciation and concern for the effects and consequences of human decisions upon nonhuman beings.

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Forti, Tova. “Who Teaches Us More Athan the Beasts of the Earth, and Makes us Wise than the

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Fretheim, Terence. The Pentateuch. Nashville: Abington Press 1996.

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Greenway, William. “Animals and the Love of God.” Christian Century , 21 June 2000. Gale,

Cengage Learning. 1-4.

Hiersl, Richard H. “Reverence for Life and Environmental Ethics in Biblical Law and Covenant.

Covenant.”http://fore.research.yale.edu/religion/christianity/essays/chris_hiers_index.htm

Kay, Jeanne. “Human Dominion Over Nature in the Hebrew Bible.” Annals of the Association

American Geographers. (1989) 79: 2. 214-232.

LaCoste, John-Yves. “Animals.” Encyclopedia of Christian Theology.

www.books.googlebooks.com

Sharp, Carolyn. “Rereading Dominion in Scriptural Traditions.” Catholic Concern for Animals.

http://www.all-creatures.org/ca/art-rereading.htm .

Smith, Ralph Allan. “Defining the Covenant: What Consensus?”

http://www.berith.org/essays/defining_the_covenant_what_consensus.htm

St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology.

http://www.salvationhistory.com/studies/lesson/covenant_the_master_key_that_unlocks_the_bible

Tubbs, Jr., James B. “ Humble Dominion.” Theology Today. 50. 4 (1994.)

http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/search/index-search.htm

“Covenant.” Theopedia. www.theopedia.com/covenant.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. MICRA,: 1996

Listen to the Message. Really Listen.

2017-05-27T08:29:00.001-04:00

In the late 80s and early 90s, I was just beginning serious metaphysical work and simultaneously experiencing rough patches in my exterior life. In between jobs and desperate, I did a lot of Walter Mitty type fantasizing: thought I would go work on a reservation in South Dakota, move to a village in South Africa and live among lions, and if that didn't pan out, move back to NY and resume life as a starving poet.

I was living in Coral Springs at the time, just having moved there from Delray Beach (I have lived all over South Florida).I was broke and finally using the Publix gift certificates that my friend had given me when I'd lost my last job (most generous gift and most humbling experience). In meditation,thinking I would see myself communing with the buffalo clan, I sought confirmation from the spiritual realm and received a very clear answer: SOUTH.

Well, first I got pissed off that my intuition was clearly not working. Then I started laughing and threw it back to my guides, "Oh yeah? South? How far South? Like where, Miami? HA! " and shut down the session because the channels were fuzzy and obviously I wasn't getting any good information. For a few years, I survived by first working as a per diem seasonal textbook rep for Holt, Rinehart, and Winston and  then finished a three year stint as a temporary instructor at Broward Community College (I could not be hired permanently, I was told, because they "needed" a minority hire to comply with the EEOC). I sent my resume everywhere and thought, "For sure, the Lakota tribe will want me! I will train my asthma to lie dormant in the cold!"

Then, in August of 1993, I received a call from Miami Dade Community College IN MIAMI, where I have been very successfully employed since. I DID receive a very precise message in meditation years earlier, telling me I would be going south, but didn't align myself with the process naturally, first dismissing it and second blaming myself as a cloudy channel because I didn't like the content of the message. I have since learned. LISTEN without judgment.

Being a channel or psychic means moving oneself out of the way,Receiving useful information requires neutrality and willingness to accept the content of the message rather than the act of receiving the message.For example, we schedule an annual doctor appointment and do the requisite blood work, then cringe when the doctor labels us  diabetic and must completely reprogram ourselves, changing eating habits and adding physical activity. We groan and stop for a doughnut on the way home.

What is the sense in seeing a doctor if we discard the diagnosis and continue living the way we did before?

The same applies to spiritual health. Knowledge is the invitation to spiritual enrichment. When we dismiss the information we are given, whether the reason is disapproval or doubt, we create blocks in our path that make our journey more arduous. Taking the information, operating with a new awareness, does two things: 1) it

teaches us to trust our intuitive powers, opening gates forr deeper and more meaningful dialogue with Spirit, and 2) it gives us a map to help us navigate the earthly walk.

Messages come in many graduated forms as we delve into the metaphysical world: feeling, hunches, signs, symbols, words, urges, a gnawing sense of knowing. We just have to become a willing  vessel to use them wisely.

Well, We All Shine On: Karmic Lessons from the Animals

2016-01-31T09:51:00.001-05:00

“Well, I didn’t see that coming!” “What goes around comes around.” “I hope he gets what he deserves."

We can all identify with having uttered or heard these phrases after falling victim to someone’s ill intentions or witnessing an unprovoked self-serving or predatory act. Every such action has more than one victim but we will likely not see the justice we crave in this lifetime. While we might want to even the score, we are better served by allowing the laws of karma to heal the effects naturally. And that means, essentially, learning from our mistakes on higher levels, sometimes in future incarnations.

But we want it, and we want it now!

Sometimes we expect karma to engulf us like a huge wave, and as John Lennon said, knock us off our feet, forcing us to learn that pestering lesson once and for all. But a life outside of isolation doesn't always allow for such easy returns. Usually karma presents itself in more evolutionary ways, and in reality, it can take multiple lifetimes to achieve karmic balance. But even if we are lucky enough to welcome such justice into our current lives in one fell swoop, we might be too distracted or imperceptive to recognize it it.

The Buddhists define karma as “the law of moral causation”(Buddhanet.com). The explanation includes the Buddhist understanding that “In this world nothing happens to a person that he does not for some reason or other deserve. Usually, men of ordinary intellect cannot comprehend the actual reason or reasons… the result of our own past actions and our own present doings...We are the architects of our own fate.” A less refined and more mass conscious definition of karma on dictionary.com shows how the word has been hijacked and thus disempowered as a weak substitute for “energy” or intention: “the good or bad emanations felt to be generated by someone or something: ‘Let’s get out of here. This place has bad karma.’” Western religion teaches its own version of karma. In Galations we read, "whatever a man soweth also shall he reap," which echoes Job: "they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same." We can find many more examples in both the Old and New Testament.

Surfing only the edges of consciousness limits human growth, causing myopia and putting obstacles in our peripheral vision. Instead of understanding the cause/effect relationship set in motion by even our smallest actions, we sometimes plant our feet in the center of our own universe and apply ethical principles only to that which immediately affects us. This malady exemplifies the “I, Me Me, Mine” that George Harrison lamented. In truth, we incur karma with every thought, every intention, every action, every interaction with the whole, rich, natural world, not just humans as they relate to our self-centered desires.

Here’s what appears to be the mundane case of a middle aged man who, after buying his first townhouse, decided he wanted his first canine companion. Upon researching dog breeds, he determined the Basenji was most appealing for variety of reasons: they’re small, barkless, light on their feet, clean. He reserved a female from a Canadian breeder but because the breeding didn't take right away , he grew impatient and found a local breeder who sold him a male puppy. However, within months, the first breeder did have a successful breeding, so he acquired that girl, too, (double the fun, caretakers of multiple dogs know). The male was adorable but needy and mischievous, sometimes to the detriment of his own health, true to Basenji character. A few years later the man decided he’d prefer living on the beach and found a condo with a one-pet restriction. “It’s a lifestyle choice,” became his mantra as he gave the male away, "it's a lifestyle choice," he repeated, keeping the more even-tempered female. Very soon, his now only dog became critically ill, requiring emergency abdominal surgery. His sweet girl ate part of a blanket and the threads wrapped around her intestines. Two days after what seemed to be a successful operation, she unexpectedly died. To astute observers it was a swift but brutal visitation by karma.

And the dog? The physical pain was temporary and she lives on. Animals have souls just as pure and divine as ours, and they choose their lessons and students as we do before they incarnate on earth. They accompany us for so short a time, willingly serving as teachers and guides so that we may learn the lessons of commitment, unconditional love, and sacrifice. One would hope that at some point, more of us would “get it” and rise to thank teachers like Becky the Basenji, karmic emissary, for their gifts.

Witness the unfathomable murder of Cecil the lion, illegally and immorally shot with a crossbow, tracked, left to suffer for 24 hours before he died, then beheaded to become a trophy for a cowardly Minnesota dentist who measures his manhood through his collection of carcasses. Those of us who love, respect, and honor all life still grieve in ways the average observer may not understand. And even then, many of us fell prey to the demand for instant justice and extradition to Zimbabwe of the killer who shall not be named here. “Off with his head!” “He should be killed the same way!” were the cries of millions of outraged animal lovers. Many of us gathered in spirit, in prayer, in meditation and healing circles, and still do, trusting that karma will be the great teacher rather than fearsome equalizer, and that this will somehow serve the greater good for all living creatures.

Wings Bigger Than Ours

2015-12-09T07:18:00.000-05:00

A client just wrote to me, upset for months over an incident with an injured baby bird. It had fallen out of its next, and she took it home to care for it, hoping to return it to the nest when it recovered. Such rescue is always an act of love. She was feeding it and put it down for a moment, but that moment esalated like fast forward when her dog suddenly leaped, grabbed the bird, and killed it. For months, the woman has been blaming herself, assuming responsibility for the bird's death. She came to me for some clarity.

I didn't have to stretch to empathize wit her. I have been in that position a number of times. For years, I was actively involved in Muscovy duck rescue, retrieving scared, injured, abused and victimized ducks from lakes, parking lots, streets.Once I took in an almost newborn duckling -- tiny and still yellow -- who had been abandoned and seemed to have a broken leg. I called the president of the rescue group to ask for instructions on its care until I could bring it to She told me to test its leg for spring by lightly moving it up and down in the palm of my hand. As I did this, holding the phone under my chin, the tiny bird in my palm, and my other hand testing its leg, my excited Irish Water Spaniel suddenly leaped up and chomped on him -- right through its delicate chest. Hysterical, I ran with the duck in my hand to a neighbor who worked for animal control who was miraculously home morning. She euthanized him as I watched, in tears, but grateful that she was there to end its suffering.

Another time, in heavy traffic, I stopped to pick up a two foot tall anhinga, circling in a daze after being by a car. I took him to a friend's pond where he swam and seemed all right but was not and had to take him the next morning to the Wildlife Care Center when it opened Monday morning. A few days later i called to check on his progress and learned that he, too, died. I grieved. Two of myschnauzers killed ducks, years apart. One killed a duck in in my parents' yard, and I brought it to an animal shelter, feeling guilty. Years later, my feisty little schnuazer attacke a young duck who innocently flew ino my fenced yard. I brought it, dying, to the vet to be put out of its misery, sobbing the whole way, my hand on her chest, administering Reiki. Each death brought sorrow.

Why are we brought into these scenarios? What is the lesson? I believe it is twofold: one, it invites us to be the best of who we are, reaching the pinnacle of our capacity to love and care for other beings. Second, it reminds us of nature's supremacy. In the last incident, my ex-husband said to "punish" my dog because she killed a bird. "She's a schnauzer. A hundred or so years of careful breeding perfected this natural instinct in her. She was doing what she is naturally meant to do, and she did it well. She was being her best self. " The best self nature presents does not always coincide with what we would like to see happen. These deaths are a reminder that we are not in charge of life.

I explained to my client that she was responsible for nothing other than providing loving care for an abandoned bird. The outcome was like a piece of thematic literature: nature reigns supreme. We are not as grand and powerful as we like to imagine. Bigger wings prevail.

Your Animals Came to You for a Reason

2015-12-06T07:55:00.001-05:00

I just did a reading for a woman who wanted to know why the cat she and her family adopted was so attracted and attached to her husband when they went to the pound to look for a new cat. She said when they approached the glass window to view the available animals for adoption, one particular cat literally leaped at the window and began scratching it as if to get to her husband, and once they were able to view the cat without barriers, he wouldn't let go of him. She knew, she said that "there is more than meets the eye" and was seeking an explanation, so she contacted me.

I receive my information in two ways; visually and intuitively knowing. When I close my eyes, I see images, faint pictures, some more clear than others but always vivid enough to know what I'm seeing. On this occassion, almost immediately, when I closed my eyes, I saw the image of the cat angled from the spiritual plane,entering our physical world and jumping into a baby carriage. He was replacing a baby, and I had the very strong sense that this baby had belonged to her husband, not her. I knew he had lost a very young child and never got over it, and the cat was s sent to him by spirit to help him heal and open himself to the vulnerability that comes with deep love once again.

When I receive information like this, I am very careful in my revealing what I know, because spiritual time frames often differ from earthly time frames. Thus there's always the possibility that what I am seeing at the moment is not necessarily in the past but an incident about to occur. This was an online reading originating from my web site, so I knew absolutely nothing about this woman's situation, who she was, where she lived, how old she was, only that she adopted a very beautiful cat who had an exceptionally strong bond with her husband. I had to very cautiously select my words in my reply. When I do this, if what I am about to reveal can be shocking or frightening, I often couch my information in a question or present it as possibility, to soften it before the client is ready to discuss it more fully. This is how I phrased it:

Ask your husband if there was a time in his life when he needed

emergency help, or if there was someone close to him that he lost,

a child or baby perhaps. It could have happened a long time ago.

Romeo is saying he is here to heal a deep wound from that loss. He is

also saying he is jumping into your lives as a replacement "baby."

That's his purpose. There's no particular entity associated with sending him. It's a spiritual gift that comes from realms where individual identities are long gone. It's like, as we sat, a gift from God, or a a gift from the angels.

I just heard back from the woman, who wrote,Thank you Lisa for all your help and insights over the past few days. My husband did indeed lose a baby many years ago which he has never completely gotten over.

I am always so impressed with the way Spirit gives me this information. When i was new to this kind of work and would see pictures i didn't expect, I was sometimes afraid to share the images with my client for fear of being "wrong." Later I learned that many images are merely symbolic, so when I would explain what I saw, the symbolism would make sense -- although sometimes the images were not symbols at all but literal snapshots, and the client would do the explaining. Now, after almost 30 years of doing this sacred work, I trust what I receive so completely that I share it no matter how unusual or impossible it seems at the time.

This reading should be continued verification for people who don't fully accept the fact that our animal companions are healers sent from higher realms. There are no accidents. The furry ones you love and the feathered ones who bring you such laughter and joy are with you for a higher reason.

All is Never Lost

2015-05-28T10:45:00.002-04:00

When we suffer what we perceive as loss or defeat, we can abandon hope and retreat from the world. Yes, it stings. But for some, the loss feels insurmountable, plummeting them into long term despair, an understandable, permssible human response after a loved one's death, a breakup, unemployment, homelessness. In fact, not sinking into grief would make us appear suspect. But outside of those severe circumstances, how often do we prolong grief over self-inflicted rather than external losssuch as failed expectations and unmet goals?
We hang our hopes on particular desires, forgetting our flexibility and capacity for change, and subconsiously choose disappointment after unrealized outcomes. Then we mourn, convincing ourselves that all is lost, and wander through distorted emotional landscape. Here's the truth: nothing is ever lost. We get lost as we muddle through those self defeating thoughts. But we can easily reverse this buy practicing attitude adjustment.
This means shifting perspective. Take Einstein's assertion that “energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be changed from one form to another.” Nothing is lost if it didn’t exist in the first place, and if it existed simply as thought, and we know that thoughts are energy, we can shift into higher consciousness. We can transform those thoughts and ourselves in turn. With spiritual helpers alongside us every step of the way, we are always fully supported in our intentions to do so.
Consider the types of daily ultimatums we give ourselves. You can fill in the blank consequence.
If I’m not married by the time I’m 35, then…... If I don’t have children…..
If I don’t get that job, that promotion, that raise…. I’m worthless.
Essentially, we steer ourselves into depression, dimming our creative potential for change. Nobody else takes us there.
The consequendes complicate the loss. Hope becomes disappointment, disappointment becomes despair, despair becomes hopelessness, and so on, and so on in an undending circle. This is not a contemporary revelation; traditional spiritual remedy for deep sorrow and its aftermath are plentiful. In Corinthians we read, "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” In Isaiah, God promises, "When you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.:"
Buddhism offers a practical antidote to this cycle of disappointment through the Four Noble Truths, which first recognize suffering, identify the cause of suffering, and then provides relief from suffering. It teaches us the perils of desire and attachment. Desire breeds become attached to an outcome --so we live the future, not in the present. When our desired outcome eludes us, we look backwards in regret: "what if I had done (fill in the blank) ??" Only when we can train ourselves loosen our grip on expected outcome can we live in the moment. Essentially, expectations -- not loss -- cause us grief and suffering.
But what about hope? Is it a helpful motivator or just a synonym for expectation? A poignant example from the film The Joy Luck Club comes to mind. Suyuan and her daughter June, an unmarried, childless 30-something struggling writer tells her mother she feels like a failure because she never met her expectations. Her mother said, “Never expect! Only hope!” But June replies that every time her mother hoped for soething she couldn’t deliver, “It hurt. It hurt,Mommy,” she cries. .
So how do we strike a balance between hope, expectation, optimism and living in the moment? How can we experience joy without caving to the pressure of hope and expectation, ours or someone else's?
The first two Reiki principles give us a platform we can use as a mood enhancing mantra:
Just for today, do not anger. Just for today, do not worry.
Modify these to suit your purpose: do not fear, do not fear, do no regret...Just for today, not not suffer...

Try this simple exercise. Search through your memories to identify the times you felt devastated by loss. What was the situation? Specifically, what was lost that you did not recover in some other form? The Universe does not like empty space and quickly fills the holes that seem to halt our lives. Ask yourself whether you eventually gained greater wisdom or opportunity in the wake of that experience. Did you shrivel up and die? Did you permanently wilt? Not likely. What came in its stead? Cataloging these gifts can temper your disappointments so they no longer obstruct your path path toward true fulfillment.

Your Love Inventory: A 7 Step Guide

2015-03-14T11:34:00.001-04:00

The Love Inventory: A 7 Step Rediscovery of Love

People use the word love casually without truly reflecting on its meaning and contexts If we lay aside the common use of the word to explain predilection for objects, we reach deeper into our Divine essence. Sure, we might enjoy the new I-Pad or Highlander, but can we really love it? Other verbs would be more appropriate. Love is a whole other dimension, and as we progress through life we sometimes forget those critical moments when we were engulfed in pure love.

The sacred element in all of us awakens when we are touched deep in our center by this overwhelming force, something higher than we are yet something that we can be. Spiriutal teachings and human potential workshops promote earthly journey to love or more accurately, a return to love. The phrase God is love remains a major lesson in the Gospels, as written in 1 John 4:7: “ everyone who loves is born of God” and “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love..” Paul Stookey contemporized a spiritual verse from Matthew with the earthly in “The Wedding Song” chorus: ” The union of your spirits, here, has caused Him to remain For whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name There is Love, there is Love.”

On our journeys, when we are most fortunate, Divine love radiates through us, sometimes in in times of distress, amidst social, financial, emotion struggles, and bearing witnessing escalating world strife, we disconnect from love. We forget. After a breakup, a loss, we despair and lose graph of our birthright, which is simply to love and be loved. In such moments, we can make deliberate efforts to integrate love into our reality. Sometimes the most powerful tool is simply remembering. . Here’s a meditation to jog our memories.

This brief journey will be an inventory of where we have experienced a profound and permanently affirming love. You may want to record this so you can follow along whenever you need a refresher.

1. Breathe deeply and relax Count down slowly from 10 to 1, with a cycle of inhales and exhales at each descending number. Feel yourself relax from head to toe. Give your muscles permission to your muscles to release tension and stress. Flex and quickly release. When you feel relaxed from head to toe, begin.

2. Visualize a pink cord from your heart to your crown chakra. Now think with your heart. Return to the first instance you experienced love. Go backwards through your life, briefly scanning each decade until you are ten years old. See yourself at this age. Then travel even 3 Then go back to your earliest memory and be still with it.

3. Ask your higher self to help you access your earliest memory or love. Bring the word LOVE into your consciousness. See it spelled out in front of you. Visualize symbols of love. Repeat it repeat it as a mantra as you prepare to recover your experience

4. Who is there with you? Who is giving you love? Trust yourself enough to accept the images that float up, even if they are faint. What are you feeling? Sit in silence for a few moments and connect with that feeling, as you attune to its energy in the present moment. Then allow other instances of your receiving love to surface. Take as much time as you need. You are recovering your capacity to love.

5. Now see the reciprocal experience. Recall the most poignant instance in your life when you fully loved to someone else. Don’t force the memory; let it rise naturally. It might not be what you expect. If you begin to tremble or cry, you know you have reached your Divine center. Sometimes we find it harder to recognize that we are direct channels rather than receipients of love. This happens when we recognize that at our core, we are good. We mirror the Divine.

6. How have you channeled your love? Let your higher self speak to you. Connect with these thoughts, feelings, and images.

7. Finally, ask yourself where in your life you need to gift someone with your love. It can be a past relationship, someone who is no longer in your life, someone who has passed on, someone to whom you never expressed your love. Visualize that person accepting your gift .

When you are ready, come back to the normal waking consciousness and feel renewed.

Tune Up Your Dog's Chakras

2015-01-04T08:34:00.001-05:00

Like people, animals love energy work, but unlike people, they create no barriers to etheric healing because it’s the plane on which they comfortably exists, whereas we have to work at suspending our reliance upon the concrete and visible first. Animals feel energy and sense vibrational change before they see solid matter and experience earth-level activity (think about early earthquake warnings, pre-thunder jitters, character detection in a person they have seen for the first time). Working on this energetic plane benefits animals both physically and emotionally, calming auric disturbances and preventing them from fully manifesting in the body.

An easy and effective technique is chakra healing through visualization. It takes little time and energy and produces a remarkable calm that your dogs, cats, birds, horses will visibly appreciate.
First, sit comfortably with your animal alongside you. If that’s not possible, visualize it, as the powerful thoughts will reach through distance.

Begin the way you would begin if you were meditating and healing yourself. Breathe slowly and rhythmically: in to the count of four, hold for four, release for eight counts. After four rounds of this, you will feel yourself settle in to a more relaxed state that deepens with each new inhale and exhale.
Visualize a white light from above slowly moving toward you and your animals and gently penetrating into your animal's crown chakra at the top of the head. See a deep violet energy swirling as the light activitates this center. The crown chakra in all of us is the center of spirituality. You know your animal is a spiritual being; see how easily the violet deepens as you focus.
Next move to the third eye, the center between the eyes, a deeper purple/indigo. This center controls perception, vision, physical issues with the head. As the light moves through this center, see the color intensify and strengthen your animal’s system.

Follow the path of light to the light blue of throat chakra, the communication center, affecting teeth, mouth, throat issues. Animals who are nervous sometimes exhibit a weakness in this chakra by biting, chewing household items and chewing themselves. Think of a pre-verbal child whose frustration at limited self-expression manifests in tantrums and destructive behavior. Visualize the soothing light blue settling and calming this energy center.

Now see the energy, green, flow into the heart, the center of unconditional love (isn't this where all of our animals live?) Physically, it controls heart and lung function and the immune system. Emotionally, it is the center of compassion and caring. See it vibrating vibrant, healing green light as the light flows through.
The next chakra is very important for all rescue dogs, who have experienced fear and abandonment. The solar plexus chakra is yellow and when healthy makes up our sense of self; this is where aggression or insecurity can be adjusted. Such emotional conditions such as fear and lack of confidence often manifest in digestive and liver issues.....dietary indiscretion begins here as well. So many of our animals need the reassurance of comfort and security so let's send them all extra energy as the Reiki flows through the solar plexus. Mixing the love of the heart chakra with the comfort of the solar plexus equals a strong remedy for wholeness.
Move to the sacral center, orange, controlling reproductive system and kidneys. Allow the energy to penetrate and clear bladder issues, stones, soothing this part of the body. Puppy mill dogs used as breeders need extra work here; animals who endured C-sections need healing here.
The root chakra, our strongest physical connection to the earth, is a natural home to dogs who have retained their ancient and original instincts. Its red energy provides a foundation for basic survival needs and keeps us beings vibrant and alive. Dogs with hip dysplasia, foot problems, and bowel issues need healng in this center. Follow the light through the root, which regulates the rear of the animal, including legs and intestines. Visualize until you see this center glowing bright red.

Do a complete body scan now following the light from where it entered the crown to where it sits in the root. Take special note of where the color is not as strong as it could be, where it moves slowly, or where it meets an obstacle. This will tell you what ailment//physical condition needs more attention. Also note that when you see a weakness in your animal's chakras, you can use crystals to strengthen that energy. Coordinate the stones with the chakras they heal. Affix them to a collar, keep them in your hand, create a circle of corresponding color stones around your animal.

When you are finished, see your animal lit up like a Christmas tree in segments: violet, purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red. See all the centers in living color as each chakra is activated and vibrating in its corresponding color with the white light glowing from head to root.. This will rejuvenate your animal's system.

The Cycle of Change: Darkness & Release, Light & Growth

2014-12-25T11:04:00.003-05:00

We just passed through the winter solstice, the time when the borders of the physical and spiritual worlds are closest, the time we embrace the longest night, which enables us to appreciate the gift of light. The physical darkness and light cycle often parallels our inner cycles of darkness and light. My therapist once said we never stop navitgating the highs and lows of life, but as we progress intentionally, the depths become less treacherous and the climbs less intimidating. We eventually feel more stable, more even, more capable of sailing through those depressions in the road and more deserving as we enjoy the heights.
Accompanying those depths, those dark nights, are fears, self-doubts, even stagnation, which becomes an enemy more than a place of security. As we look into ourselves this winter, as we examine where we may have fallen and where we need to ascend, we may realize that we need to release old, outmoded relationships that no longer serve our highest good. Is it selfish? Is it painful? No and yes. If you are like me, holding on to relationships for the sake of longevity and loyalty, but you feel a constant gnawing that something isn't right, or you walk away from every encounter feeling somehow marginalized or dismissed, then the time is right to adjust your path and lovingly let go. It could be marriage, work, friendships, location.....anything or anyone that promotes disharmony deserves your assessment.

Bear in mind that your animals tend to absorb all of your emotional and physical discomfort. Releasing the stressors from your life will lighten their load as well.

Here's a meditation to help you see through the darkness and usher in light.

Breathe in...slowly through your noise. Feel the air circulate in your body. Hold it. Release slowly.
Again, breathe deeply...hold it....feel it reach every cell in your body....then release.
Now breathe with the intention of clearing your animal with the breath. Breathe in.....imagine the breathe circulating in your animal's body, clearing out debris...release and visualize all negative energy and ailment leaving.

In each of us there is darkness...what do you need to look at, to confront, to release? Use the energy of the Universe circle to examine this....sometimes it means discarding old habits, old energy, even people who no longer contribute to your highest good and growth. Allow the images, faces, ideas to surface. Don't suppress, and don't fear. You are inviting healing into your life.

With all endings come new beginnings......look deep within as the Reiki penetrates and identify what you want to end so you can embrace new beginnings. Feel yourself empty. See a vessel collect the debris in your energy field. Return it to the Universe for transmutation. Offer gratitude.
Give voice to your intention. Empower the clearing by announcing what you wish for yourself and for your loved ones, your animals.

You may want to write down your intentions for the endings and beginning we are entering. Perhaps light a candle as a symbol of light to give it life.

Not all endings are sad... and if they are, trust that it is momentary. Spirit holds greater promise for you. Clearing out means making room for new blessings. It is an invitation for the Universe to replenish your life with goodness and Light. Wish no harm to anyone and only Light will come to you.

The winter solstice traditions coincide with many Light traditions: the yule log, Hanukka menorah and lights of miracles, the Star of Bethlehem lighting the world. No darkness is permanent. The universal light alignment will mirror your internal growth Peace and happy new year.

Clearing Out the Joints: A Healing Meditation

2014-11-19T11:52:00.002-05:00

Once again we see a blueprint for our lives in the Wizard of Oz. The first time we meet the Tin Man he is standing alone, immobilized, in desperate need of the oil can. In fact, even his jaw is locked to the point that he can’t articulate his need, and Dorothy somehow understands his closed-mouth muttering and frees him, joint by joint, enabling him to move. Many of us go through life like the tin man, not to his extreme, but enough of us suffer from knee pain, hip pain, TMJ, and various forms of debilitating arthritis. As we age we experience increased stiffness, foot, knee or hip pain, swollen or inflamed joints, and our physical stress likely has its origin in an emotional core. In our hectic lives, we’ve been conditioned to suppress emotions rather than process them through acceptance and reflection, resulting in storage of unfiltered energy that often collects in our joints, limiting our progress and mirroring the personal issues we need to confront. For example, if a stiff elbow limits the extension of your arm – is the real issue your difficulty giving or receiving? If a stiff knee halts your forward movement, does it actually reflect your fear of new adventures?

Our physical stiffness inhibits our forward movement, but often serves as a metaphor for halted movement in our lives, which is how we wake up one day to find ourselves stuck. But we can move through a plateau of any kind -- emotional, social, psychological, professional – by focusin on where in our bodies we have hidden this unprocessed energy. Sometimes we subconsciously collect emotion as a means of self protection: we fear the unknown and prefer to remain safely in stasis. But if we really want improvement in our lives, we can charge our desires with more than fleeting wishes; we can activate change on multiple planes of existence. Meditating to renew ourselves raises our vibration and what occurs etherically will be activated by positive change to enjoy in our daily lives. All experience (and all healing) begins with thought, and through meditation we can direct that thought specifically to invoke a healthier reality.
Find a comfortable place to sit, uninterrupted. If it helps you to relax, play some gentle music that enhances meditation. You might like a slow, peaceful Zen instrumental for this exercise. If you are at the computer, try 1 Hour Zen Reiki Meditation Music: Calming Music, Meditation Music,...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRKgeK7Pv7c.

As the music surrounds you, breathe in deeply and hold it. Then slowly release. Inhale through your nose, exhale through your mouth. In………………..hold…………..gently release.
Feel your body slow down. Again, breathe in slowly and deeply, and let the breath relax you, flowing through you in waves.

Sit in stillness for a moment and just be aware of all the sensations in your body. Be conscious of all your thoughts as they rise. Acknowledge them, and let them go.

Now a white mist entering your body at the crown. It spirals down, soothing muscles and and calming nerves. It cools areas of irritation and dissipates stale energy. Watch it travel
down to your neck, loosening the muscles and vertebrae. Do a neck roll slowly to the left, then to the right. y Pay extra attention the jaw, where we hold tension. Visualize that mist relaxing the jaw, unlocking the temporomandibular joint.
Feel the mist enter shoulders, filling them with a lubricating energy. Then move to your elbows, wrists, fingers, every knuckle, every joint --see the energy move into these places one at a time, removing the cloudy energy you have stored there . Let clarity replace cloudiness. Let ease replace stiffness. See this mist vacuum all the old enery, anger, fear, distrust, worry and move it out through your toes, where it dissipates completely.
Finally, do a slow scan from your toes all the way back up to your head. See that mist traveling uninterrupted through your spine, and out of your crown chakra, back into the ethers.
If you take five minutes a day to practice this clearing exercise, you will welcome the insights that bring change into your life. Let it flow. Namaste!

Ritualizing for Healing

2014-10-18T08:17:00.002-04:00

Ritual is an act of devotion, an invitation to the universe to activate our healing. Usually associated with religious and spiritual traditions and rituals empower us as we release and renew. Rituals help us navigate through life and boost our healimn with spiritual collaboration. When we seek Divine help, we purify through ritual.

Rituals often use objects of nature to link us to the natural world; one of the most familiar is ritualistic incense. In the Catholic Church the priest waves it toward the congregation for purification them. In Judaism as the Sabbath officially ends with the Havdallah ritual, which includes lighting an incense imbued with cloves which congregants inhale, a metaphor for retaiing the sweetness of the Sabbath during the mundane week. Indigenous Americans smudge, whisking a burning cedar and sage wand over the body with the smoke..

The element integral to many purification rituals is water, a conductor and purifier. Water is regarded both spiritually and scientifically as the source of all life whether one subscribes to the biblical account of creation or the scientific timeline of evolution. In fact, scientists have discovered that every living creature from the fish to the human being has DNA traced back which parallels the Genesis chronology of creationism identifying the origin of all life as the sea. The Koran reveals, “We made from water every living thing’”. We baptize by water anald purify by water to enter holy presence. In both Judaism and Islam ritual washing or bathing is required for purification and spiritual cleansing in both life and in death. The Native American tradition the sweat lodge ceremony depends equally upon water, as the water poured onto the burning rocks creates the steam to cleanse and detoxify participants .

We can draw upon these traditional cleansing and releasing rituals to fit our personal needs. One example is the Rosh Hashanah tashlich (“to cast”) ceremony during which Jews write sins on a small piece of paper and ritualistically release it into a body of water . We can transfer this to any personal context in our lives to rid ourselves of lingering guilt, sorrow, anger, and fear. The act of writing helps the physical release, and taking our scripted woes to the sea, the river, the lake connects us to higher energies that will support the process. We can also be very practical and flushing it down the toilet or usethe element of fire to burn the paper and watch the smoke dissipate into the universe. Wherever we need healing, sometimes after a divorce or major illness, these methods will be effective.

We can use the earth’s energies by burying their words or artifacts such as photographs and other objects in the earth means of transmutation and purification. Or we can reach beyond the earth to invoke celestial energies for healing. Harnessing the energy the moon is common practice; we can clear crystals ritually by soaking them overnight in moonlight .

Ritualizing our daily experiences, that is, making sacred experiences out of our fears, regrets, desires, and hopes, striving for wholeness lets us partner with the Divine, strengthening our process. We raise our vibration when we ritualize it.

As we enter the season of shorter days and longer nights, we engage in many light –centered rituals from the Halloween lanterns to the Festival of of Light( Hanukkah) to Christmas commemoration ushered in through the beacon of the Star of Bethlehem. We move from harvesting to gifting, an appropriate time to gift ourselves with solitary rituals that promote our continued ascension. Think about giving yourself the gift of renewal through ritual. Find one that speaks to you, one from a tradition not your own, or create one that is born in your heart. This is the energy that moves us forward.

Dorothy and the Divine Feminine: First Isolation, Then Liberation

2014-10-08T06:30:00.001-04:00

The popular distinction between prayer and meditation is that prayer is talking to God and meditation is listening to God, that universal force that perpetuates life. We know that in real world communication models, both skills are necessary.for progress in relationships. While we are encouraged by our traditional religious traditions to pray, in the West we place little if any emphasis has been placed on meditation and usually look to Eastern customs when we seeking a deeper dialogue with the Eternal. However, if we look more closely we will find examples in Western religion and in the culturally transmitted stories that parallel those beliefs, fairy tales. From Rapunzel locked in the tower and Sleeping Beauty separated from the world by thorny bushes during her long sleep to the created fairy tale-like fiction of Dorothy Gale in the Wizard of Oz, we see not only the receptivity to spirit through meditation, but thefemale characters taking the lead in meditative practice, surely a model of the Divine Feminine.

First let’s establish that Biblically, we do find the active of meditative practice as opposed to group worship by reserving sacred solitude for communication with Spirit. Matthew instructs followers to pray from their “inner” or ‘private room,” with other translations using the word “closet.” In Gethsmane, Jesus told his disciples to wait for him while he went off to pray in private. In Acts Peter sent others out of the room then got down on his knees and prayed alone. We know that the major distinctive characteristic of the Jesus followers was the equal inclusion of women in his ministry as students and participants, so it would not be a stray assumption to know that the meditation encouragement included those women.

Reaching the Divine by going within is further expressed when people are directed “not to look externally for God because God “is in your midst” “, behold, the kingdom of God iswithin you. within you” (Luke 17:21). As our fairy tales parallel the morality of Western religion, we fine one example after another of the transformation that follows solitude. In the Wizard of Oz, this becomes Dorothy’s struggle from the onset: isolated from home and family by her values alone (protecting her guide, Toto), having to combat the Wicked Witch of the West, feeling desperately homeless and powerless, and regaining her power after her isolation.

Even the most practical,self-defined, non spritiual people will call out to God in their most desperate moments, which is where we see Dorothy’s solitary prayer and repentance; it was forced upon her through capture but quite effective. Imprisoned and isolated in the witch’s castle, watching her end measured by red sands in an hour glass, she envisions her Auntie Em in the crystal ball, calling out to her. The solitude, despair, call for help, and crystal enables remote viewing, a meditative skill. This is the one time Dorothy is truly alone and forced to go within for higher assistance, as Glinda is unable to penetrate this dark fortress Even Toto, her soul mate and perpetual guide, has been carried away in a basket by one of the winged monkeys, so she is without her greatest love and companion, left with nothing to rely on but her own inner resources, her soul, her link to the Divine. Responding to her circumstances in what can be described as her cry in the wilderness, she confronts her fears so that she can conquer them. “I’m frightened, Auntie Em……I’m frightened.” She plunges into her core to find and overcome her darkest fears and in doing so, establishes telepathic contact even if just for a moment.

All telepathy and intuitive work is based on the principle of energy. Everything distills to energy: our thoughts, feelings, and as Einstein taught, all matter. By acquainting ourselves with our own inner energy we strengthen our vision and begin seeing the parts of ourselves we need to change. From there we advance, transcending the physical limitations of our bodies. We activate our upper chakras to transmit and receive energy at these subtle levels, and we transform like the fairy tale heroine on the road to ascension.

What Your Animal Communicator Needs from You

2014-09-28T10:25:00.001-04:00

I had an appointment to read a cat this morning, so I went to the client's home, and as I usually do, I asked if she had aparticular issue she wanted to examine and she replied, "Well, I'm a skeptic, so I don't want to tell you anything that would influence you." I said, "OK, but asking these questions helps me focus in a very specific way so that we can find the answer to whatever problem you have." This didn't convince her to reveal anything. What would I have wanted to know? If there was a physical issue, whether the cat had seen the vet over it, if there was a behavioral issue I could address directly with the cat. This woman called me, knowing my service was not inexpensive, so she must have had some level of awareness and acceptance that moved her to schedule the appointment.

I held the cat, Eliot, a sweet, mellow, orange and white tabby, very welcoming to me. First I saw an area between the back of his skull and his shoulders and picked up that this was a massage area that needed attention. The woman said she massages him in that spot all the time, so he was, in fact, confirming that she needed to continue. He was expressing his approval.

Then when I closed my eyes again and held him, I saw the shadow of a black cat on his left side, leaning on him, almost attached to him, watching over him. I looked up at the woman and said (it wasn't really a question), "There was another cat, wasn't there ?" She began to cry, as did I, common when we reach dialogue on the soul level. That cat had died a year ago, and in the months before she departed, Eliot, who had always been distant from her, began sleeping with her, almost escorting her to her transition. After we talked in more depth about the cat who died, I said to her "Well, there goes your skepticism."

Later in the reading I told her that Eliot was concerned with lights. He kept showing me different kinds of electric lights, "not 'spirit' light or energy but lamps, fixtures...."has he been sitting beneath light or is he especially attracted to lights? " She said he wasn't. He kept going back to this picture, so I stressed that it was important to him. "Your cat is still concerned about light; did you just put up special lights?" No. ""You don't see him walking around near the lights?" No.

The later in the reading she stopped and asked, "Do you think there's a problem with his eyesight?" I said "Yes; this explains his focus on lights. Do you leave a light on for him?" She said that when she gets home late from work and the house is dark, the cat screams. I asked if he's been hugging the walls when he walks and she said he was. I explained that animals do this when their eyesight fails, and having lived with a dog who went blind at age 9, I was able to refer her to the veterinary opthomologist I used.

I dwell on this one reading becuase it exemplifies common misconceptions about intuitive consultations, be they animal communication, astrology, clairvoyance, or Tarot. When you hire somebody to do a reading or create your astrological chart, you do so because you seek help -- either for yourself, a loved one, or your cherished animal family, not because you want to test the reader. Entering a reading by declaring your skepticim is like sitting in the back of the classroom with crossed legs and folded arms, saying to the teacher, "I dare you to teach me but I probably won't believe what you teach." If you go to a doctor for a consultation and the doctor asks, "What brings you here today ?" do you answer ,"I don't want to tell you; you're the doctor; you figure it out?" No, a reading is a partnership you work on together.

Astrologer Amy J. Volkers shares a familiar story. " As Astrologer, I do not claim to be omniscient because I'm not. I don't 'predict' even, but try to explain the cycles the client has going on; however there are multiple levels and dimensions that the cycles can/will manifest in, so the same planetary cycle can manifest in different ways for different clients based on their choices along with the actual structure of their chart. Any info /details they give me help me to interpret their cycles more accurately."

The best advice a reader can give a client is to be honest, as a reading will be as helpful as the client is honest. After all, the goal of the reading for both parties is clarity. It always helps a reading if the client does four things: 1. Have a clear purpose for the reading. Saying "whatever you can tell me" is to vague and may not bring you the information you really need to hear. 2. Write down specific questions in advance. They may not all be answered, but they will guide your reader. 3. Ask for clarification if there is something you don't understand. 4. Be open to understanding the message after the reading. Not everything will come to you immediately. It might take a day, a week, a month for that "bell" to go off in your head. That "aha!" moment is the culmination of a good partnership.

Erasing the Pain: 8 Techniques to Lighten Your Load

2014-08-17T07:54:00.000-04:00

Two of the most destructive energies we can turn against ourselves, old anger and regret, find a home in our bodies no matter how we try to shake them loose. They destroy not only the clarity of our self perception but prevent us from moving ahead on a path that can bring us joy. Their lingering becomes what I like to call emotional disease from which so many of our current conditions grow.,including chronic physical ailments. digestive issues, weight gain. Consider this metaphor: diabetes has been described as an internal worm that quietly eats away at our organs. We look healthy on the outside, but inside, we decay. The same is true for anger and regret. . We might think we practice self kindness, but that little worm trapped within affects everything we do. How can we reverse this? We try many releasing techniques from meditation to conscious connected breathing and drumming circles to peel away layers of emotional wounds, but still, they remain, perhaps not the same shade of dark but shady nonetheless. Pain and loss, anger and disappointment leave imprints despite our many attempts at “erasing” them. We do progress, but we don’t always eliminate it completely.

One reason it remains is that some of us deny ourselves joy as a form of punishment. We feel somehow that we don’t deserve happiness,a pattern stemming from hurts we never fully conquered. The degrees of bruises vary from person to person without sceintific guideleins that determine what is or is not a reasonable scar. We respond to pain at ndividual levels, which is neither right nor wrong. We may also believe we want to heal, yet some part of us remains unconvinced, reluctant, causing self sabotage.

When we tire of the same stinging motif, it might be time to ask the question: “What am I waiting for?” and really let it go. Most anger grows out of failed relationships which bring disappointment and yes, if we really tell the truth, the desire for vindication through revenge. Even if we ourselves don't want to exact vengeance, we want to know when the perpetrator conffronts the consequences of his actions. How many of us still hold that grudge against the lying or cheating partner and wait impatiently for karma to stun him? (Raising my hand here) Unfortunately it doesn't work that way. Divine justice is not ours to arrange, and when it is delivered, it is not always settled within our time frame aoralways earthly standards. And then who is to say that our own suffering is not a form of leftover karma from another lifetime?

Imagine erasing a very heavily drawn pencil sketch. We move the eraser back and forth over those lines, and they lighten, but they never freally disappear. The harder we rub the more it fades, but we still see the ghost of the original, and sometimes we even feel deep indentations on the paper below the one with the drawing. How do we continue the process so that the embedded cause is minimal? Here are a few techniques to try if you haven't already:

1. Empower the release with your voice. Speak it. The sound vibration carries your intent through the Universe. Your guides, angels, higher self will hear and work with you.

2. Write it down. Everything. No one will see this but you, so be honest. Then burn it and let the smoke rise up into the ethers. If you can do this under a full moon, it will propel your intention further.

3. Create a mantra that has direct impact on your desire, something like “I am willing to heal. I am willing to heal. I am willing to heal.” Saying it three times solidifies our belief in it. Fortify your release through chant. Remember the revelation through Dorothy's three heel clicks and "There's no place like home...."

4. Use your powers of visualization to do a body scan. Close your eyes and imagine white light, almost like a flood light, running through your entire body from head to toe. Wherever it slows, or wherever it completely stalls, you have a blockage. Stay with the light until you can identify the source and the light runs again smoothly.

5 .Bury some artifacts related to the source of your anger or pain: photos, documents, even names written down just for this purpose. Place them deep into the earth where the energies will neutralize them.

6. Drink spring water and as it flows through you, imagine it clearing out negative particles and debris. See it as a liquid magnet, picking up all the remnants of broken relationships and stored anger.

7. Go to the water source itself. This is an ancient cleansing ritual. Do it with pure intention. You may even take what you’ve written on paper and toss the paper into the water.

8. Do a Native American style “giveaway” as a symbol of your own desire to release. Make joy our of suffering. Give with love. The gift is a blessing not only to the receiver but to the giver as well, and it will allow your sorrow to be replaced with love.

I give 8 suggestions because 8 is the infinity symbol and a number of balance, which is where you’re headed. Namaste.

We Are the Flame

2014-07-07T07:42:00.001-04:00

When we pray at a house of worship or go to a healing center we often light a candle or sit in the glow of candles already burning. Some are lit in memory of loved ones, some are lit to empower Divine requests, some are lit in honor of a significant event...in any case we all feel a deeper connection to the Spirit as we enter the dome of that gentle light. Whether it's 100 flcikering Novena candles in a Catholic Church, Shabbat calendabra or soft orange glow in a Buddhist sanctuary, we touch something greater than ourselves when we yield to the flame. But it is not the candle itself that acts as a lightning rod; that's merely a symbol. We’ve heard many times that we are the keepers of the flame, but we could dispute that because we are much more than caretakers. We are not the keepers; more accurately, we are the flame itself.

All living beings house the flame, that spark of the Divine. Call it soul, spirit -- it's the essence of the eternal that propels us, more than the simple breath of physical life which Dr. Frankenstein manipulated. It's what Chabad, the sect of mystical Judaism, explains as kelipot (lit. “shells”) the outer covering which conceals the G-dly light within all creation." It

The earth, a living energy, also holds the spark of life in its core. Fire has always been a potent cleanser, initially destructive but through organic demolition, new life is created. The Hindu deity Shiva symbolizes this cycle of destruction and renewal, paralleling the earth’s natural ongoing purification process. Witness how volcanic eruptions send flaming lava past the shore, killing existing land and creating new land masses that stretch into the sea.

We can ignite our own inner spark for the same cleansing and healing.

In our Western theology, God as the flame is revealed in the book of Exodus when Moses first met God. While many misinterpret the writing, identifying God as a burning bush, it was actually "an angel of the Lord [who] appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed." The context of this encounter was that having hheard the cries of his enslaved people in Egypt, God vowed to release them from suffering. As Moses approached him, he was ordered to remove his shoes before coming closer because he was "on sacred ground."

But where is that sacred ground? Must it be in some established physical structure or does any space become holy when we stand in the awareness of our own natural connection to the light?Joeph Campbell asks, "Is it Benares? Rome? Jerusalem?," asserting that it is all of them, the center of wherever we are.

We activate sacred center when we light candles before meditation, go to church, practice a ritual in a spiritual center of any kind, steal a silent moment from a busy day to breathe and tune in to higher energies. The intention remains the same even though despite the change in form.

In the New Testament Divine Light is exalted as a healing gift within us all. "For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands." While this gets a narrow, warped interpretation in some evangelical communities, for the holistic spiritual practitioner it does not. We cite this as invitation to all healing: Reiki, Healing Touch, auric healing . And we are all capable of this merely by finding our inner light.

Meditate on the flame within. We don’t need thousand dollar gurus with patented, marketable titles to acess our own Divine spark.

Releasing Animals from Our Burdens: A Joint Meditation

2014-06-16T08:49:00.001-04:00

It's been long known that our animals come to us from a higher dimension to aid us in handling the challenges that the human experience presents. We see this evidence historically in the relationship between the "witch" and her familiar, the cat; the strategic placement of goldfish in an establishment designed by Feng Shui priniciples, even the deep and silent bond of a cowboy and his horse (how many Western songs of dedication were written by rough and tumble outsdoorsmen to their horses?). I think even of the traditional Tarot card, the Fool, ready to embark in innocence and possibly folly alongside his faithful canine companion, who will surely guard him from danger, warn him of obstacles, and support him when he stumbles. Why is this? Because these animals have selflessly entered our lives, choosing to help us by absorbing much of our pain and sorrow. They cushion us from the hardest blows. I've heard many people, referring to a death, divorce, or other life crisis, credit their animals with saving them just by presence. "I couldn't have gotten through this without my dog" is a common admission of those who have experienced healing from loss.

So let's honor our animals by including them in a meditation that releases them from the heaviest of our burdens, which they bear physically, and which stops us rom adding to the accumulation of more of our own karmic dust.

1. Sit comfortably with your animal(s) alongside you. Breathe in through your nose, hold the breath as long as you can, and release through your mouth. Imagine lighting up on the inhale, then releasing negative energy in a cloud of gray smoke on the exhale. As you breathe slowly and release tension, your energy shifts and your vibration becomes higher. The animals alongside you will feel this change and join you, breath for breath.

2. Visualize a glowing ball of white Light, Divine light, up in the sky.....slowly drifting downward glowing brigher and getting larger as it hovers above your house, like a giant wheel.

3. Now see the hub of the whee as very intense light, right above your head and your animals' heads. Feel it lower and enter your energy field, slowly moving down and clearing every chakra. First you, then the dog....together we will release throughs the Light.

4, Accept the light energy into your crown chakra and feel it move down through your head, face, neck , shoulders. See the same for your animals, all of you encased in light.

5. Feel the light concentrate in your heart and do the same for your animals. unfolding. Feel it shake loose any regret or sadness you have been holding onto. If particular events or names come to you during the process, acknowledge and release them into the light. If the experience becomes emotional for you, stay with it and honor the flow of yoru feelings. As you do this, you are also releasing your animals from your own emotional burdens.. Now focus on the light entering your animals' heart and do this consciously. Give them permission for this release. tVisualize a clearing of their heart centers just as you have done your own.

6. Let the light move into the solar plexus, where so many of us retain our pain and fear..this is the "I am" chakra. Tell yourself "I am Light. " Repeat this as often as you need to until you fully feel it. You don't have to tell this to your animals -- they already know. Just let the light pour in and strengthen you. Then visualize the same for your animals.

7. Move into the lower chakras, where there we store our deepest resentments and fears. If your animal has an issue with fear or anxiety, spend extra time sending light to those spots, your and theirs. When you are ready to move down, feel the energy go through your legs and extend out through the soles of your feet. See the same for your animals.

If you sense an area that resists the light or slows the process, stay there; a blockage needs clearing Direct the healing light into that spot and ask yourself, "What's the source of this resistance?" Accept whatever answer comes whether or not it makes immediate sense to you. Eventually it will. Now do the same for your animal. Where is your dog or cat holding on to your pain and emotional stress? Are there hip or arthritic issues? Territorialism or aggression? Fear? Let the light diffuse and transmute it. Focus on that area until you can see the light energy continuing down the body without stalling.....

8 When you are filled completely with light, visualize the light moving back up into the ethers the way it came. Sit for a moment and bask in the vibrational change. Your animals are Light messengers of and you have just given them a sacred gift of gratitude.

Animal Abuse: Are We Accomplices?

2014-06-06T08:26:00.001-04:00

Animal Abuse: Are We Complicit?

The treatment of commercially and industrially used animals, held against their will and acted upon by human beings who wield power under the banner of Scripturally assigned dominion has perpetuated a society in which nearly all of us by are in fact complicit in their suffering. How? Through our habitual consumption of products that rely on animals for testing or through our engagement in activities I which animals are used for our entertainment. This is not the place to debate the consumption of meat vs. Tofurkey Many physicians and scientists believe that for some people, animal protein is necessary, and when that is the case, people with conscience follow the traditions of indigenous tribes by thanking and blessing the animals who provides their sustenance. The issue here is much larger than such this..

Who among us has never taken a pharmaceutical drug for a physical condition? Is there a woman in the room who has never used mascara? Animal rights groups coined the term speciesism to identify negligence and abuse of animals bred and held captive to serve human need . However, be aware. While placing animals at the core of their mission, they have actually declared war on domestic animals, pursuing an anti-pet agenda to the point of killing animals rather than placing them in shelters for adoption into loving homes (do yourself a favor and conduct some research on this –you’ll be appalled). Many of these organizations view animals in the same clinical way as their enemies, denying them not only reason and consciousness but compassion and soul. We know differently. For this reason, the spiritually-directed animal advocates who love sharing life with our very conscious and intelligent four and two legged companions, should develop a Divinely aligned ethic of higher standards in our treatment of those companions we so love.

Where to Seek Change:

Medical research: Medical experimentation uses animals ranging from mice and rats to domestic dogs. I just watched a heartbreaking video about captive beagles in a medical facility; they had never seen natural light or walked on grass. Animals are injected with chemicals, fed poisons, raised in completely unnatural conditions, wired, surgically altered, severely restricted, all in the name of science. Despite growing public protest, animal experimentation has increased in neuroscience departments and some predict new uses for animal research will continue to grow.

Product testing: Household Despite the large number of companies that have suspended animal testing, a surprising number of prominent manufacturers still retain the practice, Clorox, Unilever, Clairol, Dial, Johnson & Johnson, L’Oreal, Max Factor, Olay, Pantene, Ponds, and Arm & Hammer S.C. Johnson, makers of Pledge, Off, Glade, Raid, Windex, and Drano. Check this site for an update: What Companies are Still Testing Products on Animals?” http://www.thegoodhuman.com/

Agriculture: Factory farming routinely involves a number of practices harmful to livestock but beneficial to the consumer because they produce tastier meat: overfeeding, starvation, unnatural diet, chemical and hormonal injections, and severely restricted movement. The Facebook phenomenon has enabled faster-than-light sharing of deeply disturbing conditions in factory farms, particularly pigs. But words matter: Candace Croney identifies the industry doublespeak: such as using the term “euthanasia,…. to describe the killing of piglets by slamming their heads against facility floors or ...” The animal production industry “ has adopted the use of the term harvested) rather than murdered and dismembered.”

Wildlife tracking and domesticated animal security: In the interests of preserving wildlife, scientists routinely tag and monitor samples of species such as wolves, whales, dolphins. This involves invading the animals’ natural habitat and traumatizing the animals. Physically invasive electronic tagging permanently alters the animals. Microchipping domestic has been linked to cancers at the insertion site with fatal metastasis. There have been many reports of the microchip itself found at the core of the cancerous tumor.

Commercial breeding: Puppy mills commodify dogs and bred them until they are left ragged and near death, forcing one breeding after another. Rescue organizations receive, nurture, rehab, and hopefully adopt both the physically compromised breeding stock and the often frail puppies resulting from inbreeding and over-breeding. “Pet stores” often sell these dogs for thousands of dollars. Then there’s the designer breed industry....

Territorial displacement: An activity as seemingly harmless as choosing a place to live displaces animals because we have stolen their natural habitat. Clearing land, building roads, invading the wilderness to accommodate suburban sprawl leaves many species homeless and unable to survive. In other cases it produces feral populations that depend on human handouts. Just look at South Florida west of the turnpike: multimillion dollar gated homes in what once was The Everglades.

Entertainment: Zoos, circuses, sporting venues (particularly parimutuels) and theme parks such as Lion Country Safari, Sea World, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom contain animals in a manner contrary to their nature. Under the guise of species conservation or preservation, such facilities take form animals not just habitat but the natural characteristics, abilities, and behaviors that are tied to their natural habitat such as roaming and foraging for food. In their confinement and dependency on humans for living space and sustenance, they often become physically and psychologically disturbed. Recent examples are the white tiger in Metro Zoo, who, without the thick canopy of Asian jungle, developed eye cancer, and Tilikum, the orca at Sea World who aggressively drowned his trainer in 2010 and who had been involved in two previous deaths. [8]

In spite of our best intentions to lovingly live with and care for our animals, we do participate in practices that are institutionally harmful to them. Is it easier to turn a blind eye and claim ignorance than it is to make a small change? David DeGrazia, who has researched and reported on this, is correct in labeling us complicit in their mistreatment. It’s time to rethink our choices,

Seven Lessons We Learn from our Animals

2014-04-20T08:14:00.002-04:00

Here's a Buddhist parable about the inevitability of death. A woman, angry that her son had died, demanded that the Buddha restore him to life. He agreed to do so on the condition that the woman find one person in the village who did not know the sorrow of death. She went on her way, determined to find that person, but weeks later returned after visitng every house, finally understanding no one s untouched by death. This is the one constant, in the world.

There are those few who have been fortunate in their lives not to have yet experienced the loss of a loved one but we all eventually will. The only certainty of life is death. However, some of us experience it more frequently than others,each time just as painful as the last: those of us who choose to live with pets. If we are fortunate, we share their companionship for a full 12 to 14 years....but the physical separation between us inevitable. This is the equivalent of a parent losing a child about five times during a lifetime, such short intervals for such deep sorrow. How ironic is it that our greatest love is so concentrated and stunted. Is it a cruel universal joke or a catalyst for our most important life lessons?

While there is no compensation for multiples losses, In hindsight, once we sustain distance from our emotional pain, we can identify and count the gifts and lessons they bring us in those short lives.

1. Unconditional Love. The one lesson most pet owners agree upon is that our animals teach us to love unconditionally, and along with that, to forgive. They ask little from us but give us enormous rewards with sheer presence, demonstrating the consistency of love.

2. Selflessness. They teach us selflessness. The dog eats before we do. The dog gets vet care before we get medical care. We take days off work to nurse an ailing animal and in some cases our dogs eat better than we do and eat before we do.

3. Accpetance.They teach us to understand and accept impermanence. While this life is temporary, Divine love lasts forever. We learn to extract the greatest parts of ourselves, to joyfully love and willingly. And as painful as the letting go is, the experience opens our hearts to love another four legged arrival....each new four legged guide expands our capacity for love.

4. Release. They make it impossible for us to hold grudges. Yes, we get annoyed if they chew up our shoe or prefer to urinate on the coffee table instead of the shrubbery. Yes we are furious when they swallow part aof a q squeak toy that requires a $3000 surgery, but the emotion is fleeting and reverts very quickly to love and care.

5. Spirituality. They help us understand that we are not alone. They speak to the greater essence of our total being with accompaniment that is way beyond the physical. In fact, despite our trips to the animal shelter or a reputable breeder, we really have not chosen our dogs but they have chosen us. They descend from higher planes to guiide us through ouroften flawed human struggle.

6. Sacrifice. They show us the meaning of sacrifice: because the love we have for them is so pure, they become our first consideration when the end of physical life approaches. If we are learning as it is intended,we face no dilemma of whether to release or clutch our ailing companion. We allow ourselves to part with great love at our own emotional expense, putting love before desire.

7 . Renewal They allow us to heal from all forms of hurt: romantic, loss, anger. By the simple gift of their presence,a paw on our leg, a head on our shoulder, our vibration is raised and our capacity for love is expanded. Each time we bring a new animal into our lives, we are energetically mended.

I wake up every day with four animals, three who paw at me, bringing me closer to them so I can receive their kisses, and one who just chatters away, yelling "Come!" For me, every day starts with these gifts. It makes being human more bearable.

On Those Disturbing Animal Abuse Photos: "Ah, Humanity!"

2014-02-12T19:54:00.001-05:00

Just when you think there is hope for the natural world you get assaulted with stories and photos of animal abuse even from the most unexpected sources, like the Danish zookeepers who made a public spectacle of their orchestrated bloody baby giraffe murder. I am not going to repeat the details here; you can find the references easily on an Internet search. Then there are the recurring photos of Michael Vick's butchered and wounded dogs and the many many daily postings of local animal abuse cases on Facebook. I don't like viewing these but I glance at them. Not with the curiosity of an onlooker slowing down to suck in the details of a car wreck but as a woman compelled to feel the suffering of other beings so that the fire within me illuminates the path for healing work. I, like millions of others, am drawn to volunteer in cruelty prevention and abuse recovery. I do it through animal communication and Reiki. And while I don't pray for the parallel suffering of the perpetrators, I do hope for karma and Divine justice. And I know I'm supposed to pray for the healing of the abusers, so I do with admitted reluctance.

If the earthly powers of reason can't stifle the violent two legged beast, then I look to the forces of Spirit for reprieve.

I still don't understand the 2013 killing of Lennox in Northern Ireland and maintain my membership in the "I AM LENNOX" group. I fear what might happen if I ever do "get over it." I worry that fading memory diminishes our capacity for compassion.

Now let me share the story of Midnight.
Midnight's Journey

Here I am with her, almost fully recovered, and her generous adopted mom. I was doing a communication session at a Palm Beach County animal fair raising funds for local adoptions and animal welfare. The reading was to help her ease into a normal domestic life filled with love and she stepped into my hands willingly, accepting me as a stranger with good intentions. All she remembers is seeing the fire, nothing else, but she still suffers from male induced fear and anxiety and reacts with self protective barking even at those she knows well. All she wants to feel is normal, beautiful. That dress she's wearing isn't a fashion statement but to hide and protect the deep and wide scars -- long, unsightly bald patches that run the length of her body from head to tail.

At times like these I am grateful for the echoes of soulful writers like Herman Melville who have retained a home in my heart over the years. At the end of "Bartelby the Sriverner," a tale of a lamb-like figure who willed himself to death by sadness as the indifferent world ploughed around him, the narrator, the conscience of the world, ends with a two word lamentation of solitary suffering. Do we grieve for the creature who suffered the pain or do we grieve more that our society continues without a soul? "Ah, humanity!"

White Light Immersion: A Simple Healing Meditation

2014-01-26T10:04:00.004-05:00

Today I would like to lead you in a white light meditation. We are going to completely immerse ourselves in light. We are going to create a tent of healing light around ourselves, our animals and our loved ones. Sit with your animals alongside you if possible. If they are elsewhere, just visualize them, and consider any others you want to include in this healing. Imagine them alongside you. If you are not particularly visual, just mentally state their names. to bring them in. The Universe knows your intention.

Begin with slow, deep breaths. A pattern of repeated breaths helps you to focus and relax. Inhale through your nose, and exhale through your mouth to these counts: in to four....hold for four....release slowly to eight. Repeat this until it feels natural. You will settle in to this deep breathing very easily.

This is also contagious. See how your animals' breathing also slows down and how they drift into meditation with you.

Visualize a bright, sparkling sphere of pure Divine light above your house. See it slowly starting to lower, going through your roof into your house. See it gradulally descending from the ceiling, coming slowly, lighting up the room, covering you like a cloak from above, wide wide enough to include all those alongside you physically or in your visualization....a pulsating, healing, whilte light bringing you in.

This is the Divine light of the Universe, the energy of spirit, the healing powers of All That Is. See it casting a very broad and powerful white light that not only sits above you but extends around you horizontally so you are encase in it...like standing in a huge waterfall of white light.

See the light completely enveloping and filling you and your group with each breath, going down, covering moving through you so your entire body lights up, moving all the way down in a deep healing wave... through your chest, torso, hips, legs, out through your feet, into the earth.

Be still for a moment in this healing light. Take the time to see your animals filling up with this light. If you find any spots that are slow to take the light, send your healing intention and prayer to that spot. Ask for release and harmony, both physical and emotional.

When you feel you are clear and you see your animals as illuminated, feel the light concentrate in your hands. Place your hands on your head, on your heart, on your animals' head, heart, back....visualize all those who need healing receiving your healing touch.

When you are ready to return to normal waking consciousness, offer thanks. Open your hands and send the sphere back up into the ethers, through the air, through your root, into the universe.

Offer thanks.

Experience peace.

Namaste.

Heart Connection: A Meditation for you and Your Animals

2014-01-05T11:47:00.005-05:00

We all know the restorative power of meditation and its related modalities such as guided visualization, chanting, deep breathing, the combinations which create powerful inner experiences that not only calm the body and mind but that open channels to the spiritual realm, whether it is our own higher self or the messengers of Light that accompany us on our journey. Those of us who meditate in our homes with our animals present know that as we slow down the mental chatter and reach elevated levels of awareness, our pets undergo notable changes as well. We see this as they settle in and begin audible deep breathing, often going so far out into the ethers that when we return to waking consciousness we find they are still in the depth of the meditation. It looks like slumber, but it isn’t. They’re traveling to higher planes with us, and they do this easily.

The explanation is their openness and receptivity to the subtle energies that surroune us; they eagerly join our silent journeys, grateful for the opportunity to share that loving plane where word and action are not necessary. The beauty of meditation is that we discover those eneregies are not merely external; at our core we find that same peaceful place, the soul dimension, where we can truly be our original selves, non-physical Once we reach this plane of simple being, we operate on higher frequencies and communicate strictly through heart and mind. The energy of pure love fills us and we become that love. Meditation with our animals is actually a union of hearts. Here is a simple guided meditation to help you connect with furry and feathered family in this way.

First, play some healing music that facilitates the quiet you seek. I like to use Aeoliah’s Music for Reiki, the Eternal Om, Tibetan singing bowl sounds, or Native American flute and chants. If you don’t have something handy, you can find meditation-length recordings like this on You-Tube. They range from 20 minutes to hours long. For this meditation, I prefer to use a steady drumbeat with rhythmic chanting. Drumming represents the earth's heartbeat. As you listen be aware of your own heartbeat and how it's connected to all life

Sit comfortably with your animals alongside you and prepare to receive. Listen to the drums and begin to feel the drums around and then within you. Feel the beat of your own heart. See how you and the universe share this heartbeat. Connect through your heart to all life.

As you resonate with the drum, see yourself open to the healing Light of the Universe….whatever name you give this Higher Energy, know it as the force that moves through us all. Let this healing force fill you, energy spiraling in from head to toe. Be aware of your breath….breathe deeply, slowly. When you exhale, release anything that is not Light.

Visualize this healing light concentrating in your heart center....then let it flow our from your center as band of white light. See this light entering your animal’s animal's heart center. Keep breathing as you hold this vision. See yourselves connected by this band of light. Feel your hearts beating together. Sit like this for a minute or two.

In the stillness, be open to receive any messages that come from your animals or your spirit guides....all pictures, words, sensations come to you as gifts. Thank your guides, thank the Universe, and gently wake up your peaceful pets. Namaste!

Jesus and the Animals: The Message is Primary

2013-12-24T09:34:00.001-05:00

On Christmas -- please remember the significant place of animals in the story of Jesus's birth. He was born in a manger alongside the animals....no greater, no less. Whether you accept the story of Jesus as religious doctrine or you appreciate it as relevatory myth, the lesson is clear: the animals, too, are sacred.

Considered either fairy tale or filtered word-of-mouth history, the story presents a Divine lesson whether we claim Christianity as our personal faith or not. The lessons of Jesus evident in the actions and statements attributed to him have retained strength over the millenia. They contain an inescapable truth that some still don't promote: those whom society regards as throwaways are indeed primary in the eyes of God. I see no greater evidence of this than the words attritubed to him when he delivered what's come to be known as The Sermon on the Mount:

Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

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Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

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Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

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Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

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Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

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Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

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Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

¹⁰

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

It doesn't matter to me whether a human being, an ordinary teacher, a radical rabbi, a messiah, a streetcorner prophet, or a Gallilean wood worker shared these cautionary insights. The words, reminders of what we should nurture as we progress in life, provide an instruction manual for how to live for the benefit of all beings.

ALL creatures, not just the two legged opportunists who have exercised a vile superiority over other species. The beauty of the manger scene and indeed of Christmas eve readings and services is undoubtedly the peace and harmony that reigned in that manger when the child was born. The specific location places the Divine on equal footing with all earthly creatures, most importantly the animals, whom we know to be innocent. Therein lies the equivalency. Jesus did not "lower" himself to be born. The animals, pure in spirit, pure in heart, accepted him into their domain. Even though the entire manger story has of late been regarded by many theologians as literary invention, I respect its educational and moral merit. Because I have to.

Merry Christmas to all who honor the tradition. And to those who honor other traditions,or no traditions at all, peace.