Okay, I admit, I’m not the best at blogging. To be perfectly honest, I’ve had a horrible case of “blog block”. (Hmm… this must be the tech update of writer’s block.) Gary hasn’t been much help either as far as suggestions so I get 100% responsibility for the blog (or lack there of). And, like I’ve mentioned before on this blog, you don’t really want to hear the ramblings in my head… But, if you have something shamanically related you’d like to know or hear about, please pop me an email. I’m open to suggestions. I’m actually writing down a list of ideas when I get them, if I can remember them by the time I get to the computer 🙂 So, we should be on top of things for a while.
I just completed our spring newsletter so if you want to follow up on the newsy stuff, here’s the link. I’m going to repeat the article on Helping Our Animal Companions here.
Also, we’re stepping into more current technology and doing our first webinar in May with The Healing Ways of the Shaman — Shamanism and Soul Recovery. This is an introductory webinar that explains shamanism, soul recovery and the shamanic journey process. It is open to everyone. So, if you, your family or friends would like to be introduced to shamanism, this is a great way for them to find out more. There will be no charge for this webinar, but we always appreciate offerings. I will send out the email link a few days before the webinar. If all goes well, we will be offering more by webinars in the future. For more on the other activities we have on the schedule or a list of playshops we offer, check out our calendar.
If you haven’t checked out our online store — Shaman’s Marketplace, now is a good time. Since you’ve been so patient with my blog block, I’m offering our blog readers the same special as our clients and regular customers.  Spring Special and receive a FREE bag of gifting herbs with orders over $20 (playshops not included). Special ends 5/30/11. Enter the code SPRING in the discount/coupon box and we will include your herbs with your order.We’ve added a couple new items and there are some new, hand made smudging bowls in the works from a friend in Phoenix who throws pottery. And, I have some new Shaman’s Potions™ in the planning phases. So look for them with our next newsletter.
Okay, now that apologies are made and amends offered, here’s some info about soul retrieval and our animal friends.
Helping Our Animal Companions
Many of us have at least one fuzzy, furry, feathered, leathered or finned companion that share our home and heart space. They are our friend, confidant, support, healer and even our “kids” and “significant other”. They are simply a part of our family. And, like any other family member, they pick up on our life’s situations and can become stressed and strained and acquire physical and/or emotional issues, just like any other member living in a group situation. Things like illness, divorce, death and financial stress affect our animal companions just like they would our children or partners.
Animals also have a soul path of their own they must traverse. Like us, they have specific lessons that their soul must learn in this lifetime. And, like us, some of their paths are not easy. They experience trauma that cause their soul to fracture or split.
So, when we’re asked about doing soul recovery for animals the answer is a resounding “yes”. We do a soul recovery just like we would do for you. We contact their guides for permission and return what soul pieces are appropriate. Then if required, we are guided through an extraction to clean up their energy system. The only difference is that they don’t have to do “the homework”. The soul pieces automatically integrate. They don’t play the mind games with themselves or have the resistance we do as humans.
It has been our experience that in general, dogs tend to take on the physical or emotional issues of “their people”. We have a client with a long term illness that creates a lot of toxicity. Her dog that she had for many years was depressed and had no energy. During his journey, we found him lying next to her in bed and he had merged his energy with hers. He told me that it was “his duty” to take on her illness. We explained that this was not helping her and was even causing more stress because she worried about her beloved friend. He then agreed to separate and we returned this soul piece to him. During extraction we also found energetic cords that he was using to absorb her energy. These were cut and he continued to improve. Releasing him from absorbing all the toxic energies had no effect on our client.
Recently, I was asked to assist another dog who was blind and had developed a cough. Sometimes he would begin to cough so hard he would not be able to breathe. They had visited many a vet, traditional and holistic, and the dog was on medications and an inhaler. In our extraction, we found little green gremlins in his lungs, producing a gas and tickling his bronchial tubes, that was causing him to cough. There really wasn’t much change after the journey. After talking further with his people, we found out that this was happening if they were not paying as much attention to him as he felt they should, such as if he didn’t get fed when he wanted, and other times he felt ignored. Much like a two year old throwing a temper tantrum. We returned to journey space and my guides gave him a very stern talking to and that he was to “quit pulling their chain”. They were going out of their way to accommodate his blindness and that his family was being made aware of his manipulations and they would not work any more. It took a while for the situation to improve because it had become a learned behavior that needed to be modified, but he did improve slowly and there was less attention getting behavior.
One of my favorite “miracle” cases comes from our own household. Back in 2002 our cat, Pharaoh, decided to have an altercation with a car. When I picked him up from the hospital at the Humane Society where he was taken, they weren’t expecting him to live. Around his eye was pretty cut up, but there didn’t appear to be any broken bones. My vet sent me to a specialist for head trauma. The prognosis wasn’t good, but he stayed in ICU. Gary was out of town and I called and his guides began the process of taking care of Pharaoh’s injuries. We would get call after call from the vet, telling us that he had fluid in his lungs or that he wasn’t recovering. And journey after journey, and extraction after extraction, we would get the “It seems that he’s now doing fine” call. After a week, he was allowed to come home. The vet was still shaking his head wondering how this guy survived and was walking. The after effects were minimal and he lived a long and happy life.
Miracles can happen thanks to Spirit and the willing spirit of the animal. Another was 12 year old mare who was having liver and kidney issues and was not eating. She was lying down and would not get up to move. Not eating she had no energy. She was also having some foot issues. Her extraction included removing a coating that was preventing her from eliminating toxins from her system and cleaning her whole digestive system which had hardened. We were then directed to a soul piece that was stuck. Her feet were literally stuck almost like they were glued to the ground and she couldn’t move. She wanted to “go home” but wasn’t sure of the direction. For her this meant her spirit home. We released her and once she was again able to move, her guides asked her to decide if she wanted to return home to Spirit or to her people in this worldly plane. She decided to stay. When my client returned home from work that evening, before she even called in for the report, she found the horse standing at the food trough eating. She continued to eat and regained her strength. She languished and revived over a nine month period as her soul completed its journey and chose to return Home.
Sometimes though, the healing comes in the form of helping the animal’s spirit to leave. Another one of my horses was a rescue with a facial deformity. This was causing problems with his breathing and causing seizures. When we approached the horse for soul recovery he ran. He was confused and said that he didn’t want healing. We asked if we could make him comfortable and were allowed to do some extraction work to ease the seizures. We cleaned and reconnected broken energy pathways as we were allowed. Within a few weeks we were informed that the horse had made his transition. The path that he chose for healing was to return to Spirit.
I could go on and on with the many cases we’ve worked with over the years, from physical issues and illnesses, to “acting out” or other behavioral upsets, to helping someone’s companion to complete their earth walk and return to the Mother. From the dog and cat, to the lizard and rat and every pet in between, a soul recovery can help your companion to be at his or her best.
Until next time –
Mitakuye Oyasin ( A Lakota prayer as a reminder that we are all related),
Debbie