In the many years that I have worked as an animal communicator and interspecies communication teacher, I’ve found that there are several common misunderstandings and misconceptions that persist about what animal communication is…and isn’t.
In this post I’d like to try to clear up a few of them.
5 Common Misconceptions about Animal Communication
1. Animal communication is mind control: “telling” an animal to do something.
I can’t “tell your animal” to do, or not do something, any more than I could tell YOU to do or not do something.
I can request, give the reasons for the request, share possible results, positive or negative, if the request is ignored, share your animal’s response to the request…but I can’t make your animal do, or not do, anything simply by communicating with them. (If I could do that, I would not have a problem with the Great Afghan Hound Counter-Surfing and Vegetable Theft Conspiracy at my house! 🙂 )
I remember a man years ago who asked me to “please tell my dog to stop chasing the deer that come into my yard.” I gently suggested that perhaps he might consider a fence.
Animal communication is not a substitute for clear and humane training and behavior management. We still have to do the work of species-appropriate training and behavior modification, hopefully using positive reinforcement practices that support and respect the animal’s sentience, awareness, perspective, and innate nature. (See my Helpful Resources page for some suggestions.)
What animal communication CAN do is to help people to understand the reasons for their animal’s behavior, from the animal’s perspective…and help the animal understand the viewpoint of the humans, as well. This understanding can lead to solutions, greater understanding, and shifts in the human-animal relationship that can lead to lasting change.
2. Animal Communication is a way to diagnose an animal’s illness.
NO!! Unless the animal communicator is also a veterinarian, diagnosing or prescribing treatment is WAY out of bounds of an animal communicator’s scope of practice.
As an animal communicator, I can share symptoms from the animal’s perspective, communicate with the animal about their perspective or understanding of their situation (for example, if they are aware of how they were injured, the location and quality of their pain, what makes them feel better or worse, etc.)
As a person trained in energy healing, I can also share what I perceive about energetic imbalances, areas of vulnerability or strength, or experiences that may have impacted the animal, but I cannot diagnose an illness, injury, or condition. To do so would be a violation of the ethics of this profession, and in most places, an illegal “practicing veterinary medicine without a license’ offense as well.
Not to mention…and most importantly: it’s dangerous. I am aware of many situations where this kind of overstepping the boundaries of an animal communicator’s scope of practice has caused very real and serious harm to animals. (see When Animal Communication is Harmful.)
In cases where a diagnosis is difficult, animal communication can often be helpful if it is done in partnership with a veterinarian. This is the best-case use of animal communication in helping animals and their people with difficult medical situations.
3. Animal Communication is “getting messages from animals.”
While it is certainly true that animals can, and do, give messages, this is only one layer of what is possible with animal communication. In many cases, the “message” is simply the top layer or surface layer; if we stop there, we miss the greater nuance, depth, and understanding that an animal can convey.
Animals are complete beings, with their own awareness, sensitivities, and abilities to communicate about a vast array of topics. They are capable of so much more than giving “messages” to humans. Reality TV, social media, and our “soundbite/hashtag” culture has, in my opinion, made this issue even more problematic in relationship to animal communication.
Many people who are new to animal communication can become confused and feel that they are not hearing the animals if they are not receiving these kinds of “messages”–i.e., short, pithy communications in human language. It is much more common that animals will share, and humans will receive, communication in the form of feelings, sensations, images, emotions, and/or a complete picture-gestalt of understanding or knowing.
While some animals can and do give “messages” in human language, more often than not these are instant translations of the other ways of receiving that get filtered through the language centers in our human brain.
Just because you are not hearing “messages” does not mean that you are not receiving communication. And simply getting a “message” from an animal does not mean that you have fully heard or understood them.
4. Animal Communication is about archetypal energies.
I see this misunderstanding show up in a few different ways. In some animal communication circles, people summarize or identify an animal’s personality or capacity for understanding through an archetypal lens. Some examples of this might be:
“Your dog is a Little Napoleon.”
“Your horse is the Life of the Party.”
While these kinds of descriptions may, in fact, be a useful shorthand in naming certain aspects of what an animal communicator is perceiving about an animal’s personality and way of being in the world, I feel that reducing an animal to a stereotype, or narrowly defining a group of animals by a particular characteristic, trait, or energy, is diminishing to animals, and a human-centric misunderstanding of the great nuance and variety in animal personalities, purposes, and perspectives.
I also see this misunderstanding about archetypes in the new age distortions of ancient wisdom traditions that reduce an animal or group of animals to a specific theme or archetypal energy. While I appreciate and have used things like animal oracle cards, animal “spirit guide” references, etc., I feel we have to be careful to use these things as tools, while understanding that any individual animal may or may not be representative of these generalized archetypal energies. It’s also important to recognize that our experiences and communications with animals may or may not fit into these archetypal generalizations.
Some examples of archetypal generalizations:
“Dolphins are all about Joy.”
“Snakes represent the Unconscious.”
“Dogs are about Loyalty.”
I’ve communicated with dolphins who are angry, snakes who are joyful, and dogs who don’t really care much about people. Getting stuck in archetypes can prevent us from hearing clearly and understanding deeply what an animal is wanting to share with us.
Sometimes I hear people talk about “The Deer”, “The Horses”, “The Whales” as if they are one unit, one being, dispensing generalized wisdom or messages. Though there can be archetypal species energies, sometimes referred to as the “deva” or the “oversoul” of a species, and also group consciousness in many species (such as the herd consciousness of horses, the pod consciousness of cetaceans, the hive consciousness of bees, the community consciousness of ants) it’s important to be clear about WHO we are communicating with, and differentiate that from an archetypal idea or generalization.
Some things to ask: are we in contact with a particular individual, a group of beings, or a broader, archetypal awareness or consciousness? “Who” is sharing the communication, the message, the teaching? Most importantly, “Are we sharing, ‘channeling’, or communicating our own ideas and awarenesses, filtered through the archetypal lens of an animal or species?”
5. Animals are here for humans, and whatever is going on with an animal is a message or lesson for their person.
Ah, the old “Humans as Centers of the Universe” myth again.
This way of thinking about animals comes from our human-centric cultures, our belief in the superiority and dominance of our species that is perpetuated in so many ways (and which scientists from many different fields are now disproving)…including, sadly, by many of our religious and spiritual traditions.
The belief that humans are the pinnacle of biological and spiritual evolution is pervasive, and this idea leads to all kinds of distortions. This myth has also been perpetuated by some in the new age movement, who teach that everything that is happening with an animal companion is a “soul lesson”, a “mirroring”, or something that an animal is “taking on” for their human companion.
While it is true that sometimes all of these things can happen, and that, in the big picture, everything that we experience in our lives can teach us, help us grow, and open new understandings for us–including our relationships and challenges with our animal friends–animals are individuals, with their own journeys, experiences, life lessons, interests, aversions, and issues. It’s not all about us.
See: Do Animals Take On Illness for People? for a deeper discussion of this topic.
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I hope that this discussion about some of the common misconceptions about animal communication helps to shine some light on what animal communication is…and what it isn’t.
Animal communication is a powerful way of connecting with and understanding our other-than-human relations of all species. I hope that you will continue to explore and discover this natural, universal way of communicating and understanding for yourself!
