I am so excited to announce that the book: The Karma of Cats: Spiritual Wisdom from Our Feline Friends, edited by Diana Ventimiglia, has been published by Sounds True and is now available.
I’m honored to have my essay, “Guru Cat” — the story of how my formerly – feral cat, Freddie, became one of my greatest spiritual teachers and guides — included in this beautiful and inspiring book. (more…)
Many people will be celebrating Halloween here in the US…and around this time of year, I often get questions about how our companion animals feel about wearing clothes and costumes, like this one:
I have the cutest Halloween costume for my dog, and I want to show it off at my kids’ Halloween party, but my friend says it is wrong of me to confine her in clothing. What do you think?
Last August, I participated in a gathering of contributors to Dark Matter: Women Witnessing in rural Quebec, hosted by my friend and editor of Dark Matter, Lise Weil.
This group of writers, artists, and visionaries has been an inspiring and nourishing circle in which we sit in council with each other, dream, write, vision together, and go deep into our shared connection with all life.
I have been thinking a lot about beauty lately… about how, alongside all of the difficulty, suffering, and tragedy in our world, there is an ever-present flow of beauty, joy, grace, and love all around us… and within us.
Many times every day something shows up that takes my breath away, makes me smile or laugh out loud, or makes me bow my head for a few moments in gratitude. Sometimes it’s a bird at my feeder, the flowers in my garden, one of my beloved animal family members’ faces or fur or silly antics; sometimes the voice of a friend, or an inspiration of goodness, an expression of kindness and love in my community or around the world.
Art-music-creativity in all its forms is a conduit for beauty and love, often expressing and nourishing the energy of beauty, compassion, and kindness in our world. One of my soul-sisters sent this to me a couple of weeks ago… and it stopped me in my tracks with its message, its beauty, the powerful spiritual resonance of the lyrics and music. (more…)
Last week, I happily welcomed 5 new hens into my flock of bantam chickens, and I am delighted to introduce them to you!
Meet, Phoebe, a 2 year old bantam Phoenix:
and Ella, Bella, Stella, and Zella, 5-month old D’Uccles:
This month marks the 2-year anniversary of my move to Santa Fe, New Mexico. After over a decade in northern Arizona, where I loved living in both the ponderosa pine forest and the desert riparian ecosystem of the Verde Valley, I am loving exploring the high desert and alpine ecosystems of my northern New Mexico home.
I live at about 7200 feet elevation, with the Sangre de Cristo mountain range, the southernmost subrange of the Rocky Mountains, overlooking the city. The mountains are a primary habitat for the Quaking Aspen forest–or, as I call them, The Aspen People.
As a teacher of interspecies communication and Reiki, I find that a significant percentage of my clients and students resonate with what I share about the blessings and challenges of living as an empath & highly sensitive person. Although I emphasize that identifying as an empath or as a highly sensitive person is NOT necessary in order to become a skilled and proficient animal and interspecies communicator, I do find that this field seems to attract a perhaps greater-than-in-the-general-population percentage of folks who share these traits.
I continue to compile and share resources and tools that I’ve found helpful in my own life and practice. I’ve shared some of these in my previous posts:
Resources for Empaths and Highly Sensitive People
In this post, I’m going to share some practical, physical tools that I use on a regular basis that have become staples of my self-care as an empath and highly sensitive person.
I have been a Reiki practitioner and Reiki teacher for over a decade. When I first began my journey with Reiki, I had no idea what a practical, simple, and profound gift it would be. I can honestly say that I use Reiki on a daily basis in my life… in ways that are simple, easy, and deeply nourishing and healing. (more…)
It is with sadness and and deep gratitude for the gifts of our relationship that I share with you that my sweet Afghan Hound-Golden Retriever mix, Leah Grace, passed into the spirit world on July 7.
Leah’s death was sudden and without much warning, from a silent and aggressive cancer that she showed no symptoms of until her last few days. She passed peacefully in my arms in our home, surrounded by our animal family and many angels. There was a powerful portal in her transition between the two eclipses, offering her an energetic support for gracefully leaving this life.
Like 
many people who live in a multi-animal household, it’s often a struggle for me to give each of my animals all of the one on one time that they, and I, would like. I do my best to create opportunities for solo time with each of the dogs and cats (and the chickens who enjoy it) when I can. (more…)
I’m just back from teaching my program on Animal and Interspecies Communication at The Monroe Institute in beautiful, lush western Virginia this week. Our international group of participants shared a beautiful week together, learning the foundational principles of telepathic communication with animals and all life…including trees, minerals, plants, mountains, and the elementals (often known as nature spirits, fairies, devas…) (more…)
This year, 2019, marks my 10-year anniversary of having chickens in my animal family. I wanted to have chickens for many, many years…when I moved to the southwest, I finally lived in an area where I could have them. I began with a small flock of 4 bantam chickens, one of whom, Daphne, is still with me, holding the current record for my oldest hen.
I am now living in my 4th home where I’ve had my chickens (yes, I’ve moved them every time I’ve moved), and I continue to find such delight and joy in sharing my life with them.
Photo Credit: Beluga Whales, Copyright GREMM
I am honored to be one of the writers whose work is included in Dark Matter, Women Witnessing Journal, Issue 8, April, 2019: What Does it Mean, to Heal? Part III, edited by Lise Weil.
Dark Matter publishes writing and artwork created in response to an age of massive species loss and ecological collapse. The journal is a home for dreams, visions, and communications with the nonhuman world, especially those that seek to heal our broken relationship to the earth.
In this issue, I write about my time with the endangered population of beluga whales who live in the St. Lawrence Estuary and Saguenay Fjord, Quebec, Canada. In this article, I share the wisdom, teaching, and experience offered by the belugas for our species and the Earth in this time of great change and loss, responding to the question of the journal for this issue: What Does It Mean, to Heal?
It’s f
inally spring! My animal family and I are loving the warmer weather and longer days, and being able to spend more time outside in the yard together. Here in Santa Fe, my dogs and I enjoy our nightly ritual of sitting in the backyard and watching the sunset.
As a teacher of interspecies communication, I find that many empathic and highly sensitive people are drawn to my classes and training programs, and we often talk about these characteristics and the particular ways they impact our lives in our class meetings and online conversations.
I’ve written about the blessings and challenges of being both an empath and a highly sensitive person, and some of the tools that I’ve found helpful in learning to live in a world that I am often overwhelmed and baffled by. (See Tools for Empaths Part 1 and Tools for Empaths Part 2).
