Animals and the Afterlife (39 page)

A
ROUND THE TIME
of my initial “dog experience,” I began a meditation circle with a small group of people I met at a workshop given by psychic medium Hollister Rand. (Interestingly, during that workshop, Hollister commented that there seemed to be an unusually large number of animal spirits in the room; she knew nothing about anyone in attendance when she said this.)

We began meeting at my home once a month; and early on, we unexpectedly began sensing the presence of departed loved ones in the room with us during our meditations. A few of us found that we were often able to describe the loved ones of other members of the group with amazing clarity, though we had never met them.

Interestingly, though not surprisingly, the majority of the departed loved ones who appeared to
me
during these meditations were
animals.
Over time, it seemed that the animal kingdom was showing up at every gathering. Whenever I described an animal who appeared to me, there was inevitably someone in the group who had once had a companion animal who fit that description
precisely
.

I recall one incident in particular. As usual, we were meditating, and I spontaneously began receiving images of very specific animals. As I began describing a dog who appeared to me in great detail, one of the women in the group recognized the description as fitting a dog from her past. So, in an effort to determine if this was indeed her departed dog, she began asking me questions, such as what was this dog’s favorite thing to do, etc.

All of sudden, I felt
very
“on the spot.” For the first time, I felt that I was in the position that professional animal communicators had been in whenever I had asked
them
such testing questions.
What if I’m wrong?
I thought to myself.
What if this isn’t real? What if I’m just seeing random images in my mind that happen to sound familiar to these people?
I did my best to ignore these concerns, and I simply asked this dog the questions that had been posed to me.

Much to my surprise, I began receiving very detailed information and seeing very clear images of this dog doing very specific things, such as jumping through hoops and playing in water. These images surprised me, as I had never known of a dog who jumped through hoops; and all of the dogs in my
own
past had been terrified of water. Nevertheless, this was what I was seeing.

So, feeling somewhat awkward and embarrassed, I hesitantly and self-consciously began telling her what the dog was showing me, half expecting her to tell me that this made absolutely no sense whatsoever, that I clearly
wasn’t
being contacted by her dog at all. On the contrary, she confirmed the absolute accuracy of each and every detail; I was, indeed, describing her departed dog.

Of course, the skeptic in me wondered if perhaps I was simply reading this woman’s mind and
that
was how I knew all these details about her dog. However, the dog had appeared to me in great detail
before
I had said anything, when the woman’s mind was somewhere else entirely. She hadn’t been thinking of the dog at all, so at least initially, I
couldn’t
have been reading her mind. If I
had
been, I would have received very different information that had nothing to do with this dog from her past. I continued to search for “logical” explanations and continued to come up empty-handed.

During another monthly meditation, I began seeing a very clear image of a gray striped cat. The image wouldn’t go away, so I asked if anyone in the group knew who this cat might be. One person did, and she happened to have a photograph of the cat; so she showed it to me. It certainly
looked
like the cat I was seeing, but then again, there are a
lot
of gray striped cats in the world—and the lighting was very dim—so I couldn’t be sure. She told me that this cat had been missing for some time and was presumed dead but had never actually been found.

We continued meditating, and the image of the cat wouldn’t go away. Like a detailed motion picture, I saw a vision of this cat who seemed to be underneath a house. The image remained for quite some time, and I felt that this cat was trying to deliver a very important message, but I wasn’t clear on what the message was. All I knew for certain was that I was seeing the cat underneath something. I didn’t actually see a house; I just saw the cat underneath something that I felt was a house or something
like
a house. I didn’t know how the cat had gotten under there or if there was even a way out.

This image really bothered me, as I wondered at first if perhaps the missing cat wasn’t actually dead and was stuck underneath a house somewhere, asking me for help. So I asked the person with the cat photo if there were any houses in her neighborhood that had crawl spaces underneath. Crawl spaces are not very common in modern Southern California homes; I’ve only seen them in some older neighborhoods. I knew that she lived in a very modern part of town, so it seemed highly unlikely that there was such a building anywhere near where the cat had been lost; but this was what I continued seeing, and again, it seemed very important. She told me she didn’t know of any such areas offhand. Somehow, I got the impression that hers might not be the cat I was seeing, anyway.

Shortly thereafter, I was contacted by a woman in New Jersey who had accidentally come across my Website while looking for something else on the Internet. Upon reading about my work, she felt compelled to share the story of her own deceased cat, whose body had been found underneath the wood deck attached to her house. The deck was quite long and had lattice all around it, and when her husband spotted a cat underneath the deck against the house, he had broken the lattice and crawled under the deck to get the cat’s body out. He was shocked to discover that it was
their
cat.

I immediately recalled the persistent image of a cat underneath a house or in some sort of crawl space. Could
this
be the cat I had seen in my vision? I asked her what the cat looked like. She described a gray striped cat who fit the description of the one I had seen. I was intrigued. I then told her about my vision, emphasizing the fact that I had no idea if there was a connection or not.

I then recalled the patterns I had so often observed throughout my life regarding dates. It was currently mid-April, and I felt it would be somehow significant if it turned out that the cat’s body had been found during the same time of year, but in a previous year. So, not telling her my suspicions, I asked her if she recalled the date her husband had found the cat’s body.

“I don’t know the exact date that my husband found her underneath the deck,” she told me, “but I know it was mid-April.” She had given me the answer I was looking for, though I had no idea what it meant, if anything.

At the next monthly meditation gathering, the cat again appeared to me. So I asked the cat who she was. I then saw the image of a young woman holding the cat. It wasn’t completely clear, but I did get a very specific description of the young woman. The image of this young woman was somewhat blurry, and I interpreted this to mean that this was something the cat was
showing
me, rather than an actual person on the Other Side. The image of the cat was clearer, on the other hand, implying (or so I deduced) that it was an actual visitation by the cat. I got the feeling that the cat was answering my question by showing me the person she wanted to contact.

The image of the cat remained for quite some time, and I got the strong feeling that this cat was showing me how much she loved this young woman and to please let her know. Then the cat seemed to communicate, “I swear this is true.”

So, I contacted the woman in New Jersey and told her what I had seen, including the description of the young woman. I had never seen her in person and had no idea what she looked like or even how old she was, but she confirmed that I was indeed describing
her
. At that point, I felt that perhaps the message had been delivered.

A
NOTHER WOMAN
, J
ILL
T
HORNSBERRY
, a producer in California, contacted me via e-mail for support upon the death of her beloved dog, Little Bear (nicknamed Bear Bear, or simply, Bear). As is so often the case, she was absolutely beside herself with grief. In her words:

I feel so lost. I recently lost my dearest friend very tragically…. Bear Bear was my constant companion and went practically everywhere with me…. He was patient, kind, understanding, loyal, selfless…. He was mellow and very, very wise. He was a golden husky chow mix. He looked like an Alaskan wolf. He was and is so regal…. He was my guardian angel. My gift from God….

I need to know that he is with Charlie [her other dog who had previously died] and happy and free. And with me in spirit. I have lost a furry child and part of me has died with him. I feel like I’m in a nightmare and can’t wake up. He brought me so much love, joy and happiness, and now it’s gone and I feel that I let him down. You see, I have had a lot of loss in my life and I had no inkling from the doctors that it would go down this way. They knew of the special relationship Bear and I had and even talked about it and how special Bear was to them. He was magical … I love all my other special friends dearly, but Bear Bear was very special and came into my life when I was so alone.

I just want to talk to him and know that he understands where he is and is not sad without his mommy…. He and I are a part of each other…. Bear Bear loved life so much, no one could believe he was older, and he never complained. So my message to everyone is, you just never know. One day we’re here and the next we’re gone. Cherish every moment….

If you could help me talk to him and find some peace I would be grateful…. Some people probably think I’m crazy, but until they walk in my shoes and share the special love with a different creature other than man, they will never know what truth and unconditional love is about….

As soon as I read her e-mail, I immediately felt Bear Bear’s presence right there in front of me, a little bit above and to my right. In my mind’s eye, I saw an image of a dog with the most amazing, loving eyes, and the most incredible fur. He was so clear, direct, and present. It was as if he knew she had e-mailed me and was just watching and waiting for me to respond. I felt him communicate, “We are still connected. I am still here. She need only listen.” I was amazed at how clear this message was. I continued to feel his presence until I replied to her e-mail, almost as if he was making certain I did my job.

Jill and I continued to correspond, and I did my best to be there for her during her time of grieving. Interestingly, she told me that, the night before she first found my Website, she had been shopping at the health food store and had come across the product Green Mush
^TM
(the nutritional supplement for animals that Jameth and I formulated for June originally). She had picked up the bottle and wondered who the people were who produced that product. For some reason, she felt that she wanted to know more about the people behind the product. The next day, when she happened to come across my Website, she was amazed to find that I also happened to be the co-formulator of Green Mush
^TM
. It was almost as if she was being guided to connect with me.

She asked me if I could communicate with Bear on the Other Side, and I told her I didn’t actually do that … but that I
had
apparently begun receiving messages from animals who had passed. I explained that it was usually spontaneous and not really something I initiated, but that I would be happy to
try
to connect with Bear and would let her know what happened. (I also suggested that she contact a professional animal communicator.) I then told her about having felt Bear’s presence when I received her initial e-mail, and that it seemed he was very much in charge of our communications.

When I then tried to tune in to Bear, he appeared to me just as he had the first time. In my mind’s eye, I saw his image in front of me and to the right, his face a little bit higher than mine but looking right at me. Again, I noticed his incredible fur and his amazing eyes. The image wasn’t as clear as day or a literal manifestation of him, nor was it a dream. My eyes were open and I was typing at the computer, and I just sort of “saw” him looking straight at me. It was almost as if, for a few minutes, I was perceiving both physical reality and the spiritual realm simultaneously, so his image was bleeding through—like when an image is superimposed on a photo, but it was less visible than that. I could almost, but not quite, literally see him with my eyes; but my mind saw him and saw exactly where he was.

Again, his presence felt very strong, and I felt that he was communicating to me and watching over me as I was typing an e-mail to Jill. As I looked up at his image, I felt that I was looking directly into his eyes, which were full of wisdom, and then I saw the image of a star. This image remained for a while. I had no idea what this star meant.

In my mind, I also heard what sounded like the word “circus” or maybe “circles.” I couldn’t be sure of which, but when I listened again I realized it sounded more like “circles.” I did my very best to pay attention, and I heard “circles in the grass.” I had no idea what this meant.

I told Jill about my experience and asked if it meant anything to her. I did think the word I had heard was “circles” and not “circus,” but since it wasn’t totally clear, I mentioned them both, just in case. I also let her know that when Bear appeared to me, the two features of his that stood out to me were his fur and his eyes … such wise, bright, loving, deep eyes. And I told her about the star I had seen.