How Powerfully the Animals Shape Us. by Catriona MacGregor
“If men would pay more attention to these [animal, plant] preferences and seek what is best to do in order to make themselves worthy of that toward which they are so attracted, they might have dreams which would purify their lives. Let a man decide upon his favorite animal and make a study of it, learning its innocent ways. Let him learn to understand its sounds and motions. The animals want to communicate with man, and man must do the greater part in securing an understanding.”[i]
Brave Buffalo, Chief of the Teton Sioux
In the month of June I will be offering two animal centered online classes – I hope you can join me for one or both.
Starting June 14th I am offering a Animal Companion bereavement Session. This is perfect for you – if you lost an animal companion and are still experiencing grief or loss.
Starting June 15th. I am starting a Discover Your Spirit Animal: Discover Yourself Online Three Session: Three Week – Workshop.
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We are meant to connect with animals and plants, not superficially, but at the deepest levels. We need to learn things from Nature that no human being can teach. These ways of knowing are now needed more than ever to navigate the changes sweeping our planet safely. What if we could hear, with our own ears, the long-distance call of an elephant at a range so low that we normally cannot hear it? [ii]The truth is that humans perceive but a limited amount of information. We go through life with blinders on, missing an extraordinary amount that surrounds us. The animals can help us to experience the world in ways previously beyond our ken.
Animals have served as guides and helpers to humankind for eons. They can help us survive physically, yet they do much more than that. They can inspire and uplift us spiritually. This is what Saint Francis of Assisi, citing Job 12:7, meant when he said, “But ask the animals, and they will teach you; the birds of the air, and they will tell you; ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you, and the fish of the sea will declare to you.” [iv]Animals (and plants) are intelligent beings that can open doors to different ways of knowing. Today scientists are catching up to what the ancients have always known.
In the past, the human-animal relationship was revered as a mutualistic one that reflected a sacred union. The animals, and the trees, helped to shape the evolutionary development of our consciousness. Teaching us the way of the wilds, they speak to us in a way that no human being can. Native peoples refer to animals as “brothers and sisters,” evincing a familial bond. Beyond their physical relationships with the animals, the trees, and the earth, they believe in a deeper, invisible connection. A connection that aligns them with what they refer to as spirit animals, animals whose energy and spirit resonate with a specific person, tribe, family, or group of people.
Perhaps the most important benefit of working with animals on a shamanic or mystical level is that we can access knowledge beyond the ken of any single person or society. This can be very valuable in times of great changes.
Today, we modern humans face a challenging time of change. Climate change, new dangerous viruses, economic and political disruptions, and unrest are all symptoms of drastic adjustments to our way of life. Many are stepping to the fore with pure technological “solutions” out of touch with the natural ebb and life force flow. More than ever, what is needed is first to understand what the driving forces behind these dangerous shifts are and which solutions are most effective to slow or prevent them from continuing. We must reconnect with the Earth and adapt. To do so we need to listen and learn from Nature.
What if we could learn from the birds that migrate thousands of miles to read the signs, invisible to humankind, that help them flawlessly navigate the Earth? What if we could see with our own eyes, beyond the visible spectrum of light, into the ultraviolet or infrared ranges? Not only would we be able to navigate from on high like the birds, but we would see other invisible patterns. Like the intricate patterns on flowers that we humans never get a glimpse of, but that insects like bees plainly see. Yet, we can perceive the energetic life force around living things. We are born with this skill, but forget it, as we are raised to focus solely on our world's material aspects. Yet, by reconnecting with nature, learning from her, we can open a window to our more subtle perceptions and intuitive knowing.
All animals, and plants for that matter, have an invisible divine or energetic reality beyond their physical existence.
Shamans, and mystics like myself, that work with spirit animals are routinely lifted from a limited personal and societal view of the world to access sacred visions, future prophecies, and different dimensions.
The ancients too had the ability to align energetically, and certain members of their community had psychic ties to certain animals.
To learn more about the animal companion bereavement Session offered on June 14, 2022 go here to the Events 2022 Page
To learn more about the three session Spirit Animal class starting June 15th go here:the Events 2022 page:)
[i] Brave Buffalo, “Dreams Concerning Animals,” in Teton Sioux Music, ed. Frances Densmore (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1918), 61: 172, retrieved from https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=ykUSAAAAYAAJ&rdid=book-ykUSAAAAYAAJ&rdot=1. [ii]William K. Purves, David Sadava, and Gordon H. Orians, Life: The Science of Biology: Volume III: Plants and Animals (Sunderland, Massachusetts: Sinauer Associates, 2004), 882.
[iv] Job 12:7 (KJV), Bible Gateway, accessed May 29, 2020, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job+12&version=KJV.