Communicating From the Heart - continued

So six weeks later, a friend and I drove to the St. Louis area through an unseasonable April snow blowing across the highway. Our determination was tested but we survived the snow and getting lost several times and finally arrived at Hidden Heights Retreat, a lovely, hilly, wooded acreage owned by our hostess, June Wartenbe. Her several dogs and many horses would provide us with communication practice.

On Friday evening, workshop participants filled June's living room. Nearly thirty of us gathered in a circle of chairs around Dawn, who was casually dressed with none of the flamboyance or crystal jewelry I'd encountered with some of my past holistic or psychic teachers. In fact, she seemed a little shy and guarded. But then she began to talk to us and sharing her stories, jokes and adventures brought light into her eyes. She told us how she'd resisted owning her psychic talents for fear of ridicule and being considered "different."
Telepathic communications would come to her during mindless activities like pumping gas: "I thought it was the fumes!" I found it reassuring that someone who'd been working professionally as a communicator for nearly ten years could admit that it does still feel that it's in her imagination. That is, until she gets information from the animal that can be confirmed only by the astonished owner. Dawn has clients worldwide who trust her ability to talk with their animal companions and help pinpoint health or behavioral problems and try to negotiate some solutions for them. Her consultations are usually made by telephone as she connects with the animal via the human caretaker:"Telepathy does not know time or space."

Dawn told us our animal companions are in constant telepathic touch with us, which is how they know when we're on our way home and can be waiting for us at the door. "Your animals know what you're doing right now and they're excited about it," she said. She told us about a workshop participant who arrived home after class to find her seven cats expectantly sitting in a row at her door. This reminded me of my consultation with Susan Marino; Sue had laughed and said all my critter-kids knew I was working to learn communication and "each one of them has a different scheme to get you to pay attention." I knew The Snow Angel, our beautiful blue-eyed white Siberian husky was getting particularly fed up with my inability to hear her. She'd stare at me, willing me to "get it," then let out a deep, exasperated sigh when I'd tell her I still wasn't hearing her.
Next, Dawn explained some things that made a real difference in my thinking. She pointed out that we all communicate with our animals without even realizing it. Pay attention to what you say to your animals because you're often unconsciously answering their questions. For example, when you get home late and explain to your long-suffering dog why you were delayed, you're answering his question. "It takes a sender and a receiver," she told us, and "It's so simple, you look right past it."

As in meditation, it isn't so much a process of quieting your thoughts but of selectively listening to them. The animal may speak to you via your internal voice; it may feel like your imagination but you have to learn to trust what you get. Some people receive communication in the form of emotions, images or sounds in addition to or instead of words. "After all," Dawn said, "'imagination' is the crazy label we put on things we don't understand."
Dawn spoke at length about the spiritual connection between people and all the world's animals. She described her life at Spring Farm and told us many adventures, often moving, often humorous, about the animals living there. The description in the flyer she gave us explains it well:

Spring Farm CARES began as a retirement/rehabilitation sanctuary for abused, abandoned, unwanted or homeless domestic animals... We thought we were simply giving [them] a place to live out their years surrounded by love and comfort. Instead, the caregivers became the humble students of the great spirits residing in these animals.


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