Here are my mom and dad in Ireland with my mom's sister Bridghin and this is what I imagined the welcoming party was like for my mom.

Since my parents lived the last five years close to me.  I had been named the executor of their estate.  So along with my grief I had a mountain of tasks ahead of me to get through probate, selling their home, packing up and shipping items to my siblings (the list goes on). 

Thankfully today the to-do list is much shorter and the file is only 1 inch tall instead of 7 inches, but I feel I owe my clients an apology: 

During this challenging time my on-line scheduler Genbook was sold to a company called Booksy.  I did not have the bandwidth to check out Booksy in depth before I agreed to be signed over and I apologize to all of my clients!  Booksy is not user friendly for both you or me. 

However, I am happy to say that my new scheduler Acuity is now up and running! This awesome scheduler allows you to upload current pictures of your wonderful beloved companions, fill in forms to gather your thoughts and intentions for the conversation, pay easily.  Its a win win win for you, me and the animals! 

I have been so grateful for HeartSong and all of the sacred conversations I have participated in during this journey over the last 9 months.  Being in conversation with the animals and their people is my happy place and a place I can show up and do what I am good at, connect with wonderful people and animals and know I am contributing to the community.  Thank you for allowing me to be part of you and your animal's life...

Over the course of this journey with my parents I have realized how important it is to do the things you love to do and ask for help and support when needed.  Keeping this in mind, I am reorienting back to HeartSong and I hired a support team to keep HeartSong humming while I show up to do what I am really good at, which is being in collaboration with the animals in conversations, classes, field trips, mentorships and retreats. 
All which will be coming soon!

Don’t die with your music in you.  Share your music with the world and join the beautiful orchestra of life where we each are playing our individual songs!

The veils between the spiritual world and this world are very thin from Halloween till Winter Solstice.  Be mindful of wild animals that may be  showing up because animals agree to be messengers. They are likely delivering a message to you from the spirit realm.

For example, within an hour of my father's passing  two of my siblings and I went to a magical pool on the Dungeness River.  We  knew that my dad’s spirit had not stayed in the room but had gone to his favorite place. - nature.   As we slowly entered the refreshing water rippled with rainbows, it enveloped us in a cleansing baptismal rinsing the heaviness of the last 72 hours. As we acclimated to the water we spoke about my dad.  My brother was chest deep perched on a rock in the pool, my sister was letting the waters dance around her legs and I was just  emerging from a full dunk.

At that moment a red dragonfly swooped over my brother's head and drank from the pool right in from him. It then grazed my sister's head and drank again right in front of her and flew over me and drank again. Then it was gone. 

We sat in silent awe of the powerful messenger. Tears of joy, sadness, and gratitude mixed with the rainbow waters as we understood the message that our dad’s soul was free and drinking from the river of life. 

Pay attention to the animals as well as other signs from your ancestors and your animals in spirit. ​

Think about your animal companion and the number of years you have shared their company as well as all the parts of your life they have witnessed.  Together you have spent years living life, the ups and downs, the ins and the outs throughout it all they have been compassionately loving you. 

Think of the understanding you have of each other. You each know each other's likes, and dislikes, you understand each other's personalities, you know each other's habits and routines.  You have developed your own way of communicating with each other.  Your heart connection with your animal companions strengthens the trust of the universal heart language of connection, intuition and love.  

The animals want to assist you in gaining a deeper understanding of how you are in constant conversation with them so you can trust what you are receiving.   For the animals  words are like a babbling brook, the true communication is broadcasted from the body.  Verbal communication is only 20% of communication.  The rest is empathy, telepathy, intuition and psychic senses (we all have psychic senses even you.)  Your body is an amazing telepathic sending and receiving station 

Empathy is the transference of emotions and sensations from one being to another.  For example: You may sense your animal's  sadness  or frustration when you leave. Telepathy pertains to mind and thought and involves the transference of thought from one being to another without speaking or visual prompts of any kind.  For example understanding your dog needs out before he even stands up to go towards the door.  
 
If you already have special bonds or links spiritually and emotionally, both telepathy and empathy occur more naturally This is because you are in tune with each other’s energies which opens communication channels more easily.  Your companions are tuned into your radio station - your frequency just like you are with them.
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Empathy is the transference of emotions and sensations from one being to another. For example: You may sense your animal's sadness or frustration when you leave.
Telepathy pertains to mind and thought and involves the transference of thought from one being to another without speaking or visual prompts of any kind. For example understanding your dog needs out before he even stands up to go towards the door.
By acknowledging the communication you are receiving from your companion animals helps strengthen the connection. You are their number one station and they are your biggest fan!
Let your fan know you hear them!


The Psychic Senses  are senses that your body and spirit uses to receive more subtle information, beyond and corresponding to the five senses seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, tasting, touching and these are not bound by space or time. 
Clairsentience is clear sensation or feeling . The ability to perceive information by a “feeling” within the whole body, without any outer stimuli related to the feeling or information. For example you could feel your dog's sadness when they leave or pain in your hand foot later find a thorn in their paw. 

Clairconnection is a clear heart connection which is the universal means by which all forms of consciousness can communicate with each other.  It is the capability of speaking with animals and nature.  (This psychic sense was told to me by the animals and nature).

Clairaudience is the capability of receiving an intuitive vocal message from animals or the world of spirits or a higher being. You may hear your animal companion's voice when you were just thinking about them.. 

Clairvoyance  is clear seeing with the mind’s eye - receiving pictures, extrasensory  impressions, and symbols, colors etc.  For instance, you may see an image of closed window and realize your cat wants you to open the window.

Claircognizance is clear knowing that happens when you have thoughts that aren’t yours (meaning, you wouldn’t normally be thinking these thoughts and nothing triggered them), or when you just know something and you don’t know how you know. No logical base to them.  For example you just know your cat is stuck under the bed.

The truth of the matter is, you have these abilities. In the same way that you  have the ability to see hear, feel, smell and taste.  You have been communicating with your animals for years and now is the time to strengthen those intuitive muscles by bringing presence and mindfulness to how you are communicating.

Your animal companions are family members and what happens within the family affects them as well.  Animals thrive in routine, balance and harmony.  Change causes waves of unbalanced energy in the family  and it is unsettling to your animal companions.  Changes can be small things that cause little hiccups in their daily routine such as trying to get used to daylight savings time and you are feeding them earlier or later then usual.  Or an early morning meeting that moves back the walking time.  Or they can be big changes that have a huge effect on your animal companion such as moving across the country, or expecting a baby or going back to work with the lifting of covid stay at home orders.  

 It will be easier on them if you keep them abreast of the situation through daily briefings. Where the information is delivered by data points and sticking to facts.  Facts must include how you feel. For example saying out loud to your dog or cat: “The kids will not be around as much since they are going back to in person school.  I am both a bit nervous about it and ecstatic as well. It adds a new piece to juggle in the schedule.” Animals are listening by tracking the energy and your thoughts which are get turned into pictures for them. 

Now in contrast if you are not doing the daily briefings then they become detectives trying to the cause of change by tracking the energy in the house and within the family members.   Body language and  breathing patterns reveal much about internal states as well as certain chemicals bodies release in response to certain emotions.   When stressed breathing get shallow.  Holding your breath to the animal means fear.   Breathing may be fast or erratic when overwhelmed or anxious.  Bodies tense up when try to control situations.   WIthout the daily briefings  and relying on  body language and energy of family members as well as of the energy in the house your companion may experience stress  or worry because they do not understand what is the cause of the fear, anxiety, worry or overwhelm. 

The animals invite you to stay present and track your body language to gain understanding of what you are communicating energetically and  this may bring new awareness to you about how you are truly navigating change. 

The animals are great at modeling data points and communicating the facts.  For example when my dog and I are walking in the neighborhood and if my dog begins to walk really stiff legged and his tail puffs up - these are data points through which he is communicating the facts that one of his arch enemies is approaching.  As soon as this enemy comes into sight the barking, the huffing and the lunging begins - data points. He is now delivering the facts that to him this dog is bothersome and he wants to get a piece of him. As soon as we have passed the other dog, he shakes it off which is another data point communicating the facts that the moment has shifted.  And he continues on his walk without a care in the world.  He is not caught up in worrying about whether he should have lunged further, he could have pulled me across the street or he would have bitten that dog he  had been closer to him.  Instead he is present here now in this new moment.  As you can see you may be given numerous daily briefings as things are constantly changing. 

Take  time to tell your animal companion daily of the status of big changes including when they will happen, why they are happening,  how you feel about the changes, how it will affect them and what part of the change you are oriented to today - such as "We are moving to a new house in two weeks. I am packing up the kitchen and I am feeling overwhelmed because there is some much stuff I have to do."   Keeping your animals in the loop helps navigating change with a bit more ease, harmony and balance.

Do your words match what is going on inside of you?  I ask because animals are receivers of energy and masters at reading energy.   If your words don’t match the energy that is flowing in you then you are incongruent. For example if you have had an exacerbating time at work and are seething on the inside and act like everything is fine - - you don’t match inside and out. When you are incongruent you become a little suspect and untrustworthy to your animals since you are not reliably tracking the energy within.  

Every animal responds differently to incongruence; they may act out by playing out the energy they feel, they may move in close since they are worried about you, they may bite you or scratch you. Or they may not listen to or respond to you.  Their behaviors are trying to get you into the present moment to connect with yourself and become congruent.

When  you match on the inside and outside in the eyes of the animals you become more reliable and trustworthy.  Now imagine seething from your exacerbating time at work and letting your loyal companion know that you had a hard day and  express with words what you're feeling the best that you can.   For example just admitting and saying out loud “My day was really hard and I am so frustrated at my job.  I am really mad and here are all the reasons I am mad…...”  

No matter what the truth, your animals will hear it and stay in connection because you are like them accurately tracking the energy (your emotions) and being congruent.  You are trustworthy.​    Allow yourself to be congruent and stay in connection with your animals.​

Schedule a session if you desire help in communicating what's going on for you.

Companion animals are an integral part of families and they are masters at reading energy and great teachers of balance and harmony.  They spend their lives observing and responding to the energy within the home.   They have a deep understanding of what is going on energetically within the family dynamic often taking on jobs within the family to keep the energy flowing: absorbing emotions of their people or acting out to get stuck energy moving. Remember times when you have felt sick or just “down”  and your animal companion came to curl up beside you and “made you feel better.”  

Also, companion animals will do what is necessary to bring attention to what is out of balance in the house or within the family dynamics.  In their attempt  to get the energy of the house back to a calm coherent state, they might also be absorbing the energy.  This can result in odd behaviors, acting out, marking, pooping in odd places, aggression that appears out of nowhere - please add in your animals interesting quirks.  

Physical problems can also arise from absorbing too much energy that overloads their entire nervous systems.  Problems can be vast and varied; it may include digestion problems, excessive itching, over grooming, reactivity etc.   Basically they are a live wire with so much energy going through them frying their system and they react.  Think of the times your animal companion was doing something you couldn’t understand or tolerate: peeing outside the litter box, chewing holes in your coat, refusing to lift her hoove for cleaning, pecking at you as you tried to clean the cage, swiping you with claws.  

Remember that term “the canary in the coal mine” it refers to when miners brought caged canaries with them into the mines and if the canaries started fainting or died the miners knew it was time to get out due to lack of oxygen. Just like the miners -  look to your companion animals for clues of how the energy in the house and the family dynamic is doing and take necessary steps to restore balance and harmony.  

Is your sweet animal acting out or getting sick or just not themselves?  This is them trying to bring attention to the fact that there is a dam, a big energy blocker that has interrupted the flow of energy.  Their behaviors called you forth, into the present moment to evaluate the harmony and balance in the home and within the family. What is out of balance? What simple steps can you take to bring balance and harmony into the home?
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Take time to analyze what is going on within your home and make changes for balance and harmony so your companions can get back to being dogs and cats instead of canaries. 

Leave a comment below on how your companion animal was letting you know the energy was out of balance.​​​

​​Photo by Chris Roberts

Happy Valentine's day. The animals have asked me to deliver a message of love for you today.  They want to start off declaring every day is a day to celebrate love and to invite you to pause throughout today and everyday to savor the moments of love that are happening constantly throughout the day.  

Here is what you need to know about love according to the companion animals.

The frequency of love is sparkly and alive. It is has a clear connection that feels like being out in nature on a walk.   Love flows with connection, unconditional acceptance, compassion. 

Love is like a river it has many different qualities of flow it can be dynamic like rapids, it can be smooth and still like a inviting swimming hole, it can be gently burbling along, or it can be rushing with eagerness to get to the sea, and it has a constant flow.  

Love grows through the care and shared experiences with your animal companion and through these experience their loving acceptance and knowledge of you grows.  Since the animals speak the language of energy they track you, your moods, your patterns, your routines.  For you are their world and they accept you and love you just as you are - unconditionally.  They are your life witness, your comfort, your constant.  

Reflect on  their unconditional love for you and how they have been your life witness. Breathe in the love.

Love is the routine you have together.  The morning snuggles, the walks in the woods, the pocketful of treats, the playtime, the time you work, the quiet times, the dinner routine and the bedtime routines all of it is love. 

Pause now think about about your daily routine with your beloved companions. What part of the routine do you feel the love connection the most? Breathe in the love.

Throughout the past year your companion has felt the collective energy and has observed how the roller coaster of energy affects you.  The fear, the anxiety, the uncertainty of the future as well as many distractions which cause disconnection within your own system and upset in their world - you.  They track at the moments of disconnection you have lost the thread of love - most importantly self love.  And they feel it's their job to help return the focus of the energy back to love, back to flow and connection.  Connection not only to them but more importantly connection to yourself brings their world into balance.

Think of the antics they have gone through this pandemic to get your attention - sitting on keyboards, barking non-stop so you have to get up and move,  finding you in your lowest moments and offering a gentle paw, squawking to get more food, stamping their hooves and refusing to budge.  All of this is to break the energy disconnection -  to refocus you to the moment at hand - and demand your presence.  

Okay moment of reflection again - think of the antics they have been doing to refocus you.  Can you see how they were loving you in those moments? Breathe in the love.  

Now back to the metaphor of the river of love.  At times this river of love may feel like it is dammed by a pile of logs that are preventing the flow and yet the water pools and gathers trying to find a way through.  Think of the times your animal companion was doing something you couldn’t understand or tolerate: peeing outside the litter box, chewing holes in your coat, refusing to lift her hoove for cleaning, pecking at you as you tried to clean the cage, swiping you with claws.  This is them trying to bring attention to the fact that there is a dam, a big energy blocker that has interrupted the flow of love and in danger of diverting it for good.  Their behaviors called you forth, called you into the present moment to connect. Demanding you to connect with yourself. Giving you an opportunity to evaluate what you want, to assess the situation, to reset the intention of connection, to take action if needed and bring balance back to you, which means to them. For you are their world.  

Another moment of reflection. Think of some of the dams in the river of love.   How has your presence and attention helped the balance of love return?  Can you feel the love of your animal during those damming (pun intended) moments?  What lessons were learned?  Breathe in the love.

Your animal companion is grateful for how you love and tend them.  They invite you to think about how you tend to yourself.   Is your self care as attentive, loving and as kind ?   

• Have you gotten yourself a favorite treat or toy lately?  
• Have you made sure you get your daily walks or the thing your body and soul hungers for? 
• Have you stopped yourself from over indulging because it might upset your system?  
• Have you paused to brush out your energy at the end of the day like you brush knots out of their fur, or groom them? 
• Are you diligent in not interacting with people, ideas, distractions that can cause you to disconnect?  
• Do you notice you are reactive to certain situations and steer clear of them?  
• Do you let yourself out daily to get fresh air, touch the earth and move your body?
• Do you make sure to play everyday? 
• Do you reward yourself often and lavishly?

Love yourself as unconditionally and as compassionately as they love you.  Loving yourself and tending yourself  brings balance to their world. 

For you are their world and they love their world!!!  Pause and let that sink in.  
 Breathe in the love !

​Photo by Valerie Elash on Unsplash

Here we are 11/20/20.  Just right here. RIght here in this moment just like when your cat or dog engages with you.  They are ever present in the moment.  Not thinking of the cat nextdoor that crossed the fence line yesterday or what they are going to be doing in 20 minutes. Instead they are right there in the moment Being with you.

I highlight this because I have done a lot of explaining to animals during 2020 about what is going on their people and why they are distracted.  Animals also want me to explain the reason for the unease and uncertainty in the collective energy field and how it affects their people directly.  And now with the holidays approaching and the worldwide quarantines the animals notice the energetic collective upheaval coupled with the natural world's cyclical slowing down and turning inwards.  There is curiosity from the animals of why their humans can't be present and allow the emotions - the energy that wants to be in motion in the moment, to move by acknowledgement, by expression, by allowing so people can get back to being in present.  

The natural world is also providing glorious examples of honoring one's own cycles and following the impulse within our bodies and allowing the natural unfolding of life to embrace us.  As trees release their hold on their leaves and the leaves dance down to the earth it feels as if there is a big exhale and a settling in.  Here in Seattle we are on the tail end  of migrations of following that deep instinctual drive within. Allowing the impulse to fly, to burrow or to swim to move wild animals to return to more hospitality environments or to home.   Just like the animals are suggesting with the emotions by allowing the impulse of the emotion to return you home to you in this moment.   

I end here with love and gratitude and the beautiful poem Wild Geese by  Mary Oliver

Wild Geese 
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.

​You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
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I am looking forward to opening sacred space for the Day of the Dead Celebration for the animals on November 1.
As I gather items to create the shrine for my dearly departed companion animals I am bumping into all sorts of repressed emotions: grief, anger, confusion mixed in with love and joy. As I thumb through pictures searching from my childhood animal companions. I am seeing my younger self again. The little girl who was loved and tended by these sweet beings.  Due to circumstances I did not get to say goodbye properly to these sweet dogs.  And then I was not supported through the stages of grief from losing my best friends. Leaning into these emotions and meeting my little girl I can now allow the emotions to flow and be the parent for myself that I needed then and allow their spirit to surround me again. WIth the new perspective of being the loving parent to my younger grieving self I can know delve into the impact this pups had on my life.
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The Day of the Dead is not simply a day about mourning your loved ones and telling stories of them; it’s a day about remembering their lives and the impact they had upon you.   As well as keeping in mind that just because they’re no longer with you doesn’t mean that they’re entirely gone, because you keep them alive in your hearts and memories.