Soul Pets

I've given a lot of animals a lot of Reiki over the years, and I've had some amazing experiences, but it's safe to say that the most bonkers one happened just recently when I was asked to Reiki the dog of a friend of a friend.

I'm going to change the names here to protect identities, so let's say the dog's name is Maya, her owner is Leanne and my friend is Susan.

Maya is one of the most unique and beautiful dogs I have ever met, and Leanne was worried that there was something wrong with her back or her spine, as she seemed to be throwing her leg out when she walked and sometimes struggled to run. There had even been a few occasions when she had seemed unable to stand up by herself, and Leanne had had to help her to her feet. She'd been to the vets numerous times, and had even tried a few alternative therapies, but nothing worked and the vet couldn't find anything wrong with the dog.

Even though I'd gone to the house to visit, this turned into a distance healing, as Maya got fed up of my hands on her after about ten minutes and took herself off to bed! I just stayed where I was and meditated, sending her healing and trying to tune into her. And it was just really weird, because I wasn't getting any sense of anything; I don't diagnose problems with pets, but I can usually pick up on something – a blockage or imbalance, or sometimes a sense of what is troubling them – but with Maya, there was nothing. She seemed perfectly comfortable and happy, almost a bit bemused as to why I was there in the first place

So, this should be a good thing, right? Well, actually no! After the session I was at a bit of a loss as to what to say to Leanne as when we had been discussing all her previous treatments, she was clearly disappointed that no-one could shine any light on what was wrong with Maya, and felt that none of the others – including the vet – knew what they were doing as their treatments hadn't “worked”. And now, here I was, having to tell her the self-same thing...eeek!!! I put it as tactfully as I could, telling her that Maya was obviously very happy in her life and that I wasn't picking up on anything sinister...perhaps she would find this would turn out to be one of those freakish things that righted itself in time.

I could tell she wasn't convinced, or satisfied with my feedback (something re-affirmed by my friend Susan who told me that when she'd asked Leanne about the Reiki, she'd just huffed that all I'd said was that Maya was happy, and of course she's not happy, is she?) but, hey, what could I do? This was what I'd felt and I wasn't going to start lying or making stuff up.

So, I tried to just put it down to experience; one of the things you have to expect from time to time if you're a healer...not every session is going to be one hundred percent positive and sometimes there is going to be resistance...and that could be for a whole host of reasons and issues...no need to take it personally. Still, it kind of bugged and puzzled me more than I would have liked or expected, but then yesterday, I met up with Susan and it all suddenly made sense.

She told me that Leanne had recently undergone several days' worth of intense and very intrusive tests because...she didn't know exactly why, but she was convinced that something serious was wrong with her. She had been utterly disbelieving when every result came back all-clear and there was nothing amiss.

Bingo!

Leanne had been projecting her fears and conviction that something was “wrong” onto Maya, who had taken it all on board herself and played her role to perfection.

I thought it was worth writing about this as it is a great reminder as to just how sensitive and wise our pets really are. I'm guessing anyone with a much-loved animal companion has had the experience of that pet sensing when they are ill or upset and trying in their own way to comfort them – we all know that pets can sense our moods – this is not a groundbreaking revelation I know! But what this shows is that it goes deeper than we perhaps realise. As human beings who are aware that we are affected by other people's energy, we can consciously put protection around ourselves if we are in the presence of somebody who is negative, nasty or just not in harmony with us...but animals can't do that.

So, it's our responsibility, as loving pet-owners, to make sure we don't unconsciously project our “stuff” onto our furry friends. Maybe try visualising golden light surrounding your pet and affirm silently (or out loud if the fancy takes you) to the universe that your pet is now protected from all unwanted, inappropriate, negative or damaging energies. Or ask the angels or faeries to keep your pet safe from harmful thought-forms. Or simply sit and tell your pet that, from now on, this is the new arrangement...he or she will now only ever be affected by good, positive, loving energy. There's no right or wrong way to do this, you're the one with the close relationship to your pet, so you do whatever feels right for you.

The main thing is the insight here, the understanding that this can happen and, armed with that knowledge, you can state your intention in whatever way you want that your pet or pets are now safe and protected from it.

Fascinating stuff, eh? And just serves to remind me why I love working with animals so much – they truly are amazing souls.

If anyone would like me to send distance Reiki to your pet or pets, please let me know. Details of how it all works can be found on the right hand column of my other blog, http://faeryforestmagic.blogspot.com/ :)

The Magic of Ibiza

I realised this morning that, in all the time I´ve had this blog entitled “Healing & Light from the White Isle”, I´ve never actually written a piece about the White Isle herself. Well, ladies and gentlemen, that is about to change... :)

I say “herself” because, quite simply, that´s how I view Ibiza – as female energy. Stepping off the plane when we arrived for our first holiday here, ten years ago, it was like I could feel her wrap her arms around me and I immediately felt safe and nurtured somehow. I´d no idea, of course, back then what this all meant; that it was, in fact, the first clue that I would eventually make this my home – I just knew it felt nice and kind of special, and didn´t give it much further thought than that. Space and Privilege were calling, after all!

Numerous clubbing holidays over the course of the next few years ensued, but even so, amidst the bedlam and the haze, there was a quiet little voice whispering to us – both me and my hubby – and eventually, we started to give serious consideration to moving to Ibiza.

And that´s when things got really weird.

Ibiza, or rather Es Vedra, the mysterious, majestic island rearing out of the sea off the south coast, is the third most magnetic spot on the planet and we certainly seemed to be feeling its pull, but to upsticks and move? Hubby had a senior job with a large multi-national, I worked full-time, we had a nice house, good standard of living, hectic social life and four cats. It seemed like an impossible pipe-dream, irresponsible even, but as soon as we faced the fact that we wanted to move, it seemed the entire universe conspired to make it happen and our life suddenly turned into something resembling a far-fetched movie with an implausible and contrived plot-line. There was no way we could have imagined or orchestrated events to transpire the way they did.

Hubby was offered a voluntary redundancy package that we would have never dared dream possible. To our astonishment, our house, when we had it valued, was worth three times the amount we´d paid for it and the day before we were due to put it on the market, a lady turned up on the doorstep selling raffle tickets for the village gala, of all things. We started chatting and, for some reason, ended up telling her about our plans to move. It turned out she was looking to buy a house in our village, so she had a look around and made us an offer there and then. Neither estate agents nor their fees were necessary!

Things had happened so quickly that found ourselves in the tricky position of having sold our house, without having found accommodation on Ibiza. The simplest solution seemed to be to rent a house in the UK while we were looking, but all the properties available to rent were for a minimum of 12 months (we wanted a 6 month contract) and none of them allowed pets. Just as time was running out and we were starting to get desperate, we stumbled across a letting agent we´d somehow missed before. We explained our situation and the agent, with a gasp, said “oh, what a coincidence”. Just the day before, a man had put his house up to rent with her which, due to his personal circumstances, he only wanted to rent out for 6 months, and he worked with animals so she was sure the cats would be no problem. In fact, the house was the only one on her records with a cat flap!

Once again, it felt like the universe and Ibiza were smiling on our plans. We managed to find the perfect house on Ibiza with little fuss and set a date for the big move. Now the only thing troubling us was transporting our four spoiled-rotten and totally adored cats to Ibiza. Getting ourselves there was a piece of cake compared to shipping animals and the more we looked into it, the more of a logistical nightmare it appeared to be. Then, a couple of months after we´d moved into our rented house, the owner – who we had never met before, all dealings having been carried out through the letting agent – called round. I found myself in floods of grateful tears when he mentioned, in passing, what he did for a living. He was the Managing Director of a freight company...who specialised in shipping pets abroad!! Problem solved – he himself collected our fur-babies and got them safely onto a plane to follow us out.

This all happened four years ago and to this day, I continue to marvel and chuckle at the magic of it all. I feel blessed that I am able now to live my life on this beautiful island, pursuing my creative dreams. Instead of rushing and stressing, working hard for someone else and frantically cramming in every social event we thought we couldn´t possibly miss, simplifying our lives in this way has, in fact, led us to the bliss we were always chasing.

But it hasn´t all been smooth sailing – far from it. I said before that Ibiza has a nurturing and protecting energy...but she is also tough as old boots! For me, I feel that she´s saying, “well, all right then, come and live here, but I have some things to teach you. Are you ready for that?” Erm...I suppose so. Lessons have abounded in the time I´ve been here – some fairly straightforward and easy to take on board, some absolutely not. I view Ibiza´s main lesson to me – which I now understand is a gift of gigantic proportions – as showing me all things and all people, including myself, in our true colours to see how I will handle it. A little bit shakily, it has to be said, on the occasions when the truth turns out to be startlingly at odds with what I´d previously assumed to be the case. Tough lessons, tough love, but I´ll tell you something – I wouldn´t have missed out on a single one of them.

It´s felt nice to write about this and to actually express to the world via the internet (or at least to anyone still reading these ramblings) my gratitude to the Tao of Ibiza and to share what is clearly the most important lesson for us all here. The power of positive intention, followed by simply letting go and trusting. When something is right, and is for our highest and greater good, then all we have to do is state it clearly, ask for help & sit back to allow the magic in.

Give it a go...who knows where you might end up. ;)