If you can’t get into the wild, well, the next best thing just might be this book with 699 pages of animals by Bernadette King. One, if not the only, most comprehensive book about the many creatures we share this planet with (as well as mythical ones too).
I remember as a kid having encyclopedias and this is exactly what this book is. Chockfull of information such as key powers and energies of animals, prayer, and intention for each animal, and also broken down into messages for each animal in the categories of spirit animal, totem animal, power animal, and animal dreams. Bernadette also includes insights on working with cardinal directions, seasons, elements, colors, and numerology.
What I appreciate about animal medicine is that there is indeed a plethora of ways in which to work with their teachings. And they are just waiting to be your teacher and help you to live your best life. So all you have to do is just open the cover and begin your self-guided safari or walk in nature right from your living room sofa.
While this book may require a table all its own (I have mine sitting on a TV tray in Joyful Pause Cottage Studio) – I love having it nearby to open a page at random to see what guidance an animal offers or to intentionally sit down and learn more about a particular animal.
You can learn more about Bernadette’s book on her website here.
I love to watch Kylie sleep, oftentimes wondering what she dreams about.
She turned ten last Saturday and while I see signs of her aging she still has lots of spunk left in her.
I treasure her each precious moment as it is likely we won’t get another big dog when she moves on.
The other night she talked to John in his dream. It was quite profound.
John shared the dream with me and said that Kylie was lying in bed between us, on her back. She does this now and then and loves to wiggle between us in a playful way.
In the dream, she looked over at John and said, “I’d take a bullet for you.”
John said, “Aw, Kylie. You know I’d take a bullet for you.”
If that didn’t speak volumes of the love between these two!
I have no doubt Kylie would do this for John or me. But I also know that we would do everything in our power to protect her from harm.
While I wonder what more there is to this dream, I’ll leave it up to John to ponder and decide what it is for him.
But it sure does warm my heart to know that these two share such a deep bond.
If only I could remember all the parts of my dreams.
I try really hard, but it seems I can only manage to remember one small tidbit of them. Maybe I’m trying too hard?!
The only thing I recall of my dream last night was that I encountered a skunk. And then he sprayed me right in the face!
Upon awakening, I thought, “What in the world could that mean?”
I’m increasingly becoming more and more fascinated with what our animal world is trying to teach us, not just dogs, which I’ve learned so much from in the past ten years. I can’t help but think they’ve led the way for me to now become more interested and open to other animal teachings.
For a long time I always thought you had to actually encounter an animal to receive a message. But I now understand to pay attention by patterns of animals that show up whether in images or on TV, or in person too, as well as in dreams.
When one shows up in my dreams, I get excited and intrigued about what it is I’m supposed to understand that perhaps I’m not getting.
One thing I’ve learned to do because of my animal communicator friend, Dawn, whose written lots of books on the subject, is to think deeper into their meanings and listen to my own intuition to how that animal is trying to speak to me.
It’s often called animal medicine which is the Native American practice of embracing an awareness that reveals itself when a certain animal crosses our path.
It’s “the custom of animal medicine refers to the healing aspects that a particular animal brings to our consciousness. This would mean anything that supports, strengthens, restores, empowers, or revives the spiritual body, as well as the physical body.”
So what could skunk mean appearing in my dream? I went to a popular book by Ted Andrews called, Animal Speak, for guidance.
One paragraph jumped out at me:
“The skunk does not get out of the way of any animal. It moves along at its own speed, with its own mind. It is self-assured and confident in itself. It skunk has shown up, it can be to help you with this particular aspect. It can teach you how to be more self-assured and how to assert yourself.”
I asked myself, “How does this relate to where I’m at right now?”
As I thought about it, I knew exactly what it meant.
I’m adventuring into offering workshops out of my home teaching the SoulCollage(r) process. I have this fear that no one will sign up. That people won’t want to see how this process can help them. That perhaps they aren’t ready.
For about three nights in a row this is exactly what I’ve been worrying about in my dreams.
But this time skunk showed up to encourage me to be confident in myself and to trust that all is going to work out.
So okay, Mr. Skunk, I guess you had to spray me in the face to get my attention to stop worrying so much. I’m taking your message into my heart and trusting it….
and if you don’t mind me adding, without any offense what-so-ever, I’m really glad you were in my dream and not reality when it took spraying me in the face to get my attention!
