Recalling the Song: How Communicating with Animals Will Change our World   This article looks at the importance of communicating at deeper levels with all of nature. It includes a talk with a fly, a dog and teacher/communicator Penelope Smith. Longer versions of these talks appear in Animal Voices.

 

A Different Kind of Knowing: Talking with Plants   Many years ago, while undergoing a series of daily talks with a variety of animals on an even wider variety of subjects, I began to receive a persistent recommendation from some of the animals to begin talking with plants. "Experience," the animals told me. "You need more experience - a different kind of knowing, a different kind of opening." This article tells the story of talks I had with a philodendron and a cactus--definitely a different kind of knowing! A longer version of this appears in Shapeshifting with Our Animal Companions.

 

Our Evolving Sexuality   "Sexuality is a powerful emotion that runs through every being like a cord - something like an energetic equivalent of what the spinal cord is to mammals. It 'holds' us in a certain way." This was part a fascinating talk I had with a mother dog named Maxie. As Maxie and I spoke about her pups and her experience of giving birth, we moved from a dog-human connection to a larger version of shared consciousness in which we explored the nature of evolving sexuality.

 

A Talk with the Penguin People: On Marriage, Duality, and the Gateway to Unity   This is another one of my columns for Timeless Spirit, the theme of which this issue was "A Unique Perspective." It's fitting because this talk with the Penguin People was definitely a unique take on gaining more fluidity in shifting one's perspective so as to see a larger version of ourselves and the world around us. I can't classify this talk very well, other than to say if you are interested in a view that is unusual in comparison to the normal human paradigm, then you might like to share a few moments with the Penguin People. (Some of this talk also appears in Shapeshifting with our Animal Companions.)

 

On Peace and the Pursuit of Perfection   "Sometimes you worry that you are not doing what you 'should' be doing. Though, of course, the 'should' is tied up in your own ideas. This is true for everyone. There is no real perfect path. There are only movements deeper into the self..." This was a long talk I had with my pal Zak about peace ('People Experiencing A Creative Eternity') and the illusive pursuit of perfection.

 

Polar Bear Communication   This was a really lovely talk I had with a large group of Polar Bears who had gathered together in a coastal area in the far north of Alaska. It coincided with a time in the human world in which there were many international meetings that focused on the environment and other global issues. The Polar Bears were very gracious in sharing their knowledge and the talk covered a lot of territory, including "reawakening the deeper medicine we Polar Bears hold and carry for the planet."

 

To See With New Eyes   This article is about the first time I ever 'shifted' the shape of my consciousness and saw through the eyes of another animal--an eagle! It is about vision and trying on a variety of perspectives (such as seeing through the eyes of another) in order to experience other versions of the world.

 

Trust and Love: A Dream Journey Through Fear   Trust and Love: key words for the evolution of all of us, yes? This article concerns a dream I had about being in an enclosure with a number of elephants. One of the elephants lowered her face and looked me directly in her eyes. Her deep, brown-eyed gaze was so gentle and even though she was calm, I began to fearful. On waking, I remember thinking this was because she was so large and I was so small. What do dreams like this tell us about ourselves? And, how can we use our dreams to help us learn more about our inner fears?

 

Inspiration From Above   "We come to you today from the air -- birds of wide, white wings. We are not well known in your time, but come from another, ancient order. We wish to speak about a resurrection of the world heart. In some ways, it is opening the past so as to better embrace the future. Let us explain..." So began a talk I had with a group of beings who come to earth to inspire and infuse us all with bits of wisdom and remembering, especially in relation to planetary evolution.

 

A Wag of Faith        This is a story about my big, black, wonderfully loving Lab, Max, and a short talk with Spirit of Dog about the subject of faith and why dogs and humans have such a special relationship. As Spirit of Dog notes, "No matter how hardened your human feelings, if you sit with a dog, you cannot help finding that your heart naturally opens. This is a 'built-in' promise between man and dog, one that is devised to allow you movement through hardened or stuck emotions which prevent you from seeing and feeling the larger fullness of who you are."

 

Teachings of the Earth Council "One early morning, not long ago, I awoke from a terrific dream. It was so vivid and powerful that its images and ideas still pulsed through my body as I opened my eyes. It was one of those multi-leveled dreams--one in which I was 'me' but also a spirit self that was part observer, part participant." This article features dream sharing and a conversation-experience with the Earth Council and some of their concerns for planet earth.

 

Movement of Being   "I want to tell a story," Max told me one morning. "It is a true story about me, Max, and about before I used to be the big black dog that I am today." I am most always surprised when Max tells me a story, for he is not a particularly talkative guy. This is a story of Max's 'becoming' that he wanted to share with me, and me with you.

 

The Power of Humor   "What I have come to find is that, for me, laughter is quite often a doorway into such larger spaces of seeing, feeling and be-ing in the world. Laughter opens us up to other ways of perceiving reality. And, sometimes, it changes who we are." This article features a talk with a bird and my old pal Zak, a sharp-witted canine with some sly humor. In particular, Zak helps me transform feelings of fear into light through the transformative power of laughter.

 

Expanding Horizons: The Meeting of Stone and Sky   This article begins with a lucid dream of flying and merges into a talk with a group of beings who "regulate the interconnections between stone and sky." The main discussion is about the melding of realties and, especially, how this fits within the larger framework of shapeshifting.  Some of this talk and experience also appears in Shapeshifting with Our Animal Companions.

 

Opening to Beauty and the Goddess   This is the original, longer version of a talk that a lovely horse named Ellie shared in Animal Voices. As Ellie notes, "Beauty is about expanding and elevating your frequency. There are many places/dimensions where Beauty is incarnate. Beauty comes with developing a trust of the self." I am very glad to finally be able to share Ellie's full treatise on beauty and the goddess here.

 

This Oneness is a Healing: Teachings of the Sled Dogs This article includes a talk with both an Iditarod sled dog and Spirit of Sled Dog. For myself, it was an insight about how the Iditarod Race (and by extension, many races) is not just a competition but, at deeper levels, a true celebration of being. As the sled dog explains early on, "I love to run, to be a part of the flow of movement. Our hearts beat together. When we are racing smoothly, we are a group, like one being. We can see all perspectives, as if from each other's eyes. We join our thoughts, our sights, our feelings. Our hearts beat together, we breathe together; we are all part of one being, one team."

 

Merging Paths: Shark and Human I once had a shapeshifting dream in which I merged consciousness with a shark. That is, I retained the consciousness of both myself as a human and yet I also had access to and was sometimes 'inside' the consciousness of the shark. Together we swam, learning from each other, sharing at deeper levels of our being. We finally came to a cave of sorts, in which we began to learn in a different way altogether...

 

Pets: The Shadow Side This article (partially excerpted from Animal Voices) explores the nature of captivity at home and asks the question: What sacrifices do animals make in becoming our beloved pets? While writing this book, I became very intrigued with this question. Eventually, I followed the sage advice that J. Allen Boone offered in one of his books: If you want the facts, ask the animal. This led to a surprising conversation I had with some goldfish. As a result of our talk, I began to understand how an animal's life is often very different than what we humans might expect or interpret it to be.

 

Finding Balance in the Here & Now We all know it's a wise thing to flow with the cycles and currents of life. When we move in balanced accord with life, everything is great. But what happens when things are not going our way? How do we stay centered in being when there are so many things to divert us, so many ways to lose our center? How can we find balance when all we seem to be doing is running into walls and obstacles? This article features a talk with my wise canine friend Zak, who offers his take on 'finding balance' in the here and now.

 

On Honey Bees and the Global Creation of Reality The honeybee 'mystery' has provoked much human thought and concern. Scientists and environmental researchers enumerate a number of possible causes — escalating climate changes and use of insecticides to parasites and cell phone radiation. We even have an interesting name for the bee's decline: Colony Collapse Disorder. So, what do the bees have to say? What do the bees think/feel about his 'disorder' and how is it related to our global creation of reality? Thanks to the Spirit of Honey Bees for their answer on this one!

 

Birthing Awareness:  How to Talk with Animals (and Plants and Stars and Mountains...)   "What we are doing when we allow ourselves to settle deep within and listen—really listen—is birthing an aspect of our awareness we haven't yet brought into consciousness. We are hearing again the song of the earth which flows through all beings everywhere. We are tuning in, tapping into the universal language, opening ourselves to embrace ever larger aspects of who we really are." This article focuses on deep listening and includes a basic approach of how to hear animals and all the earth.

 

Natural Healing "As we embark on any deep healing journey, we will inevitably discover an amazing interconnected network of thoughts, feelings, emotions, and bodily symptoms. Deep patterns are involved—from cellular to soul-related, all reflected in who we are and what symptoms we have at any given moment in our life. In all areas of healing, we need to listen to the body as well as the mind; we need to hear the call of feelings as well as the stirrings of the soul." This article includes a story of healing (involving my good-hearted Black Lab, Max) and looks at the various ways we listen with our body, heart and soul. It also looks at healing as a form of deep relationship.

 

Tides of Change The subject “Tides of Change” reminded me of something my old canine pal Barney told me many years ago. This article reviews that particular talk in the light of so many of the questions many of us may be pondering today. A short excerpt: Here we stand teetering on a very precarious edge—some of us welcoming and some of us fearing the inevitable tides of change. And maybe we are asking ourselves, why now? Why have we let things—the environment, the economy, intolerance for others, and all the crazy wars—get to such an unstable state of affairs? Is this really the 'exquisite nature of timing and the unfolding of events in this dimension'? If we had been given information to prevent some of these events, would we have been able to hear it, to make use of it? Then again, if there was nothing left on earth to solve or shift or heal, would we still be here?