All
About Animals: Healing, Relationships and Guidance
Reviews by Dawn Brunke
HEALING
Homeopathic
First Aid for Animals ~ Tales and Techniques from a Country
Practitioner Kaetheryn Walker
(Healing Arts Press, 1998; $14.95)
This
is a well-organized, well-written and very useful manual for anyone
who loves or lives with animals. Not only that, author Kaetheryn
Walker has done a first-rate job of including many real-life stories
that teach by example. The book thus serves in two ways: one, as a
book about animals and the experiences a homeopathic animal-care
provider encounters in her daily life, and two, as an A to Z reference
manual for treating almost any emergency (and many different types of
animals) with both first-aid techniques and homeopathic remedies.
Overall, this is a comprehensive, informative and reader-friendly book
– definitely an excellent resource to have on hand.
Animal
Healing and Vibrational Medicine
Sage Holloway
(Blue Dolphin Publishing, 2001, $16.00)
Another
excellent resource for healing many different species of animals, this
book looks at a variety of essences and vibrational remedies. These
are elixirs of water infused with the therapeutic properties of gems,
flowers, minerals, etc. When chosen correctly, the unique frequencies
of the remedies help the animal (or person) attune to and resonate at
higher vibrations, thus balancing and healing the energy system of the
body. This book has some fascinating chapters on the energetic systems
of animals (including chakra diagrams) and offers valuable information
on communing with animals as conscious beings. Other topics include
aromatherapy, crystal grids, kinesiology, pendulum dowsing and
magnetic healing. Another great reference book to have on hand!
RELATIONSHIPS
The
Daisy Sutra ~ Conversations with My Dog
By Helen Weaver
(Buddha Rock Press, 2001, $14.95) See www.daisysutra.com
Not
long after her mother died, author Helen Weaver’s dog Daisy became
ill. Was she ready to die too? Did she need assistance? Fraught with
grief, Weaver followed the advice of a friend and called an animal
communicator to telepathically connect with Daisy and act as
“translator” between dog and human. The daughter of a scientist,
Weaver was initially skeptical. As sessions with different
communicators and Daisy ensued, however, Weaver opened not only to a
larger view of the world, but a deeper relationship with her beloved
dog. Sutra is a Sanskrit word meaning “a thread on which jewels are
strung,” and the word often refers to a collection of teachings. The
Daisy Sutra is thus an apt title, for it shares the precious teachings
of a wise, loving dog and a woman, ready and willing to listen.
Dear
Kilroy: A Dog to Guide Us
Nora Vitz Harrison
(Capital Books, 2003, hard cover, $19.95) See www.dearkilroy.com
This
great little book offers a great many things: part diary, part photo
album, part letter exchange between two canine correspondents, and
part true-life adventures of both the four-legged and two-legged
variety. The author, a longtime puppy raiser and volunteer for Guide
Dogs for the Blind (an organization that trains and matches guide dogs
with visually impaired humans) has done a lovely job of interweaving
all of these elements to create an engaging, educational, inspiring
and deeply moving book. Readers will quickly learn not only what is
involved in becoming a puppy raiser but why working with animals who
are dedicated to work with humans is so magically transforming. As
Nora Van Harrison so aptly notes, dogs make us feel good. They help us
through our grief and tragedies; they remind us to enjoy life. “They
walk beside us as our buddies, partners, and teachers. They are our
guides through life.”
Polar
Dream ~ The First Solo Expedition by a Woman and Her Dog to the
Magnetic North Pole
Helen Thayer
(NewSage Press, 2002, $13.95)
In
1988, at age 50, Helen Thayer became the first woman to travel on foot
to the magnetic North Pole. Her adventure included 27 days of walking
and skiing over 364 miles of frozen, barren terrain, while surviving
seven confrontations with polar bears. Could she have made it without
Charlie, the big, black husky dog trained by the Inuit to warn against
the mighty “Lords of the Arctic”? There’s no doubt this is a
well-written and wholly engaging account of Thayer’s journey, nicely
supplemented with the author’s photos of fantastic ice formations
and resident wildlife. More than that, however, it’s a testimony of
Thayer’s unexpected love and friendship for Charlie, whom she met
only a few days before her journey began. Thus is it also a tribute to
Charlie, and his affection, assistance and loyalty to a woman he
barely knew.
Angel
Come Home: A Love Story
by Stuart R. Wisong
(Stuart R. Wisong Publications, 2007, soft cover, $19.95. See www.AngelComeHome.com
for more.)
The central character of
this book is Brad Kennedy, a school teacher who retires early in
order to work full time on what he really likes to do: write
travel books. When Brad meets Angel, a little white dog who is
destined to change everything, he adopts her and decides to take
Angel along with him to Europe.
Brad also finds that he is
able to ‘talk’ with Angel through their intuition. They can
tap into each other’s thoughts and feelings and, by so doing,
share ideas.
While traveling through
France, Angel is dognapped and Brad must work with others to
find and save her. The story moves quickly, and there are lots
of interesting stops and fascinating adventures along the way.
In fact, it’s hard to say whether this book is a romance,
adventure, mystery or thriller!
I really liked how the
author tells his story from the points of view of both dog and
human. And I enjoyed the things we learn following their
adventures. As the author, Stuart Wisong, writes, "The
journey is not where we are going but what we find along the way
that holds the key to our adventure. It is the diversions and
the strange circumstances that lead us to the most extraordinary
places."
This is a fun book and a
wholesome story. And it may change the way you think about
animals. Also, if you are an animal lover you may be happy to
know that the author donates part of the proceeds to benefit
domestic animal welfare and rescue organizations.
~Review by Robyn
Shanner
GUIDANCE
Animal
Wisdom: The Definitive Guidebook to the Myth, Folklore and Medicine
Power of Animals
Jessica Dawn Palmer
(Element Books, 2002, $19.95)
This
helpful guidebook looks at power animals, spirit animals, totems and
some of the deeper meanings that particular animals bring to our
lives, whether through dreams, unusual meetings or in a shamanic
capacity. The author explores 70 animals from the Northern Hemisphere
in a variety of ways—from physical descriptions and biological
characteristics to the varied cultural legends and stories told about
each animal; from traditional views of the animal’s “medicine”
and power to a more modern take on the gifts each animal presents.
This is yet another very handy reference, especially for those who
work on deeper levels with animal guidance.
Tarot of
the Animal Lords
Angelo Giannini
(Llewellyn Publications, 2003, $19.95)
One
of my favorite new tarot decks, Giannini’s version combines animal
heads and humanly-attired animal bodies with traditional tarot
symbols. Unlike some decks that have good ideas but mediocre artwork,
these cards are beautifully done and reveal both sensitivity and
insight regarding the animals chosen to represent major and minor
arcana. Overall colors and background designs are pleasing, and there
is obvious appreciation to detail in each card. Besides all that, this
is a fun deck to use. Some of the cards hold great humor and
playfulness – for example, the two rabbits clad in tarragon-colored
jackets and bright jester pants dancing with joy under the sun (card
XIX, The Sun). Traditional minor arcana suit are replaced by
butterflies for swords; beetles for pentacles; crabs for cups; and
salamanders for wands. Each card, however, has its own animal
representative. There is a storybook quality to these cards and so,
while fully functional as a tarot deck, they can also be appreciated
simply for their engaging illustrations.
Shapeshifting
with Our Animal Companions:
Connecting with the Spiritual Awareness of All Life
by Dawn Baumann Brunke
(Bear & Company/Inner Traditions, 2008, soft cover, $16.00.
See www.animalvoices.net
for more.)
A
few months before my old dog pal Barney was ready to die, he
shared a series of teachings about death and shapeshifting. I
was a reluctant student. But because he had lived with me for
over a decade and knew my defenses well, Barney continued to
nudge me to go beyond self-imposed belief systems, to peer deep
for answers, and to consider the shadow material that presents
itself via fear as a vast treasure trove of learning.
In
exploring the big bugaboo of death (as well as the human fear
around change in general), Barney helped me to understand
shapeshifting not only as a means of shifting our perspectives
of life, but a way in which we can explore our projections of
fear in greater detail and come to appreciate their keys to
healing. This led to experiences in merging with a variety of
animals and plants, ‘trying on’ other forms of
consciousness, and actually seeing the world through different
eyes, through completely different ways of being.
“Once
you get past this division of ‘life’ and ‘death’,”
Barney told me one morning, “you see that it is simply
another choice of form. This is where shapeshifting can play an
important role for you and other humans.” Indeed, further
adventures entailed exploring conscious death and conscious
incarnation as well as meeting—and eventually
integrating—some of the many selves we all participate with
(consciously or not), including alternate selves, ‘past’ and
‘future’ selves, multidimensional selves, and more.
Whew...what a wild ride
Throughout
it all, Barney reminded me time and again that what each of us
needs is available to us in every moment: Experience, the Grand
Teacher, is always present. Are we?
