Animal communication in this context is based on the Old Language of Silence that all beings speak. It is telepathy. And telepathy is thought transference. All beings are telepathic. But only some humans remember how to listen to the silence, and fewer still remember how to be accepted in the forest of life.
This is because of the way the Western world has been set up. We’ve spent centuries being shut off from the natural, whole self of a human, one who actually is accepted into the forest. We have forgotten the ways of respect and reverence. We have been told we are separate.
This current world is divided into prey and predator. But there is a third option — partner. If you look at all our interactions with animals and nature, humans mostly come across as the predator. Our training, until very recently, was to be the leader of the pack or herd. Or the dominant one. We “owned” animals, and thus they were property, in exactly the same way that women were once owned by men and were property. In this current paradigm, animals are commodities for humans to profit from, to feed from, to use and abuse, to use as toys and entertainment. And to throw away when humans get bored or times get tough.
Western humans also didn’t stop to listen to the actual heart beat of Mother Earth, or to the trees. Desensitised to the world around them, they definitely weren’t, and still aren’t, part of the forest.
In my 30-day challenge, we start to unpack some of these old conditionings, so we can once again take up our rightful place in the forest. We also learn how to be “forest respectful,” which has many more layers than you might think!
So here are five steps to get you started.
1. Be Humble
This is an important one. Just because you can hear the silent voice in your head, doesn’t mean it can go to your head! Being able to sense, feel, see and hear what another being is sending you is just the first step! It takes humility and an open mind and heart to really go the next step. You have to be willing to hear things that go outside your understanding or even personal beliefs and desires. Imagine for a moment you are trying to make yourself understood to a person of another culture and language, and the interpreter keeps getting it wrong. That’s what we don’t want to do when communicating with animals and nature.
2. Ask Permission
imagine what it would be like to be an animal in our society, no agency at all. They are taken away from mothers and family. Humans decide how they live and when they die. People are not in the habit of asking animal’s permission for anything.
But you will, of course!! If you attempt to communicate with an animal, ask permission first. “May I communicate with you?” If you get a “yes,” fantastic. Keep going.
And if you get a “no,” honour it. This is vital.
This especially pertains to euthanasia. it’s not about when we are ready for them to cross. it’s about them, being ready. Most of the time they can go on their own. This is another story and another class. But the minimum is to give animals agency about their own ending. lLet them pass in peace. iI there is fear.. that’s a no.
Asking permission extends to everything with a spirit. It’s about respect. It’s about being polite and being in relationship and in harmony. Ask permission before you take herbs from the garden and fruit from the tree, before you pick up stones and rocks, definitely before you pick flowers. Get conscious and mindful about the way you walk in the world.
3.Give Back
If you want to form a relationship with nature, animals and the unseen, give back. Do you give back in your daily life and practise? To be part of the earth in this new, but ancient, way, we need to give back. Practise reciprocity. This might be, for example, leaving out an offering of oats for the wild ones and the fae where you live, or offering Mother Earth a sip of your drink before you have some. The Inka shaman for instance always offer the essence of their food and rink to Mother Earth first, and to Father Sky and Grandfather Sun second. And then they dine. Giving back might also mean taking in an animal who needs you, repairing the damage of other humans who hurt them. Give love and always ask, what can I do for you?
4. Untether from Societal Programming
This includes old traditions. I’m (kind of) fortunate to have grown up in the country and to have lived in farming communities, which make me very uncomfortable, but also gave me insight into animals that I might never have come across. I’ve seen the truth about farmed animals, and also our wildlife who try to exist around animal farming communities.
Here’s what I’ve learned: there are no “pests.” There are no “feral” animals. (Feral actually means wild, or gone wild) .There are no animals who want to serve humans, or be killed or eaten. They just want their precious life. So this is an important point, especially for today.
People are programmed that it is okay to kill and use others. Some spiritual circles still think it is okay to thank and bless food because it is their right to eat other animals. Others still want to shoot and hunt because that’s tradition. Others still use animal skins for drums. Others still think leather is a premium product when really it is clever marketing to make money out of the dead.
There is so much to unpack. The way we live isn’t “normal”. We have strayed far from the forest and have an opportunity to reinvent society in a more more inclusive and “forest” friendly way.
Why is this important to your communication? Because a lot of programming and conditioning makes people unconscious. To be a good communicator you must untether yourself from programming and See and Hear clearly.
5. Do Your Personal Work
Whether it is a problem with your love life, your fears about death, your desire to look good, your “I’m not good enough,” please do your personal work. Take the opportunity to be the best interpreter for the animals and others you communicate with. Don’t be someone who projects their unhealed stuff onto the animals they are supposedly listening to. Be as clear as you can be.
Happy communicating!.
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Billie Dean is an innate interspecies communicator. who spent four decades communing with animals around the globe, and teaching others this and her own brand of faery shamanism. Her signature book is Secret Animal Business and today she is the founder of the Deep Peace Trust, a charity working for peace for all species, and A Place of Peace Farm Animal and Wild Horse Sanctuary. To study with Billie, take her challenge, 30 Days of Wyld Shamanism. Starts Feb 1, 2022. You can also look up her other on-line, on demand classes on billiedean.com and deeppeacetrust.com
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Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash
