I am blessed.  I live in an area where I get to see and experience animals in their natural habit on a daily basis.  Birds, squirrels, rabbits, a family of raccoons, a bobcat, a family of coyote, a family of deer — and even a black bear — have passed through the forested buffer behind our home.  It’s delightful to check our trail camera each morning to see who passed by.

A bobcat visits our yard

One of the many rabbits that stop in our yard

A Towhee visits to dig for food

A raccoon family in the forested buffer behind our yard

A family of deer in the forested buffer behind our yard

Sometimes I’m lucky and see the animal standing still in the forested buffer behind our home, often gazing intently.  When they gaze, I gaze back.  Even if I am looking at them through the window, I sense that they know I am there and are allowing me to “be” with them.  To me, it’s an experience of communing, of oneness.  A silent message passes between us:  “I see you, you see me”.  An “essence” passes between us.  I send them the Light as they travel on.

A coyote stops in the forested buffer behind our home

These experiences have become a way of joy for me, moments of clear, loving presence.  The day the black bear entered our yard while I was sitting on our porch happened to be my first day venturing outside after a 12 day covid-induced isolation.  My experience of the black bear visiting felt like a healing.  I had no fear of the bear, it seemed as surprised to see me as I was surprised to see it. I imagined that Spirit had sent the bear to lift my Spirit and tell me “it’s done…be well.” The bear exited our yard as soon as I moved to go inside our house. I was so surprised that I didn’t have the presence of mind to take a photo.

There is a particular squirrel that I pass by on occasion when I’m out walking in the neighborhood.  It “talks” to me in a loud voice, saying “hey, pay attention, let’s play hide and seek.”  That’s my human interpretation of it’s loud chatter.  The squirrel loves to run up the tree, and around the tree, and then poke its little head out to see if I see it.  It’s quite fun.

 

I’m so touched by these animals and the communion I experience with them that I wondered what John-Roger has said about animals and their relationships with humans.  I did a search in the J-R library archives and found Q&A with John-Roger all about animals.  I share it here with you:

Q: What is the difference between animal and human Souls?

J-R: Generally speaking, humans have individualized Souls that are rather “high up” on the evolutionary scale. Animals, for the most part, have group auras. In other words, they are working in a mass consciousness of the species and are fulfilling their evolutionary progression in that way. Some cats (mostly Siamese), and occasionally some dogs may have an individualized Soul; and those are the ones that might come in as a basic self to a human consciousness in the next step of their progression. They are getting close to moving out of the “animal” category and into the “human” evolutionary process.

Q: Do animals reside in the Spirit realm?

J-R: Yes.

Q: Are animals divine?

J-R: Yes, as are “all” things.

Q: Are animals here to evoke some emotion from us or teach us love?

J-R: Animals certainly do that a lot of times, but this is not their primary function. They are here to express life.

Q: Are animals reflections of our inner selves?

J-R: They can be, but that’s more by coincidence than plan.

Q: Do animals have karma?

J-R: No, they don’t have karma in the sense of dealing with cause and effect. There might be a group karma in the sense that an animal of a certain species lives out the karma of that species.

Q: If animals don’t have karma, why do they suffer?

J-R: Animals’ experiences are part of the planetary organization and structure. Suffering per se isn’t built in, but it does happen. And “suffering” is actually a human definition of an animal’s experience.

Q: Do animals & humans incarnate in groups the way that humans reincarnate in groups?

J-R: Yes

Q: Do humans and animals make agreements on a Soul level as humans do?

J-R: No. Animals don’t come from the Soul level.

Q: How do you feel about the horses at Windermere and your relationship with them?

J-R: I enjoy, appreciate, and love the horses, and I have a different relationship with each animal. I have also had a lot of dogs and cats and have loved, appreciated, and enjoyed them, too. And people are still more important than animals because of the evolvement of the Soul, the spark of the divine, that resides in each one.

Q: I just had to put my two dogs to sleep recently, as they were both old and very ill, and it brought up some questions about the right thing to do. Does putting an animal to sleep to keep them from suffering interfere with their spiritual path? I sent my dogs the Light often, kept them on the prayer list, loved them and touched them a lot while they were ill, held them on the way to the vet, and chanted the HU for my second dog, who passed over three weeks after her companion. For the future, is there anything else to do to help a pet with their transition?

J-R: Animals are on a different type of progression than people. When they leave this level, FOR THE MOST PART, they return to what I call a “group soul.” They take with them a type of learning, and they do lift and progress in their vibration. One of the experiences that lifts them a great deal is the experience of being loved, and of being around a Light person or family. Animals sometimes come in specifically to be around this energy. Suffering is not something an animal necessarily needs, as GENERALLY, they do not have the type of consciousness to work with it and learn from it. You may notice that when an animal is ready to pass over, it will go somewhere by itself and lay down, stop eating and drinking, and seem to be waiting to die. They do have an intelligence and know when it’s their time to go. It’s very challenging to decide yourself that a life has come to an end, and to assist that. The best you can do is pray, ask the Lord for guidance and assistance, and then start leaning in a direction and see if everything lines up with it. Whatever you decide to do, be gentle with yourself, and be loving with your pet. That loving is a very great gift to give them as they make their transition. All the things you mentioned above can help them. If you do something they don’t want done, they will let you know.

There is also a beautiful article by John-Roger called:  Animals, Dying and Spiritual Exercises.  It’s well worth a read.

I leave you with one more quote by J-R:

“Animals come into this world not only to learn from us but also to teach us, and one of the qualities they teach us is the intuitive loving.” – John-Roger

Please join me in sending a blessing of Light for the highest good to all of the animals that share this planet Earth with us. May they experience loving from us, as we love them.

Light and Loving to us all,
Deborah Martinez