Insights and Inspirations 3: No such thing as a dumb animal

A new series examining aspects of spiritual life you may not have considered before.

Part Three: No such thing as a dumb animal

On my daily stroll I regularly encounter a number of dog walkers – all shapes and sizes (the dogs, not the owners). Every so often a cat will also cross my path, either greeting me with mock friendship prior to unsheathing its claws and attacking my ankles or, with disdain, scooting away over the nearest wall.

For many of us dogs and cats are our only ongoing connection with the animal kingdom. Our pets notwithstanding, we tend for the most part to forget that our planet is not the exclusive domain of human beings and that we share our world with countless other expressions of life. Many humans consider themselves to be occupying the uppermost branches of the evolutionary tree, feeling that other forms of life, while perhaps passingly appreciated for their beauty, grace, agility and so on, are beneath us on all counts: intellectually, emotionally, spiritually.

We couldn’t be more wrong.

Animal forms come under the stewardship of deva spirits, those behind-the-scenes architects of our world that are the planners and bringers into being of the landscapes against which we play out our lives here. Devas are responsible for the existence of the animal kingdom, specific devas providing the energies that manifest and maintain specific non-human forms of life on this planet. As such, the animal forms under their guidance and imbued with their energies have far greater intelligence, empathy, understanding and capability than we give them credit for. I could share with you many incidents drawn from personal experience that add weight to the above sentence – far too many to shoehorn into the length of this article. I will however, attempt to recount within its limits just a handful of the most significant examples to back up my earlier pronouncements.

Take the case of my lovely cat Penny. She came into my life at a time when I was wading through a two-year period of ongoing emotional trauma and was finding it challenging to manage my life. Throughout this demanding time Penny was a constant companion whenever I was at home, sitting on my knee like a dog, snuggling her head into my chest and offering me a constant stream of affection. One evening, at a time when my problems were at last beginning to clear and I had all but recovered in health and confidence, Penny hopped onto my lap and I heard a voice in my head utter the single word: ‘Goodbye’. She then immediately jumped down and went to the door to be let out. The next morning she hadn’t returned home… and later that day, while searching, we came across her unmarked body lying by the side of the road. She had known her time with me was over, and that her mission was accomplished, and she had said farewell – letting me know she was about to leave.

Staying with the subject of cats: following the intense moment which had seen my spiritual mentor Joan lose her mother, she and her best friend Betty found themselves sitting silently in her front room as they attempted to come to terms with their grief. Joan had two cats, and as the ladies sat there both felines entered the room together. They moved as one to the centre of the room then parted, one making straight for Joan, the other for Betty. Each then showed their chosen human a huge amount of affection and concern for a few minutes, placing a paw on each side of the ladies’ necks and gazing into their eyes compassionately. Next, as if by some unseen signal, both cats simultaneously jumped down, passed each other as they again crossed the room, then went to the lady opposite the one they had just been comforting, jumping up to share their affections with this new focus of their compassion and understanding. Some minutes later they simultaneously leapt down and walked out through the door together.

…A lady called me one day in my capacity as a medium. She told me she owned stables and that one of her horses was currently very depressed. Could I possibly come out to talk to and listen to her, please? I did so, and the horse, as a clear voice in my head, told me amongst other things that she had an equine companion she had previously met up with daily but was currently no longer taken to see, and that she had a favourite tree she used to be taken to stand under – a place where she felt secure and peaceful – somewhere she could think clearly. These trips had also stopped for some reason. I related all this to her owner and she confirmed the information as fact, taking immediate steps to resolve the situation.

When Jane and I first became a couple, she owned a rascally and mischievous spaniel named Molly, who exhibited human levels of intelligence and comprehension with shocking frequency. On one occasion Molly insisted on behaving badly and making noise while I was attempting to receive information from the Big Indian, a key member of Joseph’s soul group. He turned his attention to her and sternly commanded her to leave the room. She did so immediately, hiding in the pantry and having to be coaxed out by us once this loving but no-nonsense visiting spirit had concluded his communication and left.

On another occasion I felt I should try to connect with Molly spirit-to-spirit in an attempt to understand what made her so darned awkward all the time. She let me place my hands on her head and immediately I did so she, as a spirit, began to talk to me psychically. She described the kennels she had been raised in as a puppy with their ‘big iron gates’ (later confirmed by Jane); said she had been brought up with Labradors (Jane informed me that the kennels in question also bred Labrador puppies); told me she didn’t like the breeder (Jane subsequently revealed she didn’t take to her either); that she missed her mother; that her name was ‘all right’ but she preferred Polly to Molly, and said she was simply being playful on those occasions when we considered her behaviour to be deliberately anti-social.

My Cairn terrier Vicky contracted diabetes and was becoming increasingly sick despite her daily injections. It became apparent that she was suffering greatly and so I asked her psychically whether she wanted to go home. ‘Yes,’ she replied, a heart-breaking answer but it would have been cruel and selfish to cling on to her. On the night following her passing I was abruptly woken up by her distinctive barks – three of them to let me know she was perfectly all right.

Joseph, of course, is far more capable of explaining things from a spiritual perspective than I am. Let’s conclude, therefore, by considering the significance, stature and role of animals in our world – and our negative influence on them – from the soul group’s viewpoint. Here’s Joseph from the book Trance Mission, addressing the following question from a member of the audience: What is the role of the animals in our evolution?

Joseph: Poor, innocent, lovely, wonderful animal forms!

…Poor, innocent, wonderful, lovely animal forms!

The animal forms are created by angelic beings of a different nature to mankind. They are created by devas – by great, wonderful nature spirits. And just as you are a part of a group soul – in other words you are part of a family of souls that work together with certain purposes in mind to elevate themselves and others – devas become animal forms; they extend themselves into consciousness expressed through animal forms.

The animal forms are as relevant as you are. Each form of nature is as relevant and as important to God as you are. But, again, an effect of the Fall is for mankind to believe that they are the pinnacle of evolution in physical matter.

Not so!

As a result of the Fall you ignore at best – you dominate and cause cruelty to at worst – the animal kingdom. They have a right to be here too because they bring back to the devas that they are part of evolution, so that the devas evolve, move on, move upwards, create new forms. It is a cycle: the consciousness goes back; it brings with it experience; the consciousness is brought forth into new forms and new experiences. That is how things should be.

So, from the point of view of the animal kingdom, they are existing on this planet as they should. But I should qualify and tune that a little because there are animals, are there not, that are violent? There are animals that feed on other animals, and you look at the animal kingdom and say: ‘Why is there such violence? Why do they have to kill each other?’ It is not in order to survive. They are acting and have acted for years and millennia on the instructions of the Field that seeks always more discord and more violence; on the instructions of the Field that say: ‘You have not enough power. You have not enough energy. You need to take it from that form, from this form …or you will not survive.’ And so we – mankind – through our thoughts, through the Field, have harnessed, shackled animals with the need to survive by preying on other animals. We have polluted their thought-processes whilst they are on Earth.

Originally there was a harmonious blend between all physical animal forms, including yourselves, because originally you did not need to kill to eat. You did not need to eat! You simply needed to recognise and take in and give out energy. In the harmonious time before the Fall you took in energy from the Godhead, you sent it out from your heart-centre and you created. There was energy for all because the misconception that you were separate from God hadn’t yet taken place. And the animal forms that were part of Creation and were as loved as you are, were free to come and go and exist without violence, without preying on each other.

So, the animals are extremely important but I have to say to you that everything that is of nature in your world is extremely important. God does not say: ‘This blade of grass is more important than a human being. This human being is more important than this tiger. This tiger is a bit more important than this penguin.’ God sees you as the Whole of Creation that you are. God sees you as parts of Himself – integral parts of Himself. There is only one organism in this room tonight. There is only one organism in this town tonight. There is only one organism in this country here tonight. There is only one organism in this continent here tonight. There is only one organism around the globe tonight – including the globe itself…

…GOD!

So…dumb animals? Not a bit of it. Their actions speak volumes… as indeed they are capable of doing if we know how to listen. They have an equal right to be here; they are an equal expression of Creation, and their interactions with us prove them to be, in many cases, far more loving, giving, selfless, caring, spiritually knowledgeable beings than certain of the human souls currently walking this Earth.

I, for one, am immensely grateful for their presence and innocence, and often remind myself that they have much to teach me.