Dawn Baumann Brunke - Animal Voices, Animal Guides: Discover Your Deeper Self through Communication with Animals

For my daughter, Alyeska: kind friend to animals, joyful explorer of life, the one who knows how to make me laugh.

Animal Voices, Animal Guides

Animal Voices, Animal Guides presents the principles of how to communicate with animals and is filled with delightful passages of wisdom from animal helpers and teachers. The sections on dreams, healing, and animal guides are as practical as they are enriching.

PENELOPE SMITH, AUTHOR OF ANIMAL TALK,
WHEN ANIMALS SPEAK, AND ANIMALS IN SPIRIT

Animal Voices, Animal Guides is a wonderful resource for anyone interested in communicating with animals and other aspects of nature. Dawn Baumann Brunke expresses a wide range of thoughtful, inspirational, and genuinely empowering teachings and stories.

NICKI SCULLY, AUTHOR OF POWER ANIMAL MEDITATIONS,
JOURNEYS WITH YOUR SPIRIT ALLIES, AND ALCHEMICAL HEALING

Brunke offers human and animal wisdom to guide and encourage the increasing effort to restore balance and respect among all beings.

BEST FRIENDS MAGAZINE

Acknowledgments

T hanks to all the animals, of so many forms and species, who offered their insight and wisdom, humor, and helpful collaboration in making this book a reality.

Thanks to the many humans, professional communicators and students alike, who shared their views, messages, and experiences. Special thanks to friends Tera Thomas, Penelope Smith, Rita Reynolds, Morgine Jurdan, Gretchen Kunz, Carole Devereux, and Kat Berard for extra assistance and support.

Thanks to manuscript readers Carol Baumann, Gretchen Kunz and Maya, Tera Thomas, Patricia Wade, and Katarina Werkmeister for excellent suggestions and words of encouragement.

Thanks to all the great folks at Bear & Company who help to create books of beauty and substance, especially Jon Graham and Jeanie Levitan; Peri Champine for an engaging cover; Virginia Scott Bowman for an elegant design; my editors, Laura Schlivek and Anne Dillon; and copy editor, Victoria SantAmbrogio.

Thanks to my parents, Richard and Carol Baumann, and my husband, Bob Brunke, for wholehearted support and love; to my daughter, Alyeska, never-ending source of joy, laughter, and inspiration; and to my very good pals Barney, Zak, Max, and Riza.

List of Exercises

INTRODUCTION

The Door Is Round and Open...

We are the doorways through which life unfolds.

WU WEI, CHINESE SCHOLAR

T his is a book of possibilities.

Maybe youd like to learn to telepathically communicate with animals, or maybe you want to relate to your dog or horse or parrot in a deeper way. Maybe youre looking to find an animal guide who can show you a few things, or maybe you dream of a small golden toad and want to learn more. Maybe your beloved cat is dying and you want to know how to connect with her in her final days. Or maybe youre interested in discovering what its like to see the world from an entirely different perspectiveexperiencing life through the eyes of a whale, dolphin, eagle, giraffe, or jaguar.

If anyor allof these things are true, then this is the book for you. For in the following pages we will explore many different ways of more consciously awakening to the worlds animal voices. We will share in the wisdom of the two-legged, four-legged, winged, and gilled alikefrom spirit animals and guardians to mythic animals and human teachers, from dogs and cats and llamas and lions, to ravens and sharks and rabbits and frogs.

A fundamental principle of this book is that there are limitless ways of being in the world. To explore this idea, we will look at a wide variety of techniques and toolsa rich tapestry of ways to see and feel and hear and touch and sense and be. And in so doing, we will look deeper within ourselves.

Behold, a sacred voice is calling you.
All over the sky a sacred voice is calling you.

BLACK ELK

We begin the journey by recalling a time when humans and animals shared a common awareness and connection within the great Web of Life. Our ancestors were able to tap in to a universal language, communicating easily with animals and all aspects of nature. We, too, carry this ability within ourselves. So, if your most burning question is Can I really talk with animals? the answer is Yes! And thats not all. One of the great things about learning how to listen to animals is that we cant help but learn to listen to the deeper nature of ourselves. The process changes us in ways both inspiring and unforeseen.

We will investigate unusual encounters and magical meetings of the animal kindthose moments when an animal shows up in life in just the right way, at just the right time. We will discover the ways of animal guides and teachers, look at the awe-inspiring ways that animal spirits, power animals, and totems visit our everyday lives as well as our visions and dreams, helping us in so many ways. We will visit the wonderfully creative world of dreamsof both humans and animalsand examine those treasures that come to us in the wee hours of the night.

We will deepen in relationship as well, looking at ways to heal with animals and be more present in our lives, especially during times of transition and death. We will develop skills to see animals and ourselves with new eyes and form partnerships in more meaningful ways. We will play with shifting the shape of our consciousness, viewing the world from wider, deeper perspectives, seeing through animal eyes, beholding the splendor of diversity, and so also seeing ourselves anew.

Throughout these adventures, some of what you read may not make sense. And that, too, is often a fine and helpful thing. For always in our experiences we are planting seeds. By reading and playing with a variety of ideas and suggestions, we may be surprised to find that some of the things that do not fit now may be just what we need in the future.

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.

ALBERT EINSTEIN

When I began writing Animal Voices, my first book about animal communication, I hadnt yet actually talked to any animals. Instead, I was interviewing professional communicators, asking them how this worked and how one could learn to connect with animals in such a way. I discovered many things that helped me to understand how talking to animals was possible, and yet... something was missing.

It wasnt until the day that a flock of little brown birds showed up on the bush outside my office window that I personally experienced what it was like to talk with animals. I was working on my manuscript at my computer when, from the corner of my eye, I saw the rush of birds onto the bush. Without a thought or plan, I put my hand on my heart, rose from my seat, and walked to the window. As I greeted the little birds in my mind, I heard their greeting in return! For me, this extraordinary event changed everything.

Why had the birds shown up just then, and why had I noticed them? What made me decide to talk with them? And how was it that I could hear them? Did everything I had learned from the communicators suddenly click and allow me to naturally open myself to the voices of the birds? I wasnt trying to do anything. Rather, it was as if a part of me that always knew how to communicate with animals suddenly awoke. I remembered.