Angel Animals: Divine Messengers of Miracles

Pets

Introduction

Animals offer tremendous help by simply being who and what they are. They are beings who still remember the original instructions given them by an ancient universe.

— Susan Chernak McElroy

Animals are divine messengers of miracles that go far beyond emotional comfort and practical assistance. Talk to those who have been transported to a heavenly place by the gentle purring of a kitten or whose broken hearts, burdened by worry and pain, have been mended by a dog licking their hand. They will tell you that animals connect them with the River of Life in ways poets imagine and mystics contemplate. They will tell you that their deepest and most sincere relationships with animals are spiritual partnerships.

Some belief systems teach that we all begin our earthly existence as souls guided by God, Spirit, the Creator, the Divine, the Sacred — or whatever word you use for the Source of all life — into exactly the body, mind, emotions, and circumstances that will help us grow spiritually. We believe that animals have also made spiritual agreements with life. Animals gain spiritual experience in this earthly classroom using bodies that walk, crawl, hop, slither, fly, or leap. It is for spiritual, not only biological reasons, that animals accept their positions in the circle of life and with us humans.

One spring day we walked around the lake near our house. Our yellow Labrador retriever, Taylor, pranced in front of us with a big grin that made passersby smile at her exuberance. We were discussing the valuable life lessons animals and beloved pets were teaching us. As a cool Minnesota breeze filtered through the trees, we realized that animals brought an endless supply of love and joy to our lives. Excitedly, we began to list the many ways these special creatures with whom we shared our home over the years had demonstrated spiritual qualities, such as love, mercy, and inner peace. We wondered if other people were having similar experiences.

Linda and Allen Anderson with (left to right) Sparkle, Cuddles, Taylor, and Sunshine

After our two wonderful children were grown, we filled our empty nest with pets. Five of them are no longer with us physically, but they live on in our hearts and memories. Mugsie was a cat with an attitude who lived twenty-one years. Prana, a gentle golden retriever, taught us the meaning of service. Feisty, pure love in a cat’s body, filtered his casual attitude into our hectic days. Sparkle, a shimmering gray cockatiel, loved her mate, Sunshine, and gave to him and to us without expecting a return. Taylor was a bundle of boundless energy. We named her Taylor as a play on words because her puppy dog tail wagged with such force that it sometimes knocked her over. Filled with a zest for life, she ran through the field behind our house with wild abandon, ears flapping, leaping through the air as if she were flying on angel wings.

Our current angel animal family includes Speedy, a brown and gray tabby with a tiny face. He is our resident scaredy-cat. We rescued Speedy, the last of a litter, from a house where the toddler confused him with a ninja warrior and attempted to engage him in combat. When we met him, the kitten flung himself over Linda’s shoulder, purred like a freight train, and yelled, Get me out of here! Since then, he has become more trusting and affectionate.

Speedy Anderson

Sunshine is a lively, personable cockatiel. He comes out of his cage when the other animals are safely tucked away. Bright yellow with lustrous orange circles like spots of rouge on his cheeks, Sunshine is the sound master of the family. He melts our hearts by saying, I love you, Sweet Baby, followed by birdie kisses. He serenades us with birdsongs that he hears in the neighborhood, his rendition of This Old Man, plus a variety of whistles and chirps. He sounds like the telephone ringing when he wants attention or needs a good laugh as we run to answer it/him. When he finishes ringing, he often says, Hello. Sunshine, whose favorite letter seems to be Z, uses his beak to help Allen type at the computer keyboard.

Cuddles is a black cat with white on her paws, belly, whiskers, and the tip of her nose. One of her back legs is white on the outside, and the other is white on the inside, making her look as if she was dipped in a paint bucket by an absentminded artist. No matter where Cuddles is in the house, each morning she runs to sit on Linda’s lap while she takes time for prayer and quiet reflection. Cuddles teaches us how to get in touch with our inner kitten. She shows us that no matter how serious things might be, anything can be turned into a toy, and we have learned from her that it’s really fun to chase your tail.

The newest Anderson is our jet-black cocker spaniel, Leaf. When we adopted him from the animal shelter, the card on his cage proclaimed ABANDONED. He has become a joyful, exuberant family member with winsome ways and an intelligence that far surpasses our brainpower and imagination. We named him Leaf because on our first walk with him around the lake, he demonstrated a fondness — bordering on mania — for autumn leaves. Later, as we watched him bounding around the house and flitting from one interest to another, we realized that the name also fit his personality.

Leaf Anderson

After our discussions during that spring afternoon walk with Taylor in 1996, a project started taking shape. Allen sent a request to pet publications and animal organizations asking if people wanted to share stories about the spiritual truths and lessons animals teach them. We posted flyers on bulletin boards at local grocery stores and coffee shops. Also, Allen went on the Internet and made announcements in the chat rooms of pet and animal interest groups. Within thirty days, we received hundreds of replies. Ordinary people from all over the world wrote to us about their spiritual experiences with dogs, cats, raccoons, rabbits, horses, rodents, and birds. Their quality stories were touching, humorous, and remarkably inspiring. They often began with the words, You’re not going to believe this … or I’ve never told this to anyone …

As two writers, we knew we had to devise a plan for sharing the stories we were collecting. They were too wonderful to keep to ourselves. We decided to publish a newsletter and call it Angel Animals. (Later, we switched to publishing a free online newsletter, Angel Animals Story of the Week, which reaches thousands of readers around the world to unite a wonderful community of animal lovers.) Within months of our lake walk, we established our first website. To our surprise, thousands of people from many countries quickly wrote to ask for more information. Soon, the newsletter was mentioned favorably in magazines and newspapers, and we were doing media interviews and public workshops and presentations. We called our project the Angel Animals Network and were on our way to becoming a clearinghouse for stories from people who realize that their neighborhoods, backyards, parks, and skies teem with conscious life.

What Is the Nature of Animals?

We defined angel animals by going back to the Greek derivation for the word angel, which is angelos and literally means messenger. Angel animals are messengers. They assure people that God’s love, guidance, and protection are always near.

Angel animals can be daily pet companions or animals in nature. They naturally demonstrate spiritual qualities, such as gratitude, courage, and forgiveness. They connect each of us to our higher nature because they operate from their higher nature; beyond thought and emotion, they love unconditionally. If you hear the spiritual messages angel animals send, you will improve your relationships and ability to handle life’s challenges, as well as increase your understanding of the spiritual realms.

To bring the concept of angel animals into the world, we began to research books about animals. We found a debate raging that often consumed pages of text. Authors and scientists expressed concern or offered arguments to prove that their observations about animals were not merely anthropomorphic.

In writing this book, we are not presenting views of animals that only reflect human behavior, which would be considered anthropomorphism. In the stories we are sharing, animals use their own type of logic. They strategize. They feel. They remember, interpret, and make choices.

Skeptics might dismiss the incredible events of these stories as mere coincidence. Because of the volume of anecdotes and examples, combined with our own experiences, we have come to accept animals as conscious spiritual beings with spiritual natures. We believe that rather than viewing life as humans do, animals have unique perspectives that are as low as a person’s ankles, as high as the sky, and as expansive as eternity.

Not being theologians, we don’t feel the need to present arguments about whether or not animals have souls, go to heaven, or return after death in miraculous ways. Some of the contributors to this book, like us, believe all of these things about animals are true, and others don’t believe much or any of it. Their stories often raise more questions than they answer.

Just as humans have a spiritual dimension in addition to mental, emotional, and physical aspects, so do animals. Animals — rather than being saintly — act as humans do, from the level of base instinct all the way up the scale to displaying spiritual virtues. Yet it’s remarkable how often animals choose higher rather than lower paths. We marvel at how many animals are naturally compassionate and forgiving, instead of clinging to fear, anger, and mistrust.

We know, as do many people who live with animals, that animals enrich humans’ lives spiritually. We made a point in this book of presenting possibilities to consider rather than lecturing about what people should or should not believe. Even though some churches invite animals to their services (Linda had a funny moment in Africa with a chicken who regularly attends the worship services), animals don’t belong exclusively to any one religion. Angel animals demonstrate how to be truly religious by tuning in to the spiritual essence that connects all life and by acting as messengers of God’s love in this world.

Mystical animal images grace Ice Age caves. From earliest times, dogs have been companions for people. Of course, cats wait with dignity to be restored to their rightful pedestals and worshiped as the deities they were in ancient Egypt. Artists depict humans flying on winged horses. Since the dawn of civilization, humans have known what many today are rediscovering: When you look into the eyes of angel animals, you can see their spiritual natures. You see yourself reflected in their gentle gaze. You see the work of a loving God.

How We Wrote This Book

For Angel Animals: Divine Messengers of Miracles, we selected stories that have what we call the chill factor. When we read them, they sent a chill up our spines. It was hard to choose, and we had to leave out some remarkable stories because there wasn’t enough space for all of them. The ones we share with you are unique, inspiring, and amazing. They introduce a variety of animals who illustrate important spiritual principles. Most of the people who sent stories to us aren’t professional writers, and their stories have never been published. The storytellers come from many walks of life, cultures, parts of the world, and belief systems. We encourage you to look at the Contributors section in the back of the book for additional information about them.

The book is organized into three parts, each with four chapters. Each part takes a different look at how spiritually connecting with animals improves quality of life. In part 1, angel animals demonstrate the spiritual aspects of relationships; in part 2, angel animals help people handle challenges that life sends their way; and in part 3, angel animals comfort those who are dealing with death and have questions or concerns about the afterlife.

When we edited these precious stories, we kept the animal’s viewpoint in mind. We asked the question, What is the spiritual message this animal is trying to deliver? After the stories, we added points to reflect on. These meditations present life lessons that the angel animals in each story may be teaching. If you wonder what makes Angel Animals different from other collections of stories about animals, the meditations are one of this book’s unique features. They are designed to help you look at the stories in relation to your own life and extend them from the abstract and inspirational to the practical and beneficial.

At the end of the book, we tell you more about ourselves, other Angel Animals Network projects, and how you can get in touch with us. We are always collecting more true stories for future books in the Angel Animals series and would love to hear from you.

As you read and reflect on the stories in this collection, we invite you to explore the following questions with us:

• Have animals, as your spiritual partners, learned things that humans aren’t aware of yet?

• What do animals experience that humans do not?

• Are angel animals helping you in amazing and miraculous ways?

• Would it help humans to understand and emulate spiritual virtues that animals demonstrate?

• Why are angel animals in your life? Do they have a spiritual purpose for being with you at this time, under these circumstances?

• Are angel animals delivering spiritual messages? What are they?

We believe that if you overlook the wealth of wisdom and insight angel animals have to share, it is like living in a room full of encyclopedias without ever referring to them. When you ignore what angel animals are teaching, you are forgetting to open your gifts from God. Angel animals show how we are all connected by the golden thread of the Creator’s love. A heartfelt wish, from our family to yours, is that after you read these stories and consider the spiritual lessons you are leaning from angel animals, you will view the creatures with whom you share this planet in a whole new light — the light of God.

PART ONE

What Angel Animals

Teach about

Relationships

Ask the sea gulls offshore

The time of the tide.

We’re leaving they’ll answer,

So, ask the waves!

— Japanese Zen saying

Each morning, when we take the cover off our cockatiel’s cage to welcome the day, Sunshine’s first words to us are, I love you, Sweet Baby. This bird has an extensive vocabulary of words, whistles, and songs. But he chooses to assure us that we’re loved by our birds, by the universe, by God.

Spiritual connections are illuminated in many other ways by the angel animals in our home. If one of us was away, we always knew when the other would return because our dog, Taylor, would sit alertly at the window or door five minutes before the absent person’s arrival. She was linked to us in ways that sometimes seem unfathomable. She reminded us that we are drawn together through invisible golden strands of mutual love.

Many people have written to us about how they have recognized the sacred connections between themselves and angel animals. Kathia Haug Thalmann from Pazzallo, Switzerland, wrote about her spiritual interaction with an insect.

Healing with a Dragonfly

So many times God has spoken to me about love through animals. I was sitting in a very powerful spiritual place outdoors and could feel this healing energy. I asked God to help me heal from an inner wound. In that instant, a beautiful dragonfly with golden wings landed in the palm of my open hand and stayed there for a long time. This immediately opened my heart to receive the healing. I cried tears of joy.

If you accept that your very essence is gently woven into the arch of a rainbow, the lap of a wave upon the shore, and the wagging of a puppy dog’s tail, then you’ll be filled with the spiritual virtue of abundance. You’ll know that love and miracles are all around. If only you can recognize and accept them, you’ll understand the message of angel animals and become aware of your spiritual lifelines to each other and to God.

Throwaway Kids and Throwaway

Animals Found Each Other

Linda Lansdell

Red Deer, Alberta, Canada

Afew years ago I taught emotionally disturbed teens in a group home. My students, all in crisis situations, could be there for a day, a week, or months. Many of them required our lockup facility so they wouldn’t hurt themselves or others.

These very tough kids—some were prostitutes or drug users — often came directly from prison to my classroom. They were society’s throwaway kids — youngsters without homes, street children bereft of families to love and care for them. They suffered from severe emotional problems. In the classroom I could see that their hearts were broken. They desperately needed to receive love but, more important, they needed to give it.

I found ways for my kids to help around the classroom and to tutor each other. Their self-worth grew as they gave of themselves. I always marveled at how, when offered the opportunity, they’d open their hearts and take pride in doing a job well. No one seemed to want or need them. Yet it was amazing how responsibly they’d act when they felt needed.

One summer a friend mentioned an idea that I thought would be a great program for my students. They could volunteer to help at our local animal shelter.

I called the director of the shelter and proposed that my kids offer their services. The director immediately liked the idea. Here was an opportunity for homeless, abused teens with broken hearts to meet homeless, abused animals with broken hearts. I never imagined how beneficial the relationships between these kindred spirits would be!

The plan was simple. We arranged that every Wednesday morning I’d bring over my little crew and they’d shovel waste, clean the runs, wash dog and cat bowls, and feed the animals.

But then came the risky part of the program.

After finishing their chores, the youngsters would earn the freedom to walk one of the dogs in the wooded area behind the shelter. Their walk together would be unsupervised.

Students often ran away from our group home. Yet here I was handing them the freedom and responsibility of walking from the shelter into a wooded area where I couldn’t even see them.

Could they handle it? Would any of them run away?

The group home staff helped me work out standards students would need to meet each week if they were to go to the animal shelter. We all agreed that this was an unusual program, but everyone was willing to try it. The payoff could be wonderful, if it worked.

So, each week on Wednesday morning the staff and I carefully went over the list of students who had met the requirements. All week, students worked hard to curb their tempers, be cooperative, and get their schoolwork completed so they could have a morning with the animals.

Those who qualified were driven to the animal shelter for a morning of serving and loving something beyond themselves. At the shelter they saw animals who had been mistreated and abandoned. The kids quickly made the analogy that this place was a group home for animals, just as their group home housed kids who had been hurt and rejected. It was amazing to see how even the most hardened, tough kids understood the animals’ loneliness and pain at not having a loving home of their own.

I emphasized to my students how much the animals needed their love and care. For some kids, it was a slow process and others took to the idea immediately. Soon, most of them were opening their hearts to the abused animals. They took pride in themselves and the kind of job they did because they knew the animals needed them. We focused on helping the students give of themselves. As they served the animals, the youngsters were transforming before our eyes. We watched them learning how to accept unconditional love from the dogs and cats.

I especially noticed the changes that were happening in my students one day when a very special rabbit was brought into the shelter while they worked. The kids were horrified at the sight of this poor creature. He’d been dipped into a barrel of oil and left unable to move. The little rabbit could barely breathe. He was completely soaked, his eyes painfully filled with oil.

Suddenly, even the most self-centered troublemakers among our group were consumed with concern for the