“Spiritual perspectives on animals” is one of my favorite topics. So I was delighted that Reverend Mary Huber, pastor of the Community Chapel of Wholistic Healing, asked me to share on this exciting topic!

I’ve shortened the interview for clarity and brevity. Watch the whole interview here.

Maribeth: Being an animal communicator and healer go hand in hand for me. I cannot claim that I came out of the womb talking to animals. Later in life, I started taking energy healing classes, became a Reiki master, did Quantum-Touch®. That’s when my dogs started communicating with me.

For instance, my dog, Timmie visited me after he passed. I was making dinner. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him in the dining room! He had one ear up and one ear down, which is the “Timmy look,” and a great smile. Of course, I turned around and yelled, “Timmy!” with a surprised grin. But he was gone.

Unexpectedly, Timmie wasn’t a see-through guy. It was as if he was right there in the flesh. In that tiny moment, I knew he survived death, he was happy and excited. And he took the time to come back and tell me, “Hey mom, I’m good, I love you.” All in that small instant, right? It was great.

My dog Tibor’s the one that got me into animal communication. I would sit on the couch next to him and I would see guard (actually, attack) dog training in my mind. If you’ve ever seen the pictures where the guys are dressed in the big thick suit with the German Shepherds coming up to grab an arm, that’s what I’m talking about.

The first time it happened, I thought, “Well, that’s interesting.” The second time is, “I got to find out what the heck’s going on with this dog.” And that’s when I found out animal communication is a thing. So I started communicating with animals and their people. People’s hearts were so open that I just fell in love with just doing this.

Reverend Mary: I think it’s important work, Maribeth, because so many people have no other way to understand their animals. You have a wonderful gift because you’re helping so many people to understand their animals better.

Relationship counselor and trouble shooter

Maribeth: I feel like I’m a relationship counselor and troubleshooter! Because there are a lot of kitties out there not using their litter boxes. And there are dogs that are having issues with being good family members. For instance, some folks can’t bring people in the house because the dogs are acting like, “This is my house, what the heck are you doing here?” Or asking animals to stop waking their humans up at four in the morning, because humans get cranky without a good night’s sleep.

Missing communications

Reverend Mary: Do you think average people miss communications from their animals? I experience one dramatic instance! It was a very stormy day. I was at my daughter’s watching the kids while she worked. And she had two dogs who were outside on the deck.

All of a sudden, I heard very clearly, “Let us in!!” I thought, wait a minute, let us in? I looked at the door and they were standing there desperate to come in. Immediately, I thought, oh my goodness, they spoke to me. So I ran to open the door.

Maribeth: I think that happens a lot. In fact, before I knew that I was animal communicator, I heard my dog, Mitsubishi, talk to me. I said, “Man, if that dog could talk, I just heard him say….” Just know, if anybody’s ever had that thought in their mind, your animal just connected with you!

Reverend Mary: Can people learn how to do this?

Maribeth: They can. In fact, I’m teaching a UConnect animal communication class right now. First off, I think we are hard wired to receive energetic information. And when you add the love we have for animals, we open up our intuition even more. I help people learn how to do that.

We cover communicating with our animals, connecting with wild animals and helping our animals transition, plus an introduction to energy healing for our animals.

Spiritual Perspective on Animal Transitions

Maribeth: I am rewriting my original book, Peace in Passing, Comfort for Loving Humans During Animal Transitions. I decided to rewrite it because in the five years since I wrote the first book, I have worked with so many people and their animals, before, during and after transitions. And I thought, I just want to share every nugget of good information to help people navigate that transition.

Reverend Mary: And it’s a big navigation! When my son’s beagle Einstein died, we were crying like we were in the back of a funeral home for a person, bawling our eyes out! It was just so traumatic and so dramatic. And it took us quite a while before we got over that.

Maribeth: I don’t know that we honor that grief as a society.  So you lost a family member who’s not human. And in many cases, my tagline says it all about our relationship with our animals.

“I work with people who love their animals as much as (or more than) some of the people in their lives.”

That’s because there are fewer grudges between animals and their people than there are between people. In many cases, we get a lot more unconditional love from our animals.

On top of that, we have to decide to let them go, to set up the time of their death. That’s a heavy burden.

Not surprisingly, there’s a lot of guilt, a lot of what if’s  – did I do it too soon, did I wait too long, did they suffer, are they mad at me, do I need to ask them for forgiveness? All that stuff gets in the way of finding peace.

Spiritual Perspective on finding peace

Beyond knowing you took their quality of life into consideration, consider these truths.

Medical power of attorney

Once they become a part of your family, they give you a medical power of attorney. In other words, “I trust you to do the right thing.” And if you made the decision to let them go out of love and concern, that’s good enough for them.

Stay a little longer

I’ve asked dogs and cats to give their people a little more time so that they can prepare for the loss. Some folks got more time with their animals. But sometimes I hear, “I can’t, I’m sorry. I cannot keep my soul in my body anymore. I’ve got to go.” And it’s not that they don’t care. But rather, the body can’t continue on.

Reverend Mary: As a nurse, I’ve helped so many people and their families make that transition. There isn’t a lot of difference in the passing of our animals and humans. That’s because the connections are very strong. We have the need to integrate the animal kingdom in our world. Because they support us and make us a better human being.

Reverend Michelle Lusson who started our organization, said that many people needed to experience taking full responsibility for another living being.  By doing that, it aids their spiritual growth. And that relationship, as you said, is quite sacred.

Animals invite us to grow spiritually

Maribeth:  I also see how animals give us this opportunity to grow spiritually. Not just at the end, but in dealing with their own preferences, personalities and peculiarities. If we learn to find delight, in spite of, and sometimes because of, their uniqueness, there’s spiritual growth. We learn to love an imperfect being. And we allow their unconditional love into our hearts. That love softens us in a way that’s quite lovely.

Spiritual Perspective on animals with physical illnesses

Mary: I’ve seen animals take on something physical for the human. That’s so the person didn’t experience a disease or illness. But a lot of vets lack intuitive understanding of this level of relationship. Rather, they provide a mechanical (physical body only) response to questions. They’re not using intuition to find a more pertinent diagnosis from the spiritual perspective. I hope this works its way into the medical field, in both the vet area and as well as the human area; that they become more attuned.

Maribeth: And I think in some cases that is true. One of my vets had the insight to ask when I bought one of my dogs in, “Is there anything going on in the household we should know about?”

[Sidenote: This is not in the interview, but I asked my guides for more information about these phenomena. They said sometimes animals are paying a karmic debt, maybe from this life or a past life. And it’s voluntary, it’s out of affection and gratitude. A loving act was received and they offered a loving act in return.]

Another way of looking at animal illness

Maribeth: Remember, our animals live in the energetic emanations that we humans create. And we’re the leaders in the family (I don’t mean their alphas).  So it’s very important to consider what we emanate and how it affects our animals.

No matter where the illness originates, it’s always good to ask, “Is there anything in my life that if I got a handle on it, would help my animal?”

For instance, I worked with a woman and her dog, who had extreme separation anxiety. It was so bad that she found her dog tangled up in the blinds. So I asked, “Is it possible that she picks up some anxiety in you?” And she replied, “No, not really.” Later, she emailed me to say, “You know what? I do have a lot of anxiety. Knowing that, I started to meditate!”

After that, she didn’t need to crate her dog. She trusted her dog to give her dog more freedom around the house. And her dog loved it!

Animals evolve

Reverend Mary: Animals are also in the process of evolution. So we are being held accountable for them. They look to us for their growth and development as well. It’s a wonderful, lovely cooperative venture. But we don’t always realize that.

Spiritual perspective on short lives

Maribeth: Some animals don’t stay their normal lifecycle. Maybe it’s through disease or an accident. When I checked why they left, they felt complete. Their humans loved them unconditionally and this is exactly what they needed.

‘Cause many times, sadly, we view animals as commodities. What can they do for us, do they taste good, do they run fast? Are they good accessories?

But to just be loved and taken care of, because they’re a soul – that’s why these souls were here.  To experience unconditional love healed something in them.  So they were ready to leave the physical world.

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Community Chapel of Wholistic Healing

The Community Chapel of Wholistic Healing (CCWH) is a nondenominational spiritual community with a mission to foster expanded spiritual growth and development without dogma or prejudice. Founded in 1977, CCWH serves the cause of divine light by offering worship services, opportunities to receive healing, and teaching for integrating spiritual principles into daily living.

Learn more at https://www.ccwh.com/.