Anima! Intuitive Healing for Pets and People

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Current Articles:

His Stuff Or My Stuff
Toothache - A Reiki Story
Keiko
Ziggy Heals My Heart
The Story of Bridgett
Bluebird - A Waking Dream
Reiki Ethics
Tootsie, the Untouchable Cat

His Stuff Or My Stuff?

My dog, Zoroaster, suddenly started limping on his right hind leg. Using kinesiology to find out what kind of work might help him, I wasn’t getting any clear indications. Then it occurred to me to ask whether it was his stuff or my stuff. It was mine!

So I asked what that was trying to tell me. I was shown that it had to do with my relationship with my inner father. Termed a different way, it was the relationship my inner girl-child had with the father image I had internalized.

I had been doing some inner-child work in the past months. I drew some cartoons about what happened as I remembered it, then asked what I could change. Then I re-drew the cartoons from that new awareness. It was interesting how I felt a subtle shift in myself in response to this exercise. I believe I was successful at healing some situations from my childhood that were holding me back as an adult.

Just before I started that process, someone told me that, whatever you believe happened to you in the past, it’s just a story and you can change it. And a couple of weeks before that, I had caught myself telling someone else that you can change your future, and even your present state of consciousness, by changing the past. Integrating all of these concepts, I understood that I could heal my present by re-addressing past issues from a new state of awareness.

Contemplating on what needed to be healed about my relationship with my father, I remembered a dance recital when I was 6. I was dancing the part of one of the sugar-plum fairies in “The Nutcracker”. I heard one of the mothers say, “Isn’t it amazing how these little girls have their daddies wrapped around their little fingers.” Then I heard my mother’s voice saying, “Too bad Martha doesn’t.” I realized that my dad did not appear to value or validate my feminine, emotional, intuitive, or creative aspects.

In asking how I could heal this situation, I heard my father’s voice saying, “I love my daughter’s feminine, creative side. She can do anything she wants.” This went on all night! The next morning, Zoroaster was walking normally, indicating to me that the situation was on its way to resolution, if not already healed.

A couple of weeks later, Zoroaster was limping on a different foot. I remembered to ask whose stuff we were dealing with. I got that it was his stuff, a karmic situation from a past life. After asking permission to work with this, I did several sessions of TTouch on it over a period of 2-3 days. We were able to release the situation, and he began to walk normally again.

Post-script: Over the next few months, I had a series of dreams that indicated to me that my inner girl-child was growing up in her relationship with my inner father. In the most recent dream, they had a relationship as equal adults.

Looking back on this event of a few years ago, I realize that this is now a non-issue, and my relationship with my dad is now pretty healthy.

This article is copyright (c) 2007 Marti Wegner, all rights reserved. You may freely reprint in any eZine, website, or print journal. Please include the following attribution: "Anima! article (c) 2007 Marti Wegner, all rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. More free articles available online:
http://www.animaintuitive.com " and send me a courtesy note.

Toothache - A Reiki Story

A friend related to me that he was having a lot of tooth pain. I offered to do some Reiki for him, as that has consistently helped my llamas when they got abscessed teeth. Roy is a scientific person, who could be a skeptic, but I knew he was open to spiritual ideas. He didn't know what Reiki was, but told me to go ahead. I told him I would do it when/if/as I was guided to do it.

I got the inner nudge to do Reiki for him on two consecutive days. As I was doing the first session, I got a vision that was like a mixture of a blue-print and an x-ray. I saw three roots of a molar in the view I was given. One of the roots was glowing red. In my inner vision, I started stroking the red root and kept doing that until it became as white as the others. Then I did TTouch on the gum around the root for a while and ended the session. The next day, I did a normal Reiki session for as long as I was guided to do so. I didn't feel called to do it again.

I didn't hear from Roy right away. A week or two later, I called him for another reason, then told him about the experience I'd had. He said, "That's exactly what happened!” Then he related to me that he had been able to quit taking the pain-killing drugs the day I first worked on it, and the infection that had been causing the pain had disappeared. This was confirmed by his dentist.

Keiko

In the Summer of 1997, I went with my brother and his family to visit an aquarium on the Oregon coast while Keiko was there. I was excited at the prospect of seeing him, partly because I knew that Linda Tellington-Jones had worked with him. I had just gotten my Tellington TTouch Practitioner certification. I had been interested in whales for a long time, and I had recently done a Medicine Card spread in which the whale was the central figure. The whale corresponds to finding one's voice, and this was the beginning of a period of my life in which I would be finding mine. I was just interested in seeing what connection would be there for me.

When we got to Keiko's tank, it was obvious that Keiko was asleep, and people were noticeably disappointed. I just started inwardly singing HU, an ancient love song to our Creator that brings an awareness of Divine Love, and visualized myself doing TTouch on Keiko's body with great love and respect. In a minute or two, Keiko opened his eyes and swam directly toward me. He came right up to the glass that separated us and looked directly at me in acknowledgement. My sister-in-law said, "Look, Keiko is kissing Aunt Marti!" This was an out-loud acknowledgement of what I was indeed feeling inside. She documented this with a photograph.

This was one of the blessings of my life, and perhaps an offering of love and strength that I would need in the coming months. I hope that Keiko received the same in return, as I have thought of him with love over the intervening years.

I heard that Keiko's physical body died recently. Our public radio station aired a series of songs about whales in his honor. I shed some tears for him, not because he was released from his body, but because it didn't seem as if he was able to enjoy the fullness of being a free whale in this lifetime. However, if he had not been in captivity, he wouldn't have touched my life, or Linda's, or those of many other people who would otherwise never have seen a whale. He was truly an ambassador, and maybe that was his mission. I hope that part of his legacy will have been to nurture the love and respect that humans owe to the other great beings with whom we share this small planet.

This article is copyright (c) 2003 Marti Wegner, all rights reserved. You may freely reprint in any eZine, website, or print journal. Please include the following attribution: "Anima! article (c) 2003 Marti Wegner, all rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. More free articles available online:
http://www.animaintuitive.com " and send me a courtesy note.

Ziggy heals my heart

My husband had announced that we needed to get a divorce. I was a basket case for a while; I felt as if I were losing my whole life. I had just resigned from my job, ending an 18-year career, and had given up most of my benefits. I was losing my husband, farm, and home, and thought I would lose all my animal friends, as well. I had no income yet and knew that I would not stay in the small town where we lived, so my recent efforts at building a new business were wasted, and I would in effect be losing the friends I had there, too. I was devastated.

Ziggy, my huge, white, Great Pyrenees dog, had been a loving friend to me and a faithful guardian for our llamas. We all depended on him as an integral part of the llama farm. It was a great comfort to me to have him there on our isolated property when my husband moved out.

Ziggy was diagnosed with bone cancer a week later. The vet said it was progressing rapidly, and Ziggy would be in a lot of pain (which he was already), so I made the sad decision to let the vet help Ziggy move on. The day before this happened, my friend Tracy had asked me how I was going to heal the huge crater that had once been my heart. I didn't know.

Ziggy and I were strongly bonded. We had been mother and son in many lifetimes, many life-forms. He had shown me pictures of several different animal lives we had had and had told me that his favorite time was when he was a red parrot in the Amazon. He was the first animal who made it obvious to me that we could have real, conscious, interspecies conversations. It was painfully hard for me to let him go, when he had opened up some important doors for me. Many times I had thanked him for coming this time as a big, white dog.

I called my neighbor, Joe, and my husband, to allow them the opportunity to say goodbye to Ziggy. Joe drove 12 miles to the vet's office for this purpose. I knew they were close and was touched by his effort. My husband came to the vet's office to be there as Ziggy moved on. We petted him and cried, and I whispered HU (an ancient name for God sung as a love song) in his ear as he left his body. He did not go easily, seeming to have a strong desire to live and stay with me, in spite of the pain.

Two other couples, who had known Ziggy, came to the house to help bury him. It was nice to have their support. One of the women brought a poem she had found and a candle that we left lit on the grave until it burned out, almost until dawn. That served as his memorial service. For most of that night, I could see the light from Ziggy's candle flickering in my bedroom window.

The next evening, I went to a yoga class. At the end of the class, they did a guided visualization. As soon as we relaxed to do this, I went on my own trip. I saw and felt Ziggy curl up in the ragged cavity of my heart. I was given the impression that he was on loan to me from Spirit and was taking a sabbatical from his other work so that he could participate in my healing. Then, as my heart healed, Ziggy would shrink until he was so small that he would no longer be inside me, and then he would be free to return to me in a physical body, if we both desired it.

So I walked around feeling almost as if I were pregnant with this huge dog in my torso. I could feel him loving me every day. I could also feel him shrinking as my heart healed, although when I saw him in the inner worlds, he was as big as ever.

During that time, I had a lot of work to do. I had to decide where I would go, how to accomplish the move, how to take care of my animal friends, and how I would make a living. Dealing with lawyers and a divorce settlement that wouldn't resolve was another huge challenge, unprecedented in my life. I couldn't believe the enormity of what I was being asked to do. I don't think I could have lived through it without the love and strength of Ziggy in my heart and the help of my inner guide.

I knew that I was taking a chance without the protection of a livestock-guardian dog, but I was emotionally not equipped to take on the adoption of a puppy right away. The llamas sorely missed his protection, though, and frequently sounded their alarm calls. There were bears, mountain lions, coyotes, stray dogs, and other minor predators known to be in the area at times.

Ziggy finally got down to the size of my little fingertip. One day, I felt him, that tiny, inside my heart, and the next day, I felt his love from the outside. It had been five months and was now mid-April. I thanked Ziggy and my inner guide for the massive healing that had taken place thus far. And I started wondering when I would see Ziggy again.

A couple of months later, after a mountain lion had killed a special llama (see The Story of Bridgett, below), I was driving to a town 100 miles away. I usually stopped about halfway, and this time I stopped at a place I had never stopped before, as it had not been open. I parked in front of a huge chalkboard. The board had been sectioned off with chalk lines, and people had written their own ads in these squares. One lit up for me. It said, "7/8 Pyrenees puppies - 8 weeks old, $80".

Inwardly, I asked, "Ziggy, are you in one of those puppy bodies?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to live with me again?"

"Yes."

"Do you want another 'Z' name?"

"Zoroaster!" came a squeaky voice.

I knew that Zoroaster was a Persian mystic, but I would never have thought of that name for a small puppy. I said, "You know, people are going to want to call you Zorro."

He said, "Well, my friends can call me that."

I made arrangements to meet the puppies. I wanted to make sure I got the right one! One of the pups, made extreme efforts to come over and greet me, having to go around a woodpile and climb over some boards. The owners even commented on how much trouble he was taking to get to me. I got the impression that he was the one, and I took him home a couple of days later.

So Zoroaster came to live with me as my friend and protector, completing the healing of my heart that he had begun as Ziggy. Zoroaster has already had many adventures, and I rely on him as the protector of our farm. But mostly I love him and am grateful to him for the love and support he continues to give me. I'm so glad he came again as a big, white dog.

This article is copyright (c) 2001 Marti Wegner, all rights reserved. You may freely reprint in any eZine, website, or print journal. Please include the following attribution: "Anima! article (c) 2001 Marti Wegner, all rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. More free articles available online:
http://www.animaintuitive.com " and send me a courtesy note.

The Story of Bridgett: How a sick Llama led me to TTouch

Marti Wegner, 1996

Bridgett had had her second baby just over two months before, and suddenly we noticed that she had terrible diarrhea and was losing weight rapidly. We called the vet into the picture. It appeared that Bridgett was losing protein like crazy, but she was not interested in eating anything except fresh vegetables. So we gave her those just to get something down her, and made a slurry of some protein capsules the vet gave us. He was not very experienced with llamas, as we were the first llama clients he had, so he called around the country trying to find some expert advice. No one seemed to know what was wrong, but the consensus was that we'd find out in 3 days when he did the autopsy! The scenario was especially upsetting since there was a two-month-old baby involved, who would then have to be bottle-fed. In llamas, this is a potentially hazardous situation, since it disrupts the normal bonding process, and there is a chance that the llama will bond with humans, rather than with llamas. We were also caring for another critically-ill llama, a male who had been attacked by dogs and very nearly died.

We didn't have a proper barn yet, so we had to put all three in a converted woodshed. We had a few weeks of -20° F weather that Winter, so shelter was critical.

Since the medical world had no clues for us, we turned to the alternative and intuitive areas. My aunt had suggested that aloe vera helps with diarrhea, so we added that to the protein slurry, and it seemed to slow things down a bit. After the news from the vet that Bridgett was probably going to die, I was sick and depressed, and finally resigned to the fact that I would be losing my dear llama friend. I remember calling Marty McGee after several other referrals. Crying, I told her that I had a llama who was probably dying, and I just wanted to know if I could do anything to make her more comfortable. She asked whether I knew how to do Abalone Circles. I had read about them in a llama magazine and thought I could do them. She said to do series of Abalone Circles along Bridgett's spine. It was a comfort to talk with someone who could give me any suggestion at all. I also got some advice from Marty about mitigating the effects of bottle-feeding a male baby.

So I went out to the woodshed and started to do the circles along Bridgett's spine. After a couple of circles, I was shown where to put my hand next. This was a form of non-verbal communication. Every day for weeks, I spent time every day in the woodshed doing bodywork on Bridgett. I also learned some other techniques, including muscle-testing and ear work, and experimented with sound therapy.

The baby, Sammy, had to be weaned early in order to spare Bridgett's precious protein. We had a few disastrous experiences with attempts to bottle-feed him and just accepted the fact that he would need to be gelded at the earliest opportunity. Since bottle-feeding was a failure, the vet told us to start giving him grain (he was 3 months old by then). I think he may have grown up a little small for his genetic potential due to poor nutrition at this stage of life. He always was a little friendlier than most, and this may have contributed to his survival. He was gelded early to insure that he didn't have problems as he approached puberty.

Four months later, Bridgett was making pellets again, meaning her digestion was working properly at last. Five months later, she wanted to be bred. We made her wait a while for that. Finally, she gained all the weight back - she had lost well in excess of 100 pounds - and seemed healthy again. The fact that everyone survived this experience was a miracle by everyone's standards, including the vet's. Doing the TTouch was a major turning point, for me and for Bridgett. It seemed to open me up to more insight, as well as opening Bridgett to the opportunity to recover.

Bridgett lived to have four more babies, and five years later she was killed by a mountain lion. I believe that she volunteered so that her children could live on. She was certainly one of my teachers, and I’m grateful to have had five more good years with her.

This article is copyright (c) 1996 Marti Wegner, all rights reserved. You may freely reprint in any eZine, website, or print journal. Please include the following attribution: "Anima! article (c) 1996 Marti Wegner, all rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. More free articles available online:
http://www.animaintuitive.com " and send me a courtesy note.

Bluebird - A Waking Dream

Ó Marti Wegner, 1998-2007

I looked out my kitchen window in Montana on a chilly day in March and saw a bluebird trapped in my shed window. I rushed outside to see what I could do about setting him free. The bird was flapping against the shed's one window. He was up high, and I had to climb up on a counter to get to him. I was singing HU, an ancient name for God sung as a mantra or love song to God, and sending love to the bluebird. I had my doubts about the success of the whole thing. But I put out my finger, and he hopped on! I cupped my other hand over his tiny body. What a privilege it was to hold this small body in my hands, feel the heart beat, and know that this creature was Soul, as great a being as you or I.

I had to jump down from the counter and get out the door with this scared little guy on my finger. When I opened the door, I positioned the bluebird so that he had a clear shot at the open sky. I took my protective and confining hand off his small body, and a second later, he let out a shrill cry that seemed to mingle agony and ecstasy at the same time - a cry of freedom. He flew straight up to the tip of the highest tree around and stayed there for a long time. I imagined that he was breathing heavily with the adrenaline of fear and freedom. I wondered whether he could feel my love and appreciation for the experience of loving and letting go - the expression of detached love.

In my personal life, I was having an experience in which my inner guide was asking me to loosen my grasp on someone I loved dearly, but with too much attachment. (The rocky future of this relationship would show me how important it was for me to maintain some degree of detachment.) I kept asking, "Did I let go enough?" I knew the bluebird experience was a waking dream that referred to this relationship.

The next day, I was working with a llama in the pasture. I felt something, and my eye was drawn to the bluebird, sitting on a stump nearby. He looked at me pointedly, and I felt that he was insuring that I had indeed seen and recognized him. Only then did he fly off. Waking dream, part 2, in my opinion. Did I let go enough? In the next week or so, the one I loved committed to meeting me at an upcoming event. Sure seemed like the bluebird coming back to my yard after I had released him. Future events would show that he would fly off again, like the bluebird.

This is an example of how waking dreams can help us get ready to shift our attitudes in preparation for physical events.

Reiki Ethics

By Marti Wegner with Lee Slichter, 2007

(This article was created as part of a handout for our Reiki-training classes.)

Dr. Usui, who is said to have re-discovered Reiki, is said to have received these “Reiki Ideals” in meditation for the purpose of adding spiritual balance to his healing work. These ideals are described as the Usui Reiki Treatment for the improvement of body and mind. Usui believed that consciously taking responsibility and deciding to improve oneself was a vital attribute of the Reiki practitioner and also necessary for the client, if the healing was to be a long-term effect. One translation describes them as “the secret art of inviting happiness, the miraculous cure for all diseases.”

Just for today:

I will let go of anger.

I will let go of worry.

I will give thanks for my many blessings.

I will do my work honorably.

I will be kind to my neighbor and every living being.

* * * * * *

It is said that anyone can learn to practice Reiki, no matter what their background, philosophy, state of health, or state of consciousness. While I believe that this is true, the attributes I look for in a practitioner (and aspire to myself) include refinement of vibrations, balance, purity of intent, clarity of focus, and harmony with my own state of consciousness. I naturally avoid those who exhibit abusive or addictive patterns. A person who works toward letting go of anger and worry and is honest, grateful, and kind would be more likely to exhibit the attributes I value.

Whatever state of consciousness you start from, Reiki energy will ask more of you; it will guide you toward greater clarity and to make better choices. In a way, it will say, “Physician, heal thyself.” I think that most energy workers are continually working toward more clarity and greater love.

You owe it to yourself and your clients to be the best and clearest vehicle you can be.

My inner Reiki Guide once told me that Reiki is just Divine Love modified for use in the lower worlds (the physical/emotional/mental arenas). Universal or Divine Love is non-attached love (not attached to the results). By this I mean that the practitioner is only a conduit for divine love and does not direct the energy or use her own energy to get a particular result. If your energy is being depleted, you are not doing Reiki but rather psychic healing and probably doing a disservice to your client by taking away a lesson from which they had more to learn. This is how a practitioner could take on karma from a client.

Remember that Reiki is by definition spiritually guided. True Reiki practitioners keep their egos out of the way and allow Spirit and the being receiving Reiki to decide how to use this energy. Words that describe this attitude are: “Thy will be done…best for all concerned…for the good of the whole…this or something better.”

Being asked or having permission to work with someone is another issue that is important to me. I feel strongly that it is a violation to enter another’s space (physical or not) without being invited.

This is pretty straightforward with a conscious, articulate human, but what about pets? Besides being asked by the pet’s guardian, I always also ask that being and my own inner guide whether it would be best if I worked with him/her.

The case of an unconscious human is similar. In this situation I am very careful and discriminating. I have only done this once, when I was called by the friend of someone who was in a coma. I talked with the being in question and my inner guide and felt that I was told to go ahead. A helpful attitude to have in all of these situations is: Can I? - May ?I - Should I?

Reiki practitioners are only the facilitators for healing, vehicles for this loving energy. If we do our own inner work, walk our talk, and allow Divine Love to flow through us, we can indeed be instruments of healing and peace.

Tootsie, the Untouchable Cat

Ó Marti Wegner 2007

Tootsie, a three-year-old half-Himalayan cat, had never liked to be touched or petted. Even when having a snack, she would always shrink away from a hand. She’s a mighty and successful huntress, and her attitude had seemed to be, “I just like to watch.”

I read about the Feather TTouch and decided to see if Tootsie would tolerate it. TTouch is a way of working with the body to release fear and pain, replacing these with love.

I started by working only in her aura (energy field), as she shrank away from a hand even approaching her. She is a very sensitive being, aware of stimuli at a distance from her physical body. I started a few inches above and got closer as she became more tolerant. Within a few moments, I was touching her body.

Not only did she tolerate it; she seemed to like it! After one session lasting just a few minutes, she relaxed enough to allow me to pet her in a normal way. The next day, she seemed “untouchable” again, so I tried the Feather TTouch again. She then allowed me to stroke and pet her as before.

Fourteen years later (she is 17 now), Tootsie is touchable and affectionate. In the interim, whenever she seemed a little aloof again, I just did some Feather TTouches, and she bounced back right away. She also enjoys the other TTouches and other loving touch. She solicits loving interactions and accepts acupressure work, as well.

TTouch has facilitated Tootsie’s transformation from a stand-offish observer into a loving friend and companion. I am honored and grateful to have been able to assist this being in taking her next step in healing and love.

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In my practice I use non-invasive methods of touch, light, energy, sound, and unconditional love to relieve stress and promote general feelings of good health. Currently, no licensing is available in the state of Idaho for these practices. While I encourage everyone to take more responsibility for their own health, I do not diagnose, treat, or cure any disease or intend that this work should replace medical care. Statements made in this website are my opinion and should not to be confused as indisputable fact.