Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance

Back in January, I wrote about my dog client, Kaya, who had been receiving reiki along with her chemotherapy. I had been thrilled to see that Kaya never experienced any of the usual side effects of chemotherapy and her mom and I were sure it was the reiki that had made that possible. It made me wish that more people would try alternative treatments, not only for their animals, but for themselves as well, if they were faced with cancer.

The morning after I posted that blog, I got an email from a woman named Jackie at the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance, (www.mesothelioma.com) home asking me if I would like to be listed on their website as a reiki resource, in their alternative treatments section. I couldn't believe it. The timing was not something I could ignore. I put the idea out there to the Universe and in less than 24 hours, I got a response. It was exciting to think there was a big organization out there who understood the important role alternative treatments can play in our health and well-being.

I exchanged a few emails with her and checked out their website as well, to learn more about the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance, and I have to say, I was really impressed. This is an organization that is doing everything they can to help people with a cancer diagnosis (and while their focus is on mesothelioma, I believe almost everything on their site could apply to anyone with any type of cancer). I know many people who have received a cancer diagnosis and it often felt like the equivalent to a death sentence . . . but on this particular website, it is clear that their intention is for people to get WELL. Everything about it felt really positive.

When I got on the website, I first clicked on their alternative treatments tab to see what they recommended (www.mesothelioma.com/treatment/alternative) alternative and found thirty-three alternative options! Most of them are treatments that I am very familiar with and I couldn't help but feel excited that there was an organization out there who really understands the benefits of alternative treatments. They seemed to be communicating the very same thing that I was writing about in December . . . that often times, a combination of eastern and western medicine can be a powerful and effective approach to dealing with cancer, that we don't have to go all western or all eastern.

Through my email exchanges with Jackie, I found out that animals can get mesothelioma as well. (www.mesothelioma.com/asbestos-cancer/pets-animals) pets which surprised me. While most animals don't have a "job" where they are exposed to asbestos, very often they are the pets of people who have been exposed. If the asbestos is on their guardians clothes when they come home from work, there's a chance that pets can end up getting mesothelioma. What was encouraging is that they believe animals would benefit from all the same treatment options they offer humans and encourage animal guardians to explore their recommended resources.

I was so impressed with the work they are doing, that I told Jackie I was going to write about their organization in my blog. Knowing how scary and overwhelming a cancer diagnosis can be, it was comforting to think there was an organization out there that was trying to collect all the information a person might need, all in one place. The fact that the website is well organized and easy to navigate made me even more interested in putting the word out about their website. One page on their website summarizes all the resources a person might need to explore, from doctors, to hospitals, to alternative treatments to experimental treatments. (www.mesothelioma.com/community/) community

While I don't wish for anyone (human or animal) to get a cancer diagnosis, it is nice to know there are resources out there that can assist people in finding the help they need, and also nice to know that alternative treatments are becoming more widely recognized as a viable approach to treating cancer. I encourage you to look at their website and maybe bookmark a few of these pages, in case you ever come across someone who is needing some help. With all this information in one place, it could save someone hours and hours of their own research.

Animal Communication

People often assume that all animals are very eager to talk up a storm when given the opportunity to visit with an animal communicator but in actuality, communicating with animals can be as complex as communicating with people because there are so many similarities.

I am sure you know people who always have something to say and are very eager to share what's on their mind . . . and I am sure you know people who are quiet and would rather listen to others than share what they are thinking. Animals are the exact same way.

You probably know people who are very trusting and have no issue at all revealing personal information, even after they have only just met someone . . . and you probably also know people who need to build up a certain level of trust before they will reveal anything personal. Animals are the exact same way.

As an animal communicator, it is important to me that I always honor the animal I am working with and their particular method of communicating. It doesn't do me any good to try to force an animal to communicate if they aren't ready, just as it doesn't do me any good to not pay attention to an animal that has a lot to say. :-)

Often times, an animal will be shy about communicating with me, if they aren't sure how their guardian feels about it (after all, their loyalty is to their guardian, not to me) so I often ask the guardians to speak with their animals before an appointment with me and let them know it's ok to share information with me. That helps most of the time, but in some cases, animals will still need a little time to develop some trust with me, before they will open up too much.

The other funny thing about communicating with animals is that they don't use all the same words we do, or have all the same understanding of things that we do. It is important to keep that in mind, and to try to explain things from their perspective, in terms that they will understand.

It brings to mind a funny memory of my sweet girl, Lucky. Many years ago, we went away for the weekend with some friends of mine. It was one of the first times I remember being on a trip where other women were in the house with us and fortunately for me, one of the other women was also an animal communicator (which was helpful to me at the time because sometimes I couldn't "hear" Lucky as well as I could "hear" other animals).

It was the first morning after our trip had begun and we were all taking showers. I took a shower first, then one of the other gals took a shower. When she came out of the bathroom, Lucky was standing in the hall, looking at her oddly and then she barked at her a couple of times. She yelled to me in the kitchen and said, "Why is Lucky barking at me?" and I honestly didn't have a clue. I could feel concern coming from Lucky, but I couldn't pick up anything else.

Just then, the third gal (the other animal communicator) walked out of the bedroom and said, "Lucky wants to know why you are wearing her mom's hat." It took me a minute to understand what that meant, but once I did, we all laughed hysterically (and then I quickly explained to Lucky that we weren't laughing AT her, we were laughing with her).

The "hat" Lucky was referring to was the towel wrapped around my friends head. I realized that Lucky had never seen anyone but me come out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around their head, because she and I lived alone. It made perfect sense from her perspective. :-) I explained to her that most women wrap a towel around their head when they get out of the shower, that it wasn't just me, and that she would be seeing all of us with towels on our heads through out the weekend. After that, Lucky was fine and she never barked at anyone again when they were donning the post-shower "hat."

So, remember, if you are trying to communicate with your pets yourself, or working with an animal communicator, your animals each have their own "style" as well . . . they may be talkative, they may be more hesitant to speak up, or they may need more time to get comfortable with the idea of sharing what's on their mind. The important thing is to honor their method of communicating. The one thing I can tell you for sure, is that what an animal chooses to share is always valuable, and always worth hearing.

The Mystery Spot

Last weekend I went to the Mystery Spot in the Santa Cruz mountains. It had been eighteen years since I had been there, and that was long before I was working with energy the way I am now, so I was eager to go and see what I would experience this time.

For those of you not familiar with the Mystery Spot, it consists of a circular area (about 150 feet) in the middle of the redwoods, explained as a gravitational anomaly. It was discovered in 1939 by a group of surveyors and opened to the public in 1940.

In this specific area, there are variations in gravity, perspective and height that no one has ever been able to explain. Some speculate that cones of metal were secretly brought here and buried in the earth as a guidance system for spacecraft. Some think that it is in fact a spacecraft itself, buried deep within the ground. Other theories include carbon dioxide permeating from the earth, a hole in the ozone layer, a magma vortex, the highest dielectric biocosmic radiation known anywhere in the world or radiesthesia. Whatever the cause is, it remains a mystery. (Source: www.mysteryspot.com)

Aside from the odd things that you can see up there (things roll uphill, you can lean forward farther than you ever imagined possible, without falling over, people look taller or shorter depending on where they stand, etc), there is also something that I found interesting . . . birds never fly over the area (within that 150 foot space), animals are never seen there, not even insects. Given that I believe animals know a lot of things we don't, or that they sense things to a greater magnitude that we do, I was extra curious to experience the Mystery Spot again and see what I was able to pick up intuitively, about the place in general and more specifically, about why the animals stay away.

Much to my disappointment, from the moment we stepped into the "spot," it was as if my intuition wouldn't work at all. It was such a strange experience. I felt woozy and nauseous, my legs felt like they weighed 200 lbs. each and I could barely walk without holding onto something. Still, I was fascinated by the experience and tried to pay attention to everything our guide was telling us. I wanted to take it all in but I was having trouble concentrating. I wanted to see what I could pick up myself, but I felt like I was not in control of my body most of the time nor connected to my intuition.

There were so many things I wanted to ask our tour guide, questions I had come up with before we got there, such as; Why aren't animals allowed up there? What do they think would happen to an animal if they were at the Mystery Spot? What were their theories on why birds and other animals avoided the area? etc. but once we were there, my brain wouldn't work well enough to remember that I had even planned on asking questions.

At one point, I attempted to participate in one of the "activities" in cabin, in the center of the Mystery Spot. In this particular spot, if you grabbed ahold of the bar in a door jamb, your body would float toward the side wall of the cabin, without any effort on your part at all. After stumbling over to the door jamb and grabbing ahold of the bar, I lifted myself up off the ground, and just as they said it would, the lower half of my body floated at an angle. The weird thing was that I could barely hold onto the bar. My arms felt so weak, it felt as if my legs literally DID weigh 200 lbs. apiece. My arms were shaking so much, I could barely hold on, which was so odd to me because I am in pretty good shape and can do a chin up without much effort and this was far easier than a chin up.

After the "photo op" I stumbled over to our guide and managed to ask one question, (still not remembering at that point that I had lots of other questions I wanted to ask). I said, "Why do you think my arms were so weak when I tried to do that?" and his response was, "Your body must not like the energy here." I can't say I disagreed. Clearly, I was experiencing the "energy" of the place far more intensely than everyone else there, and it wasn't a good experience, from the standpoint that I don't enjoy feeling that woozy, heavy, weak and uncoordinated.

Even though I was really affected by the energy and left without asking any of my questions, I was still glad that I went. It was certainly an interesting experience. While I don't completely understand why animals stay away (and why pets aren't allowed in), I wouldn't be surprised if the answer was as simple as . . . the animals feel the same way I did, or worse, when they are at the Mystery Spot.

For now, I guess this will remain a "mystery" . . . but it is still such a fascinating place. If you haven't experienced it yourself, I recommend going. If nothing else, it will certainly give you a lot to think about.