Photo Essay: Offering Reiki to Deer and a Squirrel

reiki herd of deerThe following text and photos are abridged from Animal Reiki: Using Energy to Heal the Animals in Your Life:

“Over the past five years I’ve sent Reiki to the deer and other wild animals in my neighborhood to help them with the many challenges they face in a suburban environment. The deer face a lot of hardships: in finding food, avoiding cars and dogs, and dealing with hostility from people. They have felt the healing energy I sent, and gradually we have moved into a close relationship. They have come to trust me and to regard me as their healer. Whenever they are sick or injured, they come to my entry courtyard and wait until I come home or until I look out and see them there. Sometimes they even go from window to window looking in to try to catch my attention if I am home.

Over time they have brought all manner of injuries and illnesses to me for help. When a deer comes for help, I sit quietly in the courtyard with my hands in my lap and let the Reiki energy flow to him. Each deer decides how he wants to receive the treatment, moving around the courtyard as he sees fit and leaving when he has had enough Reiki.

When I scheduled the photo shoot for the chapter on wild animals in Animal Reiki, I was unsure how the deer would respond to the presence of a photographer. On the day before the shoot I sent Reiki to the situation and asked the deer to come the following day to be a part of the book, if it was comfortable for them.

The next day, just before the photographer arrived, I went outside and found that there were a dozen deer waiting for me. During the shoot the deer were calm and focused. Over the next hour and a half they took turns seeking treatments. They accommodated each other beautifully, with the majority waiting patiently off to the side out of the way of the photos or on the ledge until each deer was finished with Reiki and it was time for the next deer to step in.” The following photos are from the shoot that day:

Click the first image to launch the slideshow.

The deer’s desire to help me gave me enormous joy, and, as we worked together and Reiki filled the courtyard, I could feel the excitement and delight rising for all of us, the deer, the photographer and me.

After we had completed the photos with the deer, we moved inside, expecting that we had completed all the photos of wild animals that we would get that day. However, the squirrel, Reepicheep, had a surprise for me and was waiting on the deck to offer his participation as well. Reep was uncertain about the photographer, but he stayed long enough to contribute some lovely photos of a treatment of a squirrel.

At the end of the shoot I felt that Reep and the deer had really extended themselves to help Reiki reach other animals and to give something back to me and to Reiki for what they have received in the past.”

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Merlin

animal communication for wild animalsOne day near the beginning of my experiences with the deer, I noticed that one of the young stags was limping. When I got a closer look at his right hind leg, I could see a large swollen infected area above the hock and extending down below it. There were several long, open, festering wounds there, similar to the kind of lacerations animals sometimes get from being tangled in barbed wire. It looked as though it had been there for some time.

I sat down and offered him Reiki, which he accepted gratefully. Off and on when I saw him, and when I thought of it outside of his presence, I sent Reiki to him, and, in a couple of weeks his wound had healed. He began to come more frequently to my courtyard, and a special friendship developed between us. He was the first deer to whom I gave a name, Merlin. Merlin has weathered many injuries, including one that almost ended his life. Each time he has come to me, and I’ll never be able to express how much his trust has meant to me.

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Hector Grows Into His Name

For six years I lived with several herds of wild deer who came to our house daily for healing and companionship. At the time of this story, one of the herd, Hector, was a young stag slender and frail, with the small, thin antlers of a yearling. His skin was dull, and his breathing was always very rapid and shallow, as though his heart and lungs were in some way compromised and working very hard to power his frail body. He was shy and timid and always stayed in the group with his mother, other does, and the fawns instead of joining the group of young males his age. Encouraged by how well other deer had responded to Reiki healing, I began sending healing to Hector at every chance I got.

A transformation began to take place in Hector. Over the course of several months, Hector began to come into himself at the innermost level. He became a much stronger presence, at first arriving in the forefront of the group, later in advance of it, and finally coming on his own for visits and treatments. He began to hang out with the other young stags and roam in a group with them. His respiration slowed, and his sides no longer heaved all the time. He began to put on weight and fill out, and his coat took on a healthy sheen.

About this time we experienced a series of acts of vandalism, and it appeared for a short time that someone was targeting our house with ill intentions. This worried me, and the deer picked up my worry and took it upon themselves to help me with my concern. For several weeks, at all times of the day and night there was always a stag on “guard duty” in the courtyard. They challenged they didn’t recognize when they entered the courtyard, including the UPS driver. Stags of all ages took turns. And Hector often bravely took the “night shift”, positioned alone in the courtyard, ready to take on any danger that presented itself. He had become a true hero, thus growing into his name, that of one of the great heroes of the Trojan war.

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Reiki is a Gateway to Animal Communications

by Elizabeth Fulton

Animal Wellness magazine, August/September 2005, Volume 7, Issue 4, p. 89-91.

As animal communication becomes more widely known and accepted within our culture, a growing number of people are interested in learning how they can talk to their four-footed companions. One effective way to open the intuitive channels necessary for animal communication is through the ancient healing art of Reiki. Like acupuncture, homeopathy, Qi Gong and flower essences, Reiki is part of the emerging field of energy healing, an ancient practice that is being rediscovered for use in modern times. If you look into the backgrounds of many professional animal communicators, you will often find they are also Reiki practitioners, and the two skills are frequently practiced hand in hand.

The following story describes my introduction to animal communication through my Reiki practice. At the time, I had been healing animals with Reiki for about a year, but this was the first time I was aware that I was communicating easily and naturally with a member of another species.

A doe at the door

Early one morning, my husband burst into the bedroom, astonished and upset. He said that each time he tried to take our dog out for a walk, he was charged by a doe outside our front door. Unbelieving, I went to the window and looked out. Indeed, there was a very agitated-looking doe standing just outside the door, eyes wide, nostrils flaring, breathing rapidly.

As I looked at her, the word “baby” formed in my mind. At first I thought she was pregnant and about to give birth. I told her it was all right, that no one would hurt or disturb her, and that she was safe. As I spoke, she visibly relaxed, and the thought that the baby had already been born came into my mind, with a very blurry image of a small, curled-up being. I looked around our yard and saw a fawn, still covered with amniotic fluid, lying curled up in the wood chips a short distance away. I realized that these ideas and images had come from the doe, and was incredibly excited by this brief exchange with such a glorious creature. We left the doe and her fawn undisturbed, and my husband and our dog left by the back door.

The next morning, I ventured outside to see if I could have another encounter with the doe. I roamed the area near our house, sometimes calling out softly to the doe, sometimes calling her internally. After a while I gave up, but as I turned abruptly back onto the sidewalk, I almost knocked the doe over. She had heard me and was standing right behind me! We gave each other a tremendous scare, and she leaped to the other side of the street. We stood looking at each other for a long time. No words or images passed between us, but a gentle, vibrant energy connected us and feelings of love passed back and forth along this connection. I felt that both of us were re-evaluating our ideas about inter-species relationships, and a bond was being forged between us.

Deepen your intuitive communication with Reiki

Animal communication, or telepathic communication, can also be described as deepened intuition. All of us have intuitive capabilities, and these can be deepened and expanded to become telepathic communication. Two of the biggest obstacles many people face when developing their telepathic skills are learning to access the energetic or intuitive “frequency” of animal communication, and putting aside their preconceptions about animals so they can “hear” what the animals have to say. People who meditate are already able to enter the quiet inner state where animal communication can take place. For others, Reiki training and practice is an effective way to begin to access that inner space. For many Reiki practitioners, finding the “frequency” at which animals communicate evolves as an integral part of giving treatments.

The Reiki practitioner is naturally drawn inward as part of the treatment, and her mind quiets in a way similar to meditation. By letting her mind remain still and unattached, the practitioner allows the animals the space and opportunity to be heard. What the practitioner hears will be different for each animal since, like people, they each have an individual communication style. Some communicate more often through visual images while others use feelings, sensations, thoughts, or ideas. Many communications will combine several of these aspects.

In addition to accessing a quiet inner space, the successful use of both Reiki and animal communication involves learning a new “language” of energy. In the process of learning and using Reiki, people begin to feel subtle physical sensations of energy in their hands or bodies and then to perceive subtle phenomena on other levels as well. They find that visual images, feelings and thoughts arise in their consciousness during a Reiki treatment, and gradually they understand that these images, feelings and thoughts often are not their own but come from the being they are treating. If people develop this awareness, it can become full-fledged telepathic communication.

My relationship with the doe has grown and deepened over time and has led to relationships with other deer in the area. They have become my friends and guides in developing my intuitive communication skills and in deepening my understanding of animals and healing. Both the deer and other animals have demonstrated to me again and again that the assumptions we make about them are erroneous, and that animals are far more similar to us than most of us think.

The rewards of animal communication

The culture of animals differs from ours, and their communication is more exclusively telepathic. But, in so many ways, their intelligence, emotions, and spiritual lives are similar to our own. If we put aside our preconceptions about the intelligence of animals and what they are capable of feeling and communicating, they are freed to share with us.

Communicating intimately with animals is immensely rewarding and exciting. Their insights reveal a beauty, depth and generosity far beyond what most humans are conditioned to believe is possible. People who learn to use Reiki with animals find that many animals that are right for their unique paths come forward to guide them. Through learning and practicing Reiki, your intuition and sensitivity to subtle, energetic phenomena can be heightened and refined, along with your ability to rest inwardly so the voices of animals can be heard. Reiki and animal communication are natural allies, each contributing to the other to bring deep healing and to strengthen the bond between animals and humans.

What is Reiki?

The word “Reiki” (pronounced Ray-key ) is Japanese and is usually translated as “universal life energy.” It is a gentle yet powerful energy healing method that treats the whole individual, not just the symptoms of a disease. The practitioner acts as a conduit for the healing energy of the universe to flow through her hands to the animal or human client, causing a shift towards health at the deepest levels. It restores balance and harmony to the patient’s entire being: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Reiki is also a powerful tool for personal growth and transformation. Until recently, Reiki healing was available only to humans, but increasing numbers of practitioners are establishing practices devoted exclusively to animals.

Elizabeth Fulton is a Reiki master and professional animal communicator. She offers a combination of Reiki healing, animal communication, and flower essences to all species of animals and their human companions, and teaches people how to heal animals with Reiki.

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