AHP Perspective is a magazine published bi-monthly for members of the Association for Humanistic Psychology. It includes interviews, articles, essays, updates on member activities, conference announcements, and book reviews. Members receive the complete AHP Perspective as part of their membership.

AHP PERSPECTIVE August/September 2000 Table of Contents

WHEN ANIMALS SPEAK: Ad vanced Interspecies Communication
By Penelope Smith
Hillsboro, OR: Beyond Words Pubishing, 1999.

Reviewed by Erica Goodstone

W hen Animals Speak: Advanced Interspecies Communication had a profound effect upon me. I will never again be able to see an animal, any animal (dog, cat, cow, horse, flea or slug) as merely an animal. Their intelligence, wisdom, inner spirit, and purpose here on earth have become evident to me. As I read this book, I began to wonder what message each animal I encounter might be bringing to me.

This book is not for everyone. A purely scientifically minded, have-to-prove-it-to-me, type of person will probably pooh-pooh the stories and statements in this book as foolish nonsense. But anyone who has ever meditated, prayed, communed with nature, felt comforted or understood by a beloved house pet, observed a baby being born or a loved one dying, will find this book riveting in its honesty and total conviction of the connection among all living beings and all the elements of nature.

ANIMALS ARE AWARE

The authors basic premises are based upon years of communicating with animals, communing with nature, and exploring her own psychic abilities. First and foremost, she claims that animals are intelligent and aware beings, but that they think and perceive differently than humans. Without language, "Animals generally do not wrap their experiences or memories in veils of abstraction or considerations of underlying meanings of the experience of the beings involved." Animals communicate directly with feeling and intention. Animals also have awareness of other places and times in this life, in other lives on earth, in other places, and in other dimensions. Some animals can even channel and do intentional healing work (dogs, cats, dolphins).

ANIMALS HAVE SOULS

Her second important premise is that "we are all of the same spiritual essence, and we are free to evolve as individuals through any form." Along with this belief is the belief in reincarnation. In other words, the author asserts that animals may have existed as humans in previous lifetimes and conversely, humans may have lived before as various animals. She claims that beings (animals and humans) "choose to incarnate as certain body forms and in certain situations that help them fulfill their chosen destiny." The author also believes that animals or humans may have existed in angelic or spiritual realms in previous lives and that some are inhabited by dark, negative spirits or multiple spirits (exhibiting multiple personality syndrome).

The author claims that some individuals will be shining examples of their species; she calls them "master beings." Also, there are vast differences in how attuned various animals are to human thinking; some animals may consider our thinking to be "chaotic, scattered, too complicated, scary, or so different from theirs as to be incomprehensible or repulsive." How they relate to humans depends upon their earlier experiences in this lifetime and in previous lifetimes.

EMOTIONAL HEALTH

The authors third premise is that most animals exhibit high self-esteem, confidence, enjoyment of who they are, and joy in living, except for abused animals, those who adopt human ailments and neuroses (such as PTSD), or animals in the wild who are misfits.

ANIMALS ARE TELEPATHIC

A fourth premise is that animals communicate telepathically. For example, birds migrate; dogs listen to the messages the birds bring from afar. The author counsels her own and others pets through such telepathic communication. She believes that animals, like humans, continually grow and learn, in their own time, in their own way, sometimes suddenly and drastically. Animals can be counseled and can change. People have asked the author, in her animal communication workshops, when they get profound and personal messages from animals, plants, rocks or the wind, "Are we just receiving our own projections, or thoughts rebounding?" The author reassures them, "Most of the time, when we are open, receptive, and attentive, and put aside our own expectations of what will happen, we get genuine communication."

ANIMALS ARE NOT OWNED

A fifth premise is that we do not own our domestic animals; we are caretakers, guardians, companions, or just "people" to animals. They have their own lives and their own life paths to follow. Animals usually have physical and emotional needs for space, freedom, and exercise. Some sick animals want to be saved while others prefer to die. Animals generally accept death and choose to die quietly and painlessly alone.

ACCEPTANCE OF PREDATOR/PREY ROLES

A sixth premise is that animals accept, have chosen, and are even grateful for their role in life as predator or prey. The author claims that prey will often offer their bodies without resistance, willingly, with their full consent. She also claims that predators present an unspoken gratitude to the animals who nourish them with their lives. Humans can communicate telepathically to animals (deer, ducks) to guard and guide themselves during hunting season.

MESSAGES FROM NATURE

A seventh premise is the synchron-icity of all the elements, the spirits of nature. The author claims that if you approach slowly, you can feel what is going on with the elements (rain, wind, tree leaves) and receive messages of help and guidance.

INTERDIMENSIONAL CREATURES

An eighth premise is that some forms of life have the role of being inter-kingdom and inter-dimensional messengers, adjusting their vibrations with the life rhythms of several dimensions (butterflies, hummingbirds, dragonflies, dragons, and Yeti"Bigfoot"), while unicorns and winged horses appear to reside wholly in the ethereal plane.

Each of the basic premises described above come alive within the richly varied stories of real animals lives, thoughts, and telepathic communication with the author, her clients, and her workshop attendees. Whether or not you believe in telepathic communication with animals, plants, and the elements; whether or not you believe in spiritual realms, reincarnation, or the spiritual essence of life and nature, the heartwarming, true stories of dogs and cars, birds and rabbits, mice and slugs, and horses and lamas will touch you in a way you never before believed was possible. I highly recommend this amazing book to anyone who loves animals and nature.

ERICA GOODSTONE, Ph.D., Science & Research Chair, Board of Directors, The U.S. Association for Body Psychotherapy; Director, Body Therapy Special Interest Network; Professor, Health & Physical Education, FIT/State University of New York; licensed and certified marriage counselor, clinical mental health counselor, bodywork and massage therapist; certified in Rubenfeld Synergy and Polarity Therapy. Dr. Goodstone has a body psychotherapy private practice specializing in sexual and relationship issues

AHP PERSPECTIVE August/September 2000 Table of Contents

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