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A
Healing Circle of Angel Animals
By Allen and Linda Anderson
When someone in a human-animal
family faces a health challenge or crisis, this is often the
occasion for a circle of healing within the home to form around
the sick individual. That certainly happened in the winter months
this year as we dealt with the diagnosis of Linda's breast cancer.
Fortunately her annual mammogram
yielded an early detection that enabled surgeries (a total of
four!), Chinese medicine, acupuncture, herbs, supplements, chiropractic,
homeopathic, prayer, and other methods of healing to keep the
cancer from spreading. Gratefully, Linda is now on the mend.
Throughout this journey she's had much assistance from the animals
in her immediately family. They've been part of what she calls
her "Circle of Angels" composed of friends and other
family members who have and continue to support and love her
throughout this ordeal.
Because we know that we're
all spiritually connected souls springing from the same divine
source, we pay special attention to the souls in animal bodies
who share our home. We've learned over the years that God uses
animals in the home or in nature as vehicles to deliver messages
of warning, protection, and love.
Warnings
One of the early warnings that
something of a female-related nature had gone wrong in our family
occurred when our cockatiel Sparkle developed a life-threatening
hormonal imbalance. This condition caused her to become infected
and weakened her to the point where the veterinarians had given
up hope of saving her. One evening, we brought Sparkle's nearly
lifeless body home and prepared for a nightlong deathwatch.
Inwardly we connected with
her at a spiritual level and asked if she wanted to leave this
world at this time. We were surprised to discover that Sparkle
seemed to have some conditions that were making her life intolerable.
When we understood how disturbed she felt and why, we promised
to right the wrongs that had caused her think it would be preferable
to check out. We'd been pretty dense about paying attention
to her needs. Until we asked, she didn't know that she could
communicate them to us.
Much to everyone's amazement
Sparkle made it through that fateful night. The next day we
immediately set about correcting the situations that had been
troubling her. Today, she's still with us-at least until she
decides it really is time for her to go. We'd averted a close
call by asking and listening to her, soul-to-soul.
The experience with Sparkle
made us think about how our own emotional, physical, and spiritual
needs were or were not being met. Since Sparkle's serious health
conditions manifested in the female organs, Linda began to wonder
if Spirit was also delivering a warning about her body. Sparkle's
experiences became a catalyst for Linda to make important health
changes and improvements. Since many of Sparkle's ailments had
been directly related to the bird's emotions, Linda decided
to also take a look at the care and expression of emotions.
As a result she started taking more time to nurture herself,
to play, and to be creative.
About six months after Sparkle's
illness, Linda learned of her own breast cancer condition.
Protection
Sparkle taught
Linda that the physical body starts shutting down when emotional
needs are severely neglected. As a result of this warning, when
Linda's cancerous tumor was removed through surgery, the pathology
report came back with some very surprising results. God had
delivered a message not only of warning but had protected Linda
from the harmful effects of the disease.
Of course it's hard to tell
exactly when things happen within the body, but it appears that
at some point-we think when Sparkle let us know what she needed
and spurred Linda to take better care of herself-the cancer
cells that had started forming began to change. One of the characteristics
of cancer cells is that they don't die like healthy cells do.
Instead, as Linda's Chinese doctor explained, cancer cells are
"bad children" that go out of control, growing and
spreading where they don't belong.
In Linda's case the cancer
cells were noninvasive and never became anything else. In an
attempt to stay contained in one breast and not go anywhere,
the newer cancer cells had grown on top of the earliest ones
and killed them. This was a very unusual attempt by the body
to protect itself. The immune system had kicked into full gear
and reversed the process of allowing the cancer cells to kill
off to behave like "bad children", running rampant
and unchecked.
Sparkle had told us how and
why she wanted to live. Linda had been reminded to attend to
her precious life in a most timely intervention. This little
bird had let Linda know that it was imperative to give herself
much more emotional, physical, and spiritual nourishment.
Love
Through
these months of illness and recovery, Sparkle and all the other
angel animals in our family have done everything they can to
help.
When the other
animals are put downstairs, Sunshine and Sparkle came out of
their cages and often perch on Linda's chest, singing and cooing
to her. Sometimes Speedy, our tabby cat, places himself in position
so he can keep his paw on the sore left shoulder where Linda
still feels pain from the surgeries. Cuddles, our black and
white cat, sleeps curled up next to Linda's side or by her pillow,
rarely letting her human charge out of sight. Taylor stands
as still as a post while Linda uses the dog's back to steady
herself when she has trouble standing up. Each animal is attentive,
loving, and supportive in his or her own special way.
For years we've
gathered hundreds of stories from those who write or tell us
about the animals who have helped them heal and deal with health
issues. Although we've experienced the nurturing nature of animals
ourselves, our hearts filled with gratitude at the special displays
of God's love in action when our Circle of Angel Animals helped
Linda find her way back to the rest of her life.
A Special Healing Book
If
you'd like to read more stories and remarkable research about
how animals help people heal in every way, we'd like to recommend
a new book by our friend, Dr. Marty Becker. Dr. Becker is the
co-author of the Chicken Soup pet books and he wrote the foreword
for our first book. His new book is The Healing Power of
Pets: Harnessing the Ability of Pets to Make and Keep People
Happy and Healthy (Hyperion, February 2002, $22.05). Dr.
Becker co-authored this book with Danelle Morton, a distinguished
journalist. In this book the authors show how animals are detecting,
treating, and curing diseases and conditions ranging from cancer
to heart disease to psychological problems. Enlightened doctors
are now prescribing that patients get pets as part of their
healing protocols.
Warnings, protection, and love.
What are the animals in your life trying to tell you about your
health?
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Angel Animals® Network
