Do Pets Reincarnate?

‘My dog, I swear, he’s almost human.”  When he can bring in the garbage cans or do my taxes, get back to me.  But in the meantime, I’ve had several clients ask if their pet will ever reincarnate as a person.

My answer would be, Why would he want to?  When you can have someone attend to your every need and never have to make a decision about what to wear in the morning?

There are many thoughts on the subject of reincarnation and whether we “cross pollinate” into other species.  One religion, Jainism, won’t even step on an ant for fear a formerly human soul is living in that tiny body.  I guess we’ll find out for ourselves one day.  In which case, I’m getting rid of the ant traps right now.  But in the meantime, here’s how I see reincarnation with our critters.

Anyone who’s owned a pet knows how special animals are.  I feel they’re far more spiritually advanced than we are:  consider any dog who’s been neglected or abused, and how they still give their crapwad owner a tail wag (yeah, I can’t watch those ASPCA TV commercials either).

Animals have a near-endless supply of understanding and forgiveness.   They view the world simply.  All they ask for is a warm place to sleep, a steady supply of treats and kibble and someone to love.  And for that reason, they are a furry example of  how to live gracefully.  No surprise that science shows that pets help our health, or how the sight of a puppy coming to visit makes a cancer patient smile.

The four-legged/winged/scaled creatures in our world are reminders to chill out, appreciate nature, be kind and happy.  So, no, I don’t think our animals are going to opt for demotion to a human state. They have plenty of important work to do.  In between belly rubs, that is.

(And their work doesn’t stop once they’ve crossed over.  I wrote about that here.)

And just a note on pets reincarnating as another pet:  it MAY happen, but its unfair to put that burden on either the new pet or the spirit of the deceased one.  Treasure them as individuals and allow them to work their magic on your life.  Remember, I’m always here to help you connect with a pet, living or dead.  Read about my Animal Communication services here.

Reincarnation 101

Recently, I read a woman who lost her son a few years ago.    I can’t even imagine that kind of pain.  So I was not at all surprised when she asked if there was a chance that he might reincarnate while she was still alive, and they might connect again.  Let’s discuss.

Reincarnation fascinates me.  And it makes total sense to my hyper-logical brain.  I just can’t believe that everything that makes a person who they are just goes away when they die.  The force of personality is not organic, like a piece of old bread.  It’s much more than that.

We are not THIS….

Physics tells us that energy cannot die, it can only turn into something (or someone) else.  So I believe that when we pass, our spirit-energy goes to the Summerland to take stock and reassess.  It’s like the Mother of all Debriefings.

Let me break it down: you spend some time there, looking over what you learned in your time on Earth.  You hang with your ancestors.  You get really good at badminton or origami (even if you couldn’t fold a newspaper to save your life, when you HAD a life). Then you decide to return to Planet Earth, bringing back some memory of what you learned the last go-round.

“…just think: I couldn’t even walk and chew gum in my last life…”

You hope to move the needle on your soul’s evolution, by being smarter, wiser and more loving in this new life. It’s your chance to move up a grade, as it were.  Eventually, you “graduate” and can decide to permanently hang on the sweet side, although many evolved souls are opting to return to help the rest of our sorry asses out.

That, to me, is how I understand reincarnation.

I’ve read that we used to come back every 200 years or so.  But as our civilization has “sped up,” the process is much more frequent.  So does that mean someone you love will return in your lifetime?  Sometimes.  But that doesn’t mean that they will necessarily show up in your neighborhood.  They could be running a pedi-cab in Sri Lanka.

“Nana? Is that you?”

The other thing is, that when we reincarnate, we do bring some of the knowledge of our past lives with us.  But we have a hard time remembering it – and the people that were there with us (another reason for not waiting around for them).  I’m going to reference one of my favorite movies, Made In Heaven  with Timothy Hutton and Kelly McGillis.  It’s a great romantic film, but the way it depicts Heaven and returning to Earth is spot on.  Check it out.

Anyway, we’re back to take on new experiences; to be burdened with the entire memory of our past lives would make our heads explode (not to mention, make it really hard to decide what to put on in the morning). So while there’s a certain spiritual “overlay” of what we’ve been through, as with all our lives, we have free will to use it moving forward.  Or to completely forget it and go off the rails.

Here’s an example.  Early in my spiritual development, I met a guy I was cah-razy for. Naturally, after I got home from our date at the bar, I used one of my new skills and did his numerology chart.  Now, according to numerology, each of us has up to 11 Karmic Lessons to learn.  In some lifetimes, we may only have one or two; in others, a boatload of them.

Anyway, I was stunned to see that  Mr. Yummy had NO Karmic Lessons.  Zero, zip, nada.  This was a curious thing, because he turned out to be the biggest tool on the planet.

Thought he was this guy. Not even close.

You would think someone with no Karmic Lessons in their chart would be really spiritual like Ghandi or Jesus.  But you would be wrong. I was completely stumped, until I learned that, just because you come into this life with a clean slate doesn’t mean you exit with one.

There’s that pesky “free will” thing again. My hunk may have reincarnated after years of deep study in various medieval monasteries.  But in this life, he clearly had abandoned any vows of celibacy and sobriety.  And reading.   If he was someone’s long lost sweet grandma that they hoped to see again, they were gonna be waaaaay disappointed.

One thing to keep in mind is, the experience of losing someone is part of our growth as humans.  Grief is a powerful teacher. The understanding that we can and will connect with them in the spiritual realm is another lesson.  To hang on to the hope that you’ll see someone again in the flesh keeps you from moving forward.    Don’t put your life on hold for them.

What Goes Around…

One of my Facebook friends has been sharing some hairy details of a family feud.  It’s not pretty.  The stories she tells are awful: stalking, theft of property promised on a parent’s death bed, and far too many cruel words.   Most of this seems to emanate from one member of the family, to the pain of everyone else.  Underlying the gory details is frustration that this one awful person is “getting away with it,” that others still think of them as the epitome of a good Christian when privately, they act more like Rosemary’s Baby.

Otherwise known as your sister-in-law’s house

We’ve all known someone who can be the most terrible, sneaky human ever– and somehow, they manage to escape judgement.   In public life, we’ve seen those who continue to succeed, despite heinous behavior (former Vice President Dick Cheney — who helped lie us into Iraq and outed CIA agent Valerie Plame is my personal bete noir).  It makes you want to throw one righteous temper tantrum.

Yes, it would be enormously gratifying to see those people embarrassed, brought down and otherwise smacked in the face with rotten tomatoes.  That would satisfy our egos.  But just because a public shaming doesn’t occur, doesn’t mean they “get away with it.”

You know how they say that your life flashes before you when you die?  It’s my belief that, at that moment, we experience a sense of both our good moments, and bad.  If you accept that you had those dark moments, if you own it — then you pass into enlightenment.  The owning of those moments can be tough; I think you get a true measure of the pain you have caused with every thoughtless, selfish gesture.  It’s a fleeting moment, but being willing to suffer through it is the price we pay for enlightenment and entrance into the Light.  This is how our soul grows.

There are those, however, who cannot bear to look at what they have done (and in some cases, with good reason.  Would YOU want to trade places with Hitler?  Didn’t think so).  They turn away — literally — from the Light.  The dark place where their soul stays stuck is a kind of punishment you can’t imagine.  I supposed you could call it Hell –although minus any demons and pitchforks.  It’s the absence of Light that’s the true torture.

Sure as hell wouldn’t want to be you when the time comes…

I once went through a guided meditation that was meant to give us a taste of what this “low level” was like.  I have to tell you, I felt sick to my stomach — and racked with sorrow for what people endure in that place.  And that was about 1/100,000,000th of what they experience.

The point is, is that no one gets away with anything. The best we can do when presented with these frustrating people is to stay in our own lane and remember that they will be held accountable at some point.

In plainer terms, “What goes around, comes around”….”Every dog has its day”…and my favorite, “Karma’s a big bitch with PMS.”   Stay peaceful.

You’re In Good Hands…with Spirit Guides

I remember the first time I learned about Spirit Guides — and how cool I thought it was.  Imagine having a whole gang of invisible helpers at your beck and call:  would they do the laundry?  Give me lottery numbers?  Give me the answer’s to the next day’s Physics test? The answer is no, no and HELLL no. Guides have a more specific purpose in our lives.

The subject of spirit guides has filled several books, but here are the basics as I understand them. Before we’re born, we decide what lessons we need to work on when we incarnate:  did we finally learn how to be independent in that last life?  Did we work out our issues with commitment, hard work or money?  Or do we need some remedial help?

Homework — whether its Math or LifeLesson #265 –sucks.

There are lots of individual variations in our life lessons, and our guides are there to help us stick to our plan – because, unfortunately, we don’t remember it when we get here.

Call it Spiritual Amnesia.  The only hint we have are the things that keep smacking us in the face:  the same type of person who keeps showing up in your love life…the same struggles with money or family.  The problems that haunt you are the lessons that will get us to finally (hopefully) tick off that goal that we set way back when we were floating on the proverbial cloud.

We each have at least one guide who sticks with us through all the ups and downs of this life.  They sort of function as a spiritual GPS, helping us come back to our purpose.

Does their GPS tell them that they’ve just driven 40 miles with their left turn signal on?

But since this path is ours and ours alone, we have to ask him or her to get us sorted out on the journey.  Their help won’t be obvious — it may come in the form of a helpful person showing up, an article, an e-mail.  It’s your job to pay attention and act on the help that’s sent.

Besides our main guide who is with us “from womb to tomb” as the Jets said in West Side Story, there are guides who come and go during our life.  Doctor Guides help during health issues, Joy Guides come when we need to inject some lightness…there are literally guides for everything (I could’ve used a Plumber Guide when I replaced my faucet….).

Yes, I would’ve endured this sight to keep my kitchen from flooding.

Guides have been human at some point, so they know the drill.  Some may have lived relatively recently. Then there are others who existed millenia ago and have since spent most of their time evolving on the spirit plane (which explains why one of my  guides shows himself looking like some kind of medieval hippie: white robe, sandals, the works.  The only thing missing is the psychedelic bus and the contact high).

I’ve been asked if a deceased loved one can be a guide; the answer is no — and yes.  They don’t function as guides in the classic sense, because they’ve been with us — or connected to us — here on Earth.  BUT those who’ve crossed over are certainly willing to help.  In this, they have two advantages:  1) they know us, what we’re dealing with and our particular human weaknesses and 2) now that they’re on the other side, their perspective is wiiiiiide open.  So when you’ve hit a rough patch, by all means reach out to them.

That’s “MS. Harry” to you….

As with Spirit Guides, the same rules apply with someone on the other side: you have to ask them for their help.  Even if they were huge butt-inskis in life, they’re encouraged to keep their noses out of your life unless you ask them to weigh in.

When it comes to guides, loved ones, angels, whatever, the main thing is to remember that YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO IT ALONE.    All of these entities are here specifically to help us in growing and evolving.  And when they do, they get points, too.  It’s like that saying that goes something like, if you really want to learn something, teach it.  They learn from us, we learn from them…and hopefully, our personal evolution helps someone else.

I’ll do another blog shortly describing how you can meet your own guide, but in the meantime, just ask for what you need and know that your spirit helpers hear you.  Prick up your ears and see what they send your way!