There is such beauty in our animal friends. You know that already. Many, if not most, of the animals I’ve been blessed to work with this year in my animal communication and Let Animals Lead meditation practice appear in this short video.
In 2024, Indiana experienced some amazing beauty in the sky as well — the solar eclipse in April and at least a couple of Northern Lights displays. A few photos from these are included as well.
Thank you to Camp Red Cedar for the cover image of the aurora borealis above the camp grounds; Chandu Prem Lal for the stunning capture of the eclipse behind the Indiana Soldiers and Sailors Monument; Heather Hoffmann for her beautiful scenes of the Northern Lights; Jenn Andrew for her photo of me at the pasture fence and everyone else who sent their best.
Even bigger thanks go to all of you who trusted me to listen to and hold space with the horses, dogs, cats, goats and other creatures in your lives. I look forward to doing even more in 2025.
Let Animals Lead® meditation and animal communication go well together, but they’re not the same … kind of like these two. (Photo by Nancy Crowe)
While Let Animals Lead® animal Reiki and animal communication make a great pair, they are separate disciplines with unique benefits. The difference is essentially between meditation and conversation.
How they work
A Reiki session is a time of meditation, relaxation, and peace. Because I am certified in Kathleen Prasad’s Let Animals Lead® method, the animal is always in charge of whether and how he shares the energy.
During an in-person session, which I offer in the Fort Wayne, Indiana area, a cat or dog might curl up in my lap or settle across the room. A horse may stand on the other side of the pasture, hang out in a stall, or come to meet me at the fence. I’ve even had a donkey sidle up and nudge his head under my arm! Whatever the species or context might require, I go into a meditative state and let the energy do its work.
Distant sessions are much the same, except that the animal and I are not in the same physical space. She’s generally at home relaxing with her person, hanging out with the herd, or doing whatever, while I’m in my home office — again, in a meditative state, letting the energy do its work!
During an in-person or distant meditation session, I may receive intuitive information — but that is not the objective of the session.
An animal communication session, on the other hand, is an exchange of information. I don’t need to be in the same physical space as the animal or on the phone with the animal’s person for this. I connect with the animal telepathically, focusing my attention on what he has to share. No appointment is necessary for this.
With the animal’s permission, I work to gain insights into behavior. Or I tell her about a change coming up and ask what would help her adjust. Or I ask him how he feels about anything from his food to his person’s new boyfriend. Once I’ve talked with the animal, I email the person a summary of what we discussed. The client is always encouraged to take only what resonates and is helpful, and leave the rest.
Together but distinct
In some settings, such as a farm with multiple animals, I may do meditation and animal communication in the same visit, but not in the same moment.
How this works might be compared to a chaplain’s rounds. Time with each animal could be spent in conversation to begin. Then we might share a quiet meditation. After the session, we might talk a little more before I thank the animal and move to another. We wouldn’t be meditating and talking at the same time!
There is a time and a purpose to everything (Eccl. 3:1). When we let meditation and animal communication function on their own, our animal friends get the best each has to offer.
Gary, left, shown here with brother Dave, loved cars from an early age.
When Gary Crowe was 16, his life was disrupted by the arrival of a little sister (me). Very shortly thereafter, he got sick with appendicitis. So sick, in fact, that Mom and Dad had to sign off on a not-yet-approved drug in order to save his life.
Thankfully, he recovered, but he’d missed so much school that he ended up dropping out. In the 1960s, North Central High School in Indianapolis did not have programs for budding auto mechanics like him. Gary loved cars, classic cars in particular. He worked for a number of automobile shops in Indianapolis and always had a car with which he was, or had been, tinkering. One was a red MG convertible, and I remember Gary, older brother Dave, and I tooling around in it.
He moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1978 and worked for a car dealership, eventually heading its service department. For a few years, he lived on a 35-foot cabin cruiser.
I’m not even sure what this was, but Gary understood it.
Gary always answered my car and computer questions (which also gave me an excuse to check in with him) and even helped me buy a car from across the country. As the years went by and the recession threw bumps and craters in his employment path, he discovered a talent and love for cooking.
Gary passed away Feb. 25, 2021 at age 70 in California.
While trying to think through ways to celebrate my brother’s life during a pandemic, I kept going back to his high school days. Would a vocational program have kept him in school? Probably. I can’t know for sure, but I do know the folks who work on our cars deserve good training in everything from basic engine function to the intricacies of today’s vehicles. As a supervisor, Gary would no doubt have appreciated new mechanics who came well prepared to diagnose and repair.
Therefore, I invite anyone who would like to do so to contribute to the automotive services program at the J. Everett Light Career Center at North Central to help today’s car whisperers get started. Just follow the link to the online giving form, select the “in memory of” option, and type in Gary Crowe under additional gift information. The very kind folks there will get it to the right place.
All Creatures 