Communicating with pets after death
In this post, I am sharing a personal story about my experience with visits from my pets who are now on the other side, and how to tell the difference between memories of your in-spirit pets from visitations, so you know what to look for when your pets come around for a short visit.
Dear Intuitive One,
I bolted out of bed this morning from a dream I desperately wanted to remember every sliver of… I scrambled for my journal and quickly wrote down everything.
I wanted to remember every moment of this dream because it was about my big dog, Raspberry, who passed just two weeks ago. And my dream was particularly potent because it was more than a regular run-of-the-mill unpacking and processing of deep psychological stuff.
This was a visitation dream.
Image: Here’s Raspberry, a large and chunky, tan and black Rottweiler, soaking up the sun in the sand at the beach.
When our pets visit us in our dreams after passing
Raspberry was a steady mountain of a being who loved hugs. We adopted her as an elder at age 10, and she lived with us for less than 3 years before passing, peacefully, at home in my arms.
Yet in that short time, she and I were inseparable. Our daily ritual of lying spine to spine, on the floor or in the garden as we leaned into each other's backs and just felt each other’s breathing, was her favorite thing in the world, besides a surprise bite of grilled cheese sandwich, of course.
In my dream, I was interviewing Raspberry about the many travels and journeys her soul had experienced so far, including the time with me. As she shared this story, she was handing me powerful little trinkets that she had collected on her journeys. The items themselves were unremarkable to me, the observer, but the story she shared with me, as she placed each item in my hands, was profound.
Throughout my dream, Raspberry shared potent stories, memories, visions and reflections from her experiences as a soul throughout her many lifetimes, all while speaking in the same distinct style she had when she was alive, using intuitive animal communication.
When I could feel that this dream was coming to an end, I asked her, "Will I ever see you again?"
Here’s her response: "I would love to stop and visit between my upcoming adventures to say hello. We can find each other in dream time. You can also look for me in those precious moments, when you are SO present, you can feel the pressure of your breath pressing against your spine —just like you would during our daily ritual of lying spine to spine while we sensed each other's breathing.”
In-spirit animal visitations
In my experience offering animal communication professionally, I've heard many in-spirit pets tell their humans to look for them in dream time. And nearly every time clients shared, it felt like they were given a clue to help them know where to look to reconnect with their pets on the other side. Much like how Raspberry and I connected in the dream I’ve shared at the start of this post.
I've also heard countless in-spirit animals talk about how they visit their human friends for brief check-ins. Sticking around just long enough to make sure everyone they love is doing okay, before dashing off again.
In my personal life, my experience visitations with the animals (and humans) I’ve loved, and are now in spirit form, most often happen when I’m not expecting it or trying to sense them. And when they do happen, they engage all of my intuitive senses at once.
I may see or sense their loving presence in the room with me, riding in the car, or moving, softly by me, like a barely present wind passing by just for a moment or two. Sometimes, I hear their bark or intuitive voice or feel the vibrations of purring at my side or feel a momentary physical sensation of their touch. Like when I was coming through our front gate one afternoon, when I sensed a fast-moving energy in front of me, coupled with the intuitive sensations of my dog, Bernard’s fur brushing my face, while feeling the full-body sensation of sound vibrations that would be created by his giant excited and very distinct, “Woof! Woof!” bark, while having a momentary intuitive vision of his giant smile flashing in my heart and mind, as he raced by.
And throughout this whole visitation, I could feel throughout my whole body a clear knowing that my friend was okay and that he loved me and he knew I loved him. This whole visit lasted less than a minute, and yet as each aspect of this visitation was so profoundly rich and clear, it felt like I had just the chance to spend the whole afternoon with my dearly missed dog friend.
Image: My dog friend Bernard who paid me a visit at our front gate. Here he is in his youth, chilling out in some sunglasses in his homemade, four-wheeled doggy wheeled “chair” that he used to get around. Notice the wear on his back wheels! Little buddy had some good adventures during his life!
How to tell the difference between a memory and an in-spirit animal visitation
In-spirit visitations are very different from a memory of our animal friends. Memories are something that we can play over and over again, and they look and feel the same each time. The situation, location, the people or pets, and even the feeling surrounding the memory are the same every time. Memories tend to pull us out of the present moment, too, even if just a little. When this happens, it can feel like the rest of the world kind of vanishes for a moment or two.
Visitations, on the other hand, are fluid and often fleeting, occurring in the present time (rather than the past); just like with my visit with Bernard at the front gate that I shared with you. Like in that visitation, in addition to seeing my dog friend, I was grounded and present, and I was aware of the weather, the traffic out front, and the heaviness of my backpack that I was carrying. Visitations are often accompanied by a profound sense of knowing, like an encompassing sense of inner peace that can feel like an inner knowing that your loved one is okay and safe.
During visitations, it can also feel like time slows down for a moment or two, and it can feel as though you are briefly sharing space in real-time with your in-spirit animal friend.
As I understand them, visitations are a co-created moment between us and our loved one who is visiting and happen when we are present and engaged in the here and now.
Presence is the practical magic that makes visitations possible
I believe that presence is the magic golden ticket that transforms our intuition from being spotty and a little foggy to being something we can rely on to help us navigate the world and do cool stuff like have little visits with our pets after they have passed.
But grief has a way of making it really hard to be present in the now. So to give you a little extra support, I’d love to share a sleep meditation for pet loss with you, which, if you are reading this post, I can imagine will give you some welcome relief this evening.
To access this meditation, just sign up with your email below.
