Except for three years of my life, I have lived either in Illinois or Minnesota, and those three fantastically exceptional years I spent on Bayou Lafourche in southern Louisiana.

My first job out of college was teaching jr. high orchestra and private string lessons on the bayou.  Bayou Lafourche is located south of New Orleans and just north of the Gulf of Mexico.  Nothing in my entire life had prepared me for living on the bayou with the Cajuns.

The Cajuns are of French Canadian descent and live along the bayous of southern Louisiana.  While I lived there, I experienced them as having close knit relationships with friends and families, and living with a joie de vivre in all they did.  During my stay there, I heard many of the Cajuns refer to themselves as “coonass.”
Fast forward a few decades: I’m in Minnesota and while searching for people to follow on Twitter, I ran across the Twitter account “coonassdotcom.”  This belonged to Jill Guidry on Bayou Lafourche, my old stomping grounds!  Jill and I connected and I am pleased to introduce her to you as a guest blogger.  Jill’s love and passion for all things Cajun and the Louisiana coastline come through in her writing.  Jill has also shared her talent as a photographer with Talk2theAnimals by providing pictures of Pelican and Great Blue Heron for Talk2theAnimals Animal Communication Practice Fridays.  You can connect with Jill at her blog Bayou Child – One Cajun’s Life and on Twitter.

Hello, I’m Jill Guidry and Janet was kind enough to tell y’all about my blog and feature one of the many animals that live here in her Friday practice session.   I was honored to see that she introduced you to Pelican.  Pelican got a powerful spirit and very much a part of life here in Southern Louisiana.  This part of the world is full of hundreds of different animals: gators, nutria, otters, raccoons deer possums, naming only a few of them.  We got hundreds of species of birds here: some live here year round and some return here every year to survive.

Our beloved coastland is being eaten away by damage from hurricanes,  but mostly from coastal erosion.  We are losing our bayous and losing Louisiana.  Experts say an area the size of a football field disappears hourly.  When it goes,  a unique culture and ecosystem will be lost forever.  I’m working, along with others, to stop this from happening.  I have lived out here on the bayou my whole life and my spirit is part of this place.  I would rather die with it then live without it.  The voices of the animals, birds and insects here can be heard like nowhere else in the world.  I thank Janet for this chance to speak for my place and for the Cajun people.  I think sometimes animals make their message known better then people ever could, and I want everything that live here to know I’m listening and if it’s in my power I will never let their voices drown.

In order to live in a place like this we got to live with the animals,  not against them, but we do hunt some of them.  Some of them hunt us.  I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else and I invite you to learn more about the animals here.  Some of them exist nowhere else, they are priceless treasures that we can’t afford to lose.

Jill, thank you so much for sharing your love of the bayou with all of us at Talk2theAnimals!

Harmony,

Janet Roper

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Welcome back for the 2nd Talk2theAnimals Animal Communication Practice Friday.  How did it go last week with Fox?  Did you learn anything new about yourself during this process?  If so, what was it?  Did Fox have a message for you?  Leave your comments on the site or email me your questions.

When we Talk2theAnimals, we can receive the information in different ways:

* Clairvoyance: Information is obtained by seeing pictures, visions or images.
* Clairaudience: Information is obtained by hearing sounds, words or thoughts.
* Clairsentience: Information is obtained by feeling emotions, illnesses, feelings.
* Clairgustance: Information is obtained by smelling.

You may discover that one way feels more natural to receive the information, or that you receive the information through various ways.  Whichever way works is fine; there’s no “correct” way to receive information, it’s whatever works for you.

If this is your first time at Practice Friday, or if you would like to review the procedure for creating a Circle of Listening, click here.  Always remember to ask the animal for their permission to talk with them and thank them when you’re finished.

Do you have your animal communication journal ready?  Here we go!

Today we’re talking with Stingray.

Here are  some questions for Stingray:

1. Can you show me or tell me what life is like from your point of view?
2. How do stingrays feel about sharing their waters with humans?
3. Do you have a message for me?
4. Is there anything else you would like to tell me?

Now I have some questions for you:

• What was it like for you to converse with Stingray?
• How did you receive the information: pictures, words, feelings, smells?
• Did you receive Stingray’s conversation in multiple ways or one primary way?
• Was it easy to talk with Stingray?
• Did you observe anything (i.e. blocks)  standing between you and talking to Stingray?
• What would you do next time you Talk2theAnimals to make it an easier experience?

I congratulate you on practicing your conversation skills with Stingray.  I invite you to share your experience in the comments.  Give me an email if you have questions!

Harmony,

Janet Roper

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I recently connected with a marvelously talented woman, Chris Heeter who runs The Wild Institute, a Minneapolis, MN based business.  The Wild Institute brings people closer to the deep wisdom of nature.

Ah, the deep wisdom of nature…..does that include animal communication?  As far as I know, Chris does not profess to be an ‘animal communicator’.

Recently, I received this poem, written by Chris, in her weekly newsletter, Wild Thoughts.  It’s with permission that I have published it here.  My questions for you:  Can a piece this beautiful be written without being in communication with animals and nature?  Are all of us natural animal communicators who have forgotten how to claim that connection?  Leave your comments and thoughts!

It’s as if my ears popped to equalize the pressure
of winter and the coming of spring.
As if overnight the cardinals are more present
beginning their courtship melodies.

Nuthatches and chickadees are more vocal as well
setting up shop, establishing territory.

My winter eyes, long searching for light,
drink in the lengthening days
so different these months past solstice.

And my winter heart, though still longing for snow,
opens to the signs of spring.
Opens to life
and the way this world
and I in it
find our way through the seasons.

Harmony,

Janet Roper

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We All Do Better when All Creatures Do Better

The recent post on Bear Baiting and Bear Dancing created quite a stir as you can see from the comments. Not only did I receive comments on the blog, I received them on my Twitter and FaceBook pages.

While searching online, I found some organizations that are helping these bears.  You can even sign a petition to stop this treatment.  Take a moment to check into these links:

• ASPCA
• WSPA
• The Petition Site

Each small step we take will help rebalance our relationship with these animals.  I commend you for doing what you can for the bears.

Harmony,

Janet Roper

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In my new 2009 state of organization, I had planned to have today’s post be about wolves.  My plan was to write an intro for the beautiful video you see below, and call it a day.

Wolf had different ideas.  He came forward and made some startling changes and additions to my plan.  I can honestly say this is Wolf’s post, not mine.  Montana Black Wolf, who is pictured, is the one speaking.  Black Wolf took me on a journey, requesting that I see humanity through Wolf’s eyes.  At the beginning of this journey, Wolf meets me and asks that I hold onto his withers as he guides me to the top of an enormous hill.  We are the only two at the top of this hill, and looking down, we see the chaos and the rabble of humanity below.

Let me be very clear: While I have done some work with a Shaman, I am not a Shaman.  I experienced this journey through Montana Black Wolf’s invitation.  In this, Wolf refers to me as “Sister.”

Montana Black Wolf speaks:

“It is time now for you (meaning me specifically) to listen to what the wolves have to say.  You will speak for us, you will be our voice.  Nothing we say is irrelevant, everything we say needs to be heard.

“You see the chaos that people have created, the upheaval, the wars, the pollution, the STINK that humanity has created.  There are many reasons why they have done this, the reasons are not important.  What is important is that people continue to do this, as if they have no other choice. (He scoffs.)

“Humans continue to degrade themselves, it is disgusting for the animals to watch.  I am describing what is, Sister, you are watching what is. No healthy animal would behave like that.  It is not in their nature.

“It is not in the Human’s innate nature to act like that, either, yet of their own ‘free will’ they have chosen to be destructive, to themselves and their home (he means Planet Earth).  They have chosen of their ‘free will’ to be destructive in what they call progress.

“NO HUMAN CAN CREATE A MORE BEAUTIFUL, NURTURING AND SUSTAINING SURROUNDING THAN WHAT WAS CRATED FOR THEM AND US BY THE CREATIVE FORCE.

“Yet humans think that because they didn’t create it, it is not worth while. Their creations consist of walls – concrete jungles that lock them in.  They call that security.  We call that stupidity.

“Sister, we look in awe (meaning disbelief) at humans, not understanding how they think the jungles and the divisions they have created are beneficial to all.  How is it possible for any creature to be so short sighted?

“The humans have created the vast distance between themselves and animals.  They have cut themselves off from their brothers and sisters, thinking it is good.  It is not.  It is destructive to all.  Humans are not willing to live and let live.

“Humans wall themselves off from us (he means wolves) and in doing so they do not see the many ways we can be helpful to them.  How they can learn from us.  It is their loss.  It is their extreme loss.

“Wolves have many lessons humans could choose to learn from us.  We have offered, few humans have accepted, few are chosen to speak with Wolf.  Few humans have the decency to work with wolves.

“We have been tricked too often by humans, we will not give our wisdom to the majority, the masses, any more.

“We will share our wisdom with selected few, you among them, Sister.  We have no objection if you decide to speak with the humans and tell them what we have said.  But we will no longer contact the majority – they are lost to us by their own doing.”

Compare this to Wolf’s message from September, 2005.

Finally, here is the Wolf video.

Thank you, Brother Wolf for sharing your words with me.

Harmony,

Janet Roper

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One of the interesting things I’ve discovered in working with animals is that sometimes the animals pick me to work with them, instead of me choosing them to work with me.

Recently, I was chosen by Elephant to be one of her students.  Now, it’s not like a real elephant came trumpeting up my driveway and knocked on my door; no, nothing so simple and obvious.  Instead, Elephant has been leading me on by appearing to me everywhere via pictures, readings, videos, and most insistently in a deep need within myself to learn more about these majestic creatures.  The result of Elephant’s call is that I’ve been spending some time reading up on elephants, exploring YouTube and visiting different sites to see what I can learn.

Humankind has maligned elephants in the past.  We have hunted them and enslaved them, used them cruelly and as targets of ridicule.  Perhaps it is their size that intimidates us and it is fear that has caused us to act so inhumanely.  Perhaps we haven’t taken the time to learn about them.  Perhaps we have divided the world into them and us.  When we divide creatures into groups of them and us, it can without difficulty turn into them vs. us, where it becomes easy for us to abuse them.  Our conscious is salved, because we are “only” hurting “them.”  This segregation does not encourage, or even allow, a rapport with the animals and it creates a spiritual separation.

But did you know that elephants and humans have a lot in common?  In his book Altruistic Armadillos, Zenlike Zebras, Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson cites many commonalities between humans and elephants:

1. We have similar life spans, 60-80 years.
2. Both species reach maturity in their 40s.
3. Like elephants, our brains are large, convoluted and richly folded.
4. Each species has complex social relations.
5. Elephants often sleep on bush-pillows, snore and dream like we do.
6. Elephants have a special relationship with their dead.
7. We humans share with elephants the deep feelings we have for our family.

I hope that as more people become aware of the shared attributes we have with these magnificent creatures, we will be able to enter into a relationship based on respect and understanding.

Please take a moment to enjoy this beautiful video from WildEarth TV.

Finally, I will keep you posted on what Elephant teaches me!

Harmony,

Janet Roper

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Pets get cold too during the winter, and it is so important that we take extra special care of them during this frigid time.  Here’s a video that gives some winter pet care tips.  Just remember, if it’s too cold for you, it’s too cold for them!

Harmony,

Janet Roper

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We All Do Better When All Creatures Do Better

FYI: This post is not about yuletide carols and holiday cheer.  While you may not want to read any further, I invite you to keep reading.  There is important information below.  Your comments, thoughts and ideas are very much welcomed.

Actually, I’ve been debating for awhile about writing this post.  I kept thinking ‘When is a good time to write about animals and their right to life?’.  I didn’t want to depress anyone around the holidays. Finally, I decided there is no time like the present to broach this topic.

It seems lately a lot of heartbreaking and depressing stories about human treatment of animals have found their way to me.  The local MN TV stations have been covering a story about a young golden retriever who was shot twice and left for dead at the side of the road in this frigid weather.  Thousands and thousands of horses are dying.  From two colleagues I have heard about animals being skinned alive for their fur.  The fur is fresher that way.  The soon-to-be carcasses are thrown into a pile and can still be alive for another ten minutes.

I don’t know what to say, where to begin.  I get lost in the murky areas of torture, abuse, neglect.  I get further disorientated regarding how lack of economics and education play a part in this, as well as power, might and violence.  I can’t imagine, I simply cannot imagine, what pain a person must be in themselves to inflict this on another living, sentient creature.

This morning I was listening to NPR’s This I Believe.  Dr. Paul Farmer wrote this morning’s essay. The honesty and frankness of his words both touched me and left me heavy hearted.  While Dr. Farmer is addressing the health needs of humans, I see it as appropriate for animals also. Below is a portion of what he said.  To see the entire essay, click here. The words in parenthesis are mine.

As heard on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday, December 21, 2008.

I know it’s not enough to attend only to the immediate needs of the patient (animal) in front of me. We must also call attention to the failures and inadequacy of our own best efforts. The goal of preventing human (animal) suffering must be linked to the task of bringing others, many others, into a movement for basic rights.

I move uneasily between the obligation to intervene and the troubling knowledge that much of the work we do, praised as “humanitarian” or “charitable,” does not always lead us closer to our goal. That goal is nothing less than the refashioning of our world into one in which no one (creature) starves, drinks impure water, lives in fear of the powerful and violent, or dies ill and unattended.

To put in my own words, We All Do Better When All Creatures Do Better.

In the book Altruistic Armadillos, Zenlike Zebras, Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson comments about beetles that ‘they are living beings who have as much right to their existence as we have to ours’. (p. 23)

I would like to take Masson’s comment a step further and apply that to all animals, insects, any sentient being.  I’m also going to add to that comment: ‘they are living beings who have only as much right to their existence as we have to ours’.

Perspectives will begin to change when it is realized that animals have as much a prerogative and birthright to their lives as you and I do.  This I Believe.

Harmony,

Janet Roper

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‘Tis the season of sharing, and I’d like to share with you some animal blogs and sites that I enjoy visiting!  Hope you enjoy them too, and if you have others that you like to visit, please leave them in the comments!

• PetTalez — Geared towards cats and dogs, a place to share storiez, photoz, videoz and your love of your petz.
• I is Roxie and i is bloggin — Roxie is a beautiful, young, Percheron-ish horse who is very comfortable with herself and telling her views to the world.
• Camera-obscura — Learn about life with billie and her assorted animals.
• The 7MSN Ranch — The burros George and Alan are the leaders of the fun at this blog.
• SideWalk Dog — All about dog-friendly Minneapolis/St. Paul unleashed online.
• Natural Horsemanship from the ground up – The Carolyn Resnick Blog — The title says it all!
• Daisy the Curly Cat — She’s a good cat, but she’s not always a nice cat!  And she now has a brother, Harley.
• We Three, Ginger Cats Tales — Telling tales of walking in wild places, of painting…and other things.
• Teachings of the Horse — Discover your “inner horse” wisdom.

Happy exploring!

Harmony,

Janet Roper

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@janetroper.  What’s with this @janetroper?  Does it have anything to do with the internet, and, heaven forbid, social media?  What do social media and animal communication have in common?  Is there a link? Isn’t social media an extraneous topic for an animal communicator?

No, definitely not.  Social media is all about communication and connection, just like animal communication.  It is connecting to people via internet and mobile tools and sites.  As a matter of fact, I recently read that when you connect with people via social media, you are raising your connection power 2 to the 90th degree.  That’s an incredibly huge number!  The way I look at it, the more people I can connect with and spread the word about animal communication, the better it is!

Social media includes sites such as FaceBook, LinkedIn, YouTube and MySpace.  My favorite one, and the one I use most frequently, is Twitter, a microblogging site.

Perhaps this is where the animal communicator in me jumped out and said, “Let’s try Twitter!” because that site is very animal friendly.  The logo is a happy little bluebird, and whenever you post a comment on Twitter, it’s called a tweet.

Not only that, when Twitter is overloaded, you get a picture of the fail whale, with little birds helping it. Does an animal communicator’s heart good to see all those cute animal icons.  One of these days I will talk to them and get their feedback on Twitter.

But even above and beyond the cute animal icons, Twitter is an uncomplicated yet influential site to use.   When using it, I am not ‘twittering’ away my time, but building a powerful online presence and network.  Here are the benefits that, as an animal communicator, I receive from Twitter:

• It allows me to easily reach a high volume of people who are interested in animals.
• It allows me to easily network with people who are interested in animals.
• It allows me to easily increase the readership of my animal communication blog.
• It allows me to easily engage in conversation with people about animals.
• It allows me to easily develop a professional relationship with those who are interested in my animal communication services and products.
• It allows me to easily find new readers who are interested in animals.
• It allows me to easily link from Twitter to content I have on my blog, or have published.
• It allows me to easily find stories about people and their animals.
• It allows me to easily inform people of upcoming animal communication events I am offering or in which I am participating.
• It allows me to easily tweet, or post, event updates.
• It allows me to easily give ‘live coverage’ when I am at an event.
• It allows me to easily connect my animals with like minded animals.
• It allows me to easily discover new and unique animal-related products and services.
• It allows me to easily pass on to others the new animal-related products and services I have discovered.

The one thing the above benefits have in common is they are easily accomplished on Twitter.  Due to Twitter’s accessibility and functionality, I am a member of the Twitter Elite in Minneapolis.  I’m into easy with substantial results, so Twitter, as a social media tool, exactly fits my needs.  Thanks to the simplicity of Twitter I have more time to Talk2theAnimals.

Want to explore Twitter?  Give me a follow: @JanetRoper and leave me a tweet or three!  I look forward to seeing you on Twitter!

Harmony,

Janet Roper

@janetroper

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