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Four Ways Your Energy Animal Can Appear to You, by Melissa Alvarez

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

Animals. We share our world with them, we have them as pets, and they can be a source of comfort and love. Animals can also be spiritual guides for us during times of need or to help us grow on our spiritual path. I call them energy animals because I work with energy and animal frequency, but they're also known as totems, spirit animals, power animals, familiars, and animal spirit guides. All of these terms describe animals that guide, teach, and connect with you in order to deliver messages from the spiritual realm that you need to know at specific points in your life and on your path. Some appear for a short time, others are with us for a lifetime.

When an animal has a message for you, the energy surrounding the animal will feel different. It may feel as if the animal is staring you down, or you just intuitively know that there's something unusual about the bird that keeps perching in trees near you, making you notice it. The animal will not give up until it gets your attention and delivers the information. If you're not paying attention, things will start to happen that captures your awareness and makes you take notice. Your animal encounters may happen more often and with more intensity until finally you say, "What is going on?" That's when you'll be open to receiving the message that the animal is trying to deliver.

I'll give you an example. When I was writing Animal Frequency, there were so many animals showing up at my farm that every day I expected to see a new one and I usually did. It was also foaling season, and for ten days I was dealing with a mare who had retained part of her placenta after foaling out, which is life-threatening and meant I was up every two to four hours throughout the night giving her three to four antibiotic injections at a time to try to save her life in conjunction with her veterinary care. Being severely sleep deprived, I stopped paying attention to the animals showing up and didn't get much written during that time. Then one day shortly after the mare was over the incident I found myself bombarded with dragonflies. I walked out to the barn and there was one flying along beside me. While I did my work I'd find them sitting on the pitchfork handle or on the bags of shavings or they'd land on my arms. I acknowledged them and thanked them for the appearance but I was so tired I didn't think past that. Then I walked out into the yard by the barn and was swarmed with dragonflies all around me. There must have been fifty or sixty of them flying into the wind all around me. They've done this before in this spot but none had ever landed on me, and this time I had four land on me at once and they seemed to be looking right at me. Then when I went on an errand I was sitting at a stoplight and looked over and there was a tiny baby dragonfly sitting on my window starting at me. As soon as I got home I looked at my Animal Frequency manuscript to see what I'd written about the dragonfly. The line that stood out to me was, "Dragonfly means you need to add lightness to your life. Don't get bogged down in the heaviness of the world but be the light, airy being that shines in a multitude of colors." I had been bogged down in heaviness due to the issues with the mare and lack of sleep. I was still worrying about her even though the crisis had passed. Dragonfly helped me see that I needed to let it go so that I could get back to the lightness of being that I try to keep my frequency at. Once I did, everything flowed easily again.

By knowing some of the different ways that animals can try to capture your attention, you'll become more aware of their appearances. They can show up in any way that they believe will make you notice them, so this list is just a mere sampling. Here are four of the most common ways that animals can appear to you when they have a message to deliver.

1. Media
   With more and more people participating in social media, you're sure to see animals in videos, memes, advertising, news, and in online documentaries. When these animal appearances start repeating or standing out then that means there's a message. Seeing a cute lion cub video and then seeing two more lions online can be a sign that they're trying to get a message to you. Now, let's say you're driving to an appointment and see a lion on a billboard, and as you drive past the local zoo you notice a new advertisement for the lion exhibit, and the radio announcer is talking about a show about lions that he saw over the weekend. Once you get to your appointment you open up a magazine while you wait and there's a huge lion staring back at you. Later at home, you turn on the television and hear a lion's roar. By now you have probably realized that lion has a message for you. Take some time to sit quietly and ask lion what its message is and then trust in the first thoughts you receive.
2. Dreams
   When your spirit guides have a hard time reaching you when you're awake, they often appear to you in your dreams. It's the same with your energy animals. In dreams you're more open to receive their messages as long as you can remember the dream. They will return to your dreams multiple times if you forget it. When you see an energy animal in your dream notice what kind of animal it is. What is it doing in your dream? Is it acting as it normally would in real life, or is it doing something that it could never do in real life—like speaking actual words? If it is speaking words, then it's delivering its message the easiest way it knows how—in your native language. Try hard to remember what it said. Also look at the environment of the dream. Is the animal out of place or in its natural habitat? This can all be part of the message. If you dream of a hippo swinging on a swing set maybe it is trying to tell you that your life is out of balance and you need to have more fun. How are you interacting or reacting to the animal? This is part of the message too.
3. Spoken Word
   Sometimes, when you're not paying attention to the animal, the animal will enlist the help of others to get your attention. You may have noticed those lions and they've piqued your interest, but not enough for you to start looking up what they mean or to meditate to ask what the message is. So now your co-worker starts talking about going to the zoo and how wonderful the new lion exhibit is. She might tell you about how they changed the enclosure or that the lioness had cubs. Then your neighbor tells you about a dream she had that featured a lion. Or your significant other tells you about a new project at work that is featuring a lion. After several people have told you their lion stories, now you're inspired to find out exactly what message lion has for you.
4. In the Flesh
   Many times you'll notice animals because they simply show up in person to get your attention. There have been many times when a hawk, snake, alligator, or other animal has shown up on my farm and just stared me down. I believe that the "stare down" is one of their favorite ways to get your attention. I mean, how can you possibly ignore that? Once I had a big red-tailed hawk perch right on the fence and watch me clean a paddock. I kept looking over at him and just got stared at. When I moved to another paddock, the hawk flew over to a low tree branch and stared me down again. By the time I got to the round pen, where it perched on the panel about four feet away from me, I just stopped what I was doing, stared back at him and intuitively opened my energy to its message. Once I'd received it, the hawk made a loud screech and flew away. So when you see an animal in the flesh that seems to be looking at you or that you intuitively feel like there's something special or unusual about the animal, pay attention to it. Take a few moments to commune with it so that you can discover what it needs to tell you.

Connecting with your energy animal can help you in many different ways. It can even be life changing. If you're not paying attention, energy animals can and will use all of these ways at the same time to inundate you with their presence so you pay attention and start to learn more about the animal. Getting your attention is often the hardest part. Once their message is delivered, the animal usually disappears from your life, but you'll probably always remember the message.

I encourage you to take time to open your heart, mind, and intuition to the animals that appear in your life. Connect with them through animal frequency to experience the Divine with them and within yourself.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2017. All rights reserved.

A psychic friend of mine told me that my main spirit guide is Zoraster. I've done a lot a lot of research over the internet about him, and have had a number of "coincidences" related to him. For example, without knowing about my interest in Zoraster, my boyfriend made reference to him out of the blue; he told me that my name (Kira) derives from Zorastrianism. I also run across references to Zoraster in unlikely places. I find it highly improbable that anyone would have a spiritual "celebrity" like this for a guide; it sort of reminds me of past life readings, and everyone believing they were Cleopatra or someone famous - yet I keep having these "coincidental" experiences. If Zoraster IS my guide, then have I been chosen for something special? If so, what is it? Any insights you can offer would be appreciated. Thanks!

- Kira

Dreamchaser:

We very well could have "famous" spirit guides or teaching guides around us. Why not?

As a matter of fact, I received a spirit guide drawing in September of last year. The woman started to draw and then started to laugh. She said, "Well THIS is a first." She then went on to tell me that Abraham Lincoln was a guide for me at the time.

I laughed too at first, but then I started seeing references to Mr. Lincoln everywhere. She had also told me that he was here to teach me about "black and white," and how I see things in only black or white. I then began to be inundated with messages on how I view things in black or white.

There are two types of spirit guides. There are main guides who are with us all of our lives, and then there are teaching guides who come in to teach us particular lessons, after which they leave. Our main guides can help the teaching guides if needed, or they can step back and let the teaching guide have the full spotlight, so to speak.

Honest Abe was/is a teaching guide for me. He will not stay once I have learned all he has to teach me. I know he is not gone yet, because I still see references to him all over the place.

Zoraster is a teaching guide for you. His main teaching was that there is a really balanced system of good and evil in the world. He teaches moderation. He basically teaches about issues of cause and effect - what goes around, comes around. I find it interesting, by the way, that his original texts were written in Iranian, and there is all this war and unrest happening in that part of the world right now.

Another interesting point about him is that he considered light and fire the most powerful elements on earth. Hence there are always fires burning in any temple of Zoroastrianism. You might want to look at how you use light and fire in your own worship rituals, as well as in your day-to-day life.

Other than that, I cannot ask Zoraster about this, or relay a message from him about your lessons with him. That would be cheating. He is here to teach you as you become ready, and as he (and the Universe through him) sees fit.

If I tell you everything that he is here to teach you, then what need is there for him to be here anymore?

We have to let the Universe bring us some things in the proper order. That is why your psychic cannot always answer everything. Some things just must happen as they should happen, and some questions the Universe will just not answer.

Get quiet, stare at a flame as a focal point, and ask Zoraster what you want to know. Maybe he will tell you.

I wish you continuing growth.

*****

Astrea:

I've had several clients who have famous people for Spirit Guides. I feel it's about as likely you will as you won't.

Why wouldn't famous people choose to guide others through life just like "regular" people do? In Heaven, everyone is the same; there are no celebrities there. Compassion for us from occupants of heaven is Universal.

I think these "coincidences" you describe are too important to really BE coincidences! That your own name derives from that religion is so interesting.

Even if Zoroaster is NOT your Spirit Guide, you could have lived when that religion was born, and might have been very instrumental in its formation.

Exploring this is vital if you want to be able to use the psychic abilities you've been given in this incarnation. Rest assured, there is SOME connection there, and you are supposed to find out what that connection is and what it means for you.

Good for you for beginning with the internet; it's a fantastic research tool. I caution you, however, not to believe everything you read. Keep track of what strikes you as "right" and "true" and what hits you "wrong" as you do this research. Make lots of lists.

Then take your information to someone in your area who does past life work, and have them help you uncover your past lives. Many times clients of mine who DO have a famous Guide have had that Guide over MANY incarnations.

It's important to find out how long he's been with you, for if he's been with you for many incarnations, it may be because you haven't learned what you were supposed to learn from him yet. Since your awareness has grown a great deal in THIS incarnation, chances are good that this is the right lifetime for you to accomplish your mission with him at last.

It's also important for you to establish some kind of DIRECT connection to your Guide, no matter who it is, so that you don't always need a channeler for such communication. There are many different techniques for doing that, and if you can find one that works for you, you can find out all you need to know directly from the SOURCE.

Although many people tell me that they have no way to access their own guides, usually when they make enough quiet time and space, their Guides will come through. Try to practice at the SAME time every day so your guide can be ready when you are. What you do and experience with your Guides YOURSELF will be far more meaningful than what others bring through for you.

I think the so-called "coincidences" alone prove that you're being guided to some special spiritual mission. It's up to you to find out what that may be.

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.