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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.

Often when I'm sleeping, I experience sleep paralysis. (I feel my soul trying to lift out of my body to astral travel, and when I try to wake up, I feel paralyzed. I've yet to achieve conscious projection, though I've tried many times.) I have to say the Lord's Prayer to fully wake up. A few nights ago this was happening, and when I opened my eyes, I saw this flash in the corner of the bedroom, and I heard a voice say, "He is coming." It went through me with this horrible laugh. I told my sister about it, and she said that people tend to hallucinate when they wake up fast. This is not the first strange experience I've had like this. Do you think I was hallucinating? If not, what do you think this was? Thanks!

Brittany

Dreamchaser:

While some people may call what you were doing "hallucinating," that is definitely not what you were doing.

You write that you were aware of being paralyzed; that would indicate that your body is not properly aligned with your conscious mind and your soul. A part of you is on the Otherside, and that is the part that is experiencing things in the Other World. These are most definitely not hallucinations - they are actual experiences.

The voice and laughter you heard did not come from something evil that was out to hurt you. I feel you were actually picking up a passing conversation.

If you are driving in your car with your windows down and the radio off, and you pull up to a corner where people are standing and talking, you will be able to hear bits of their conversation. As soon as you take off, they will fade out. If you go to another corner where the lights are really bright, for a few seconds you will see bright lights.

Something similar was happening as you were going back into your body. You were hearing bits and pieces of conversations, and seeing lights and shadows on your way back. The man with the laughter was not there FOR you, and he was not trying to scare you.

We need to remember that not everything on the Otherside is pretty. Some things are ugly, loud, move really fast, and can scare the heck out of us. Our "human" sides see or hear things and equate them with scary things from THIS world. I often wonder if our horror book and film writers have brought visions back of things they saw on the Other Side, and then just amped them up for greater entertainment value. (That, however, is another column).

I do not believe you are asleep when you feel your soul take off. I think you have always been an astral traveler, so you are used to experiencing this at a conscious level. Trust me, Brittany, not very many people can say that they feel their souls leave their bodies while they are sleeping.

You are in fact not asleep - you are in a state of consciousness between being awake and being asleep. Since your soul has always done this, this is normal for you. Other people have to read books or take classes and work hard to accomplish conscious astral travel.

If you are scared, you can always ask your guides and other helpful beings from the Otherworld to protect you when you are sleeping. You can just say out loud, "I ask for protection while I sleep. Please allow my body to rest peacefully. I ask this in the name of the One God." That should do it.

Of course, you can use your own terminology if you don't like mine - just be sure to ask in the name of the One God.

I wish you peace-full sleep.

*****

Astrea:

It doesn't sound like you were hallucinating; instead, it sounds like you were seeing and hearing what I would call a "Trouble Spirit."

Many times we see or hear things when we first wake up that are not real. However, when two or more of your five (six?) senses are engaged at the same time, most likely there is something or someone there with you that is not of the flesh.

Whether this is happening or not, it's a good idea to do a ritual to rid yourself of any negative energy around you, especially if you're planning to engage in nightly astral travel or otherwise open yourself to spirit entities. Psychic states are VULNERABLE states, and you must protect yourself at all times.

I hear tale after tale of awful things that happen to people who aren't exercising the proper protection before embarking on psychic journeys. Spiritual explorers must be careful not to invite negative entities into their lives, psyches, or homes.

One of the simplest ways to keep unwanted sprits banished from your home is by burning sage. This remedy comes from Native American tradition. It drives away unhappy and scary spirits, but it allows happy ones to stay with you.

If you experience this kind of "visit" often as you're waking or falling asleep, you can also keep a bell or whistle beside your bed, or anything that will make a loud, high-pitched noise. Evil spirits don't like loud, high, discordant sounds.

You can also put a broomstick over your bedroom door and a bottle of rum or vinegar at your back door. That practice comes from voodoo, and I can just about guarantee it will work. There is not an evil spirit or entity that would dare venture past those.

You might also appeal to St. Uncumber, who is well known throughout most of Europe for helping people get rid of unwanted boyfriends and girlfriends. St. Uncumber was a celibate princess who prayed that her arranged fiance wouldn't want to marry her. She woke the next day with a FULL BEARD, which I bet did the trick!

Place a white plate of oats on your altar or at the back door (the oats were to draw a horse to carry the unwanted one away). Then pray in your own way that St. Uncumber will disencumber you from the unwanted entity. Visualize the entity happy, well and handsome. (This also works for unwanted boyfriends or girlfriends, if you can sneak a few oats into their shoe.)

As a last resort, you can call in a professional exorcist, but I don't usually recommend that because evil spirits LOVE attention, so this can sometimes make things worse. You can also wear a St. Michael medal to bed at night, and hang St. Benedict over the head of your bed.

Happy traveling!

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.