Animals and Reincarnation
By Lisa Shaw
I’ll never get used to the anguish of a person grieving a pet’s “death.” We’ve all been there. We feel a physical hole in our hearts, in our auras; our homes feel hollow; we can take years to recover. This is where a reading helps a grieving pet owner. I act as a conduit between the human and the departed animal and people come to realize that not only does life continue after physical end, but our relationships with our departed loves ones continue as well. Grief-burdened people ask, “What about reincarnation? Will my dog come back to me as another animal?” or “Can you ask her if she will come back to me as another animal?” The answers I get from the animals themselves are pretty consistent.
Sometimes our animals do return to us. Sometimes they assure us that although they’re physically undetectable, they’re still watching and guiding us, and some choose to remain in that realm as our guides. Sometimes they promise to “send” a new animal our way. This just happened in my reading with a Boston Terrier about to make the transition; she sent the message that she will be “forwarding” a new pup to her owner and even gave information to identify the new arrival. He will be from a litter of two, will have a longer muzzle than a Boston, and will be like (a bull terrier, perhaps?). In another reading this week, a departed Chihuahua mix said she’d be directing a small cat or kitten to her grieving owner’s door, and the woman is to open that door and accept the gift. Today she wrote to tell me she found a black cat on her patio.
Our love for our animals is eternal and only on practical, mundane levels do our partnerships appear finite. In the human course of life, children naturally outlive their parents, but our animal relationships reverse this pattern. We lose our dogs and cats (if they are blessed with a full life) every 10-18 years. Cruel, we say. We want our animals to journey alongside us until we transcend to higher planes together. We want what we love to continue.
Well, it does, through reincarnation, which isn’t a concept to accept but a reality to encounter. I don’t like the question, “Do you believe in reincarnation?” For me it’s not a belief but a certainty, supported by both religion and physics. Einstein said, ” Energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be changed from one form to another.” Then this would be true of the soul or spirit, which is pure energy encased in a limited physical body. We may not know precisely how it changes or where it goes, but we know it continues.
Many people claim religious objection to reincarnation, but Biblical review offers evidence that it exists. Ecclesiastes 1:4:19 supports the continuance of all life:
Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again…What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
In the New Testament, John the Baptist was named the same soul as the O.T. Prophet Elijah: In Matthew 11:13-14 we read about John, And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who was to come. This is repeated in other gospels.
Jewish mysticism treats reincarnation as a natural process. Judaism assigns 613 mitzvot or commendments to each soul, all of which cannot possibly be completed in one or even a few lifetimes. We must return and return to fulfill these. Thus it is written in the Zohar As long as a person is unsuccessful in his purpose in this world, the Holy One, blessed be He, uproots him and replants him over and over again“(Zohar I 186b).” And it continues more literally, All souls are subject to reincarnation; and people do not know the ways of the Holy One, blessed be He!….they are ignorant of the many reincarnations and secret works which they have to undergo...” (http://www.aish.com/jl/l/a/48943926.html).
Over the years my clients have often suspected that the new pup in the house is the same soul as the beloved animal who has passed…behaviors, word recognitions, body language and particular essence identify him not as a newcomer but as a returnee.
Animals do reincarnate. My only caution to those who deeply mourn the physical loss of their companion animals is that we should not will them to do so but respect the spiritual process and trust that the higher energies know better than we do if and when return is right.
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About the Author
Lisa Shaw is an Animal Communication Specialist and Reiki Master. She has been an intuitive counselor for over 25 years, working with animals and people and is available for consultations, classes, and animal welfare group fundraisers. She runs a free weekly Animal Reiki Circle on Facebook. She has an M.A. in Pastoral Ministry with a concentration in Healing and Loss, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing. She has been an English professor for 30+ years and lives with a rambunctious but loving furry and winged family.
