Anyone with pets knows that they are as varied as children and often more amenable; however, occasionally, we invite an animal into the family who presents us with unpleasant challenges. More and more people are seeking alternative remedies not only for themselves but also their pets. When a family has exhausted all options to correct their pet's difficult behavior and they are considering finding Sparky a new home, it's time to call in a pet communicator. Understanding animal behavior can help humans enrich the lives of pets as well as resolve conflicts that arise.
Boulder based intuitive and animal communicator, Jolee Wingerson, of Spirit Whisperings, works with animals for a variety of reasons, from identifying the reason for resistant behavior to helping the animal transition at the end of life. An intuitive is graced with the ability to zone in on the subtler emotions of an animal and pick up on the source of the difficult behavior.
As a child, Wingerson shared her life with many pets and her grandparents owned a farm in Kansas. Instinctively, she knew what the animals needed and possessed a particular affinity with baby animals, often rescuing baby birds and nurturing them until they were ready to fly. Wingerson continued to develop her natural skills at the Psychic Horizons Center in Boulder. “Every animal communicator has their own unique style, and so different animal communicators are going to pick up on different things. It's an art,” Wingerson explained. Some people are clairvoyant; they see visual images of what the animal needs and feels. Others are clairaudient and hear a specific voice, and while Wingerson occasionally hears an animal's words, more often than not her understanding is both clairvoyant and clairsentient: she just knows and feels the information.
People don't always come to Wingerson with problems. Sometimes they just want to deepen the relationship and find out what their animal is thinking and feeling, but most of the time, people call her when there is a conflict. While a need for more attention and play time may be a sufficient remedy, often the problem is more complicated.
Most intuitives believe that people create a contract or an agreement before coming to earth, to establish their life lessons. Animals are no different, and so, Wingerson focuses on the lessons that the animal is seeking to learn through the difficult behavior. For example, Janet called Wingerson because her horse, Romulus was resisting training. The more frequently she trained him, the more he rebelled and she was ready to sell him. When Wingerson read Romulus, she saw how deeply entrenched he was in his masculinity. He needed to be the star and to be admired. “Ironically, while he was not particularly stunning horse, his spirit said "everybody notice me. I am very special!"” Wingerson noted, while observing how Janet approached Romulus with her male energy. She tried to control and dominate him as a result of her own physical abuse issues and defense towards men. Wingerson suggested a more gentle and vulnerable approach; to begin by telling Romulus about her childhood trauma, to approach training more intuitively rather than from a predetermined regiment. Wingerson recommended that Janet take cues from Romulus to understand what would work each day. Once balance was established between them, their relationship was completely transformed and Janet did not sell Romulus. When a person realizes it is not an animal's intention to rebel, it helps them settle into working with the animal.
Animals and people often come together for healing. People will look at their pets and say: they're so afraid of everything and unwilling to take a risk or they're so in everybody's face about everything, so dominant. “Chances are, if you have an animal driving you nuts, there is a huge lesson that you are resisting,” Wingerson laughed, accustomed to people asking her if she is reading the animal or them. Whatever the characteristics are that drive the people crazy about themselves, whether they want to face it or not, are often the behaviors their animals are exhibiting. If a person's reaction to the animal's behavior shifts, through understanding, then as a result, the behavior changes.
On the other hand, the animal might possess an opposite characteristic. For instance, Louisa was very controlling and her dog, Jenny, was exceptionally wild. Both had to find a happy medium and it was a process. “When we develop compassion for and love for these sides of ourselves, ultimately, we are healed along with the animal,” Wingerson explained.
Animals have many of the same fears and joys as humans and we don't always give them the same kind of time and space that humans require to heal from trauma. Wingerson worked with a horse, Rosalie. Rosalie had suffered a severe spinal injury as a filly. While she would never able to be ridden, Rosalie healed to the degree that she was out of pain and could play with other horses. One day, when Rosalie's caretaker, Lora began to brush the horse, Rosalie turned, pinned her ears and tried to kick Lora. This was highly uncharacteristic of the mare and when the woman reached out and tried again to brush the mare, Lora was met with the same angry reaction. Once the caretaker determined that Rosalie was free of any kind of pain or injury, she called Wingerson who predicted that the mare's behavior would abate in three weeks.
