Often people ask me what happens after our animal companions leave the bodies we knew and loved. Where do they go? Are they all right?
As humans, especially in the Western world, we orient around divisions and duality. These constructs are so pervasive that we rarely even notice or question them. We automatically think in terms of life and death, here and there.
Given this, it’s no wonder that we have difficulty understanding how someone or something continues when it is no longer visible to our eye and can’t be touched by our hand.
Indeed, many of us are confounded by the disappearing act when someone goes “behind the curtain.” Whether it’s the rainbow bridge we so often hear of or some other reference to the passage between the worlds, it can seem as though when someone dies they have ceased to exist. But just as in The Wizard of Oz, you only need to pull back the curtain.
There is a thin veil separating the densely physical world and the lighter, more ethereal (yet very real) world of the soul. In that soul space, the spiritual nature of your beloved remains alive and well.
The soul that animated the body you knew continues to exist. What’s more, our beloveds continue to remain connected to us - by love. It’s an energetic connection, an opportunity that continues and remains.
Our animal friends may remain close to us physically, often in or around the household for some time after death. They want to make sure their people and other animal family members are okay. Indeed, lots of folks report sensing the scent or sound of their animal friend, or a distinct feeling of their body jumping on the bed or nuzzling against them. Such visitations can occur days, weeks, months, or even years after their passing. Usually, these visits become less frequent over time as the soul embarks on other missions and incarnations. Once they are assured that their family will carry on, they usually move onward. They change form and continue learning, experiencing, and growing. If the animal was a soul mate, a spiritual ally, then you can be certain that your relationship will continue – and you can expect to receive some form of contact from them on the other side all the days of your life, and very likely into your next. When animals “visit” they often will chose to show themselves as a younger and more vibrant version of themselves. People do this as well. Rarely does someone who has left the physical visit a loved one in a state of old age, distress, or weakness.
Once they are out of their body, infirmities disappear. The soul will usually express itself as healthy and well. Animals who were blind can see, those who were crippled can walk and run. The life of the soul continues, not the suffering.
We humans often have trouble letting go and moving on. Animals have a much easier time of it. They do not leave with the unfinished business of resentments, guilt, or shame - as we humans so often do. After the physical body dies, animals do not rehash and review incessantly about what did or did not happen during their life and passing.
Nor do they waste energy or time anticipating their death. Whether their death was long or instantaneous, animals always leap out of their body “suits” and shake them off as soon as they are convinced their human and animal buddies are okay. We humans tend to get weighed down and often traumatized by the death of our loved ones. We might obsess about it, agonizing over every moment and detail. I have never, ever found an animal doing that. Animals often show me that for them, the experience of death is much less significant than all the experiences they had during their physical life. Even if the death was violent or difficult, the animal soul observes it as mere moments in a vast journey of experience.
Animals that are simple see their lives and their passing as changing rooms – each room has one animal form and expression that is simply traded for another. Other animals are deep and much more complex.
No matter what the end of a particular life was like, animals are able to contain their experience as part of a rich and expansive tapestry of evolving expression. They are always aware of their connection with Source - and their relatedness to all animals, in body and passed. When they are here in the physical and when they are romping around in Heaven. That awareness includes the love they shared with you. Love never dies.
NOTE: If you would like to increase your ability to connect with your animal beloved (in body or not), please join me for an Inspiration Station class. They're designed to help you more effectively engage YOUR intuition.