Spiritual Bonds with Animals

Spiritual connections with animals have become one of the most unexpected and profound aspects of my recovery journey. As someone who's always had dogs, I never anticipated how becoming more spiritually aware would transform my relationships with all kinds of creatures—from rescue pets to wildlife.

When I moved in with my partner, I inherited two new family members: Bella, a kelpie-dachshund mix with boundless energy, and Daisy, an elderly but nimble tabby cat. Having suffered severe cat allergies my entire life, I never imagined forming a bond with a feline companion. Yet through consciously projecting safe, loving energy, I've developed a beautiful morning ritual with Daisy, who now wakes me at dawn for affection and connection.

The spiritual techniques that transformed my human relationships work remarkably well with animals. By channeling calm energy through my hands onto Bella's head when she's overexcited, maintaining meaningful eye contact when setting boundaries, and projecting clear intentions, I've established a communication system that transcends verbal language. The most profound demonstration of this spiritual growth came unexpectedly when I encountered a 10-foot python in my backyard. Instead of experiencing my usual debilitating phobia—one so severe I couldn't even look at pictures of snakes—I felt fascinated by its beauty. This encounter fundamentally shifted my relationship with fear itself.

These animal connections have become powerful teachers in my recovery. Whether it's the magpie I rescued who returned daily to check on me, or the rescue pets who respond to energy work, these relationships demonstrate that the same principles healing human connections can create meaningful bonds across species. Have you experienced spiritual connections with animals in your life? I'd love to hear your stories about the creatures who've helped you see the world differently.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introducing Animal Connections
• 1:12 Meeting Bella and Daisy
• 5:56 Energy Work with Animals
• 10:44 Building Trust with a Cat
• 12:48 Confronting Snake Phobia
• 19:36 Magpie Connection and Final Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome back to Fitzcapades. My name's Michelle and I'm a recovered addict, so today's a bit of a fun one. I wanted to start with an open slate and just see where it takes me. I've been doing so much content on pretty deep and meaningful stuff that I just wanted to do something that was a little bit more fun and, yeah, relevant still. So basically a lot of my recovery has been based around, like, human relationships and the importance of human yeah, human relationships. But yeah, in terms of my own spiritual journey, the other thing that I have certainly noticed as a bit of a side effect is that, as I've become more spiritual aware is that we have spiritual connections with animals too, and it's pretty wild.

Speaker 1: 0:51

I mean, I've always had dogs my whole life, um, and I love, I love dogs. You know, um, when we say I pray more of a dog person, um, the main reason for not really being um, having much to do with cats is that as a younger person, I certainly had a really bad allergy to cats. I could not be around them. They just made me get terrible asthma and really bad itchy eyes. One of my first boyfriend in high school he bought me a cat and I tried to keep a cat in my room and it only lasted a day. And I tried to keep a cat in my room and it only lasted a day before I was, like, really so unwell that I had to give the cat to him, which is a bit sad. I've never really understood cats and I've never understood people who watch cat videos and things like that. Yeah, until this year. So, when I moved in with my partner, he has got a cat and a dog and, yeah, they've become my cat and dog too, I guess.

Speaker 1: 1:49

Um, and so, yeah, I've, I've uh, grown quite fond of Daisy. She's a little tabby cat that we have and she's uh, um, very old now but still very nimble. That's one of the things that is quite fascinating about watching her move, like she still tries to catch moths and things, and like to watch her jump up onto the you know balustrade of the balcony. Um, is is quite, yeah, she's quite an athlete. So I guess these are the first two animals that I've met being more spiritual, aware, uh, and yeah, it's funny, like without realizing, I guess I've been harnessing you know like how, putting what power, what, what energy I put out into the you know room, uh, to make better friends with them. So, um, yeah, in terms of like, um, work with humans I don't know if I've spoken about it or not Like when I went to see a spiritual healer, she told me, like a way to get along better with your day and get along with people better is that, before you go to a certain place, you imagine all the people you're going to encounter, even the ones that really piss you off, right, and you send them like loving energy, visualize this like white light, and you push it out into the universe and you really send it to them before you get there.

Speaker 1: 3:07

And then, when you arrive at whatever, whatever destination you're getting to, you know, um, you get there and you find that people receive you a lot better. Um, and it's taught me a lot, actually. Uh, so, like you know, there's always people that like really rub you up the wrong way. Or you know, like, when I used to go to CrossFit, there's a couple of kind of like Barbie doll, like people like no, not even Barbie. Like you know, there was one girl and she was quite opinionated and quite snobby and that and like that's my own judgmental sort of you know, I guess, impressions of her when I started to do that, she actually became less irritating. And you know what it was probably started to do that she actually became less irritating and you know what? It was probably all to do with the energy that I was putting up because I'd made up all these you know assumptions about this girl and like, yeah, when I started to do that and like, send out loving energy, loving, you know, like just kind loving energy, light energy yeah, we got along a lot better and I didn't think that she was quite as annoying. So there you go. It's very telling.

Speaker 1: 4:08

So the energy that we put out is really powerful and indeed with animals too, especially if you've just met them. So all the animals in this house are, they're like rescue animals. So, bella, the dog is a rescue dog but she still has that, you know, like unconditional love, like you know, wags her tail and is always super keen to see, like any dog is a rescue dog, but she still has that, you know, like unconditional love. Like you know, wags her tail and is always super keen to see, like any dog is. So it's like she's not broken in any way. But I noticed that she's got a. Her energy is that she's quite submissive. So, like you know, if she wants to be naughty or something, you just put your finger up and she'll kind of like succumb and and and almost kowtow to you a bit, you know, like with her head bowed, it's quite funny. So she's got quite a lovely energy about her.

Speaker 1: 4:50

She's a kelpie, like a kelpie, actually crossed with a dash hound. So it's quite an interesting union. That happened. God knows how that occurred then. Anyway, um and yeah, so she's like super nimble and agile and it's got like overexcited energy a lot of the time, like she'll jump up and she's got these really, really sharp claws and like when I first met her, like the first week, my legs were just slashed to death from her claws. And so what I learned with Bella is when she's getting overexcited and she's all in your face and that I will put my hand just on her head and I will literally like literally, very consciously, force calming energy and I'll calm myself down and I'll send this calming energy and I imagine it coming up through my hands and I say calm down and and and. Um, I've noticed that it really works, like she stops getting over exuberant and boisterous and in your face and she actually does calm down Because Bella is a bit of a like daddy's boy, you know, like she's really my partner's main other woman, you know, and he lets her like get away with a lot.

Speaker 1: 6:00

You know she's number one girl no, and so she doesn't have many rules, boundaries and limitations. Like you know, if she's got one girl no, and so she hasn't had many rules, boundaries and limitations, like you know she's got to carry on, she'll do it and he lets her. So, like I've come in and uh yeah, I can calm her down, she gets calm and the other thing is, so we'll be playing in the backyard and like. So before before I was spiritually aware, I'm not not not aware of the energy that I was pushing out and not able to sort of try to harness that in a way.

Speaker 1: 6:30

I guess I have had a lot of dogs and have not been able to get them to do anything in terms of obedience. Now, that could be also because they're just stupid dogs. Like we had a Weimaraner and she was like just as silly as a bloody wheel, like seriously, um, and but yeah, so maybe it could have to do with the dog that I was, you know, trying to train like um, because bella is a kelpie and she's. They're quite bright, but anyway it could be a bit of both.

Speaker 1: 6:59

Really, we're in the backyard and bella does this thing where she loves the hose and she just goes crazy with the hose. If you put the hose on, she would the hose and she just goes crazy with the hose. If you put the hose on, she would like bark and bark, and then she wants to try and catch the water. So it's impossible, if you're trying to like do anything with the hose in the backyard, she literally will hear it as you turn on at the faucet and before you know it, she's your shadow, right next to you. She used to bark and carry on and and she's got like quite a lot loud, piercing bark, like it really gets in your ears, um and stuff. So, um, yeah, managed to spiritually connect with her, get her to sit down, even though that's like she's so super excited, seriously.

Speaker 1: 7:36

But I look at her and I make sure that I get eye contact with her and I'll go, bella sit down and I'll hold her eye contact and so and I'll, as soon as she barks, I'll turn the hose off and say, if you bark, no hose right, and so then, like I'll reward her. Obviously, at the end of it I'll go crazy and I'll play with the hose, but like it's so funny because she'll sit there and look at me and I'll, it's as long as I've got her eye contact, she will obey as you go, like she makes this whimpering noise, like she wants to bark, but she knows as soon as she barks, like the fun will be over. It's so funny, yeah, so like I've been able to use my spiritual enlightenment. I'm not fully enlightened, but you know, whatever I've achieved thus far in terms of, yeah, like working with dogs and getting them to obey me, it's very powerful and it's the same sort of power that I project, like through my eyes when I get an eye contact and I like just will her to do what I want her to do and she can tell, you know, but again, very smart dog. Maybe the dogs I've had before have been dumber, like I had a pug, and they're beautiful animals actually. They're very, very lovely nature, but they're pretty. Yeah, a little bit dumb, I think.

Speaker 1: 8:50

Um, anyway, so that's that, that's with with bella and yeah, but otherwise, like she's a lovely little spirit, as I say, she I can tell she wants to be really naughty sometimes, but she's too scared to. She's sort of of look up at you and go, you know, I want to eat this off the table and things. And yeah, she's a bit naughty. So with Daisy. So I was a bit reluctant to engage with her because I still do get a little bit allergic, but certainly not to the extent that I did when I was younger, and I think that's because the immune system in old age tends to sort of tame itself down, if we will. So, um, yeah, with Daisy.

Speaker 1: 9:30

But I like I became really intrigued with her, like watching her, because she's so different from a cat and from a dog and that's all I've ever known is having dogs as pets and she's really pretty and dainty and there's like just some nice endearing qualities about her. Like she's just a tabby like with tortoiseshell and like, but she's so pretty, like her face is very pretty and um, and so, yeah, like I started to just, yeah, project the energy out into the room that I'm not going to hurt you, daisy, you're going to be safe with me. And yeah, slowly but surely, she didn't. Firstly, she didn't run away when I went into a room because a few times I accidentally disrupted her daytime sleeping place right and like she freaked out. Man, like sometimes she'll still freak out during the day because she likes to do her thing and sleep. She's not very social and then, but at night time, that's when she becomes social, like she goes out, you know, I don't God knows where she goes, and then she'll come back.

Speaker 1: 10:28

In the first time that I knew her I'd won her because I think I might have tried to pick her up pretty early in the game, which she definitely doesn't like, like, definitely not, and anyway. So once we'd recovered over that, like I was asleep and I felt this like funny thing in my face and it was her paw, and then she head-butted me. I'm like, what's this all about? So what Daisy does is that she sleeps on you and when she wants a bit of attention she'll put a paw on your face. And if you start to pat her she loves to be rubbed just by her ear and if you start to pat her and you stop it's like a dog she does the same thing She'll like get you in the face with her claw and then to wake you up. So you'll pat her and she'll headbutt you too for the same reason. But once she settles on you, like when she starts to purr, it is really lovely.

Speaker 1: 11:22

And sometimes in the early morning, because I guess it's a relationship that I thought I could never have with a cat because of my allergies and now I can, I really appreciate her. I'm very grateful for her in my life actually, and she'll come and sit on me and do the head butt thing at about like five, six in the morning and like I, yeah, I have time with Daisy and she purrs and I'll pat her and yeah, same thing, just pushing loving energy through my hands to her. You know skin and um, yeah, we, we bond in the mornings. She's very lovely, like, um, you can tell when she, when you itch her ears, she just puts her head back, like must be so ecstatic, like feels so good for her to have, uh, that sensation in her body and so, yeah, and and she's a bit of a woman of mystery, you know, it's not like a dog where you always know where they are, like cats, who knows where she goes or what she gets up to, you know, and like maximum respect to her too, because she's like an older cat apparently. So you know it's amazing, but yeah, like I both animals. You know I love them and they're in my life and I have a spiritual bond with both of them. Yeah, so it's kind of mad. The other spiritual moment I had, shall we say, with an animal this year is with a python. So anyone who knows me will tell you.

Speaker 1: 12:52

One of the first things you learn about me is that I have a phobia of snakes. It is horrendous, like I. Just. It must have come from a previous life or something, because I've not really had any trauma related to snakes, but I just sometime in my childhood I became petrified of them and I cannot bear to even see them on tv and I can't bear to see them in the well. Definitely not in real life, but even like. This is the degree of my paranoia. Even dead snakes I'm petrified of, right Like.

Speaker 1: 13:25

So I was working as a doctor in like a medical registrar or not in emergency in Adelaide at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital there and someone came in with a snake bite and one of their like relatives had actually killed the snake and brought it into. So this dead snake in emergency, and I couldn't even be in the emergency department when I knew that there was this dead snake there. Like I could not. I literally could not go within, like I couldn't go to the emergency department. I did not even want to see this dead snake. There's one time when there's a dead snake on the road and I was walking up this is in queensland with my ex and I I could. It took me about 10 minutes, I was in conditions to actually walk around the dead body.

Speaker 1: 14:06

I couldn't, couldn't handle it, and it's such an illogical fear like I could feel that fear in my body right now, you know, and it's something to do with like their head, like brown snakes, and I hate their head. Oh, it's so creepy I don't even want to think about it because it makes me, gives me the heebie-jeebies. If I start to think of snakes too much and I'm in bed, I start to get paranoid. There's one in the bottom of the bed. I can't even look at pictures of them, right? So I can't even look at pictures of them, right? So like I can't even Google stuff about them, like how to get rid of snakes or how not to have them in your garden, you know, because pictures of snakes come up and I don't want to, I can't look at it. I just really literally cannot. But, funnily enough, green tree snakes not so bad, and pythons are okay, and the reason that pythons are okay is that they have like a different shaped head, like it's diamond shaped, and it's kind of more friendly, I think. Having said that, though right, I'm still not super keen to cuddle up with one, but they're slightly more tolerable.

Speaker 1: 15:12

Like I could if there was a brown snake, that I would. I actually found a brown snake once in my basement in Orange and literally I was in conniptions for like a week, rocking back in fetal position, because I was like and the thing was just sleep right under some shopping and I was like I just saw it and I couldn't even look at it. I just caught a glimpse of the scales and went I know what that is. I just like fucking ran and like my partner at the time was like never, ever leave a snake unwitnessed because, like you know, you don't know where it's going. Anyway, the thing was like so small but like the snake catcher came and got it and I was like, just I couldn't even be like, I couldn't even watch it. I was like I don't want to be anywhere near it, I don't want to know anything about it, you know, and it's really weird because for the week before that I had had this creepy feeling like there was a snake somewhere in the house. I just kept on thinking about them and I was like there's something here, man, and then, lo and behold, there it was Anyway. So that's me and snakes.

Speaker 1: 16:10

So you can imagine, if I found a 10-foot snake in the backyard I would generally normally freak the fuck out and be in conniptions again. So anyway, it was here one afternoon and I'd been working in the backyard and just been laying fake grass down and I was standing in the balcony just looking down and I was like whoa, what the fuck is that right? And I saw it. It was this 10-foot long python. Like it was so big. It was so big like not as big as a ball constrictor, but really quite a big, big snake. And I'm just looking at it and I could look at it, I was like transfixed. It was a beautiful thing to see, but kind of creepy, it's really slow and sort of meandering across the fake grass and I'm just watching it like, just like awestruck.

Speaker 1: 17:03

And then the thing just squeezed through this hole in the fence and went to the neighbour's backyard, like I even I took a video of it, you know, and I was like afterwards went whoa, why wasn't I like freaking out, like you know, phobically, like you know, going into connections and like at the time I was like this is this? Yeah, this is weird. You know, I should be like just freaking out man, like I would never be able to go to that bit of the garden again normally. Just freaking out man, like I would never be able to go to that bit of the garden again normally. And then I was talking on Instagram to like this woman she's like a spiritual woman, like I know she follows me and she's quite lovely actually she said that's your spirit animal, like a spirit animal of women is a snake. And I was like, oh, maybe it must have been a spiritual moment. That's why I wasn't afraid. Is the snake? And I was like, oh, maybe it must have been a spiritual moment. You know, that's why I wasn't afraid and, funnily enough, ever since that moment, like I haven't been afraid, like I know that there's pythons around here, more so than brown snakes, and because I know that they're pythons, I'm less afraid to um, tear one in the garden. Uh, you know, like I could, I could handle it if that, if a snake, a python, came close to me, I wouldn't like freak out. Part of it too is, I know they're not venomous Like I wouldn't necessarily enjoy the experience of being bitten by a python, but it's not going to kill me, you know, so that I can cope with I guess. But yeah, I don't know, maybe it was my spirit animal coming to help me get over my fear of snakes, I don't know, Cause my, my partner's, like, oh, you know, like we should get. I said to him we should get chooks, man. I like I really want to get, have happy chook eggs to eat. And he was like, yeah, but you know, like chooks bring in snakes. And I was like, but I don't mind, but I don't mind. I said actually I don't mind, I wouldn't mind seeing that python again. I think she's like a friendly visitor. And he said, yeah, but you know, would you want to watch the snake eat your pet chicken? I was like, yeah, no fair point there. Like I'm not so hot on that idea, but it's funny. Like usually anything that would bring a snake into the backyard I would avoid the plague, you know. And after this experience it was like, yeah, I'm not so freaked out, you know, like I've been digging by the under the house and I'm like, yeah, I know it's just going to be a python, it'll be all right. You know, I'm not so afraid of coming across a snake, as I used to be, so I don't know, I have to. I have to meditate on that one. Um, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 19:36

The other spiritual experience I've had is with a magpie that was pretty mad. That was when I was living in yambo. I was living in a flat and one day I came into the stairwell and there was like a, like a magpie and I feed magpies and stuff, I quite like them and anyways magpies freaked out because it was stuck in the stairwell and it couldn't get out and it was just exhausted about, about to die, you know. So eventually, after much fucking about, I managed to get this bird under a towel and in my hands and it was just squawk, squawk, squawking Anyway, and it had a broken beak. It had smashed its beak up in the process of trying to get out of this concrete stairwell. And so as I brought him outside and he realized that I was helping him, he sort of looked at me and we sort of had this connection, as one does with a bird, and off he flew.

Speaker 1: 20:21

Well, I, he was quite distinguishable, like he could. You could pick him from the other magpies around because of this defect in his beak that he got from smashing about he. He used to come back and see me like every day and like, it's funny, if I'd had an argument with, like my partner at the time, which we did argue quite a bit, he would fly straight in and it was almost like he would come to just make sure that I was all right. You know, like it's kind of mad because magpies, do you know, they do remember faces and stuff, you know. And yeah, I had quite lovely interactions with those birds. They used to come and knock on the door, on the glass, to get food and stuff. Yeah, they were quite cool.

Speaker 1: 21:05

So, yeah, spiritual connections with animals, and if you've become aware of your spirituality, certainly you can use that to your advantage. So, yeah, I don't know if you've got had any spiritual moments with animals, please let me know. Um, otherwise, it was like quite a light-hearted, fun one today. Um, I hope you enjoyed it and I will talk at you next episode. Thanks for listening.