Episode #15 - Talking With The Animals (Healing Pet Loss) - with Karen Anderson

Hannah Velten  00:09

Hello, everybody, welcome. Come on in as usual, come and sit around in the circle, I've got a few stories to tell you. And I've got a lovely guest for us to meet as well who is full of stories. I've just been reading her two books, and you're going to have a brilliant episode tonight. And so, the first of May, which we've just had, actually marks a very special anniversary for me and for Christian. Not only is it Beltane - midsummer day {I meant 'May Day'}, but it was also the day that the truth about Christian being dead was revealed to me and to him. And it was also the first day... you know, we thought we were speaking telepathically together for over a year, and he was always telling me he was coming home and I was always expecting him to walk through the door or, you know, to hear a knock at the door. And obviously, that never happened. But first of May, three years ago, was the first time that I realised Christian was dead, he realised he was dead. And I also realised that I was a medium. I wasn't just talking telepathically to Christian. You know, it was a totally, it was mind blowing. And it was also my grief could finally flood out, because, you know, when you have a missing person, and you know, you're in this place of... I was gonna say, 'a liminal space', that word came through, but you're in this in between space, which is surreal, totally surreal. And now, three years on from when we found out the truth, Christian is extremely real to me, like so real. And this week, he has been out doing himself on bringing people to me, that he's connected with in spirit, he's bringing all these people to me - we are going to meet some of them in future episodes. We've actually got, after this episode, we've got 11 episodes left of the podcast and the radio show. So, hopefully, you're going to start meeting more people that Christian's bringing towards me, and our adventure is really beginning to ramp up. I can see where we're going. And yeah, very, very excited. So this kind of links in - this thought that I realised I was a medium - and this links in with my guest. This is Karen Anderson. Now Karen Anderson is a pet loss specialist and an animal communicator. And I know, with myself being very reluctant to use the gifts that I realised I had, and we will talk to Karen now actually, and she'll be able to tell us about all the gifts that she realised she had and then actually, they were quite frightening in many ways, and she's taken up a long, long time to actually come out to use her gifts. So I'd like to welcome Karen to the show. Karen joins us from East Washington. Hi, Karen, how lovely to have you on; thank you so much for coming on.

Karen Anderson  03:35

Oh, Hannah, thank you, this is just such a joy and a blessing for me and your story just really strikes a chord in my heart, and I can't imagine what all you have been through. And I think that it's really wonderful that you are honouring your brother and creating this space for others who are maybe experiencing something similar in their lives. It's truly remarkable. And so I commend you for your effort and bringing your story out to the world.

Hannah Velten  04:08

Thank you, Karen. I really really appreciated that. Yeah, cuz I know from your point of view, can you just sort of tell us... I was reading your two books, which I would say to anybody to read who's interested in animal communication, anybody who's facing pet loss, which I have done with my own Labrador, on Christmas Day, actually. So we just have a new puppy. So this is all very much in my life at the moment, but yeah, if you can sort of talk to us about where did this animal communication come in? And when did it start?

Karen Anderson  04:47

Oh, my goodness. Well, the short version for your show today is I could do this as a small child. I could understand all the animals I always had a lot of pets around when I was growing up, they were always my best friends and I talked to them all the time. I thought everybody could do. So I didn't know that I was doing anything unusual or different, until my parents started telling me to stop doing that, because I was sharing information that they couldn't believe that I was coming up with as a five or six year old child. And so they basically said, you know, stop, you're scaring us. They didn't say I was scaring them, but I was scaring them, because how could I know these things? So I learned very early to hide it. And to not tell anyone what I was doing, because my parents disapproved. So you know, when you're little and your parents disapprove, then you hide it right? You don't do it. But I, I love the animals. So I kind of tucked it away. And over the years, forgot about it. Grew up. And it wasn't until many decades later, I was very much not into anything psychic. At the time, I was actually a deputy sheriff in Colorado. And I was working right out of the Academy, a rookie, by myself on the graveyard shift, the night shift and graveyard shifts. And I would sometimes have to respond to calls by myself. And this is when I started to realise how important it was to read the energy of the people who were there, when I arrived on a scene, just to be able to determine for my own personal safety, you know, what's going on here? Is this person a threat to me, you know? Am I safe with them? So what I started doing was really people reading, reading energy, body language, watching their eyes, seeing where they looked when I interviewed them, you know, how are they standing, arms crossed? You know, are they twitching nervous? Are they, you know, looking all around? Are they looking me right in the eyes? So I was doing these things, but not realising I was doing these things. And because of that, I unlocked a door. And that door led me down a path of incredible intuitive, if you will, a spiritual awakening, where I was just fascinated with what was coming through. And when I was on a crime scene - this is what did it for me - I was on a crime scene, when one of the pets that belonged to one of the victims actually shared a message with me about where a suspect was hiding. And that's when everything changed. I went, Oh my gosh, this is insane. This is crazy. If an animal can tell me that, what else can they tell me? And I was so hooked. At that point. I couldn't think of doing anything else. And I just wanted to learn everything I could. So that's the shortened version.

Hannah Velten  08:04

I love it. And if we can go back there's a few stories that I picked out from reading about you. And like the first one with your pet dog, when you were little, with Prince. Because that was the first time you really understood... if you could tell us a short version if you want.

Karen Anderson  08:28

So, I was five or six years old, and I had a dog named Prince, he was a black and white Collie. So he look like Lassie, except he was black and white. And he would sleep in my room at night. And there was one particular night where he was pacing in my room very, very unsettled. And that was unlike him. And he told me that his tummy hurt. And I heard it very clearly in my head, just as if it were my own thoughts, but I knew it was coming from him. And so I was very worried. And I went and lay down with him on the  cool tile floor in the hallway of the house. And when I woke up in the morning, my mom was waking me up and she's like, 'What's the matter?' And I said, 'Prince said his tummy hurts.' And again, you know, she said, 'Oh, you know, you got to stop this imagination' and you know, stop making things up and animals don't talk and whatever. And ended up that Prince was having a crisis - a pancreas issue, very severe issue. He ended up being okay. But my mom was dumbfounded and floored that I had this information at such a young age, there was no way I could have known that he had something going on with his tummy at the time. Yeah, that was normal for me to have those kinds of experiences with the animals.

Hannah Velten  09:50

Yeah. And I think that really is going to resonate with people because I know like people that I talked to and I work with, you know, they have these things that happened to them when they're young and then either told by their parents or society, you know, don't be silly. That's nonsense. And like you had a really horrific thing happen with this cat, didn't you, which kind of... the shock of that... and I'm sure people are going to really resonate with this as well.

Karen Anderson  10:18

It's actually very hard for me to talk about it. In fact, when I wrote my book 'Hear All Creatures', I wasn't even going to share that story because I can tell you right now, just you mentioning it, it made my stomach do flips, because it was so traumatic for me and even though things have now come into clarity because of that, it was still such an incredibly painful thing to experience as a child. And basically what happened was, I was a lover of all animals, I was probably around eight years old at the time, I was outside playing in my front yard, and I lived in a suburban neighbourhood, so you have neighbours to the left, neighbours to the right, neighbours across the street. And I was looking over across the street, and I saw an orange and white kitty that I had never seen before. So I kept inviting this kitty to come over and play with me, mentally, telepathically, communicating with him. And he wouldn't do it, wouldn't do it, wouldn't do it. Finally, this kitty decided to come across the street. And I was outside by myself. And when kitty finally made it into the street, a car came out of nowhere, hit this kitty, right in front of me. And he passed away, very slowly, right in front of me. And that's when I shut it down. That's when I said, 'Look what I did, I cause this kitty to die. And I'm never doing this again.' And so I pushed it very, very far down. It was... it's hard for me even now to think about it.

Hannah Velten  12:02

Yeah, no, I totally respect and thank you for telling that because, you know, we do do things with our gifts and something like that happens. And you're like, Oh, my gosh, I caused a death or I caused... And it's like, I don't want to touch this. I don't want to go near this. And I hear that so often, you know. So thank you for sharing that. Because that event really did mark what happened afterwards, didn't it for many years, like I'm not going anywhere near this gift, even though I know it could be used for good. And you were a mortgage advisor, weren't you, or you're selling mortgages, and you were sort of staying as far away from the pets as you could. So sort of what happened to change your mind?

13:04

You know, it was a process. I spent quite a large part of my adult life in the mortgage industry. And I was the one that would ask you for your pay stubs and your tax statements and bank statements and that was my job, I was a processor. And then I ended up owning my own company for a while. And for very many years, about 20 years, 18 to 20 years, and I had this overall sense of emptiness inside, even though I was very successful, you know, on all other fronts, I felt so empty inside, I felt like something huge was missing. But I didn't know what. I just felt like I was on this hamster wheel, making a lot of noise and, you know, scurrying around, and just making no progress for myself. And that's when I really started to have these little lightbulb moments, epiphanies some people call them - I call it 'a lightbulb moment' - where we finally go, Oh, wait a second. I started listening to that little voice in my head that was like, do what you love. What do you love? What is your passion? What do you love? And I realised it wasn't mortgage. It wasn't being in that corporate environment. In fact, I really didn't care for that at all. I can tell you that I got in trouble a lot in the mortgage industry. My mouth doesn't have a filter sometimes. And I would just say whatever was on my mind, and you can't do that in an office setting - I found out. I was even fired at one point. And, you know, I just really couldn't put a finger on it until I started listening to that voice inside me. And I'm going to call it 'an internal voice'. Some people call it their 'higher self'. Some people call it their 'god Self', you know, it's that soul speaking to you; that soul that knows you better than you know yourself. And so I started doing what I loved. And, you know, eventually, you know, there were signs everywhere for me, Hannah, that said, 'Karen, you're not listening to the voice in your head.' You know, I ended up having to file bankruptcy, because a business partner embezzled from me and I had to shut down my business, my mortgage company. And so that was complete devastation. Now I'm totally empty on the inside and totally empty in my bank accounts, I have all these lawsuits pending from everything that happened. None of it was my fault, because he embezzled from me so I was, you know, a victim, and yet everything fell on me. And I realised, I need to go back to what I love. And that's the animals. And so I opened up my little business, I called myself "The Corral Gal". And I scooped poop for a living. [both laugh]

Hannah Velten  16:12

Little steps in the right direction!

Karen Anderson  16:16

I'm so laughing right now, because it sounds so utterly ridiculous to go from corporate America to scooping poop for a living. But you know what, I was so happy scooping poop. I loved it: I worked with the animals, I was by myself, it was just me, I could talk to them all day long. And I just felt so balanced, and so happy. And it was at that time that I started volunteering for the local animal shelter where I lived at the time in Colorado, which was run by the sheriff's department. So Animal Control was run by the sheriff's and I started riding with the animal control officers. And I loved that. I loved helping the animals and, you know, going out making sure they were okay and safe and well fed, and then I kind of caught the bug with law enforcement. And pretty soon I was finding myself wanting to give back. I went on a complete opposite: I went to really being in  -I'm not gonna say greedy mode, because I don't consider myself greedy - but when you're in corporate America, it's always more and more and more; you want more money, more income, more revenue, more sales, you know, more clients. And then I went to serving. I felt like I needed to serve and give back to the world in my community and the animals. So it was like a 180. It was like a really big moment, pivotal moment where I switched and went from one side to the other. Now I'm serving. And that's when I decided to become a deputy. So I went to the police academy and was hired right away by that same department.

Hannah Velten  18:14

That's fantastic. Fantastic. And it's like you say you went 180, but the balance and you just like know, it was the right thing to do. Yeah, you can feel it in your body. And it's just like a natural thing. It's like a natural, isn't it?

Karen Anderson  18:29

Yes. When you follow that feeling, doors will open for you. When you're not listening to that voice, you'll get fired, you'll get sued, you'll file bankruptcy, you'll get in trouble. You'll have problems after problem after problem. And I wasn't listening to that voice. So when you listen, and you start following the path, even if it's a path of poop

Hannah Velten  18:53

[Hannah laughing] I'll have to remember that one - that'll be the show tag!

Karen Anderson  18:58

Follow the path of poop! You know, you really have to trust that voice and it's hard. Oh, it's hard to give up that paycheck. You know, it's hard to give up benefits and what you're used to and I just jumped off the cliff and I just went for it. I trusted and it was tough. It was really tough. But look what it led me to - amazing stuff.

Hannah Velten  19:28

Because you tell a story about a dove that you met - that actually ended up being called Noah. And I'm presume it was a 'he', being called Noah in the end. Can you tell us that story because he was totally pivotal in that sort of decision and that confirmation that you were on the right track?

Karen Anderson  19:50

Well, first I have to say when I got into animal communication, I didn't know it had a name. I didn't know there was a thing called Animal Communication, I just thought you'd talk to animals. Then I find out that there's this thing called Animal Communication. And I was like, whoa. And then I started remembering, I know how to do this, I could do this. This is something I could do. And so I had all of that trauma from the past that I had hidden away for so many years with the cat that I felt that I killed. Everything started to resurface again. And I went, Oh, I'd love this. I'm going to do this. So I started to refresh my skills, and I focused everything I could on communicating. But now as an adult, I had all these layers of 'junk' from society and people and the environment that this isn't real. You can't do this. There's no such thing. You know, this is all in your head. You're crazy. You know, everything that modern society wants to tell us about anything intuitive or psychic.

Hannah Velten  20:58

Yeah, and you were being labelled 'the witch' as well, weren't you which I've had aswell.

Karen Anderson  21:04

I was called so many things. When I started telling my family and friends, hey, you know, I can communicate with animals. They literally thought I was crazy. Certifiable nuts. So I know you can totally relate to that...

Hannah Velten  21:21

Oh, my god. Yeah. [Hannah laughs] Anyway, that's a whole other conversation. But yeah, do carry on.

Karen Anderson  21:25

And, you know, I was called every name you could imagine. And it was very hurtful, very painful. Because here I was following something that felt so right within me, so pure in my heart, so beautiful, so incredible and yet, people who I loved and cared about were shooting me down and just basically being very unsupportive. And so, at that point, I had left law enforcement, I didn't really know what was going to happen. I knew it wasn't law enforcement, I knew that there was something else, Hannah, but I didn't know what. And that's such a hard place to be in. Because you're kind of grasping, and you feel this kind of limbo that you don't know where to go, what to do and I had - of all things - gone back to mortgage because it was the only thing I knew and I had to bring in some money until I figured out what the heck I was gonna do. So I'm back in the mortgage business, which wasn't fun. But I was invited to a party, a barbecue at a fourth of July celebration, here in Spokane, with some co workers. And they said, Come on, Karen. I was really depressed at the time. I just had pretty much stopped communicating or telling anyone that I was communicating with animals because I was tired of all the backlash. It was just tired of it all. And I wasn't even really socialising. They finally convinced me, 'Come on, let's you know, come with us.' Well, and also my relationship at the time with my husband was not good. So I had no support from him. My family was being weird. Everyone that I thought was my friend, thought I was a witch. So things were not good. So I go to this fourth of July party just wanting to relax and maybe meet a few people or something. And the next door neighbour comes over and she says to me, 'Hey, will you come over and see if you can communicate with this little bird that we found? I rescued it from my cats.' The cat had had the bird in its mouth and she was rehabilitating this little bird. I said, 'Yeah, sure. Okay. What the heck.' So I go next door to her house. And I'm thinking it's, you know, like a sparrow or, you know, a chickadee or something. Well, she comes out with this little white dove on her finger. And I thought, 'Oh?!' I mean, I had never seen a white dove before in person. You see pigeons sometimes, but I had never seen a pure white dove. So I was surprised. And so she put her hand out to me, and this little dove stepped off her finger onto mine, as if it knew me its whole life. There was no hesitation. And so that took me back because I thought, well, this is weird. Why is this bird not afraid? And there was so much commotion in that house at the time. There were kids running all over. You know, it was a party. There were people, everywhere noise. This little bird was just so calm, so quiet. So I reached out and he stepped onto my finger. And, Hannah, the most incredible thing happened. As soon as he stepped on my finger, I felt this warmth. I can only describe it as almost being transported. But this warmth went through my entire hand and up to my arm. And I almost felt like I wasn't me anymore. I felt like I was just in a completely different place with just this little dove. And everything else just faded away around me. The noise faded. Everything, the commotion faded, everything got really still and really quiet. And this little dove cocked its head, looked right at me and said, "Oh, the human that talks to animals. I've been waiting for you."

25:51

WHAT? In the background, they're all saying what's his name? Where's he from? Does he have a family? You know, Where did he come from? Little dove says, "From up above." So I'm slowly giving the family the messages from this little bird, but I didn't tell them anything that he was saying he'd been waiting for me. And I was just mesmerised by the fact that this little guy was giving me these really incredible messages with all of this chaos going on. And then - here's what completely floored me - this little bird looked at me and said, that he knew what had been happening, that I wasn't communicating with animals anymore. And I saw my whole life happening right before my eyes. And he knew about the hurtful things that people have been saying to me. He knew everything about me. It was this weird life review that was happening in this space and time in this person's kitchen. It was the most craziest moment. And I find it difficult to explain. But it was so powerful, and so pivotal. And so life changing. And he had a very divine message for me. He told me that I knew in my heart what I needed to do. And that my sole purpose in this world was to continue to communicate with animals and to help others with theirs. And boy, I tell you what, I started bawling like a baby. I was crying, sobbing hysterically. The family's looking at me like what is her problem?

Hannah Velten  27:40

[Hannah laughing] It's only a dove.

Karen Anderson  27:44

This woman is nuts. Right? So that was it for me. I knew at that point. You know what, I can't let what anybody else says about me stop me from following my passion and my purpose. It's my journey. This is what makes me feel good. This is for my soul, my heart. If it doesn't resonate with you, then go somewhere else. But this is for me. And I'm going to follow my purpose and my passion and continue to do my work. So now I don't let anybody or anything get in my way. Nor should anyone who's listening to this, especially family and friends. They can be some of our biggest critics. They can be so hard on us. And that's a tough nut to crack when it's your own family.

Hannah Velten  28:41

Yeah, I know. I mean, there was actually a sentence in your book and it says: "If there's a message that you need to hear the Universe will find some way to deliver it to you." And like you had your dove and from that point, it's like, Okay, this is it. I have to do it. I've had my own messages that have been delivered to me and it's like, you can't back away from this anymore. I mean, I did the same. I was like, I can't do this. Oh my god, what is this, and I certainly can't go and tell people I do it, and I certainly can't go and serve other people... and in the end, like, you have to give up, don't you. Not 'give up' - you have to surrender to it. So, well done, the dove. And then you've gone on to then... So talk us through what's your sort of bread and butter work that you do now with people, how you serve?

Karen Anderson  29:41

Well, it's been an incredible 24 years now, since all of that happened. And my journey has been I was delivering messages through sessions for my clients; so they would contact me and we would hold a session and I would bring their animals energies forward and deliver messages. And then what started happening, Hannah, is I started realising that the messages from the departed animals were so profound and so healing, and so powerful and so incredibly accurate, that I could feel in the moment I delivered them, I could feel their human start to heal. There was such an impact that they had been in such a dark place, that just delivering sometimes one word, sometimes all I had to deliver was one word, not an entire sentence or, you know, whole story, but just one thing. And you could actually feel them shift. That doesn't mean that they don't feel pain anymore. That doesn't mean that they still don't hurt or cry or miss their loved one - that's not at all what I'm saying - but to move from this horrendously completely paralysed state of devastation, and go, "What? The only one who knew that was my cat, my dog, my horse, or whoever, nobody knew that." And the healing that takes place from that, that became so - I would say, to me - so powerful delivering the message, the messenger, that I've completely focused on that. So my niche became the afterlife and delivering afterlife messages. So I ended up writing the two books about it. And in those books, I shared actual messages from actual sessions, from actual departed pets, and a few living pets, and a few departed humans. A little bit of everything sprinkled in there. But I wanted to share with the world that, you know, the afterlife is real, your departed pets never leave you, you don't lose someone you love. Those bonds of love, never die, you will always be connected, and then someday you will be reunited. And they give us signs all the time, whether you catch them or not. They're sending us signs and giving us messages and letting you know that they're around you, and with you, and they're still connected to you, and there's nowhere else they would rather be than with you. They're not in some faraway place, or up in the clouds, or 'Rainbow Bridge', or any other place. They're with you, they love you, and they want to be with you. And nothing much changes for them, except they have so much more freedom, of course, they're not locked into a body. So that's what I kind of threw myself into and I developed this passion for delivering those afterlife messages. And that's what it has led me to today, which is a pet loss specialist, where I help those who are struggling with the loss, through my books, through my courses, through my teachings, just through the messages of what the animals have shared with me, because losing a pet for me is... I don't have human children, so I'm not comparing to anyone who's lost a human child - I'm not comparing - I'm just saying, for me, it is like my child. I don't know what it's like to have a human child, so I don't mean to disrespect anyone, I'm just saying, for me, it's like losing the child, a part of me is gone, when they go. So that's where this path has led me - that there is life in the afterlife, that their spirit lives on, just as your spirit will live on, and my spirit and your brother's spirit, as you know, and they communicate with us. They send us messages, they send us signs, they're wonderful on the other side, we don't have to worry about them over there. They are perfect. They are balanced. They are where they need to be, doing what they need to do and they want us to live a full and happy and beautiful life. Because they benefit from that.

Hannah Velten  34:28

Yeah, I was just gonna say they worry - I get it through from the human side - but like pets as well, they worry about their owners, you know, being in grief, don't they? Because you say it beautifully actually in the book. Like the more you grieve for them and if you've got guilt, if you've got sorrow, that's like emotional tie to them and it actually drains them.

Karen Anderson  34:49

Yes. And yes, it is. It's like... so let me just share this with you. I'll paint a picture here for you. Do you have someone in your life - a friend, family member, whatever - that you like them, but anytime you're with them, they're always sad or complaining or upset or in some kind of a crisis. And even though you care about that person, when you finally get away from them, you just feel literally drained., like you can't listen to another thing they say, because you're just like, Urgh, where the energy is drained out of you. Where think in terms of someone else, you know, in your life, who's always happy and positive. And you know, just full of sunshine and good news. And, you know, you love being around that person because you feel just so energised, just being around them. So when we are in a state of grief, we are very draining. Because those sad feelings are heavy and they weigh us down, they will also weigh down our departed loved ones.  Won't harm them, won't stop them from continuing on their spiritual journey, but would you rather hang out with someone who's down and sad and obsessed about how you died all the time? Or would you rather hang out with someone who's positive and happy and upbeat and living their life fully?

Hannah Velten  36:09

Hmmm. If you don't mind, there's two great stories that you told. And they were all about lost dogs that you told, and just from Christian and I, our story, I was like, Oh my God, I've got to get these in, because they kind of give confirmation to me as well, about what I was going through. So the first one is - you don't need to tell the whole story - but with Shadow. And I think he was a lost dog and the message was that the owner needed to sort of fully let him go, before he could return. And that's what happened with me and Christian - I had to actually stop obsessing about him and actually let him go, which allowed him to return, so I don't know if you want to just do a quick story about Shadow.

Karen Anderson  37:02

Yes, well, Shadow is a she but that's okay. She belonged to this woman named Jen and Shadow had really bad seizures, so she was on epilepsy anti-seizure medication. The medicine made her a little bit, you know, crazy in a way. And one particular morning, she spooked and took off out of the yard. And that's when I ran into Jen. And I didn't know Jen, I was just driving down a country road and she was coming down the other side of the road and she was crying, I could see this woman coming towards me crying and crying. So I slowed my car down, being a former police officer, to see if I could help. You know, 'Hey, are you okay?' And that's when she said, "My dog, my dog. Have you seen my dog?" So I just happened, at that time, to just be starting out as an animal communicator, literally as a professional. So I handed her my card that I'd just gotten printed, I was so proud. And I said, "Well here, you know, if you need my help you can reach out to me" and I gave her my business card. And I got a call from her shortly thereafter. And she said, "Shadow's not home. Do you think you can do a session? Do you think you can help?" I said, "Well, sure." So we set up a session. And I got very specific details about where Shadow was: she was still alive, about five miles south of home, and I saw this kind of rusted out truck, like in an open field with some dry grass (and literally around here that can be anywhere because we live out in the country here, but the five miles south was very specific), and I really felt like she was kind of hiding because I'd got her body was all pulled in and clenched in and kind of like hunkered down somewhere. And so I shared this with Jen and she went searching. She put fliers up everywhere, went and talked to everyone she could talk to, and, you know, she in the meantime became very desperate, very despondent because she couldn't find your dog. So she went to another psychic - who was not an animal communicator, but was a psychic - and this psychic told her that Shadow had died, that she saw the spirit of Shadow beside her and that she was fine in the afterlife and everything was fine and wonderful, but Shadow had died. And this was in November. So around here in eastern Washington in November it gets very cold. And Jen was devastated, of course, and no dog could be alive after all this time that had gone by in this cold weather, especially with this seizure medication. And so Jen sent me an email and said Karen, just wanted to let you know Shadow has died, the psychic told me. Well, I read this email and I was like, No. Shadow is not dead, Shadow is alive. And again, I was just starting out, didn't really know what the heck I was doing. But I knew in my heart that Shadow was alive. So I stuck with that. And I just wished Jen well, you know, she wants to believe that Shadow's gone. That's her thing. But I'm sticking with what I have. And what Shadow told me. Well, the very next morning, at like five o'clock in the morning...  I'm not a morning person. I don't get up in the morning for anybody. In fact, just getting up for your show today was painful for me. {laughs} But I woke up to this booming voice that resonated with me that was Shadow's, which is so weird, because Shadow is a girl but this booming voice came through as male. I don't know why it just did. I don't question things. I just go, okay, whatever. So this voice came in and basically said to me that Jen needed to let go, that this was part of her journey, her spiritual journey, that she needed to let go. And once she finally let go, then I will return to her. And I'm thinking, this is weird, you know. [laughs] This doesn't happen. This is so weird. Well, I didn't tell her this. I didn't tell her this. I just held on to it for a while. And I reached out to Jen a couple days later, she said, "You know, I think I'm just gonna have a ceremony and send Shadow's spirit on its way." And I said, "I think that's a beautiful thing to do." And she went ahead and had the ceremony and I guess there were a lot of tears. And you know, she said her farewells. Well, then shortly after that, she got a phone call from somebody that was at one of those places where people go and fly planes and radio control cars in this open field. They had seen her flyers, they found Shadow hunkered down underneath this rusted out truck, in this open field, with all this dried grass around her. She had been attacked, we think maybe by a coyote or something - she had some wounds on her. She was dehydrated, she was starving. She was very scared. And because of her seizure medication missing, she was really out of it. But she was alive. So I get this message from Jen saying, "Shadow is alive. I'm on my way to the vet with her right now." So right, wow, that was such a powerful story. Because Jen needed - as you - she needed to fully let go of things that you cannot control. You cannot control certain things. And once you give that up, once you say to the universe, okay, universe, God, or whoever you are, I release this, I let it go. I am only responsible for what I do, then the choices I make. But there are some things that I cannot control that are completely out of my reach, and I need to just be at peace with whatever is happening or whatever has happened. And when she finally did that, that's when Shadow came home. Crazy story.

Hannah Velten  43:36

Yeah, and it's a beautiful story as well, that element of... I know, you must get this question a lot. I'm gonna ask it now because it's the right time to do it. Like, I want to contact my pet. I'm asking for signs, I'm opening myself up to hearing back from my pet and nothing's happening. You know, can you sort of explain why that might be and how you can actually open up if you're wanting to connect with your pet.

Karen Anderson  44:11

I will tell you, even for me, if I have just recently lost a pet, or even if I'm grieving deeply about a pet, there is no way I'm gonna be able to communicate with it, other than to send it love, love, love, love, love, love, love. Because emotions are powerful forms of energy. Any strong emotion is something that will cause a disruption in the transmission of messages. Just like when you're on your cell phone and you get to a bad spot. You hear people say kue,...kna...k.gn...ghsg ....you can't hear him right? Because the reception is bad. There isn't a clear connection. Emotions will do that to you. So if you are emotional about your pet, if you're grieving, if you're deeply saddened, if you're in those dark places, there is no way you're going to feel anything because grief is like a wet heavy blanket on you. And even for me, I can't pick up on things. I know now to just honour my feelings of grief and trust that I'm going to find my way through it. But your pets are letting you know, almost immediately, that they are around and they're okay. But the messages, Hannah, are subtle, sometimes. They're not this big, neon sign blinking in the sky, I'm here, I'm okay, I'm with you. I love you. It's not like that. Sometimes it's just barely there, like cobwebs across you, or maybe it feels like one hair moving across you. It's so subtle, that if you aren't paying attention, that if you have shut down because of your emotions, if you're sick, if you're on medication, if you have a lot of stress in your life, if you're not in a good place, personally, on your spiritual journey, all of those things are deterrence. And those messages can't get through to you. Just like when you're on your cell phone and you're in a bad spot. They're being sent. They're just being intercepted, and they're not getting through to you. So you have to just know that your pets are fine, they're letting you know. And when you get into an emotionally balanced place, where you're open to receive - you also have to be open to receive - then the messages can come through. We are giant receivers, we're an antenna, we can receive incoming information. And be careful what you ask for sometimes, because they will come through a lot.

Hannah Velten  47:00

Oh, that's so funny. Because everything you're saying I'm like, Oh yeah, I've been through all of that, you know, with Christian, with the grief, not being able to hear anything. And then just gradually I had to balance myself, I had to get myself together. I had to love myself. I had to, like, totally change my life and then gradually things started to get easier and hearing and opening and receiving and not being scared. And, Duffy, when she passed over, she would come back and she would come and go from the house, but she would be in the kitchen, she'd be like an energy. Even my husband, who's not anything spiritual, would go, "Oh, there's Duffy there." And actually, she would climb onto our bed and curl up next to me and put her head on my leg... and she was never allowed upstairs, so she's like, this is great! But she sent me a dream at one point ... because we're going to run out of time - we always do this! But she came to me after she died and it was a lucid dream. She was on one side and then this male dog was on the other side. And she was like, "This is the new one" and I was like, okay, because we always thought we would have a bitch instead. But actually, it turned out in the end we couldn't find a puppy anywhere - during lockdown, everybody's had puppies. And my husband is Scottish and he was talking to his family in Scotland and his youngest nephew is a gamekeeper. And they had a litter of puppies. And we were like, oh, is there any left? And they said, No, no, there's none left. You know, we're looking for a bitch but you know, there's no puppies left. Anyway, two days later, they phoned back and said there's a puppy become - I'm getting chills - somebody's backed out, there's a puppy now. But it's a dog. And I was like, Oh okay, hang on, but Duffy came with a dog and... anyway we now have... he's now upstairs. We have to go all the way to Scotland, which is like nine hours for us down here, but I do feel like Duffy's given us him - that was who she chose. Anyway, I might do another programme actually on our experience of pet loss and what have you, because obviously being a grief specialist I got my whole toolkit out, to be able to work with the kids and everything. And yeah, so it is really an element of yourself and being in a place to receive. So what's the main sort of message - I mean, we did touch on it before - what's the main sort of message that animals (not necessarily pets even animal consciousness)... what are the main messages that they want to tell us? What should we be learning from them?

Karen Anderson  50:04

Well, you know, Hannah, I'm just gonna speak from my experience. And you know, everyone who does what I do has a different set of experiences. I mainly communicate with companion animals, so cats, dogs, horses, parrots, you know, things that we would have in our homes, I communicate with all animals, but the majority of my clients had companion animals. So I can only speak from those messages, because those are the majority of messages that I've received. And I think the one thing that they want us to know most of all, what is so important, that really was a big eye opener for me and changed me, was to literally live in the moment, right here, right now. Animals don't worry about tomorrow. They don't stress over yesterday. They don't obsess about what's coming up a month from now. They don't understand about an upcoming surgery, or an upcoming treatment or a vet appointment around the corner. You know, we don't live in this moment. We live in our thoughts, in another time. And the animals have taught me to be present, to be here right now, to appreciate what's around you, to take time to literally soak in the sun, or enjoy the rain, or go out and play in the yard, or be in nature, or whatever it is. I didn't live there. For the longest time. And 'Animal Communication' is not just learning how to talk to animals, it's really discovering who you are: it's peeling back the layers that we have kind of built up over the years, and really discovering the true you. What you are really all about and how powerful. You're this powerful and mighty spiritual being, you're capable of anything you set your mind to, and when you stand in your truth, and follow your purpose and your passion, anything is possible. And that's the message the animals want us to be true to ourselves. Don't do what your parents want you to do. Don't do what society wants you to do. Don't do what the neighbours are doing. Do what you want to do, and what calls to your heart - it'll make all the difference in the world.

Hannah Velten  52:26

Amen to that, like, completely. That's our story as well. I get several messages about animals: to really look at the wild animals and how they are. Because pets, they sort of learn our human ways, in a way, don't they? They learn to play games in a lot of cases. Whereas actually the wild, undomesticated animals, they're just themselves and as you were saying... totally. So thank you, Karen, that was such an amazing conversation because you went through... we talk a lot on this podcast - a lot - about trusting yourself and purpose, why you're here, don't listen to anybody else, trust yourself. And this whole idea of that healing that you need to do before you can start receiving with your antenna, your body. But do you have a website that anybody can visit, so if they want to find out more about you and your brilliant books and the services that you offer?

Karen Anderson  53:39

Oh, thank you. Yes, the easiest way to find out more is to go to my website, which is simply karenanderson.net... And my books, 'Hear All Creatures' and 'The Amazing Afterlife of Animals' - you can order through Amazon UK, you can order Amazon US, Amazon Canada, you can also get half price from me (in the US). I also have a free mobile app, which you can download right now. It's called 'Pet Loss, Hope and Healing' and it has everything we've been talking about in there, and so much more. And I also offer courses if you want to learn how to communicate with animals. I have beginners courses, and I offer private coaching. I don't do sessions anymore, because my guides have shown me that I need to move in the direction of coaching and teaching and I'm also writing my next book, which is about pet loss. So that'll hopefully be out by the fall.

Hannah Velten  54:36

Okay, well, that's fantastic. Thank you so much. I really, really enjoyed the conversation today. It's been enlightening... there's been so much in there for people to take with them. Thank you so much for joining us. Next week, I have Desi Kadra, who I've known for quite a long time and Desi lost her mother and basically couldn't believe that was the end and has embarked on this big spiritual journey and been uncovering like what Karen and I do, and really exploring the afterlife, and she now has a YouTube channel called "Bridging The Realms", which I've been part of as well. So that's for next week. So thank you so much to Karen, for joining us this week. And thank you very much for listening. And we'll see you next week. Okay, bye. Bye.

Hannah Velten  55:27

[Outro] Thank you for listening to 'The Finder of Lost Things'. I think we've been triggered so long and so hard by COVID and it's going to carry on, people are getting used to stillness and they're getting used to a more solitude. But how do you use that time for the highest good, this process that we're going to explore will bring back the joy and purpose to life. That wholeness you know, that sort of harmony and flow and togetherness. People are really ready to find their last parts now. You can find me at www.hannahvelten online.