It takes a lot to surprise me around the world of essential oils and animals, so you can imagine my expression when I heard about a horse “telling” an animal communicator what oils it wanted used on itself! This animal communicator knew nothing about oils, so she simply asked the owner about what she was being told, and sure enough, it was a specific Young Living oil blend (and the owner used Young Living).

This really peaked my interest in the deeper understanding and intelligence of animals. What an amazing concept, that an animal could not only communicate with us, but it could also tell us what oils or herbs it needs!

“Anthropomorphism” – The strangest concept I’ve ever come across

My first career was as a Zoologist, and the strangest thing I heard during my studies was a concept called “Anthropomorphism”….which refers to superimposing human emotions onto animals. Yet anyone who owns an animal will attest to their often human-like responses.

I’ve seen animals who have become withdrawn (head down, no joyful barking or cantering) after the loss of a lifetime friend or sibling. I experience such joy every time one of my cats wraps its tail around me, or a horse wraps its neck and head around me, which is their version of a hug! And I watch the way jealousy and fear plays out in animals’ lives, just as it does in ours.

The general attitude in those days (the mid to late 80’s) was that animals were inferior to us in their intelligence and perception, and were to be treated as numbers, not as the conscious beings that they are.

If you’ve been reading my bulletins for a while, you will know my kinship with animals, and will understand why I was at odds with my profession, and was driven to follow a new career path. In addition to my love of essential oils, my other passion is animal behaviour, and the spiritual connection we share with animals.

Introducing your animal to oils

So now we come to oils….whatever oils we use on people, we can also safely use on members of the canine and equine family.We just adjust for body weight, and (as we do with people) we always start slowly and build up. Cats, however, are a different story entirely.

If you missed my bulletins on cats and oils last year, please respond to this email and ask for these to be forwarded to you. These will tell you the essential “do’s and don’ts” with cats and oils. And in the future I will do a bulletin on birds, as they also have some special requirements when it comes to oils.

Having been around animals and oils for many years, I’ve seen the typical responses that dogs and horses have to essential oils. It usually starts as curiosity, and ends up as a passion – just as it does for us.

So the 3 important tips to introducing your dog or horse to essential oils is as follows:

1. Always use the Young Living oils when working on animals, because of the care that goes into production, ensuring no chemicals touch the plants at any time during the production and bottling process. I have heard of oils harming animals, when other brands are used…and this is because of synthetic additives. This is why many Vets will advise against the use of oils and animals…they just haven’t experienced Young Living yet!

2. Place a drop of essential oil into your palm, rub your palms together so that you absorb some of the oils, then cup your hands and offer them to your animal. Allow them to come to you with their natural curiosity, rather than you forcing the oil and aroma onto them. Don’t be alarmed if your animal licks the oil from your hands! Many dogs and horses love the smell and the taste of oils – to them, it’s like playing in a very aromatic jungle, or rolling in their favourite pile of hay!

3. Wherever possible, make the initial oil experiences fun for your animal, by including stroking, cuddling and massaging at the same time. I.e. make it part of the “petting” experience. This way your animal will associate oils with love, nurturing and joy. I remember giving a Raindrop Technique to a dog once, many years ago, and the dog had its tail tucked between its legs the whole time…it thought I was another Vet about to do some procedure on it, and it was only at the end of the session and for its next session that it relaxed and realized this was actually lots of fun!

When your animal tells you what oils it needs…

I mentioned earlier about this amazing animal communicator that I had heard about. Dagmar Klingenboeck was working in her dream job as foreperson for a race horse trainer, taking care of the horses, riding them, even taking them to the races. When the opportunity arose to study animal communication and learn how to ask specific questions of animals, she leapt at it.

Like so many of us, Dagmar had always felt a strong connection with animals. They seemed to understand her, and she picked up on how they were feeling.

After doing the course, Dagmar was talking to her cat. She always fed him in the stables on top of a grey box. But her cat told her he didn’t like jumping onto the box, because he felt like “an elephant in the circus”.

It was such an unusual comment that Dagmar knew she couldn’t have made that up – especially because she’d never thought there was a problem with him being fed on the box.

When Dagmar told her boss about the animal communication course, he told her that if she believed in that type of thing, she was “stupid”. But one day, when one of his race horses wasn’t performing well on the race track, he jokingly told her to “go and talk to the horse, and tell me what’s wrong with it”. So Dagmar did just that.

The mare told Dagmar that her hip on the “off side” (the right side) was displaced, like it was “pulled apart”.

This was unusual, given that there were no signs of lameness in the horse to suggest any structural issue. The mare told Dagmar about several other issues as well, all of which Dagmar wrote down.

Dagmar went to her boss, and suggested he take the mare to her Chiropractor, who worked on both people and animals. After the Chiropractor had carefully checked the horse, the boss asked him what he’d found….and he said that she was out on her off-side. He also mentioned all the other findings that the mare had told Dagmar about.

Dagmar showed her notes from the communication session to her boss, and he stood there with his mouth open in disbelief.

The Chiropractor was so fascinated by Dagmar’s communications that he asked for her help communicating with all of his animals. One horse told Dagmar that he was having problems urinating. The Chiropractor called the vet and had the horse sedated, and sure enough – there was a huge calcified “pin” at the end of its penis. The Vet was amazed, because there was no outward indication of an issue.

It was after this experience that the Chiropractor encouraged Dagmar to start her own business doing animal communication, because she would help a lot of people – and she’s never looked back.

Straight from the horse’s mouth!

Animals often communicated with Dagmar about which plants or herbs they were craving – and it turned out that some of those were aromatic plants that produce essential oils…so Dagmar began to see the potential of essential oils for many of the animals she spoke to.

During winter last year, a gelding asked for Oregano – which is a great oil for remaining healthy all year round.

When Dagmar chatted to a pony that was about to be used as a demo horse in a class, it told her it didn’t need Stress-away oil to relax, but that Lavender oil would help it find “complete relaxation”.It transmitted to Dagmar the feeling of what it’s like to have a bath, when all the stress has seeped out of your body.

Her own cat asked for Lavender oil on its throat. Dagmar put a drop on him every day for a few weeks, and an amazing change occurred in his voice, like something had been opened up energetically.

One horse had been in a traumatic accident, where a 70kg metal bar had fallen on its head, causing brain trauma. This horse asked for Geranium and Frankincense in order to help it to move through the emotions and fear following that event, and this also makes perfect sense.

Geranium and Sacred Frankincense is actually my favourite combination to use with horses, especially when they’ve been through any type of deep emotional experience (regular Frankincense would work just as well).

Another horse was habitually tense in its personality, and the owner often had problems trying to relax her.

This horse asked for Roman Chamomile and Valor, which is a beautiful combination to use on children as well as animals to help them “chill out”.

Dagmar is by no means an essential oils expert. She was introduced to Young Living in June 2017, and loves researching the oils and plants that animals are suggesting to her, because in every instance she can see how “spot on” the oil is for that animal’s unique emotional and spiritual needs, and she can see the results.

Some animals can be quite specific about where they want the oil placed on their body and the frequency of its use, whereas other animals just mention what oil they’d like used, and Dagmar has to ask for more information if she needs it. Dagmar explains:

Just because an animal asks for something doesn’t mean it will enjoy having it. Horses will tell me they have worms, but that doesn’t mean they’ll enjoy the Vet’s worming paste! So don’t expect your animal to love the oils you put on it, even if they are asking for it. Some do, and some don’t.

Alison Smith engaged Dagmar to communicate with her horses, and she asked Dagmar why her horse Bingo liked Frankincense oil. Every morning, Alison takes her bottle of Frankincense oil to the paddock, and Bingo stops and sniffs the Frankincense oil directly from the bottle, closing his eyes, taking in deep breaths.

Dagmar spoke to Bingo about his love of Frankincense.

He said that he really enjoyed the Frankincense oil because it made him feel very clear in his mind, and it helped him connect and communicate better with Alison.

5 essential tips for animal communication

Communicating with your animal takes practice, quietness of mind, and a willing animal! It’s no different to communicating with a person or child, except that it happens non-verbally. The more you practice, the better you become at it.

1. Practice quieting your mind

Start with a drop of Frankincense, applied 3 times clockwise to your third eye. This will not only help you access a meditative state more quickly, it will also deepen your meditation, allowing you to enter that state of stillness with greater ease.

Sit in a comfortable position, allow yourself to deeply relax, then bring your mind to a point of focus. It can be as simple as following your breath as it goes in and out of your nose.

Or you may choose a word or mantra, something like “Om” or “Om Namah Shivaya”, and repeat it in a relaxed pace, over and over.

It’s natural that as you relax, your mind will wander. As soon as you notice you’ve been thinking about other things, simply bring your focus back to your breath or word, and continue.

It’s the discipline of stopping your mind in its tracks and bringing it back to its point of focus, which is the key benefit of meditation.

By doing this on a regular basis, the “monkey mind” has less hold over us, and we are more easily able to hold our mind in undistracted stillness….which is the best space for both animal communication and receiving any type of higher guidance.

Ideally start with 5 to 10 minutes, once or twice a day…and as you see the benefits, you may want to increase your time in meditation to 20 minutes, twice a day. I’ve been amazed how meditation calms me so much that I get more done in the day, with less effort. It’s the perfect practice for busy people!

2. The Golden Pyramid – the perfect visualization for any type of deep communication

Once you are comfortable with the concept of meditation, and feel that your practices are going well, it’s time to step it up a notch.

Apply one drop each of 3 Wise Men to your crown, Inspiration to your Third Eye, and Joy to your heart.

If you are missing any of these oils, use Frankincense oil instead. It’s a “Universal” oil for spiritual practices, meaning it is versatile and can be used in many different ways.

Go into your meditation practice as you would normally. Whilst you are in one of your periods of meditation, and after at least 5 minutes of standard meditation (so that you are already deeply relaxed), let yourself visualise a Golden Pyramid in the sky. See yourself floating up, until you are sitting in that pyramid.

Imagine lots of light flooding in, and your animal (the one you want to communicate with) is sitting or standing opposite you. Look into its eyes, until you see love and connection flowing between you. This could happen instantly, or may take many minutes to occur.

Then let your animal know how much you’d like to talk to it, and begin an inner dialogue in this visualization.

Ask your animal questions, and listen to what it shares. It’s very likely to speak to you telepathically, so you are not looking for its lips to be moving. Just open your senses, and let yourself “hear” with your inner ear.

Sometimes these transmissions come as feelings or words, sometimes as pictures and symbols, sometimes as an inner knowing.

When the conversation is completed, let yourself slowly become aware of your physical body again, take a few deep breaths, and open your eyes.

3. To oil, or not to oil, that is the question….

So here’s our million dollar question. Which oils would your animal like used on or near it? Make sure you ask about oils (if appropriate) during your visualization in section 2. Some questions you might like to ask are:

• When I use oils, which one makes you feel calm?
• Is there any oil you don’t want me to use?
• Are you ok for me to put an oil on you? If so, which one would you like, and why?

Not all animals like oils, so naturally you want to find out if they have an aversion to certain oils. This is a very interesting process, to discover what they like and what they don’t like.

4. Self-selecting oils

I did a great bulletin last year about how animals can self-select essential oils – please let me know if you’d like a copy to be sent to you.

Simply line your oils up near your animal, and invite your animal to come and explore. They may take you up on the invitation, or they may not.

I have had dogs literally rolling on their back in my entire all case, they loved the smells so much….whilst others find the oils too strong.

If they do come over to investigate, notice which oil they seem the most drawn to. For example, one of my cats will lick the lid of the peppermint oil bottle…this is very rare for a cat, because Peppermint is such a strong smelling oil – but for her, it’s the aroma she’s drawn to.

I therefore often diffuse Transformation oil when I’m at home, because I like the smell and its effect, and because it has Peppermint oil as one of its top 2 ingredients.

Put a drop of the oil into your palms, and rub your palms 3 times clockwise (so that you absorb most of the oil into your own skin)…then you can hold your palms towards your animal, or pick your animal up, or even gently stroke them.

Over time, and depending on your animal’s response, you can build up to the point of putting actual drops of oil on your animal. Most dogs and horses are very willing for this to be done…but, they are all unique individuals, much like people, so some will love the oils, others won’t.

5. Muscle Testing with Oils

Developing your ability to communicate with animals can take time and practice to achieve. So if you haven’t managed it on the first attempt, keep practicing.

Act on the guidance, and watch and learn. Even if an animal says it wants an oil, it doesn’t mean it will like it….so don’t confuse wanting an oil and liking it. There are plenty of oils I put on my body because I know the great effects, and not because I necessarily like the smell of those particular ones.

When in doubt, muscle test. I love doing this as a “Human Pendulum”. So I stand up, ensuring that I’m not wearing high heels. Then I state out loud that if I rock forward, that’s a YES, and if I rock backwards, that’s a NO….and I start asking yes/no questions.

This is a beautiful way to communicate with God/Spirit/Your Higher Self…however, you can also have the intention that you are asking the questions of your animal’s Soul/Higher Self, and ask away. This will allow you to obtain guidance on the right steps to take with your beloved furry or feathered friend.

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