April 2012 Newsletter

In this issue * Jenny's trip to visit Oshine the Orangutan in the UK * Jenny's appeal to go free-range / organic * Sammy's trip to the Kruger * becoming aware of the messages all creatures bring to us * Sammy's chickens * Next workshop

click here to download the document in pdf format, complete with photos and formatting.  The detail below is just the text of the newsletter, for your interest.

NEWSLETTER - April 2012

Hello Everyone!

Jenny saying hello to Oshine

At the beginning of March, I was up to some “Monkey business” and I thought I would give you a little feedback on my trip to the UK. I met Brenda (Oshine's owner) at Heathrow Airport so that we could go together to Monkey World to spend five days with Oshine and all the other primates living there. Oshine was SO happy to see us. Yes she recognised us. She still has a VERY close bond with Brenda. At the moment she is still living in the nursery looking after Sylvester and the other “teenagers”

Silvester is growing into SUCH a handsome boy

Oshine still spends all her spare time looking after Silvester. You can often see her walking hand in hand with him all over their enclosure. He is an extremely busy little boy. It was VERY difficult to get him to sit still long enough for me to take this photograph. He was just SO full of fun and VERY playful. A few times he even got Oshine to “play” with him.

This little lady felt that her blanket was for “wearing”

She really was “the fashion princess” Every time we saw her, she was wearing a different coloured blanket.

It was quite amazing to witness how intelligent and sensitive the Orang-u-tans are.

(Please download the newsletter to access the photos)

Oshine also loved wearing her blanket

She spent a lot of time deep in thought

Yes, She is definitely not just a pretty face.

Just look at those eyes

Orang-u-tans are definitely “thinkers”.  They are very deep and carry SO much wisdom.

We also went to visit some of the other primates at Monkey World.

Some of them had been rescued from being “beach photographers props” while others came from laborities. There were quite a few that also came from the “Illegal Pet Trade”  where people had bought them to keep in their homes as pets. As soon as they grow up and become difficult to handle (or find their teeth) they get put in a VERY small cage and kept as entertainment. Some of them had been in these tiny cages (not even big enough to lie down in) for 15 years.

This little soul to the right was one of them. He was SO special. He found me quite amusing and interesting. I had a stunning time chatting with him. He was incridibly intense and quite entertaining at times.

These chimps were VERY happy in their quarters.

While the staff were upgrading their enclosure and adding extra hanging places on-to their jungle gym, these chimps had to stay in their bedroom quarters. Most of them had been beach photographers props.

Let me explain to those of you that have never heard of “beach photographers props” What happens is these chimps get stolen from their families when they are only a few days old. Very often the adults are killed during this robbery. When the baby chimps get a little older, the photographer who has stolen them smashes their teeth out with a rock or whatever they can find. This is to prevent them biting at a later stage. They are then made to sit on tourists laps to have photographs taken. When the chimps are about 7 years old they become too difficult to control so they are then retired. The way they retire them is to take them out to sea in a boat then throw them over board.

This is an absolutly horiffic practice so if any of you ever come across a chimp (or any wild animal for that matter) being photographed on a beach, PLEASE report it to the relitive authorities or notify Monkey World so that they can take the necessary steps to rescue it.

Tel: +44 (0) 1929 462537  Fax: +44 (0) 1929 405414 

E-mail: apes@monkeyworld.org

Just to end on a better note - All the chimps and other primartes are totally happy and content now. They have everything they need and the staff at Monkey world are doing everything they can to give them a happy and safe life.

Please follow Monkey World on Facebook and look at their website to see how YOU can help them!!!

I am now busy planning my next trip to The Kruger National Park and I cant wait!!! I am planning to connect with the elephants and rhinos while we are there to see if THEY have a sullotion to the poaching problem.

Our green tip of the month

Please support only free range or organic free range eggs, chickens or beef. When an animal is kept in horrific conditions as is the case with battery farming , or abbatoir situations. The animals kept there go through immense fear. Not only is this inhumane but the fear the aninmal feels before their life ends is an energy of great negativity. When you eat the meat or egg from one of these animals, this energy is absorbed into YOUR system, often leaving YOU feeling negative, fearful or just plain bad without you understanding why you should be feeling this way.

There are a lot of shops that are now stocking free range goods. Please support them and lets make a difference and stop the abuse of ALL living things.

Just a thought

Every day as you wake up in the morning, make a concious decision to enjoy your day and you will start enjoying your life. What is the point of doing anything if you don't enjoy it?

Life is there to be LIVED. Stop putting things off and start LIVING your life to the fullest.

Nothing will happen by “thinking” about it. YOU need to DO something to make it happen.

Sammy's Snippet

Hi beautiful souls

At the beginning of March I was away, assisting on a medical conference, just outside the Kruger Park.  I was so excited to be there, not to help with the conference, but to be in the bushveld, in the open, in the “wild”. 

My “boss” for the week, my sister, whom I assist in organising these conferences, treated us to a four hour game drive on the eve of the conference.  I had been given her second camera (a beautiful slr camera) and told to photograph as much as I'd like, so I was most excited.  After driving around for about an hour, and seeing very little beyond impala and zebra, which astonished me as I had been reaching out telepathically to the animals in the park for a week before I went there, asking them to appear so that I may share their wisdom and beauty, I went within and connected quietly to my spirit guide and asked what was happening.  The message I got back was that it was not the time to be looking at the world through the lens of a camera, that this was the time to be in the moment, to see everything with my own eyes, to appreciate, honour and respect the beauty, sounds, sensations and movements without the need to capture it.  To experience it without distraction.  So I packed the camera away.

Within minutes of doing that, the wildlife started to appear.  Birdlife, spiders webs, two separate occasions of being able to sit in the vehicle and share the beauty of two separate leopards, giraffe, owls, even a small cat… you name it, the wonder and beauty of that evening seeped into my soul and anchored itself there, a memory that will forever be cherished.

And...when my sister downloaded the photos from the camera she was working with, almost every single shot of that evening was out of focus.  Clearly, it was an evening of immediate experience, not of capturing the moment for later enjoyment.

But, of the few photos that were ok from that evening, I feel urged to share this one with you.  For the rest of the duration of the conference, all the photos came out exceptionally well.

There were many of the incredible webs of the golden-orb spider strung between trees and shrubs and I was entranced at the beauty of the web, and of its strength.  I've often wondered how they manage to get their anchor line connected between two trees, often metres apart… do they shoot the silk metres away from them, or do they float themselves across using the wind and a piece of silk, whilst leaving an anchor line attached to the tree they just left?

Messages from creatures

A little exercise I do when I go away anywhere, is to keep a note of every single creature and animal I see, and then to look up the message / meaning of that creature when I get home.  I often find some startling threads and incredible messages coming through, and am always amazed at the synchronicity of the earth and everything happening around us.  We are just one cog in this incredible earth, and absolutely everything around us is happening in a perfect way, in the order it is meant to be happening.  We are not apart from the earth and its creatures and seasons, we are an integral part of it, and it's time for humankind to move back towards recognition of this, and as a species, we need to move back into harmony with the earth and its creatures.  We are all one, we are all connected.

Too often, we separate ourselves from nature and from the earth, we build houses for ourselves and ban many creatures from living with us, we make gardens and ban many creatures from living there too.  We forget to walk barefoot at least once a day, to experience our connection to the earth, and in some countries (like Australia), allowing our children to go barefoot is strongly discouraged due to the possibility of picking up disease!  We create big buildings in which to “work”, with artificial lighting and an artificial climate.  All the time, making it more and more difficult to remain connected.

We create our reality, through our thoughts, feelings and words.  By forgetting our connection to the earth and everything on her and in her, we forget how to create beauty, love, kindness and compassion.  By disconnecting ourselves from the earth, we start to feel and focus only on the negative.

And our animals are leading the way in trying to get us back to nature, to remember our roots, our connection.  Most behaviour issues that I have experienced in dogs and cats have been about trying to get their humans to go within, to reconnect with themselves and thereby with the earth. 

Illness in our domestic animals is often a physical manifestation of a dis-ease within ourselves, and each illness carries with it a message of a deeper emotional blockage or limiting belief, or negative pattern in our lives.  Skin allergies and skin complaints in our animals, are often about addressing what we are putting into our own bodies, and speak to us of the need to create more health-full foods.  Arthritis and joint problems are often about releasing deep-seated anger and resentment and the need we often feel to stubbornly control every aspect of our lives.

Wild creatures bring us messages too.  Spiders call our attention to our need to be more creative, to express ourselves more creatively in all that we do.  Very often, the spider calls us to express our innermost thoughts and feelings through writing, either journaling, blogging, keeping a diary, having a gratitude journal.  Bring creativity to our function, whatever we do.

Ants are about patience, most often with ourselves, but at the same time they remind us to keep working towards the common good. 

My request to you this month, is to learn to appreciate each moment and when you see a creature, insect, bird or animal… pause, breathe deeply, and give thanks for the gift and message that the animal has brought to you, even if you are not sure what the message is.  By being in the moment, and having gratitude, at some level you will receive the message.

All love and light

Sammy

Remember, this year of the dragon has a lot to do with breath-work.  The dragon's breath is the fire of transformation and we can use our breathing to transform ourselves and our surroundings.  Breathing deeply connects us with the angels, with our innermost divinity and highest self.

The Chicken Story

The chickens in my garden are now turning into teenagers with all the sibling squabbles and boundary-testing that goes with being a teenager.  Despite some initial worries about the cats with the chickens, after talking to the cats and expressing my desire for us all to live in harmony, they have accepted the chickens completely.  They will still stalk the pigeons and doves that land to eat the chicken food (but not catch them), but have never stalked any one of the chickens. 

If we are spending a lot of time indoors, working on the computer, doing chores etc., the chickens will come to the garden door and roost just inside the door, often right next to Abby.  They also love to shelter on the patio during rain.  This photo was taken towards the beginning of March, and the little ones are now nearly the same size as mom, and are getting their grown-up feathers.

NEXT WORKSHOP

We have had to change the schedule for the first half of the year quite a bit, but are really excited and happy to announce that our next workshop will be held at the Pretoria Zoo on the 5^th May 2012. What is most exciting is that we will be using the Elephant Indaba venue within the zoo grounds, a room that is right next to the elephant enclosure, with large windows overlooking them.  We also hope to have the owls visit with us during part of the morning, but this can only be confirmed closer to the time, and is dependent on their availability. 

The workshop will be the Level 1, Basic Techniques of animal telepathic communication.

We love to hear from you, so please share your animal stories with us.  We would love to hear them.

Until next time

Jenny, Sammy and the animals