I had an appointment to read a cat this morning, so I went to the client's home, and as I usually do, I asked if she had aparticular issue she wanted to examine and she replied, "Well, I'm a skeptic, so I don't want to tell you anything that would influence you." I said, "OK, but asking these questions helps me focus in a very specific way so that we can find the answer to whatever problem you have." This didn't convince her to reveal anything. What would I have wanted to know? If there was a physical issue, whether the cat had seen the vet over it, if there was a behavioral issue I could address directly with the cat. This woman called me, knowing my service was not inexpensive, so she must have had some level of awareness and acceptance that moved her to schedule the appointment.
I held the cat, Eliot, a sweet, mellow, orange and white tabby, very welcoming to me. First I saw an area between the back of his skull and his shoulders and picked up that this was a massage area that needed attention. The woman said she massages him in that spot all the time, so he was, in fact, confirming that she needed to continue. He was expressing his approval.
Then when I closed my eyes again and held him, I saw the shadow of a black cat on his left side, leaning on him, almost attached to him, watching over him. I looked up at the woman and said (it wasn't really a question), "There was another cat, wasn't there ?" She began to cry, as did I, common when we reach dialogue on the soul level. That cat had died a year ago, and in the months before she departed, Eliot, who had always been distant from her, began sleeping with her, almost escorting her to her transition. After we talked in more depth about the cat who died, I said to her "Well, there goes your skepticism."
Later in the reading I told her that Eliot was concerned with lights. He kept showing me different kinds of electric lights, "not 'spirit' light or energy but lamps, fixtures...."has he been sitting beneath light or is he especially attracted to lights? " She said he wasn't. He kept going back to this picture, so I stressed that it was important to him. "Your cat is still concerned about light; did you just put up special lights?" No. ""You don't see him walking around near the lights?" No.
The later in the reading she stopped and asked, "Do you think there's a problem with his eyesight?" I said "Yes; this explains his focus on lights. Do you leave a light on for him?" She said that when she gets home late from work and the house is dark, the cat screams. I asked if he's been hugging the walls when he walks and she said he was. I explained that animals do this when their eyesight fails, and having lived with a dog who went blind at age 9, I was able to refer her to the veterinary opthomologist I used.
I dwell on this one reading becuase it exemplifies common misconceptions about intuitive consultations, be they animal communication, astrology, clairvoyance, or Tarot. When you hire somebody to do a reading or create your astrological chart, you do so because you seek help -- either for yourself, a loved one, or your cherished animal family, not because you want to test the reader. Entering a reading by declaring your skepticim is like sitting in the back of the classroom with crossed legs and folded arms, saying to the teacher, "I dare you to teach me but I probably won't believe what you teach." If you go to a doctor for a consultation and the doctor asks, "What brings you here today ?" do you answer ,"I don't want to tell you; you're the doctor; you figure it out?" No, a reading is a partnership you work on together.
Astrologer Amy J. Volkers shares a familiar story. " As Astrologer, I do not claim to be omniscient because I'm not. I don't 'predict' even, but try to explain the cycles the client has going on; however there are multiple levels and dimensions that the cycles can/will manifest in, so the same planetary cycle can manifest in different ways for different clients based on their choices along with the actual structure of their chart. Any info /details they give me help me to interpret their cycles more accurately."
The best advice a reader can give a client is to be honest, as a reading will be as helpful as the client is honest. After all, the goal of the reading for both parties is clarity. It always helps a reading if the client does four things: 1. Have a clear purpose for the reading. Saying "whatever you can tell me" is to vague and may not bring you the information you really need to hear. 2. Write down specific questions in advance. They may not all be answered, but they will guide your reader. 3. Ask for clarification if there is something you don't understand. 4. Be open to understanding the message after the reading. Not everything will come to you immediately. It might take a day, a week, a month for that "bell" to go off in your head. That "aha!" moment is the culmination of a good partnership.
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