Sylvia Browne grew up in Kansas City, Missouri and revealed her psychic gift at the age of three, announcing that her grandfather was dead (he was) and predicting she would have a baby sister in three years (she did). Browne began her professional career in 1973 with a small meeting in her home. Within a year Browne’s practice had grown so much that she incorporated the business as the Nirvana Foundation for Psychic Research.
Browne is a true professional: she maintains required business licenses, is a member of a national consumer protection agency, and donates a large portion of her time to charitable organizations and also works with police to investigate missing persons and other criminal cases. She has consulted with police and FBI on several high-profile cases, including the disappearance of Chandra Levy and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Currently the president of her business, now known as the Sylvia Browne Corporation, Browne also founded her own church, the Society of Novus Spirit. Her most recent business venture is The Sylvia Browne Hypnosis Training Center, where her unique, proven hypnosis methods for personal and professional use are taught.
With twenty-two New York Times bestsellers, Browne is an accomplished author of more than 46 books. She appeared regularly on the Montel Williams Show for seventeen years, and has been a frequent guest on Larry King Live, travels the country at sold-out lectures, and regularly appears in the print media. Browne continues to do readings, and her son, Chris DuFresne, is also a psychic. She lives and practices in California.
1Animals in Our Lives
"We will be known forever by the tracks we leave." -- Dakota Indian proverb
For my entire career as a professional psychic, people have come to me asking questions about everything in their lives -- their jobs, their families, their relationships, and their futures. But one question comes up time and again: What happens to my beloved pet when he dies? People want to be assured that their dog or cat or bird or horse -- creatures they love just as much as any human in their life -- will find peace in the afterlife.
I am here to tell you that all pets do go to heaven. I will also explain to you the extraordinary abilities that pets have here on earth that we're just beginning to understand and acknowledge. These abilities lead us to amazing stories of the bonds between humans and the animals they love, experiences with animals both in this world and on the Other Side, which reaffirm the remarkable relationships we have with our precious pets.
Since before recorded history, humankind has always had a relationship with animals, whether it was for sustenance, protection, worship, or to give service. Gradually over time many of the animals encountered by humans were domesticated and formed either a loving partnership with us as pets or were put into service to help humankind in its work or as a food source. We even see when animals are taken to visit the elderly how that person's blood pressure goes down and any depression subsides. I'm convinced animals can neutralize negative energy without ever absorbing it as we do. That's why I've even referred to them as a form of guardian angel on this planet.
The stories that follow will show the different facets of what animals do and can do and how sentient they are. Whether it's just your dear pet and protectorate or your own totem (which we will get to later), we will see how animals have saved lives and even see and feel things that we cannot see or feel such as seeing spirits or alerting us to fire or even earthquakes long before we are aware of such things. Humankind has just begun to scratch the surface of the great intelligence our animals have, and hopefully you will get a deeper insight into the sometimes complex minds of our beloved friends in the animal kingdom. This book will explore through research as well as personal stories the help, bravery, love, and loyalty these wondrous creatures afford us.
They are not dead who live in the hearts they leave behind. -- tuscarora
When We Lose a Pet
Most animal lovers have a pet, and those pets quickly become a part of their families. When a beloved pet passes away, a huge void is left in your family, not to mention your heart. It makes me furious when someone is grieving over the loss of a pet and they hear the words, "Well, after all it was only an animal!" When these words have been uttered to me, rather than froth at the mouth I usually try to simply walk away. As I've grown older I've tried to be more tolerant and say to myself that these people just don't know; they are simply ignorant of the love and richness that our pets lend to our lives.
We will expand on the subject of pet loss later, but right now I want to tell you about my Jolie. Jolie was a West Highland terrier and the most active, funny, and caring dog I have ever known. She was one of my dearest pets, and I had her for nine wonderful years. One day I got a call at work that Jolie had suddenly keeled over and was nonresponsive. My youngest, psychic son, Chris, ran over and gave her some resuscitation by pushing on her rib cage, and by the time I got home she was sitting up, but with a glazed look on her face. I immediately noticed she was terribly bloated, and we raced her to the vet. After a whole battery of tests he told me grimly that the news wasn't good. Jolie was suffering from severe heart failure. He explained that the symptoms are similar to those experienced by people who have heart attacks or strokes. Jolie, he said, was filling up with water so fast she would drown in her own fluid. I had to put her to sleep. He suggested that I leave the room, but I wouldn't -- I wanted my eyes to be the last thing Jolie saw.
The shot was administered, and I truly felt like she was saying, it's okay Mom, I'll see you again and I love you. "I love you Jolie," I sobbed. "Wait for me." I knew she would because animals don't reincarnate -- they don't have to. They don't need to learn lessons of life like we do. They are just pure entities sent from God. I watched a white and condensed smokelike form leave her body and go straight across the room. The souls of animals don't have to go up because heaven (or the Other Side) is on this level, just in another dimension, with the same topography we have here except for the beautiful gardens, meadows, and temples. (We'll talk more about the Other Side later in this book.) In my psychic vision I could see Jolie romping through a garden of daffodils and playing and meeting my other dogs that had gone before. This gave me some small comfort, but as with all grief I felt cheated. I was glad she was happy, but selfishly I wanted her with me. Still, I knew she was happy, and I knew I'd see her again someday.
Our first teacher is our own heart. -- cheyenne
The hole our animals leave when they go is immeasurable, and even though life goes on (just as it does when any loved one leaves you), so many things remind you of them. No one meeting you at the door...the toys that are still around...even the empty food dishes seem like stark reminders of your missing friend. After Jolie passed, I just preferred to leave everything the way it was for awhile because honestly, I couldn't stand to get rid of the last vestiges of her. Yes, I did feel her around jumping on the bed and brushing against my leg, and several times I actually saw a little white blur in the backyard that I knew was my Jolie. But this loss hit me particularly hard, and I truly felt likejust going to bed.
You don't, of course. You get up, you keep living your life, and when time goes by other dogs or pets take the place of your beloved pet. But no matter how much time goes by, that animal will always have a special place in your heart. Later on I'll share more of my own stories of pet love and loss, and you'll also read the remarkable stories of other people who have wondrous tales about their beloved pets, some poignant and sad, some inspiring in their bravery and protection, still others amazing tales of communication and love, but all of them truly moving andwondrous.
When Our Pets Perform Extraordinary Acts
Presently I have four dogs, but when I was younger I had cats. Both types of animals have their own distinct personalities and I love each of them in their own special way. I have had so many dogs in my seventy-two years of life that it's hard to even remember all of the breeds -- German shepherds, dachshunds, West Highland terriers, Rhodesian Ridgebacks, Great Danes, Lhasa Apsos, Shar-Peis, Labradoodles, golden retrievers, Bijon Frises, Shih Tzus, English bulldogs, Labradors, Yorkshire terriers, not to mention a number of beloved mutts of mixed breeding -- each one holding a special place in my heart, and each one with a distinct personality of their own. I still have some of my beloved dogs, but over the years I have lost many pets that were dear to me. The truth is, many times I've loved my animals more than some people in my life! An animal's loyalty is unfaltering, and a pet doesn't care how you look or what mood you're in; they just love you unconditionally, which we could all really learn from!
My dear grandmother (who was a psychic in her own right and very well known in Kansas City, Missouri) used to say if you find someone who doesn't like animals, children, or music...run. Over all the years I have found this to be usually true, especially with those who don't like animals.
One amazing story my grandmother told me was an event her family witnessed secondhand, a tale that was told for years in their small community. My grandmother was born in Germany, but her family had made its way to the United States when she was very young, first to Texas and then to Springfield, Missouri, where the winters were horrendous. When I was a girl in that part of the world, we were literally snowbound for days at a time by the ferocity of winter storms (not anything like the milder winters experienced in that part of the world today, which as an aside supports the Greenhouse Theory!).
There was a family that lived next door to my grandmother's family, and they stepped out just a short distance away from home to get supplies one cold winter day and left their sleeping baby with their German shepherd, who really was like a watchful nanny to the baby. They intended to be gone just a few minutes, but while they were gone a sudden terrible snowstorm hit. It was the type of storm we used to call a whiteout -- you literally couldn't see your hand in front of your face. After many hours the family finally made their way back to their house, and when they walked in, the baby's crib was empty. The house was freezing cold because the heat had dissipated in their absence. The German shepherd was cringing and whimpering under the bed. The husband in fear and dread deduced (as did the wife) that the dog had harmed the baby out of hunger or even fear of abandonment. The husband, out of his mind with grief, got his rifle and aimed it at the dog's head. Just as he cocked it to shoot they heard a faint cry. They looked under the bed and there was the baby cuddled up to the dog to keep it warm. The dog, realizing the peril of the baby possibly freezing to death, had lifted the baby and put it under the bed, wrapping its warm body around the child to keep it from freezing. My grandmother said the woman never quit talking about how horrible it would have been if they had killed the dog that saved their baby from freezing.
Now...
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
