My Story

I am often asked how one becomes an animal communicator so here is a bit of my story. I grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota and spent most of my 20’s traveling in Europe and Central America either by train or van. I lived in Switzerland for two years and fooled around with working, studying French and German and hanging out with my Swiss German friends. I love to travel and was completely bored following the traditional school path.

I did finally settle down and got my Elementary Education and Master's degrees and ended up in the English as a Second Language program in Saint Paul. I loved that career so much! I taught mostly 4th-6th grade Hmong kids in small groups and immersed myself in their language and culture. I was especially fascinated by the Hmong shaman, never realizing at the time I would eventually be called to that path.

In 2001 one of my older Golden Retrievers had developed terrible arthritis. Someone suggested I try Reiki energy healing with her. After a few sessions the Reiki practitioner told me that I was very intuitive and suggested I take an animal communication class because of my strong love for animals. I had never even heard of it! I did take a few classes and it turned out that communicating with animals telepathically was quite easy for me. I began practicing on my friends’ animals and had very good results. I also became a Reiki master.

Then my world turned upside down. Three weeks after 9/11 my sister died unexpectedly of a pulmonary embolism. I was responsible for clearing out her house and selling it but couldn’t face the task. I was too heartbroken. Then I read Echoes of the Soul by Echo Bodine. In it she wrote about her experience of soul retrieval with a local shaman and talked about some of the symptoms of soul loss. She was describing me!

I had a shamanic healing and was then able to take care of my sister’s estate. In the process I was called to the shamanic path as a healer. I had taken a leave of absence from teaching and never went back. In the span of six months my life changed completely. I began doing animal communication and shamanic healing professionally, full-time. After a few years I began to teach both animal communication and shamanic journeying classes. I also did advanced training in past life regression and added that to my practice. Then, with strong encouragement from a well-known local psychic, I began to offer psychic readings.

If something aided me on my own healing path I added it to my practice to better serve others. I love what I do and feel blessed that I heard and heeded ‘the calling’.