Sunday, November 27, 2011

Ask Amber - November 2011

Here are this months questions for Amber Donkey.  Thank you for your submissions!


Q: My question is about reincarnation. I know in the past you have said that it depends upon what the soul wishes to learn as to what species it comes in as, but what I wanted to know is how particular you can be about coming back. I often look at domestic animals and think that I wished somebody had warned them to NOT come back as a pet cat or dog or cow – and wonder what they imagine their lives will be like if they “plan” to come in as a cow. It seems wrong to me that souls keep coming into bodies that are only destined for lives of misery and abuse. For a cat or dog, they may have a very good life with humans, or not. For animals that humans eat, they may have a short period of peace and happiness if they are cows grazed in paddocks, but the ending to their lives is always the same. For animals born into factory farmed species, it is hell. Do they know in advance, or are there too many variables to predict? I know that for humans, much supposedly depends upon good karma whether or not you have a good life. I am not sure if this is true, but if it is, is that the same for animals? 


Amber: This is such a juicy question and one that I am thrilled to get a chance to take a stab at answering. However, please understand that I am answering in a very abbreviated version. Let’s start with the last part of your question first. That dealing with karma. And my first statement is that karma means different things to different people. But the way you asked it is the way most people understand karma. Live good and you reap the benefits by coming back in a good life. Do something bad and pay the consequences by coming back with a lifetime of struggle. Or some people see it as do something bad to someone and the next life you come back as the victim of the same treatment. It is not that simple. So for the sake of our conversation here, this is how I understand it to be. The soul, every soul, chooses what it wants to learn more about itself, or not. If you come into a lifetime to learn something and you do not accomplish that goal, then you will most likely choose for another opportunity to learn it again. Its not a matter of punishment but a matter of finding another way, to learn the lesson again. So if you as a soul were choosing to learn more about compassion, for example, and you end up becoming an abusive person and hurting others, and then you die. It is not that you now will come back as a victim of abuse for what you did. However, you may, in spirit, realize that you never learned compassion for yourself or others in that lifetime and you may then choose the opportunity to live a life where you are given a chance to learn that again. And you may choose to live it from a different angle, like coming in as the one being abused to learn compassion for the abuser. Do you see what I mean?

Part of my point here is that we, the observers, of an animal or human’s life, cannot pass judgment as to why they chose to experience whatever they did, because you do not know what that soul is setting out to learn, understand in another way, or experience for itself. It is hard for us to watch someone suffering and to think that they chose that for themselves. Yet, I tell you that each of us has a journey and that journey is set by us alone. As I was in donkey form, I could say to you, why would anyone choose to come back as a human? I wish I could warn them not to. Its too complex and dense. But you see, every form of life offers a unique and incredibly beautiful opportunity for a soul to express its true beauty and to learn and feel and experience what it has chosen to learn.

Why would a soul choose to come back as a factory farm cow? I don’t know. Maybe they are just looking for a short physical time on this planet. Maybe they are hoping to change how things are. Maybe they weren’t aware of what they were choosing because they are still trying to experience all sorts of things to then choose what they want to focus on. But none of us watching will ever understand it, and none of us can judge it from where we stand. Because we don’t know what they know.

Living is not a simple matter. It is complex, multidimensional, multi-tiered, and is unique to each and every soul. There are no absolutes. There are infinite possibilities. As a living being in the physical, you only feel you have access to one of those dimensions. But in spirit, you have unlimited access to the whole picture. There is no easy answer to this question. You will never find comfort or complete understanding of another’s life or their life path. Your focus instead should be on yours. And your life should not be focused on whether you will be punished for what you do or don’t do. It is far more complex than that. And far more compassionate. I hope this helps with your question or at the very least, gives you another way to think about it.


Q: I would love to find out more about all these earth changes that you have been addressing in several of your posts over the last year. You talked about the sensitivity of certain animals and humans to the earth changes – especially when you were asked about earthquakes and how animals experienced this. I am wondering about those sensitive animals – including humans – that are quite sensitive to energy, and notice this. I find that these energy changes to the earth can be quite difficult to deal with – ie extreme tiredness, feeling out of sorts, etc. How do the sensitive animals deal with the after effects of these energy changes to mother earth?
 
Amber: Indeed, the many changes that are occurring on the planet energetically and physically, and emotionally are going to be tugging at everyone. The most sensitive will feel it first, just like any energy or change. But trust me when I say that there is nothing living on the planet that will not be affected by these changes. And I also have to say that not all change is bad. Its just change. And change is often not easy to deal with. You are feeling massive energy shifts as both you, the planet, and all of her inhabitants, go through a major shift. The easiest way to go with any change is to go with the flow and to not try to fight it. So by doing what you can to stay balanced and healthy, you then will fare better. When you feel tired and drained, then rest and recharge, instead of fighting through and trying to pretend it isn’t there. The earth is responding herself to the changes energetically affecting her. Weather patterns are an example of this as is climate change. As with all change, you can try to deny its existence and pretend its not there, but in the end, it will still affect you. Adapting to the changing energy is the smoother ride.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Ask Amber - September 2011

Q: My questions to you are regarding the earthquake felt along the east coast on August 23, 2011. I know non-human animals are very sensitive in being able to feel the earthquake coming ahead of time. Some humans felt the earth shaking during the earthquake and aftershock and other humans in the same location didn't. Does this mean the frequency of the earthquake was the same frequency of the humans who didn't feel it? Is there any meaning to the sensitivity of the humans who felt it versus the humans who didn't feel it? Did the non-human animals at Spring Farm feel the earthquake coming that day? Which animals were the most in tune with the earthquake coming? Were they able to communicate a warning to the humans there that day?


Amber: The answer to this question is not actually all that difficult. For any being, human or animal, there are various degrees of sensitivity or awareness. Sometimes its as simple as how much we are paying attention and to what degree we allow information to come into our senses. And other times it is based on just how aware we each are in the first place. All of us have the ability for acute awareness and connection to the environment around us. And that awareness includes earth shifts, energy patterns, weather patterns etc. It is all based on how we receive and process energy. In general, animals are more sensitive to energy because we do not allow ourselves to believe that we are not sensitive. Humans, by and large, have bought in to a mass belief that they are more cerebral and less sensitive to the subtle energy patterns around them. And you often are what you believe. Just as you can’t think your way through an emotion, you can’t think your way through feeling energy either. You feel it, you become aware of it, and you process that information. For animals, our survival in the world depends on our being able to process that information very quickly so that we can move accordingly. Because of that, we are more tuned in to subtle changes in energy. But that does not mean that humans aren’t. It just means that humans aren’t as aware of it.

Some animals felt the earthquake and some didn’t. Some felt it in advance of when humans felt it and some didn’t. Same holds true for humans. It depends on how much you were listening. And if you were listening, did you pay attention to what you heard/felt or did you ignore it? If an animal senses a sharp shift in energy, they generally will try to move away from that source of energy to a place that feels more quiet and peaceful. Out in the wild, that works. We move. Domestic animals cannot have that liberty, so many times we just seem agitated to you or out of sorts. Many humans also feel agitated and out of sorts during these events or for days or hours leading up to them. Some feel the energy and move out of an area, feeling strongly compelled to do so. Others feel it and do nothing. And still others don’t even feel it.

The simple answer is that it is a matter of awareness and awareness of your awareness. And then it’s a matter of action and what action you take with your action. It all comes from feeling and what feeling you feel free to feel. And that is the truth of it.

Note from Dawn: We are not aware of any of the animals here sensing the earthquake or giving us any sort of communication about the earthquake. None of us felt the earthquake here. This is not true however for Hurricane Irene. Many of the animals here sensed it was going to be a big storm and told us they felt it was going to impact our area greatly, which it did.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Ask Amber - June 2011 Part 2

Since we had 2 more questions submitted this month for Amber Donkey, we decided to add another edition of Ask Amber for the month.  We hope you enjoy them!

Q: Dear Amber, I am so happy to know that you still are with us, even when we miss your body and your greeting! Your answers always provide me with deep insights and often some good advice. Thank you for that!

I would like you to tell us more about your life in spirit - what do you do, besides your blog; what are you exploring and learning about (if it is not too indiscreet to ask).

When asking you this, I really feel like a child, like "tell me about heaven mum, I want to know." I've just a week ago been on Dawn’s workshop which was great. And it fuelled my wish to learn more - a strange situation because I know that I "already know", as all beings do, but have forgotten - as all (?) humans do...

In that sense, I hope you will answer.

Amber: I most happily will reply to your question! As to what I am now doing, it is hard to describe that to you exactly because I am doing things on multiple levels. You may say that I am multi-tasking. I am doing work within the spirit realm on my own continued spiritual growth and path. For this, I cannot describe it to you in any terms that would make sense to you. I still maintain a focus with teaching on the physical realm as well because this is what I chose to do. I love working within the framework of the physical realm and one day I will again return to take up residence again. Please do not ask when, where, what form, etc because I do not have answers to these questions and when I do, it will be my private decision. It is fair to say that I love to share from my heart and teach what I know. I am in clear pursuit then of adding as much new information and knowledge as I can. You may say that I am taking classes now and that would be an accurate statement. I am back in school.

As for what I’m exploring, it would be most appropriate to tell you that I am exploring more of who I am and how to represent that for myself. I am trying to become the best expression of my soul. This is an ongoing endeavor and learning experience. There is so much I’m doing. So much I’m experiencing. My soul is filled with happiness and delight.

And don’t be too hard on yourself for not remembering things about the spirit realm when you are in the physical realm. This is the nature of how the physical realm works and exactly WHY you chose to be there to experience the things you are. The physical realm offers you a space, or classroom if you think of it that way, to pursue great learning for your soul. There is much resistance in the physical realm due to the always constant presence of opposing forces. But this resistance is not an impediment to your learning. It is, in fact, the opportunity given to you to learn and experience things. Resistance offers you a mirror to see yourself better. The path of least resistance is not necessarily the most fulfilling or fruitful.

Q: I have a question about free will. I am currently studying with a spiritual school I consider to be very evolved in its teachings: it is a multi-faith school, there is no discrimination of any sort, it does not encourage celibacy or any other sort of self-denial or repression...BUT the teachers continually say that we humans are the only beings on Earth lucky enough to have free will, and therefore become co-creators with the Divine.

I do not understand this continual assertion - from my point of view, other beings are simply not as interested in interfering with each other as we humans are.

I wonder if perhaps I don't understand what free will really is. My gut feeling about this though is that it is just our poor self esteem causing us to find distinctions between ourselves and other creatures.

Would you mind sharing your opinion on this please?

Thank you.

Amber: I will share my opinion with you on this topic. The human need to hide is what fuels this sort of teaching. I know that it appears that it is the human need to be superior that makes them teach that humans are on the top of the chain of life and all else beneath them is inferior. But, it is my opinion from spending many lifetimes in loving relationships with humans, that it is not arrogance that causes them to feel they are different than all the others. It is fear.

Humans are the one species that has forgotten their connection to all of life. Instead, you have all talked yourselves into being different and not a part of the rest of it all. This dismisses you then from your responsibility and knowledge that you indeed are divine co-creators. Because if you as a species acknowledged that you are co-creating life, then you’d have to be more responsible. Instead, you can be victims to all else around you. You are a victim to the planets and the stars and their movements. You are victims to the weather systems and “natural disasters.” If you were to see that you are a part of creating all of that with your very thoughts and actions, then you’d have to do something to bring it into balance. Its far easier then to set yourself apart from all the others and that is what the human species has done.

You act as if humans invented free will and are so superior because you have it. Well, then I hope you are watching closely as to what you are creating. Because it is your higher intelligence that you think sets you apart. You think that humans are far superior because you can communicate at high levels. This is true. But you do not listen at all. Not to us, not to nature, not to spirit, and most of all, not to each other. That is something that the rest of nature remembers. Everything else feels emotions just as you do. We all create. We all have free will. But for you to admit that means that you need to live to a higher level of compassion. The true beauty of the human species is its ability to live within their hearts and to live from love and compassion. But the human species is only just starting to find that. When it is something that becomes more prevalent the world will change dramatically for the better because all will truly be creating from the divine energy of Life.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Ask Amber Donkey - June 2011

Q: In my family we had quite a number of experiences that animal friends, mostly dogs, that passed into Spirit did return for another lifetime with us. Several times only a few months or even only weeks had gone by from the time of passing to the time of reincarnation. It seems that animals reincarnate after much shorter periods in Spirit than do humans, and also that some species of animals reincarnate sooner than other species. Could you share your insights as to whether this is indeed the case, and, if so, what influences the length of time a soul might be in Spirit before it reincarnates. Thank you for your wisdom.

Amber: What a magnificent question. It is great to experience the joy of reuniting with a dear friend when they return isn’t it? It is such a testament to the eternal relationship of heart connections. Before I answer this question though, I must first say that not all souls come back and not all of them will come back with you in this lifetime. Not all of you choose to travel in the same circles. To better understand this, just look at your lifetime now and think about the friends you have had and continue to have. You have friends or people who came into your life and have had profound impacts on you and your development and who then moved on different ways from you, eventually maybe even breaking all contact physically. Yet, their impact is still just as profound and your love for them and theirs for you is very real. And you have yet other friends who are new to you in your life toward whom you feel like you have known and loved them your whole life. You have friends who you’ve kept over the years and some who have even moved miles away but who still remain close to you. There are all kinds of connections. The same applies to those connections once one moves into Spirit. We can look at these connections over lifetimes instead of the span of one life and the same principles hold true. There is no one size fits all definition then for reincarnation or “how it works.”

Your question, however, is about the differences between humans coming back and animals coming back. Technically, if you want to put this into “how to” technicalities, there is no difference. However, in its application there is a basic difference. There is no hierarchy of life forms. One does not start out as a worm for example and then work ones way up through lifetimes until one gets the honor to be a human. That is not how Life works. A soul chooses a form based on what it wants to focus on and experience. The human experience offers a multi-level approach. It is a complex existence where many different aspects can be worked out in one single lifetime. That sounds wonderful and if multitasking is your thing, then being human has distinct advantages. However, with those advantages comes a whole lot of distractions and ways in which to forget why you are even here in the first place. Many humans spend lots of time just trying to figure out who they are and why they are here. That is not a negative thing. For any soul, the main goal of incarnating is to learn and experience itself. The human existence then offers enormous opportunity by having to really hold on to who you are and what you are about. It is not superior, however, to the animals or plants or trees, or any other life form. There is much to be learned. A soul is also larger than can fit in any one form and often is in more than one form during any given period.

But back to your question. Do animals reincarnate quicker? Let’s put aside the time aspect of this because, in human terms, faster is usually seen as better, and that is not actually the case here. But, yes, animals can have a quicker turn around time and here is why. Animals live shorter lives, and they are much more focused on what they are trying to learn. They have fewer distractions. When they move into spirit, they are able to process what they’ve experienced more precisely and quickly. So while a human lifetime takes longer to live, has more to process, and takes longer to assimilate all the aspects in spirit, the human lifetime actually can accomplish a lot quickly. However, it is also more complex. Usually, a soul lives both as human and animal to focus on different aspects of things under different circumstances. One route is neither better nor worse than the other. This same principle holds true when comparing one species of animal to another.

These are broad generalizations because sometimes the animal experience can be quite complex and sometimes a human experience can be more simple with less to process as well. Each life, each soul, each experience is unique unto itself. You may observe the life of a bug, for example, who lives for only a week and ends its life colliding with your car window and wonder what on earth that bug could have learned of value. But that bug experienced things you will never experience in 100 years of being a human. And I don’t refer to its ending on your window. And yet you will experience things being human that the bug could not learn or experience in 1000 lifetimes as that bug.

You can have a moment in your life of a chance encounter with another human that can take you an entire lifetime to process and understand and a long time in spirit to assimilate. You can also have eternal relationships that go on for many lifetimes, as many as you choose, where you help one another both in physical and in spirit to process experiences. That same is true for animal existences as well as humans.

Neither experience is better than the other. It simply is a matter on what the soul decides to focus on and under what conditions it likes to learn best. I, for one, find the human existence far too distracting to learn well. I was quite happy being a donkey. But, yet, I love to share with my human friends, and we can help one another with our experiences and form bonds and heart connections that sustain us both. That is the miracle of Being. Whether you are a physical being, a being in Spirit, or even a light being, it is all a joyous and amazing journey.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Ask Amber - May 2011

Dawn’s note: I apologize for the long delay in posts. We have been extremely busy with animal needs on the farm. The following question was submitted weeks ago and while Amber has been ready and willing to answer, the human component was absent! However, I find this now timely in light of the predictions, by one group, of the world ending May 21st and here we are on May 22nd, still here. I heard just today on a major news network that the next doomsday prediction was for the world to end on December 21, 2012 according to the Maya prophecy. I want to note here that this is misinformation. The Maya prophecy does not say the world will end in 2012. They however do talk about a very important calendar cycle ending and a new one beginning. The date for the end of that calendar cycle happens to translate to December 21, 2012 on the Gregorian calendar. The planet has gone through many of these cycles. This one is a cycle out of darkness and into light. But this doesn’t just suddenly happen on one day. This is happening now and we are in that shift. It is from this understanding that Amber has agreed to answer this question.


Question:  I would like to have you talk about, from the animals’ perspective, what will be occurring at the end of 2012 and beyond. How are the animals preparing? Will it be different for animals in the wild versus animals that live in close proximity to humans?

Amber:  I appreciate how this question was asked by the person sending it in. But I want to address a wider human audience at the same time. It is almost comical that people are going around screaming about the end of the universe and the end of the planet. It is comical because if you really believe this or fear it or worry about it, then why are you not doing something about it? Its like having a terrible infection in your lungs where you can’t get air and you fear dying of suffocation, but then you keep smoking cigarettes. If you care about the health of life and the planet, and if you care about what happens, then be a part of the healing. And you do that exactly the same way you would if you yourself were ill or diseased. If you feel dis-ease then address it. Live healthier. Love more freely. Forgive what you dared not forgive. Trust in divine energy. And live from your heart. It sounds so simple but in actuality it is not or else you’d all be doing it. But I tell you, it is that simple.

Now on to your question of what the animals are doing to prepare. The animals feel earth changes way before you do. We are generally the first ones to notice subtle changes because we live far more in tune to the earth and our environment. In that respect, the wild animals have a much clearer channel to that than the ones living with humans. But we are not all preparing for a single day to come that will change life as we know it. This is about shifting and the energy is shifting already. The chaos you see and feel around you that seems to be intensifying is indeed the human response to this shift. It doesn’t mean it is a bad shift or that horrible disasters are coming. Yes, weather is shifting. Yes, humans are changing a lot of natural things to respond unnaturally. But humans also hold the key to changing that. They are not victims to this change, they are actively creating it. That is the part that we find frustrating. All that really needs to happen is that you need to understand that you are indeed the creators of your world, just as we animals are as well. If you want to create destruction and chaos you can choose to go against the natural balance of things, or, you can remain asleep and you will find the same result. But if you choose to wake up and realize the harmony that is around you and start creating from that harmony, you will find yourself in a much different world faster than you can ever dream. How do I know this? Because it is the way of the universe. It is the guiding force of life. It just is.

So what happens if humans don’t change this and don’t find the harmony? That is something I do not have specific answers to. However, you can look at the history of this planet to see what has happened before during these epic shifts to see that great changes can be difficult or they can be easier. It all depends on how the mass energy carries it. Right now, humans hold that mass energy on this planet. You hold the balance. How do you make humanity see this? You don’t. Your job is not to change humanity. Humanity is made up of individual humans and like any chain in the environment; the strength of the whole is made up of the combined strength of each link. You are a link, each of you, a vital link in the chain of life. You need only work on yourselves to be the healthiest most loving link you can be. It is, dear friends, the piece of information we know. What are the animals doing to prepare? We are each staying with our own understanding of our own light and helping you to see yours. And with each new heart that opens, with each new light that shines, we rejoice for life and we focus on the light and not the darkness or the fear of what could happen. We focus on what light we know is there and we do all we can to help it grow, within each of us, and within each of you. Life will not end. It’s a matter of who wants to participate in the balance, light, and love of it and who does not. That choice is up to each of you.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

The Passing of a Great One - Amber Donkey

From Dawn:

It is with sadness that I announce that Amber Donkey has left this physical experience and has returned to spirit today. She lived an exquisite life and died of old age. She was close to 50 years old. It is also with great joy that I announce that she has informed me that her blog and communications will continue. She will continue to take questions in her Ask Amber format, and she will continue to share her experiences with us all. For a complete memorial to her, please see the memorial page on our website.


Her first communication is one that I am most honored to share. For those of you who have taken my workshop, Embracing Spirit, you will completely understand the honor I had in being invited by Amber to escort her over into spirit. For those of you new to this topic, I can only sum up in a sentence or two the work that I have been doing for many years, indeed most of my life. I have been given the honor of walking with many beings, human and animal, as they have left their bodies and moved from physical to spirit. I am frequently “called” to help in this passing. But in Amber’s case I was invited to walk with her as a friend, not because she needed help, but because she wanted to share this with me. And I was told that this experience would be mine to share with all of her readers so that you could know where she went and what she saw when she got there. This will be the start of a new conversation. For many it will be the first time for you to experience this. This is a trip I have made thousands of times. It is a realm I am used to operating in, but always am in awe of the wonder of it all. Amber’s body began slowly shutting down over the past 10 days and we began to understand and get used to the fact that she would be leaving. We all cried. We held her close. We did all the things she loved most in the world to do. We tried to just stay present with her through our sadness. And typical to Amber, she supported us the entire time. She spoke to us about her time with us and her love for us. And when the time came for her to move on, we were able to assist her to make her physical passing easier for her. She thanks Dr. Leigh Lain for being here and being fully present with her and with Margot and I when she left. And right up to the end, she treated us to her humor, her love, her wisdom, and she held us in her heart as deeply as we hold her in ours. We have 11 yrs. of memories to cherish.

And now, I’d like to share with all of you the experience that Amber had upon leaving her body and crossing through the portal into spirit. As I am allowed to do for very short periods of time, I was allowed to enter the portal with her into the spirit realm, and she let me see who met her and experience her passing, before I was told I had to return. Amber knew I understood the rules of not staying more than I could and we understood in advance that we would not say good-bye as our journey together is not over and continues onward.

Upon crossing over into spirit, she was met by 6 donkeys. As I stood beside her and she saw them coming, I could feel her excitement. And she spoke to me through this whole process. “Ah, here they come!” she told me. “These are the girls as I call them. They meet me each and every time I cross from physical into spirit. They are my guides and fellow teachers. They always appear to me in whatever form I am in at the time. I am a donkey now, so they arrive as donkeys. If I had been a goat, they would appear to me as goats.”

All the time this was going on, I was filled by the incredible light, warmth, and love of spirit. And it was like I could literally share in each feeling that Amber was experiencing.  It was as if her heart was open now to the space we were standing in and not contained in a body. All of her feelings were right there being shared with me. She was filled with such love and the full sense of returning home. I also understood instantly that these 6 donkeys were grandmother elders and that Amber was one of them. They were coming to welcome her back with them from a life well lived, and a job well done. The energy was vibrant and filled with a celebratory laughter.

And then, just as the six donkeys came closer to greet her, the form of a man appeared wearing a large sombrero and dressed all in bright gold. He radiated joy. Amber spoke to me about him. “Ah, good, you get to meet Maestro! I want you to be assured we are cared for here too. Maestro is incredible.” As he walked closer to us with a sense of excitement, he looked over towards Amber and said, “There you are old girl. Welcome back again!” I knew our time was growing short as I was not allowed to stay on this side for long. And admittedly I started to feel my own sadness of parting with such a dear friend. Amber sensed this immediately and flowed her love for me and all of us at the farm to me, flooding me with this incredible light energy that permeated every cell of my body. She turned and looked me in the eyes one last long piercing moment. A look that went straight to my heart and soul. “We always remember one another. Never forget that. You are with me in my heart as always and I will return to work with you again. You are a great friend. Take care of everyone in our barn, let them know I’m ok. Let our readers know all of this and teach what I share with you to teach. I must go now. See me off and then return to the physical realm where I need you to be so that I can reach you.”

With that, she walked forward and the six donkeys took up formation as if they had done this many, many times. One donkey went in front of Amber, one walked behind her, and there were two each on either side. She was totally enfolded in a huge circle of donkeys. And just as they began walking off with Amber in the center of their group, Maestro ran to the front and assumed his position. He stood before the donkeys and bowed his head to them. And then he turned facing deep into the spirit realm and the donkeys followed him in formation. And then, he stopped, and without turning around, he lifted his right arm high into the air and said, “Ladies, let the music begin!” And in unison, all seven donkeys let go a long, loud, beautiful bray that literally vibrated every cell in my body. As they walked off together, Amber turned one last time to look at me and said, “And now you know why we call him Maestro!” With her steps becoming lighter and lighter and more and more graceful, I watched her shed the limitations of a time worn body as she began her journey back into spirit.

To be continued……

For more information on the work Dawn does and her seminar Embracing Spirit, please go to our website.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Ask Amber Donkey - January 2011


Source:  The Courier-Mail
Photographed by:  Nick De Villiers

Editors Note:  This month's question comes from one of our readers in Australia regarding the devastating floods affecting their area.  There has been catastrophic devastation and great loss of human and animal life.  She also forwarded this photo that really says it all.  This man saw this joey up to his eyes in water when, without giving another thought, he swam out to save him.  This photo was taken as he brought him back on dry land.  The joey survived.  Many folks feel he was foolish to have risked his life for a kangaroo.  But his young son asked him to do something, and without hesitation he did.  He says he was raised to care for life and if someone is in need, you help.  Below is the question, sent in by someone living in this area and trying to make sense of what this tragedy means, followed by Amber Donkey's response.

Question: 

Dear Amber,

I live in Australia where we are currently experiencing our worst floods in recorded history.

The human death toll is rising, but there are also countless animals, both domestic and wild, that have lost their lives in the surging flood waters. One very distressing example is the stud farm where 80 thoroughbred horses drowned, much to the distress of their carers who were perched on the roofs of the buildings watching it unfold below them.

Did these animals know what was about to happen to them?
Did they put themselves through this to teach us humans anything?
Was their suffering mercifully short?

I have found all this to be extremely upsetting, and would appreciate your time and answer.

Amber Donkey:  First I call upon all who hear this to join me. We all must send our prayers and thoughts to all of earth’s beings experiencing this crisis. The more of us who do so, the faster all can heal and recover. This is a simple and basic truth that is understood by all living beings. It requires a deep faith that your thoughts matter. That your heart contains an energy that expedites healing no matter where it is needed in relationship to your physical location. There is such power in your intentions and thoughts. Let’s harness that power now.


There are tragedies that happen on this planet every day. There is no such thing as a small tragedy for those experiencing them. But to the observer, some seem larger than others. In reality, it is merely your perspective that defines that. An occurrence that takes the life of one horse may not seem tragic to you, yet it could be an enormous tragedy to all who knew that horse. Humans tend to measure tragedies by numbers affected. But this is not about numbers. This is about feelings and lives. With that understanding I shall answer your questions the best I can.

Did the animals know what was about to happen to them? It is fair to say that certainly some of them did. Animals tend to pay attention more to the subtle whispers of nature and the earth. Did they know they were to die? We can’t know that. But it is with certainty that I can tell you that whatever trauma they experienced, they were given a chance to experience that however they needed to. This won’t make sense to many of you but it is the truth of life and death. Many of you have experienced traumas in your life such as accidents that you may have had. Many of you have the experience of almost watching it in slow motion as if you were outside of yourselves. And some of you experience it as though every second is happening with great purpose and awareness. We all choose to experience these things as suits us and our growth. Would someone choose then to experience great suffering? Yes, for reasons only known to them, they can do that. But we cannot know how these beings, human and animal, experienced it. Each one was individually decided by each individual. We can however send them our loving thoughts for whatever guidance they can use along their way.

Did they put themselves through this to teach us humans anything? The answer to this is again that they could have chosen that but most likely not on the larger scale. The time near and of death is sacred to each being. What they do or don’t do is completely up to them on their soul’s path. Animals do not exist to teach humans to be better humans. If we do that in the course of our lives, then that is a wonderful thing. Some of us choose to teach and offer wisdom we’ve learned over lifetimes. Whatever our roles, all of us live the lives we do with one ultimate goal, to further the growth of our own souls. Whether animal, human, plant, tree or stone, this is a universal truth.

As we witness these great disasters then, of either man made or natural causes, it is important to look within our own hearts for the love we hold for animals, humanity, the planet and to embrace that love with all of our life force and send it outward to the world. This is what we can do to help. We can look out and see that lives were lost, lives were destroyed, and feel hopeless. Or we can look and see that some lives moved on into spirit, others changed, and understand that we can send our love to those going through those transitions and know it will find them and comfort them. I am in no way minimizing these losses. But I also know that how I view them matters. It matters to those going through these hardships whether they are surrounded by helpless feelings or ones of love and hope.

To our Australian friends, human and animal alike, we send our heartfelt intentions for the flood waters to subside and for life to once again know a sunny day. We send them strength to heal through their losses. We send them love to comfort them in their grief. And we understand that what we send does help the healing. We are all on this planet together. None of us is alone. All of us can reach out and touch another.