YOLANDE DU PREEZ
Imagine how different our lives would be if we were able to communicate with our pets. What if your dog could tell you that it did not actually like the expensive brand of dog food that you buy every month or what if it told you that it was in no mood to fetch the ball because it was not feeling well?
It could save you some money and your best friend a lot of pain and help you and your beloved pet to live a full and healthy life.
But, unfortunately, man’s best friend has no voice except for the occasional bark, whimper or growl.
However, energy healer and animal communicator, Debbie Caknis, 57, who runs a practice in Hout Bay offering holistic healing and alternative health care, can offer assistance and some comfort to your pet when they cannot tell you how they feel.
Debbie, a qualified nurse and midwife, communicates with animals telepathically and mainly works with sick animals suffering from an array of diseases ranging from cancer, arthritis, anxiety and those which have emotional issues, to name but a few. She emphasises that she is not an animal behaviourist or vet but an energy healer and communicator with an interest in healing.
She has in her 15 years of practice found that animals have a sense of humour and says animals even speak with different voices – and they all think their owners are deaf.
“At times animals have asked me if their humans are all deaf as they don’t respond when they communicate with them,” she said.
The Oxford dictionary defines telepathy as the supposed communication of thoughts or ideas by means other than the known senses. However, Debbie prefers to define it as the mental intangible communication between two people.
And this is exactly what Debbie does. She communicates with animals, not by observing their body language but by means of telepathic connection. She can do this by meeting the animal or she can connect to the animal remotely by using a photograph.
An average “reading” or communication session can take up to three hours. During this time Debbie will connect to the animal and assess its physical, emotional and mental state. This includes the use of kinesiology, which is making use of the study of body movements to verify “yes” or “no” answers.
She can establish if there is an emotional blockage which could be a contributing factor to the animal’s illness. She then looks at the animal’s energy system, such as its chakras, meridians and aura, and then starts balancing the animal’s energy systems to assist with healing or to provide comfort and balance. The healing process can also be supplemented by herbal treatments and supplements to boost and support the animal’s system.
During such a reading, Debbie will physically experience what the animal is feeling or the energy will be converted into various senses which could include sound.
Debbie says animals can use popular songs to bring across messages and she sometimes needs to Google lyrics to identify the message behind the song.
The feedback is then given verbally or in a written report to the owner of the animal or the vet, if the vet has requested her input.
She explains that animals know when they are sick but they do not experience physical discomfort as suffering. It merely is a physical discomfort such as hunger and is not necessarily experienced as suffering like humans would.
Animals experience pain, sadness, and hunger but do not see it as suffering. They also understand the concept of being kept alive though intervention when they are too sick to take care of themselves. Sometimes they welcome it, sometimes not.
“Animals are not scared of dying and they will not try to avoid it,” she says.
She recently consulted with a dog in Baberton, Mpumalanga, that was due to undergo eye surgery. The dog was feeling anxious as it had to sleep away from home and did not want to do so due to being abused previously.
During this consultation, Debbie experienced severe earache. She advised the dog’s owner and when the vet checked the dog’s ears he discovered it had a massive ear infection. This happens time and time again and never fails to surprise the animal’s guardian.
She explains that about 70 percent of animal communication is accurate and evidential while about 30 percent could be seen as inaccurate due to the interpretation of the symbolic message shown to the communicator.
She once asked a dog to tell her about his food to which he responded “Life is good.”
The general assumption would be that he had not answered the question. It was eventually established that these words were written on the bottom of his bowl.
Debbie can also communicate with animals that have passed on. “I find it brings the owners closure and comfort,” she said.
Debbie was a neonatal nurse for 27 years and worked at several hospitals across the country. When she left her nursing career 15 years ago to start her own practice in healing, she could never have imagined what the future had in store for her.
Her sister told her about the animal communication course and the rest is history.
In addition to teaching her own courses, she also teaches animal communication at the School of Intuition and Healing in Wynberg as well as private Reiki classes. Reiki is a healing technique based on the principle that the therapist can channel energy into the patient by means of touch, to activate the natural healing processes of the patient’s body and restore physical and emotional well-being.
“I also practise many other forms of natural healing including Quantum healing, crystal healing, and much more.”
She says animal communication can be stressful at times as she experiences what the animal feels and it remains with her long after communicating with it.
Debbie will present an introductory two-day course on animal communication in Hout Bay, on Saturday and Sunday June 4 and 5. The course will run from 12.30pm to 5pm on Saturday and 9am to 5pm on Sunday. The workshop will equip you with skills to communicate with animals, discover the theory of animal communication as well as to do photograph and live readings with animals. For more information about the course and the cost, call Penny Gaines on 082 554 0554.
