The Healthy Choices Wellblog

The Power of Lakota Prayer

Discerning the Spiritual Significance of Illness in Pets

Except for any noted source material, content copyright, Neva. J. Howell, all rights reserved

Question on healing:
I am writing to you because we just had to put one of our beautiful cat companions to sleep. I would like more information about the “spiritual significance of illness in pets”. My cat passed due to something in his brain, either a blood clot or a brain tumor. Once we knew his eventuality, it was not important to narrow down the cause, we just put him to rest. Could you offer any significance to either of the two suspected illnesses or suggest any reading on the subject?

Healing Facilitation Response:
(This question was originally asked back in 2004 and I’m just not getting around to posting it, so it’s been 6 years now and I am still working with the medicine of that particular animal death)

The idea that an animal could take something when they die, take some burden from the person or persons they love most, is a new one to a lot of people. It was once new to me as well but, over the years, I’ve seen the precision of the
“medicine” in my own life and know that these most unconditionally loving of beings choose to serve, even in their death.

Typically, when I am contacted to help with a sick animal, I always ask what the nature of the problem is and, amazingly, it is very often uncovered in the conversation that the human ALSO has that problem or something similar. From prostate cancer to severe constipation to leukemia, it seems the animal “takes on” the illness for the human they love. It is my knowing that they are not just exhibiting extraordinary resonance with the human but actually taking part of the pain.

I’m always gratified to hear from someone who recognizes that the animal who chooses to leave also chooses to keep serving in their death. When one is aware of this noble characteristic of our four-legged friends, their messages, teachings and gifts are not given in vain.

Your writing to me now is very synchronistic in a sad way because we just lost a puppy to parvo and I’m struggling to determine the medicine he took for me and my Mom. I know parvo kills thru irritation and eating away of the stomach and intestinal lining. Though I have no strong problems in those areas, my mom does. However, I am involved in the “medicine” as well because I went through a spiritual divorce 3 years ago that I still have not resolved.

It “eats away at me” even after 3 years and I don’t think that it is an accident that the puppy died on the same day that I found out my spiritual partner had an affair. I have suffered knowing that part of the reason the puppy had to take so much was that I haven’t been able to forgive, release, and move on with my life. Yet, I also know how very willing he was to do it, how much he loved me and my Mom.

I would look at who was closest to your cat and what they might be going thru mentally and, as with me, it doesn’t have to be current but may be something they still think about in a damaging way, damaging to their mental health. That’s not the only message your cat could be leaving but it’s a place to start.

Coping with pain when healing
Except for any noted source material, content copyright, Neva. J. Howell, all rights reserved

Question on healing:
Question on healing:
For a long time there have been many areas of my body I couldn’t feel. The pain has been so great that I was numb. I think it keeps getting better, but usually this seems to involve finding another level of pain first. I don’t know what I’d do with myself if I actually hit pleasure! I admire your belief in a higher power and wish that I could find that for myself. Do you have any suggestions on how to manage my pain thru the healing process?

Healing Faacilitation Response:
One of the most powerful tools for working thru pain or accepting pleasure when it comes, is the breath. Breathing deeply and with the intent of integration is a powerful, powerful tool to use in your healing process. I suggest working with your breath daily, even if just for a few minutes, and remembering to use the breath to work thru emotional struggle when it emerges.

I suppose I am lucky to have always assumed that God was real, but you know, it wasn’t until I was about 30 that I knew for sure. The moment came within an integrative breathwork session which is a great way to get more in touch with your emotional truth and core. During one session, I suddenly went thru time and space to God. Literally, I saw an energy - a light - that I knew with every fiber of my being was Universal Lifeforce Energy. It was a day I never forgot.

I still have times of doubt and fear, and probably will as long as I have a human body to process experience thru, but after that moment, I was never able to stay in doubt for too long. I pray that you will have such a moment but also know that faith is the evidence of things NOT SEEN. The greatest faith can be built without knowing for sure. It’s a powerful statement of your heart that you still seek and long for deeper connection. Ask for what I call “medicine dreams”. Each night when you go to bed, ask for the healing help you need and ask for a stronger connection with God, in whatever way God sees fit to reveal that energy more fully to you.

The Holistic Connection Between Anger and Your Liver
Except for any noted source material, content copyright, Neva. J. Howell, all rights reserved

Question on healing hepatitis C:
(personal details removed to protect identity)

I apparently contracted Hepatitis C after an emergency surgery.
I was given a blood transfusion.

I have had very low, ill, anxious, and depressed years in my life
and did not know what was wrong with me until I was diagnosed
with Hepatitis C. Since that time, I have been on a mission to
heal myself from this disease.

Upon diagnosis, I divorced my husband of many years.
I felt that the negativity, cruelty, and abuse from him
had to stop before I could get well. Do you think you
could help me cure this disease and become a whole,
healthy person again?

Healing Facilitation Response:
My experience has taught me that our physical bodies are
a very accurate geiger counter for how well we are living our
lives. It is a tribute to your self-awareness that you heeded
the wake-up call of the illness and took the action necessary
to remove yourself from abuse.

You are so right to discern that a poisonous relationship was
a factor. We store anger in the liver. A lot of times, without
even knowing it, we even store the anger of our abuser there,
in addition to our own anger at the abuse.

Since I treat myself holistically, it is the only approach I can share
but it is your responsibility, ultimately, to make sure you take a safe
course for your own healing, according to its current state of strength.
I know milk thistle is good for the liver but can be too harsh if there is
too much damage or the liver is in too weakened a state.

On a spiritual level, cleansing residual anger is vital. You may
feel you have done this already but having just gone thru a
devastating break-up myself, I know that the levels of pain
go deeper than we consciously discern and that it may take
deeper and deeper healings to reach the level the liver would
respond to.

I would suggest healing work as often as you can get it:
Reiki, reflexology, massage, and other healing work. I truly
feel that releasing stored anger and resentment about the
abuse you have endured can do as much to help your liver
fight hepatitis C as any medication or health supplement.

In addition to myself, call in all healers and workers connected
to your soul group and ask them to work with you during dreamtime.
It is some of the most powerful healing you can ever receive.

I used an essential oil blend called “Release” which is put out by
Young Living Oils. This essential oil blend contains oils known to have
the healing properties of releasing anger from the liver cells.

I have a friend who is a distributor for the company. Let me know
if you want her contact information. Otherwise, you can
google Young Living and find a distributor easily.

The Center for Disease Control has some good info on Hepatitis C on
their website: Information about Viral Hepatitis C. The page starts
with how you access your risk of contracting Hepatitis C, but if you look
over the left, there is a lot more information about it in the links there.

And finally, in coordination and cooperation with your doctor, I would
suggest looking into natural health formulas for supporting healing of the
liver. One company I respect has created Liver Dr. and I believe it might
hold some promise for those with livers damaged by Hepatitis C.

Get information on Liver Dr.

Spiritual Development Information: Recognizing your Spirit Guides
Except for any noted source material, content copyright, Neva. J. Howell, all rights reserved

Spiritual Awareness Question:
How can I find and contact my Spirit guides?

Healing Facilitation Response:
Your guide aspects are around always and will
take a more active role in your life upon you
setting your intent to welcome their help.

You can do this in meditation, by just sitting quietly
and clearing your mind, focusing on your breathing and
releasing thoughts as they come up.

Ask your guide aspects to help you with whatever you are
dealing with at the moment. Be clear with them about
your challenges and where you need their help.

You may or may not have conscious awareness of them.
It really doesn’t matter. They are there and willing to assist.
Also, you may ask for guidance during dreamtime. I’ve done
this for years and it is a wonderful help.

Another excellent way of increasing Spiritual Awareness of
guides, as well as just a stronger connection to All That Is,
is to join in with global prayer groups. The power of global
prayer is that it connects spiritual beings. Jesus talked about
the power of a group coming into agreement on something when
he said whenever two or more are gathered, he is there.

more on global prayer

did you fire the grid?

Spiritual Development Question: How to Release Feelings of Guilt
Except for any noted source material, content copyright, Neva. J. Howell, all rights reserved

Spiritual Betrayal What do you do when you feel someone
you love has been deprived of a strong spiritual choice? How much personal
responsibility is entailed when we are involved in a situation of spiritual conflict
with relatives? This question addresses one such situation.

Question on Healing:
I am upset because my brother wanted to be cremated but his wife
was talked out of doing this. I feel that it is unfair of them to
disregard his last wishes. I feel that his soul will be earthbound now
because he is still unhappy. I don’t know what to do. I feel that I
should go to the wake but not the funeral. I would appreciate any
advice that you can give me.

Healing Facilitation Response:
Consider that you may have an opportunity to give your brother
a priceless gift by connecting with him spiritually where he is in
his transition and offering love and light for his journey.

We are not our bodies and he has a different perception on all
that stuff now. He is on the other side.

I understand your being upset because his wishes were not
honored and you have a right to feel that way. Let your brother
know psychically that you would have supported his decision.
Much more important than what happens to his body is what
happens to his Spirit and it is not earthbound.

If you can help him release any resentment he may have over his
wife’s decision (and the best way you can do that is to release
your own resentment thru forgiveness), then the less likely he
will be to need to hang around near the body.

Keep yourself in a positive forgiving place with all and keep your
focus on him, not his wife. His Spirit needs you. The shell has
dropped away and can be forgotten now. Help him see that,
accept that, and remember that.

Featured article: How to best fight personal demons

Spiritual Surrender Message:

I just happened to be flipping channels last night and landed on a very old sermon by Billy Graham.

Just as I tuned in, something he said caught my ear.

He was talking about what I call spiritual surrender, or a giving up of what the personality self (ego) thinks should happen or thinks it needs.

Reverend Graham said he started each day by saying to God “I want you to direct this day; I surrender this day to you.”

What a wonderful way to walk your path. On waking, to dedide that something bigger than the personality would be in charge.

A Spiritual Gathering for Grandmothers
and those who love and respect them:

I attended the gathering of the council of Grandmothers in Fairhope, Alabama and it was a wonderful experience.

 I learned about Peer Circling there, which is a very effective way of group communication that is honoring and supportive.

I also enjoyed hearing the stories of all the Grandmothers who were there, as well as enjoying their youthful stories.

 This year’s gathering is February 19-February 22.  If you’d like to know more about it, just post here and I’ll send you the contact info by email.  I don’t want to post it publically so the sponsors won’t get inundated with spam.

“When the grandmothers speak the earth will heal”

Dream Interpretation Tips:

What’s important to notice in a dream?

If you are working with your dreams from a spiritual perspective, you will discover that they can help you on your path, to a remarkable degree.

But what do you study and what is just background noise?

Here are things that tend to matter:

Any color that stands out

Any person in the dream that is known to you.

Any celebrity (important to notice if they are there as themselves or as a character.  in other words, is it Michael Keaton or Beetlejuice?)

Specific numbers, particularly if repeated.

More tips:  Get in the habit of asking for dreamtime help every night and get in the discipline of writing down the dream as soon as you wake up.  Thinking you will remember it later is just wishful thinking, most of the time.

It’s very good to focus on the dream too, just on waking, and ask your higher self what area of your life or what issue it represents.

Chopping Wood and Carrying Water…..
What happens after Spiritual Epiphany?

Did you catch Elizabeth Gilbert on Oprah?  I missed the first part but tuned in just as Oprah was asking about Elizabeth’s experience of being “in the palm of God” in a vision.

Just as I tuned in, Elizabeth was talking about how her awareness shifted in an instant and how it was so profound it wasn’t even like awe or shock (my words, not hers) but just a sudden realization of the way things were, on a higher level.

She said it seemed “comic” to her then, to think that she could ever not have known…..that she was that…..Godstuff.

I so identify with that.  Once you get a glimpse of the Sacred Truth, you wonder how you missed it all this time.

She spoke of the realization that she “was that”, meaning Godstuff.

She also spoke of how, the moment we attempt to grasp and hold on to eternal truths, they flee from us. It is only when we embrace fully that we are “that” and walk with that truth, that the bigger Truth is free to be more consistently in our waking, daily awareness.

 Her book is “eat, pray, love”. 

I would assume it’s well worth a read after listening to her speak and I suspect it contains vibrational energy that may assist others with their own shifts.  The best spiritual writings always do.

the shaman path