Heidi

Heidi was a large white cat with tortoise shell patches and beautiful big green eyes. When she was picked up by the animal control officers and handled initially at the shelter she was so aggressive that she was placed in the back room of the shelter, where the cats deemed too dangerous for contact with the public were housed. She was a terror her first couple days at the shelter, hissing and lunging at everyone who came near her cage. A couple of days after she arrived I began to give flower essences to the shelter cats. The day after she received a flower essence she turned around completely; she was gentle and easy to handle and was moved into the front room, where she was available for adoption. There she interacted well with the staff and volunteers and found a new home within a few weeks.

Farley

Farley was a big, muscular, black cat who had been the feline bully in his upscale hillside neighborhood for over a year. The residents were kind-hearted and tolerated his attacks on their cats until he began to come into their homes through their cat doors, attack their cats and spray. He was wild and untouchable but was eventually trapped and brought to the shelter, where he was housed in the back room away from the public. Within a couple of days of receiving his essence he had completely changed; the staff could pick him up and hold him, and he was interested and interactive with people. He was moved to the front room and became available for adoption. The woman who had trapped him came to visit him to make sure he was adjusting to the shelter and was astonished at his transformation; she could hardly believe he was the same cat!

Oscar

I work with many extraordinary animals, but some animals truly stand out, inspire me with their courage, and leave an indelible print on my memory. One such animal was Oscar, a Russian Blue cat.

Oscar arrived at the local shelter in early June; he was severely depressed from the outset; for several weeks he rarely ate and lay with his eyes closed on top of his excrement in his litter box as though making a metaphorical statement about his idea of his place in the universe. He was unresponsive to touch or any overtures from the staff and appeared to have totally given up hope that anything could go well for him. Although I did not know the specific details of his life, what I could see indicated that he had had a particularly rough time. Among other things much of his beautiful tail had been cut off, leaving him with a somewhat ragged two inch stump. The staff was very concerned about him and asked me to begin treating him.

Oscar began to receive Reiki treatments and a daily dose of the Anaflora flower essence, Return to Joy. At first the only sign of progress was that he opened his eyes once and fleetingly looked at me. Within days, however, he began to improve. First he started to purr when a volunteer stroked hid back, so quietly that we had to turn off the music in the cat area to hear him. He began to open his eyes and make occasional eye contact. He became steadily more engaged, making eye contact, then holding people's gazes, then pushing against the volunteers' hands when they stroked him. He started to sit up and groom himself. Soon he was coming to the front of the cage looking for attention, batting at toys, and coming out onto volunteers' laps.

He was always exceptionally sweet and loving. When he wanted to tell someone to stop doing something, he would slowly and gently open his mouth and put it around a hand or finger so as not to upset or startle anyone. It was as though he knew from sad experience what it feels like to receive harsh feedback. After three weeks of treatment, he was alert, healthy, and fully engaged in his life, and a few days later he was adopted to a good home.

I have since reflected on the tremendous courage it took for Oscar to open himself to hope and to interactions with people again despite his previous negative experiences. But Reiki and the flower essences have the ability to reach deeply into a being to restore health and balance, and, in this case, they were aided by the love of the volunteers who took Oscar into their hearts and helped coax him back to life as he improved. When I am faced with such deep suffering-whether it is on the physical, emotional or spiritual level-I am always grateful to know that I have the wonderful healing capabilities of Reiki and the flower essences on my side.

Cedric

Cedric was a young male cat with beautiful orange and white coloring who was picked up and brought into the local shelter as a stray. His first two days at the shelter were memorable for everyone. He cried and yowled constantly, clawed at his cage door, lay down in his cage and shook, fell over and pawed at the air with his legs, and even got into his water bowl and made swimming motions. He was taken to the vet twice in two days because the staff feared that this behavior was the result of seizures. No one could figure out what was going on with him, but his presence was very strongly felt in the cat area. The staff requested that I offer him a Reiki treatment. He took quite a lot of energy and became quiet and relaxed during the treatment. Afterwards he seemed a little more contained. Cedric arrived at the shelter just as the ten week period of using flower essences with the cats was beginning, and so he received a flower essence.

The next day, when I stopped by the shelter, I looked in Cedric's cage and saw a quiet, relaxed orange and white cat. I asked one of the staff, "Where is Cedric?" She laughed and said that I was one of many people who had said the same thing that morning, but that was, indeed, Cedric! Cedric stayed at the shelter for another three weeks before he found a home, but he was quiet and mellow the entire time with no sign of his former wild behavior.