My early childhood memories are filled with feeding, petting, nurturing and loving animals in all shapes and sizes. I come from a family of animal lovers....my grandfather would feed chickadees and chipmunks from his hand at our cottage, my great aunt and grandmother would train budgies to talk, and my father would have guard dogs ambling over to sit down beside him at the local gas station.

I was raised to respect, cherish and care for animals both in the wild and in our home. We grew up with gerbils, hamsters, fish, tadpoles, turtles and cats. When I was eleven I was told that my younger brother had developed allergies, and either Honey (our cat) would have to go, or my brother. I chose to keep Honey, but my parents chose my brother...I have since learned the wisdom of their choice.

As an adult I have been blessed with four wonderful dogs who have taught me much about myself, and who graciously let me into their inner world. I have communicated with them without words, delighted in their ability to live joyfully in the moment, learned unconditional love and loyalty, shared their joy in the simplicities of life, and ultimately learned about facing illness and death with dignity and grace.

In the early 80's, I was drawn to explore things that are in this world, but not of it...using the senses other than those with which we see, hear, taste, touch or smell.

For two years I took weekly courses at the Spiritual Studies Institute in Toronto where we explored energy and healing in a deep and profound way. I have always been intuitive and seen the world through different eyes, and with trained guidance I further developed my intuitive abilities and learned to trust them in all areas of my life. Thus began the journey towards a deeper understanding of life, death and the sacred journey in between.

In the mid 90's my partner, Andy, passed away suddenly with a heart attack, and I was encouraged by a friend to visit Lily Dale New York....a Spiritualist community that was settled in the mid 1800's and is recognized world-wide as a centre for training in healing and mediumship.

Through Val I met Tom Cratsley, a well-known healer, and studied with him the following summer in Lily Dale. It was an intensive week of study, supervised hands-on healing with those in need at the Healing Temple, and assessment through post-healing session discussions. I was encouraged to trust and follow my intuition and relay messages or thoughts that came to me during the healing process...even if they seemed odd or outrageous to my critical and logical mind...in a professional and responsible manner.

I began reading and exploring on my own, and soon wanted to study the more well-known and widely accepted methods of healing, so enrolled in Therapeutic Touch and Reiki courses.

During my training in Therapeutic Touch, Reiki, and Spiritual Healing methods, the focus was on working with people. However, with my love of animals, I also began administering Intuitive Holistic Healing to my own fur-babies, and cats and dogs of friends, in sickness and in health.

I then delved into Reiki for animals, animal communication, and nutrition, behaviour, and health care for pets.

One day while working at a friend's farm store part-time, a pregnant cat named Popcorn (who I became quite fond of) came and asked for Reiki. Afterwards she would bring other cats to the back door and sit patiently waiting until I had a break and was able to open the door to give them a treatment for whatever ailed them in the healing rays of the sun.

On another occasion, when giving a Reiki treatment to a good friend, one of her cats jumped up on the table and lay beside her, waited for the energy to flow, and purred ecstatically until she had taken in what she wanted. From then on she knew when I arrived and went upstairs with her Mom that healing energy was soon to be flowing...and she quickly ran up ahead of us to recline on the Reiki/massage table.

Gwendolyn Lee