My mentor and I talk pretty freely with each other at this point about the various energetic and “supernatural” things we encounter in our day to day lives. Part of an animistic worldview is that non-physical spirits are about as common as physical ones, just sort of overlayed on top of the physical, most of them minimally able to interact with it. So when my mentor told me that the mares were refusing to enter their run-in shelter the other day and she had seen what looked like heat-shimmer hanging around in it, I spoke about it the same as if she’d spied a fox in the building. Something Else was in there, even if we couldn’t pinpoint what it might have been.
“What did you do?” I asked, intrigued.
“Well, I told it sternly that it needed to leave because it was frightening the mares. It left.” She stated. “The mares asked me to make sure it was gone and then once I’d reassured them, they went right in for breakfast.”
Another volunteer, less accustomed to the talk of non-corporeal beings and chatty mares, held up a hand in protest. “Wait, they talked to you? Like you heard them say stuff?”
My mentor and I exchanged a hesitant glance, and I made a noncommittal sighing noise.
“It’s not exactly a voice, per-se” she tried to elaborate. “It’s like a thought, or a feeling, but not quite. It’s hard to explain.”
We went back to our respective barn chores, but the conversation stuck with me. Why is it so hard to explain what happens when we “hear” a communicated thought or feeling from a horse? Why is it so hard to describe energy and how that feels or acts when it’s moving around or through us? I struggled with it myself when I was writing my memoir. We only recognize five senses for understanding our physical environment. It’s so difficult to reach for words past that. Even the word “energy” is like a stand-in for whatever it is that we are using in Reiki and other energy work. It isn’t a physical thing we can measure, and isn’t part of the electromagnetic spectrum. It’s just Something Else. Working with that something-ness, like any skill based on the senses, takes time and practice to learn. A quiet brain to “hear” with, and persistence to obtain an ear for the peculiar and intricate music of “Something Else.” I firmly believe that anyone can learn to read and manipulate energy, given time and practice. I definitely understand why people don’t try, though. It’s not exactly a dominant worldview or practice in our current western culture. Horses do tend to pull you into it, though, if you stand with them long enough.
Get pulled into a great read with my memoir, Standing in a Field With Horses. Available on Amazon, Smashwords, and several other online bookstores! Belief in spirits and animal communication completely optional.
Maeve Birch Home 