Jeannie, Atticus’ owner, recieved the gift of a reading from her friend, Kathleen.
Atticus
Massive, white and fluffly, Atticus the Giant Malamute is the canine equivilant of a polar bear, especially if the polar bear was noble, gentle and kind, and had a huge fear of firecrackers.
Atticus gets so afraid when he hears them, that he tries to dig through the carpet. If he’s out on a walk, and gets even a whiff of gunpowder smoke, he heads straight for home. July 4th was hell for him, and Jeannie wondered if it would be best to just sedate him.
We worked our way up to the firecracker question, talking about his health, his elbow, his day-to-day happiness. I was touched by his easy warmth and wisdom.
I started out by telling him that we humans do firecrackers for fun, and that they are loud but that they won’t hurt him.
“I don’t believe you,” he said. “Why, on earth, would anybody do that?”
I tried to explain that we’re celebrating Independence Day, and that they are just loud toys.
“They are not toys.” he said, with conviction.
I could feel the fear welling up in his belly, and the pain in his heart.
“Why are you afraid of them?” I asked.
Atticus sent me a scene of himself standing in the doorway of a little house. I could see the kitchen, and lead windows with a cross-hatch pattern. The walls were beige plaster. The house looked old and quaint. I was standing behind Atticus, as he stood in the doorway looking out. I knew it was Atticus, though in this time, he was a large German Shepherd.
I suddenly realized that we were experiencing a past life. This was all new to me.I had never experienced a past life regression with a pet.
Outside, I could hear bombs going off, and the rat-a-tat-tat of rapid gunfire. Atticus told me that he could sense the fear and pain of the people around him, and he could smell smoke and death.
“Atticus is showing me a past life,” I said. “It’s a war scene.”
“Where are you?” Jeannie asked.
“We’re in France,” I said. “I think it’s World War II.”
I got the name of the town. I thought it sounded like “Barre-Aux-Selles”.
I asked him, “Where’s your family?” He said, “They’re in the root cellar. They want me to stay with them, but my owner is outside somewhere. I can’t find him! I’m waiting here.” He flashed me a picture of his owner, who was a young man with light brown/blonde hair. I could feel the panic in Atticus’ heart.
I related this to Jeannie.
She said, “What happened to him? Did his owner come back?”
I closed my eyes, and found myself back in the scene, with Atticus standing in the open doorway. I saw the house crumble down around him, and Atticus fall. The dust cleared, and I saw his body in the rubble. Any dead dog is hard to see, even one dead for 60 years and now alive and well.
“Atticus died.” I said.
Jeannie asked, “What happened to his owner?
I really didn’t want to go back in, but then I realized that Jeannie was right, that it would probably be good to get some closure for Atticus.
I tuned back in. I saw his owner, waiting out the raid in a friend’s basement.
I said to Atticus, “Atticus, your owner survived. He was okay. But you lost your life.”
Atticus said, “I made the right choice to wait for him, even though I died.” At this point, I could feel peace in his heart.
I encouraged Atticus to turn away from that past life and to imagine Jeannie and her partner, Matthew, welcoming him with open arms. “That life was dangerous, but you’re safe now. This lifetime doesn’t have that danger in it.”
Atticus asked me to ask Jeannie if she and Matthew would stay with him and pet him on the evening of July 4th.
“Oh, always,” she said.
He suggested that they stay in the basement, which was surprising because Atticus hates the basement stairs. Jeannie said she’d see how he was feeling about the basement when the time came.
I’m happy to report that Atticus had a much easier time this year with the firecrackers!
PS- During the past life vision, I heard the name of the city. I thought it was something like “Barre-Aux-Selles”. I searched for a city with this name, and found it! It’s Barr, Alsace, a little town near Strasbourg, in France. About 800 people live there. The heaviest fighting was in November, 1944.
