by Sandy Lurins

I met with Marta Williams in her home in Graton. Her two dogs (Bear and Bridey) and two cats (the amazing 22 year old Hazel and the "I am taking a nap so I won’t come and meet you" Phoebe) provided the perfect backdrop for our conversation. In the quiet, pleasant room that Marta uses for her workshops and classes, we discussed Marta’s beliefs about animal communication.

Why would people want to learn to communicate with their animals?

When you learn how to communicate intuitively with your animal, it changes your relationship forever: it makes it much broader, much deeper, more complex and more interesting, and much more rewarding. It becomes more like a relationship with another human being.

My feeling about other life forms is that they are just as emotionally complex as we are; just as intelligent and spiritually evolved, and we are unaware of it because we have been trained to believe they are lesser beings, that they don’t have the abilities we have.

So when you learn intuitive communication with your animals, you find that what you were taught simply is not true;the converse is true. You open a whole new world of experience where your animals can be your teachers. They can give you advice...and you start to really understand how competent, capable and intelligent they are. You start to see that they are thinking ahead of you. You think you’re the smart one, then you see they understand the situation probably better than you do.

What kinds of messages do animals send? Are they mundane, or more spiritual?

Both. There are two parts of intuitive communication. The first part is you talking to your animal, something anyone can do without instruction or training. This is because non-humans are experts at receiving intuitive communication, so whatever you say to your dog or cat, whatever you think or feel, images or pictures you send, they receive and they understand.

It doesn’t matter if you are near or far away; this kind of communication is independent of time and space. You can do it with animals that have died.

So that’s the easy part: all you have to do is believe you can do it. Suspend your disbelief, suspend your logical mind and what you have been taught by science. I am a scientist, so as a scientist I am saying suspend a lot of the information you got from traditional, conventional science and realize that [animals] receive perfectly well.

The hard part is receiving the communication from your animals. It’s what I write about in my book, Learning Their Language. My belief is that everyone has the capability, you just have to see yourself doing it, experience it, then from there you experiment, practice, and keep improving.

It’s like any other talent. Most anyone can sing or hum, but to get really good at it you need to practice. It’s the same with animal communication.

So yes, their messages can be mundane. Bridey is always asking me, "Are we going for a walk? Are we going to the stables today?" And sometimes she’ll talk about dying: "Are you going to be OK when I am gone?" or philosophical things. Hazel talks about my writing or about the other cats and how she feels about them.

What is the difference between an animal communicator and a pet psychic?

There really isn’t a difference. I like to say ‘animal communicator’ because ‘psychic’ has negative connotations.

The ability [to communicate with animals] is a psychic ability... intuition is a psychic ability. A lot of people have it; if you ask a room full of people, about 50% will probably say that somebody in their family knew intuitively from a distance when another family member was ill or in trouble. Many people know who’s calling on the phone. These experiences are psychic ability; I call it intuitive ability. I choose to use the less loaded word.

Our intuition is a survival tool that is always turned on; what is not turned on is us paying attention to it. We need our intuition to survive in the absence of outside data or when the data is confusing. When we say ‘I am going with what my gut is telling me,’ that is intuition, our psychic ability. It’s just that people don’t want to call it that.

How did you learn to communicate with animals?

I was working as a scientist before I did this. I didn’t know I had this ability any more than you do, and if I learned, anybody can.

As a scientist it fascinated me. I consider it to be the frontier of science. A lot of the physicists now who are doing string theory and quantum physics are talking about the same concepts...that this makes sense because of the way we have now discovered physics works: energy, matter, time, space. It could be a real, plausible phenomenon.

How did you evolve from science to animal communication?

I was an environmental scientist and had studied resource conservation and wildlife biology. At the time, I was asking for the best way to help the animals; I felt the work I was doing only put a band-aid on the problems. I consider myself an environmentalist first, a scientist second.

About this time I went on a vision quest and found someone who taught animal communication. I started taking classes, practiced, and taught myself. I came to see animal communication as a powerful tool for changing human consciousness and for promoting a better relationship between humans, animals and nature.

What are some things that people can try to communicate with animals?

Start with this: For two weeks, talk to your animals, out loud or in your head, as if your animal completely understands. Suspend your disbelief, and see what happens.

Next, try something I call "Ask for a question." Ask your animal "Do you have a question for me today?" Close your eyes and whatever pops into your head, assume it came from your animal. Answer as best you can, then see if they have any more questions. Sometimes you may find this leads to a conversation.

What are some of rewards of learning to communicate with animals?

There will be a much closer, stronger love and feeling of connection. You will be able to anticipate what your animal needs and wants, so you can keep them happier and healthier.

If you have a problem with your animal, for example a behavior problem, you could use animal communication to resolve the problem, rather than using punishment.

You could create more harmony in your household and more harmony between your animals.

You can teach your animal how to be safe.

In any situation where your animal might be anxious or worried, you can explain what’s happening. For example if another animal in the household is sick or dying, or if you are going on a trip.

About Marta

Marta Williams teaches a variety of classes for beginning, intermediate, and advanced animal communication skills. For more information on her classes, visit www.martawilliams.com

Marta’s book Learning Their Language: Intuitive Communication with Animals and Nature is available at many local bookstores and online from Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com. ISBN: 1-57731-234-0, 291 pages, $14.95. This book contains many exercises and "try it yourself" techniques to apply the concepts of animal communication.

Marta’s second book, Beyond Words, is expected in September.