Animal Voices
dawn baumann brunke
Articles & Interviews
I’ve written over 50 articles on a wide variety of animal-related topics.
Here are a sampling of a few. Click any photo-box to read more.
Also included are links to a few interviews.
One wonderful benefit to communicating with animals is that it requires us to feel our deeper relationship with all life and share ourselves from that connected state of awareness. This excerpt from Animal Voices, Animal Guides gives an overview of the 'basics' of animal communication.
This article looks at the importance of communicating at deeper levels with all of nature. It includes a talk with a fly, a dog and communicator Penelope Smith. Longer versions of these talks appear in Animal Voices.
This essay speaks to the doubts we have and the clever ideas we use to stand in our own ways: “When I first opened to the idea of talking to animals, I wasn't afraid. Other people did this—I was simply an observer, a reporter. But, as I continued to ask questions, pondering how this communication thing worked, I felt my inner world responding. Part of me was stirring, and I grew nervous and excited at the same time...
Animal talks aren't always logical, linear or straight-forward. Animals in spirit may reach out to us through synchronicities, intuitive insights, and experiences in our daily lives. Click left to read about a loving and protective dog who reached out to her human from the spirit world.
"One early morning, not long ago, I awoke from a terrific dream. It was so vivid and powerful that its images and ideas still pulsed through my body as I opened my eyes. It was one of those multi-leveled dreams--one in which I was 'me' but also a spirit self that was part observer, part participant." This article features dream sharing and a conversation-experience with the Earth Council and some of their concerns for planet earth.
“There is a sweet spot both in consciousness and upon the thermal plume. A place where within meets without, dimensions merging into a void that is both empty and full, nothing and everything. A place where Raven smiles.” This is an account of meeting Raven, joining Raven, and opening to change.
This includes my experience of meeting some fish in a Sea Life Center in Alaska. The fish offered some observations and insights on humans, and a few great ideas on creating mutual exchange centers, where both human and animals can go to learn more about each other.
A look at magical meetings ~ circumstances that come to us in unusual ways, via unusual characters, and challenge us to see beyond the merely ordinary. As the 13th-century poet Rumi encourages in his wonderful poem The Guest House: “Be grateful for whoever comes, because each guest has been sent as a guide from beyond.”
Many years ago, while talking with a variety of animals, I received a recommendation to communicate with plants. "Experience," the animals told me. "You need more experience - a different kind of knowing..." This article shares talks I had with a philodendron and a cactus.
My good old dog buddy Zak was getting ready to leave his body. He had spent over a year in extended exploration of the death process. In this talk, just a short time before he passed away, Zak reminded me of something he said a long time ago: that the openness of what is before us—our range of alternatives—is in direct correlation with how open we are inside ourselves, how wide and deep and vast we allow ourselves to stretch our imaginations, our views of change and possibility. Thus it is that some dogs, upon leaving their bodies, bounce into infinity...
This was a really lovely talk I had with a large group of Polar Bears who had gathered together in a coastal area in the far north of Alaska. It coincided with a time in the human world in which many international meetings were focusing on the environment and other global issues. The Polar Bears were very gracious in sharing their knowledge, including "reawakening the deeper medicine we Polar Bears hold and carry for the planet."
Part two of Zak’s tale looks at Zak’s final days, our time with him in the moment of his passing, and the moon-lit ceremony that was inspired through us for his burial. A short excerpt: ...His breathing shifted from its steady pace, and he began taking shallow gulps of air every 10 seconds or so and then: he just sailed away.... I sat for a few minutes and closed my eyes, feeling the connection to Zak's passing. "Free at last, my pal," I whispered. And, ever humorous, insightful, wise being that he is, Zak quipped back: "I was always free."
An essay about the element of Water in Tarot. Traditionally, water is held by the suit of Cups, representing love and emotions. This is fitting, for Water invites us to deepen — to sink into our feelings, to flow with our intuition, to explore the shadowy realms of our subconscious, and to unlock the secrets of our passions. This article explores the many facets and aspects of Water as revealed in the suit of Shells in the Animal Wisdom Tarot.
Here's a 2022 interview with Lena Spiritwalker about conversing with the animal world. I share my journey about working as an animal communicator and discuss what different animal conversations have revealed. Also included are some basic tips to get you started on your journey to connecting with animals!
In this 45-minute talk astrologer, writer, clinical psychologist and shamanic practitioner Heather Ensworth and I talk about joined dreaming and the Polar Bear Council, a group of spirit bears who work with both human and polar bear dreamers. We also discuss my dream experiences in learning how to travel, deepen and navigate in the dreamworld, as well as the ancient wisdom that Polar Bears hold for our Earth, and an invitation to all humans to join the polar bears in the dreamworld.
Here's another talk with Heather Ensworth about my book Shadow Animals "and how we can begin to acknowledge and work with the shadow aspects of ourselves rather than projecting these disowned parts on to animals or others. By facing our shadow, we can heal ourselves, move deeper into wholeness, and support the healing of the Earth.
Dr. Nick Mather and I talk about two books: Dreaming With Polar Bears and Awakening the Ancient Power of Snake. We discuss dreams, dreaming with animals, and shapeshifting in the dreamscape. I also talk about learning from animal teachers and a common message animals have for humanity regarding our collective need to awaken.