Foston woman connects ‘soul to soul’ with animals to give them a ‘voice’
A woman communicates “soul to soul” with animals through pictures to find out how they are feeling.
After working in human resources for nearly 25 years, Gemma Cantillon, who lives in Foston near Grantham, decided to give up her corporate lifestyle and instead start training to become a Reiki healing therapist - a type of energy healing - in 2020.
“It was quite stressful and I felt I was coming to the end of that part of my life,” recalls Gemma, saying a family move helped instigate the change.
It was while she was living in East Sussex that she began to train with a Reiki healer and it was through this that she learned about animal communication.
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“I didn’t know anything about animal communication. I didn’t know it was possible”, said Gemma.
“I had spent so much time with animals when I was younger as I used to ride horses, I had dogs and I also lived behind a farm.
“I just kept being drawn back to animals.”
As a result, Gemma decided to pursue this as a career.
She said: “I carried on with my Reiki journey because I was loving it and it opened my mind.
“Reiki was the transition for me. I went onto various courses and then went onto animal communication.”
At first, Gemma thought an animal communicator was someone who studied the behaviour of animals, such as their body language, to discover how they were feeling.
However, she soon realised it was “being able to communicate soul to soul with an animal”.
She said: “My saying is we’re all souls within a different vehicle, so I happen to be in a human vehicle and a dog might be in a dog vehicle or a horse or a cat of what have you.
“But, we’re all the same and we are from the same thing.
“Animal communication is a telepathic way of transferring images, thoughts, feelings and emotions and communicating on a soul to soul basis.”
Gemma offers this service remotely by firstly asking owners for a photograph of the animal that shows only their face.
Gemma added: “I go into my healing room and get into a quiet stance and meditate.
“Using the photograph, I am then connecting in with their energy and then I put the photograph down because I can feel their energy is there.
“Sometimes they will say ‘not now’, but I’ve never had an animal say they won’t connect with me.
“I then open up a conversation with them just like the wifi, such as if I ask someone ‘how does the wifi work?’, I would go I don’t know.
“I just know I can send an email or information to someone across the world, we don’t need to be near each other but we can make a connection.
“It is like that with animal communication, I don’t need to be near the animal physically, although you can do it that way, but through this energetic connection that we don’t see but we are all connected together, we can then make the connection.”
Gemma will then ask the animal questions that were provided by their owner.
She said that the animals then “often come back with stories”.
Gemma added: “They will tell me stuff they want their humans to know.
“It blows your socks off. The humans think they have their agenda but now the animals have their voice.
“They now know they’ve got the opportunity to be able to say what they think.”
Gemma receives animals through referrals, and has worked with a variety of species including chickens, rabbits and goats, but she mainly works with dogs, cats and horses.
“I am usually the last port of call”, she said.
She added: “People have gone to the vet, then maybe a behaviourist and got lots of advice, but maybe an animal is still doing something and they are questioning why that is.
“They then think ‘I don’t know where to go’ but they hear people can communicate with animals.
“I will never say to an animal ‘can you stop peeing on the floor please’ or ‘can you stop chewing up the bed’.
“[This is] because they are obviously displaying the behaviour for a certain reason that is their form of communication.
“So I will ask them ‘how they are feeling’ or if their human has told me they are chewing up the bed, I will ask them ‘what is driving them to do that’ and they will explain why.”
Gemma does this work to “make a positive difference” to both the animal and its owner.
“With the human listening and perhaps making some adjustments to whatever the animal has asked or told them, that will actually so often deepen the relationship with the animal,” Gemma said.
“So many people say to me it feels different and they have more of a respect for each other or the animal is more responsive.
The humans think they have their agenda but now the animals have their voice
“It is hard to explain, but the depth of connection that people have with their animal is incredible, but when they have had this communication process it seems to go to another level.”
She also provides this service to help give animals a “voice”.
Gemma said: “There are so many animals that haven’t had a voice before.
“They haven’t had the opportunity or have been misunderstood.
“So for me, the reason I do this work is it feels like it is really adding value and really helping in that process to make a positive difference to that animal and their human.
“The more people that are able to do this work, the more we can raise awareness about it.
“Once people understand it, it’s a no brainer like: ‘Why wouldn’t I ask my animal what they are feeling?’ They all feel things just like we do.
“Just because they don’t have language, they have feelings and wishes and desires.
“If we don’t hear them, we don’t ask what their wishes and desires are, we are just guessing.”
Gemma connects with Sam – our reporter Katie’s golden retriever
Having spoken to Gemma, I was left more than a little intrigued so I decided to give it a go. Gemma asked me to send a photo of 11-year-old golden retriever Sam with specific requirements for it to show his face clearly and with no-one visible in the background.
A few days later I had an online feedback session. Beforehand, I was quite sceptical to what she would say, but I went into the conversation with an open mind.
Going into the feedback session, I wondered what details would come to light and by the end I was taken back by some information more than I thought I would be.
Gemma informed me that there was some random information that came about, and she was unsure whether I would know of their relevance.
The first was when the name ‘Carole’ came up. Although there is no-one in my life called Carole, my family got Sam from a woman called Carole when he was just a puppy.
The next bit of information was the number 12. There were two things I could connect this number to, being that my birthday is on the 12th and that Sam is 12 this year.
The third thing Gemma told me was that the Rick Astley classic ‘Never Going to Give You Up’ came up.
Although it is a well-known song, the relevance to me was when my brother was living at home, it was a song he would constantly play, so maybe this stuck in Sam’s mind?
Before Gemma would ‘connect’ with Sam, I was also asked to provide five questions that she would ask Sam and for these I chose: What is your favourite thing I do? Are you quite protective of our family? Do you remember your mum and dad when you were a puppy? What is your favourite memory of us? and Why do you bark so angrily at people?
One of the first things Gemma told me was that Sam gave her a sense of being loving, kind and “extremely loyal” to his family, as well as having a big personality. He is a lot of fun and could even be a “little bit cheeky sometimes”.
I was also told that Sam saw me as his best friend, which was nice to hear. He is definitely mine!
In Gemma’s feedback, she said: “I feel Sam sharing that he may prefer to keep himself to himself these days and that he’s not so bothered about being around others outside of his family.”
She also got the sense that Sam liked to sleep a lot. Being an older dog, this made sense anyway but it was true that this was how Sam spends most of his time.
The questions I was most intrigued to know about was why he would bark so angrily at other people and his favourite memory.
The answer to the barking was Sam tries to give “subtle cues” to let people know he does not want them in his space. This made complete sense as anyone who may visit outside of the house he seems to be more wary of and will consequently bark a lot.
For Sam’s favourite memory, Gemma said she could see an “image of a large, flat expansive beach” and that she felt a sense of “joy and happiness in this moment” from Sam.
I have not visited the seaside with Sam a lot but the memory that did pop into my mind was taking him to Dorset when he was about three years old, so could this have been the connection?
A continuous feeling Gemma felt from Sam was a pain within his joints, particularly with his back legs. Although he still acts like a puppy, Sam does take slightly longer to get up now due to his back legs, so again this continuous ache made sense.
The feedback that really stuck with me was Sam felt a “really special bond” with me.
In her report, Gemma said: “I feel him sharing that you have grown up together and that he’s proud of what you’re achieving in your life.
“I sense him expressing that he feels he sees himself as your guide and that he may have given you confidence on your journey, when sometimes you’ve not always felt so confident possibly.
“I feel him sharing that the bond between you two will continue on into eternity, past this lifetime and beyond.”
All in all, although I had my reservations as to what I would be told about Sam, the information that was communicated took me by surprise. It was the random bits of information that made this experience intriguing.
So, if there is anyone who may think whether they could believe this or not, I would urge them to go into it with an open mind, just like I did, because you never know what could come to the surface.
A full animal communication session with Gemma costs £65 but shorter sessions are available on her website.
Gemma is running a one day animal communication workshop on Saturday, April 20, in Foston, aimed at beginners who would like to learn the tools to communicate with their own animals.
Anyone who would like to take part can find out more on Gemma’s website at https://gemmacantillon.co.uk/contact/.
People can also email Gemma at gemma.cantillon@yahoo.com.
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