#195 Denise Dunlavy: Animal Mediumship and Energy Healing
Johnny Burke: Welcome to Closer to Venus. I’m Johnny Burke, and today’s guest is Denise Dunlavy. She is an animal communicator, channel, and energy healer. Her work involves helping people improve relationships with their pets and empowering people on their own spiritual journey. In this episode, we’ll discuss animal mediumship and the growing popularity of animal communicators. Denise, welcome to the program.
Denise Dunlavy: Thanks for having me.
Johnny Burke: How is it that you discovered that you could talk to animals who have actually passed over?
Denise Dunlavy: Well, the short answer to that is that I learned I could do it by trying. I was not one of those people that was seeing spirits when I was growing up, or always knew that animals could talk to me. It wasn’t until later in life when people actually kept telling me that I was psychic. And after the second or third person told me that, I started researching learning about psychic topics and I started practicing.
So I actually figured it out by taking an animal communication class.
Johnny Burke: A class you say, really?
Denise Dunlavy: So I was looking for a spiritual community and I found someone who does animal communication and I thought, oh, well I’m spiritual, so I can probably do this. And so I took the class and I. The teacher really encouraged me saying, this is real, because animal communication, just like other intuitive work, it kind of feels like it’s just in your head.
And so it took other people supporting me and saying, yes, you’re really doing this. For me to believe that the messages were actually coming from the animals. It feels a little bit different when I’m working with animals in spirit. That’s just because the energy kind of comes in a different direction. I’ve heard some mediums say you’re actually working at a different vibration when you’re working mediumistically, but the actual process for me works the same whether I’m talking to an animal who’s living or one who’s passed.
Johnny Burke: So this class that you took, was that communicating with animals in general or actually communicating with animals who had passed over? Was there a distinction?
Denise Dunlavy: No, it was for both. So it was just a general animal communication class where we practiced talking to animals who were living and in spirit.
Johnny Burke: Were you ever able to do this with humans, like talk to humans that have passed?
Denise Dunlavy: I can talk to humans who have passed, and I learned that because I was doing a reading one time with an animal and there was a person that showed up; I could feel the energy differently. It came from a different direction. That’s how I can tell, and my energy. And this person specifically would not leave until I listened to what they had to say. They were talking about animals. That’s how they identified themselves. They said, my sister has too many animals, she just has too many”. And so we were able to identify that it was the sitter’s brother and he had a specific message for her, and once I relayed that, I was able to move forward with talking to the animal.
So I do believe that the ability is there for anyone who is practicing this type of work. It’s really a spiritual practice. So once you learn how to raise your vibration and let go of all of the chatter in your brain, you can communicate with all living or well all beings, living things. Some people will say they talk to trees and plants as
Johnny Burke: I’ve heard that. Yeah. And it’s not entirely uncommon and I’ve noticed, that there are a lot more animal communicators, coming onto this show, for instance, and just in general. And I had one gentleman who told me that he He no longer does mediumship readings for people because he is done with people. All he does is mediumship for pets. He’s,
Denise Dunlavy: I can see that. I love working with animals. That was why I was drawn to this work. But you’re also working with people regardless because you’re interpreting messages for them. and I’m kind of the middleman or the medium, if you will, between the person and their animal.
Johnny Burke: That connection, right? You can’t have communication with a being on the other side unless you have a medium.
Denise Dunlavy: Right. And one thing I will say about that is that it’s really important to have neutrality. So for instance, it’s harder for me to talk to my own pets because I can be emotionally involved with them. I already think I know what they’re thinking most of the time. So those things can get in the way of being able to have kind of that blank slate. And so that’s why I think it’s helpful to have a third party who acts as the medium because they can be] completely neutral
Johnny Burke: And sometimes they, or should I say, most of the time they don’t know anything specific about what’s coming through anyway. Right?
Denise Dunlavy: That’s correct. It’s better not to have any information so that you can bring through evidence that’s helpful. It’s certainly not the same if somebody tells me something and I say, oh, well I was getting that. I just hadn’t said it yet. You know, it doesn’t have the same effect unless you give the information
Johnny Burke: A moment ago you mentioned all we have to do is raise our vibration, which for some people is not the easiest thing in the world to do. How exactly do we do that?
Denise Dunlavy: Well, the way that I do it is usually through meditation. It helps me to listen to something that has strong waves, like beta waves. So I have meditations that I listen to to help me get into that state, but meditation is not necessarily for everyone. And so another thing that I recommend is listening to] music. So if you think about somebody listening to their favorite song and maybe they start singing along or start dancing. All of a sudden, they’re focused on the music and let go of whatever is going on in their mind. It kind of gets rid of that chatter. Or if you think about going to hear your favorite band, you just get really pumped up and so you can feel that higher vibration. So I recommend people do whatever feels good to them. It should feel good in your body and allow you to release your thoughts and get out of your own way.
I like
Johnny Burke: I like that. Get out of your own way. very good point. So you’ve experienced both beings on the other side , whether it be human or an animal. What are the biggest differences? Is it a different frequency or not really? How does that work?
Denise Dunlavy: I don’t think it’s a different frequency.The biggest thing for me is the kind of evidence they bring through, because with an animal, the best way for me to identify them is usually by their personality. They’ll tell me something about what they were like, whether they were shy or outgoing or things that they liked to do. So for instance, a dog might say they love swimming, and some other dogs hate water. So it’s a little bit harder to bring through some of that evidence because a person might say, oh, I wore a specific piece of jewelry, or, something like that. That to me, feels like can be more obvious.
What animals talk about is a little bit different, so they can still have advice for their person, but they tend to talk about what it feels like, where they are, what kind of signs they’re sending. What their favorite memories were in life. I think it’s just a little bit different for humans who might talk about their relationships with their family or , they might bring through something about, what’s going on in the person’s life right now. So there’s just little subtle differences.
The main difference that I notice is that if you go to a medium for humans, they will see who shows up. They will just kind of check in with their intuition and see what spirit is there. When I do animal communication, I use a picture, and so I always set the intention of who I’m talking to. So instead of trying to figure out who it is or identify the spirit, I am instead connecting directly to this animal. I’m not really sure why that is. For instance, someone might go to a medium and say. You know, my mother passed away a couple of years ago. I really want to talk to her. And generally, they will say, well, let’s see who shows up. So, I don’t know, have you noticed that when you talk to mediums?
Johnny Burke: Generally what they tell me is you don’t tell them anything. It seems like the approach with pets is a little bit different. One of the things I’m curious about is when you communicate with the animals, it’s not like they’re talking in English. So how does that work? How do you translate it?
Denise Dunlavy: Well, the way that they talk matches up with your intuitive abilities. So over time, I have grown those. So I get information in a whole bunch of different ways. So sometimes I do hear words, sometimes it’s images. Sometimes it’s just a feeling. For instance, with health issues, I often feel it in my own body, so I will get a stomachache or a headache or have trouble breathing, and that’s how I know how they’re feeling.
But I do get words sometimes, and I think that’s just because that’s how our intuition works. It works in impressions, and animals are more likely to speak in images. So I like to use pictures to connect to the animal. You don’t have to have one, but it helps me set the intention of who I’m connecting to. How I start is I usually imagine that animal sitting in front of me and what are they doing? So they’ll show me through images. Either they’ll show me running up to me and greeting me and being really happy. They might just sit there like they’re a little intimidated or scared, and that tells me something about their personality. So I just start describing what they’re doing in the images that they’re showing me to help identify that I’m connecting with that animal.
Johnny Burke: So why do you think animal communicators, are becoming a lot more popular? Why now is there a reason?
Denise Dunlavy: Well, I think there’s a couple things. It’s a lot more comfortable to kind of come out as a spiritual person right now because it’s more accepted. There are certainly people who have been communicating with animals their whole lives. Mm-Hmm. Where they just knew what animals were thinking or they were getting messages, and I think that since it’s starting to grow, people are getting more comfortable telling other people that they’re doing this. I also think that people are becoming more spiritual, just in general to me, it feels like people are realizing that there’s more out there. Just going through COVID and some of that isolation and people looking at it like, what’s the meaning of life or what’s the purpose? I feel like people are looking for things or for something. Before maybe that was religion or something like that. And I feel like people are getting farther away from organized religion and more to the spiritual side.
Johnny Burke: Well, you said it, not me. We’ll just leave that there for now. Do you think it’s possible in your experience, in your communication with the animals, that at one time they may have been human or in another life, they may be a different being?
Denise Dunlavy: I do believe that’s possible, and it is only because they’ve told me that. So I’ve had readings where an animal has said, I’ve been with this person in multiple lives.
Johnny Burke: That’s what I heard. I’m looking for a way to connect the dots. Every time I hear something, I’m waiting to hear it again so the more I hear that. It’s less likely that it is just fantasy. Does that make sense?
Denise Dunlavy: Yes, it does. Mm-Hmm. And I will say most of what I know comes from the animals, so I probably would’ve said no to that question until I actually had an animal tell me that. I’ve had them say that they’ve been different animals and I’ve also had them say that they’re definitely coming back. I’ve had an animal say before they were coming back in this lifetime, and they will usually have a different purpose. And they might tell me something like this particular animal said, when I come back, I’m going to be injured. So if you see an animal that’s injured and needs help, that’s me coming back because we are trading roles in, in the current or in the lifetime that they had. They were taking care of the person, at least they felt they were, and so they were coming back with a different purpose,
Johnny Burke: So they’re coming back as a person or an animal?
Denise Dunlavy: In that case, it was an animal. Okay. They said they were going to be coming back as another animal. So I do think it’s possible though that in different lifetimes we switch and we trade.
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Johnny Burke: t’s very interesting to hear that not only about humans, but now we’re starting to hear that about the animal kingdom. I had a shaman once tell me that, I was once one of the cats- a cheetah. Have you had any experiences like that with people telling you that they were animals before?
Denise Dunlavy: I have not had that exact experience, but I’m sure that your shaman, doing that reading probably got an image and his intuition told him that information. So I believe in that. I didn’t believe in past lives until I met someone from a past life. It was very strange because I immediately got angry with them. I just kept thinking, why am I so angry at this person? I don’t even know them. I just met them. We kind of looked at that together and pulled some tarot cards and looked at the whole picture. And I really do believe that we knew each other in a past life. And so I was picking up on those emotions right where we left off.
Johnny Burke: Did you get any specific visuals or facts about the past life that you shared with this person?
Denise Dunlavy: What came through for the visuals was in the tarot cards, there was a couple and a baby. I believe that we had had a baby in a prior life who passed away, and I blamed this person for it. When I saw them again, I was still angry.
Johnny Burke: That’s a case where you meet someone and you get an instant emotional reaction for apparently no good reason.
Denise Dunlavy: Right, exactly.
Johnny Burke: That could probably explain a lot of dynamics between people where they don’t know why they love or loathe this particular person, it’s almost instant.
Denise Dunlavy: That’s Right. I do think we meet lots of people that we’ve known before or maybe we have soul contracts with. I definitely think there’s some people where you just feel comfortable with them or you recognize them, but this was a really strong emotion. I was obviously feeling something that didn’t make any sense.
Johnny Burke: Exactly. It makes no sense; why do you have that type of reaction to someone you’ve never met before, that you can’t possibly know anything about them. But obviously that’s not the case here. And you think that’s valid, where it could be over a virtual meeting that someone can pick out something from one of your past lives, you think it’s possible?
Denise Dunlavy: Oh, yeah. Because they’re picking up on your energy. So it doesn’t matter how, because energy transcends time and space. So I don’t think it has anything to do with the way that you meet them. It’s however, that particular person gets information.
Johnny Burke: I know that a lot of mediums and empaths are doing, business over zoom. it seems to be pretty much the norm these days. So, not altogether shocking. So, back to the animals. When they pass, where do they go?
Denise Dunlavy: They don’t actually tell me where they go. I have to be honest, I don’t have an answer to that question. Mm-Hmm. But they tell me what it feels like. So for instance, I had one dog that said, I am laying under my favorite tree in the backyard. The people knew exactly what tree I was talking about. And he said, I just get to stay here, and I never have to move.
Johnny Burke: What a life !
Denise Dunlavy: Yes. There’ve been dogs who say, I get to run and run and I never get tired. I’m just running and playing all the time. And so they tell me what it feels like and they also sometimes tell me who they’re with.
I had one dog tell me; he was with horses. He was on a ranch, and there was a man there with them that was looking out for them. The woman said her grandfather had a horse ranch. And so that told her that they were all together on the other side. So it’s more of a feeling than a place.
Johnny Burke: You said it- altogether on the other side, so it would then stand to reason that wherever we go, whether you want to call it heaven or the in-between space or whatever, seems like the animals go there too, right?
Denise Dunlavy: Absolutely. And then, we will see them again. I always tell everyone that because our animals are waiting for us. There is no time anymore. So sometimes people worry that their animal will forget about them or, it’s going to be so long before they pass. But I believe our animals will be there for us at that time.
Johnny Burke: Well, because everybody who’s been in that space, whether it be a near death experience or, channeling or a past life memory, right? They all say that time doesn’t exist the way we know time here, it’s not linear. So when we go to meet our pets and our loved ones, right? It’s almost as if it was yesterday,
Denise Dunlavy: Right?
Johnny Burke: Not 10 or 20 or 30 years ago, whatever that may be. With your experience with humans and with animals and making the communication, what are the biggest takeaways for you about where we are now in our evolution and where we’re headed?
Denise Dunlavy: Well, the messages that I get a lot from the animals are about healing. They come to us so we can heal ourselves, and they may be companions in that where they are helping us on our journey or where they are actually offering help to us because our animals are constantly transmuting energy for us on our behalf. So one of the things that comes up a lot is soul contracts ; we make these contracts with the animals on the other side before we reincarnate. Often those are, maybe it’s around abandonment. Mm-Hmm. So I see people having the same issues as their pets. So someone who feels very abandoned will also have a pet that feels abandoned, and then they can heal that issue together. And so, so the purpose is for us to find these companion animals for healing.
Johnny Burke: Okay. That’s great. No one’s ever explained that, quite like you did. So it is for a purpose.
Denise Dunlavy: So, oh, yes.
Johnny Burke: It’s not just to have a cat to play with. I had a chocolate paw Siamese for 12 years once, ( sees her cat) speaking of which, is it a he or she?
Denise Dunlavy: This is he. This is Declan.
Johnny Burke: Declan, he probably knew I was to bring up Evo and he’s thinking, you’re not going to talk about your cat.
Denise Dunlavy: He’s gotta take the spotlight.
Johnny Burke: Do you communicate with him too?
Denise Dunlavy: Oh, I do. Yes. Yep. And he has been a teacher. For me, he volunteered to teach me so many things help me understand animals..
Johnny Burke: All right. What’s he think about you being on this interview?
Denise Dunlavy: Oh, he wants to help.
Johnny Burke: Wants to help.
Denise Dunlavy: Yeah, he likes to be here for everything that I do. He’s here when I do my readings, he’s my assistant.
Johnny Burke: Excellent. Because you’ve had some experience with communication beyond the veil, and I’ve had a lot of intuitives, empaths, tell me that the veil is getting thinner. What are your thoughts?
Denise Dunlavy: I do think that that’s true, and I’m not sure exactly why. One of my thoughts is that it has to do with astrology a little bit because we have entered the age of Aquarius, and so
Johnny Burke: We have actually entered?
Denise Dunlavy: I believe that we have. I’m not an astrologer , but I believe in the last year or two we entered the Age of Aquarius, and so I think part of it is the stars lining up. It’s not just something that people are doing, but as I mentioned before, I think people are searching, they’re more open because they’re feeling like we need to have purpose. Like there must be a reason for this. And I think that when you’re looking for something, you can find more of it. So, for instance, when I said I didn’t know I could talk to animals until I tried. well more people are open to experimenting and trying to see what else is out there.
Johnny Burke: Anything else that we should know, at least for today?
Denise Dunlavy: Our animals have so much to teach us. They are truly examples for us and mirrors. So my main point of advice to anyone who thinks their pet is doing something weird or trying to say something to them that they don’t understand is to look at yourself and look at what’s going on in your own life because they are often mirroring something back to us.
Johnny Burke: The importance of the animal kingdom, especially cats. Good stuff. Denise, thanks for joining us today. very cool information on the Animal Kingdom. There’s some things that I’ve never heard before today that the people that are listening, are going to definitely benefit from.
So in the meantime, how can our listeners find you online?
Denise Dunlavy: My website is intuitivedenise.com, and all of my social media handles are there.
Johnny Burke: You’ve been watching/ listening to Closer to Venus. I’m Johnny Burke. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please consider subscribing. You can find more information on closertovenus.com and MindBodySpirit.fm. Thanks again for tuning in and we’ll see you next time.