This is so great to wake up to! Amanda is a wonderful writer and editor and an amazing, insightful person. I love that you do these interviews, Jane. You’re pretty amazing yourself.
Thank you Amanda and Jane for this great interview.
Your comment about the Mama and baby deer brought to mind a very similar story Lisa Miller, PhD shared in her book The Awakened Brain. It's interesting the link animals have with new souls awaiting arrival with their families.
Hearing your story about your experience with grace, or lack thereof, during your upbringing made me very thankful that I was raised in a liberal-thinking church. It seems like I am one of the rare folks who doesn't associate their religious background with trauma and general horribleness. You have had to overcome a great deal to come out on the side of the core belief that people are kind and good so that's a job well done!
I was also raised in a liberal-tending church that encouraged mountains of social activism and really got out into the world and helped people. I have nothing but extremely fond memories of my church. In fact, I've known my best friend since I was five, our families deeply intertwined. And we met at church! Your comment made me realize that this is rare.
Thanks for your response Jane. I wrote my comment when I was very tired but I didn't want to forget about it so I kept going. I wasn't sure I made any sense so am glad the message came through ok🤣
In the weeks leading up to Evagene being born, I began walking around our home and telling the trees and all the animals who visited: Our girl is coming home soon. Will you be ready for her?
I wish I'd had a camera to capture the fullness of the animal kingdom in those first months with her at home. It was February when she was born, so it was quite cold, but deer are still in transition on the mountain. I'm not sure how I knew, even a few months in, as the weather began to warm a little bit and new animals would start showing up—and they would be CLOSE to the house. Groups of stags (very rare for them to travel in packs!) would come near the house. It was as if they were peering in to see the new babe. I was delighted. I'd hold her up to the window and let them see one another.
Not to belabor the animal storytelling here, but I feel it wouldn't be complete if I didn't mention a visit to the Denver Zoo when Evagene was about eight months old or so. We walked into the orangutan space, and instinctively felt that some of these animals were perfectly fine and at ease, but one was not.
She showed her sadness, and I felt it. Instinctually, I took Evagene out of her stroller and silently said from my heart, "Do you miss your baby? You can come see my baby." She quickly flitted out the open door to the other side of the enclosure (Denver's zoo is quite large and expansive). And I felt like she wasn't running away, so I followed her to see the other side to discover it was an even closer spot for us to meet—on the other side, we could be face to face with only a few inches of glass and acrylic between us. She sat peacefully with us for a few moments until a group of school children came running toward her.
So, yes, the link animals have with new souls, Donna—I have felt the gift of this. Thank you for mentioning it in your kind comment. I haven't gotten to share about this before. 🫶
This is so beautiful, Amanda! You should write more about this. I've only been to a zoo once, as a child. Apparently I sobbed the whole way through because I felt so sad for the animals, so my parents never took me back. But your connection was profound! And the story of the animals you share land with when Evagene arrived home is staggeringly beautiful!!
Thank you for the encouragement, Jane!! It means so much coming from you. Also I feel you on visiting zoos -- I only go if I feel confident the animals are truly cared for and the fundraising goes to improving natural habitats. If I can confirm that, then I feel like it’s my way of caretaking: to give the animals the gift of a visitor who loves and honors them. And I whisper a lot of prayers under my breath for the emancipation of all animals. I’m TERRIFIC company at the zoo. 😂
That is so beautiful and so needed, Amanda! I periodically daydream of doing that very thing. But I just can't. Apparently, I've also only be in one pet store that sells animals because I likewise burst out crying and my parents never tried again. The list goes on. I've always wished I could fight for the rights of animals (which I do every day!!) while also visiting those imprisoned and offer the love and support you're offering. This part, I've gigantically failed at! I'm awfully glad you're out there doing your thing! It's so so so important!! I admire you so much!
🫶 I believe the love you give your animals radiates to all animals. It all counts and works in unseen ways. I have been so enriched by our sharing of the heart-animal connection.
"In the weeks leading up to Evagene being born, I began walking around our home and telling the trees and all the animals who visited: Our girl is coming home soon. Will you be ready for her?" This and what followed...goosebumps! I love the story of the Orangutan. I cannot bring myself to go to our zoo because I feel so sad for the animals to be in cages, but this gives a window...literally...to the soul, no matter the circumstance. My son told me he read that Dolphins often incarnate into captivity as Boddhisatvas. Thank you for your beautiful soul and heart and including the animals and all of nature in it! So beautiful and special and wondrous.
Thank you, Jane for this great interview! It invites us to connect with the world of Amanda so intimately. Thank you both to reveal and share your worlds! 💓
Oh I love this interview! As an aside, I sometimes get weird promptings to look things up. As I turned on my browser I had the inner guidance to look up "Doe." I then read: "One night a few years ago when I was getting up the nerve to undergo IUI treatments to try to get pregnant, our motion-activated lights turned on outside. I walked into the living room and saw a white-tailed doe and her fawn standing close to one another, just a foot or two from my back deck and staring at me at eye level. Perhaps I was delirious or half-asleep, but I stood there and watched the mother drag her tongue across the neck and head of her fawn over and over again. And I burst into a bucket of real ugly crying tears. I know they heard me from inside the house because they paused to look up, their ears at full attention, but then they softened back again."
Oh, that's wild! You mean you entered "Doe" into Safari or Chrome or whatever you use, and this came up?! It's such a beautiful, tender story! And I'm glad you enjoyed the interview!
Sep 25, 2023·edited Sep 25, 2023Liked by Jane Ratcliffe
Not quite...I got a bunch of stuff about the department of energy...how I wanted to tell the people over at THAT DOE (If there is anyone there with true integrity) to consider the technology of the UMASS Amherst researchers that would create affordable universal energy if in the right hands!
<3 <3 <3 Perhaps our deer medicine is interlinked! I once got a stag as a spirit guide in a Shamanic thing. Maybe it's a sign to focus on the feminine version! What does deer medicine mean to you? Also, have you connected with Suzy Miller?
What a thoughtful question! Deer are very special to me. I feel very fortunate to have lived in their home for four years, watching their comings and goings and marveling at the way they play in nature when they're at ease.
I'm not very studied on animal medicine. My usual practice is when I encounter an animal that makes my body "shiver' just a little, I google the name of the animal with the word "medicine." And then I read and read and read and use those descriptions to translate how the animal felt to me in the moment.
I like this description best of deer medicine: they represent "gentleness of spirit that heals all wounds." There's a lot about my Colorado home that tended to healing my wounds, and deer were regularly around me, much like a physician.
That is so beautiful! Suzy Miller came into my life, I believe guided by my son, who has symptoms of autism. She works with the supporting high vibrational autistic people to embody and be seen in their gifts more fully, and sees them on a level that is highly multidimensional. Rather than seeing them as having something needing fixing, she sees them as emissaries from a higher realm that perhaps struggle to interface due to the distortions in the energetic or biological aspects of a humanity that needs to evolve and simultaneously return to purer states, such as in Lemurian times.
I love this so much. In a comment a little higher up I just poured my little animal-loving heart out about deer and animals in general. I think you might connect with these stories as well. Thank you for these gifts, Alicia.
Beautiful interview. Honest, raw, humble... Number 6! The fawn was absolutely a message. The big H and little h are always opportunities to learn, aren’t they?
I also loved Anne of Green Gables and Little Women and am a book hopper! Also, you may be interested in checking bookdoulas.com - one of my favorite spiritual people, Lee Harris worked with their doulas on his book and loves them - they have a retreat type vibe but I don't know if they do retreats and haven't worked with them myself. Compassion/Buddhism seems to be trending...I had a great chat with a barista about Tara Brach's Radical Acceptance the other day and am reading a book currently about a dakini from early on in Tibetan Buddhist history. I love the story about the Jewish family. I think I would have gotten a spectrum diagnoses if my parents had thought to test me but in retrospect I'm glad they didn't. I had a cool talk with my daughters about labels a little while ago and how they can be helpful to give language to our experience and communicate it to others but we prefer not have them become core identities that create limitation rather than an explanation of "What is going on now." There is an awesome post by a neurodivergent Rabbi on Your Life is a Sacred Text dot substack.
This is so great to wake up to! Amanda is a wonderful writer and editor and an amazing, insightful person. I love that you do these interviews, Jane. You’re pretty amazing yourself.
Starting the day energized now...
Thanks for your kind words, Ramona! And, yes, Amanda is pretty darn amazing!
Amanda was my first window into the generous, nurturing writing communities on Substack. What a beautiful interview
Oh, that's wonderful, Miles! We do seem to all be connected here! And I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you Amanda and Jane for this great interview.
Your comment about the Mama and baby deer brought to mind a very similar story Lisa Miller, PhD shared in her book The Awakened Brain. It's interesting the link animals have with new souls awaiting arrival with their families.
Hearing your story about your experience with grace, or lack thereof, during your upbringing made me very thankful that I was raised in a liberal-thinking church. It seems like I am one of the rare folks who doesn't associate their religious background with trauma and general horribleness. You have had to overcome a great deal to come out on the side of the core belief that people are kind and good so that's a job well done!
I was also raised in a liberal-tending church that encouraged mountains of social activism and really got out into the world and helped people. I have nothing but extremely fond memories of my church. In fact, I've known my best friend since I was five, our families deeply intertwined. And we met at church! Your comment made me realize that this is rare.
Glad you enjoyed the interview!
Thanks for your response Jane. I wrote my comment when I was very tired but I didn't want to forget about it so I kept going. I wasn't sure I made any sense so am glad the message came through ok🤣
That is so cool!
In the weeks leading up to Evagene being born, I began walking around our home and telling the trees and all the animals who visited: Our girl is coming home soon. Will you be ready for her?
I wish I'd had a camera to capture the fullness of the animal kingdom in those first months with her at home. It was February when she was born, so it was quite cold, but deer are still in transition on the mountain. I'm not sure how I knew, even a few months in, as the weather began to warm a little bit and new animals would start showing up—and they would be CLOSE to the house. Groups of stags (very rare for them to travel in packs!) would come near the house. It was as if they were peering in to see the new babe. I was delighted. I'd hold her up to the window and let them see one another.
Not to belabor the animal storytelling here, but I feel it wouldn't be complete if I didn't mention a visit to the Denver Zoo when Evagene was about eight months old or so. We walked into the orangutan space, and instinctively felt that some of these animals were perfectly fine and at ease, but one was not.
She showed her sadness, and I felt it. Instinctually, I took Evagene out of her stroller and silently said from my heart, "Do you miss your baby? You can come see my baby." She quickly flitted out the open door to the other side of the enclosure (Denver's zoo is quite large and expansive). And I felt like she wasn't running away, so I followed her to see the other side to discover it was an even closer spot for us to meet—on the other side, we could be face to face with only a few inches of glass and acrylic between us. She sat peacefully with us for a few moments until a group of school children came running toward her.
So, yes, the link animals have with new souls, Donna—I have felt the gift of this. Thank you for mentioning it in your kind comment. I haven't gotten to share about this before. 🫶
This is so beautiful, Amanda! You should write more about this. I've only been to a zoo once, as a child. Apparently I sobbed the whole way through because I felt so sad for the animals, so my parents never took me back. But your connection was profound! And the story of the animals you share land with when Evagene arrived home is staggeringly beautiful!!
Thank you for the encouragement, Jane!! It means so much coming from you. Also I feel you on visiting zoos -- I only go if I feel confident the animals are truly cared for and the fundraising goes to improving natural habitats. If I can confirm that, then I feel like it’s my way of caretaking: to give the animals the gift of a visitor who loves and honors them. And I whisper a lot of prayers under my breath for the emancipation of all animals. I’m TERRIFIC company at the zoo. 😂
That is so beautiful and so needed, Amanda! I periodically daydream of doing that very thing. But I just can't. Apparently, I've also only be in one pet store that sells animals because I likewise burst out crying and my parents never tried again. The list goes on. I've always wished I could fight for the rights of animals (which I do every day!!) while also visiting those imprisoned and offer the love and support you're offering. This part, I've gigantically failed at! I'm awfully glad you're out there doing your thing! It's so so so important!! I admire you so much!
🫶 I believe the love you give your animals radiates to all animals. It all counts and works in unseen ways. I have been so enriched by our sharing of the heart-animal connection.
"In the weeks leading up to Evagene being born, I began walking around our home and telling the trees and all the animals who visited: Our girl is coming home soon. Will you be ready for her?" This and what followed...goosebumps! I love the story of the Orangutan. I cannot bring myself to go to our zoo because I feel so sad for the animals to be in cages, but this gives a window...literally...to the soul, no matter the circumstance. My son told me he read that Dolphins often incarnate into captivity as Boddhisatvas. Thank you for your beautiful soul and heart and including the animals and all of nature in it! So beautiful and special and wondrous.
Thank you, Jane for this great interview! It invites us to connect with the world of Amanda so intimately. Thank you both to reveal and share your worlds! 💓
I'm glad you enjoyed it! As always, thanks for your kind words, Kyomi!
Oh I love this interview! As an aside, I sometimes get weird promptings to look things up. As I turned on my browser I had the inner guidance to look up "Doe." I then read: "One night a few years ago when I was getting up the nerve to undergo IUI treatments to try to get pregnant, our motion-activated lights turned on outside. I walked into the living room and saw a white-tailed doe and her fawn standing close to one another, just a foot or two from my back deck and staring at me at eye level. Perhaps I was delirious or half-asleep, but I stood there and watched the mother drag her tongue across the neck and head of her fawn over and over again. And I burst into a bucket of real ugly crying tears. I know they heard me from inside the house because they paused to look up, their ears at full attention, but then they softened back again."
Oh, that's wild! You mean you entered "Doe" into Safari or Chrome or whatever you use, and this came up?! It's such a beautiful, tender story! And I'm glad you enjoyed the interview!
Not quite...I got a bunch of stuff about the department of energy...how I wanted to tell the people over at THAT DOE (If there is anyone there with true integrity) to consider the technology of the UMASS Amherst researchers that would create affordable universal energy if in the right hands!
But as soon as I opened my inbox I read the incredibly touching passage I quoted.
Ooooh, that's amazing! I love when stuff like that happens!! You were feeling Amanda's words through the airwaves!
I love that too! I'm actually listening to a transmission on activating your wings by Kaia Ra, who refers to those waves as heartwaves!
https://www.umass.edu/ials/news-and-events/yao-and-lovley-use-nanopores-harvest-clean-energy-thin-air
It sounds like some deer medicine must be on its way to you! 🫶
<3 <3 <3 Perhaps our deer medicine is interlinked! I once got a stag as a spirit guide in a Shamanic thing. Maybe it's a sign to focus on the feminine version! What does deer medicine mean to you? Also, have you connected with Suzy Miller?
What a thoughtful question! Deer are very special to me. I feel very fortunate to have lived in their home for four years, watching their comings and goings and marveling at the way they play in nature when they're at ease.
I'm not very studied on animal medicine. My usual practice is when I encounter an animal that makes my body "shiver' just a little, I google the name of the animal with the word "medicine." And then I read and read and read and use those descriptions to translate how the animal felt to me in the moment.
I like this description best of deer medicine: they represent "gentleness of spirit that heals all wounds." There's a lot about my Colorado home that tended to healing my wounds, and deer were regularly around me, much like a physician.
I haven't heard of Suzy Miller. Who is she?
That is so beautiful! Suzy Miller came into my life, I believe guided by my son, who has symptoms of autism. She works with the supporting high vibrational autistic people to embody and be seen in their gifts more fully, and sees them on a level that is highly multidimensional. Rather than seeing them as having something needing fixing, she sees them as emissaries from a higher realm that perhaps struggle to interface due to the distortions in the energetic or biological aspects of a humanity that needs to evolve and simultaneously return to purer states, such as in Lemurian times.
Deer Physician,
Your Presence is a healing
For my being
Holding me in your space of gentleness
Holding me Deer
I am felt
I am healed
Whole
Just as I AM
Because you are Present
In My Field
I love this so much. In a comment a little higher up I just poured my little animal-loving heart out about deer and animals in general. I think you might connect with these stories as well. Thank you for these gifts, Alicia.
Beautiful interview. Honest, raw, humble... Number 6! The fawn was absolutely a message. The big H and little h are always opportunities to learn, aren’t they?
I'm so glad you enjoyed it. And, yes, the fawn!!
Such a great interview! Appreciate the insights
Thank you, Rachel. So glad you enjoyed it!
Working through your back catalog, Jane, and finding this gem. Thank you both!
Oh, I'm so glad! I agree, this is a good one!
I also loved Anne of Green Gables and Little Women and am a book hopper! Also, you may be interested in checking bookdoulas.com - one of my favorite spiritual people, Lee Harris worked with their doulas on his book and loves them - they have a retreat type vibe but I don't know if they do retreats and haven't worked with them myself. Compassion/Buddhism seems to be trending...I had a great chat with a barista about Tara Brach's Radical Acceptance the other day and am reading a book currently about a dakini from early on in Tibetan Buddhist history. I love the story about the Jewish family. I think I would have gotten a spectrum diagnoses if my parents had thought to test me but in retrospect I'm glad they didn't. I had a cool talk with my daughters about labels a little while ago and how they can be helpful to give language to our experience and communicate it to others but we prefer not have them become core identities that create limitation rather than an explanation of "What is going on now." There is an awesome post by a neurodivergent Rabbi on Your Life is a Sacred Text dot substack.