Animals and their relation to the Spiritual Realm

Figured it was a topic of interest, so wanted to make a thread for it. Going to look at some varied cases and metaphysical ideas relating to the question of whether animals have continuity in the form of personal survival or perhaps some other mind/body relation.

Going to reference this book which I put in the Apparition section's thread for text resources, as well as some stuff relating to animal spirits and animal production/reception of Psi. 

Probably some philosophy and scriptural references, but I'd like to center cases since those probably give us the best hope of getting some idea of what might be the reality of this subject.

Going to reference this book which I put in the Apparition section's thread for text resources

Note that book is in the public domain.

Looking through this initially I'd say there's a distinction between spirits that take on animal form - and may not ever have been incarnated in a biological body - and animals that are deceased but still communicate to those who were at the time in the world of the living.

For an example of the first consider the white bird that presages death:

"In the autumn of 1877 my husband was lying seriously ill with rheumatic fever, and I had sat up several nights. At last the doctors insisted on my going to bed; and very unwillingly I retired to a spare room. While undressing I was surprised to see a very large white bird come from the fireplace, make a hovering circle round me, and finally go to the top of a large double chest of drawers. I was too tired to trouble about it, and thought I would let it remain until morning. The next morning I said to the housemaid:

"'There was a large bird in the spare room last night, which flew to the top of the drawers. See that it is put out.'

"The nurse, who was present, said:

"'Oh, dear, ma'am, I am afraid that is an omen, and means the master won't live,' and she was confirmed in her opinion by the maid saying she had searched, and there was no trace of any bird.

"I was quite angry, as my husband was decidedly better, had slept through the night, and we thought the crisis had passed. I went to his bedside and found him quietly sleeping, but he never woke, and in about an hour passed quietly away.

"I thought no more of the bird, fancying I must have been mistaken from being overtired.

"Some months after my husband's death my youngest little one was born; he lived for twelve months, and then had an attack of bronchitis. He slept in a cot in my room, and I was undressing one night, when this same large white bird came from his cot, floated round me, and disappeared in the fireplace. At the time I did not for a moment think of it as anything but a strange coincidence, and in no way connected it with baby's illness.

"The next morning I was sitting by the drawing-room fire with baby on my lap. The doctor came in, looked at him, sounded his chest, and pronounced him much better. As he was a friend of the family, he sat down on the other side of the fireplace and was chatting in an ordinary way, when he suddenly jumped up with an exclamation, 'Why, what does this mean?' and took the child from my arms quite dead!

And for the latter a more traditional haunting case:

One evening about four years ago I was in my drawing-room with two friends; we were all standing up on the point of going to bed, and only waiting till the old cook had succeeded in inducing the grey Persian cat to come in for the night. This was sometimes difficult, and then cook came up as on this occasion and called him from the balcony, and the French window was wide open, when a cat rushed in at the window and through the door.

"What was that?" we said, looking at one another. It was not Kitty, the grey Persian, but darker, and was it really a cat, or what? My friend "Rügen" has written the account of what she saw before seeing what I have said. "Iona" confirms our description. What I saw seemed dark and shadowy and yet unmistakably a cat. It seemed to me like the predecessor of Kitty, which was a black Persian; he had the same habit of coming in at night by this window, and he constantly rushed through the room, and downstairs, being in a hurry for his supper. A moment or two afterwards the grey cat walked slowly in, and though we searched the house, we could find no other.

Cook said, "I wish you would come downstairs and see how strangely Kitty behaves as soon as I open the cupboard. There is nothing in it but the wood; I turned it all out to see what might be the reason—not even a mousehole can I find." Some days previously cook had told me that nothing could induce Kitty to sleep in his basket, and one day he would not eat any food in the kitchen, and his meals had to be given him outside. So I went down to please cook. Kitty was picked up, and while cook petted and stroked him, she knelt down and opened the cupboard. Kitty, stretching his neck and looking with big, frightened eyes into the cupboard's corner, suddenly turned round; struggling out of cook's hold and rushing over her shoulder, he flew out of the kitchen. Getting up, Cook said: "That's always what he does, just as if he was seeing something horrible!"

Next day I encouraged cook to talk of Ruff, the former black cat, which had been a great favourite of hers, and which she had been nursing when he was dying. "Oh, poor thing, when he was ill, he would creep into dark corners, so I put him in his basket into the cupboard, making it very comfortable for him, and there he died"—pointing to the very corner which caused such horror to Kitty.

I'd say the thing that distinguishes the two is the first acts with purpose - to warn that someone living is soon to die. The latter cases seem more like what we might expect from animals, haunting a place of death due to some emotional attachment.

Of course one has to go through more cases, such as mediums noticing animal spirits, but it does at least seem individual animals have souls. AFAIK there are no evidential memories of a human being an animal in a past life, but I'll dig around...

I'm posting in these two personal experiences of mine from another forum. If that's okay.

I've had two strange experiences involving pets. 

I used to have a cat. He was a bit of an odd bod, having a habit of making strange chirruping noises instead of mewing. He died in 2012. A few years back, I was listening to a podcast on mediumship when I started pondering the fact that I had never had an experience with a deceased person. No sooner had the thought come into my mind than I felt the the couch cushion directly next to my leg depress as if a small weight had landed on it. This was accompanied by a very clear sounding of my dearly-departed cat's trademark chirrup. Strange, hey? So, I suppose I still haven't had an encounter with a deceased person, but possibly a deceased cat!

Okay, second story. When I was a kid, the family dog was a Labrador. Great dog, sweet and gentle but tough when needs be. So, one night as a teen, I was getting a lift back home with a friend, early hours of the morning, we turn the last corner before my house, the car's headlights light up the front gate, and I see see the figure of a giant Labrador, sitting bolt upright, outside the gate, as if standing guard. It was probably about 6 feet high (seated), and looked very regal, something like an Egyptian statue. It was only a flash, but, thing is, my friend saw it too.

So maybe pets are more magical than we think.