I sat on the floor of my daughter’s room and held his little frail body in between my hands. There wasn’t much warmth radiating from him and I knew he was dying. Wanting to ease his pain, I turned on the Reiki and felt the slightest bit of static emanating from his little body. Normally when I do Reiki on a healthy person or animal, I can sense a vitality that is palpable, strong and expansive, but with Keebler, it was hard to even sense.
When I was little, my (typical) brothers used to use me as their 9 volt battery tester. The sensation from touching a new battery to my tongue would send me through the roof, but a 9 volt battery that was weak, would barely give a zing. Keebler had no zing.
I remember adopting him from the Humane Society when he was just six weeks old for my daughter. It was just days after her last guinea pig Rita had passed and she was devastated. Since the day we brought him home, he had such a presence and aliveness. Guinea pigs do this thing called “popcorning” where they bounce and jump and squeak when they are happy and excited. He was such a love bug. I would listen from my bedroom while he and my daughter would have conversations through piggy squealing back and forth. And in the mornings when I would wake up my daughter and he would see me, he would get so excited and race around his cage making his little piggy sounds because he knew he was about to get carrots. It was our little morning ritual.
As we sat with him feeling heavy and sad knowing he was transitioning, I remembered one of my Reiki teachers, Kathleen Prasad, who taught me, and is the founder of, the “Let Animals Lead” method. We are all energetic beings and can feel one another’s emotions and state of mind. And the greatest gift we could give to Keebler in that moment was to put our feelings of sadness aside. The depths of pain we felt were likely overwhelming his already heavily and very little burdened body.
“See him as a beautiful, radiating, ball of light Arianna.”That little baby we adopted almost five years ago was still the same soul whose energy filled our hearts and our home all that time. As we shifted into this new vibration of love and light, I began to feel what he was feeling. As a Reiki practitioner, this is a common occurrence for me. I tend to connect to the energies of those around me and start to sense things. I began to feel immense pain in my head and lower back.
“You are so beautiful and handsome Keebler. We love you so so so much! It’s okay to go honey. You are so safe and loved.” We repeatedly said these things to him until it was late into the night. I felt the energy flow like a river from my hands into his body. We placed him back into his cage with such grace and ease. He used to leap like superman into his cage and now couldn’t even see where he was. He waited until he felt the floor of his cage before he moved out of our hands.
Later that night, I woke up to an electric buzzing sound in my head that also felt like harsh static in my body. At the same time my breathing became labored and I began have tiny fits of coughing spells. Within one minute I heard a loud pop, like a fuse being blown and I felt the release happen in my own body. At the same time in my minds eye, I saw and heard a violet flame flicker and go out. It was like the sound of a sterno can being covered. I knew immediately he was gone.
As I went into Arianna’s room, my eyes confirmed what my soul already knew. Our sweet boy had transitioned and was finally at peace.
I don’t think there is anything more humbling than to be part of someone’s transition in life. Reiki is forever my teacher and I am so grateful to have been part of, and witness to Keebler’s passing. I know that our ability to hold space for him emotionally, allowed for him to relax into the receiving of the Reiki energy.
It’s a beautiful thing to be able to do that for anyone, whether they are in transition or not. Thank you Dr. Mikao Usui, for bringing Reiki into my life.
