In Woodstock, VT, across the Connecticut river from us, December brings the town’s wonderful, quirky version of a parade.

Because Woodstock is horse country as much as it is ski country, their parade is composed of

big horses

and little ponies,

horses in garlands

and ponies dressed for warmth,

horses pulling carriages

of one sort or another,

horses carrying princesses

and fairies

and elves

and snowmen.

The sartorial splendour of the crowd is no less impressive.

Even the dogs are dressed to the nines.

It’s a perfect parade

from its opening moments

to the very end when the gentleman in top hat and tails picks up the parade’s manure and returns the streets to the cars.

It is hard not to notice how Angels have become passe in commercial America. A few years back, every store seemed to be crammed with all things Angels. Now, Angels have taken a back seat to new fads. I asked the Angels, specifically the Angels of Communication and those Angels working with America’s spiritual mission, about this and got their perspective on what appears to be waning interest in Angels.

Angels of Communication: Greetings beloveds. We are so glad to have this conversation . First, know this apparent waning interest in Angels is not what it appears. When remembrance of us was pushed to the forefront of your consciousness with books, art, workshops, music, and other love messages from us, it was a time of seeds sown.

It was important for humanity to loosen the chains of your binding notions of separation, and in the case of the United States, your binding notions of “doing it alone.” The exposure to all things Angels was, in part, to broaden your understanding of consciousness, as well as to help people better understand the spiritual matrix unifying all material form.

Molly: As Meher Baba said, “You and I are not we but one.”

Angels of Communication: Yes, exactly. The blanketing of America in Angelic imagery was a bit like broadcasting seed on a ready field. The notion of “doing it alone” had reached its natural conclusion and people were thirsty for new word of our eternal presence and support.

As culture moves on from this time of seeding information about Angels and we appear relegated to the occasional outpost, it reflects that the seeds have been sown and now, the Angelic kingdom must step back and wait to see what germinates.

Dispensations are given for certain spiritual information to be released at certain times, for certain vibrations to be broadcast, and for certain emanations of divine love to be showered on earth and all humanity. The Time of Angels marked such a dispensation.

Now a different time begins. The solutions to your problems cannot be enforced upon you by us Angels or creation would become a mockery of free will. We sowed seeds of oneness. As they germinate and grow in your hearts, it will be a time for you to see yourself more clearly as divine beings in an ocean of divinity, and to act from your full divinity, all the while knowing you are not alone.

We do not go silent on you, we merely pause to let you respond to our shower of love. It is a divine dance in perfect order. From your place of free will, humans can rise up in a response of love, of open hearted communion with us and each other, and an embrace of our gifts.

We await your response with full measures of confidence, love, and joy.

To think of this transit another way, what fun is a dance if the same partner always drags the other around the dance floor as one moves a mop?

No, as we begin a new part of the dance with humanity, we look to you to lead us.

We hope that during the time of Angels we were beguiling. We hope that you felt us pull you into the dance and that you enjoyed this opening gambit as much as we did. We hope that you will now dance with us of your own volition, grounded in your divinity, clear of your equality with us as partners in creation, and certain of your eternal definition as the beloved of the beloved.

Molly: That was lovely. Thank you. Since I have you here conversing with me, I would like to ask a more pedestrian question about cell phones. Can you give me a spiritual perspective on them? I find them both a blessing and a curse and wonder how to understand where they are taking us.

Angels of Communication: First of all, we are always with you. In fact, we are you, so you can always ask for our insight into anything at any time. As far as cell phones go, hold fast to the truth that everything is a part of the journey to oneness. Cell phones may feel like “too much” right now, but they are taking you towards balance. Actually, they are taking you somewhere quieter as well, but that is getting ahead of events. If you find them over stimulating, step back and know that all is well and that greater harmony will arise out of this cacophony.

Remember telepathy and that you can send all messages without equipment. Your cell phones are like training wheels on a bicycle. Soon you will not need them. You see, we have told you where this is going. The quiet is coming.

Molly: Thank you for that calming message. Is there anything else you want to share?

Angels of Communication: In a dance of partners, the partner leading needs a partner following. In the Time of Angels we led the dance, but we needed you to receive our gifts. Now you will lead the dance and we will be steady with you, helping you sow your blessings. Both then and now, it is one dance and we are all in this together whether we lead or follow. It is all one. And this dance is good. All good.

Us humans have been an agricultural people a lot longer than we have been a shopping people.

Up until a generation or two ago, this time of year would naturally have been a time of quieting down and resting. The root cellar would be full. The canning would be done. The fields would sport a stubble of winter grass or simply lie fallow. We might have barn chores to do, but our daily work would not require the same amount of effort as during high summer or harvest time. The shorter days would mean more sleep or longer evenings by the fire. More rest of one sort or another.

Nowadays, no one and nothing supports us in a slow down effort, except maybe our animals.
The animals haven’t lost track of the natural order of things and know exactly what we are meant to be up to during this dark time of year.

Nothing much.

We see how the animals enjoy this season of quiet, but we get cattle prodded by the world’s media to get out of our nice warm beds and get shopping.

From all I heard and read, no sooner were we to wash and dry the last Thanksgiving dish than we to join the throngs of people shopping from predawn to midnight on Black Friday.

My mind boggled at the idea of going to Kohl’s the day after Thanksgiving at 4 am to beat the 5 am rush. I truly feel like I am from a different planet a lot of the time. One where people are asleep at 4 am.
And being a hobbit/ luddite /curmugeon, I am doing everything I can to follow the animals’ example, instead of doing what the ads on TV are telling me to do.

The more messages I get to speed up and do more, the more I try to slow down. On these cold dark nights, after William finishes his homework, Jim reads aloud from our current read aloud book, “The Golden Compass.” If we get restless from inactivity, William and I crack pecans while Jim reads. There is lots of satisfaction in de-shelling pecans and it is just enough of an activity to keep my inner “do more” voice silent.

So, as I head into a weekend in which I will not be going to any mall, I send you my best hopes that you too are finding some peace and quiet during this time of darkness, and my best wishes that you too are finding some of the restorative stillness our agrarian ancestors had in such abundance and that our bodies and souls still crave.

If you are looking for moral support for slowing down, I have a few animals happy to advertise the pleasures of doing less. I am sure they will be very happy to give pointers to one and all about the virtue of naps. Come to think of it, there are some people about willing to advertise this as well.

My daughter Lizzy has a new cat in her household, a rescue Maine Coon cat named Tobias. She also lives with an elderly cat named Morgan, a beloved calico. In the way of Green Hope Farm, no sooner had Lizzy welcomed Tobias to her household than a lot of you called and emailed to talk about your own process of blending cats into one household. I found myself calling Lizzy every few hours with tips from you.

I also had some thoughts on Flower Essences for her to offer her cats and ways to give the cats the information of the Flower Essences. The Animal Wellness Collection offers a lot of helpful Flower Essence support for easing the household blending process be it with cats, dogs or any other animal or person.

Back to the specifics of Lizzy’s household, elderly cats often react negatively to the introduction of a new cat, and this has been Morgan’s response to young Tobias. However, I am very optimistic about their relationship long term. Here at the farm, we have seen that with the help of Flower Essences, this initial fiery reaction almost always transforms into a softer welcoming of the new cat. We have seen that as the Flower Essences ease the animals’ concerns, the developing friendship between the older cat and the younger becomes a gift to everyone. The older cat feels younger and more playful again and often moves through its grief about earlier lost companions. And the relationship with the older cat helps the younger cat grow into a solid citizen of the household, more mature than he or she could have been without the example of the household elder statesmen.

Today, I thought I would discuss some of the Animal Wellness Collection Flower Essence mixes particularly relevant to introducing an animal to a new home. These are mixes that have helped with the blending process of new and old cats, dogs, and other animals in literally tens of thousands of households.

I have given an overview of how each remedy might be a help. Sometimes, I describe some of the strengths of a couple of the Flower Essence ingredients in the mix. My descriptions are woefully incomplete. Flower Essences are so much more than any description.

If I were to describe in words Beethoven’s ninth symphony it would fall so far short of the beauty of the actual music. As Flower Essences are music, this is true for them as well. My words never do justice to the beautiful healing music of Flower Essences. Please make your own acquaintance with these mixes to know their true glory!

New Beginnings– This is a good Flower Essence mix for both the newly arriving animal as well as all resident animals. In fact, it’s a good one for the people in the household to take when a new animal arrives in a household. A new animal in a household is a New Beginning for all.

New Beginnings is a softening mix that helps everyone feel better about the new animal’s arrival. Flower Essences in New Beginnings, including Morning Glory and Mutabilis Rose, help us to accomodate and welcome the change a new animal brings. Flower Essences in the mix, including Gall of the Earth and Red Mangrove, help us feel integrated during changes, safe enough to literally stay present. Flower Essences in the mix, including Red Rugosa Rose and Pale Pink Rose, help us roll with the changes and release worries. Flower Essences in the mix, including Tree Peony and Rose a Parfum de l’Hay, help us know there is enough love to expand the household to accommodate this new member.
Anxiety– Change invariably stirs up anxieties. For example, it’s not uncommon for old cats to hideout when a new cat arrives or fall into patterns of obsessive grooming, peeing in strange places, or other stress related coping mechanisms. This mix helps everyone feel more peaceful and calm during the transition period. It also helps animals release their stress and stress related coping mechanisms as well as find their emotional balance again.

Flower Essences in Anxiety, including Aspen, Scarlet Runner Bean, and Red Clover, help with fear responses. Other Essence ingredients, including Borage and Pink Tecoma, help everyone find a bead on good cheer and hope if they are depressed or overwhelmed by the changes. Essence ingredients, including Feverfew and Crab Apple, help break the grip of obsessive compulsive response behaviors. Essence ingredients, including Mustard and Pennyroyal, help release deep seated and nameless anxieties. Other Essence ingredients, including Trillium and Queen Anne’s Lace, offer help to find equilibrium and inner strength during turmoil. As with any description of one of our mixes, to list a few strengths of a few of the ingredient Essences feels vague and incomplete in contrast to the actual support the Essence mix offers. The Flower Essences in this mix contribute in so many directions and so many levels to ease our anxieties.

Abandonment & Abuse– Changes in a household of any kind almost always takes a rescue animal back in time to the trauma of being abandoned. The animal feels he is back in that earlier abandonment experience and reverts to his earlier coping mechanisms. This is a post traumatic stress reaction and almost all rescue animals will experience this pattern of response. For some, the earlier coping mechanisms may be hiding. For others, it may be aggressive behavior. There are so many responses and not all of them declare themselves as stress related patterns. For example, some cats get very passive. That was their survival response then and it returns to them in times of stress.

The key thing here is that this post traumatic stress response CAN be released and the animal can heal so that present day stress does NOT return them to a reliving of their earlier traumas. The Abandonment & Abuse remedy was developed to unwind the emotional scars rescue or traumatized animals experience and to free them from this post traumatic response. This remedy will help them to know they are safe and to know they are in their present life not back in the past.

With some remedies, animals can learn what they need to learn from the remedy in a few exposures or over the course of a few weeks. Because a rescue animal’s scars are so complicated and deep, this is a remedy that may take much longer to be fully integrated by the animal. While you may need only a small bottle of most of these remedies to share with your household during the introduction of a new cat, if any of the animals are rescue animals who have not worked with Abandonment & Abuse before, you might consider getting a large bottle of this remedy and giving it to the rescued animal or animals for many months. Each exposure to the remedy will help them to peel off and let go of a layer of trauma. As they heal, they begin to experience a new way to live with other animals. From a place of actually knowing they are safe in a post rescue life, they find a new ability to welcome a new cat into the household and a new ability to experience loving social community.

Animal Emergency Care, Recovery and Immune Support– Sometimes the new arrival of an animal in a household triggers such dramatic fight or flight reactions in the animals that they need these remedies to help them with adrenaline exhaustion and their post traumatic stress reaction. As you might guess, this is especially likely if the animals in your household are rescue animals. These remedies help with recovery from this kind of reaction by generally restoring the electrical system in the animal. I would offer Animal Emergency Care if the situation feels like a crisis in any way and offer Recovery and/or Immune Support as a way of restoring a physical sense of well being after everyone begins to settle down.

Outburst – If any of the animals are fighting or being aggressive, if the situation feels explosive or if anyone of the household is responding by peeing ouside the litter box or being destructive, this can be a useful remedy. It helps animals to find more benign ways to release their stress than through uncontrolled outbursts.

The Angels have a very expansive way of thinking about what an Outburst is and when to use this remedy. They suggest this remedy for all kinds of diverse situations including skin rashes or temper tantrums. So, if you are prompted to get this one for something that doesn’t exactly feel like a classic outburst, trust your intuition.

Flower Essences in Outburst, including Indian Pipe and Mary Queen of Scots Rose, promote an end to inner and outer conflict. Flower Essences in the mix including Orange and Orange Hawkweed smooth and settle erratic high voltage energies. The Snapdragon in the mix offers its very helpful release of aggressive mouth energies. Cleansing Flower Essences, including Bloodroot, Eggplant, and Dandelion, are balanced with calming, centering Flower Essences, including Wild Columbine, Dogberry, and Bunchberry.

Jealousy and Arbor Garden I once heard a mother of young children remark that she was puzzled that we all expected our children to share their toys with other children effortlessly. After all, she noted, did we really know a lot of adults that liked to share their toys? Yup, Jealousy is a useful remedy in this and a lot of other situations. For animals and humans alike it is not always easy to share our people or our home let alone our toys.

The Arbor Garden mix is an ingredient in Jealousy and a number of other mixes because it offers such a wonderful vibrational example of harmony, oneness and steady reassurance that there is enough love for all of us. Sometimes Jealousy feels just right for a blending situation. There may be one member in the household in particular that needs this information to ease up on their jealousy. Sometimes Arbor Garden feels like a good mix to have in its own right. Arbor Garden tends to relax everyone and help them feel that life is good. After losses, change, and other transitions, this can be such a balm of an Essence mix.

Grief & Loss– If there was a death in the household and this new animal is coming in to help the household recover from this loss, some in the household may find the new arrival takes them back to a strong experience of the lost person or animal. Grief is a long journey. This remedy supports us on every step of it.

Transition– Because a new arrival in a household can trigger a returned feeling of loss to older members of a household, it no longer surprises me when someone knows their household needs Transition when they get a new animal. While we developed this remedy as support for the dying process, we rapidly discovered the Angels wanted us to offer it in a lot of situations of change. There is a lot of death in birth and a lot of birth in death. This is an exceptional support for ALL moments of transition.

Flow Free– Could I write anything about Flower Essences without mentioning this mix? I doubt it. This is such a godsend for keeping a situation moving towards resolution and healing. If anything is stuck, if any patterns of response feels unable to shift, if in any way the household feels shut down, consider giving everyone Flow Free to encourage movement.

How to Give your Household the Flower Essences
When a new animal arrives in a household, spritzing the rooms in your home with Flower Essences in water is a wonderful way to give the information of the Flower Essences to the animals.

To do this, mix a dropper or so of each of the Flower Essences you want to use with up to a cup of water and put this mix in a plant mister or one of the spritzer bottles we sell. Then spritz all the rooms where the animals live with this water Flower Essence mix. This is a very non invasive, but very effective way, to give all animals as well as the people the information of the Flower Essences.

Why use this method?
When animals are stressed, they don’t always eat or drink according to their old routines. This means they may not receive the information of the Flower Essences if the Essences are put in their food or water. As things settle down, putting the Flower Essences in water or food becomes a more reliable way to proceed, but to begin with, spritzing insures that everyone gets this information in a very gentle way.

There are other great reasons to spritz. When a new animal arrives in a household, it can be very unclear exactly what is going on. For example, even if only one animal appears to be on the warpath, there often is a more complicated dynamic going on than this surface dynamic. Giving just the aggressor Outburst may not get to the bottom of the problem. In any household, the complexities of human and animal relationship grow exponentially with the arrival of each new animal or person.

If everyone gets the information provided by the Flower Essences, the animals as well as us humans all receive potentially helpful data. And just like our wise animal companions, our electrical systems know what Flower Essence information we need and know how to integrate this wisdom into our electrical systems. So when we spritz our households, all of us are getting support to make this the best new beginning possible for everyone.

As Riley contemplates Thanksgiving dinner and his potential for scoring extra treats

And as Gus contemplates spending the next six months curled up in a ball by the woodstove, the rest of us look out and contemplate the new fallen snow.

Hope you all have a peaceful, happy and WARM Thanksgiving! Love and Blessings! Molly