Episode 157 Unlocking Wisdom | Animal Messages, Spirit Guides, & Spiritual Symbols: Interview With Brandi Reinhardt

Dec 6, 2023

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How can you begin to unlock and understand the messages from your animal spirit guides? How can these insights enhance your holistic counseling practice and your personal journey to better self-awareness?

MEET Brandi Reinhardt

Brandi Reinhardt is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Joy Coach, and Reiki Master who has been working in these healing professions since 2015. She combines a variety of modalities to help her clients find hope, healing, and stability; reignite their passion for life; gain independence from the things that are holding them back; accomplish their goals; connect with their purpose; or improve their relationships; and truly live their joy and be a creator in their life! She has experience in treating a variety of issues, including ADHD, eating disorders, addiction, trauma, mood disorders, and life transitions. In her coaching approach, she serves as a midwife to the client’s dream life. She uses tarot, Reiki, ETT, mediumship, and traditional therapeutic approaches to assist clients.

Find out more at Brandi Reinhardt and connect with Brandi on, Instagram,  and Facebook

Pocket Guide to Spirit Animals: Understanding Messages from Your Animal Spirit Guides by Steven D. Farmer

IN THIS PODCAST:

  • What are Spirit Animals? 4:10
  • What are Angel Numbers? 16:05
  • What do our spirit guides want to communicate with us? 22:27

What Are Spirit Animals?

  • What spiritual gifts can animals have to offer?
  • Intuitive guidance through animals
  • Examples of what some animals and insects may represent
  • Being open to a “deeper message,” from spiritual practices

What Are Angel Numbers?

  • A look and what numbers may symbolize
  • The importance of noting that the interpretation of angel numbers is subjective and based on the individual
  • How do angel numbers resonate with you and your life circumstances?
  • Does 666 represent evil?
  • What do colors and feathers represent?

What Do Our Spirit Guides Want To Communicate With Us?

  • A look at the many ways that our spirit guides can communicate with us
  • Learning to speak to your spirit guides
  • Tips for tuning into your divine guidance

Connect With Me

Instagram @holisticcounselingpodcast

Facebook

Join the private Facebook group

Sign up for my free email course: www.holisticcounselingpodcast.com

Rate, review, and subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.

The Art of Breath: How to Integrate Breathwork Techniques for Effective Therapy Sessions with Chris McDonald, LCMHCS

Resources Mentioned And Useful Links:

Find out more at Brandi Reinhardt and connect with Brandi on, Instagram,  and Facebook

Pocket Guide to Spirit Animals: Understanding Messages from Your Animal Spirit Guides by Steven D. Farmer

Transcript

Chris McDonald: Are you ready to unlock the hidden wisdom of the universe? In today's episode, we're joined by the insightful Brandy Reinhart. She will take us on a journey through the world of animal messages, spirit guides, and spiritual symbols. Discover how these powerful insights can not only enhance your holistic counseling practice, but also guide you on your personal journey towards greater self awareness and healing.

Join us as we delve into the mystical realms and explore the profound significance of the signs and symbols all around us. So grab your favorite cozy spot, a notebook and an open heart because today's episode promises to be a fascinating exploration of spiritual guidance and wisdom. Let's dive in and uncover the profound insights that can transform you in your holistic counseling practice.

Stay tuned. This is Holistic Counseling, the podcast for mental health therapists who want to deepen their knowledge of holistic modalities and build their practice with confidence. I'm your host, Chris McDonald, licensed therapist. I am so glad you're here for the journey.

Welcome to today's episode of the Holistic Counseling Podcast. If you've ever wondered about the significance of animals you see that cross your path, the whispers from the spirit world, the different symbolism you may notice in your everyday life, then you are going to love this episode. My guest today is Brandy Reinhart.

She's here to help us unlock the doors to these realms, offering different ways to interpret the symbols we see to enhance your personal growth and help aid your clients in their healing processes. Brandy is a licensed professional counselor, joy coach, and Reiki master who's been working in these healing professions since 2015.

She combines a variety of modalities to help her clients find hope, healing, and stability and reignite their passion for life. She uses tarot, Reiki, ETT, mediumship, and traditional therapeutic approaches to assist her clients. Welcome to the holistic counseling podcast, Brandy.

Brandi Reinhardt: Thank you so much, Chris. I'm so glad to be here.

So let's

Chris McDonald: jump right in. I'm just interested to know, how did you start integrating holistic modalities? What interested you in that? Well,

Brandi Reinhardt: the first thing that happened before I even became a therapist is I was doing a special type of therapy called emotional transformation therapy that uses color and light and it aligns with the chakras.

And I had this kind of experience and it was really powerful and beautiful. And I think as I was an intern, I just kept having, and I'd been in yoga many, many years. So I think the meditation kind of prompted it to hit a little deeper. And then, uh, as an intern, I kept having all these incredible. Angel mummers and symbolism that was occurring in my life and just these beautiful kind of integrative experiences and then working with clients, they were having, it was like mirrored in them as well.

So as I would get deeper into yoga and feel, you know, some Kundalini energy or animal messages were coming through to me, then all of a sudden my clients would be mirroring That back to me as well. And they would talk about animal messages or they would talk about angel numbers or they would say, you know what, I've been using tarot cards lately.

So it all just kind of evolved over time

Chris McDonald: to all kind of came together. Huh? Yeah. Isn't it magical when you see that with your clients to experiencing some of the same things? It's like. I don't know what the word is, but it's just like, Oh my gosh, this is so cool that we're both experiencing some of these same things.

Brandi Reinhardt: Yeah, it is beautiful. It's like we're magnetized to each other or something because our heart is kind of speaking the same language.

Chris McDonald: Yeah. So I know we're going to talk about several things. I know you said you integrate with all these different things with animal messages, spirit animals, talking about spirit guides, but what is the spirit animal?

What does that mean? Thank you.

Brandi Reinhardt: Well, I think spirit animals particularly are associated for a long time with Native American culture. And then if you look at Celtic culture and like, there's just a lot of ancient roots and associating animals with like powerful messages or healing abilities. And the thing that happened for me is I just started noticing similar to how a person would notice.

If they hear the same thing, like the same message multiple times from different people, I would start having animals randomly in an urban area show up in a big way multiple times over and over and started to kind of wonder about the message coming through for me. And it started with birds, I believe, and I would just get this intuitive sense.

And then a bird would. Fly over me and it would be like an egret, a white egret. And then I would see like five in the same day. And I'm like, that has to mean something. And, and not in the same places or the same areas either. So I could be driving across town and it's, it started with kind of Googling, like, what is this?

Animal message mean, what is this spirit animal? And it would be like perfectly aligned with some of the things I needed in my life at the time. So if you talk about animal messages, they can endow you kind of with their spiritual gifts. So some of the features of that particular animal might be exactly what you need in your life, or just some kind of guidance for things to be aware of about yourself or about your surroundings, or just kind of intuitive guidance.

So

Chris McDonald: we can get that from animals that we see and exciting. I saw two deer yesterday and it was just so beautiful. You know, I had, I told you before we started recording that I went on a horse meditation too. And it just felt like I felt so connected with one of these animals too. It's just, it's like, you can't even put it into words sometimes.

I don't know if you've

Brandi Reinhardt: noticed that. Yeah, it can be so deeply powerful. I think when we're out in nature and connecting with that part of ourselves, and like you said, like that for a lot of us, there are just deep connections to animals that happen. The fun thing is I really believe spirit or the universe or source or your higher power, whatever you want to call it, Divine Guidance will speak to you through kind of whatever you have showing up in your life.

And someone just randomly happened to buy me a pocket guide to spirit animals. That sounds fun. Right at the same time that I was starting to really pay attention to the way my energy would change around certain animal appearances. I can look up what deer, what this little pocket guide says about deer if you want to get an example.

Chris McDonald: So that might be a good book for our listeners too to, uh, to look up if they're, if you're curious about this. Yeah,

Brandi Reinhardt: it is pocket guide to spirit animals, dr. Steven farmer. And I think I just randomly got it many years ago. Um, but there are lots of great books. So the fun thing is that spirit will speak to you in whatever you have available.

I also have a native American book at my office. It's not here at my home office, but you'll get the messages through whatever happens to be around you. The deer says more than ever, you need to trust your gut instinct. You're poised for an enticing adventure, one that will take you down many different paths and lead to many important insights.

Be gentle with yourself and others. Oh, I

Chris McDonald: love that. That's so true because I am just start embarking on a different path right now to teaching a course for the therapist on integrating yoga and the session. So. This does kind of feel like that fork in the road when you start something new. It's like, Ooh, where am I going with this and trusting myself, right?

With creation

Brandi Reinhardt: and trusting your gut instincts.

Chris McDonald: Absolutely. Cause it's easy to kind of push that aside and get too much in our heads about things and overthink it.

Brandi Reinhardt: Exactly. And the beautiful thing is like, there have been times in my life where I needed some, some kind of. Intense energy and like a tiger will show up or, or the tiger can let me know, like, there's some kind of aggressive component to my own personality that I need to be aware of, but you can be endowed with kind of the gifts that the animal messengers or animal spirit guides are bringing through for you.

Yeah,

Chris McDonald: I was having this, like, I don't know if it's connected to spirit, this message that just trust this process and that it will come about was, was pretty much the message because I started to overthink, like, oh, my God, how am I going to do this and be able to. Like that imposter syndrome too, like, am I the right person to do this?

And, you know, all those questions come up in our mind anytime we start something new. But then once I, I had that message, I'm like, I have to trust that deeper message.

Brandi Reinhardt: Yeah. And it's fun how sometimes the deeper messages can correlate with angel numbers or. Messages that are you're sensing while you're meditating or songs or animals and in that situation, you might notice like an animal come through that has this an extra strength, like it represents strengths and endurance and trusting the process and that kind of thing.

And it's really cool how it seems to correspond. Yeah.

Chris McDonald: So does it have to be like repeated visions of an animal or seeing an animal or is it just even just one time, like you start to see a rabbit in your yard and could that mean something? I think

Brandi Reinhardt: trusting your intuition on that. So sometimes for me, if I'm having a day where I'm a little, a little disconnected from my intuition, I might need to see the animal multiple times to get it and be like, that's true.

We may downplay it. Yeah. Uh, for example, there was this giant, really fat fly that was just flying around my whole house this weekend. And finally this morning, it like kept buzzing around my head. And then I opened up the door and it just flew out. And I was like, oh, okay, maybe fly can be an animal messenger too.

And so I looked it up. And it perfectly fit something that was going on with me this weekend. So it's funny that it doesn't always have to be

Chris McDonald: repeated. Yeah, so that's what I wondered, like insects too, because I've heard like ladybugs could be good luck in some cultures and I've been seeing a lot of those.

Brandi Reinhardt: Ladybugs are wonderful. They, they are often associated with incredible luck in different cultures as well as great health. Um, adding a little more joy into your life because it's hard to see a ladybug and not feel a little bit happy.

Chris McDonald: Yes, I love them. I saved one for my cat. My cat wanted to eat one. I saved it.

Got one outside,

Brandi Reinhardt: yes. Yeah, bugs can be animal messengers too. At a time when I was really ungrounded, I couldn't go more than two steps outside of my Traditional walk without a bunch of earthworms being right beneath my feet. And I'm the kind of person who's like, Oh no. And I'm trying to rescue all the earthworms and throw them back.

But it was like a sign that I really needed to focus on grounding and connecting with the earth and maybe even take my shoes off and walk barefoot in the grass or the mud. You know,

Chris McDonald: Yeah, absolutely. What about dragonflies? Do they have any symbolism?

Brandi Reinhardt: Dragonflies are a powerful messenger because, I don't know if you've noticed, but even within our culture in big ways, a lot of people think there's something very magical about dragonflies and they have been kind of revered, I think, for a very long time in a lot of different cultures.

Yeah, because I

Chris McDonald: have a, I have a lot of dragonflies this summer, like just every time I go out, they'd be flying near me. I just, I love, they just, there's something so cool about them.

Brandi Reinhardt: So dragonflies, similar to butterflies represent something really transformative is coming through for you. And that makes sense.

Since you're debuting this new yoga project, right? Um, the dragonfly is about a transformation that you're about to undergo and it's a, there's a lot of ancient magic involved in the dragonfly animal messenger. Let me see what Stephen Farmer here says. So a lot of animal messages have, if you're looking up to a reference, have like multiple parts.

So I would encourage people to just tune into the. Portion of it that's most relevant to you and then throw out anything that's not relevant, but it says you're being entirely too rational about everything you need to tap into your deeper emotions, whatever they may be. Your passion is awakening. So direct it to what feels true and right for you.

This is also a time when magic and mystery of your life is reawakening. It's vital to recharge your psychic energy, which you can do by regularly meditating. More than simply a change, you're going through a major transformation, so enjoy the process. Additionally, you should be working with the fairies and other elementals.

Chris McDonald: Ooh, that's so cool. I feel like you and I gotta do a live show with this and get people questions, right, about animals. Like, we gotta do that in the future, and different, uh, symbols that come up.

Brandi Reinhardt: And I feel like... When people are open to it, they have so much fun with the animals, you know, because sometimes living in the city and I am a city person, I love visiting the ocean and the forest, but I like being near a lot of convenient things, but you can find nature in suburbia.

You can find nature in urban areas and. It's so funny because different animal messengers have come into my life in a suburban neighborhood and people are like, what was that animal doing in that part of the city? That's

Chris McDonald: so

Brandi Reinhardt: funny. But it doesn't always have to be in person. Sometimes you'll see a repeated animal on social media or books that you're reading and you'll just kind of intuitively know one time in session with someone, three different people mentioned elephant.

In one day, randomly, and I'm like, and my little right, and my intuition was like,

Chris McDonald: so it's paying attention to when these come up and not just ignoring it or just like, Oh, that doesn't mean

Brandi Reinhardt: anything. Right. And it's similar to angel numbers, right? People that's really popular right now. And people will notice a repeated number and they'll be like, does it mean something?

And then like, maybe not, maybe it does, but it like, it's just like this little extra radar for. Different ways that messages can come through to kind of either guide us, nurture us, support us, endow us with maybe some gifts and some extra energy that we're needing in our life. Building and managing

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Brandi Reinhardt: So angel numbers I think really popular in social media right now are those repeated numbers.

Traditionally I think people started calling angel numbers like 1 1 1, 2 2 2, 3 3 3, 4 4 4. You know, all the way up through nine, nine, nine. And that's often the gateway to kind of being open to guidance from the subtle realms or to something beyond us that's connecting with us and saying, Hey, I'm here to support you.

I'm here to, as a part of your journey or whether it represents for you your own divine intuition and not necessarily something separate from you. Yeah. But. A lot of the angel numbers and are kind of cross the bridge into numerology as well of just like what particular numbers mean. And so people have a lot of fun interpreting the angel numbers.

And if you get really into it, you can see like different number combinations. Like it doesn't always have to be three, three, three. It could be three, five, three that you see repeatedly on license plates while you're driving home from work. Like people are having a lot of fun with angel numbers or. You know, something really magical will be happening or they'll have a heart filled moment and they'll see 444 and that'll mean, you know, they're being surrounded by love on all levels and

Chris McDonald: things like that.

So if you see a certain combination, it could mean something different. Okay. Or I always said with the clock too, if you wake up at.

Brandi Reinhardt: Yeah, I finally asked spirit to not do that to me anymore because back when I was having all these rapid transformations, I was like, listen, divine within, listen, spirit, like I love it. I love these powerful angel numbers in the middle of the night, but I don't want to be woken up anymore. And then it stops.

How

Chris McDonald: interesting. Oh, cause it, it could be in any numbers. Cause I think one, one time I had like. Three numbers, these numbers that coming up, um, and even came out like a cash register. Like when I paid for something like it was nine 99 or something just

Brandi Reinhardt: weird. I know it's amazing how it can align, um, and just alert us to something special.

But I think nine 99 is associated with doing light working in the world and using your gifts for the good of humanity and like stepping into your spiritual gifts. Oh, I love that.

Chris McDonald: How do you remember all this?

Brandi Reinhardt: I just, it's like a game between me and spirit and it just, it adds a little fun, a little joy to my life.

So I've been doing it so long that a lot of my interpretations or what I've read or what other people have said, guidance, it sticks in my head. But again, For different people, it might mean different things, so don't take my interpretation, right, or your interpretation, if it, you have another guidance system, maybe 999 could mean something slightly different to you, so.

Does

Chris McDonald: 666, is that really evil?

Brandi Reinhardt: Well, Christians traditionally associate it with being evil, but usually it's strongly associated with family and overvaluing material things. Interesting. Either of those is what I, in my personal life have, but again, if your community associates it with, Hey, I need to be on guard for like.

Darker aspects of myself or others. Maybe that's your interpretation of that number. For me, it's always meant focus on family or over emphasis on material things. And I need to trust the process and trust that I'm being supported and. Instead of worrying about material things and money and

Chris McDonald: so what we are conditioned to believe or through scary movies

Brandi Reinhardt: Which is similar to when I do the therapy with Uh, emotional transformation therapy, people always think red is anger, but it's actually yellow when they really studied people.

And if you look at, you know, chakras, like the yellow is, is more where anger shows up. Red is more about safety and groundedness and life instinct.

Chris McDonald: Oh, so. What about blue? Blue

Brandi Reinhardt: has a lot to do with communication, uh, being in alignment with your feelings, like all the things that you're feeling in your body.

So for example, blue could bring you out of a freeze response because it's helping you get in touch with what you're feeling about a situation. And it makes sense that you would have a special connection with blue because you're a great communicator, right? You're running a podcast. And

Chris McDonald: I'm wearing blue.

Brandi Reinhardt: Yeah. And so am I, and we're both communicating today. I know you are

Chris McDonald: too. I was looking at that. Yeah. But I have purple walls though too. So purple is my other color. Well,

Brandi Reinhardt: purple is the highest chakra right up here. It's the highest chakra. Um. Uh, so Violet has a lot to do with trust and the spiritual realm and being really connected there.

Chris McDonald: Okay, so divine connection. Yeah, I love it because I'm surrounded by my purple walls.

Brandi Reinhardt: Makes sense, given that you're a holistic therapist. I know,

Chris McDonald: right. That's so true. So can you talk about like feathers that people find too from angels? Have you heard of this

Brandi Reinhardt: before? Oh yeah. Absolutely. So I think part of my journey started out with angel numbers and then finding feathers and I would like to find a feather on my doorstep or I'd be walking.

And, um, since I do a type of therapy that involves color, I would pay attention to the color of the feathers as well, but it's beautiful. It's like spirit leaving you a little gift and letting you know something really special is happening. And that actually kind of led them to me paying more attention to which birds were showing up that then which led to more animals.

Um, but feathers are just, I think a beautiful gift from. A lot of people associate with angels and a lot of cultures believe in being similar to angels. Just kind of that watch over humanity and protect us and our guides and our nurturing and kind of watch out for us. So it can just be a beautiful, like physical representation of that.

Chris McDonald: Is there any other signs that Our spirit guides want to communicate with us, our angels want to.

Brandi Reinhardt: I mean, sometimes spirit will show up through song as well. And I don't know if you've ever had this experience of just waking up or a song you haven't listened to in years, just spontaneously happening in your head.

And you're like, Oh, what is this about? And it happens to correspond with something you're. Really needing in your life at the time or aligns with a specific experience, you know, there might be an important phrase from the song that you're meant to listen to, or people just saying the same thing to you from multiple sources over and over.

And you're like, okay, universe, I get the

Chris McDonald: message. I get it. That's what I've heard is that spirit can communicate through so many different ways, through different people and different things that happen to us. Absolutely.

Brandi Reinhardt: And it's really fun to kind of have that conversation back and forth. It can really add a lot of security in your life or a lot of fun or joy.

It's just a fun way to tune into a little more guidance from a little more sources. So that, that can be a really fun process, but I especially love animal messages. I don't know. I think certain people are just more drawn to the animal world. I know even as a little kid, I always was watching PBS and all of the National Geographic shows with the animals.

So it makes sense that naturally I kind of have gravitated that way. So I

Chris McDonald: guess with cats, are they, I've heard they're like connected with the other side somehow. I don't know if there's any symbolism with cats.

Brandi Reinhardt: I haven't done a lot. I don't get the cat messages myself a ton, but I know that of course they're associated with Witches for a long time, which is a beautiful companion to that type of magic.

And in addition to that, the Egyptians worshipped cats, like they've just been powerful symbols for a very long time. Um, and so it would probably depend on like what. Particular message was coming through for you about cats, but a lot of people also believe their mediums and other intuitives actually believe that cats and dogs can take on illness for us and protect us and protect our house and things like that, which is interesting because also a lot of people who are into working with animal messages.

tend to have a particular animal that comes through for them really strongly for a long period of time. And you could consider that your animal totem or your, your spirit animal, and you can place a statue of that or a little figurine or something in front of your house, you know, on your doorstep, or I'm wearing my spirit animal and my necklace, or you could just have that as an added layer of protection.

Chris McDonald: Oh, I love that. Well, my cat here, she It can really detect emotion. So if me and my husband fight, she gets really, really distressed and she will like go in between our late, like walking, you know how they do that rub against your legs and she has a bit if we're upset and she sits next to me during therapy sessions too.

And, and it's funny cause I'll watch her, like some of the clients that are, you know, more dysregulated, she'll come up closer. It's just so interesting that she is.

Brandi Reinhardt: Oh, that's beautiful. Even

Chris McDonald: though I'm telehealth with, with her when I'm, she's only at my home office, but it's just like, it's so fascinating to me that she can still like kind of sense the emotion that's going

Brandi Reinhardt: on.

Yeah. And just like your horse meditation that you did yesterday, animals just seem to be able to sense. Things on a deeper level, a lot of times, so I think it's pretty magical to have an animal that you're connected with in your home or outside the home. I think that's really special and can tune you in.

And then also people believe, you know, animals that have passed on your pets that have passed on can sometimes come through with messages of comfort, or I've even had clients who've experienced like the feeling of. Their pet being there in a deeper meditation and just there to support them and watch over them.

Chris McDonald: That's so comforting too. Can I tell you a story about my cat? My other cat we had put down and I kid you not for years at night I would feel her spirit get on my bed with me. And you know how cats will go in a circle that she would do that little circle thing to get comfortable. It was like I could feel the spirit of her doing that for so long at night.

But it wasn't scary. It was just like. Very comforting.

Brandi Reinhardt: Comforting. I know. Isn't it beautiful? I always say like heaven's much closer than people think it is, and that's in a beautiful way. So I love that you're in tune enough that you could experience that and accept that that was her kind of watching over you and being with you and helping you through the transition of her no longer physically being with you.

That's really

Chris McDonald: powerful. I know. Our pets can be so attached to us, aren't they?

Brandi Reinhardt: Yeah. And a lot of people who have near death experiences will often report that the first thing to greet them, you know, after the tunnel of light or whatever their experiences is their pets that had passed on and how comfortable that is.

Chris McDonald: That sounds wonderful. It's just like such a comforting feeling, isn't it too?

Brandi Reinhardt: It really is. I think just being open to The love from the animal world and a lot of the warnings to sometimes they can warn you of important things to be on alert for, um, and I think that's been a shared cultural tradition through lots of cultures.

So, I think now, more than ever in our Westernized culture, we're starting to get back to some of these ancient things, these practices, the magic that's been with us all along and be a little more open to it. Yeah,

Chris McDonald: for sure. Cause there's different healing that we can get from animals too, that we can't get from other humans.

Brandi Reinhardt: I know you and I both do Reiki and, um, when I first started doing Reiki, my cat could sense it from all the way across the house and would come running and jump into the Reiki energy. And like, if my hands were here, he'd like rub himself underneath my hands. And I was like, Oh, wow.

Chris McDonald: The cats can feel it, right?

Oh, you'll love this. I did yoga this morning and was in Shavasana. My cat comes in. She's right under my hand. You know how you have your arms out and just laid there purring. Finish up my Shavasana with some birds. It's just a wonderful how they can connect. That

Brandi Reinhardt: is really cool though.

Chris McDonald: I love Shavasana.

The magic of that. I know you said animal magic. It is like magic, isn't it? Yeah.

Brandi Reinhardt: And I would encourage anyone thinking about what animals do I see? Just start paying attention, have that extra little sense or people who already love animals. What might be the message of this animal that I see periodically throughout my life?

And Sometimes it's just the features of the animal that traditionally you would think of, like a busy bee or a robin, meaning something new, beginnings, new beginnings,

Chris McDonald: you know. I know you mentioned birds. So do different birds have different messages then? Yeah,

Brandi Reinhardt: absolutely. Like for example, my spirit animal that kept appearing to me when I first went out into private practice for therapy was, I mentioned this earlier, but a white egret, because I think white represents closeness to source.

Um, and then if you think about water birds, they not only can live and deal in the water, but then they fly in the air too, which kind of represents that bridge between two worlds. So being able to easily move back and forth between the spiritual and the everyday. And then if you think about cardinals have been revered for in a many cultures for a long time, a lot of people will say that they start seeing cardinals after a loved one has passed, or they know it means arched angels watching over their family.

You know, they're an owls have a lot of, uh, associations in many different cultures. Of course, eagles too, like the higher perspective, leadership, but at the same time being able to see the small details. My journey with animal messages started out through birds and I would just be walking through the neighborhood and I would know.

Like which birds were there without having ever been a member of Audubon or any

Chris McDonald: of that. That's so cool. I feel like you're like Snow White with all the animals come up to you. Then she's saying. You

Brandi Reinhardt: know, it's just a fun way of relating to things that are beyond us and then a different level of intuition and guidance.

And you can receive that from all types of different places.

Chris McDonald: So last year, my husband and I were outside, we, this flock of blackbirds, there must have been, I kid you not, like hundreds, if not a thousand birds. I mean, the loudest sounds you can ever imagine right in our backyard. And then they came back twice, like a week later, there they were again.

So I don't know if birds are like in large groups, does that mean anything? Oh, that

Brandi Reinhardt: seems like really powerful energy. I mean, obviously it was a migration, but also like the fact that they stopped in your yard in particular seems deeply magical to

Chris McDonald: me. Yeah, totally was. It was powerful.

Brandi Reinhardt: Yeah. Like a really powerful connection to the divine maybe.

And I don't know if he has anything about blackbirds in this book, but I can look.

Chris McDonald: I try not to think too much about Alfred Hitchcock.

Brandi Reinhardt: Right. Blackbirds, let go of all your inhibitions and sing without concern for how it sounds or fear of others disapproval. So then maybe opening up your throat chakra.

Archangel Uriel is with you watching out for you and helping you connect with nature and the nature spirits. Sound healing is one of your best treatments for whatever physical or emotional ailments you're experiencing.

Chris McDonald: Wow. So that's got some incredible message

Brandi Reinhardt: too. Yeah. And also the fact that they appeared in such a big number, I think that just meant like, pay attention to me.

Chris McDonald: Exactly. Listen. And twice.

Brandi Reinhardt: And I think in Celtic mythology, like flocks of birds were said to just be around people who are really powerful spiritually, not that we all don't aren't powerful spiritual beings, to be honest, but just someone who had really nurtured that relationship with themselves.

Chris McDonald: Can you think of any other spiritual messages that listeners might want to look out

Brandi Reinhardt: for?

I think that it's just about daily practice. Can you tune in once a day? Get quiet with yourself and whether you have an oracle deck or angel cards or even a sweet little book and maybe you just decide, you know, at the end of each day, I'm going to randomly open the page and see what the message is. And it's amazing how it can be exactly what you need to hear at that exact moment.

And the more that you nurture kind of being open to divine guidance, uh, divine nurturing, divine support, it can come through in those ways. So I really encourage people to practice on a daily basis.

Chris McDonald: Yeah. I love that. And that helps strengthen that bond too, and connection and using that with clients too.

I have an affirmation deck I've been using. And using at the end and, and I had never done this before. And then I start to do it on a regular basis and more than once with clients. And they're like, Oh my God, this is exactly what we talked about in session. It's so weird.

Brandi Reinhardt: And that's often, that's beautiful because that's often how it starts as we can do it with our clients.

And then they start to go, Hmm, I wonder if I could have my own affirmation deck, or I wonder if I could take this book I've always loved and use it in that way. And I think it's really about. Connecting in on a regular basis and being open

Chris McDonald: to that. Yeah, what are the messages, right? So any other takeaway you want to share with anyone that might just be starting their holistic journey?

Brandi Reinhardt: I would say notice when you feel most connected with the divine or with spirit and tune into it and notice when you feel most supported and then just Keep practicing tuning in and being supported, um, and you'll be surprised how magical it can feel.

Chris McDonald: Wow. This was wonderful. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast today.

Brandi Reinhardt: Thank you so much for having me. It's been wonderful to talk about these things.

Chris McDonald: Yeah, this is, I feel like I could talk to you all day. It's just really fun. It was fun. Yes. I hope listeners that you enjoy this as well. And I have a question for listeners. Are you ready to take your journey as a holistic therapist to the next level?

I'd like to personally invite you to be part of our growing community of like minded individuals. Who share a passion for holistic therapy and know the importance of investing in self care. Come on over and join my Facebook group, the Holistic Counseling and Self Care Group. It's a welcoming space to connect with other fellow holistic therapists.

You can ask questions, share experiences, exchange ideas. Don't miss out and connect today at hcpodcast. org forward slash holistic group. That's hcpodcast. org forward slash holistic group. And this is Chris McDonald sending each one of you much light and love. Till next time, take care. Thanks for listening.

The information in this podcast is for general educational purposes only, and it is given with the understanding that neither the host, the publisher, or the guests are giving legal financial counseling or any other kind of professional advice. If you need a professional, please find the right one for you.

The Holistic Counseling Podcast is proudly part of the SightCraft Network.

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