Dogs played, tea and sandwiches were consumed and speeches made. The launch of Your Animal’s Oracle was a lovely afternoon, concluding with a large circle of people all meditating at once to communicate with Daisy, who wandered around freely, happy to share her thoughts.

It was so thrilling to see so many people receive the same images from Daisy (of tennis balls, of the beach, of her fear of wind and loud noises, and of her incredible radiating joy in life). As a communicator, I talk to many animals and pass on messages to their people, so it was such a special experience to be on the receiving end of messages from my animal.

I took the opportunity to make a little speech, and if you’d like to read it, I’ve copied it here:

My name’s Lucy, I am an animal communicator, holistic practitioner, workshop facilitator and the author of Your Animal’s Oracle. I’d like to thank you all for coming here today to help celebrate this event. I’ve been a writer for a very long time and have had several things published but this is my first official launch and it’s really nice to be able to share that with you all. Today is the 1st of August and I feel like this is a significant date to launch these cards as, in numerology, the number 1 is all about new beginnings. And, of course, it’s the international horses’ birthday, and my business name of Hercules Publishing is named in honour of my horse, Hercules, who is no longer with us but who was my greatest teacher in putting me on my journey towards holistic care for animals and spiritual communication with them.

For many years, I used oracle cards when I wanted more information about my animals and what I could do to help them. And I kept thinking, this is great, but wouldn’t it be even better if there was a set of cards designs especially for animals and spoke directly about their needs. So I held this idea for quite some time before I began actively asking for guidance about what the content of those cards should be. And it’s taken several years for that all to come together into what I have now, which is a set of cards that are the first of their kind in Australia, and only the second set that I could find anywhere on the internet.

The real value in these cards, I believe, is that it really simplifies the communication process, while at the same time fostering a person’s confidence and appreciation in their own abilities to communicate with animals. They’re like a stepping stone, or a bridge, between you and your animals. No longer do you have to go and see an animal communicator or pet psychic for your animal; you can empower yourself to experience that for yourself.

I use them in two ways:

1. When I do a formal communication with an animal, I do a card reading at the end to get further clarification or deeper insight into information that I received during that communication.
2. When I don’t have enough time or space to go into a deep meditation to communicate, then the oracle cards provide a short cut to that communication to give me some immediate information that I can go on with.

Just about every card in the pack, gives information relating not just to the animal but to our relationship with the animal and I see this as a beautiful way of deepening and strengthening our bonds with our most loved furry people.

So that’s a bit of information about the cards and where I feel their strength lies. So just before we break for afternoon tea and reconvene for a workshop in animal communication, I just want to thank a few people.

• Firstly, I want to thank the many special, complicated and endlessly loving animals that have come into my life and helped this journey;
• I want to thank my mother for really initiating me as a very small person into this world of spiritual awareness, and for letting me bring every animal imaginable into our home; and my dad for buying me my first horse, Hercules;
• I want to thank Donna and Lewis from Canine Cubby for hosting to day’s event;
• I would like to thank Eileen from Natural Animal Care for the many ways that she supports my life’s journey;
• even though she’s not here, I would like to thank Naomi Baker from Intuitive Creative who did the graphic design for these cards and really did a stellar job, especially on the box design, which I think is just so beautiful;
• I would like to thank my very dear friend Michele Cashmore for supporting all of my creative dreams with such careful thought and unwavering belief;
• my extraordinary husband, Alwyn, who knew as soon as he met me that the animals in our house would outnumber the people many times over, and jumped into that with two feet, and whose passionate belief in these cards is what’s really brought them into the physical world—these cards are just as much his as they are mine;
• and finally, the gorgeous Daisy Dog for being such a stunning poster child.

Lastly, I dedicate the creation of these cards to the animals of the world. My hope is that the joy and wisdom that is contained in these cards travels the world on webs of light and that it advances the collective animal souls into a new world of peace and love.