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 We be of one blood, you and I.

Animals have gender.

Animals—by which I mean, of course, non-human animals—are male and female, just like we are.*

Why then, in English, do we refer to animals as “it”?

If you think that there are religious implications here, you're right.

“Animals” are our kin. As such, they deserve to be accorded dignity and treated with respect.

As such, they deserve to be spoken of as he or she, not it.

In my reviews, I like to feature books that are often overlooked by people interested in animal wisdom. Diana Cooper, a New Age Practitioner, has written about animals from her perspective.

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Omens & Signs

Keep an eye out for any signs and signals from nature.  One of the most common and well known is finding a feather in your pathway but there are many more.  What about a poorly house plant?  If you have been looking after it properly is it a sign of a sickly relationship in the family?  Take a look in the garden, are there plants growing together or entwined that don’t usually mix?  It could be a sign of love or a relationship.  Don’t forget the plants that self-seed in the garden, where are they growing and what type of plants are they? 

There are no humans in my deck. Animals just make more sense. -- Emi Brady, creator of The Brady Tarot

Hello symbol lovers!

When people were first introduced to Gorillas, they believed that these primates were fiercesome monsters. King Kong symbolized people’s fear of this mammal. Since Gorillas live in the most inaccessible regions of the forests and mountains of Africa, They were the last members of the Great Ape Family to be found. Therefore, ordinary people had no ideas about what real Gorillas were like.

The largest and most powerful of all living Primates, Gorilla is actually peaceful and sociable. His easy-going nature has made it possible for several groups of Gorillas to coexist peacefully in the same region. When a strange Gorilla appears, the eldest Gorilla (Silverback) hoots excitedly, building up to an ear splitting roar. Silverback Gorilla will charge but stops short of touching the intruder. This will usually frighten the other Gorilla away.

(Deinotheres, Elephants, Mammoths, and Mastodons)

Of the myriad Trunked Mammals who once roamed the earth, only African and Asian Elephants still remain today.  At one time, Proboscids (Trunked Mammals) lived everywhere except Antarctica and Australia.  Spreading from Africa where They originated, these Mammals flourished during the Miocene Period (from 20 million years ago (mya) to 5 mya).  Since many Proboscids were not immune to the cold, only a few survived the Ice Age.

There's very little about animal afterlife in heathen mythology, and it's all pretty tenuous. There is a vague idea of sea dogs on Nehellenia's boat, the dog and oar being two of her symbols, in addition to the cornucopia. Some consider her to be the same goddess as Zisa. The boat may be a symbol of the afterlife journey, that is, boat as psychopomp. That would be consistent with using boats in funerals and with making boat shaped graves, both of which are historical practices. So, a dog and boat depicted together could be interpreted to mean that dogs which traveled with warriors at sea accompany them to their afterlife. As I said, pretty tenuous. Unfortunately the written lore is only a tiny piece of what the ancients would have known.

I've always liked the idea of the multipartite soul from the moment I first read about it. The idea is that there are many parts to the soul, parts that can go on to an afterlife, parts that return in the family line or in someone named after one, parts that are recycled into something completely different, parts that just stop, in an individual sense, but go on everywhere else (breath, for example, just stops for the individual, but that doesn't affect the idea of breath, or anyone else's breath.) I don't know if animals are just like people in that way or not. I think they do have souls, though, based on my gnosis.