According to Marcie Draheim, intuitive animal communicator, certified hypnotherapist and reiki master, telepathic energy communication with animals – when boiled down to its most generic form – is “just quantum physics.”
In the mind of Draheim, who grew up “very much in an animal advocacy family,” the connection between animal communication and quantum physics relates to the principle of “that which is like itself, is drawn in.”
“It’s your intuition, it's your gut feeling,” Draheim said. “You know how you picture someone, and then they're calling? That's basically how animals communicate, through the five senses. Telepathy, at a very basic description, is talking with intuition.”
Draheim has been working in pet communication, mostly via an online business presence, since 2012, and said she has served hundreds of clients – both human and animal, as well as local and national – since she began her practice.
Before Draheim moved into intuitive energy work, she was involved in the business and psychology fields, rubbing elbows with the likes of Jeff Bezos in the early days of Amazon and working as a certified counselor at both a safehouse for battered women, and within a court ordered placement home for delinquent adolescent boys. But, Draheim said, those career paths just weren’t for her.
“I think my clients were ultimately, for me, meant to be animals,” she said.
Draheim trained in intuitive animal communication with Penelope Smith, known in the animal communication field as the “godmother of intuitive animal communication.”
She also trained with several other animal communication teachers, some of whom, such as Carol Gurney of the Gurney Institute of Animal Communication, have published literature on the concept of intuitive animal communication.
Over the course of her work and training, Draheim has worked with dogs, cats, horses and even fish – but says hedgehogs are a favorite to communicate with, because of their “good sense of humor.”
Her work primarily involves meeting with pet owners and their pets, over the phone or in person, and acting as a bridge facilitating communication between the two, either in response to behavioral issues or conflicts; during a period of hospice for an animal; or stemming from a simple desire from a pet owner to understand their animal better.
“Sometimes, I have clients that I work with call me up and say, ‘Marcie, we’re having a human baby. How do we make this work out?’” Draheim said. “Or, ‘we’re moving to a different state – I need to know how Rover feels about this, and how we can make it a success for him.’”
She said communications from animals can take on a range of forms.
“Animals do communicate through pictures, through sounds, sometimes words, and through feelings,” Draheim said. “And then animal communication teaches people how to interpret and translate that, basically, into language that humans understand.”
She said her initial communications with animals can be abstract, but after “sitting with it” for a moment, the messages form into interpreted words in her mind.
“After years of experience, it just kind of happens automatically,” she said. “I tend to hear things more with my intuition, or feel them versus seeing them first, then my intuition comes in words, which makes it a little bit easier to communicate with pet parents.”
Carla Marie Toth, who owns the Life in Flow Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine clinic in town, has been a client of Draheim’s for several years.
Toth asked Draheim for help communicating with her 9-year-old dog, Dusty Bottoms, during a period of anxiety and physical pain while Dusty was recovering from surgery. Toth said after a conversation between herself, Marcie and Dusty, Dusty the dog agreed to pursue chiropractic for his injuries, and is now back on his feet and feeling good.
“We really had a long discussion on what he needed for recovery, and what he was willing to do and not do, and now we’re back up to walking six miles on the weekends,” Toth said. “He was also really anxious, and that’s calmed down quite a bit.”
Toth prefers to keep an open mind about animal communication services, especially given the positive effects she saw in Dusty after working with Draheim.
“Marcie is just so connected to animals, and all kinds of things are possible that our minds want to convince us aren’t," she said.
Draheim feels a key to successful pet communication is for a pet parent to be readily involved in communication attempts, like Toth was with Dusty – much like attending a therapy session with a family member.
“It’s a lot of negotiation between the pet parent and the pet to fulfill both of their needs related to whatever the situation is,” Draheim said. “It feels like sometimes I am a counselor, translator and negotiator, and I’m thrilled to be in that position. It’s nice to be able to use that psych degree.”
She really starts to have fun – and especially feels like she takes on a counseling position – when multiple animals from the same household are involved in a session.
“It’s much like siblings. And cats especially, they’ll rat out the dog immediately,” Draheim said. “A client will call me, usually for a dog issue, like, ‘My dog is doing blah, blah, blah.’ And then I’ll be like, ‘do you want to know what the cat thinks?’”
She is aware that some might be skeptical of her work.
“I would (implore people to) study it themselves, because there’s a whole bunch of ideas out there that people have, good or bad, that come about just because they really don’t know anything about it,” Draheim said. “A common misconception is that it’s a foo, foo, fake, bunch-of-bull-crap, woo-woo pet psychic thing, and that I’m making money off of people’s fears.”
Cost and logistics of animal communication services
Draheim said phone or text sessions are possible with pets and pet parents, as she says she does not need to be in the same physical space as an animal to communicate telepathically. Initial sessions are at a fixed price point – usually between $60 to $200, depending on the length of time – and returning clients are charged by the minute for briefer check-ins.
For more information, visit www.marciedraheim.com.
The concept of an animal being “cured” by Draheim’s services, without the presence of Western medicine or vet care, is another common misunderstanding in her line of work, she said.
“It is not a cure. It does not replace Western medicine in any capacity,” Draheim said. “It’s like going to a chiropractor and wanting them to reset your broken leg. There’s parameters and boundaries around it, and it’s very much complementary to other modalities of healing, like veterinary work.”
Overall, intuitive animal work feels like a calling to Draheim.
“I think we have multiple purposes throughout our lifetime, and this is one of mine,” she said. “I think that’s why I feel so great doing it. I feel energized afterwards, versus feeling drained. It’s a passion of mine.”
A portion of the population inevitably remaining skeptical of the legitimacy of her work is OK with her, she said.
“Everybody goes to different sources and people for different things,” Draheim said. “It’s all individual-based. So, if you don’t believe in it, find something that works for you. No harm, no foul.”
Multiple veterinary and animal care sources in La Plata County declined to provide insights or comment about the practice of animal communication.
epond@durangoherald.com
