Listening for Whispers of Love

Linda Roberts is a lifelong animal lover who has an innate ability to communicate with animals big and small. As a teacher, reiki master and shaman, she works with people and their companions to heal their past and present and live healthy, enjoyable lives. She uses her gift to help them move through a number of issues, including behavioral problems, bonding, location changes, end-of-life transitions and general wellness. Roberts feels called to teach and lead people, and started Whispers of Love to help others become as connected as possible.

How did you realize you have a gift to communicate with animals?

Animal communication is a sixth sense that we all have, you just need to know how to turn it on and listen to it. Meditation and mindfulness help tremendously, and I also teach others how to turn this sense on. I’ve always loved animals and felt a bond with them. After my mother died, I went on a spiritual quest and realized that I was picking up messages from the animals around me. Now I communicate with all animals, from insects to whales. I interact with wildlife and domesticated companions. They don’t even have to still be on this Earth—I’m able to communicate with animals that have moved on. They communicate with me either through the third eye or the heart chakra. I describe it as one soul speaking to another.

What kind of issues do you address with your clients?

I assist people with developing strong relationships and bonds with their animal companions. A lot of this has to do with behavioral issues, anxiety, medical concerns, pain thresholds and end-of-life issues. People come to me to find out why their cat isn’t using the litter box or their dog is baring his teeth at the children. The animals communicate directly with me. Sometimes they use images or feelings to get a message across. If a cat isn’t eating and I’m trying to find out why, it might put a sensation of pain into my gallbladder. From there, we can diagnose the problem. I also volunteer at a forest preserve where I work with animals like snakes, tarantulas, turtles and raptors. I help them adjust to their environment and make sure they feel safe.

What can we learn from our animals?

Animals will often choose their humans, although we think it’s the other way around. When I do past-life explorations with people and their companions, many times the pair have been together in a past life, whether that was as parent and child or in another relationship. An animal’s behavior often alerts me to a situation in their home where maybe the human isn’t meeting the animal’s needs. Many animals I communicate with think their human companions are too stressed out and not managing it in a healthy way. It’s normal for our lives to have stress, but how you cope with it is important. Go for a walk. Get some exercise. Meditate. Animals are grounded in their bodies and their hearts, and humans are too in their heads. If we aimed to lead a more heart-centered life, we’d be a lot happier.

How can others tune into their sixth sense?

We have so many distractions in our life it can be difficult to quiet our minds and pay attention to the energy around us. Meditation, especially a moving or walking meditation, can help with this. Energy isn’t constrained by time or space, so it’s very normal to be able to communicate with beings that have left this Earth or live in another country. I don’t believe that anything happens by accident or coincidence. We use our intuition all the time, whether that’s choosing a table at a coffee shop or buying a house. The more we can pay attention to that, the more we’re living with intention. We need to try to practice love and compassion towards all beings and treat each other with kindness. A little goes a long way.

Whispers of Love is located in Lake Forest. For more information, call 312-231-5607 or visit TheWhispersOfLove.com. See ad in the Community Resource Guide.

Carrie Jackson is an Evanston-based writer and frequent contributor to Natural Awakenings magazine. Connect with her at CarrieJacksonWrites.com