When I was a kid, Chicoan Cara Gubbins writes on her website (caragubbins.com), I dreamed of being Dr. Doolittle when I grew up. In 2010, my dream came true when I started doing Animal Intuitive and Pet Medium Readings bridging the communication gap between pets and people.

Her story is told in Divine Beings: The Spiritual Lives And Lessons Of Animals ($12.95 in paperback from CreateSpace; also for Amazon Kindle). In a conversational tone Gubbins describes her quest to reconcile her scientific training as a biologist (with a doctorate in ecology, evolution and conservation biology from the University of Nevada, Reno) with her growing awareness of the spirituality of non-human animals.

Comparing notes with her friend Ellery, a nurse who also happens to be a psychic that is able to talk to animals, they found when they each independently talked to dozens of birds, insects, mammals and reptiles asking our own questions of the animals or focusing in on our own intuitive information and awareness, there was almost complete agreement.

Ten chapters are devoted to spiritual messages shared by animals, from dogs and cats to a gray whale, snake, a bottlenose dolphin, and, perhaps most interestingly, a little brown bat. Gubbins asks the animals three questions: What is your spiritual lesson? What is your spiritual gift? What message do you have for humans? Each chapter presents biological information, how the animals have been portrayed in mythology, and, in some cases, a myth-busting message.

Babylonian mythology said bats represented the souls of the dead. For bats, though, the story is about selfless surrender to the group. My personal message from the bats (my interpretation of their message to my own life) is to stop isolating myself, to share myself openly with friends, family and community.

The final chapter is on Gubbins own message. We are love, she writes. We are all connected. We are one.

The author will have a booth at the Walk, Woof, Wag fundraiser for the Chico Animal Shelter Medical Fund, Saturday, Sept. 16 at One Mile in lower Bidwell Park. Shell offer intuitive pet readings for a $10 donation to the fund.

Dan Barnett teaches philosophy at Butte College. Send review requests to dbarnett99@me.com. Columns archived at http://dielbee.blogspot.com.

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Biblio File: Chico author taps into animal spirituality - Oroville Mercury Register