Herd Animals: "What Purpose Do We Serve?"

We often look at Animals in a Herd as being one large Energetic fingerprint. Yet we wouldn't dream of looking at a Herd of humans in the same way with our diversity that screams to be noticed. So we say "It's a Herd of cows" rather than "It's a herd of Cows." We emphasize the wrong word which makes all the difference in the world to them. If you share your life with a herd of any Animal, from Chicken to Goat to Sheep or Cow, they are also individual sentient beings. And their singular question of "What purpose do we/I serve" deserves a full and transparent answer. 

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I'm Lizanne Flynn. I'm a master healer who holds space for any Earthling as they reunite body and soul. I am a bridge for relationships between all species so that 

the heart bond becomes stronger, deeper, and more loving. I serve in the roles of animal communicator, medium, and medical intuitive, and I use the tools of shamanic journeying and soul retrieval 

to support all Earthlings in their recovery from past trauma. I'm certified as a Reiki Master Teacher and canine massage therapist. This is the Animals' iView podcast.

Happy almost St. Patrick's Day, everyone, and as my sainted mother used to say "If you're lucky enough to be Irish, you're lucky enough." So to all the FBIs out there - full-blooded-Irish that is - and even those who claim partial lineage with the Irish, however small, I would say as my sainted father used to say "Erin go bragh" which translated as Ireland forever. This coming weekend if you happen to find yourself in a drinking establishment even if that's your living room, I encourage you to change your "cheers"  or "here's mud in your eye" as you toast yourself or your Animals or whomever to "Slainte" spelled way differently than it sounds - and while you're at it, add the "go bragh" on the end. So you'll be saying "To your health forever". On less formal occasions, a plain "Slainte" will suffice - "to your health". Sure and it doesn't need to be an alcoholic drink at all, it can be tea or coffee soda pop juice, or good old-fashioned h2O. To your health forever seems like it comes straight from the Animals themselves, right?

On a personal note, if I haven't shared before, I was granted dual Irish citizenship in 2023 with the process being complete when I received my Irish passport. I'm second generation Irish born in the US and pretty much FBI on both sides of my family going back to the 1600s of at least what's been charted on my mom's side and on my dad's side, it was that grandfather from whose coattails I was able to ride and get my FBR - foreign birth registration which means you're an Irish citizen born somewhere else than Ireland. It wasn't too long of a process and once you get all of the paperwork in hand to prove lineage like birth and death certificates, marriage certificates, etc. you're - as the saying goes - in like Flynn, give or take a few bureaucratic hiccups. My dad used to wake my siblings and me up at o'dark thirty on St. Patrick's Day with Irish music played loudly and progressively earlier as we were in high school. Then we'd go eat at my aunt's house, his sister's house nearby, and not usually corn beef and cabbage although a green-colored dessert was usually on hand. As I've gotten older my Irish citizenship has given me a better window as I've mentioned before into my dad's childhood with both of his parents having immigrated over from Ireland, both of them in their teens which I shudder to think any teenager capable of something like that now. 

There was a meme I posted about ancestral heritage recently where in a cartoon, a guy was walking along whistling a happy tune and looking really carefree. It was from a FB page I like, Follies of God and the caption was "The guy who didn't know his cholesterol, his BMI, his net worth his IQ, his credit score, his astrological sign, or his ancestry." I posted in reply - "how could you NOT know your astrological sign or your ancestry?" The broader perspective of the last two from the standpoint of Energy is that your soul path flows through lifetimes in which you get to choose ancestry and around which - astrology - that human experience is mapped. They are both meant not to be defined as to soul path or soul Energy, they're merely a different Animal on the carousel ride or a different car on the roller coaster ride that you have on good old planet Earth. We get into trouble of course when we start to become tribal and exclusionary about either and certainly more about lineage and how our lineage is based on being treated differently usually worse by other lineages throughout time. Certainly, the Irish have a long memory of their subjugation by Britain and their unending desire to be an independent country free from what's referred to as "the troubles" not unlike Israel and Palestine or any other two countries throughout history or two peoples throughout history. We are far less inclined to be unified in this duality through partnership and balance and yet we call Animals small letter "a" animal referring to behavior that appears to be savage and primitive. The Animals capital A would respond with "What's more savage and primitive than killing members of your species because you are unable to embrace them as being your family?" Point taken I think. 

Beyond the cultural differences we perceive between our ethnic lineage and another's as far as traditions go and familial relations and customs, this diversity also extends to our relationship with Animals at large starting with companion Animals and extending to herd Animals. Some cultures have the ritualistic killing of sentient beings such as Dolphin, while others revere herd Animals such as Cow or Pig for religious purposes such as in India where most Hindus share the belief that slaughtering cows is sacrilegious. Thus protected, cows have multiplied to the point that India has more cattle—over 300m, according to the United States Department of Agriculture—than any other country. Pig is considered to be an unclean Animal in Jewish tradition in addition to their not being a ruminant meaning a chewing Animal and so is not considered "kosher" meaning fitting within the laws of Judaism. I don't know why they're considered unclean other than how we perceive them as rolling in the mud because even piglets will leave the area where they usually eat to defecate in another area, sort of like an outhouse inside the pen itself. From the Energy of these relationships that we define for them, the Herd Animals on the planet and I would include Horse, Sheep, Alpaca, Llama, and Goat (to name a few) along with Pig and Cow in this group, flow our actions to a great extent and theirs to a much lesser extent. We often don't think of Herd Animals as being sentient individually along the same lines as we do our Cats and Dogs and Birds and Bearded Dragons (gotta always include this last one!) yet we do perceive what we call the herd instinct and herd behavior of how they move as a group rather than as individuals. The dictionary would define it as the tendency of the people in a group to think and behave in ways that conform with others in the group rather than as individuals. The human Animal is also a herd Animal and at the same time an apex predator of other prey Animals, such as Cow, Pig, Sheep, Llama, Alpaca, etc. It is only our evolution as human Animal that has allowed us to not be herded ourselves which of course we think we aren't and which of course we can be, case in point, politics and our socio-economic standards and norms for ourselves and not for anyone else especially if we're on the top. It's not a stretch, I think, that we can think of ourselves as predating on others of our species as prey given the lack of equity among all our species' members. 

When I've talked with other Herd Animals before it's clear that they like being in at least two if not more because they recognize themselves as prey Animals. They know that their life paths are better and more sustainable the greater their numbers and just not alone, thank you very much. They are also very much attuned to being "of service" and without getting into the human-centric veganism philosophy, they understand and embrace at a very deep level exactly who they and their offspring are to our species. Whether that service flows from knowing their bodies and parts of their bodies are used to nourish our bodies, another apex predator, they also know that our relationship with them has gotten really out of hand in terms of our being able to answer their question - "what purpose do we serve?" Because in order for us to answer that question of what purpose do we serve means we'd have to confront our use of them and of their bodies by us in increasingly and exponentially diabolical ways and yes, I do mean to use a word associated with a belief system held by a majority of humans that means the deepest known contrast. As I've often quoted Sir David Attenborough saying - "humans are a plague upon the planet" most Herd Animals in service to us would agree. There is no longer the one-to-one relationship between predator and prey of a farmer who may own (keyword) 10-20 cows and a bull that he might use to feed his own family and use the Animal body parts to barter from the Pig farmer or the Chicken farmer to get what he needs for his family. In other words, enough. I may cut this branch off behind me in going out so far on this limb but when our species numbers began to overwhelm available resources and we began to factory farm and use pesticides and all other sorts of "evils" upon members of our own family we began to erode the link between their lives and ours. Between our asking "What purpose do I serve" as true beings of service on the planet to all others that we began to steal the soul from future generations of our offspring and their not knowing how to view prey from the vantage point of predator in a partnership way and how to balance out what you needed and to then balance out the needs of the sentient beings who supported your needs. Just as other Animals who are both predator and prey on the planet do and hey, here's a news flash - we're not that special except in our human-centric world. You know - it's my world and they all know me there and so they accept my craziness. "As if" I'm hearing all the Herd Animals say.

I was able to visit Ireland over 10 years ago and really want to go back if not perhaps move there at some point in time. I felt so at home and welcomed by the Irish people and I heard the exclamations of my relatives just as our plane touched down, a welcoming message of "you're finally here, welcome home, lass!" When touring Ireland I was struck by a couple of things. We'd see these houses not really in neighborhoods as I know them but a bit scattered here and there and they'd usually have between 2-4 sheep grazing in their front yard. It was the wildest thing! Naturally, there might also be a dog or a cat near the front porch as well and I'd think - "what do these people do for a living to have a house like this with 2-3 sheep and have it seem like no one was at home?" "Where do they work?!" I haven't a clue what they do with their Sheep and whether they're used for wool-gathering or maybe kept as companion Animals, I just don't know. There was something about the small numbers that called to mind an ancestry of people who had what they needed and considered themselves lucky to have these Herd Animals that supported their lives. Where each new birth was something exciting and each death was a loss perhaps of potential income yet it was also a loss of family because it was a family. These Animals were considered family and their names were known they were cared for and their purposes in life were honored nurtured and fulfilled. It's a slippery slope I think when we perceive from a human perspective that these Animals don't have feelings or thoughts and that we look at them as being objects and as less than us because they're one of a herd of maybe hundreds or thousands. And I don't think they want to be anthropomorphized either with our thoughts and emotions because their ancestry is gilded, y'all. It is eons in the making and as deep as the sea because their sole question of what purpose do I serve is so singular. When was the last time you asked yourself - what purpose do I serve - in any relationship let alone from prey to predator? When you're that vulnerable and at the same time so very, crystal clear about your life path that you rise up and out of human Animal experience to see the big picture? While you might not have hundreds or thousands of Herd Animals you might have several chickens, some Geese or Duck, a few Horses, or maybe an Alpaca or Llama or Goat. You might see them as doing things for you and they do and you may even expect them to continue. You might also consider answering their question "What purpose do I serve". Like - "I use your eggs to feed my family and I sell them to support my family." Hey - they know who they are and they know who you are. You aren't doing them any favors by shying away from your apex predator role with them, that's a true disservice. You can say "Horse, I like that you're here with me so that I can climb on your back and you can take me places to see things I might not get a chance to see". That honestly will be fine with Horse because they know who they are and perhaps, you do not see the bigger picture. The more honest you can be about what purpose they serve the smoother and easier your relationship will be with them because especially in the predator and prey dance, transparency is the best policy. We're just the only ones who don't acknowledge that and at least, that's how the Animals see it. 

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This has been the Animals' iView podcast - I'll see you next time.