Babette de Jongh is a telepathic animal communicator, energy healer, Reiki Master, and award-winning romance writer. In this interview Babette tells MysticMag about her journey into energy healing, how she connects with animals and insights into her self-care routines.
Can you tell us a bit about your journey into energy healing and what inspired you to pursue this professionally?
My first experience with energy healing was as a client. I’d been pursuing my passion of romance writing, an occupation that takes a lot of self-motivation. My critique partner told me about a Body Talk practitioner who’d helped her overcome stress, worry, and procrastination. Great, I thought. Sign me up!
The first two sessions helped me to feel more relaxed, imparting a general sense of wellbeing that did result in increased productivity. The miraculous third session began exactly the same as the previous two. The practitioner used muscle-testing to identify and prioritize any miscommunications within the body, mind, and spirit. Then she used a tapping protocol to heal any broken or frayed lines of communication. Partway through the session, her muscle-testing identified a “female problem” I hadn’t told her about. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked.
“Well…” It hadn’t occurred to me that energy healing could do anything about the monthly drama I’d been dealing with my entire adult life. I’d been seriously considering a surgical procedure to freeze the lining of the uterus but couldn’t reconcile myself to the potential risks. “I didn’t know energy healing could help.” I had no idea it could work miracles.
Well, it could, and it did. The chronic physical disorder I’d been living with for decades simply disappeared. My cycle skipped a month then reset to the moon phase, a hardly-noticeable nuisance. This was a miracle. The more I thought about it, the more it blew me away. I’d experienced instant healing, just because some lady tapped on my forehead.
On my next appointment, I asked her how she’d become an energy healer. She hadn’t been struck by lightning and endowed with special powers; she’d taken classes. Miracle-making, it turned out, was a skill that could be learned. When she told me that energy healing could also assist in the ability to manifest your dreams and desires…. Well, I had to learn.
I took classes, studied, and began practicing my emerging skills on friends and family. Even some of my practice sessions yielded miracles, so I was excited to learn that even beginners can create miracles for themselves and others. I learned Matrix Energetics and Body Talk, became a Reiki Master, and got certified as a Body Talk Practitioner.
The professional part wasn’t planned. It just evolved because hey, if you can create miracles, word gets out, and it’s kind of stingy not to extend that superpower to help others.
What are the main services that you offer?
I offer energy healing and animal communication. But my greatest passion is teaching animal communication. I wrote Hear Them Speak, a Twelve-Week Course in Telepathic Animal Communication, to guide my students in an easy, step-by-step format. I also mentor students via online classes and a private forum on my website. Even as a romance author, I enjoy revealing to readers what it feels like to know what animals are thinking, and to see life from an animal’s perspective. If you’d like to check out my books, you can find them on amazon (https://www.amazon.com/author/babettedejongh).
Animal Communication: My animal communication clients send me a photo of their animal(s) along with a list of questions or concerns they’d like to address in my conversation with their companion(s). As I chat with the animal(s), I type up a transcript of the conversation, which I email to the client after the session is complete. If energy healing comes up as a priority in the communication session, I add that to the session free of charge. Then, we’ll do a follow-up call or email, in which the client can ask any further questions or clarify anything they didn’t understand. Sometimes, the knowledge gained by the first session will raise new questions. We take care of those in the follow-up.
If an animal family member is acting out, they may be symptom-bearers for an imbalance in the entire household. In that case, healing the animal without addressing the underlying issue is unlikely to provide lasting help. We attract others who exhibit our own patterns, so the best outcome is achieved when we all heal together. Sometimes, a client will decide to follow animal communication with energy healing for the whole family.
Energy Healing: I use a mix of the energy healing modalities I’ve learned plus some concepts of my own that have emerged through years of practice. Body Talk has the ability to pinpoint issues and direct healing on a granular level. It provides a detailed, comprehensive framework that allows me to identify and correct any miscommunication within the human/animal organism, whether the cause is physical, mental, emotional, energetic, spiritual, or situational. Any healing modality may be used as a plug-in during a session, or I may be directed to use one modality over another.
How it works: Using muscle-testing, either through direct contact with the client or through a surrogate (which could be the practitioner—me—working on behalf of my client remotely) I am able to connect with the innate wisdom of their body-mind-spirit. Muscle-testing asks, “What’s the highest priority?” In other words, which miscommunication within the organism (whether it’s an individual’s body or a family dynamic) is ready to be healed now? It’s not always the most visible or annoying issue.
Problems get stacked up, layer by layer, over time. It can happen over many years of unaddressed stress, an entire lifetime, or even multiple lifetimes. Unhealthy patterns are often passed down through generations—and it’s even possible that we are our own ancestors, members of a soul family reincarnating together time and time again. Either way, energy healing can go back in time to find and correct the imbalance.
While instant miracles of healing aren’t uncommon, most often, healing takes place in layers. It can be in symmetrical layers, like on onion. Or, it can be more like a game of Jenga, in which we pull out sticks one by one until we reach the foundational underpinning that topples the tower. Over time, energy healing targets each energetic element that holds patterns of dis-ease in place.
While every healing session gives us some relief, we won’t be free of the entire pattern until we’ve addressed the matrix of connection that holds it all together. That’s why I offer a package of four energy healing sessions to be done over a period of several weeks. My client and I keep in communication about any changes they notice, and any tweaks they want to make to the agenda. The trajectory of healing continues to unfold over time even after the sessions are done, so it’s good to take a break between each set of sessions to see how far the healing can go on its own steam before starting again.
Clients who stick with energy healing for a long time (taking breaks, but coming back whenever anything new crops up) respond more quickly, completely, and visibly to each session. Then, with each issue being addressed before it becomes entrenched, the client is able to move from overcoming problems to manifesting their desires and goals with greater ease. It’s very gratifying to watch my clients heal themselves and go on to create the lives they’ve always wanted.
Could you tell us about your experience of animal communication and how you connect with animals?
How I learned: I’ve been communicating with animals all my life, but like many animal communicators, I’d been convinced by my parents that I was just imagining things. But as an adult, I finally experienced a communication that proved to me beyond a doubt that animal communication was real. (I write about this on my website and in my book if you’re interested in the details.)
I determined then that I was going to learn how to command the skill rather than being blindsided by incoming communication when I least expected it. I read everything I could find on the subject of animal communication. I practiced daily; communicating with everything from ants to antelopes (I had free access to the Houston Zoo). I took classes from Penelope Smith—the pioneer of animal communication in the US—participating in beginning-level classes through the most advanced workshops she offered for professional animal communicators.
How I connect: With my own animals, communicating is just something we do, and once we perfect our connection, it’s no different than talking to a person and hearing them talk back. (My new dog, Pearl, still doesn’t quite get it, because she’s often too scared to have a clear mind that’s able to receive, but we’ll get there.)
When I communicate with a client’s animal, I put the animal’s image up on my computer screen, blown up large so I can stare into their eyes. I go into a meditative state, staring into the animal’s eyes until I feel a deep soul-to-soul connection. Then, I close my eyes, and I imagine the animal coming close to sit or stand in front of me. When I can “see” that, I know that the animal has chosen to make a connection.
My clients send several questions or concerns they’d like me to cover in the conversation with their animal. But unless the animal and I share an immediate rapport and they’re eager to tell me everything, I give the animal time to feel comfortable with me. It may take several get-to-know-you conversations over many days before an animal is ready to open up and tell me what’s on their mind or in their hearts. It takes as long as it takes, and I’m willing to spend the time.
I’ve been lucky to be able to chat with thousands of different animals over the years. I’m still surprised sometimes by the things they tell me! I’m always learning from my animal friends. I’m especially thrilled when our communication helps the animal and their family to solve difficult issues. Sometimes, a little understanding is all it takes to fix everything.
Any tips to share with pet parents who may be struggling to connect with their pets?
Keep it light. Have fun with it! Don’t try to communicate about anything heavy or emotionally charged until you’ve mastered the fun stuff. Better questions get better answers, so come up with a few fun questions to ask—questions you don’t already know the answers to. Like, “What would you be if you could be a different kind of animal?” or “What do you like (or hate) about being a dog, cat, whatever?” or “Who’s your best friend?” or “What’s your superpower?”
I’ve talked with a dog who wanted to be a fish, a dog who hated everything about being a dog and was determined to come back as a human baby in her next incarnation, a cat whose best friend was the squirrel outside her window, and a bird whose superpower was making her humans laugh.
If you’re not yet at the point of being able to hear or see what an animal is trying to tell you, just sit with them and share space. Imagine what it would feel like to be them. Ask them to meditate with you, or to show you what it feels like to be in their body. You might be surprised how easy it is to meditate with your animal companion and let them share their experience of having fur or feathers or scales. Tell your animal companions that you’re trying to learn, and ask them to help you. They will! Other animal communicators can be your mentors, but animals will always be your best teachers.
And as with any skill, continued study and practice is the only way to reach your highest potential. (I know of a book you might want to try…. 😉
Do you have any personal routines for self-care to conserve and protect your own energy?
I’m gonna admit right now that self-care is my biggest personal challenge. Like many energy workers and healers, I have a tendency to take on too much. I’m always only a footfall away from sliding down the slippery slope toward burn-out. I’m also a romance author, so as with all creatives, I have difficulty balancing creativity and productivity with the demands of real-life, including the ongoing drudgery of housework and yardwork and TCOB (taking care of business).
There’s also the added emotional burden that comes with being a wife and mother. It doesn’t matter whether your kids are four or forty, they never stop needing you. And husbands, well… even the good ones aren’t always worth their weight in gold.
I have it better than most, and I can’t dog-paddle hard enough to keep my chin above the waterline 100% of the time. Honestly, with life as complicated as it is these days, everyone I know struggles to make it to shore every now and again.
But here’s what I do to at least try to cope:
I write in a journal every morning. I try to do three pages of blah blah blah, but I do whatever I can and forgive myself when I can’t make that goal. (Self-forgiveness is a big component that allows me to live with myself.)
I do a half-hour of yoga and a few minutes of meditation every day. I’ve enlisted a friend to join me via Zoom for those sessions so I have accountability and am less likely to ditch yoga in favor of doing (or not doing) laundry. The free Zoom app gives us 40 minutes before it cuts us off, so that’s about right. I’d be in danger of bowing out of any daily commitment that lasts longer than that. If we get cut off during the meditation at the end, we finish on our own and reconnect again the next day.
If I overcommit my time and energy and hit a wall, I make the decision to bow out of life for a few days. (I call it going underground, and that’s what it feels like to me, burrowing under the earth and huddling there until it feels safe to poke my head out.) I turn off the computer, silence the phone, ignore everything that needs doing, and spend time just being.
Sometimes that means binge-watching my favorite series that I’ve already seen a dozen times. It can also mean reading (or re-reading) a good book, working in the garden, painting, or making pottery. Whatever it means, I give myself permission to do it, guilt-free. I remind myself that every day is a chance to do better, and if I can’t do better during the day, every night offers another chance to forgive myself for being human.
I am lucky to have friends I can talk to whenever I need to vent, and I’m ready to return the favor, because you have to be a friend to have one. I’m not too proud to enlist the help of a licensed therapist when I need one, either. Talking to an educated psychologist and a neutral counselor is an invaluable resource, and finding the right person to guide you through a rough patch isn’t anything to be ashamed of. In fact, it means you’re brave enough to do what you need to do to help yourself.
And even though I’m an energy healer myself, I seek help from trusted friends when I don’t feel objective enough to help myself. On my website, I offer info and links to energy healers and animal communicators I trust. I may not be the right helper for you or your animal companions, but I’m always willing to assist you in finding the right healers and communicators for you and yours.
Life can be hard, y’all, but it’s always easier if we have a supportive community to belong to. I’ve tried to make my website a gathering place where spiritual seekers can come to meet one another and find help when they need it. I hope you’ll visit there soon, even if it’s just to lurk and poke around. There are a lot of fun rabbit holes to explore if you have time.
Even if you don’t have time, maybe you need to give yourself permission to do something different for a while!
I hope you’ll come and visit with me and my friends at https://www.BabettedeJongh.com.
