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Joni Mayhan – A Cat Named George · Vox Novus with Victor Fuhrman

0:05
Speaker 1: Vox Novus, the New Voice, Vox Novus, the New Dimension,
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Speaker 1: Vox Novus thought and movement leaders who will share from
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Speaker 1: their experience and offer tools to help us navigate our
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Speaker 1: rapidly changing world. My name is Victor Furman. Welcome to
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Speaker 1: Vox Novus, the New Voice. Many of us love our
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Speaker 1: animal companions, but if you are truly blessed, you may
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Speaker 1: see in your pet an almost human soul and level
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Speaker 1: of awareness. My guest this week on Vox Novus, Joni Mahan,
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Speaker 1: had the blessing and a beautiful black cat named George.
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Speaker 1: Joni Mayhan is a parent, normal investigator and the author
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Speaker 1: of twenty five books. She lives in the queintown of
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Speaker 1: New Harmony, Indiana, where she owns and operates Haunted New
1:09
Speaker 1: Harmony Ghost Walks and Investigations. She shares her home with
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Speaker 1: five feelines and a rescue dog named Holly. She joins
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Speaker 1: me this week to share her latest book about a
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Speaker 1: special cat that touched her life and the lives of
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Speaker 1: many others, a cat named George. Please join me in
1:30
Speaker 1: welcoming to Vox Novis. Joni Maheon, Hi Jody.
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Speaker 2: I'm Victor, so good to talk to you again.
1:37
Speaker 1: Absolutely, we had the pleasure of meeting at a paranormal
1:40
Speaker 1: convention several years ago and have been friends ever since.
1:43
Speaker 1: Please share with our listeners your early path and your
1:46
Speaker 1: first experience with the paranormal.
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Speaker 2: Well, you know, I was born a medium, and it
1:53
Speaker 2: was something that I didn't really embrace until I was
1:55
Speaker 2: a full grown adult. But as a child, I knew
1:59
Speaker 2: when there was something nearby, and things would move in
2:03
Speaker 2: my room when my mother would turn off the light
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Speaker 2: at night, and I just knew there was something there.
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Speaker 2: And you know, it started as early as I want
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Speaker 2: to say, probably four years old. I saw my first apparition.
2:17
Speaker 2: When I was about seven, we had moved into a
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Speaker 2: new house that my father built on land that had
2:24
Speaker 2: never been built on before, and there was a ghost
2:27
Speaker 2: there and there's still a ghost there. My dad still
2:30
Speaker 2: owns that house, and it would torment me and I
2:34
Speaker 2: would always have There were certain areas in the house
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Speaker 2: that I did not like, and I couldn't explain why
2:42
Speaker 2: I didn't like them, but they gave me a sense
2:44
Speaker 2: of fear. And one of them was the long staircase
2:47
Speaker 2: that led up to the second floor, and if I
2:49
Speaker 2: had to go upstairs, which is where all of our
2:51
Speaker 2: bedrooms were, I'd race up those stairs as fast as
2:54
Speaker 2: I could and get to my bedroom. Well, one night
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Speaker 2: I was having a dream, and in the dream there
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Speaker 2: was a ghost that was trying to chase me, and
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Speaker 2: it kept telling me if you don't, if you don't
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Speaker 2: come to me, I will take your sister, you know,
3:12
Speaker 2: or I will take your family. And I kept trying
3:17
Speaker 2: to escape from him. And then I woke up in
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Speaker 2: a panic, and I looked up and there was an apparition,
3:24
Speaker 2: a shadowy apparition in my doorway. And a lot of
3:27
Speaker 2: people describe apparitions as being white. This was black. And
3:32
Speaker 2: it came into the room and it kept coming. It
3:34
Speaker 2: was very slowly, like it was biting its time, like
3:37
Speaker 2: it was trying to build up the tension. And it
3:40
Speaker 2: finally came to the side of my bed and stood
3:42
Speaker 2: right beside me, and I was pretty much frozen with beer.
3:45
Speaker 2: I wasn't sleep paralysis because I could move. But finally
3:49
Speaker 2: I managed to scream out for my mother in the
3:52
Speaker 2: minute she started coming in. It just disappeared. But those
3:56
Speaker 2: things continue to happen in that house as well. And
3:59
Speaker 2: as I got older, I discovered that every house I
4:02
Speaker 2: moved into or lived in was haunted, and nobody really
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Speaker 2: believed me. They thought I had an active imagination, which
4:10
Speaker 2: I did, you know, I'll give them that, But what
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Speaker 2: I was experiencing was very real and I couldn't explain it.
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Speaker 2: So I just quit talking about it. Because I was
4:19
Speaker 2: already being bullied quite a bit as a youngster, and
4:24
Speaker 2: being separated from them by something as strange as seeing
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Speaker 2: ghosts or feeling ghosts would make me even more of
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Speaker 2: an outcast. So I just started not talking about it.
4:34
Speaker 2: And it really took me until I was in my
4:38
Speaker 2: twenties before I really realized what was going on, or
4:41
Speaker 2: really maybe I didn't embrace it. I was terrified of it.
4:45
Speaker 2: We moved into our first house after I was married,
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Speaker 2: and that house was haunted as well. And it wasn't
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Speaker 2: until I was in my forties that I said, all right, enough,
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Speaker 2: you know, knowledge is power. I'm going to learn as
5:00
Speaker 2: much as I can about this and put aside the
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Speaker 2: fear and really stand up to what's going on. And
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Speaker 2: I joined a paranormal group and started working with my
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Speaker 2: mediumship abilities with my friend Sandy McLoud, who you know
5:15
Speaker 2: as well. She was also going through it at the
5:18
Speaker 2: same time. So it took us a while, but we
5:21
Speaker 2: started getting better and better and able to identify where
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Speaker 2: the ghost was in the room, what they looked like,
5:28
Speaker 2: what their intent was, And that's kind of you know
5:31
Speaker 2: where I am now. I'm still to that point. I
5:34
Speaker 2: could probably get better, but I've had a lot of
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Speaker 2: really terrifying paranormal encounters over the years, which I've written
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Speaker 2: about in a lot of my books, so I kind
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Speaker 2: of hesitate.
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Speaker 1: It's really interesting because I didn't realize we had very
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Speaker 1: similar childhoods where I had similar Age four or five
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Speaker 1: was my first visual contact, and then age seven, my grandfather,
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Speaker 1: my paternal grandfather. It was in my room. I didn't
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Speaker 1: see him come in. I said, where'd you come from, Grandpa.
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Speaker 1: He didn't say a word and just smiled, and then
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Speaker 1: he disappeared, and I went into the living room and
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Speaker 1: told my parents that Grandpa was just here, and they
6:11
Speaker 1: said I was imagining things again, and a couple of
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Speaker 1: minutes later, the phone rang with word of his passing. So, yeah,
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Speaker 1: you had very very similar last I didn't realize how
6:20
Speaker 1: similar our backgrounds were.
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Speaker 2: That is really interesting.
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Speaker 1: You share that you are Claire Audience and there's always
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Speaker 1: a ghost in your house. Please describe what your Clare
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Speaker 1: audience is like and the messages that you hear.
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Speaker 2: Well. Claire audience is in Latin clear hearing, and different
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Speaker 2: people experience these different ways. For me, it's a sound
6:44
Speaker 2: similar to either ear ringing or white noise, and it's
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Speaker 2: always in one ear or the other, it's never in both.
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Speaker 2: And if I turned my head, I can track to
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Speaker 2: where the sound is coming from, and if I tune
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Speaker 2: into that. I always think of my Claire audience as
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Speaker 2: my gateway. It's like the doorbell, you know, hello, ghost
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Speaker 2: is here, And if I tune into it, I'm able
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Speaker 2: to begin pulling more information. And I find that I'm
7:16
Speaker 2: especially accurate when I write. So if I take you know,
7:21
Speaker 2: if I take pen and paper and start writing down
7:23
Speaker 2: what's coming to me, which is almost this type of
7:27
Speaker 2: automatic writing, I'll pick up more and more and more things.
7:32
Speaker 2: So that's what my Claire audience looks like.
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Speaker 1: You've written more than twenty five books, including your twenty
7:39
Speaker 1: sixteen release Ghost Magnet, in which you share why the
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Speaker 1: spirits they're attracted to you? Why are you a ghost magnet?
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Speaker 2: You know, I still go back and forth on this.
7:50
Speaker 2: I've asked a lot of psychic mediums. I've asked my
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Speaker 2: own spirit guides there is something about me that they
7:56
Speaker 2: find irresistible. And I've had different people tell me that
7:59
Speaker 2: my energy is very pure and very white, like my
8:04
Speaker 2: auras white. I actually just had somebody tell me that
8:07
Speaker 2: the other day. They said, wow, you have such a
8:09
Speaker 2: white aura, and I, you know, really don't know why
8:13
Speaker 2: that would attract them, but it's almost like, you know,
8:16
Speaker 2: I am a ghost magnet. If there's a ghost anywhere nearby,
8:20
Speaker 2: it's going to come to me. So I used to
8:22
Speaker 2: do house walkthroughs for people, just to give them information
8:26
Speaker 2: about what was haunting their house. But what I found
8:29
Speaker 2: happened was whatever was there followed me home. So they
8:34
Speaker 2: were delighted they no longer had a ghost, but now
8:36
Speaker 2: I did. So yeah, it's been you know, and they
8:40
Speaker 2: haven't always been good ghost. I mean lately they've been better.
8:45
Speaker 2: But you know, back really when I knew you, or
8:48
Speaker 2: when we met at that para con and during that
8:52
Speaker 2: period of time, I think we even went to an
8:54
Speaker 2: investigation together at one point, and yeah, I know we
8:58
Speaker 2: did because I learned a lot from you. But that's
9:00
Speaker 2: when I, you know, was really pulling in the really
9:03
Speaker 2: dark ones. And you told me something at an investigation
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Speaker 2: that has stuck with me since that point, and this
9:09
Speaker 2: has been a long time. We were investigating somebody's house
9:15
Speaker 2: and there were a bunch of us there. You were there,
9:18
Speaker 2: I say, and he was there. But anyways, we were
9:21
Speaker 2: in the basement and that's where they had always identified
9:24
Speaker 2: there being a really negative ghost, and so we went
9:28
Speaker 2: down there and everything I knew, you know, I knew
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Speaker 2: not to, you know, try to provoke it, because I
9:36
Speaker 2: don't believe in that, but some of the others in
9:39
Speaker 2: the group were coming a little bit, becoming a little
9:42
Speaker 2: bit negative towards him, and you said, all anger stems
9:47
Speaker 2: from hurt and something must have happened to him in
9:51
Speaker 2: his life to make him be this way and to
9:55
Speaker 2: show him some compassion, and that's exactly what we did,
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Speaker 2: and then we start learning more about his story, and
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Speaker 2: it was really I've carried that with me since that point.
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Speaker 2: Every time we come to a negative haunting, I think
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Speaker 2: about what Victor Furrman told me.
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Speaker 1: So thank you well, thank you for sharing that, and
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Speaker 1: also thank you for adapting that principle, because I believe
10:16
Speaker 1: that when you're talking to a spirit, if there was
10:18
Speaker 1: a person standing in front of you, you wouldn't address
10:20
Speaker 1: them the way that some of these paranormal investigators addressed
10:23
Speaker 1: the spirits. You would address them with compassion and with
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Speaker 1: dignity and a bit of respect. And that's always been
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Speaker 1: my format when working with disembodied spirit But thank you
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Speaker 1: for sharing that. Just to get back to the question
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Speaker 1: of children having experiences, what would you say to parents
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Speaker 1: of children who are reporting of these type of contacts
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Speaker 1: and experiences.
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Speaker 2: Well, actually, I have already worked with quite a few children,
10:51
Speaker 2: you know, since that point, and what I tell them
10:55
Speaker 2: is to, you know, for them to learn as much
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Speaker 2: as they can about mediumship and and what's going on
11:02
Speaker 2: so that they're able to help their child. And I
11:07
Speaker 2: had a local friend whose house was always having hauntings
11:10
Speaker 2: and some of them were quite scary, and she had
11:13
Speaker 2: a six year old daughter. Well, the mother was the
11:16
Speaker 2: mother's a medium and she passed it down to a daughter.
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Speaker 2: So her daughter was starting to pull in things ghosts,
11:22
Speaker 2: and I was standing, you know, I went in and
11:26
Speaker 2: did a walk through and I identified that a lot
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Speaker 2: of the activity, the strongest place in the room was
11:31
Speaker 2: the child's closet, and I, you know, I started pulling
11:36
Speaker 2: in some information, but not a lot that I felt
11:38
Speaker 2: like that was where the ghost really kind of hid,
11:41
Speaker 2: and you know, and she would back that up as
11:44
Speaker 2: soon as I told her that. I always go in
11:45
Speaker 2: and I'd say, don't tell me anything, because I don't,
11:47
Speaker 2: you know, once I want to go in with a
11:49
Speaker 2: clear slate. If they tell me there's a ghost in
11:51
Speaker 2: the closet, that's all I'm going to think about. So
11:53
Speaker 2: I didn't know anything. And then afterwards she said, well, yeah,
11:56
Speaker 2: that's you know, every night she wakes up and says
11:58
Speaker 2: there's something in her closet. So I pulled the child
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Speaker 2: in and I taught her how to ground and shield,
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Speaker 2: which I think is a really important thing for everybody
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Speaker 2: to learn. Mediumship or not grounding really as a release
12:13
Speaker 2: of any energy that doesn't serve you. And I taught
12:17
Speaker 2: her how to do that, and then I taught her
12:18
Speaker 2: how to make a bubble of protection around her using
12:21
Speaker 2: white light. And she did that and she and all
12:26
Speaker 2: of a sudden, you know, I'm hearing the ghost with
12:28
Speaker 2: my clare audience, And as she did it, it was
12:32
Speaker 2: like somebody turned the volume down and then pop, it
12:35
Speaker 2: was completely gone. And I looked at her and I said,
12:39
Speaker 2: she said, I used pink I use pink light because
12:42
Speaker 2: that's my favorite color. And she said, and I decided
12:44
Speaker 2: not to just push it around me. I thought I'd
12:46
Speaker 2: just push it all around the house. So she was
12:49
Speaker 2: able to push that ghost out of the house, which
12:52
Speaker 2: I thought was pretty remarkable. With other children like my grandson.
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Speaker 2: Neither my children seemed to have inherited my abilities. But
13:02
Speaker 2: my seven year old grandson, when he was about five,
13:05
Speaker 2: kept talking about seeing a ghost and there were ghosts
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Speaker 2: in the house. And they live a thousand miles away
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Speaker 2: from me in Massachusetts and I'm in Indiana. So I
13:15
Speaker 2: told my son, I said, get a bottle, just a
13:19
Speaker 2: spray bottle. Fill it with water and maybe something else
13:22
Speaker 2: that's not toxic, and you know, right on the side
13:27
Speaker 2: of the bottle ghost spray, and tell him that when
13:30
Speaker 2: he feels something in his room that he doesn't want
13:32
Speaker 2: to deal with, to use that spray. And my son
13:37
Speaker 2: came back and he said, yeah, he said, I put
13:39
Speaker 2: for breeze in it. He said, I figured we'd kill
13:42
Speaker 2: two birds with one stone and they stopped having activity
13:49
Speaker 2: because I think it, you know, it wasn't that there
13:51
Speaker 2: was something special in that for breeze water mixture. But
13:55
Speaker 2: it was empowering him to believe that he had control
13:58
Speaker 2: over the situation and it worked. So, you know, that's
14:02
Speaker 2: kind of where I am with dealing with children.
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Speaker 1: At a minimum, would I say to the parents of
14:07
Speaker 1: children who are displaying these abilities and seeing things and
14:11
Speaker 1: reporting things, Listen to what your child has to say.
14:14
Speaker 1: Don't dismiss what they're saying. Don't say it's an overactive imagination.
14:17
Speaker 1: Give them the opportunity to share with you what they're
14:21
Speaker 1: going through because this may be important as they grow
14:24
Speaker 1: into adulthood. So thank you for sharing that.
14:26
Speaker 2: Yeah.
14:26
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Please tell us about that town in which you live,
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Speaker 1: New Harmony, Indiana.
14:33
Speaker 2: New Harmony. Yes, you know, it's really funny because I
14:36
Speaker 2: grew up in this area, not in New Harmony. I
14:39
Speaker 2: grew up in the next town over and lived in
14:44
Speaker 2: quite a few different places, and a lot of the
14:46
Speaker 2: time we had to drive through New Harmony. I was
14:48
Speaker 2: always aware of it. It's a very old historical town
14:53
Speaker 2: founded in eighteen fourteen by a group of Methodists who
14:58
Speaker 2: are escaping persecution. So they set up a utopian society
15:03
Speaker 2: here and they were very successful. They did last about
15:08
Speaker 2: ten years. But after that ten years they decided to
15:12
Speaker 2: move to Pennsylvania, where shipping lanes were a little bit
15:15
Speaker 2: more accessible, and they sold the town to another utopian experiment,
15:20
Speaker 2: a man named Robert Owen, and he really focused on
15:24
Speaker 2: science and education and social reform. But he wasn't his organized,
15:31
Speaker 2: so his town on his version of utopia only lasted
15:34
Speaker 2: two years before the town just kind of settled into
15:37
Speaker 2: being a little Midwestern town with a lot of history. Now.
15:41
Speaker 2: I talk about this in my book about George. But
15:46
Speaker 2: came to a point where I really needed to move.
15:50
Speaker 2: Things were really falling apart from me in Massachusetts, and
15:53
Speaker 2: my lifeline was here in Indiana where my parents were.
15:57
Speaker 2: And when I was trying to buy a house, they were,
16:00
Speaker 2: you know, I was doing it a long distance. Friends
16:03
Speaker 2: and family were going to look at things, and I
16:05
Speaker 2: was adamant I had to move to New Harmony. I
16:07
Speaker 2: was very much pulled here, and when I moved in,
16:11
Speaker 2: when I finally got here, I really wasn't thinking about ghost.
16:13
Speaker 2: I was really just trying to heal from all the
16:15
Speaker 2: trauma I had gone through. And as I was walking
16:20
Speaker 2: around town, I'm like, oh my gosh, there's a ghost
16:22
Speaker 2: in this building, Oh my gosh, there's a ghost in
16:25
Speaker 2: this building, And so I started asking around and the
16:28
Speaker 2: ghost stories in this town are phenomenal. Literally every building,
16:33
Speaker 2: just about every building has some kind of haunting. And
16:37
Speaker 2: part of my mission here is uncovering a lot of
16:40
Speaker 2: the old ghost stories, talking and with the ghosts that
16:43
Speaker 2: are here and trying to learn their stories and also
16:46
Speaker 2: try to understand why this town is so haunted. I mean,
16:49
Speaker 2: the history is very compelling, but there's something else going
16:52
Speaker 2: on here that's causing this energy to really be productive
16:57
Speaker 2: for retaining ghosts.
17:00
Speaker 1: And you are the owner and operator of Haunted New
17:03
Speaker 1: Harmony ghost Walks and Investigations. What do you offer on
17:07
Speaker 1: these ghost walks?
17:09
Speaker 2: Well, we now have three ghost walks. That started off
17:11
Speaker 2: with just one. It was me and my clipboard standing
17:14
Speaker 2: down in the corner hoping people would sign up. And
17:18
Speaker 2: as we were doing the ghost walks, we would meet
17:20
Speaker 2: a lot of people and we started hearing more stories
17:24
Speaker 2: about other locations, and we expanded to a second ghost
17:29
Speaker 2: walk in twenty nineteen, and then last year we've rolled
17:32
Speaker 2: out our third ghost walks. So I have three tour
17:37
Speaker 2: guides who do ghost walks with me, So there's four
17:40
Speaker 2: of us total. We're looking to add a fifth for
17:42
Speaker 2: this year. But it's an hour and a half long,
17:46
Speaker 2: and it's very heavy on the history because history is
17:50
Speaker 2: really important to me because I really feel like it's
17:53
Speaker 2: the foundation for a lot of the hauntings and if
17:56
Speaker 2: people understand the why, then maybe they'll adapt to the
18:03
Speaker 2: ghost lore. A lot of people don't believe in ghosts,
18:06
Speaker 2: and when I came here, it was I was the
18:09
Speaker 2: first person that had really brought it to people's attention.
18:13
Speaker 2: But remarkably, I've had very little backlash because almost everybody
18:18
Speaker 2: that lives here has either had an experience themselves or
18:21
Speaker 2: they know someone who's had an experience, so it's been
18:24
Speaker 2: pretty wonderful. But yeah, we walk for less than a mile,
18:28
Speaker 2: but we walked to each location and we tell the
18:31
Speaker 2: history and then the stories about the hauntings, and then
18:35
Speaker 2: we move on to the next one. So it's a
18:37
Speaker 2: lot of fun. We always laugh a lot, you know.
18:40
Speaker 2: A couple of my tour guides are really funny, so
18:43
Speaker 2: we end up having a really good time when we
18:46
Speaker 2: do them.
18:47
Speaker 1: Working our way towards your new book of the moving
18:51
Speaker 1: book A cat named George. You are an animal lover
18:55
Speaker 1: and share your home with five fee lines and a
18:57
Speaker 1: rescue dog named Holly. What is your relationship with these
19:01
Speaker 1: animal companions mean to you?
19:04
Speaker 2: It means everything to me. I had a house fire
19:07
Speaker 2: last year and I wasn't concerned about anything getting anything
19:12
Speaker 2: out of my house except my animals, And once I
19:14
Speaker 2: had them out, I thought, you know, that's all I need.
19:17
Speaker 2: They're my family. I live alone, and I spend a
19:21
Speaker 2: lot of time with them, and I think, you know,
19:24
Speaker 2: people that don't like cats haven't really invested the time
19:28
Speaker 2: and energy into them from the beginning. I mean, you
19:32
Speaker 2: get what you put into any pet, but mine or family.
19:36
Speaker 2: And I spend a lot of time with them. I
19:37
Speaker 2: talk to them, I take good care of them, listen
19:40
Speaker 2: to their needs, and try to, you know, to be
19:43
Speaker 2: a really supportive parent, which is kind of how I
19:47
Speaker 2: see it. They're like my children, so we have a
19:49
Speaker 2: very close bond.
19:52
Speaker 1: With the gift of clairvoyance. Do you communicate with your
19:55
Speaker 1: animal companions?
19:57
Speaker 2: You know, I've I wish i'd to do better, but
20:02
Speaker 2: there have been many times where one of my cats,
20:04
Speaker 2: in particular, Rosie, is a clear communicator, and I remember
20:10
Speaker 2: one day the first time I got a message from
20:13
Speaker 2: her I was staring at my phone and she came
20:18
Speaker 2: up wanting attention, and I heard in my head, why
20:21
Speaker 2: were you stare at boxes, mommy? And I thought, you know,
20:26
Speaker 2: she's absolutely right. I'm spending way too much time either
20:29
Speaker 2: on my laptop or on my phone, and you know,
20:32
Speaker 2: to her, I'm staring at boxes, and she doesn't understand why.
20:36
Speaker 2: And so, you know, when they don't feel well, I know,
20:39
Speaker 2: I just you know, it's not even necessarily how they're acting,
20:43
Speaker 2: that is part of it. But I just get a
20:46
Speaker 2: vibe from them, a sense from them, you know, which
20:49
Speaker 2: is why I was so close to George, because I
20:51
Speaker 2: really feel like he was part of my He was
20:53
Speaker 2: maybe a sole connection for me, and I don't know.
20:57
Speaker 2: I've just always been very close to animals, and I've
20:59
Speaker 2: always understood their need. I'm empathetic and I think they
21:02
Speaker 2: feel that and they gravitate towards that. I've always been
21:07
Speaker 2: good with animals. Animals always always like me and come
21:10
Speaker 2: to me. So it's just been part of who I am.
21:14
Speaker 1: Does Rosie like the climbate the boxes?
21:18
Speaker 2: She does? She does? Actually they all do. Amazon day
21:21
Speaker 2: is there, you know, which is pretty much every day
21:24
Speaker 2: around here. But I get a new Amazon box, and
21:27
Speaker 2: you know they're overjoyed because they got a new toy.
21:31
Speaker 1: We're talking with my dear friend Joni Mayhean. Her new
21:34
Speaker 1: book is called a Cat named George. We're going to
21:36
Speaker 1: be talking about that book when we come back. Jenny,
21:39
Speaker 1: please share with our listeners where they can get all
21:41
Speaker 1: of your books and find out more about you and
21:43
Speaker 1: your work.
21:45
Speaker 2: Awesome. Yes, all my books are available on Amazon dot com.
21:48
Speaker 2: Just type in my name and you'll see them. There
21:50
Speaker 2: are twenty five books. If you want to learn more
21:53
Speaker 2: about me and my ghost walks, you can go to
21:56
Speaker 2: either Haunted New Harmony dot com or jonimahon dot com.
22:00
Speaker 2: It's the same website, so that's where you can go.
22:02
Speaker 1: And her name is spelled jomimay Ham, So now you
22:08
Speaker 1: can look her up and find her books and do
22:10
Speaker 1: everything with the material that JOHNI has graced our world with.
22:14
Speaker 1: And we'll be back with more after these words. On
22:16
Speaker 1: the Own Times Radio network.
22:19
Speaker 3: The best of the holistic, spiritual and conscious world. Home
22:23
Speaker 3: Times Radio IOMFM. Home Times Magazine is one of the
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22:52
Speaker 4: Hello, I'm Sandy sedgebe a host of Home Times Magazine's
22:55
Speaker 4: Flagshit radio show What is going on? My passion is
23:00
Speaker 4: through information, research and innovations from new thought teachers, speakers
23:04
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23:08
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23:46
Speaker 1: Back on Vox Novus, my guest this week is my
23:49
Speaker 1: friend Joni Mayhean. We're talking about her new book, A
23:52
Speaker 1: Cat named George. Jony, your latest book is a departure
23:58
Speaker 1: from your series of books on spirits and hauntings and
24:01
Speaker 1: the paranormal. What inspired you to write A Cat named George?
24:08
Speaker 2: Well, I had the privilege of having a black cat
24:13
Speaker 2: named George for twelve years, and he came in my
24:17
Speaker 2: life and really taught me a lot of lessons and
24:21
Speaker 2: he was just very remarkable. He captured the interest of
24:25
Speaker 2: so many people. I'd share his antics and photos on
24:29
Speaker 2: social media, and he really become very special to a
24:34
Speaker 2: lot of people. And I really, you know, like I
24:37
Speaker 2: talked about a minute ago, I really feel like George
24:40
Speaker 2: and I had a sole connection that, you know, perhaps
24:44
Speaker 2: we had lived a life together before, he was instantly
24:47
Speaker 2: a connection to me. Like many other people that I've
24:51
Speaker 2: come in contact with, and sometimes with pets, I mean,
24:57
Speaker 2: I love all my pets dearly, but I have a
24:59
Speaker 2: deeper connection. And I had a deeper connection to George
25:03
Speaker 2: than I have ever had with another animal. And I
25:06
Speaker 2: just really wanted to memorialize him. And also it helped
25:11
Speaker 2: me deal with my grief by going back and talking
25:15
Speaker 2: about the good times, not just focusing on the day
25:17
Speaker 2: he died.
25:19
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Just for those who are grieving, whatever circumstance they
25:23
Speaker 1: may be grieving, how does writing or journaling help you
25:26
Speaker 1: through that grief?
25:28
Speaker 2: It really helps me process it. Grief is such a
25:32
Speaker 2: strange companion. It sneaks up on you, it brings forth
25:37
Speaker 2: a lot of memories, and writing it out helped me
25:41
Speaker 2: process it. By experiencing his life again from a different venue,
25:47
Speaker 2: and really by writing it down, I was able to
25:51
Speaker 2: focus on some of the really great things that he
25:53
Speaker 2: did and the things that he brought to my life.
25:58
Speaker 2: You know. It just it just really helped a lot.
26:03
Speaker 2: And I don't know, I'd recommend if anybody is dealing
26:06
Speaker 2: with grief to, you know, channel it down on to
26:10
Speaker 2: paper and it just helps you, I don't maybe understand
26:15
Speaker 2: it a little better or relieve some of the pressure.
26:18
Speaker 2: It's almost like a balloon and you let out a
26:21
Speaker 2: little the pressure each time. So that was what helped me.
26:25
Speaker 1: And for those who are not comfortable writing, you can
26:28
Speaker 1: always open up your phone and start dictating a message
26:31
Speaker 1: and talk it through to help you process that grief.
26:34
Speaker 1: So there are a lot of tools that we can
26:35
Speaker 1: use to do that. Absolutely in a cat named George.
26:39
Speaker 1: You share that you were working at Petco for a while.
26:42
Speaker 1: How did you working at Petco shape your understanding of
26:45
Speaker 1: the needs of animal companions.
26:48
Speaker 2: Well, you know, even before Petco there was there were
26:51
Speaker 2: two other pet stores that I actually three other pet
26:54
Speaker 2: stores I worked at. I have always been drawn to animals,
26:57
Speaker 2: and I thought, you know, if I'm going to pick
27:00
Speaker 2: a profession, I'm going to pick something that I love.
27:02
Speaker 2: And being in the animal field really helped a lot,
27:06
Speaker 2: and I got to have the opportunity to learn a lot.
27:10
Speaker 2: A lot of the stores that I either worked at
27:13
Speaker 2: or managed offered training, so I was able to learn
27:17
Speaker 2: more about being a better pet parent in my own pets,
27:19
Speaker 2: as well as sharing information with other people and helping
27:22
Speaker 2: them navigate through their lifetime with their pets. So it
27:27
Speaker 2: was really beneficial. And people had come in with their
27:30
Speaker 2: pets and I got to see pets. Only one of
27:33
Speaker 2: the pet stores I ever worked at soul like dogs
27:36
Speaker 2: and cats, and I'm really glad that pet Code doesn't.
27:39
Speaker 2: But it also caused me to bring home a lot
27:42
Speaker 2: of other pets that I probably shouldn't have. But you know,
27:45
Speaker 2: I just have always been an animal lover and it
27:49
Speaker 2: was the right place for me to be.
27:50
Speaker 1: Before we discussed George, please share with us about some
27:54
Speaker 1: of the earlier animal companions that shaped your life, their
27:57
Speaker 1: personalities and what they meant to you.
28:00
Speaker 2: Oh, it's just such a long list. My first dog
28:03
Speaker 2: that I ever had of my own was a Collie
28:05
Speaker 2: and his name was Sam, and I was a huge
28:08
Speaker 2: fan of Lassie. I'm really aging myself, but I watched
28:12
Speaker 2: Lassie religiously and someone at my dad's work was giving
28:18
Speaker 2: away a Colligue and so he brought it home and
28:20
Speaker 2: Sam and I were inseparable, and really he was one
28:24
Speaker 2: of my first playmates. Because we lived in a rural area.
28:27
Speaker 2: There weren't a lot of other children around. So Charlie
28:30
Speaker 2: and I are Sam and I had a lot of
28:31
Speaker 2: fun during that point. The reason I said Charlie so
28:35
Speaker 2: I was thinking about. We found a baby raccoon and
28:39
Speaker 2: my mother bottle fed it until it was old enough
28:44
Speaker 2: to eat on its own. And so one of my
28:46
Speaker 2: early companions was also a raccoon named Charlie Brown, So
28:50
Speaker 2: that kind of I'm definitely a voice for wildlife. I've
28:55
Speaker 2: saved a lot of animals over the years that rescued
28:59
Speaker 2: a lot of baby possums. Last year, I think I
29:02
Speaker 2: rescued thirteen baby possums alone. So other pets that I've had,
29:07
Speaker 2: I mean, I had a little cat named Pewter. It
29:10
Speaker 2: was a kitten, and I felt a really deep connection
29:13
Speaker 2: with Pewter, and through that I learned that animals also
29:18
Speaker 2: are able to see ghosts, some of them, not all
29:21
Speaker 2: of them. And through my life I've had some cats,
29:25
Speaker 2: never in any of my dogs, which is interesting, but
29:28
Speaker 2: always the cats have been watching what I've been hearing
29:32
Speaker 2: with my clare audience, so it's been very validating. The
29:37
Speaker 2: next animal that really meant a lot to me was
29:39
Speaker 2: a cat I had originally named him Gaiter, and he
29:42
Speaker 2: was a brown tabby and he was very sweet, but
29:46
Speaker 2: he was too sweet to be a gater, so he
29:48
Speaker 2: became a gator Bug, which was kind of a fun name.
29:52
Speaker 2: But he would he was, you know, he was very
29:57
Speaker 2: open to the paranormal, like he if I felt the ghost,
30:00
Speaker 2: he felt it too, and he was watching and sometimes
30:04
Speaker 2: it wigged me out a little bit because I didn't
30:06
Speaker 2: want to know what was in at the corner of
30:08
Speaker 2: my room. But the cat, you know, Kat wouldn't stop
30:10
Speaker 2: staring at that same corner. So yeah, I've had a
30:13
Speaker 2: lot of animals over the years. You know, each one
30:17
Speaker 2: of them has been very special to me, and I've
30:19
Speaker 2: given it the best life that I could possibly give it.
30:21
Speaker 2: And I've rescued a lot of cats. There have been
30:24
Speaker 2: a lot of feral cats that have shown up needing homes,
30:27
Speaker 2: and I actually drove two of them to Massachusetts over
30:31
Speaker 2: the years to rehome them there. So yeah, I love animals.
30:36
Speaker 2: I really connect with them. I understand them, and I
30:39
Speaker 2: empathize with them.
30:41
Speaker 1: How did George come into your life?
30:44
Speaker 2: Well, it's you know, I talk about this in my book,
30:47
Speaker 2: and it's really kind of funny because at the time
30:50
Speaker 2: I was fairly recently divorced and I was living in
30:53
Speaker 2: a home by my first home that I ever owned
30:55
Speaker 2: by myself, and my son lived with me four days
31:01
Speaker 2: a week, and then he lived with his dad three
31:02
Speaker 2: days a week, and his father had a barn on
31:07
Speaker 2: his property and they had a couple of barn cats
31:11
Speaker 2: in there that they never bothered to spay, and these
31:14
Speaker 2: cats kept producing litter after litter, and somehow they always
31:18
Speaker 2: managed to find homes for them. But as someone who
31:20
Speaker 2: you know is a big animal advocate, it always really
31:23
Speaker 2: bothered me that they never had these cats spae, that
31:26
Speaker 2: they were contributing to the pet population and there's just
31:30
Speaker 2: not enough homes for all the kittens that are being
31:32
Speaker 2: born in the world. And so Trevor came home one
31:36
Speaker 2: day and he said it was January first. He told
31:39
Speaker 2: me said Dad's cat had kittens. Again. I'm like, oh, surprise, surprise.
31:43
Speaker 2: And he said, well, there's a black one in that
31:46
Speaker 2: litter that I really want. And I'm like, you know,
31:50
Speaker 2: Dad said against it because I'm not going to support
31:52
Speaker 2: his father and his pet population issue. And Trevor's kind
31:58
Speaker 2: of he worked me over. He said, but Mom, I
32:02
Speaker 2: want a cat that loves me more than it loves you.
32:05
Speaker 2: All the cats around here love you the most, and
32:09
Speaker 2: you know, it's like it just broke my heart. I'm like, oh,
32:13
Speaker 2: you know, okay. So right before he was going to
32:17
Speaker 2: bring home, there were two black kittens in that litter,
32:19
Speaker 2: and one of them was hell on wheels, climbing the
32:23
Speaker 2: curtains fighting with the other cats, and the other one
32:25
Speaker 2: was very sweet and docile. Well, the hell on wheels
32:29
Speaker 2: cat jumped in across the fireplace screen into the embers
32:34
Speaker 2: and burnt his paws, and Trevor called me and he said, Mom, Mom,
32:39
Speaker 2: can I take the other kitten instead? Because I know
32:41
Speaker 2: Dad's not going to taste to the vet. And I'm like,
32:44
Speaker 2: oh my god, please bring it here, you know. And
32:47
Speaker 2: he came in with the kitten and there was really
32:50
Speaker 2: there wasn't even singed fur. So, you know, I feel
32:53
Speaker 2: like there's more to that story that I didn't hear.
32:56
Speaker 2: They did end up keeping the other black cat and
32:58
Speaker 2: they named him Oscar, and he was very docile and
33:01
Speaker 2: very laid back, and you know, we got the curtain
33:04
Speaker 2: climber instead. But you know, I'm glad it worked out
33:06
Speaker 2: the way it did. But initially I wasn't real happy
33:08
Speaker 2: with the situation.
33:11
Speaker 1: And what did George look like and what was his
33:14
Speaker 1: personality like?
33:16
Speaker 2: Well, George was black, solid black, and short haired, but
33:21
Speaker 2: he had two white dots. There was one white dot
33:23
Speaker 2: on his chest and another white dot low on his belly,
33:26
Speaker 2: and the space between those two white dots was no
33:30
Speaker 2: hand zone. If he tried to pet him on his
33:33
Speaker 2: belly between those two white dots, he would definitely let
33:35
Speaker 2: you know that wasn't an option. George was. He was
33:40
Speaker 2: two cats. Sometimes he was very fierce. He protected the yard,
33:46
Speaker 2: kept all the Farrells out, and the other cats in
33:48
Speaker 2: the neighborhood were terrified of him because he was a
33:50
Speaker 2: much bigger cat than they were. He almost looked like
33:54
Speaker 2: a miniature panther, and several people would say that, They're like,
33:57
Speaker 2: oh my gosh, he looks like a like a panther,
34:00
Speaker 2: and so I often, you know, I called him my
34:01
Speaker 2: black panther. You know, he seemed to really you know
34:04
Speaker 2: when you talk about connecting with your pets. When I
34:07
Speaker 2: told him he was my handsome panther, I could feel
34:10
Speaker 2: his energy just surge with love, like he really liked
34:14
Speaker 2: the fact that I was calling him a black panther,
34:17
Speaker 2: and he really truly embodied that. When he walked, he
34:20
Speaker 2: walked with such grace, you know, you really just had
34:23
Speaker 2: to watch him. But then his other side was he
34:27
Speaker 2: was very sweet and affectionate with everybody. He was very friendly.
34:31
Speaker 2: He would just go up to anybody and they would
34:35
Speaker 2: be like, oh hey cat, you know, and not run away,
34:38
Speaker 2: and just he befriended a lot of people. And he
34:42
Speaker 2: caused me to get out of my comfort zone many
34:44
Speaker 2: times because he would go meet neighbors before I met
34:48
Speaker 2: neighbors and then they'd say, hey, do you have a
34:50
Speaker 2: black cat? And I'm like, yeah, that's George, and they're like,
34:52
Speaker 2: oh my god, I love your cat. And so we
34:53
Speaker 2: ended up having a conversation that we wouldn't have had
34:56
Speaker 2: if it hadn't been for George. So, but you know,
34:59
Speaker 2: he was my I mean, he snuggled with me every night,
35:02
Speaker 2: He slept on my pillow beside me, and he always
35:05
Speaker 2: wanted to be close to me when he was inside.
35:08
Speaker 2: He was just a remarkable cat.
35:11
Speaker 1: You say in your book that George was a talker.
35:14
Speaker 1: What did he have to say?
35:17
Speaker 2: He always answered if you'd ask him something, you know,
35:20
Speaker 2: he would say mr. He always had this really distinctive voice,
35:24
Speaker 2: and you could have a whole conversation with him. You
35:27
Speaker 2: could ask him question and he would answer you right back.
35:29
Speaker 2: And yeah, I usually knew what he was saying because
35:34
Speaker 2: George had a fixation with golf carts. After we moved
35:38
Speaker 2: to New Harmony, George had always been an inside cat
35:41
Speaker 2: and he kept escaping and we'd have to go find
35:44
Speaker 2: him because we never lived in areas that I was
35:46
Speaker 2: comfortable with him being outside. And when we got to
35:48
Speaker 2: New Harmony, I said, well, this is pretty safe, you know,
35:51
Speaker 2: or safer than anywhere we'd been. And you know, when
35:54
Speaker 2: you have to chase a cat down two times a
35:56
Speaker 2: day for like four years, you finally just get to
35:59
Speaker 2: the point and you're like, all right, fine, you can
36:01
Speaker 2: go outside. And George quickly learned that he loved golf carts,
36:07
Speaker 2: and it wasn't just mine, it was other people's as well.
36:11
Speaker 2: People would drive by and stop and look at him,
36:13
Speaker 2: and he'd jump on their cart and sometimes they'd take
36:15
Speaker 2: him for a ride. So a lot of his talking
36:18
Speaker 2: to me came from at the end of our golf
36:20
Speaker 2: cart ride. I'd say, well, that's it, I'm sorry, George,
36:22
Speaker 2: and you go, ohh, and I was like, you know, no,
36:24
Speaker 2: he was just saying just a little longer, mom, please,
36:27
Speaker 2: you know. So I usually knew what he was, what
36:30
Speaker 2: he was feeling and trying to enunciate to me.
36:33
Speaker 1: You had said that George was like a soul made
36:36
Speaker 1: to you. Please describe how that felt.
36:39
Speaker 2: Well, I really feel I really believe in reincarnation. I
36:43
Speaker 2: believe that we reincarnate with other souls, and at the
36:48
Speaker 2: heart of that is the sole family, and those are
36:50
Speaker 2: the people that reincarnate together. The most and we may
36:53
Speaker 2: have lived thousands of lives together. And I have always
36:57
Speaker 2: felt a deeper connection with George than I have with
37:00
Speaker 2: even a lot of people. And I feel like he
37:04
Speaker 2: was he was very potentially my one of my sole
37:10
Speaker 2: family members, you know. In fact, you know, after he died,
37:14
Speaker 2: I could still feel him around here, and I kept saying,
37:17
Speaker 2: you know, George, you know, we need to make sure
37:19
Speaker 2: we live more lives together. You know, he just had
37:22
Speaker 2: a deep connection with him.
37:25
Speaker 1: Did George get along with the other members of your
37:27
Speaker 1: animal companion family?
37:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, he did. He did. He was very protective over
37:36
Speaker 2: over the other cats. If anybody tried to, you know,
37:41
Speaker 2: if they happen to be out on the porch and
37:42
Speaker 2: something else try to get after them, he would take
37:45
Speaker 2: care of it really quickly. When I first brought home
37:48
Speaker 2: Jack and Rose, they were tiny kittens, and he that
37:53
Speaker 2: they were they were They were orphaned at two days old,
37:57
Speaker 2: and my sister bottle fed them and they were supposed
38:01
Speaker 2: to go back to a family who were going to
38:04
Speaker 2: use them as barncats. And on one of my visits
38:07
Speaker 2: back to Indiana, she convinced me to bring them home.
38:11
Speaker 2: And it wasn't hard because they were beautiful, sweet little kittens.
38:15
Speaker 2: And I brought them home and George instantly became their
38:19
Speaker 2: mentor and their father, like he groomed them. He was
38:22
Speaker 2: their daddy, and he showed them everything like the litter
38:25
Speaker 2: box and how to use the scratching post, and you know,
38:28
Speaker 2: he really took them under his wing. And you know,
38:31
Speaker 2: later in life, George wasn't his interest in the other
38:34
Speaker 2: cats when he came inside it he'd had a long
38:36
Speaker 2: day out, you know, prowling the neighborhood. But if they
38:40
Speaker 2: came up to him, he would give them a lick
38:42
Speaker 2: on the forehead, you know, just letting them know that.
38:45
Speaker 2: You know, he was always the alpha though they knew
38:48
Speaker 2: that he was the one in charge that they always
38:51
Speaker 2: respected that. So he was. He was great with all
38:54
Speaker 2: the cats, except for the Farrells.
38:57
Speaker 1: I'm curious. I've seen suchus where cats have brought their
39:02
Speaker 1: a family mice, the caught mice and brought them home,
39:06
Speaker 1: carrying them home. Did they ever do that? Did George
39:09
Speaker 1: ever do that?
39:10
Speaker 2: No, he was a he was a really good hunter.
39:13
Speaker 2: He would bring them home. He would go there's a
39:17
Speaker 2: field not far from my house, and he would go
39:20
Speaker 2: over there and hunt, and he would bring home voles
39:24
Speaker 2: and he would eat them. He'd sit in my front
39:26
Speaker 2: yard and just literally eat the whole thing in my
39:28
Speaker 2: front yard. So now he never shared, but he did
39:31
Speaker 2: bring them home. He was a great mouser. We never
39:33
Speaker 2: had a mouse in the house once I brought George home,
39:36
Speaker 2: so he was His gifts were other than that.
39:42
Speaker 1: My guest is my dear friend Joni Mayhan. Her book
39:45
Speaker 1: is called a Cat named George. We'll be back with
39:48
Speaker 1: more after these words on the Own Times Radio network.
39:53
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39:57
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40:23
Speaker 6: So I'm a cat and I just moved in with
40:25
Speaker 6: this new human and she's got this little toy she's
40:27
Speaker 6: always playing with all day long. Tap tap tap tap
40:31
Speaker 6: blue bloop. She can't put it down there it is oh,
40:34
Speaker 6: and get this. She even talks to it. Last week
40:37
Speaker 6: she asked it for Chinese and guess what eggrel showed up?
40:41
Speaker 6: Like magic, humans have cool toys.
40:44
Speaker 4: A person is the best thing to happen to a
40:45
Speaker 4: shelter pet, be that person adopt.
40:48
Speaker 3: Brought to you by the ad Consul and the Shelterpetproject
40:50
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40:54
Speaker 1: Back on Box Novus. My guest this week is my
40:57
Speaker 1: dear friend Joni Mahon. We're talking about her book at
41:00
Speaker 1: named George. Joni, did George and the other members of
41:04
Speaker 1: your pet family present the challenge to your writing?
41:10
Speaker 2: Yeah? Definitely. I have my desk pushed up against a
41:15
Speaker 2: window and that is the favorite place where they like
41:18
Speaker 2: to sit. So I made the mistake recently of putting
41:22
Speaker 2: a bird feeder against the glass, and these cats have
41:26
Speaker 2: been in here pounding on the glass every time a
41:29
Speaker 2: bird comes up. So yes, in that aspect. Over the years,
41:34
Speaker 2: I've trained all of them not to walk on my
41:36
Speaker 2: keyboard so they know they're not allowed to walk on it,
41:38
Speaker 2: because I've had them completely delete the entire file by
41:43
Speaker 2: walking across the keyboard. So that was a quick lesson.
41:46
Speaker 2: But more than anything, I think they inspire me. I
41:51
Speaker 2: have a cat on my desk right now, and you know,
41:54
Speaker 2: they provide me with a nice little break. Sometimes I
41:57
Speaker 2: feel like they know when I need to step away
42:00
Speaker 2: and take a break, and that's when they come to me.
42:03
Speaker 2: They're respectful for the most part of me. My youngest Ophelia,
42:06
Speaker 2: she's still learning, but she's getting there. The other cats
42:10
Speaker 2: are teaching her what she should should and shouldn't do,
42:13
Speaker 2: and George taught her a lot too.
42:15
Speaker 1: So yeah, they ever walk on the keyboard and write
42:18
Speaker 1: a sentence for you.
42:21
Speaker 2: They Yeah, it never makes any sense though.
42:26
Speaker 1: You mentioned in your book that George was a feline
42:29
Speaker 1: paranormal investigator. Where did he find ghosts?
42:33
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. Yeah. When we first got him, I
42:37
Speaker 2: had just gone through my most horrific haunting and that
42:42
Speaker 2: was the sole collector and I did write a book
42:45
Speaker 2: about it. But it was a very It was when
42:47
Speaker 2: I first got into the paranormal and first started learning
42:51
Speaker 2: about my abilities, and I drew in something very very
42:55
Speaker 2: strong and very nasty, and I had was just a
43:00
Speaker 2: matter of months since it had been gone, and I
43:03
Speaker 2: was still a little, you know, shell shocked over the
43:05
Speaker 2: whole experience. And when George came in, he immediately started
43:10
Speaker 2: doing what Gatorbug did, started watching things in the room,
43:15
Speaker 2: and you know, at that point, I was, you know,
43:18
Speaker 2: I was still pretty terrified about what had happened, and
43:21
Speaker 2: I thought, oh, please, don't let this be another really
43:23
Speaker 2: bad one. And George would come into my room, and
43:28
Speaker 2: unlike the other cats, he wouldn't just watch it. He
43:30
Speaker 2: decided to go get it. And he would climb up
43:33
Speaker 2: onto my chest where I had a TV, and he
43:37
Speaker 2: would get up there and bat at things that you know,
43:41
Speaker 2: there was no bug. I always looked it was, and
43:44
Speaker 2: it was where I was hearing the sound. He would
43:47
Speaker 2: try to fight it, like trying to get it out,
43:50
Speaker 2: and I just think his energy was stronger. You know.
43:54
Speaker 2: I don't know if or maybe I do know. I
43:57
Speaker 2: think cats are like people. Some of us are more
44:01
Speaker 2: gifted with the paranormal than others, and I think that
44:04
Speaker 2: follows with animals as well. Not all my cats have
44:07
Speaker 2: been able to see ghosts, but he definitely could, and
44:10
Speaker 2: he took it upon himself to be my protector. And
44:13
Speaker 2: over the years, if I had something pretty strong in
44:17
Speaker 2: my house that was concerning me, George would always appear.
44:22
Speaker 2: I would say, you know, calling out to my spiritual
44:25
Speaker 2: allies and my spirit guides. Polease surround me with protection
44:28
Speaker 2: and keep me and my pet safe. And as soon
44:31
Speaker 2: as I'd say that, he would come into the room
44:34
Speaker 2: and he would climb up onto the bed and he
44:37
Speaker 2: would sleep at the top of my pillow, like draped
44:42
Speaker 2: around the crown in my head, like he was protecting
44:45
Speaker 2: the crown of my head, and it just become a ritual.
44:48
Speaker 2: He only did that when I had a haunting that
44:50
Speaker 2: was disturbing me, and he was always there for me.
44:55
Speaker 2: And you know, I haven't had really had anything happen
44:59
Speaker 2: since he's been gone, and I have to wonder if
45:02
Speaker 2: he's protecting me from the other side. So I think
45:05
Speaker 2: his legacy is still continuing.
45:08
Speaker 1: Did he ever accompany you on any of the ghost walks?
45:12
Speaker 2: No, now, he he used to walk with me and
45:16
Speaker 2: the dog, but only on a path that was close
45:20
Speaker 2: to my house. I never brought him out because he
45:24
Speaker 2: would have been way too interested in what was going
45:26
Speaker 2: on and he would have been probably gone. Then I
45:29
Speaker 2: would have had to stop the ghost walk to find him.
45:32
Speaker 2: But everybody knew him, you know, he was very well
45:37
Speaker 2: known around town. I don't think there was one person
45:39
Speaker 2: in this town that didn't know who George was.
45:41
Speaker 1: You share that George saved you. That's a very personal
45:46
Speaker 1: and powerful statement. Please explain, Well, when we.
45:51
Speaker 2: First got George, my life was precariously hanging. I was
45:57
Speaker 2: holding things together but barely, and things really started falling
46:01
Speaker 2: apart for me in Massachusetts. During that time, I went
46:05
Speaker 2: through a divorce, bankruptcy, foreclosure, rejection, just you know, just
46:13
Speaker 2: everyday things. It was like nothing was holding together. But
46:17
Speaker 2: George was always the consistent. He was always there, and
46:20
Speaker 2: he was always positive, you know, with his energy, and
46:23
Speaker 2: I become prone to talking to him and sharing, you know,
46:27
Speaker 2: what was going on with me. And when we finally
46:31
Speaker 2: ended up here in New Harmony, you know, George's elation
46:36
Speaker 2: over finally being able to be outside was palpable. He
46:40
Speaker 2: was very happy, and you know, he really he really
46:45
Speaker 2: taught me a lot. I watched him. He was fearless
46:49
Speaker 2: at times, he stood up for what he wanted and
46:52
Speaker 2: he was but he was also sweet at the same time,
46:56
Speaker 2: and he was not afraid of people or any and
47:00
Speaker 2: you know, he kind of pulled me out of my shell.
47:03
Speaker 2: Just by watching him and just always having him there
47:06
Speaker 2: to be comfort really made a huge dramatic difference in
47:11
Speaker 2: my life. I've never had a pet make a more
47:14
Speaker 2: more impact on my life than George.
47:17
Speaker 1: Do you think that was part of that sole connection
47:19
Speaker 1: you had with him?
47:21
Speaker 2: I believe so, definitely, definitely. I learned a lot from him.
47:25
Speaker 2: And you know, most people, I think if they really
47:28
Speaker 2: looked at their relationship with their pet, they'd see that
47:31
Speaker 2: their pet taught them something as well. And but you
47:35
Speaker 2: have to really look at it, because you know, they
47:37
Speaker 2: don't talk out loud, and they don't you know, counsel you,
47:40
Speaker 2: but you watch their actions, and yeah, I definitely think
47:45
Speaker 2: that we had a sole connection and he was here
47:48
Speaker 2: as part of my life's journey to help me overcome
47:53
Speaker 2: some boundaries and some issues that I had in my life,
47:56
Speaker 2: and he definitely made it, made it easier, made it better.
48:00
Speaker 1: Tragically, after twelve years, George transitioned. I know how heartbreaking
48:05
Speaker 1: this was for you. What was it like for you
48:07
Speaker 1: to lose him?
48:10
Speaker 2: I find myself tearing up just thinking about it. It was.
48:15
Speaker 2: It was one of the most horrible days of my life.
48:19
Speaker 2: You know, he was hit by a car and I
48:21
Speaker 2: knew the minute I let him out the front door
48:24
Speaker 2: the very first time, that I was putting him in
48:27
Speaker 2: danger or allowing him to be in danger. But I
48:32
Speaker 2: kind of came to the conclusion that a life fully
48:35
Speaker 2: lived is better than a life conservatively lived. And George
48:40
Speaker 2: would have never been happy being indoor cat, so he
48:44
Speaker 2: really lived his best life here. He was happy, He
48:47
Speaker 2: did what he wanted to do, and he was usually
48:50
Speaker 2: cautious with the cars. I don't know what happened. I
48:54
Speaker 2: didn't see it happen. Somebody hit him and then didn't stop.
48:58
Speaker 2: They just left him for dead on the side of
49:00
Speaker 2: the road. And I don't even know how long had
49:03
Speaker 2: gone by. But one a woman that lives down the
49:06
Speaker 2: street that knows him, saw him trying to walk home,
49:10
Speaker 2: trying to get back to his mom, and she came
49:13
Speaker 2: up and told me that, you know, she said, George,
49:16
Speaker 2: and she looked over his shoulder and I saw him.
49:18
Speaker 2: He had just collapsed into a poddle inside of the road,
49:20
Speaker 2: and so I rushed him to the VAT and he
49:23
Speaker 2: did have surgery, survived surgery, and they really gave me
49:28
Speaker 2: some hope. They said, you know, it wasn't as bad
49:30
Speaker 2: as what we thought. He had broken his sternum and
49:33
Speaker 2: several ribs, and he had a hernia where, you know,
49:38
Speaker 2: caused a lot of damage. But they thought he was
49:42
Speaker 2: going to be okay. But overnight, the day after his surgery,
49:46
Speaker 2: he passed and they called me the next morning, and
49:50
Speaker 2: it was devastating to me. I just couldn't imagine a
49:54
Speaker 2: life without George. He's just been such a fixture in
49:57
Speaker 2: my life and you know, a member of my soul family,
50:01
Speaker 2: my support, and just knowing that he was gone just,
50:05
Speaker 2: I don't know, just brought me to my knees. Grief
50:09
Speaker 2: is something that I probably will always hold with me,
50:14
Speaker 2: even though I try to remember his good times more
50:17
Speaker 2: than that day he died, But just not having him
50:20
Speaker 2: here is really hard.
50:23
Speaker 1: I know that when I conduct human funerals and I
50:26
Speaker 1: officiate human funerals, one of the things that I share
50:30
Speaker 1: is that if the person who has passed has touched
50:33
Speaker 1: your life in any way, has been special to you
50:36
Speaker 1: in your life, has given you a gift, a special gift.
50:41
Speaker 1: Part of the healing of grief is to express gratitude.
50:44
Speaker 1: If you could express your gratitude to George right now,
50:47
Speaker 1: what would you say.
50:52
Speaker 2: Well, I would thank him for being in my life,
50:55
Speaker 2: for you know, gifting me with his presence for twelve years,
51:01
Speaker 2: and for making such a deep impact on my life,
51:07
Speaker 2: and I don't know that you know how much I
51:12
Speaker 2: loved him. You know, I don't know that I've ever
51:14
Speaker 2: loved anybody as much. Well, maybe my children, but as
51:19
Speaker 2: much as I loved that cat. He took a piece
51:22
Speaker 2: of my heart with him when he died.
51:26
Speaker 1: And we had talked about journaling. We had talked about
51:28
Speaker 1: the writing to help with grief. Are there any other
51:32
Speaker 1: suggestions you can offer our listeners who may be grieving
51:35
Speaker 1: the loss of a pet or even a family member.
51:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think that you know something that
51:41
Speaker 2: you just have to go through. The thing that was
51:44
Speaker 2: the hardest for me were the first, you know, the
51:48
Speaker 2: first time I got up and he wasn't at the
51:51
Speaker 2: door asking to be let out. You know, I would
51:54
Speaker 2: look at the door every time. It took me weeks
51:57
Speaker 2: before I stopped looking for him coming home from somewhere.
52:02
Speaker 2: He would always come running across the yard to greet me.
52:05
Speaker 2: And the first time I came home and he was
52:08
Speaker 2: there brought me to tears. And I just think that,
52:12
Speaker 2: you know, once you get through those first things, the
52:15
Speaker 2: second time is maybe a little bit easier. You know.
52:19
Speaker 2: He died in early November and it is early January
52:22
Speaker 2: so I've had plenty of time to experience these things
52:25
Speaker 2: over and over again without him, and you know, I
52:29
Speaker 2: think about him, but I don't break down in tears.
52:31
Speaker 2: So I think just time and having somebody to talk about,
52:36
Speaker 2: you know. For me, I it helped me to to
52:41
Speaker 2: to write it out. And I also had a friend
52:44
Speaker 2: online who was going through something similar with her pet,
52:48
Speaker 2: and so we kind of comforted each other and it
52:52
Speaker 2: definitely helped. So, you know, it's just it's just a process.
52:59
Speaker 2: You can go under it, you can't go around it.
53:01
Speaker 2: You just have to go through it and try to
53:05
Speaker 2: retain the happy memories. Try not to fixate on the
53:08
Speaker 2: last day when you lost them, in the fact that
53:11
Speaker 2: they're not there anymore. Try to remember the fun times
53:15
Speaker 2: and the good times in the essence of their being
53:17
Speaker 2: instead of the memory of their death.
53:20
Speaker 1: What would you like readers to take away from a
53:22
Speaker 1: cat named George?
53:24
Speaker 2: I just want them to I mean, you know, throughout
53:26
Speaker 2: the book, I talk about the importance of taking good
53:30
Speaker 2: care of your pets, and also about you know, having
53:34
Speaker 2: them spayed and neutered, and cat populations and being that
53:38
Speaker 2: person that steps forward to help an animal in distress
53:41
Speaker 2: instead of hoping somebody else will do it. And I
53:46
Speaker 2: think I just want them to see George for what
53:50
Speaker 2: he was and maybe make them look at their own
53:53
Speaker 2: pets and go, you know, if maybe if I spent
53:56
Speaker 2: a little bit more energy and time on my pet,
53:58
Speaker 2: I could have a cat like George, or a relationship
54:02
Speaker 2: with an animal like I had with my cat. And
54:07
Speaker 2: I don't know, I just you know, I just really
54:09
Speaker 2: wanted a place where I could put my love for
54:11
Speaker 2: him and be able to look at it again and
54:15
Speaker 2: come back. So in some ways I wrote this book
54:17
Speaker 2: for myself. I wanted to retain the memory of him.
54:21
Speaker 2: He did so many really funny things. I mean, the
54:24
Speaker 2: book is not all sadness. The book is a lot
54:26
Speaker 2: of just hysterical things that this cat did over the years,
54:30
Speaker 2: and a lot of it's survival too. You know, it's
54:34
Speaker 2: not even just about the cat. It's how I survived
54:37
Speaker 2: all those things that I went through. And I do
54:40
Speaker 2: talk about spirit guides and listening to their messages and
54:45
Speaker 2: you know, watching the signs. And I haven't really expressed
54:50
Speaker 2: this to anybody, but I often see numbers repeating numbers,
54:54
Speaker 2: and they kind of warned me when something's coming. And
54:57
Speaker 2: in the month before George died, I kept seeing five
55:01
Speaker 2: five five over and over and over and over again,
55:03
Speaker 2: and you know that always signifies changes coming. And but I,
55:08
Speaker 2: you know, I had my guard up, but I didn't
55:12
Speaker 2: know how bad it was going to be. And you know,
55:15
Speaker 2: lately I've been seeing a lot of ones which I
55:17
Speaker 2: take for a message that my guides are here and
55:20
Speaker 2: everything's okay, not to worry. So, you know, through that
55:25
Speaker 2: whole process, I think I really connected better with my
55:27
Speaker 2: spirit guides as well.
55:29
Speaker 1: The wisdom of my dear friend Jonnie Mayhan. Her book
55:32
Speaker 1: is called a Cat Name George. Joni, one more time,
55:35
Speaker 1: please share with listeners where they can get all of
55:37
Speaker 1: your books and find out more about you and your
55:39
Speaker 1: wonderful work.
55:40
Speaker 2: Well, they all my books are on Amazon. They are
55:42
Speaker 2: twenty five of them, and my website is jonimahon dot com.
55:47
Speaker 2: And I also, I didn't mention this before, but I
55:50
Speaker 2: am also on social media, so they can find me
55:52
Speaker 2: on Facebook or Instagram, TikTok if it doesn't go away soon.
55:59
Speaker 2: I have a lot of videos on there of George,
56:02
Speaker 2: so they can buy me on any of those platforms.
56:05
Speaker 1: Joni, thank you so much for joining us today and
56:08
Speaker 1: sharing this amazing story and your love for George.
56:12
Speaker 2: Thank you for having me on, Victor, I really appreciate.
56:15
Speaker 1: It, and thank you for joining us on Vox Novius.
56:18
Speaker 1: I'm Victor Lavoie Furman. Have a wonderful week.