The purpose of this list is to honor the Spirit of the Animals, and to discuss our relationships with animals, communication across species lines, and the ways in which animals act as teachers in our lives. Our animal teachers may be the individual companion animals who share our lives, animals whom we encounter in the wild, spirit guides who appear in dreams or shamanic visions, or the species whom we study from the viewpoint of science. Many indigenous peoples cultivate and honor their 'medicine' relationships with the animal and plant nations, viewing them as elder brothers/sisters in this Creation, as teachers, healers, messengers, and sources of spiritual power. On this list, we explore all of these aspects of relationship with our animal relatives.

Plant communication can also be discussed, as can the use of animal communication techniques with human babies, autistics, and other non-linguistic humans -- as all forms of life share a common spiritual ground.

This list is also for discussing what it means to be a member of the human species -- our place as human beings in the family of Creation, and how our relatives of other species help to teach us who we are and how to live in balance.

The key word on this list is "respect." We respect other forms of life for who and what they are, on their own terms, and we respect the other human beings on this list, their views and feelings. Debates about controversial subjects (such as vegetarianism or hunting) are not appropriate here. This is not a list about animal rights. It is a list about animal respect.

We ask that listmembers not post stories or discussions of animal abuse, unless a story has a happy ending. This list is for focusing on the positive, healing aspects of interspecies relationships, not on the negative ones.

This list is a continuation of the AnimalSpirit list originally started on the list.pitt.edu server in 1997.