I wanted a golden retriever and Delphi (pronounced Delpheee) wanted to get out of the dog show business. We found each other at a kennel in Virginia.

I loved animals and I had already developed an ability to communicate with them. I thought that was fun. But, there was something different in the way Delphi communicated and expressed herself. She wasn't cute and doggy. She was precise and profound in the way she expressed herself, and she was very wise. It took a while for me to understand that Delphi wanted to be a teacher and that what she was looking for was not a mistress, not even a pal, but someone who could hear her and write down what she had to say. The whole idea was Delphi's. She pointed out to me that we should team up and advertise that we were in the animal communication business. I must say I was a bit hesitant because, although I could understand animals and they could understand me -- which had resulted in some small miracles between "owner" and "pet" -- I had absolutely no experience, had attended no animal communication workshops and had no idea how I communicated. Still...somehow...Delphi encouraged me to just advertise. Well, we did, and we have been teaching and coaching communication with all life ever since!

Delphi and my other two golden retriever partners, Chipper and Light, have guided me into a world of wonder, so much love and incredible wisdom. They have introduced me to amazing children who truly believe that dogs can speak, and they have uncompromisingly showed me the child in the heart.

How did this all happen? Why did Delphi and I write Six Lessons with Delphi? I had just completed a book entitled Delphi, What Being on Earth Is All About that told the story of my life with Delphi. Soon after the book was finished, I began to receive requests to write a study course on animal communication. So, I got together with Delphi to discuss the matter. She loved the idea and went right to work dictating to me her wisdom teachings. 

Soon after spiral binding the lessons and passing them out to several of Delphi's favorite students, orders began to come in. Schools, community organizations, churches, and the women's unit of Wilmot Prison in Tucson, Arizona, were among the Six Lessons' customers. As I write this, over 2500 spiral-bound copies have been sold. All copied, collated and bound in my small office with the help of Delphi volunteers! And the call for Six Lessons with Delphi is continuing as I write this.

Letters began coming in, addressed to Delphi. Heartwarming and heartbreaking letters from "children" of all ages who wrote that Six Lessons had changed their lives. It was following the first group of letters from the women's prison that I knew that Six Lessons with Delphi had a life of its own. People of every age and culture were responding to a little, home-published, "just for fun" book written by a golden retriever.

Do I really hear or sense Delphi speaking? Yes. But then, so many people have confided in me over the last few years that they, too, know that their dog or cat is speaking. We can all understand nature and our animal partners; perhaps not exactly as I do, but we can communicate and we can realize a living partnership with our planet and all life upon this planet.

In the communication classes that Delphi and I have hosted, I have seen genuine healing, both psychological and physical. And what we have experienced in these classes has been a deeper understanding of relationships, a depth of communication and gentler way of living. Now, with Six Lessons with Delphi, the gift of a New World can be shared -- a world where everyone is related from dolphin to porcupine, little child to tree. We are all one happy family on earth, or so Delphi says.

We have forgotten our place in the circle of life, Delphi tells us; it is time to return to community partnership where we all work together as a team. Community means all life. When we feel companionship with all life, emptiness is filled; we feel connected and loved.

As I review my companionship with Delphi and the ways that she acts and reacts with me, I sense she is a very special spark who lights my world and the world of those who respond to her presence and her lessons.

-- from the Introduction to Six Lessons with Delphi

Since the publication of Six Lessons with Delphi, many wonderful programs have sprung up as a result of Delphi's teachings. Her message was introduced into highschool classrooms, juvenile detention centers, and men's and women's prisons in Tucson, Arizona through GAPIT, the graffiti abatement program. Preschools embraced her message, and an earth partnership club for elementary-aged children and their families, the Delphi Kids Club, was born. In response to requests for an online version of Six Lessons, Patricia Jepsen founded The Sanctuary School, an online program offering courses for children, teens and adults, with a focus on heart-based learning, community leadership and partnership with all life. Its programs continue to reach out to children and youth around the globe in friendship and love on behalf of Mother Earth.

In April 2007, after a long and extraordinary life, Delphi made her transition over the Rainbow Bridge. Her work continues with the help of those whose hearts and minds have been touched by her enduring message of hope, compassion and love for all.