Ted Andrews

Ted Andrews (July 15, 1952 – October 24, 2009) was an American writer, teacher of esoteric practices, and a clairvoyant. His book on animals as spirit guides and symbols, Animal Speak, sold almost 500,000 copies from 1993 to 2009; the influential Llewellyn-published book is widely cited by others.

Early life Andrews was born in Dayton, Ohio; he had six siblings all of whom were given names beginning with the letter 'T'. He spent most of his childhood at the east of Dayton in the city called Beavercreek. He claimed to experience clairvoyance, by seeing things that adults could not. He spent a lot of time walking through the woods with his grandfather, learning about nature. Andrews volunteered at Brukner Nature Center north of Dayton in Troy as a trail guide and animal keeper.

Andrews also read voraciously from the public library. A book of short stories sparked Andrews' interest in Jewish mysticism and in practical Kabbalah — particularly the legends in which Jewish mystics used the Kabbalah to create a golem of mud to fight antisemitic violence. In 1970, Andrews graduated from Carroll High School in Dayton, a private Catholic school. Andrews wrote that the aura is a proven scientific phenomenon which can not only be viewed by humans but also manipulated using metaphysical practices such as the Jewish Kabbalah and the Indian pranayama. professor David Starr-Glass of Empire State College, and doctoral candidate Venetia Laura Delano Robertson. Robertson wrote that Andrews was a typical example of "white shamanism" in that he followed French sociologist Émile Durkheim's assertion that totemism lets the practitioner "participate in the nature of the totem animal" to connect with the sacred core of human-as-animal. Andrews wrote, "when we learn to speak with the animals, to listen with animal ears and to see through animal eyes, we experience the phenomena, the power, and the potential of human essence." Animal Speak sold almost 500,000 copies from 1992 to 2009.

Death Andrews volunteered for some years at the Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm, working especially with raptors. Later, he lived with his wife, emergency room nurse Kathy Andrews, on a farm and animal rehabilitation center in Jackson, Tennessee. He died there of cancer on October 24, 2009. A memorial service was held in Beavercreek on January 30, 2010.