Vegan Storyteller’s On Being Vegan interview series features Lois Chazen.
Lois lives on Black Mountain in North Carolina, where she is surrounded by what she loves best: animals and Mother Earth’s wild habitat. Lois is an animal intuitive, songwriter, channeler of healing messages, and animal rights activist.
She is the founder, author, and publisher at Turtle Dove Publications, which is the parent company of her books and music project World Peace For Animals.
Josie Awards, the largest award show for the independent music Industry, has nominated Lois for its 2021 Songwriter of the Year Award for her full body of work expressing love for animals.
Expressing herself emphatically — with upper case letters and exclamation points — Lois Chazen lets us feel whole-heartedly her zeal for loving and protecting animals.
JEANETTE MCDERMOTT
You rescue cats and find homes for dogs, horses, and goats. You heal animals intuitively. You write books and songs about loving and protecting animals. What is the force that drives you to make a difference in the lives of animals?
LOIS CHAZEN
The Bible makes it clear that humans are called to be the caretakers and lovers of Creation. That includes all animals. Animals are my life because they are messengers of God and communicate wisdom
JEANETTE MCDERMOTT
Do you remember the day you became a vegan?
LOIS CHAZEN
I’ve been a vegan pretty much all of my adult life. I became a vegan in 1982 when I was 24 and going to the Hare Krishna temple in Coconut Grove, Florida. I met a guy named Bali BALI and he introduced me to the Krishna sanctuary. I went there every day for lunch and then started going into the temple. One day I went into Govinda’s, a vegetarian/vegan restaurant behind the Krishna temple. That’s when I saw the mural with George Harrison promoting VEGANISM. In that moment I turned into a 100% vegan. There was a small shop in Coconut Grove called Enzo. I went into the shop and bought all vegan accessories – synthetic boots, belts, bags – and gave all of my leather away. I feel like I have ALWAYS been VEGAN!
JEANETTE MCDERMOTT
How does your love for animals keep you on the path of veganism?
LOIS CHAZEN
My friend lived about a mile from a dairy farm in Okeechobee, Florida. I visited her often and whenever I went to her house I couldn’t escape the sorrowful wails, anguished moans, and gut-wrenching cries of mothers as their baby calves were ripped from them minutes after being born.
Dairy farm workers did not kill the calves, but tore them from their mothers so they could extract the cows’ milk for human consumption rather than letting the babies drink it.
Hearing the mothers bellow for their babies, and hearing the calves cry pitifully as they were being snatched from their mothers and hauled off to veal crates was more than I could bear. The natural bonds that develop between calves and their mothers aren’t allowed on dairy farms.
I knew when a calf was taken from its mother because the cow would bellow for days on end. It was excruciating and incredibly unsettling and upsetting. The robotic milking machines also appeared to hurt them. Dairy cows suffer horribly to benefit humans.
The moans and groans, and the bellowing screams of dairy cows still echo in my mind and rip at my body and soul to this day. I don’t understand how anyone who has witnessed or heard animals suffering in PAIN and AGONY can help but commit THEIR LIVES to veganism.
A purely UNCONDITIONAL LOVE for animals is what drives me to do anything in my life, including being vegan. I live for the animals.
Praying for peace and living love is the driving force behind my relationship with animals
JEANETTE MCDERMOTT
What is at the heart of your vegan lifestyle?
LOIS CHAZEN
A purely UNCONDITIONAL LOVE for animals is what drives me to do anything in my life, including being vegan. I live for the animals. Animals are sentient Beings. I live in harmony with nature and can do nothing, absolutely nothing, in my own life that would ever bring harm to an animal, ANY ANIMAL.
It is wrong to treat animals, these divine creatures “as less than” when they are truly “more than” the human species. Animals are our teachers. Who gives us the authority to murder them? To hunt, trap, poach, and butcher them? KARMA, Sweet Karma! I say Do what you can to make a difference in the lives of animals. All life matters…if there’s a Soul/Spirit/Being in a species— treat it in a conscious, loving manner! The Law of Karma will take good care of you for helping an animal!! AMEN FOR KARMA! GO VEGAN!!
JEANETTE MCDERMOTT
Karma has different connotations to different people. What do you mean when you use the word karma?
LOIS CHAZEN
Animals are our karmic responsibility, whether we serve them or not. There’s no escaping the LAW OF KARMA! Animals are exclusively our teachers: they offer us the way to Truth! Honoring animals is honoring our higher-self. To serve is to see within each, including the animals, to see beyond appearance to the “I AM God.”
This is unconditional love. In the word “serve” is the word “see.” If we do not see through to the souls of animals, then karmic-law comes into effect. Our service is to see the “I AM” in each animal. This is the Truth of our Divine-Being! Humans are here to learn what needs to be learned, and the greatest teachings come from the animal kingdom. People will pay for not learning the lessons.
JEANETTE MCDERMOTT
How does it affect you on the karmic level when you see or hear of someone acting badly against an animal?
LOIS CHAZEN
I’m getting so frustrated with the people on this Earth plane and the self-centered humans who think they are the only Soul in this Universe. I fight for the lives of animals and will continue doing that for the rest of my life… No matter what! People who disobey the Law of Karma are on their own. They will suffer for their actions, for their abuses against animals – those pure, innocent souls who are helpless to escape from human violence.
People who disobey the Law of Karma are on their own. They will suffer for their actions, for their abuses against animals - those pure, innocent souls who are helpless to escape from human violence.
Animals are our teachers
JEANETTE MCDERMOTT
You and I met through our mutual songwriting friend, Jay Jourden. Jay and I met online about 11 years ago when I created Ursa Freedom Project to heighten awareness about the shameful practice of torturing bears in crush cages to extract their bile for Traditional Chinese Medicine. Inspired by Ursa Freedom Project, Jay wrote a song about Mafi, a moon bear that had been rescued from a bear bile farm in China. He titled it Mafi’s Song. That song will always hold a special place in my heart.
LOIS CHAZEN
Bears are an amazing species… Sentient Beings who are very much like human beings. Animals are our teachers! One day I went to my car and saw that a very sweet adult bear had opened every door on the car and took all of the food that was stored in the kitty food bag that I keep in the car for stray cats. No damage was done to my car. If that bear had wanted to be disrespectful, she could have ruined my car.
I LOVE bears and cannot abide anyone harming them. For any reason. After seeing mother bears on Black Mountain and the frolicking baby bears and knowing during hunting season they’ll be murdered because the hunting dogs wear tracking collars (unfair) and the bears don’t have a chance—it saddens me to no end! Once again, the only thing that saves me from utter despair is understanding “cause and effect,” which is KARMIC LAW!
About our friend … Jay is very focused and professional. He knows what means the most to him in this life — creating songs and producing music! He prioritizes everything in his day-to-day life so that he never falters from his true mission of making music! I admire his laser focused energy and the passionate way he pours himself into being a musician.
Music is my pathway for sending messages out into the universe to love and protect all animals
JEANETTE MCDERMOTT
You created a project called World Peace For Animals that engages musicians from across the United States. How does the project keep you focused on living love and making a difference in the lives of animals?
LOIS CHAZEN
Creating songs is EUPHORIC! Writing song lyrics and recording music with talented and gifted songmakers is exciting. It exhilarates me. I am truly following my BLISS when I’m creating music because music is the pathway for me to send messages out into the universe to love and protect all animals. I love creating lyrics with the awareness that other music artists will sing my loving words into beautiful healing songs. These songs will be felt deep within the hearts of many people, Beings, and Spirit-Souls.
World Peace For Animals is filled with the essence of TRUTH. The project opens the gateway for humans to feel what the animals feel with the Spirit of Love. Through these songs, humankind will transcend with a new “seeing” of consciousness and possess more compassion towards all animals.
JEANETTE MCDERMOTT
As part of World Peace For Animals, you raise awareness about a tragic event that outraged and saddened the entire world. Harambe was a gentle gorilla who was shot and killed for protecting a 4-year-old boy who wandered into his zoo cage. Why was it important for you to focus on this incident in the World Peace for Animals project?
LOIS CHAZEN
I began The WORLD PEACE FOR ANIMALS project because I am an animal communicator. The death of gentle Harambe in 2016 saddened me to a deep and despairing depth. I was unable to cope with the way humans killed him for simply protecting a human child. I was struggling emotionally with Harambe’s death and needed an outlet to help me cope with his violent end.
I produced a CD with 27 animal-loving artists and 18 songs in honor of this gentle, soulful giant. The CD is titled Harambe and Friends. It is infused with the VIBRATION OF LOVE. Among the musicians who contributed to the CD are award-winning performers such as Artimus Pyle, Reggie Lafaye, Natalie Jean, Keith Secola, Arthur Strout, and many more
I am truly following my BLISS when I’m creating music because music is the pathway for me to send messages out into the universe to love and protect all animals.
World Peace For Animals shines the light on animals as teachers
JEANETTE MCDERMOTT
What intentions did you set for World Peace for Animals?
LOIS CHAZEN
There are several lessons I hoped people would get from the World Peace For Animals project. FIRST was listening to the teachings of animals and paying attention to the messages the animals reveal to us about their plight. We have lessons to learn from animals. Through this project, I wanted people to see them as a unique gift and to understand the incredible things they do. I wanted people to understand their inherit worth and birthright of freedom (not captivity, slaughter, etc). I wanted World Peace For Animals to wake people up to these understandings.
I also wanted the project to help people see our connection to animals, our oneness with them. I wanted people to see themselves through the eyes of animals and to become more kind and intentionally mindful of animals — to show them compassion, respect, honor, and — above all — LOVE.
Third, I had hoped the project would open people’s hearts so they STOP mistreating animals! We have to end the suffering of animals at the hands of Man. The music project was something I could contribute to animals to save them and to make a difference in their beautiful lives. World Peace For Animals was a way I could give back to the animals.
I also wanted the project to make people aware of the importance of caring for the Earth and need to love wildlife. I wanted to raise human consciousness toward animals to develop stronger bonds with them, to show how we can co-exist with nature. It is our responsibility to be good stewards of the earth.
Furthermore, I wanted World Peace For Animals to SAVE ANIMALS for the FUTURE of all children. We endanger ourselves when we endanger animals and cause them to go extinct. Without animals, what is the value of our own pitiful human life?
And finally, I wanted World Peace For Animals to engage artists on a LOVE LEVEL so their music became ACTIVISM for the love of nature and love of music. Ultimately, World Peace For Animals educates the public about the kindness, love, and respect we need to show animals. I wanted the project to improve the lives of animals and to help them through songs that tell their stories.
I have been put on Earth to pray for peace and live love, especially for the animals. I will never stop creating music and writing books as forms of activism.
Dominion is a misunderstood word; we are meant to love Creation
JEANETTE MCDERMOTT
World Peace For Animals is an amazing project with love for animals at its core. In fact, Josie Awards has nominated you for its Songwriter of the Year Award for your full body of work. The Josie Awards is the largest award show for the independent music Industry. Winners will be announced at the 7th Annual Josie Music Awards in Pidgeon Forge, Tennessee, in September. It’s the event of the year for indies. It must feel great to have been nominated for such a prestigious award. What other life-enhancing projects are you involved in?
LOIS CHAZEN
I feel humbled by being nominated for the Josie Award. I have been put on Earth to pray for peace and live love, especially for the animals. I will never stop creating music and writing books as forms of activism. I just completed the song DOMINION with Natalie Jean.
Dominion is a misunderstood Biblical word. It does not mean dominance. The word means stewardship. We are meant to love Creation and to be the caretakers of everything that forms Creation. This, above all, means loving and protecting animals. Caring for the innocents is what the song DOMINION is about!
Raven Blackwing is an AWESOME musician who is also VEGAN!!! He and I are working on a song about veganism. We know that it is possible for one song, with its energy and wisdom, to have the power to spark transformation. With the full force of my HEART AND SOUL, I want this song about veganism to carry the message that ignites people and turns them away from eating meat and dairy to becoming animal-loving vegans.
I am also excited that Raven will be singing the lyrics I wrote for a song called Reflections, which is all about Love from Heart and Soul.
JEANETTE MCDERMOTT
Animals hold a special place in human consciousness. They are a source of attraction and fear, material value, and symbolic meaning. We attach religious and spiritual significance to them. We revere them in artwork and behold them in children’s books. They are a barometer for measuring people’s concern for environmental sustainability. We see from the beginning of Man, in the earliest cave drawings, that a bond has always been forged between humans and animals. Did you write the lyrics to any of your songs with these thoughts in mind?
LOIS CHAZEN
I wrote the lyrics to DOMINION because they speak the truth, and the truth sets us free … to be loving and kind, compassionate and caring. The song releases a deeply emotive prayer-like message to remind us that we are not separate from the fauna of nature. We are One with animals, and we are One with the earth. Humans need animals and the earth in order to survive.
I wrote the lyrics to DOMINION because they speak the truth, and the truth sets us free … to be loving and kind, compassionate and caring.
Song creates consciousness of what Dominion means and the role we play in protecting animals and all of Creation
JEANETTE MCDERMOTT
It sounds like the song DOMINION is wrapped up in your own soul work. Is this why working on the musical project was so important to you?
LOIS CHAZEN
My life’s work is to protect animals and to help heal the Earth through LOVE. NAMASTE for the animals worldwide!!!
I love the DOMINION music video because it captures that essence of who I am. And I am so grateful to have created the song with my mentor Natalie Jean (mega music award winner)! I loved blending the lyrics I wrote with Natalie Jean’s powerful voice…WOW! I believe animals need our help. The human species needs to stop harming animals! Our new song will help to create consciousness of what Dominion really means and the role we play in protecting animals and all of Creation.
JEANETTE MCDERMOTT
What other creative pursuits are you engaged in?
LOIS CHAZEN
I love stories and rhyme. I have republished my children’s books with new illustrations and more poignant lessons. I was Inspired to write Maddy Magoo’s Animal Rescues, in part, by The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. The book is about animals who lived at Goat Mountain Sanctuary near Asheville, North Carolina, where I lived at the time. The other book Loving Ruby, chronicles the rescue and release of a fledgling cardinal. The message in the books is that love is the true answer.
Offering prayers for peace and love for all relations
JEANETTE MCDERMOTT
Spiritual people tend to be attuned to animals. What are your spiritual practices?
LOIS CHAZEN
For more than 30 years I have been lighting candles on Friday night in honor of the Sabbath. On this night I pray for peace, family, friends, animals, Mother Earth, and all relations. My spiritual practice is a living love that combines Judaism, Buddhism, and Native Americanism.
The Kabbala holds especially deep meaning for me. It is a beautiful set of teachings meant to explain the true relationship between GOD, humans, and the universe. Among its key teachings are reincarnation of the soul and higher realms of consciousness.
I feel in my heart and soul that everything in life is about HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS. I light candles and perform other rituals to tap into energies that are present in Creation. My Spirituality is how I contribute to healing in the light of GOD for the universe. That’s my life today; I love making a difference in our world!!! LOVE TO ALL!!!
When I see an innocent animal who was Born to be Wild caged and confined and the freedom they were given as a birthright removed … well... I FEEL BROKEN!! And I cannot walk away!
All is Well, all is One, all is Love
JEANETTE MCDERMOTT
Some of the animals you meet in your day-to-day life are neglected, abused, and in distress. Others have gone missing from their human families. And other animals are in pain and suffering as you heal them intuitively. You make promises to the animals you serve. Why are your promises to animals important?
LOIS CHAZEN
When I see an innocent animal who was Born to be Wild caged and confined and the freedom they were given as a birthright removed … well… I FEEL BROKEN!! And I cannot walk away! I rescue, find, and heal animals because I connect with their souls. I feel as if I have known them before. I look into their eyes and they look back into mine. Eyes are the window and the mirror of the Soul! This begins my beautiful karmic journey of LOVE & LIGHT with the animals.
Animals come to me, injured and sometimes dead. They come to me when they are suffering or are lost in need of being found. All animals come to me regardless of species. That’s because the Universe has a heart and soul. The Universe brings Love and Light into the world to make it better for animals, the environment and for all of us humans. These are God’s covenants. I make promises to animals in the same way that God has made promises to us, and in the same way that I make promises to other people who need to feel hope and love.
JEANETTE MCDERMOTT
Who has influenced or inspired you along your life’s journey as an animal lover and animal rights activist?
LOIS CHAZEN
Jane Goodall is my life-long hero and silent mentor. She is rooted deeply in my heart and souI as an animal activist. I try to follow in her footsteps on her path of love and devotion to animals. She sees INTER-SPECIES connections and our ONENESS with animals. She sees animals as kin who need love, care, and attention the way we, as people, all need nurturing.
The teachings of Don Miguel Ruiz in his book The Four Agreements have also had a positive influence in my life. And my deceased friend Bobbie Tyler, who channeled through me her book The Key: Truths of the Universe, totally transformed my way of thinking about divine wisdom.
And ETHICAL VEGANS inspire me. Ethical vegans are on an incredible journey — on our path of LIGHT! In my opinion, nothing else matters … we have got to engage in the highest vibrational frequency to save the animals and save ourselves, the human species. AMEN!
JEANETTE MCDERMOTT
It’s obvious to me that you are a Mystic, a living testament to the power of love, intuition, transcendence, and transformation. Through your vision, creativity, and enigmatic approach to life, you are able to make the world a far better place to live. You spread a sense of hope, a belief that even through the muck and mire we humans create and wallow in, all will be well and made good. I like to think of your archetype as the Love Warrior and Peace Magician. You make dreams come true, especially for the animals.
LOIS CHAZEN
Since childhood I have been the keeper of the animals. I embrace what they bring to me! The Universe is the MYSTERY. It’s important to TRUST the ALLNESS of the ALL. All is well. All is One. All is Love!!! I’m doing my best to make a difference in the lives of animals!!! All I ask is that we all please do our best to help animals so they have better lives.
JEANETTE MCDERMOTT
Lois, I want to thank you for the time you have given Vegan Storyteller and for sharing with others a glimpse of your divine nature and devotion to animals.
LOIS CHAZEN
ENJOY THIS BEAUTIFUL DAY. In honor of Harambe and all animals on Earth … FOLLOW THE PATH OF YOUR HEART and HONOR THEM! SPREAD THE LOVE & LIGHT OF “THE I AM GOD…” AND PROTECT, ENFOLD, AND SURROUND YOURSELF AND OTHERS. SPREAD ONLY LOVE THROUGH THE WORLD — NOT FEAR.
This is Earth School (3rd Dimension) LEARN YOUR LESSONS: ONLY LOVE. Prayers for peace, living love, and healing our world in the light of God for the Universe!
Todah (not a mis-spelling) means THANK YOU! XOXO
It is my turn to create the vibration of Love and Light for the animals, so that humankind will feel and heal with the Spirit of God through music.
FOLLOW LOIS
Turtle Dove Publications by Lois Chazen
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Lois Chazen nurses a fledglin to maturity and releases it into the wild, learning the healing benefits of wildlife and the people who care for them.
The Key weaves ancient spiritual principles into a coherent unity of divine wisdom to help us meet the challenges of everyday life.
Vegan Storyteller shares people’s personal journeys in the ON BEING VEGAN interview series to illuminate the world. Stories about vegans inspire and uplift us and help us realize that a vegan lifestyle benefits not just people, but animals, and the environment as well. If you are a vegan thought leader or influencer with a vibrant web presence to impact others, I’d like to interview you. Please contact me if you would like to be interviewed for the ON BEING VEGAN interview series.
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