MONUMENT • Sitting in Rachael Ortega’s office, surrounded by crystals and crosses, is Allison McPike.

Ortega is facing the young woman across from her desk, a pencil in hand and a blank notepad resting flat. A mutual friend referred McPike to Ortega, a psychic medium.

But McPike isn’t here to speak to a loved one beyond the grave or settle final debts. No. Instead, she wants to tap into the thoughts and feelings of her living, breathing beloved pets.

McPike, who has four cats and a dog, shares photos of them. Ortega starts with her golden doodle, Nilla, who Ortega describes as young at heart with a sense of childlike wonder and innocence.

“She’s quiet because she’s figuring things out,” Ortega says. “She feels like a very happy dog. … She wants you to know that the cats don’t bother her too much.”

McPike and Ortega laugh. “That resonates,” McPike said.

But the mood becomes a bit heavier as Ortega describes a previous dog McPike had as a teenager, a dark gray brindle pit bull named Mackie. The two dogs, Mackie and Nilla, are connected, Ortega said, which is why there might be a sense of familiarity with Nilla.

“I just know that I can feel her spirit, and it feels like we’ve known each other for a long time,” McPike said, becoming slightly teary-eyed.

For Ortega, pet readings like these are a highlight of her work, because they share positive energy and showcase unconditional love. She’s guided people to connect with their horses, rabbits, cats and dogs, even a bird once, too, she said.

Since she can remember, Ortega felt she had a gift. Growing up in a deeply religious household, she was urged to suppress it. It wasn’t until her husband died in 2019 that she began to explore her abilities, she said.

“I thought maybe I was just in shock. But as the days progressed, I kept hearing him and feeling him and smelling him. I would see him out of the corner of my eye,” she said. “A friend of mine connected me with a medium and so I went to go see her.”

Enter: Carm O’Sullivan. O’Sullivan has practiced as a psychic medium in the Springs for about a decade and saw Ortega following her husband’s death.

“Her husband’s a huge spirit. He has an easy way of coming in the room. And when she walked in, I said, ‘Oh, your husband’s here. He’s sitting here,’” O’Sullivan recalled. She described seeing a bright light surrounding Ortega hinting at her faculties. “At the very end of the reading, I said, ‘By the way, you could be doing this work, like me.’”

Ortega’s response: “No, thank you.”

Afraid of being judged, Ortega initially declined O’Sullivan’s guidance. But the new widow continued to visit the medium and over the next year, finally decided to take the leap.

“I just felt this nudge like, ‘Hey, you’re not honoring me by hiding the gifts that I’ve given you,’” Ortega said. “So, I stepped out.”

With O’Sullivan as a mentor, Ortega began offering readings around town at local shows and expos. About two years into her practice, she said pets started coming through. It’s not uncommon for pets to appear, O’Sullivan said. While she doesn’t lean into pet readings as part of her practice, O’Sullivan is open to occasionally letting a beloved pet in on a reading as part of the healing process.

Ortega gave her first pet reading at the Pueblo Holistic Fair. Sitting in front of the new practitioner was a woman who had experienced a few losses she was looking to connect with. Right away, Ortega saw a big brown horse.

“Do you have a horse?” she asked, her question met with a sudden stream of tears from the woman across from her. Through a series of visions, Ortega said, she was shown a story of a meadow and trees, and the woman sitting on horseback strolling along trails.

She relayed to the client how the horse was rescued by her and how he had died young, likely from gut complications. But most importantly, how he loved his owner and how his owner had saved him.

“It was a really beautiful reading. It was very beautiful, very moving. That was my first big experience with pet reading and after that, they just started kind of coming in more and more,” Ortega said.

Seeing how these connections can impact people, she decided to hone in on the practice and start offering pet readings. She does readings for animals living and deceased. Surprisingly (or maybe not so much), pets have a lot to say, she said.

How do these readings work? For Ortega, it revolves around visuals and tuning into feelings. It helps to have a name and a picture from the owner, Ortega added. Once connected, she said she gets a feel for the pet’s personality, as well as a sense of how they died.

Ortega enjoys performing pet readings — they’re often a bit lighter than those involving people, she said. Whereas human readings might be centered around closure, making amends or sometimes working through difficult experiences, pets are full of love.

For living pets, pet owners have consulted Ortega for things like misbehaving dogs and checking in on their pet’s happiness. O’Sullivan has even consulted with Ortega about her dog, Charles.

“She’s amazing as a pet psychic. I lean into her because I have a troubled dog. He needs help,” O’Sullivan laughed.

For pets that have died, however, that heavy cloud of grief is still present. The hope of Ortega is to bring healing through these readings.

“Some pets, they’re not meant to be here for a long time,” Ortega said. “They’re meant to show us something, and usually it’s unconditional love.”

Ortega’s mission to help individuals navigate loss goes beyond her work as a psychic medium. She also hosts a grief group the first and third Thursday of the month at the Treehouse Cafe. This open group provides a space where people can meet and talk about their experiences with grief. At these meetings, Ortega doesn’t deliver messages, she said.

“I felt there was a need to have a group for ongoing support,” Ortega said.

Readings are different for every medium, O’Sullivan said, and they’re always learning. Whether a skeptic or believer, O’Sullivan is firm in her stance on ethics.

“I struggle with people who say they’re mediums who are not. It’s all about ethics,” she said. “Death is not death, and there’s so many ways to look at grieving, and the grieving process can be helped through a mediumship reading.”

While there is no scientific consensus or evidence on psychic abilities, Americans seem open to the concept.

A Pew Research Center survey found a majority of Americans (83%) believe that people have a soul or spirit, in addition to their physical body. A smaller majority (57%) believe that animals have their own spirits or spiritual energy. Another 38% of those surveyed said they had a strong feeling that someone who died was communicating with them.

For those who are skeptical, Ortega emphasizes that she is just the messenger.

“My job is to just be open and let it flow,” she said. “I’ve learned to be OK with other people not believing what I believe, or even just judging me. … Until you experience it, it can be really hard to believe.”

Both mediums also have a strong faith, with their experiences strengthening their beliefs.

“What I do is all about love,” Ortega said. “From our loved ones, love from our pets. I was asked one time, ‘Why do pets live such short lives?’ … And then I heard, ‘So that we could experience their love over and over. Not just once in our life, but multiple times.’ It is really a beautiful thing.”