When Brian met Arielle, he had no idea that he had to jump through hoops, placed before him by her cat, before Arielle would date him! Here they are with their "God Dawgs"  Cooper (in the back) and his son, Maverick.

"I have lived with several Zen masters — all of them cats."

Arielle grew up in Florida with a variety of dogs and cats, and on the opposite coast, Brian grew up on an Oregon farm, "... loving animals almost more than people."

How on a planet of seven billion people could they have met other than through destiny and a cat that sealed the deal!

"When I was 43 years old," explains Arielle, "one morning, I woke up, reached out and stroked my 25 pound Tuxedo cat, JB, and realized with a start, that I had forgotten to get married!  I decided to do something about it, so I wrote up a list of my "desires" in a loving soul mate and got a hug blessing from Amma, ‘the hugging saint', one of India's foremost spiritual leaders, to clear out past emotional blocks.

At the time, I was the publicist for the best selling book, ‘The Messengers'. The author brought his business partner, Brian, to a TV appearance.  When I saw Brian, I experienced a soul-knowing reaction.  Brian experienced the same."

"I started dreaming about Arielle," said Brian, "three weeks before I met her and afterwards found out that at that time, she had received a blessing from Amma."

"It felt like we had known each other for many life times," added Arielle. "We ‘recognized' each other like the actor, Warren Beatty, did his love in the 1978 movie ‘Heaven Can Wait'.

Brian had to pass two litmus tests to see if he was ‘the one'. The first was the approval of my beloved JB, who rarely liked anyone I dated.  If JB approved of Brian, then we could ‘officially' be together."

Brian, unaware of the tests said, "When I arrived at Arielle's home I was elated that she had a pet! I walked in, saw the cat, and lay on the floor beside him, and we began playing."

"I was thrilled," said Arielle, "He passed the first test with flying colors!  The other test involved  author and speaker Deepak Chopra and his wife, Rita, who are close friends. When I told Deepak that I was serious about Brian, he jokingly quipped, ‘Only if my wife agrees can you keep him'.

Luckily, Rita, also gave Brian two paws up too! We were engaged three weeks later, and married a year later.

Brian and JB developed the strongest bond I have witnessed between a cat and ‘his' purrs-on, and until JB lost all his nine lives, they were inseparable. Comically, JB's favorite ‘hangout' was in our bathtub."

Typically, the spiritual couple who never follow "the norm" had three marriages purr-formed. Because they honor all spiritual rituals, practices, and traditions, they felt inclined to confirm their love in many ways.

The first nuptial was a Hindu Ceremony purr-formed by Amma, who was instrumental in starting Arielle on her healing-heart journey that attracted her soul mate.  "Right after her hug," said Arielle, "I began dreaming of Brian. This is why I recognized him at the TV shoot."

Then their friend and musician Kenny Loggins officiated and sang at their humor filled second ceremony. Not many people have Kenny as their ‘wedding singer' but Arielle was his publicist and he was embarking on a big book and record project.

Their third wedding was a Celtic event, known as a "pagan hand-fasting" on top of a mountain.

"Our cats are an integral part of our lives," said Brian. "So it was fitting that Arielle's and my first project together as literary agents was for the best selling book, "Angel Animals."

JB was a spiritually enlightened cat who joined us in meditations. We nicknamed him ‘Buddha kitty'.

"Amelia Kinkaide is the Queen of England's pet psychic for her horses," said Arielle, "and one of JB's biggest fans.  When JB was 13 years old, we found out he had terminal cancer. Amelia told us ...'not to worry because he will quickly return to you.'

"She was right. A few weeks after JB died, I had a dream where a black and white kitten said, ‘Come get me Saturday at 11 a.m.. I am at the animal shelter.'  I told Brian, and he said, ‘Then we better go!'  At 11 a.m. we walked into the shelter, and right by the door was a tuxedo kitten named Felix.

When we brought Felix home, he bound into the bathroom and jumped into our bathtub! ‘JB was back' in his favorite hangout!

We currently have two inside kitties, Yoda and Felix. Felix is an enlightened master, but Yoda is a young soul, a pleasure pig, who insists on belly rubs at 3 a.m.!

Our two outside cats, Banana Spaceman, a marauding neighbor's cat, named by ‘his' human children, purr-furs our quiet backyard and Rocky, a feral cat, lives between the cat treats at our home and the local taco stand where he receives all the tacos he wants.

"We can‘t imagine life without our cats," chimed the couple in unison. Brian adds, "I've read and loved ‘Pet Tips ‘n' Tales' for years along with all the beautiful-heart expanding pictures. Thank you for featuring our family!"

Arielle and her ever watchful furry muses are finishing her 10th book, ‘Turn Your Mate Into Your Soul Mate'. (www.soulmatesecret.com) 

Her book series is the journey of their relationship.  But, her cats are the ‘soul' stars of this article!

Tell Mary Ellen "Angel Scribe" and Myster E. your pet's story!