This morning I woke up from a profound dream.
In this dream, I found myself lying down on a flat wooden raft with four or five other people (whom I did not know) out in the middle of a cold northern sea, gently bouncing and floating with the current. I do not know why we were there or where we were going. I was on the outside edge and scared enough to have my left hand/arm touching/hanging on to the guy next to me. It seemed to help me surrender to the situation. It was clear that without anchoring myself, I would completely freak out. None of us were talking, at least not much. When I did hear them speak, it was a language I was not at all familiar with—some version of Russian maybe.
And just like that, the crusty, barnacled grey whales surfaced right next to and all around us—enormous creatures for as far as I could see, rising and dipping as they moved alongside our vessel.
I should have been scared out of my wits, as I’ve kayaked in Alaska before and at that time, found myself, because of their sea monster size, terrified of the whales in the near distance and also the dark water below. Yet, we’ve learned a lot about the brilliance and consciousness of these mammals, so this time, I decided to go with that. I felt I had no choice but to trust that they were, perhaps, protecting and escorting us.
As dreams go, the scene switched. We were all in the water and needed to keep swimming toward our destination while tackling some decent sized waves. I was faced with the truth that I was no longer a 17-year-old beach girl who had grown up in the ocean and had the upper body strength (and the guts) to take this on. Once upon a time, this would have been just another rough wave day that I’d power through to either get to the well-formed swell that was developing out further or get my butt to the shore before getting stuck in a riptide or clobbered by an in-between wave.
But today was different.
I’m now a 62-year old who hasn’t used those muscles in the same way since my 20s. However, both the good news and the problem was that because of my past experience, I knew what I was up against.
The ocean doesn’t mess around. If I were to survive, I would first need to shed anything that was weighing me down or keeping me from succeeding. While it was easy enough to rid myself of shoes or heavy clothing, it was actually my MINDSET that I had to overcome quickly. My fear, and telling myself that I couldn’t believe this was happening, were things that had to go, and go right now! When out in rough seas, whining is a luxury. Survival would not wait for me to lounge around and wallow. "Focus" was my only ally now. I had to get it together fast.
While I did not have the muscle strength (and never had a good swimming kick), I could still draw on my past experience. I could focus on form. If I could get my strokes right and keep my body straight and rhythmic, my energy would be used more efficiently. If I allowed my mind to think only about my core strength, my breathing, and how each arm moved, I could keep myself from panicking. I could keep myself from wishing I was somewhere else or from beating myself up for not going to Pilates class for the past bunch of years. I had to stay focused. I had to buckle down and just do the work.
Because dreams can often be cooperative, the plan quickly began to work. I was both surprised and pleased that my focus on my form was paying off, and I was keeping up with the other folks. We were making it.
All of a sudden, I felt the strangest sensation. A rough, rubbery platform had risen from below, lifting and supporting me, releasing me from effort and exertion as I stood.
A whale—the thing I was terrified of because of its size, yet the thing I had decided to trust because of its wisdom.
With me on it and without warning, the whale launched itself from the crest of a massive wave, flying down the wall of water with the force of a rocket. It took me on the fastest, smoothest, longest, most exhilarating ride of my life as we navigated every undulation! The experience is beyond describable. All I can pass on to you is that every cell in my body got to experience what it is like to surf the raw emotion of our Mother Ocean’s wildest expressions, along with the security of something larger than me assisting my passage. As long as I kept my body loose and knees bouncy while staying centered and in-the-moment, I felt no danger of getting thrown into the turbulence.
I became aware that I was dreaming and kept the adventure going until it faded. I think I was close to shore.
I woke with total clarity and was completely blown away and greatly affected by the experience. I marveled at the intricacies of the symbolism and how that works. As I allowed the images to lock in and the physicality to settle, it didn’t take long to know that this dream was about my life and my work and my mindset.
Like always, I wrote it down immediately. I knew to then look up “whale” medicine, since the dream indicated that I was not only surrounded by whale medicine, but I was supported by it. It showed me that the spirit of whale healing is the energy that would carry me through the anxiety of being me as I navigate my personal ocean.
Last year my daughter gave me a very cool animal spirit deck: The Wild Unknown by Kim Krans, so this would be my first go-to. I knew my dream was telling me that these were the qualities that will always see me through, that these are the qualities in others that support me best, that these qualities are those of my spirit guides and of the Universal Spirit, and to tap into these qualities within myself.
Whale
Desire to delve deeper, profound peace, ancient wisdom
The whale represents profound emotional health and stability. Whale personalities are not afraid of emotional expression or traversing difficult terrain, as they have overcome many challenges in their lives. These experiences have enriched them, given them stability, strength, and a depth that is rare. Whale energy is usually linked to the feminine forces of compassion and communication. We can depend on whale personalities when all else seems lost, and trust them to be a beacon in our darkest hour.
When in balance: calm, steady, deeply compassionate
When out of balance: heavy, slips into old “story”
To bring into balance: regular self-care
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A few words and paraphrasing from another deck: Medicine Cards: The Discovery of Power Through the Ways of Animals:
Whales carry the history of Mother Earth…Whale medicine teaches us to use the sounds and frequencies that balance our emotional bodies and heal our physical forms. It asks you to tap into the (historical) records and allow yourself to be sung to by those who have the original language. Whale signals a time of finding your origins, of seeing your overall destiny as coded in your DNA, and of finding the sounds that will release those records.
Sue, Amazing that you could remember your dream in such detail I felt that you were like Jonah outside the whale, instead of inside. Maybe dreaming about whales also can also mean that you need to tackle something bigger than yourself and need to ask for help.
WOW! That’s enormous, Suzanne! Interesting that your head was being filled with light to the point that rather than feeling like it was a good thing, it felt like it would explode! What do you think that means? Maybe you were just getting too much input, too much information that your head would explode? But you had a fear of dying. Super interesting.
Yes, in my dream I was in the ocean during the day. And yes, interesting that as the dream presented things to me, that my responses were based on my actual life experiences!
Wow! What an amazingly vivid dream! I find it so interesting that you thought about your strength (or lack of!) during such an intense and stressful situation. And although you don’t mention it, I assume this dream took place in the light of day which makes me think of my own dreams; they usually take place in dark, dimly lit areas.
Only one dream of mine comes to mind that was a little off-putting and thought-provoking, even though it didn’t give me any guidance for my daily life, at least that I’m aware of. I was taking part in an online lucid dreaming group at the time, and after doing a few of the exercises, decided to focus on lucid dreaming that night. In my dream, I remember standing on the actual outside of the world, kind of like on top of a globe. I was standing on it, yet looking down on myself from a super dark sky, like I could view myself from space. Standing next to me was a really tall guy whom I took to be God. As we stood there, I switched back to my view of just standing on the Earth while God, although not really talking, was somehow reassuring me of good things while a super bright light was filling my brain, quickly taking over all the space inside. (This light was actually coming from out in the universe, sort of just drilling into my head.) However, it was at that point where I realized I was dreaming, and I got super scared to continue, because it felt like if I had let the light completely fill my head, it was going to explode and I would die. So I pulled myself out of the dream, afraid that I might actually die in my sleep! All that being said, although it was quite scary, it was also really exhilarating and sort of felt like I could have been on the verge of an important revelation. Also, I haven’t tried lucid dreaming since then, either (2013).
Wow! Yeah, I don’t care for stressful dreams unless they cause me to consider a new and important direction or project that feels right. Thanks for sharing that!! xoxo
Wow that is amazing! My last message-carrying dream also had a whale theme, but oh so different.
It was back in March of 2018. I was in the midst of a great shift, and in my dream, I was on the shore with friends, family, and others I didn’t know as we (warning this gets sad) watched a whaling ship kill a humpback whale. Everyone else seemed to look on with interest, with a sense that it was fine, whereas I started to to absolutely ballistic, screaming and yelling and having a little tantrum. I feel that I’ve never been that angry in waking life. I woke up in this state.
I had to tell myself it was a dream and my heart rate could calm back down.
For me it was a message that now is the time. I started to focus more than I ever had on my business and creating something that would actually work and be a viable solution to the challenges people are facing. I’m not yet sure how/if a whale will ever literally play a role, but it was definitely what motivated me to keep up and never stop.
Thanks for sharing your story!!
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What I did not consciously know then but recognize now is that I refused to override the perfect balance of Original Design with baptism into Patriarchy, the most dangerous imbalance our world has known.
Suz McQueen
October 21, 2019
Ellen Sue: I totally LOVE your interpretation and thoughts. Beautiful. I think about those. – Suz xoxo