What Do Dreams of Whales Mean?
Okay … when you think of a whale or the word itself, what are the first things you come up with? Do you instantly think “large black and white mammal swimming in the ocean waters,” or do you sometimes think of some of the common sayings, idioms, and even jokes associated with the animal? Perhaps both?
Maybe you remember play on word punchlines like the fact that you might identify a group (pod) of whales with musical talents as an “Orcastra,” Or that whales like eating “fish and chips.” Perhaps you remember having a “whale of a great (good) time,” or you saw a terrible physical fight when someone “whaled on” another person and left them bruised and battered. Of course, the word whale can also be used in hurtful ways as well.
The term seriously has some subtle, and sometimes amazingly powerful connotations, especially considering the size of the glorious beast it references or alludes to! Well, if a whale rises up from the watery bed of your subconscious to pay you a visit in your nighttime visions, clearly, the animal has something important to convey – it may be something simple you need to attend to OR … it could be something big, massive, colossal even, and the message may even be of life changing consequence.
The whale is black and white in color, so it represents harmonious energies, but it also stands for, by its sheer, massive size, the raw power of nature. If we look at the dream context as everything is an aspect of you (one school of thought on dream meaning), then we can consider the whale a source of incredible personal strength buried deep within you but at the ready to rise to the surface whenever you need it.
A common association with the whale pertains to the saying “entering the belly of a whale.” This is reminiscent of the story of Jonah in the Bible, where Jonah defies God’s instruction, and in short, ends up inside the stomach of a whale for three days, where he spent his time praying. If you dream makes you feel a connection to the story of Jonah, your subconscious might be telling you that in the times you might need help, but all means ask for it. At the same time, the dream might be serving as a beacon: One acting as a light or draw you back to a more spiritually-oriented lifestyle.
Know this though: The story of Jonah and even stories like Moby Dick by Herman Melville (an epic whale tale) all signify the act of reaching the point where you cannot turn back – the point of no return. Sometimes the journey to this definitive point is avoidable (with a bit of solid decision making), and sometimes not (as fate might be pushing you forward into life’s unavoidable transitions or rites of passage). This notion, the point of no return is very similar to the idiom “like a beached whale” which alludes to the inability to move despite any effort and the threat of death for the whale.
While there is negative symbolism with the whale, it is a beast sometimes connected to the concepts of peace, tranquility, serenity, and good energies. The animal is also associated with the feminine since it lives in the water and rises up to the surface for air as if it resides in the womb of the Earth Mother – this connects it to the notion of childbirth, nurturing, and mothering.
To only see the whale tail rising above the water and nothing more in your dream is an image with several meanings. First, it suggests you are just skimming the surface of something in your waking life, and you may not be fully conscious or aware of all that you need to be in order to make a decision or to act in a given situation immediately.
The whale tail is also suggestive of people following you or perhaps letting you do all the work – they are literally riding your tail. To see the whale tail skim along the surface of the water is to see it moving along the edge of both the subconscious and conscious realms – this represents emotional harmony or balance.
Now that you have had to touch the surface of the deeply intense meanings associated with the whale when it swims into the Dreamtime narrative, why not find out about other aquatic creatures, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and insects at WhatIsMySpiritAnimal.com.
