Whale Medicine

A passage from my book, Cultivating the Divine, about an encounter with a whale:

Some indigenous cultures believe the whale to embody the vibration of remembrance, the remembering of the eternal Self. I remember Mary mentioning the whale once, in our monthly Group Gathering, saying something to the effect, “Man would like to think that he is the most evolved species on the planet, when he is not.” 

And once in a dream experience, in February 1996, I was told that a gray whale of great importance had died, that was so powerful that he would be deeply missed. While hearing this, I began to envision a whale that actually influenced the calm of the entire planet. I also saw the emanations of his song extending through the water, the land and beyond. It seemed as though his voice completely saturated the Earth, even traveling out into space. 

But I had no idea that a more direct encounter was imminent. When waking up—fully conscious—in the mouth of whale, I only had one thought, 

“That poor bastard Jonah—I guess this really can happen!” 

Then my mind focused on the task at hand, “What am I doing here?!!” 

I was almost getting used to finding myself in these situations, but the experiences seemed to be growing in difficulty. In this state, I was not thinking, ‘It’s ok, I am in an out of body experience.’ The state of being I was experiencing would be the same if I had actually been in a whale. I had to deal with the situation as if it were real. 

I wanted out! I had to get out and do so as fast as I could. I crawled over on my knees to the whale’s lip and lifted upward. 

Although the experience was as real as it could be, there were obviously other forces at play. When I looked out, no water entered. Instead, I could actually see sky and open sea. There was no land in site. 

It quickly felt more dangerous to leave than stay, so I returned to where I had been sitting in the back of the whale’s mouth. It wasn’t far to crawl. From back to front, the distance was ten to twelve feet. I sat and considered my options. 

While I was initially ready to jump out and make the best of it, it became apparent I would drown. Swimming for it was obviously not the best option. I was truly paralyzed. There was nothing to do but wait. 

I looked at the interior of his mouth in wonder, inhaling the salty air while hearing the heavy breathing from this giant. Along with the ocean sounds and sloshing water, my senses were otherwise denied of experience. I was good for a few minutes, but as the fear overpowered me, I lost consciousness.   

There were many things to learn from this most recent travel. For one, I was confused about my life, about which direction to take. This seemed to be a subtle suggestion, or perhaps a dramatic insistence that I should just stay where I was in my life and not make any changes. Also, there is the magnetic energy of a whale that triggers memory, past life memory, returning eternal wisdom and knowledge. And my memories from the past were most certainly returning, and in the future perhaps with the help of this experience.