Dreaming Of Whales

All of my good dreams involve whales. If whales are not in my dream then I’m chased by a murderer, my husband cheats on me, or I’ve misplaced my kid. I have a lot of bad anxiety dreams, but some nights my subconscious throws me a bone, and I dream peacefully of whales.

I’m normally in a house, or standing on a pier and I can see whales in the distance. Sometimes I’m on a boat and I see them close by. When I finally see the whales, my heart fills with joy and child-like wonder. After a few moments of whale watching, peace settles over me.

cartoon-whale

I spoke of the recurring image of whales to a friend of mine when we were in college. He coincidentally was studying psychology. He was interested in my nocturnal whale watching and asked a few basic questions:

Q: Have you ever seen whales?

A: Yes I have seen whales.

Q: Where did you see whales?

A:

  • On my dad’s boat.
  • From the shore of a cabin we visited regularly when I was a child.
  • In captivity, we saw Shamu at Sea World.
  • Once again, in captivity, we visited Keiko when he was in a tank in Oregon.

Q: Who was with you when you saw the whales?

A: Always family.

Q: When was the last time you saw whales?

A: Keiko in Oregon.

Q: What were you doing there?

A: Vacationing with my family. It was the last vacation we ever took as a family before my parent’s divorce. (Oh!)

I went through a lot of change in a short period of time. My parents divorced, and then remarried new spouses, I acquired step-siblings, and then my brother left and joined the Coast Guard which really split my world in half. For years I felt like I was fighting a losing battle of trying to hold my family together. I wept and I mourned for my former family life. I love my step-relatives now, but it took awhile for all of us to adjust. I think the whales represent the very first family dynamic I had until I was thirteen years old. Just my father, mother, brother, and me.

Do you have recurring themes/images/people in your dreams? Do you believe they appear for a reason?

Sweet dreams, tonight and always,

Rachel McKee

ADDITIONAL NOTE: I must add that I don’t believe in the captivity of whales. There is too much evidence that shows these beautiful, majestic souls suffer when they are confined.

 

Author: Rachel McKee

I love reading about everything. I'm not a book snob. Lately I have been "reading" a lot of picture books to my toddler and baby. In my past life before motherhood, I was a professional technical editor and writer.

18 thoughts on “Dreaming Of Whales”

  1. That’s interesting that it is the one thing that seems to be recurring.

    As for me, I usually do not remember my dreams but when I do they are usually nightmares. My most often recurring dream is being drive by shot at – don’t ask me why.

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  2. Rachel, thank you so much for sharing this post. It’s amazing how our subconscious reveals so much about us. I always have felt that whales are soulful creatures and find them to be comforting and beautiful to watch. Whale watching was one of the highlights of my life! You should watch the beautiful movie called, Whale Rider. I think you would enjoy it.
    I feel that the whales in your dreams are providing you with love and comfort and letting you know that you’re always protected. Praying that you have peaceful and calming dreams, from now on!

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  4. Most likely, you simply dream about whales because you find their sightings to be comforting, awe-inspiring, and something beautiful. I think people put way too much emphasis/importance on dream interpretation, when the fact is we’ll never really know what our dreams mean, and so often it is just our subconscious processing things that we either try to avoid thinking about when we’re awake (for example, a fear or grave concern), or things we think about, anyway. How many of us have a dream about a book we just finished, or a movie we just watched?

    I’ve studied dream interpretation, the psychology of dreams, lucid dreaming, etc., and a lot of it is either so hard to prove, or the theories contradict each other. (As Freud famously said, “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”) A lot of my dreams are downright bizarre, and I’m not sure why; some have been downright terrifying, and some of them have been so vivid – in one way or another – that they made their way into my writing (either for cathartic reasons or for creative inspiration reasons).

    My view is that most dreams are subjective, and particular to each individual. Dreaming of whales is certainly a better way to pass the night. 🙂

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    1. I find it interesting that some people dream, wake up, and can talk about their dreams in vivid detail. I had dreams as a child that I still remember. But my husband can’t remember his dreams. Sometimes, on a rare morning, he can remember a few fuzzy details but that’s it. I wouldn’t trade my whale dreams for anything else.😆

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  5. Whales I do not know, but what I know is I have BAD DREAMS and so many of them. there would be days where I would dream of someone mugging me, someone, trying to kill me or worse still marrying the wrong guy or there would be days where I wouldn’t have dreams at all. But good dreams? Oh no way, they are kind of enemies to me. So I think whales is indeed soothing.

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  7. That was touching Rachel, it’s sad to lose loved ones when they move on but the best part was gaining many more.

    Interesting that you have the same dream often, maybe you miss it being together as family and hold the whales as a connection. Therefore you’re happy when you dream of them.

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