It all began as a profound experience with a total stranger – whom I was formally introduced to while attending a very large private celebration.
After one polite glance, we embraced each other warmly, during which I heard myself saying, “How good to see you again, old friend.” After this surprising embrace, another one followed instantly - as though we couldn’t stop ourselves! Each time, I felt a phenomenal amount of energy pass between us. We paused and eyed one another in disbelief!
Still holding our half-embrace, a curious urge to rub-noses welled up in me. “I’m sorry,” I said, leaning forward, “I just have to do this,” and I gently rubbed each side of her nose twice with my nose. Next, an even stronger urge arose – I just wanted to ‘rest’ my forehead directly to her forehead; then our noses would have formed a single unit, septum to septum, as though we had been born with skulls fused together in a frontal skull-meld! In fact my nose physically ached to do so! Fortunately, prudence and the re-awareness of being in a very public place took charge. Instead I murmured hesitantly, “I think this is – Maori – a Maori greeting.”
Throughout that special social evening and while intermingling with a much larger group, we were like Iron filings, compelled by a magnetic force beyond our control – again and again we were drawn together to embrace, laugh, talk and dance in puzzled amazement. The delight we experienced at our reconnection was beyond containment! One thing felt certain – we knew each other from another lifetime…but which? and when? And why was this happening? I had almost turned down the party invitation!!
About a week later when we met for lunch, I told her that I strongly sensed we had been men in another lifetime – engaged in a very important joint endeavor - but I had no idea what?
One of the images I’d received during our initial meeting was a symbol of two ‘pods’ reconnecting – again, it didn’t make sense at the time.
Shortly thereafter something began nagging at me. For several months I had resisted all entreaties from friends to go see the New Zealand film “Whale Rider.” Wasn’t even vaguely interested, plus it was logistically difficult for me to get to that particular theater. The film had vanished from town and from mind – until now.
A friend (who has so many DVD’s she can’t keep track of them) insisted she had it ‘somewhere’ – “Don’t worry to hunt for it,” I told her, ”Can’t imagine why I suddenly want to see it so badly, I’ll rent it myself next week.”
But find it she did, and to my surprise, within 24 hours she knocked on my door, “Whale Rider” in hand. That night, remote-ready, I sat down to find out what all the fuss was about!
One quarter way into the film, a deep shaking began in my body. It persisted and increased until every part of me shuddered uncontrollably. Wrapping myself in a blanket did nothing – the shaking persisted until I almost became used to it. When it finally subsided, sobbing took its’ place….and continued through the end of the film……and through my second play-through of the ending (from the part where she enters the water and approaches the whale). And for those of you who missed the film, the ending is quite glorious, incredible and wonderful! So why was I sobbing my heart out?
Over the next day and night, I watched “Whale Rider” twice more (the shuddering reaction went – thank heaven – but some tears stayed and emotions, though not as intense. My viewing included all the incredible DVD Extras and the very revealing commentary-over-film spoken by the writer/director. One thing she mentioned riveted my attention – the ‘nose-brushing’ exchange, culminating in a briefly held forehead-nose-stance, marks a traditional, important (even spiritual) greeting between Maori males!
Eventually I phoned my new ‘old-friend’ to ask if she had ever seen “Whale Rider.” Indeed she had, and furthermore, had sobbed throughout the entire film! We’d both reacted very strongly – curious?
Then I went online, searching for background on the whale rider Paikea legend, the inspiration behind the film. There appears to have been several “Paikea’s” – possibly because the word means “survivor.” The legends exist (with variations), throughout the many smaller Pacific Islands extending from Hawaii to as far south as New Zealand – and we are talking here of a time-span from 800 to 1000 years.
For the same time period, scientists discovered the weather in the South Seas was much warmer than it is now. They postulate that enormous sea-going canoes from Hawaii, could easily have merged with one or more friendly whale-pods and traveled safely in their midst for the entire journey to New Zealand.
Also, no one is certain whether the many Paikea legends pertain to a single entity, or to a series of different men – all called Paikea because of their extraordinary endurance during incredible sea journeys.
This remarkable film was shot at the actual location where according to local legend, Paikea landed in New Zealand 1000 years ago. Also, every one of the ‘extras’ in the film hails from the village-community existing there now, and can trace their lineage and traditions hundreds of years back to this Paikea ancestor – “who came from Hawaii on the back of a whale.” (Some ‘shooting’ areas were so sacred, that special permission had to be given before filming could take place in them.)
Whale Spirit (Tahora) permeates this film…also the sense of communion we humans once experienced with Tahora and with many individual whale intelligences.
The next time I saw my friend, pieces of the puzzle were beginning to form a pattern. We discussed the possibility that we may have been men of ancient Hawaii traveling together – or as part of a group endeavor (historically there were many), that had undertaken the long boat journey to New Zealand with the assistance of lone whales, or ‘pods’ of migrating whales. Thus explaining our unaccountable response to each other at the party and our separate, similar reactions to the film.
She also shared a ‘memory’ - one that had surfaced for her since our first meeting; in it she saw herself as a mystic priest-shaman, able to communicate with whales…and as my close adviser and spiritual teacher.
How many other ancient travelers have been reawakened by watching “Whale Rider” I wonder?
INVESTIGATING THE WHALE ENERGY
My interest in whales didn’t stop there – or perhaps I had stirred up my own latent connection with Whale Spirit. Subsequently, during my regular sound healing classes, the whale energy became increasingly present and alive to us.
But it also came privately – and it came first through the element of water.
Soaking in the tub one night, I contemplated a fact: no matter how easily I received different energies through my hands and head during meditation and healing work, it was impossible to feel any of them, as long as I sat in a tubful of water! I shared my conundrum with a healing associate after one of our energy exchanges. And yes, we’d been discussing my reaction to the film. Without answering, she looked over her shoulder at me and opened the back door. “Take it to the whales,” she declared enigmatically and left.
That got me thinking.
During my evening bath, I pictured the wind-swept beach and the sound of the offshore whales from the “Whale Rider” film. Then I uttered a formal prayer invoking a personal reunion with Tahora the Whale Spirit and asking for it’s ‘presence’ again in my life. Moments later, I could feel a gentle and subtle energy entering both my hands – they were under the bath water!!
From that time forward, I could draw the energy into me at will (it now felt much stronger), or it visited me spontaneously during the day, very much like the downloads resulting from Rose Crystal Meditation.
In response, I modified some breathing exercises we were already using in class and incorporated them with the whale energy.
When practicing this new whale-breathing alone, I first visualized myself on the familiar wave-wet beach with its’ blowing spray and crying gulls; sometimes the whales were offshore; sometimes I found myself in the midst of a pod out in the ocean swimming with them – or even actually on a whale’s back – once, I was the whale and my lungs became whale-lungs with enormous capacity. …all the while doing the special breathing and feeling the whale-breath-energy pouring into my hands.
A quite different and very memorable occasion occurred in my garden. I’d been joyfully outside working in a favorite spot. Without warning, the whale energy came in very strongly accompanied by a brief and insistent message – it was so strong I had to drop my tools, rush inside and write down the words before I forgot. Even then, I found them hard to believe.
This is a rephrasing of what was written:
Supposedly, whales held a possible step in the spiritual/physical evolution of humans and had been waiting a long time (and for the right time) to communicate the information. Apparently, man contains within his lungs latent genes that will activate in the presence of the whale-breathing energy. Also, there was some unspecified reference to combining the energies of the heart with the new breathing??
That evening, inwardly doubting the veracity of my garden-encounter, I was chatting casually on the phone to a long time friend. Then again without warning, the familiar whale energy filled me suddenly and very powerfully. I stopped mid-sentence and said “Can you feel any of this new energy coming over the phone?” She said “Yes, what is it?” I replied “whale energy.” Then I related the ‘garden incident.’
Her reaction? – massive Goosebumps all over!
Finally, during one of our sound healing classes, it was my turn to be worked on by the students. Several remarkable things happened: as they worked on me, we all received whale energy and we all became whales with whale lungs and we all sang incredible whale sounds.
In the next section we will study the Whale Breathing.