Dream
What does it all mean?
I had my recurring dream again last night. Haven't had it for a while. I've been having it in various forms for most of my adult life. This is not one from childhood. In the dream - and, as I say, the set-up varies - I find myself at a dophinarium or zoo, and there are killer whales swimming round in a pool, usually two of them, and either I'm watching them from the side of the pool, or through glass, and there's usually a danger of me falling in the water, or of the killer whales jumping out. In the version I had last night, the pool was glass-sided. I didn't fall in. But I was filled with the same mixture of tension and pleasure I get from the possibility of being near whales, especially killer whales.
Some important facts that will help you interpret my dream, whether qualified to do so or not:
1. I love killer whales. I mean, I love them. The way they look. The way they move. The way they sound. I have been fascinated by whales - and not the more user-friendly dolphins - ever since my childhood. The Whale Hall at the Natural History Museum (these days called the Mammal Gallery, I think) blew my mind as a kid, on a trip down to London, and it has exerted an almost supernatural pull on my soul every time I've visited since. (Luckily, even though museums are all about interactivity and moving dinosaurs and "experiences" these days, they have failed to ruin the whales at the Natural History Museum - that amazing space is still dominated by the full-size blue whale, and you can listen to the mesmerising, almost heartbreaking sounds of different whales too. The killer whale noises are my favourite.) Whenever I catch a glimpse of a whale on television, the hairs on my neck stand up. I love all birds and animals, but no other animal has this effect on me. I was a proud member of the Whale & Dolphin Conservation Society in the 80s (even though they care about dolphins the same amount they care about whales). I love killer whales so much, I couldn't stop myself from visiting Marine World in Vallejo while on honeymoon in San Francisco, where two killer whales perform. (These days it's called Six Flags Discovery World, by the way - I checked.) I had shivers down my spine just approaching the arena, and I sat by the viewing window and had a full-size killer whale swim right past me, just as one had done in my dreams so many times. It was unreal. Now, intellectually, I despise zoos, and I hate that two beautiful killer whales live in a swimming pool, but I was drawn to it, so that I could see my favourite creature in the black and white flesh. I feel guilty for giving them my money, and for having my photo taken with the whales. I'm conflicted about it, all these years later. I accept that most decent zoos are all about conservation and education now, but Marine World was all about entertainment, and that's so wrong. Anyway, seeing two orcas in real life didn't stop me having the dream.
2. I don't like water. I can barely swim. I never cracked swimming as a kid. As such, I am afraid of the water. I don't like being on it. I get seasick on boats and ferries. (Funnily enough, we went by boat to Vallejo from San Francisco, as it's on the northern shore of San Pablo Bay.)
3. The dream is not a nightmare. I rarely actually fall in the water and I never think the whales will hurt me. They're just so big. The thrill I get from seeing them on telly (and in real life that one time) is replicated in the dream. The best way to describe my feelings towards the whales is awe.
Why I dreamt about the killer whales again last night, I have no idea. In some ways, it's great to have them back. Because I love them.
posted by Andrew Collins @ 11:31 PM
16 Comments
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16 Comments:
Wow, I’ve seen that life-sized blue whale too. It’s one of the persistent memories I have from childhood and I never remembered where it was. I’ve swam with fish larger than myself in Bermuda (nothing like whales though), and it’s just like you describe it – something like sheer terror just slightly overridden by awe. I had the urgent impulse to escape, but the experience was too amazing. I’m going to hazard a conclusion that your dream represents your innate perspective on existence, like a visionary who suddenly grasps a fundamental truth about mankind that has for millennia been buried under religion and superstition and other social dogmas. When you articulate this revelation, these dreams will cease. Either that or you may have a suppressed fetish for violent sex with obese people.
I am nowhere near qualified to interpret dreams, however, for what it's worth here are a few thoughts.
There is something in life which fills you with awe and wonder (the killer whales). However this something (maybe a career move or other achievement) would offer some element of fear (the water which surrounds the killer whales). At some points in your life you have felt quite close to this thing (when the whales came close to jumping out of the pool). At the moment you still have a very real need for this thing but there is still something stopping you from getting to it (the glass sides of the pool and the fear of the water).
I believe that recurring dreams tend to happen because there is something that we really need to deal with in our lives.
If there is something that you really want but are fearful of going for, my advice would be to just go for it and best of luck.
Leave it to the Dreamweaver.
It's quite simple. You watch these beautiful, graceful creatures and long to be one of them - the freedom, the happiness. But you can't. Either the glass wall or your fear of water is stopping you.
You want more than you are getting in life, is basically the crux.
I'd say it's about being caught between 2 opposing or 'larger than life' female presences in your life (a recurrent theme?)
Water and creatures swimming about in it - signify some sexual undercurrent...
As a postscript to my last comment, I used to have a recurring dream about living in a house that I didn't like much. When I changed jobs, I no longer had the dream.
Ooh, let me at it! Sounds full of ambivalence. There's something around which you perceive to be essentially benign, but which you also realise could crush you up like a bit of old plankton. You're on the outside looking in at all this power and mightiness, but nonetheless you have a clear unimpeded view of what goes on within. Do you get in the tank with the Big Blowhole Boys and see whether you can stay afloat or not? All in all a clear representation of your Self in relation to, let's say, the Head of Commissioning for BBC Comedy.
That will be a hundred quid please. Now get off my couch.
I have no idea what your dream means Andrew.
I'd like to swim with dolphins and whales. If I could swim marginally better than my 10 year old that is.
Ok I lied. I think I know what the dream means.
The freedom that the mammals experience in the water is something you cannot experience because you feel limited in some way by your inability to swim well.
In truth Andrew. You want to be a lumberjack but your fear of check shirts is holding you back.
Carpe Diem - sieze the day
Carpe Duct - sieze the tape
Just copied this from the first dream interpretation site on google:
To see a whale in your dream, represents your intuition and awareness. You are in tuned to your sense of spirituality. Alternatively, it indicates a relationship or business project that is too enormous to handle.
Is that 'dom' as in 'dominant', Domboy? You saucy devil.
It's a lovely recurring dream. My recurring dream involves me falling off the edge of Nelson's Column, so no such romance for me come beddy-byes.
What a great recurring dream! Mine is one where I've got a room in my house that I only two people I know ever go into, never me. One of them actually dreamt he went into the room - bizarre in itself, dreaming about someone else's dream - and inside the room was a telephone exchange.
I once nearly drowned whilst having a 'swimming with dolphins' experience.
Veeeery interesting. I like the possibility of the whales representing my trapped spirituality, or the freedom I long for (that has to be do with work!), or a "business project that's too enormous to handle" - I am currently trying to do too much work, going through another of my "indecisive" career stages. What do I want to concentrate on most? As such, I am kind of laying the foundations to do a bit of all of them, at the same time.
I think's telling to stop fannying around with this blog and get some bloody work done ! Haven't you got deadlines to meet?
Motivational coaching - another 100 quid please.
If someone asks you what a dream means, you should always start with: "Well obviously it's sexual..."
My only recurring dream involves me suddenly discovering I can jump really long distances in slow motion. It's a fantastic feeling. I don't really believe that dreams mean anything though. (But yours is obviously sexual.)
Is it possible the whales represent the ambivalence you feel towards the media?
Andrew,
Congratulation on the RTS Award. Well deserved
This is so awsome. I was just google searching for anyone else that also loved killer whales and dreamed about them too. I also love killer whales more than any other creature in the world. i cant even descirbe how much i love them.sure dolphins are cool too. But killer whales put me into an awe status. I love everything about them too. They are so mysterious. I havent ever seen one in real life.But that is my dream. The reoccuring dream that I have is that im in a pool area, I never really know where, but the walk way around the pool area is only like 1 1/2 feet wide. And thats it. Theres absoultly no where to sit at all. In the pool theres usully about 2 or 3 whales in it. In my dream i know how much i love them but im kind of scared because i cant walk around the pool due to the small area and the area is also wet from the whales splashing. As im about to fall in I always wake up. You know like when you fall in a dream and wake up all scared. Well i couldnt figure out why i was having these dreams of being scared around them when i love them sooooo much...So when i was at the local state fair this year, I had a taro reading done just for the hell of it and i never once told the lady that my passion for killer whales untill after the reading, but at the very end of the reading i asked her if i was going to have a successful life and she turned the card over and the card read.. ready set go . You will have a successful life and the picture was of a girl riding a killer whale. I was totally blown away by this, so i asked her about my dream and she said that if you ever dream about any kind of sea creature including sharks and your scared, then that creature is trying to warn you of something. I dont know if thats true or not but its the closet awnser that i have got to reasoning for my dreams. But I think that it is great that you too share such a passion for them too and that im not the only person with reoccuring dreams about killer whales.
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