Lexicon of spirit animals: whale

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Mode of life:

As a mammal that is represented by roughly 80 different species across the world oceans, the whale regressed back from land to sea about 50 million years ago. The hippopotamus is said to be their most immediate living relative. Despite the whale's past as a land dweller including being equipped with lungs, they have impeccably adapted to the marine lifestyle and cannot survive on land. All whale species are either being ascribed to the group of toothed whales or baleen whales: while the former is characteristically smaller and has an array of conical teeth and only one blowhole, the latter is usually larger and has two blowholes, while instead of teeth they have baleen plates which serve the purpose of filtering plancton from vast amounts of ocean water. Most well-known whales are, among others, the blue whale, sperm whale, humpback whale, orca and narwal. On contrast to fish, the whale's flukes are horizontal, and since they have lungs instead of gills they need to come to the surface to breathe air after a few hours of diving. Whales have a constant body temperature and have a relatively big head with atop nostrils that allow for smooth and immediate breathing upon emerging from the water. Each whale species has a very broad and unique sound spectrum that allows conspecific communication over and above distances of up to 15,000 kilometers. With an excellent memory whales pick up on a conspecific's emitted sound frequency and repeat very same. When a school of whales leaves its winter habitat they abruptly stop singing, yet upon returning half a year later they continue singing exactly where they had left. Lifespan of whales varies greatly depending on the species. While killer whales can reach 80 years of age, a blue whale can become 110 years old. The bowhead whale can even become up to 200 years old.

All images: Pixabay

Spiritually light aspects:

The whale stands for spiritual development, detoxification and ancient wisdom. We all stem from water, and as a former land dweller that returned into the ocean the whale guides us back to our origins. Since it took the whale about 10 million years to accomplish this transit, they share with us: "development needs all its time to fully thrive. Strength lies in calmness." Switching between the elements air and water, the whale hints at the thought-emotion interplay as well as the power of breath which is an amazing tool for the instant regulation of unhealthy emotions and thought patterns. At the same time the whale encourages us to drink lots of water to thoroughly flush out residual toxins on all levels. Connecting with the whale strenghtens our physical and mental immune system, which is vital for creating inner distance to systems not in alignment with our sovereignty, and instead think and act independent of others; in this way we bring new frequencies and vibrational impulses into the world. With the ability to repeat and pass on sounds and vibrations with painstaking accuracy the whale exemplifies how to live from our Heart's truth in a naturally contagious manner, while by means of its undulatory immersion into and emersion from the water the whale teaches us the polarity dance without judging either side of the spectrum. Combined with the whale's sheer mass we are being given all we need to successfully sound ourselves out anew.

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Spiritually dark aspects:

The whale is prone to feeling lost and abandoned very quickly due to an extremely sensual vulnerability that is very often not being understood by other humans, and it is this empathic gap that makes for the whale's unwillingness to open up to humans. Those with the whale as their spirit animal tend to retreat into themselves while getting caught up in a state of tribulation which doesn't allow for seeing a way out. In a way, the whale becomes stifled by its lofty self-imposed sense of responsibility that comes along with the unrealistic expectation that the surrounding world will emulate that mindset, leading to an unacceptance that potentially overly focuses on, hence spreads, negativity without noticing it. As always, acceptance creates harmony.

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Much Love and Light,

Alex