Whale Wisdom: 3 Lessons from the Humpbacks of Maui
“Are you sure I’m supposed to travel to Maui?” I had asked my guides repeatedly in my daily Self-Reiki sessions since September.
“Just go,” was the answer I received over and over.
I still have trouble receiving clear guidance because all the unhealed parts of my Dormant Self rise to the surface to muddy up my intuition. I can hear with the crystal clarity of a singing bowl what path I should follow, but then shadows arise like a valley fog: “You don’t need to spend money right now. Do you even remember how to interact with LIVE people? You’ve been by yourself in the house for two years. The new Omicron variant is savagely contagious. Even people with the booster vaccine are catching it.” But Reiki has helped me distinguish which voices are authentic and which ones are just fearful old stuff that I need to clear. I released the doubt and got on the plane.
I felt a significant purpose to this trip arising. I love to travel, but I’ve undertaken a few journeys because I knew I had to be in that spot on the planet at that particular time. For this trip, I had the same insistent nagging until I committed. I had the same incredible synchronicities that allowed me go. I didn’t know why until I got there. It happened in Glastonbury, Stonehenge, and Avebury in England. It happened in Knockma Wood in western Ireland. It happened on the northern coast of Scotland and on the Orkney Islands. It happened in Oslo, Norway. It happened in Machu Picchu and in the elf park in Hafnarfjordur, Iceland. I wasn’t sure what I was going to get on this trip, but I knew I had to go.
The LRMT retreat at William Rand’s house in Hana was glorious as usual. We hiked, relaxed, listened to William’s stories, had Reiki shares, cooked communal dinners together — William even made us waffles one morning with flour he ground himself. As we left Hana after five days of peace and relaxation in an off-grid house, I wondered if I had been mistaken. I hadn’t experienced any huge shifts yet. But we had a couple of days in Lahaina, where we rented a VRBO and had bought tickets for snorkeling one day and a VIP Whale Watching excursion the next day. As I drove the winding back road from Hana to Lahaina, I wondered what awaited me.
It was the whales. I came for the whales.
We saw some humpbacks from the snorkeling boat the first full day in Lahaina, but this time, my two LRMT friends and I sent them ICRT Animal Reiki from the small rubber boat, and they certainly responded. In fact, it was if they were waiting for us. The captain of the boat told us at the end of the excursion before we headed back that she had never seen them interact so much. She said they usually see a whale breach once on a two-hour excursion like this. But we saw about 15 breaches. And they waved at us and clapped their flippers. They dove and showed us their tails. It was incredible. My two friends were hollering and singing as they sent Reiki. We were all excited by the energy of these magnificent creatures. But I was uncharacteristically silent.
I could “hear” them. I could “feel” their vibration — even above the bobbing of the boat, the lapping of the waves, and the exuberant calls from my friends. It’s difficult to describe, but I clearly received information from them. And I want to share their messages with you.
Listen: Follow your instincts.
These whales traveled thousands of miles from Alaska to Hawaii by following their instincts. Scientists are baffled by how they migrate in nearly straight lines through the ocean. An eight-year study revealed “humpbacks may use a combination of the sun’s position, Earth’s magnetism and even star maps to guide their 10,000-mile journeys.” They instinctively know it’s time to leave their feeding grounds and move to warmer waters to mate and give birth to their young. And they make their journey with deliberate decision and precision.
I felt the pull to return to Maui with the same decisiveness once I got quiet and listened to my intuition. My instincts to connect with others after a two-year period of isolation and stress overwhelmed my fear of catching Covid-19, but I did meditate on the question of whether to go and got a clear answer. Then I followed the guidance — with minimal fear. I’m not as confident as the whales yet. Perhaps they are just incredibly intelligent mammals, but I believe they are star beings, a more evolved species than humans. They are helping us to evolve. They can teach us if we listen.
Here is the first lesson: Dive deep into your quiet space, your inner being. Let yourself float in the sea of of universal knowledge, of endless possibilities. Ask your question. Then listen for the truth. You will recognize it. It will emerge like bubbles of air rising to the surface of the ocean. Just observe and listen.
Connect: Engage with everything.
Before meeting these whales, I felt that I was supposed to be here, but I wasn’t sure exactly why. That existential crisis has plagued poets and philosophers for centuries. The only solution is to reach out and connect with your environment and every being in it. This connection has become easier and faster since I became attuned to the ICRT Animal Reiki energy, which returns us to our authentic human nature.
At one point in history, we humans fit into our environment more. We were more canny. Our senses were sharper. Now we have a layer of digital devices separating us from nature while “connecting” us to each other. And we don’t truly engage energetically with each other. The Animal Reiki energy seems to have attuned me to a lower, grounding frequency — like the bellowing of a whale — that allows me to drop below the hum of the digital world and connect more deeply to the beings around me.
At every point during this retreat, I was reaching out energetically to connect — feeling for the message I knew was coming. In the airport and on the plane, I just activated Reiki and sent it to my environment and those in it, listening with my senses for a connection. I encountered some energy that I immediately withdrew from, but I engaged briefly to explore. No deep, lasting contact emerged except for some encouraging smiles and my compliments on well-behaved children. But I was listening. I connected with my LRMT sisters and William. I developed deeper friendships with my mentors and colleagues. I realized that my tribe teaches me as much or more about my Authentic Self than my birth family does. I connected with banana spiders, geckos, and a chameleon. I connected with plumeria flowers, tangelos, and lava rocks. I connected to an octopus, sea turtles, and trumpet fish. Being openly connected prepared me to connect with the whales and hear their message.
Here is the second lesson: We and everything around us are nothing more than vibrating sound and light. You can perceive so much more than you think you can when you simply connect with your senses. You don’t always understand logically the patterns of light you see refracting through the waves and undulating on the ocean floor beneath you, but your subconscious comprehends. You may not hear the whale song beneath the water, but you can perceive the gist of our thoughts in the sound waves of our singing as it permeates the quantum soup. As Hamlet says, “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” Just open and connect.
Be: Co-create a new world.
It’s difficult to articulate this part of the message, but I’ll try.
We are all co-creators. No particular being is more important than anyone else. We are all notes in a symphony. We are all molecules of paint pigment in this cosmic picture. When I say “we,” I mean every particle, whether “conscious/sentient” or not. A cloud or a pebble is just as important in this creation as a person or animal.
We can’t destroy ourselves or the planet or the universe because Life is all there is. We can connect and create beautiful murmurations like starlings in the sky, or we can crash into each other like debris in a tornado, destroying everything in our path. We label one beautiful and the other disastrous, but it’s all simply Life. We can choose which picture we want to create.
It’s time to make conscious choices. But here’s the paradox. We can make more conscious/more intelligent choices by not thinking so much. When we listen and connect to the vibrations of the universe, we fall into the dance more easily and create beauty. It’s that simple. It’s simple but not easy.
Here is the third lesson: Stop trying so hard. Stop worrying so much. You chose to be on this planet at this time. You know what you came here to do. You’re in a play, and you have a part. You know your lines already, and reminders of your role exist all around you. Feel the movement of the ocean. Feel the current of the river. Listen to the wind. Listen to sounds inside your body, which is a microcosm of the universe. Taste the salt in the air. Taste the earth in the mushroom. Smell the spice in your tea. Smell the wood smoke trapped in your cat’s fur when he comes in from the winter cold. See the ladybug trapped in the water bowl. See the child trying to get her parent’s attention. Know the cycles of the seasons. Know the rhythm of life and death. Be still and know. Then act. Create. Add your part to this beautiful creation on Earth. Add your light, your sound, your breath to this cosmic creation. And dance with us.
So now I know why I returned to Maui — to learn to listen, to connect, and to just be. My Reiki journey continually takes me to deeper levels of understanding. And my gratitude to the whales for this message moves me to tears each time I connect to this magical memory of sun, salt spray, and silent singing in the spaces between sound.
