Whale: Spiritual Meaning

What is the spiritual meaning of a whale?

Introduction

For many people, the idea of a spirit animal is something that gives them peace of mind.

Spirit animals are seen as something that can deliver a sense of calm and belonging to this world.

It can give us certainty about our thoughts, feelings, emotions, and actions.

However, finding your spirit animal is not easy – many animals can seem an appropriate choice for you personally.

Looking to find the meaning of an animal is an important way to understand whether or not it pairs with you as your spirit animal.

Take the whale, for example.

What is the whale’s spiritual meaning?

Let us take a look at some of the most popular beliefs about the spiritual meaning of the whale.

Understanding the whale

The whale is a creature that has a large following across the world. In several cultures, they are seen as creatures to be worshipped.

This is most prevalent in some parts of the world, such as areas of the South American Nasca as well as across some Native American peoples.

Those who live on the Pacific Coast, in particular, tend to have some kind of spiritual connection and reverence for the whale.

They have a strong spiritual meaning in many parts of the world.

This is why the whale is often seen as such a horrible animal to have hunted.

Whale hunting was once a prevalent ‘sport’ across the world, and many factions of humanity have hunted whales to near extinction in parts of the world.

To many cultures, this is anathema.

The whale’s spiritual meaning has many backgrounds and purposes, but for some, it is seen as the perfect animal.

Indeed, It is believed that in some Inupiaq legends from the Arctic region of the world, the whale is seen as the ultimate animal – the bow whale in particular.

In this culture, the whale was treated with immense respect and genuine reverence.

However, these cultures still did hunt the whale.

Those who wished to hunt whales, though, had to go through grueling trials to be seen as fit for this immense challenge.

For some, it was seen as the ultimate way to prove their knowledge of not only hunting but of the spiritual meaning of whales.

The spiritual symbolism of the whale

Across many cultures, whales are seen as animals that are worthy of immense love and respect.

Their positioning within certain cultures, though, means that the whale holds greater respect in some parts of the world compared to others.

In Europe

In Europe, the spiritual meaning of whales tends to be built around the symbolism of the entire world.

They were seen as symbols of the mystery of the ocean and of our to explore and finding out more about the most unknown part of our world – the sea.

The sea is a part of our planet that we still do not understand in full to this day.

For that reason, there are many European cultures that see the whale as the perfect description of this.

Of our desire to go and find new environments to explore and to understand.

Of our passion for finding out more about foreign environments and the world at large.

To discover the things which are essential to our species.

In a spiritual context, though, many European cultures view the whale as a symbol of exploration and the unknown.

In some parts of the world, though, it is simply seen as a symbol of the world at large.

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In Community

An interesting aside is that whales tend to have some very universal spiritual traits across various parts of the world.

For example, if you see a whale swimming, then it is believed to bring good luck to many people in that area.

This is a spiritual meaning that has been seen in many different parts of the world – that the presence of such an immense creature swimming nearby can only bring good tidings for the many.

However, a beached whale was the opposite – it was a sign of misfortune and sadness to come for all in the community.

In fact, in a more material meaning, beached whales are often a sign of impending disease and sickness.

A decaying corpse, after all, does tend to spread ill health and sickness as it decays and festers.

Then, a whale is a symbol of good luck or bad luck, depending on what it is doing.

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In Spirit

Another example of the whale’s spiritual meaning is its connection to the concept of compassion.

Whales are a symbol of compassion and empathy for others.

Those who share the whale as their spirit animal tend to be compassionate, kind people who want to simply look out for other people in their day-to-day lives.

However, they are also seen as a spiritual symbol of isolation and solitude.

Whales do tend to be quite solitary creatures, and it is rare to see more than one whale together in a short distance.

Therefore, to many, they are spirit animals of self-satisfaction and solitary living.

Whales tend to also be a creature that is seen as something that taps into our own natural creativity.

The almost unfathomable size and strength of a whale are something that can invoke our own creative habits and thought processes.

Some even see the blowhole on top of the whale as a release of our own creative energies and thoughts.

The whale’s spiritual meaning, then, tends to be built around ideas like creativity and empathy.

The whale is a symbol of being free with our creative thinking and allows us to see the importance of allowing our creativity to roam free as opposed to being trapped within our minds.

As such, the whale’s spiritual meaning is something that comes back to our own sense of exploration of the unknown and our desire to simply let our most creative elements and thoughts roam free.

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