Sharks in the Water

Recently I received a Reiki session from a friend. I haven't had a specific Reiki session in years and I have never worked with this practitioner before but knew her from other circumstances.

The session itself was lovely, revealing, unnerving, and gentle. It was an eye opening experience for me. I enjoyed being with a practitioner as gentle and nurturing as she was. It is something that doesn't always come easy for me.

During the session I had an out of body experience where I watched an essence of my being leave my body. It wasn't scary to observe but noted that it was just interesting. The sensation that I had of this essence leaving was one of letting go of what is no longer serving. It was an aspect of me that was no longer serving a beneficial and uplifting purpose, so it had to go. That is the last thing I remembered in conscious awareness. The next thing I knew I heard a shriek, similar to the beings that rode the black horses on The Lord of the Rings. I felt myself come back into my body and being in pain. I hurt everywhere, like it wasn't my body that I came back into. I just envisioned the pain flowing through my arms and down and out my finger tips. It didn't stop the pain but I at least gave it somewhere to go instead of just getting 'stuck' in me. Interestingly, I could not remember where I went for that period of time. At the time I was just having glimpse of me standing amongst guides I now feel to be protective regarding me.

The following hours were challenging for me to work through. What had happened? Where did I go and why did I leave? Why did it feel like I was unfinished? All the answers began to come to me as I quieted my mental chatter, connected to the feel of the session, and talked it through with my mentor and friend.

Interesting, I never did clear up the picture to where I went during that time. At least not until last night....

Shawn and I were watching a program about the deep sea. In one scene they showed a shark living in the depths of the ocean. I had this flash of remembrance but the more I tried to focus on it the harder it was to see it. So I let it go. As I laid in bed ready to fall asleep I remembered the shark and this time the whole picture came together.

I was on a large vessel of some sort in the ocean and they had dropped a shark observing cage into the water. I was viewing myself from above talking with the guides. They wanted me to get into the cage to be safe from the sharks while I viewed them. I didn't want to get into the cage because I felt the cage provoked the sharks aggressive behavior. I felt I would be safer if I just jumped into the water with them. They would be curious of me but not feel as though I was a threat to them. Before a decision was made I was brought back to my conscious awareness by the shriek.

The shark cage is very symbolic to me. How many times in life do we throw up our guard, put on a facade, or submit to our ego? When we let down our barriers, trust in our authentic divine self we will always be safe. When we put faith and trust in kindness and compassion we will always be safe. Just because we are in shark infested waters doesn't mean that we are in danger.

Can you jump in without the shark cage?

Symbolism of the ocean and the shark-

The shark represents femininity, protection, perceptive of surroundings, and fearlessness. Taking an active role in life (if sharks stop swimming they will sink and drown).

The ocean represents femininity, endless possibility, fertility, formless, and purity.