Several years ago, I began to have very lucid dreams with a common motif: dolphins inviting me to join them. Right! Not only did I not have time for dolphins, I lived in Hollywood, was terrified of deep water and boats, and I was absolutely broke. Beyond all of this, I did not have a clue where to go or how to begin. I knew one thing. I had to be with them. I had no choice.
My dreams of dolphins became more and more vivid. Families of wild dolphins beckoned me to follow them . . . to follow my heart. I arranged to attend a lecture by Dr. John Lilly, who is famous for his work with dolphins. I shared my dilemma with him, and he told me go to the Bahamas. I left feeling baffled, but at least now I had a place in mind and an objective.
Within three days, I received several phone calls from people I did not even know, informing me of places I could be with the dolphins. However, all of these places held dolphins captive; I wanted to be with wild dolphins. That same day a magazine arrived and I read a two-sentence blurb about a research study with wild dolphins. Bingo! My heart pounding, I grabbed the phone and dialed; I was crushed to find a one-year waiting list. I figured many other people were having the same dolphin dreams, too, but I gave them my name anyway.
Anticipating a miracle, I began a three-month endurance training program, swimming and treading water for hours to build up the strength required to keep up with strong ocean currents and the acrobatics of dolphins. Using my photography skills, I created a line of greeting cards and began to sell them to finance my vision. Each night, while in meditation, I gave a flower from my heart to the dolphins.
Then, one very exciting day, I received a call informing me that because of a cancellation it would be possible for me to go to the Bahamas. By that time, I had sold exactly 1,000 cards and had earned exactly what the trip would cost.
The first time I hit the pure crystal aqua water, I was surrounded by three wild Atlantic spotted dolphins. As one of the young males bounced his sonar, I felt a gentle breeze of electricity flowing through the core of my body, sheer bliss, pure love, ecstasy. There was eye contact like old friends that have not seen each other in a long time. As we played, two dolphins were gracefully moving the snow-white bottom sand with their rostrums.
The encounter ended, and as I watched their beautiful bodies disappear into the lucid sea, the idea that all life is connected was revealed to me as Truth by the sight of what the dolphins had etched into the sand below: a perfect, symmetrical flower.
A meditation teacher with whom I studied told me that dolphins and whales were teaching humans unconditional love. I believe that dolphins and whales are angels of the sea. Perhaps they are Bodhisattvas, enlightened beings who vow to delay their own complete enlightenment until the suffering of all other beings has ended.
I experienced the guardianship of dolphins during my second trip to the Bahamas. The water felt thick and pressurized, jellyfish were everywhere; something felt very strange. When I looked under the ship, my heart stopped as I saw over 30 dolphins lined up under our boat with their rostrums pointed towards shore. Everyone jumped excitedly into the water, and the dolphins went wild. The sonar was so intense it felt like whips of electricity and sounded like lyrical thunder.
They played aggressively with each other and with us. [One day it] felt as though they were trying to tell us something. We got the message and picked up our anchor and headed for land, barely making it before a formidable hurricane hurled its presence through the very spot where we had been anchored. Once again, dolphins were guardian angels.
My response to this experience was a feeling of overwhelming love and reverence for these exquisite beings. I was overwhelmed by the recognition of the love around us at all times.
Because my life had been so out of balance, so isolated, so lonely, I cried for three weeks from the time we lifted anchor. The dolphins inspired an incredible turning point in my life: a time of great upheaval, an incredible shift, and a powerful healing.
Dolphins touch and attract us in exactly the same way angels touch our hearts and fill us with the wonder of the mystery of life. The photos I took underwater of the dolphins became my first gallery exhibition.
Dolphins are wonderful at bringing people together with love. An exchange of dolphin experiences was the beginning of the most beautiful relationship with my partner, Scott Huckabay, an extraordinary guitarist who recreates the sounds of dolphins and whales with music so ethereal and mesmerizing that people feel angels and dolphins swirling around them. Scott was involved in a near-fatal motorcycle accident in 1987. Doctors told him that he might not walk or play guitar again. The accident was a turning point for him. Time spent in Hawaii swimming with wild dolphins and whales served as inspiration and healing. Scott's music and poetry is now filled with the songs of the angels of the sea and the great beauty of life.
My work in the gallery led to a beautiful friendship with film-director Chris Carson, who directed Dolphins: Minds in the Water which won an Oscar. An introduction to his mother, Meridel, led to a very special friendship and business partnership with angels at its core. Dolphin experiences, like angelic experiences, allow strangers to connect at such a deep and intimate level, transforming fear and judgment into love. I have met so many beautiful people and heard so many amazing stories. Young Dean Paul Anderson could not even speak or laugh until after spending time with dolphins which dramatically opened him into the living cherub that he is now . . . full of words and laughter and wisdom. As a result of the incredible healing, he has founded the Dolphin Assisted Therapy Association.
Hundreds of stories exist about dolphins assisting individuals who are blind, who are in pain, who are in danger, and who need tenderness and guidance. In Russia, there is a doctor who has helped women give birth in the Black Sea with the assistance of dolphins that actually lift the babies up to the surface for their first breath of air. His studies have overwhelmingly shown that these babies are healthier, happier, and more socially skilled and have more developed senses of humor than babies born traditionally in hospitals.
Like angels, dolphins seem to infuse love and laughter into every situation. According to legend, Apollo had an ancient sanctuary in Greece that was considered the center of the world. This sacred place was called Delphi because myth stated that God has appeared there in the form of a dolphin.
From the beginning of time, dolphins, like angels, have been artistically depicted as a symbol of rebirth. Both angels and dolphins teach us to see with the heart and act with compassion. They are messengers of love.
I still cry for joy when I think of the dolphins with whom I had the great honor of spending time. I miss them so very much. I miss seeing a mother dolphin delicately caressing her baby with her fin, and seeing multiple generations of dolphins swimming freely, feeding, loving, being. I recall their hilarious sense of humor as they spy-hopped, and played pranks on us and on each other. I think of the wise elders whose eyes looked deeply into my very soul, sharing the ancient wisdom, and the thrill as they swam right up to me and we sang underwater.
I remember the way the sun filtered through the blueness, casting veils of light emanating off their luminous, shimmering skin, and their fins moving silently like wings. I will never forget the profound feeling as eleven dolphins swam in slow circles around me; time stopped, only this other-worldly luminous bliss existed as I thanked them for allowing me into their homes, and for helping me light the path to following my heart. I am so very grateful to the angels of the sea for teaching me the beauty of the present moment.
by Michele Gold
