The Squid : A Dream in Reality
by Darling Villena-Mata
transcribed from a dream from my guides

People were all about in a large building. Hustling and bustling, as children and their parents went about shopping. Teenage girls meeting each other; swapping stories and giggling. While teenage boys would parade in front of them, pretending not to notice that they were the object of the talk between the girls.

It was a mall but again it was more than that. There were museums, art stores, apartments and townhouses, as well as scientific laboratories. There were offices and other places of business and learning.

Suddenly, there appeared a low vibration. At first no one paid any particular attention. A huge truck or mild tremors could account for the vibrations. But the vibration grew and with it the noise. It was as though it was coming towards the people in this huge building of activity. It was a huge crest of water coming through one of the hallways and then water waves grew to the size of tidal waves, covering all the way to the ceilings of each hallway it went into.

People ran, some screaming. Others using their lungs instead to breathe quickly as they scurried out of the way of the impending Wave.

But something was in the waters.

Something ominous. Someone put something in these waters where these creatures did not belong. In those waters came something that terrifies and is everyone's worst dream: sharks. Sharks by the hundreds, searching for their new prey­­humans.

Something had to be done. Help was needed and quickly. But what? Who?

Then the answer came. Call upon the giant squid. One of giant squid's favorite foods is shark.

So a team of scientists when to the Giant Squid who upon seeing them was ready to make them her next food item.

We come to ask for your help! We need your help!

My help? For what? And what are you over there doing to me?(pointing to one scientist in particular) She had spotted one human stabbing her with a circular tool; puncturing a hole in her.

We need to know if you can heal yourself because we are asking you to help us regarding the sharks.

Of course I can heal! And as she said this, her healing was occurring. The hole was being naturally sealed by her own immune system.

So off she went with these humans, leaving her home, which was down deep in the ocean of Life. She travelled with the humans, with wonderment as to why they could not take care of the sharks themselves? Too many sharks, she thought, and the fact that the sharks are now on their land, bringing in their own water with them. But some human had done this. Some human created this flooding onto their own lands, bringing the sharks. But who? And why? To what end? She arrived at one of the labs that have not been affected by the deluge and the sharks. She could hear the distant sounds of water and the muffled sounds of humans trapped underneath, being attacked and torn aside by the sharks.

The sharks were not eating the humans. They were simply tearing them apart; allowing the pieces to float about. And some humans who were wounded, went along swimming with stunned expressions, trying to go about what they were doing before all this mayhem occurred. Those who were obviously dead were not obviously dead to themselves. They too swam but with a coldness of heart --that is, if their hearts had not been ripped apart from them. They swam in a frigid manner that only death could bring.

How odd, the Squid thought. How very odd indeed. And with every human being ripped apart, that shark would get bigger. And bigger.

The Giant Squid said to herself that something was certainly not quite right. And it smelled of human doings to begin with. This was not at all natural. It was not from Nature, but something created by these humans who have forgotten their rhythm.

Normally, any self-respecting giant squid would have enter the waters where the sharks were. Any squid would simply have spread its long tentacles and wrapped them around a shark, squeezing its life, while slowly bringing the shark closer to its mouth to be eaten. Any giant squid or any squid big enough to crush a shark would. But this one did not. She did not at all.

And there too was part of the mystery.

Instead, since squids can live out of their water for short periods of time, she decided to investigate this shark-thing with the humans, in their air. The Giant Squid walked on some of its long tentacles, using them as legs; while using the others are many arms to do multi-tasking. For squids are smart. They are brainy and can do many things at the same time.

Take for instance her cousin who was taken by human scientists. Her cousin was young and they wanted to observe her and how she grew. Never mind that they did not ask her permission. Never mind that they took her away from her home and friends and family. They saw her as an object to be studied and observed.

But they did not count on squid being smarter than humans. And that was her cousin's salvation.

Her little cousin was put in an aquarium all by herself. This aquarium was on a table with an electrical light above, but imitating the light she would have received from the sun, had she been at home. She looked around to see other squids and octopuses in each of their own separate aquarium. There were windows that looked out into the ocean.

She long to escape and go home. But the food they gave was just enough to keep her alive and not enough to give her strength to make the long journey home.

Then one day, in the far corner of this huge room, came other aquariums. They were filled with lobsters and crabs! They too were being studied. But these creatures would be her ticket out of the land of the unfeeling humans. These creatures were food and the nourishment she needed to leave.

She tried to get the others of her kind to think along the same line. She wanted everyone to escape. But either they were too scared or too traumatized or have lost the will to leave--that they refused to escape.

No matter. She was leaving! So at night when all the humans left for the day, she climbed out of her aquarium and over the side. She then travelled on the ground over to the far corner where her food was living. Living, if you could call it that. She was doing them a favor too, she rationalized. They would be escaping too from this existence by giving up their bodies for her. Their spirits would be released from this prison, these unholy experimentations.

Quietly, she climbed into one of their aquariums and grabbed one of them. She ate with glee. Had she been human, she would have been smiling with tears in her eyes. As soon as she had her fill, she quietly slid out of the lobster's aquarium and down to the floor. Finally, she made her way back to her own aquarium, where she slept the rest of the night. She would need to eat a couple more times before she made her escape.

By morning, the humans came in to do their work. One shouted that some of the lobsters were missing! How could that be? They search everywhere, not understanding what had happened in the night.

By the second morning when it happened again, there seem to be a commotion with all the humans. They were huddled over some thing that they mounted high on the wall aimed at the aquariums. Little did the cousin know that it was a night vision camera. No matter, it would be the last night of feasting before she made her escape.

And it was. After she ate, instead of going back to her aquarium, she headed toward the windows. She had observed the humans opening the windows to let fresh air in when their 'air conditioner' broke down one hot day. As she climbed over the window sill, she looked back. Pity and sadness filled her heart for those left behind. But it was their choice. She left with her eyes on the ocean ahead of her.

And that is how the Giant Squid knew about humans and how her little cousin came back home after being away for such a long while.

And that is how the humans found out through their cameras that squids were very intelligent creatures, capable of breathing air and moving in the human's world for a period of time. Since those years, many scientists learned to communicate and understand her kind. That is how these scientists eventually knew about Her. These humans came to learn that the dolphins and whales were not the only intelligent creatures in the oceans. In fact all creatures have their own intelligence. Humans just choose to ignore that so that those creatures could be objectified and be eaten without compunction or guilt.

Many creatures such as the dolphins, porpoises, whales have only shared part of who they are to humans. They show only a fraction of their intelligence to humans. Humans are not to be trusted by othercreatures. For humans have lost their rhythm and connection with the One.

Yet, the Giant Squid was willing to help them. She too was a scientist within her community. She was naturally curious, like any of One's creatures. She wanted to also know if what was happening with the sharks would happen in their own oceans of Life, in case her theory that humans were to blame prove wrong.

Humans greeted her and gave her passage as she glided effortlessly from one lab room to the other. This time she was the scientist, and the observed were the humans and the sharks.

As she busied herself with experiments and discussions with humans, she began to like them. They weren't so horrible. Of course, they were not as smart as she, but that is the case of humans. They don't use all that the One has given them. Instead humans rely on one or two things that the One gave them. One day, a human woman caught the Giant Squid's eye. Or rather more than that. They caught each other's gaze. They began to "hit it off." Before you know it, you would think they were long-time friends. But something more was happening and it confused the Giant Squid. Was it admiration or love? Can that possibly be? The feelings went both ways. Both seem to be feeling something.

One afternoon, the Squid, as it was her custom and necessity, had to take a shower. She was in the air too long. She needed to breathe what gave her life--water. As she was going into the shower, the human woman appeared down the hall, coming towards her.

Ahh. I seem to be having some problem turning this knob on. It seems to be stuck, the Squid said unassertively to the human woman.

Well, let me see if I can help, the human woman said. She entered the shower area and gave a strong turn to the stubborn knob. Suddenly and unexpectedly, a strong cascade of water came pouring down. The human woman got drenched. But she did not seem to care that her clothes were wet. She laughed.

Was it the Giant Squid's imagination but did she see the human woman's eyes glint with glee? Both their hearts seem to pound noisily. And for the first time in the Squid's life, and for sure, the human woman's life too­­a sexual energy and the tension that follows became apparent. Can this be???

They were not alone in their amazement or observations. Soon the buzz of the talk for the humans were about this "couple." Some humans thought it disgusting and unnatural. Others, like good scientists, wanted to observe and see what the possibilities were for interspecies sexual engagement.

But there was no time for that. The story of the sharks and the plight of the humans could not give way to the story of these two creatures of the One. And it did not.

The floods were getting bigger and every building seem to be getting full with water and sharks.

What was interesting was that the land and surrounding nature were not flooded. Just the buildings and anything man-made. Interesting enough, anything woman-made or womanly-inspired were left alone.

No one ever found out who started the first flooding and who imported the sharks, although people were beginning to suspect the real culprits. The facts were that the sharks were propagating and getting bigger with every bite taken out of a human. Some sharks were as big as a building now. But as soon as a building could no longer hold the sharks and the building would start to collaspe, the sharks died. They could not live outside the buildings; they could not live in nature. It was nature that saved the humans who fled to her before their buildings collasped.

Those humans who left the tall buildings found their rhythm again. They built huts and one and two-story homes. Nothing taller than that. They did not want to blot out the sun's rays or create false winds that can arise from tall buildings.

Businesses were conducted out in the open. Learning took under the trees and near the rivers. Learning expanded beyond just learning about intelligence; it included the heart and soul of all living creatures. Learning included the bodies and vessels that carried us in our existences toward Life.

The "walking dead" eventually died. There was no hope for those who had no hearts or lungs to breathe in what could have nourished them.

The "walking wounded" got nourished by the One and One's natural way. Their rhythm came back, like old friends whose memories were restimulated.

Those who were traumatized found themselve shaking, shuddering, crying, and moaning. The death-oriented energies left them. They were then able to walk upright and breathe in their own presence in the present.

But what happened to the Giant Squid and the human woman? Giant Squid realized that while wonderful feelings were releases and love was born, that love was between two hearts, not between two bodies. Hearts that come from One and expressed through each soul, each individual in accordance to their gifts and compassion. It was higher than physical love, although that would have been nice were that physically possible between those two. But it was not when it came to the deeper needs of the bodies. They each learned that more than the physical, more than the material, and more than the intellect are needed for Life to reign. With that realization, they each went on their separate happy ways, back to their homes of the ocean and land. Back to living and not just existing. Glad to have met each other and glad that their hearts would remain as One.

end of dream....early July, 2001in the morning between 8 and 10 a.m. I wrote this dream as I experienced it within the dreamstate, and then as they dictated it to me as I was transcribing. Words were deliberately chosen.

While often we are fascinated and stimulated by other creatures and our own creations, ultimately accepting our own Nature and ways of being are the best way to love ourselves and the others in our lives. If we continue to be 'asleep' to the consequences of our actions on nature, on "Being," on ourselves (we are part of nature, whether we choose to distance ourselves from that fact), we will call sharks into our midsts. It is already happening.

By honoring our own gifts and by not trying to mimic or simulate someone else's way of healing, exploring, or being­­we learn that happiness comes within our breaths and our rhythms. No matter what is around us.

There were and are many meanings in this dream as to what we are doing to ourselves and to other creatures' environments. I leave it up to you to explore and discover these meanings and how you are play a role in them. Note this dream came before there were any news on shark attacks, their congregations in some areas not normally frequented by them, and the people's reactions to them.


©2001. All rights reserved. D. Villena-Mata

Features
In Search of Myself...and other strangers
Written by Margaret Kirk

Elegy for Some Old Stuff
Written by Susan Wolfson

Parenting and Relationship
a woman's journey
Written by Darling Villena-Mata

Silent Fears
Written by Darling G. Villena-Mata

Spirit-to-Spirit
Synchronicity
Written by Stephanie Y. Rothman, CHT

The Squid: A Dream in Reality
Written by Darling G. Villena-Mata

Men Supporting Women
Vaya Conmigo (Vals Por Graciela)
Written by Kevin Laffey

Healing Days at Salt Creek 7/18/01
Written by Steve Sachs

On the Greene by Maria Susan Greene
The Scapegoat Generation

Health Share
Enzymes: Vital for a Strong Immune System
Written by Patricia A. Fitzgerald, H.M.D., L.Ac.

For the Record
Untitled
Written by Lisa Michelle

On the Spot...
...with Mercado La Paloma

Q&A
Dreamquesting
by Readers and CirclePoint

Thank you for exploring this website and InnerMidst. Please feel free to give us feedback to help make this magazine one you would like to revisit.