I never met Adele Aldridge.But I was deeply distressed by news from her daughter on Facebook on March 10 that she had died.
Back in 2009 when we started our blog on synchronicity, she was one of our first visitors. In those many years since, we became friends. We shared a love of the I Ching, synchronicity, the paranormal, writing and, well, cats.
When Bernard Beitman started his Coincidence Project, I told Adele about it and of course she joined. She was a wizard when it came to the I Ching. Knew it backward and forward. And she understood the nature of synchronicity and how it works in divination systems. A couple of times, I asked her how she would interpret an I Ching reading that I or someone else in the family got. Her response invariably floored me.
Over the years, I haven’t met too many people who are familiar with the I Ching, much less well versed in it. My writer friend Nancy Pickard, Mary Kay Landon on the Coincidence Project, and Adele. At one point during this long association between us, she sent me a copy of her book I Ching Meditations – the image above. It’s written specifically for women. I was astonished at the breadth and depth of her knowledge and understanding of this most ancient divination system.
She was in the process of writing a book – a memoir, I guess -about her years in San Francisco in the 60s, when it seems she knew everyone there was to know back then. I wish she’d finished the book before she died.
When my sister sided suddenly and unexpectedly in June 2023, I texted Adele about it. She wrote:
Terrible! And I see it is your birthday. That’s not fair!Back in late January of this year, she texted that she was in the hospital in great pain. and that it was awful. Also, someone had hacked into her I Ching site and taken it over. I responded immediately, then didn’t hear anything for quite a while. The next message? She was in rehab and in terrible shape. I finally wrote to Luis, a mutual friend on Facebook, and asked if he knew what was going on. He didn’t have any new info.
Then, on March 10, her daughter Victoria announced her mother’s death on Facebook.
When a woman like Adele passes, the world becomes less bright, less enlightened. But her legacy perseveres. Many times, we speculated about how we would talk for hours when we finally met. We would share a bottle of wine. We would toss I Ching coins. Or do the yarrow sticks. We would talk about synchronicity and how it manifests itself in all divination systems.
My biggest regret is that we never had the opportunity to meet in person.Yet, in many ways, she became my spiritual older sister. Stop by when you can, Adele. I’ll be listening. Waiting.
Adele was a treasure, and a beloved regular at Coincidence Cafe over the past 3 years. She hosted several times, most recently she hosted with Christine Clawley on “Dreams, Precognition & the Nature of Time” (view here: https://youtu.be/a1gTwSTUycY). She also shared her extensive knowledge of the I Ching with us as host of an earlier Cafe. She often wrote me between the monthly meetings, sharing additional meaningful coincidences — which often sprang up during Cafe or prompted by things discussed there. Her art in the I Ching Meditations series is staggeringly beautiful. We honored her passing in Cafe in March with a minute of silence and an open invitation for her spirit to be with us and continue to join us anytime. I will miss her very much, and I’m honored to have known her. Thank you, Trish, for bringing her to The Coincidence Project!
She was a unique and brilliant woman!