I’m intrigued by all kinds of synchronicity. But I think my favorites are precognitive synchros. From our newest book Mind-Blowing Synchronicities. The ebook is available now, the print version will be available July 5.
Precognitions are tricky.
Since many of them occur through dreams, we might not remember them unless we’re proficient in the dream world . With the other types of precognitions, we are provided information about the future – personal or global – and we either act on it or not.
Just as there are numerous documented cases of passengers who were supposed to be on the Titanic and, for one reason or another, didn’t make it, the same is true of people who worked in the World Trade Center and didn’t show up for work on 9-11. Do global disasters emit their own precognitive vibe? Or is it just random luck that kept these people away?
Is there any such thing as random luck? But what’s the source of “luck”? A gut feeling?
One of the oddest incidents concerning the Titanic involved Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, a 34-year-old sportsman and heir to the Vanderbilt shipping and railroad empire. He was returning from a trip to Europe and canceled his passage on the Titanic so late that some early newspaper accounts listed him as being on board. Vanderbilt lived on to become one the most celebrated casualties of the Lusitania sinking three years later. That ocean liner, torpedoed by a German U-Boat on May 7, 1915, killed more than 1,100 people, including 128 Americans, and triggered a series of events that led to the U.S. entering WWI.
It sure looks as if Vanderbilt was destined to die from drowning on a damaged ocean liner. Then again, he had another three years of life after he didn’t die on the Titanic. But is there such a thing as destiny?
Questions to Ask
When you experience what you believe is a precognition, take notice of several things.
Who does it involve?
What is the event?
Where does it occur?
When does it happen?
How specific is it?
Who, what, when, where and how are the five interrogatives we learn about in grade school. These interrogatives also provide terrific guidelines for interpreting and experiencing precognitions.
Once the precognition unfolds, journal about it in detail. Were the specifics correct? Was your interpretation correct? Did the timing unfold the way you thought it would be? Keeping a log of your precognitions not only reinforces the belief that you can tap into the future, it also becomes a record, evidence of the precognitions and what ultimately unfolded.
The other valuable insight a journal provides is that it can illustrate why you may misinterpret a precognition. Here’s an example.
Some years ago, Rob and I attended a Scottish festival in Orlando. There were exhibits from many countries, not just Scotland, and we wandered around looking at everything. At the time, I had a contract with TOR Books for my Hungry Ghosts trilogy, which began with Esperanza and took place in Ecuador. I had an idea for the second book, which would involve time travel, but hadn’t discussed that element yet with my editor, Beth Meacham.
One of the exhibits was from Ecuador – mostly art and colorful clothing. I went through the clothes and found a cool shirt made in Ecuador. When I looked at the inside of the collar for the size, I found a label that read Time Travel. I immediately interpreted this to mean that Beth would give me a green light for the time travel idea for book two. How much clearer could it get? The clothes were made in Ecuador and one of them had a label in it that described the essence of the second book in the series that I wanted to write.
As it turned out, Beth didn’t like the idea. “Time travel novels don’t sell,” she said.
That blanket statement struck me as wrong. Even now, more than a decade later, it really feels flawed. Readers love to be transported to another time. Just look at the success of Outlander. Or Time and Again by Jack Finney, a classic since it was written in the early sixties. But Beth’s say was final and the second book, Ghost Key, didn’t have any time travel in it.
So why did I misinterpret the message of that synchronicity? Probably because I was so eager to include time travel. This example may qualify as a trickster, too.
And happy summer solstice!
