Divination systems – from the I Ching to astrology, from the tarot to the toss of bones -illustrate synchronicity in action. Jung, in his brilliant introduction to the Richard Wilhelm translation of the I Ching,discusses this very phenomenon. Yes, the skeptics abound. Skeptics seem opposed to the very idea of divination – and to synchronicity generally. But this blog isn’t about convincing skeptics of- well, anything. That said, here’s a story about the tarot and synchronicity.
Some years ago, a group of us were sitting around a kitchen table, playing with a deck of tarot cards. One of our neighbors wanted to know if she was pregnant. But when she drew cards, none of the typical pregnancy cards surfaced. Then her young son asked if he could draw cards about this question. His mom sort of laughed, like she wasn’t really convinced it would yield any information, and gave her son permission to pull some cards. Out of 78 cards, he picked the one card whose meaning addresses fertility and pregnancy – The Empress.A week later, a pregnancy test confirmed that his mother was, indeed, pregnant.
The tricky thing with divination systems – whether it’s the I Ching, tarot, or a psychic- is that you must be clear about your question. Am I pregnant? Will I find my soul mate? Will my novel or screenplay sell? All of us want to know what the future holds. But it seems that when dealing with divination systems, the answers may lie in the way we phrase our questions.
Synchronicity is at work everywhere. It seems we only have to pay attention!