Seeing St. Augustine

Posted on September 16, 2009 by Trish and Rob


I gave two talks on synchronicity last week in St. Augustine, Florida, one to 120 high school students, the other to a group of mostly seniors at a writer’s conference. None of the high school students had heard of synchronicity. But they seemed to get it.

Since they were expecting me to talk about life as an author and to give them the inside scoop on the Indiana Jones saga, I let them in on a secret. I told them that they were all on a quest, whether they knew it or not, and whatever that quest might be, they needed to know at least one form of magic as they ventured out.

“Listen closely,” I said, “because I’m going to give you a doorway to that magic. It’s called synchronicity-meaningful coincidence.” I added that when they went through that doorway, their lives would change. They would come to recognize that in addition to our everyday world of cause and effect, there exists an underlying reality where stuff happens, as if by magic. And through synchronicity they can be guided to their own personal holy grail.

The four teachers in the room looked stunned. It was a different sort of lesson.

The other group knew Trish and I were talking on synchronicity, but most didn’t know what it meant. So, again it was back to explaining basics, keeping it simple, and inundating them with astonishing examples, many of which we’ve posted here. In fact, we were able to project our blog on a big screen. They particularly liked the Three Roberts and the Two Teapots.

At least a couple people comprehended what we were talking about, and said they really enjoyed it. But they turned out to be New Age types, one calling herself a metaphysical minister, the other recommending that we visit Cassadaga, the spiritualist community. More on that tomorrow.

So in spite of the activity here and the rising interest in synchronicity, there are still a lot of Dicks out there – so to speak. (No offense, Mr. Cavett, but your name lends to synchronicity.)
Rob

Posted in St. Augustine, writer's conference | 19 Comments

Circus Synchronicity

Posted on September 15, 2009 by Trish and Rob


Here’s another story from Isabella Rajotte of Montreal who earlier gave us the sounds of synchronicity.
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One week before performing on a circus show for a corporate event in Cleveland, I searched for a CD of jazz trio, the Susie Arioli Band. I’d heard their music on the radio and loved it, but I couldn’t find the CD. I left Montreal on a Friday night and performed at the circus in Cleveland.

The show went well, and on my way back I almost missed the airplane. The owner of the circus, who had invited me, wanted souvenirs for her children, and that delayed us. So the plane was ready to go when we reached the gate. A man thought everyone was boarded and had taken my seat by the window. He moved over to his original seat in the middle, and introduced himself as Shane Mackenzie.

I told him about my circus performance, and he said that he was also a musician. “What kind of music?” I asked.

“Jazz. I’m the bass fiddle player with the Susie Arioli Band.”

Posted in circuses, music, travel | 4 Comments

It’s called synchronicity, Dick!

Posted on September 14, 2009 by Trish and Rob


Dick Cavett is a smart guy, but apparently he has never heard of synchronicity. He needs to read some Carl Jung, who coined the term–or at least basic information about him. Also, reading Arthur Koestler’s Roots of Coincidence would help.

But it’s great that Cavett is bringing synchronicity to a larger audience via his column in the New York Times, and asking readers for help in explaining his own mind-boggling experiences. In May, he was baffled by a synchronistic encounter with a playwright.

Now in his latest column, he reveals that months later he’s just as baffled. He also asked readers to recommend books on the meaning of these puzzling coincidences, and we really wish that we could recommend Seven Secrets of Synchronicity . But no book till next August.

So in Cavett’s new story he stops at an outdoor book fair. He’s in a hurry and only has a few minutes. He walks up to the closest table, picks up a book at random without looking at its title and opens it to the middle and starts reading. The paragraph he picks describes a house and its owner in detail, and to his astonishment, it’s the house he has just purchased three days earlier and the owner he just purchased it from.

Thanks to Musingegret for leading us to the column.

Posted in books, dick cavett | 30 Comments

The Grasshopper

Posted on September 13, 2009 by Trish and Rob

This story is another one of those quirky synchronicities we all recognize as odd, but it’s anyone’s guess what the deeper meaning is. Maybe it’s just to illustrate how like attracts like! It’s from Mysteries of the Unexplained, but a Google search on Graham Sutherland, the artist mentioned in the story, indicates tat the story is nearly as well known as the various participants.

British novelist J.B. Priestly told this story to writer Arthur Koestler in a letter he wrote in February 1972.

Priestley’s wife – British archaeologist Jacquette Hawkes – had bought three large lithographs by Graham Sutherland that she took up to the bedroom to hang the next morning. As Priestly explained in his letter to Koestler: “They were leaning against a chair and the one on the outside, facing the room, was a lithograph of a grasshopper. When Jacquetta got into bed that night, she felt some sort of twittering movement going on.”

So of course she does what anyone would do: got up and pulled back the covers. And there was a grasshopper. In the bed. “No grasshopper has been seen since. No grasshopper has been seen at any other time in this house.”

Posted in grasshopper, Jacquette Hawkes, JB Priestley, law of attraction, writers | 13 Comments

ESPERANZA

Posted on September 12, 2009 by Trish and Rob


Esperanza
12″ Tall

A while back, I went looking for a photo of a message in a bottle for the post by the same name. I came across a website that sells them and clicked on a pretty picture with a message in a bottle, selling for $63.95.

It’s called Esperanza – the name of my new novel that will be published by TOR Books!
– Trish

Posted in books, creativity, writers, writing | 3 Comments

Tangled Web

Posted on September 12, 2009 by Trish and Rob

Recently, I ordered a book on-line, actually one of my own novels, SPAWN, that was missing from my bookshelves. A couple of weeks passed and no book arrived. Then an e-mail came from the sender saying that the book was shipped to the wrong person, who was sending it to me.

Meanwhile, I was supposed to send Who Wants Arthur to the person who got SPAWN. Except, I didn’t really know who wanted Arthur, since the email lacked a mailing address for the book. Besides that, the Arthur book didn’t arrive in our mail, either. Instead, we found another un-ordered book. The Brain that Changes Itself. And who was waiting for that book?

The company agreed to pay shipping via Pay Pal and give us a $25 gift certificate for the confusion. Meanwhile, SPAWN arrived, but it was the YA version. I’d wanted to longer adult version. Oh, well. What was the name of the company involved in this mess? Tangled Web Books!

Kid you not.
Rob

Posted in mixup, Spawn, writers | 7 Comments

The 2 Pollacks

Posted on September 11, 2009 by Trish and Rob

This story come from Richard Arrowsmith. He a 29-old father of three who lives in the highlands of Scotland, in the northernmost part of Britain in an areas called Caithness. He works as a web developer for a local IT company and has been interested in synchronicity for about four years. He recently started a blog on the topic- black dog star.
Last weekend my dad phoned me to invite my two daughters, aged 6 and 11, to go fishing with him. They hadn’t been fishing with their granddad in over a year so they both readily agreed. While they were preparing to leave it dawned on me that I hadn’t been fishing with my dad in a long long time. I had a good feeling about the occasion so with nothing better to do that evening I decided, on a whim, to join them on their fishing expedition.

My dad picked us up in his car and we drove the 10 minute journey towards the harbor. When we arrived we carried our rods and backpack along the rugged coastline until we came to some suitable rocks which were being hammered by the pounding waves. The conditions were quite fierce but having made the trek we set up the rods and carefully started casting our lines out into the writhing ocean.

As the evening progressed my daughters were delighted at their own good fortune as they pulled in a small Mackeral nearly every single time. Meanwhile I stood there without a single bite. Not even a nibble. They must have caught about 7-8 fish between them when we started talking about packing things up. The wind was picking up, the heavy clouds overhead were darkening and it felt like it was time to head home. Despite having caught nothing at all it had been fun.
So I cast out one final time, quietly confident that this time lady luck would shine on me, when I suddenly felt a sharp tug on the line. With the rod bending to the point where I thought it might snap I reeled in what I could only describe as ‘ a whopper’. From out of the black seaweed emerged the largest catch of the night. I wasn’t sure what type of fish it was so my dad informed me that I’d just landed an average sized Pollock.

We’d thrown the smaller Mackeral back into the ocean but we quickly decided that we’d take this one home with us. It was destined for the frying pan. The kids thought it was a great idea so we headed back to the car in high spirits, the short adventure having ended on a good note. As we drove away from the harbor I gave a silent thank-you to the ocean for the gift I’d received that memorable evening.

At home we gutted the fish, fried it, and shared it around, my dog and three cats enjoying the scraps. This was the first time I’d ever eaten Pollock, the first time in about 10 years that I’d ever caught a fish, and the first time I’d ever eaten something I’d caught by my own fair hand. This wasn’t something that happened everyday.

The night wound down and with the children in bed I turned on the computer. I decided to check my email and as the program opened I noticed I’d received one new message. I couldn’t believe it when I read that the name, highlighted in bold, was Iain Pollock. The synchronicity made my jaw drop open in puzzled amazement.

Iain Pollock is an old friend who I haven’t seen, or spoken to, in over three years. We used to be work colleagues but when I moved to another job we simply lost touch with one another. The email from Iain Pollock came completely unannounced and the fact that he decided to resume contact on the very same evening I caught and ate my first ever Pollock makes my mind boggle.

Posted in Uncategorized | 18 Comments

Name Synchronicity

Posted on September 10, 2009 by Trish and Rob


Many family names came into being as a result of an ancestor’s occupation. If you’re a Baker, Barber, Smith, Mason, or Carpenter, maybe a distant relative was a craftsman. But you probably don’t have much interest in that particular career.

There’s one woman, however, who was born with the name Savant who grew up to be the premier savant.

Marilyn vos Savant was born to German immigrants in St. Louis, Missouri. Her father was Joseph Mach, her mother Marina vos Savant and she apparently believes that women should keep their premarital surnames for life, with daughters taking their mothers’ names. She write the Ask Marilyn column Parade.

The synchronicity? She’s considered to have the highest I.Q. in the world, with an entry to that affect in the Guiness Book of World Records between 1986-1989. Her I.Q.? 228. A savant is an individual with astonishing mental abilities, a genius.

Fortunately, for Marilyn, her middle name isn’t Idiot.

Posted in Intelligence, names, savants | 11 Comments

9-09-09

Posted on September 9, 2009 by Trish and Rob

We can’t forget about the numerological oddity – and the possible significance – of today’s date. We won’t see a date like this, with similar numbers for day, month, and year until 01-01-2101.

Besides the fact that Sept. 9 adds to a 9: 9+9=18=9, it’s also the 252nd day of the year. Let’s see: 2+5+2=9.

So click onto 9-09-09 and see for yourself.
***
It’s also the opening day of the World Mysteries Conference in Tempe, Arizona featuring Mayan Calendar expert and shaman
Hunbatz Men.

Thank you, Dale Dassel, (WhipWarrior) for the links.
***
Strange little UPDATE:
Jose Flores,44, hijacked Aeromexico Flight 576, Wednesday in Cancun, Mexico after a divine revelation, according to Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna. Flores said that Wednesday, 9-9-09, is the satanic number 666 turned upside down. Speaking to reporters after he was detained, he said he took control of the aircraft with “a juice can with some little lights I attached.” He also carried a bible. The plane landed safely in Mexico City where Flores was arrested. (Note that the flight number adds up to a 9.)

Posted in numbers dates | 18 Comments

Imaginary Friends?

Posted on September 9, 2009 by Trish and Rob

photo from www.ghost-mysteries.com

Any parent with an imaginative child has probably gone through the “imaginary friend” period.

This one was actually a comment under one of our posts. It comes from Intuitive Girl. We asked her if we could use it and she said sure.
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When I was about five years old, I had what I thought was an imaginary friend, named Bobby. I would stop and wait for Bobby, hold conversations with Bobby. I outgrew this behavior and several years later, a woman came by the house and told my mother that she and her husband were the house’s first owners. She asked if she could come in and my mom said yes. She told my mom that she and her husband had moved after their five-year-old son, Bobby, had drowned in the bathtub. I don’t remember the Bobby encounters now, but this story is at least a synchronicity, maybe more.
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Our daughter had an imaginary friend named Darla.
Now we wonder!

Posted in children, ghosts, imaginary friends | 6 Comments