Welcome to The Mystical Underground

This eerie tale comes from Toasterlad and the far north of Norway. It sounds similar to the Third Man Factor in which everyone believes there is an extra person among them. Yet the TMF occurs when people are under great stress. These folks were playing games and drinking beer. Maybe it was in the beer. A good story nonetheless.

Thanks to Jim Banholzer for alerting us.

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About two years ago, a colleague of mine invited me and some of her friends on a two day trip in a cabin for the weekend. The plan was to drink beer, eat food and play board games and Guitar Hero. A nice weekend, indeed.

We get there in the early afternoon, around 16:00, and start settling inn. Some are outside bringing in wood and tending to the fireplace, some are making the beds ready and some are cleaning the living-room or shoveling snow on the porch. In other words, we weren’t all in the same room at the same time for the first hour or two.

At around 19:00, we settle down for dinner. There was taco on the menu, so it was a collective effort to make it ready with people cutting up vegetables, cooking the meat and setting the table. Because we all had a few beers during the time at the cabin, people were constantly going to the outhouse. This meant that the first time we’re all together in the same room for a good period of time was during dinner.

When we ate, the mood was good and we were all chatty. Talking about what we were going to play afterwards and just generally getting to know each other. Because we were so many, we had to use some chairs from the kitchen area and eat in the living room. There was a couch with room for three people, one with room for two, a chair plus two chairs from the kitchen. The seating arrangements made it possible for seven people to sit comfortably, without anyone having to use the middle seat in the three-seater.

After the feast of cheese, meat and salsa we were all sitting around the table chatting and playing a board game. Suddenly, my colleague asked “Hey, where is…uh… Who sat there?” pointing at the empty living room chair. “Oh, that was….uh… I’m not sure.” one of the guys said. “It was that guy from… uh.” My colleague answered.

We all swore that there were seven of us on the trip, but we couldn’t remember who the last person was. There wasn’t a dinner plate for that seating, and it didn’t look like anyone had been there. We started to count who came here in what car, and the number we came up with added up to six. At the same time, we had brought in the two chairs from the kitchen because there wasn’t room enough in the living room, and we had said no to some people wanting to go on the trip because the cabin only had seven beds.

We were quite sure that there were seven of us, but there was no evidence of us being more than six people. There was no seventh plate, seventh backpack or anything. Still, we had bought enough food for seven people, had made seven beds and were damn sure that someone had been sitting in the empty seat. We had no recollection of this person, but all agreed it was a man, not a woman.

This happened during spring in the far north of Norway, and if it wasn’t for the longer hours of daylight and how close the cabin was to our city, we would have been totally freaked out.

I still have no idea of who the seventh person should be, but I still find it odd that all of us were sure of there being a seventh person – a man – on this trip. I guess he went out of the matrix, and the matrix adjusted itself.

Six people was staying in a cabin, but we swore we were seven when we came.

from center for touch drawing

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Today, January 23, there’s another new moon, this one in Aquarius.  New moons occur once a month and are always times to anticipate. They spell new opportunities, new chapters in our lives, new, new new.

Aquarius is an intriguing sign – idiosyncratic, a humanitarian, thinks way outside the box, a visionary, independent. Aquarius enjoys group activities that concern his interests and passions, but would otherwise prefer  doing his own thing, as his own pace.

As usual, go here to find out where this new moon falls in your chart. (In other words, which house Aquarius is in your natal chart.) Then read on:

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Aries/1^st house: If you are born near March 22, with five days on either side, then you’re in for a real treat. New opportunities don’t just head your way; they fall in your lap, land on your doorstep, in your inbox. Friends are extremely helpful and may play vital roles in helping you achieve your desire. The suddenness to events may take you by surprise, but you’re ready to seize whatever comes your way.

Taurus/2^nd house: New financial opportunities surface.  You have to be on your toes, though, ready to recognize opportunity when it knocks. Inner, hidden stuff may surface that actually helps clarify your goals, desires, wishes and dreams. If you don’t meditate yet, then start on the day of this new moon. Thanks to the angle Uranus makes to this new moon, there’s an unexpected suddenness to these opportunities.

Gemini/3^rd house:  Yes, indeed, you are about to experience a new opportunity in something you love – communication! It may be a new  writing or speaking project of some kind. You  could sell an article, a novel, a screenplay, or suddenly your blog gets a hundred thousand hits. You may have an opportunity for foreign travel with perks – a free place to stay, for instance. Your worldview does an abrupt 180.

Cancer/4^th house: This new moon jerks you out of your comfortable routine. You’re suddenly able to see the world the way others around you do. Your partner could and a raise – new income. Your mortgage comes through. You see a ghost, communicate with your dead father. The abruptness of events may be jarring, but the opportunities are very sweet, indeed.

Leo/5^th house: New creative opportunities surface and, again, there’s an unexpected suddenness to this, so you should be vigilant so you can seize the opportunity as it appears. There could also be new opportunities with  children or grandchildren, with what you do for fun and pleasure, and in romance/love. Don’t shrug off coincidence as some random glitch in the universe’s digestive system. These synchros hold messages for you. You could find a new business partner – or you and your significant other  deepen your commitment to each other.

Virgo/6^th house: New work opportunities, the very thing you Virgos love. Work, work, work. As the perfectionist of the zodiac, your gold standard now pays off. You get a raise, a promotion, or change jobs for something that really suits you.  New opportunities emerge in communication, too, and whatever it is, it’s a new venue for you.

Libra/7^th house:  Well, Libra, you’ve got a choice and you know how crazy choices make you. New opportunities surface in your love life, your creative life, with your kids, your social life. If you don’t have kids but want to start a family, then this new moon could make it happen. To my Libra friend who is experiencing trouble with her mother’s illness, listen up: new opportunities and possibilities for your mom’s care seem to come out of nowhere. Your partner/spouse is helpful.

Scorpio/8^th house: Your new opportunities come in the domestic area. If your home is for sale, it sells. If you’ve found your dream home, you buy it. You’re able to get a mortgage, home owner’s insurance, whatever else you need. But because you’re a Scorpio or have this new moon in your eighth house,  new opportunities also come through metaphysics, research and investigation, your intuition, through the big cosmic questions: what happens when you die? Can the living and the dead communicate? This is Scorpio’s natural terrain.

Sagittarius/9^th house: New opportunities surface in communication, publishing, higher education, overseas travel. It’s never just one area for you that’s impacted by a new moon. You wear so many hats that even your mother isn’t sure who arrives at the front door on a given day. Uranus in fellow fire sign Aries forms a beneficial angle to this new moon and lends itself to unexpected suddenness with whatever unfolds.

Capricorn/10^th house: Think of this new moon as your career and financial infusion –or is that transfusion?  Either one is good. New professional and financial opportunities surface that impact your domestic environment. Sounds as though a pay raise or promotion enables you do some work around your house  or property or enables you do put out money for a family member. Parent? Partner? Child? Regardless, the new opportunities strengthen you financially and professionally.

Aquarius/11^th house:  Just once a year, there’s a new moon in each sign and January 23 is your new moon. Plan for it.  Make a list of what you would like to manifest, be as specific or as general as your intuition directs. Friends and group participation are helpful, but the but the real power to manifest lies in you. What do you want/desire more than anything else? Give it some thought. Back the desire with strong emotion. Then step aside and let the universe deliver.

Pisces/12^th house: New opportunities surface to delve into your own unconscious, to work behind the scenes doing something you love. Whatever  it is comes about so rapidly that if you blink, it’s gone.  Therapy, meditation, dream recall are all valuable tools now. There’s something new emerging on the financial front, too, and it’s positive, affirming, and right in line with your magnificent imagination and intuition. Be on your toes, Pisces. You don’t want to miss this opportunity.

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This one is not about ghosts…well, it is in a way.

At 7 p.m. EST last night, Newt Gingrich was named the winner of the South Carolina Republican primary. An hour later, on Turner Classic Movies, Letter to Three Wives, came on. We assume these movies are programmed well in advance.

For those not paying close attention to American GOP politics, Gingrich’s achilles’ heel is his legacy of three wives and the sordid way he left the first two. He was in the midst of an extra-marital affair with future wife three (future ex-wife?) when he was leading the attack on President Clinton for his affair with M.L. This past week, wife two in a tell-all interview with ABC exposed Newt’s request for an open marriage while he was acting outraged about Clinton’s tryst.

So on the night that this hypocrite turned the tide in the primary fight for the GOP nomination in his favor, he was awarded with a little haunting synchro from the invisible world.

All that said, his private life is the least of our worries if this unstable egotist who spewed a dozen lies during his victory speech last night, is elected to the highest office in the land.

Clusters are among the most interesting type of synchronicity. They often involve a repetition of numbers, phrases, words, names, dates…well, almost anything. Even dogs.  Sometimes, the message is challenging to decipher. But other times, as with this cluster, the message is obvious! This cluster  was sent to us by Rita H.

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My dog is sick with lymphoma and she recently contacted a good friend, Jim, who is an acupuncturist and practices oriental medicine. A little bit of information about him…he grew up very in tune. His mom was on the board of directors for the theosophical society where I live. She is actually photographed on the cover of most of the Quest brochures (a photo of her in a labyrinth)….and her son (my friend) grew up conscious of life and is a wonderful person to be around. His energy/ spirit is amazing.

Anyway, I contacted Jim and he was very helpful with a holistic approach for my dog. I thanked him and haven’t spoken to him since.

What happened next was really surprising. This is about 2 weeks after I’d spoken to Jim.

One evening my sister was walking her dog and came across a loose yellow lab. She decided to catch the dog and return it to its home. She found the address on the collar….you’ll never guess who’s dog it was!  It was Jim’s dog.  He helped my dog….and the universe used my sister who lives in his neighborhood…to help his dog, who by the way almost got hit by a car in all of this.

And to top things off, my sister had just been told previously by a friend she works with that his dog Jack – a yellow lab- was hit by a car and killed.

Here  we find out ….Jim’s dog is named Jack too, and my sister saved him from being hit by a car….the same name as her friends dog that did get hit. She felt like she saved at least one Jack that day for the sake of the one lost. And Jim’s dog was returned  as a thank you for helping mine.

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The underlying message here is that one good turn deserves another. The universe is listening!

We have three cats. Two of them, the females,  are pretty old for cats– 12 and 15. The third cat, Simba, a male, is about five. They have a peculiar language that they speak among themselves – meows, squeaks, hisses, a kind of keening, and the pitches of their voices always communicate nuance.

This evening Rob and I were in our respective offices and I heard a slightly elevated meow from one of the cats, that sound that usually means, Hey, look what I caught!

I walked out of my office and Powder, the pure white cat who is 12, was huddled over a dead mouse. She looked very pleased with herself.

The other two cats and the dogs immediately crowded around for a look and a sniff. Rob came out of his office and told the dogs to back off and I hurried into the kitchen to find a garbage bag.

When an animal appears in your midst like this, dead or alive, it’s a messenger. I’m sure our cats have this whole secret life where they catch mice and rats and lizards we never know about.  But when they bring one of their catches into the house, we’ve learned to pay attention.

On an esoteric level, mice indicate details. These creatures fit into impossibly small spaces and because of their size, the world is up close and very personal. So the details this mouse symbolizes seem to be obvious. As soon as I started refreshing my memory this evening about mice as messengers, I suspected the context of the message.

For the pasts few weeks, we’ve been working on a law of attraction oracle. The system grew out of something I developed for a creative writing workshop some years ago, a way for writers to evaluate their manuscripts. Our editor for the synchronicity books helped us to develop and expand the idea – then got laid off!

So while she’s looking for a job, we have continued to perfect the oracle. When the mouse appeared this evening I realized we now had a time frame. The gestation period for mice is between 19 and 21 days. So let’s call it three weeks, give or take. I figure we’ve got about three weeks to turn this idea into something solid.

The oracle doesn’t involve cards, dice, or any  tool other than what you create for yourself. It’s consists of words – language –colors, numbers and elements, and each facet tells you something about your ability to attract what you desire.  As Carl Jung explained in his introduction to the Richard Wilhelm edition of the I Ching,

Synchronicity is the basis for any divination system. In the moment you ask your question, draw the cards, toss the coins or the runes, erect an horary astrology chart, consult a psychic, you are freezing a moment in time. And that moment is intrinsic to your question and usually answers it.

I think mouse also pertains to our daughter’s move to Orlando, and to such details as: what do an empty bedroom, kitchen, and living room need? You know, details. The electric can opener, the microwave, the glasses and plates, the bed, the chair and desk…

Well, you get the picture.  I suspect that for the next 19-21 days, our lives will coalesce  around such details. And in the meantime, we’ll be here, experimenting with our oracle. I mean, honestly, how many times can you ask how your daughter will do in her new life?

I was outside watering some new grass when the next door neighbor came over and told me that she’d seen a Facebook post I’d written that was entitled: ‘You Never Know What Your Neighbors are Doing Over There…’

Of course, being my neighbor it caught her attention. She laughed about it, because it wasn’t her or her family. It was the post that appeared here on January 5 that was called ‘Inside the Fence.’ I’m not sure why I renamed it, but it sure caught Annette’s attention.

I was glad to see her, because I’d been waiting for a chance to talk to her for a couple of days. I told her that I had something for her. I went inside and returned with a book called ANGELS that one of my yoga students had given me at Christmas. I’m all for angels, but I didn’t care much for this book. The sub-title was something like ‘True Stories of Angel Deeds.”

But when I looked through it, virtually every page contained bible quotes and it was apparent that it was a very religious tome. One story focused on how we should fear God and that it was terrible that some people (like me) thought that fearing God was not a good thing.

That was when I decided that I would give the book to the neighbors, who probably do fear, as well as praise, God.  So when I brought out the book, Annette’s eyes widened. She was excited to received it and very pleased that it was religious.

Then she went on to give me an angel synchro. It turns out that she has collected angels for years – something I didn’t know – and this very day she and her eight-year-old daughter were looking over the collection. It included one book on angels, and Madison, the daughter, wanted to know why she couldn’t have that book. Annette explained that her father had given it to her. It was part of the collection and she didn’t want it lost or ruined.

So now she was pleased that she had an angel book to share with Madison. “That’s a synchronicity, right?” she asked.

“You got it,” I replied.  She had never heard of synchronicity until they met us. So we’ve had a bit of influence on her and the angel book has now fallen into welcoming hands.

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The image at the top is called that Doidge Angel Photograph. It comes from here, a site called ‘Real Angel Pictures.’