Dolphins and BP

Posted on June 3, 2010 by Trish and Rob

 Three times, Megan and I swam with dolphins. Twice, it was at a place in Key Largo called Dolphins Plus. The third time was on the island of Margarita, off the coast of Venezuela. Each experience was unique, magnificent, and in a strange way, even spiritual. I felt I was in contact with a consciousness so far beyond anything humans can even imagine that it took me years to process the experiences.

I had read John Lilly’s books about interspecies communication with dolphins.  Lilly was a medical doctor who lived in an isolation tank with dolphins in the Virgin Islands and claimed he could communicate with them. He experimented with hallucinogenics – LSD was his drug of choice – while living in that tank. I had read other books on dolphin/human communication and of miraculous healings that took place when people swam with these splendid creatures. But none of these books prepared me for the actual experience. As a result of those experiences, I wrote a novel called Vanished, which isn’t in print anymore, about how dolphins, whales and other species rebelled against human incursion and travesties in the oceans.

So it was deeply troubling to run across an article this evening on the Huffington Post about how dolphins have fared during this oil gusher in the gulf. It’s a roundup from various news sources. From the NY Daily News: “There is a lot of coverup for BP. They specifically informed us that they don’t want these pictures of the dead animals. They know the ocean will wipe away most of the evidence. It’s important to me that people know the truth about what’s going on here,” one contractor said. “The things I’ve seen: They just aren’t right. All the life out here is just full of oil. I’m going to show you what BP never showed the President.”

 This dolphin carcass was found on Queen Bess Island in the gulf. The BP contract worker who took a NY Daily News Reporter to this area, said, “When we found this dolphin,  it was filled with oil. Oil was just pouring out of it. It was the saddest darn thing to look at.”

We can struggle to imagine a clean gulf, where life flourishes. We can try, collectively, to envision a world where this sort of thing doesn’t happen because we have alternative energy sources. We can employ the techniques that Abraham – aka Esther and Jerry Hicks –  suggest about seeing it from within the vortex. We can even use some Seth stuff here (Jane Roberts) and say that free will prevails on all counts – that the dolphin chose to be sacrificed on the altar of big oil to drive home a point. But does any of that mitigate the horror and sadness I feel when I read about a dolphin filled with oil?

Not really. Today, federal regulators granted a new drilling permit to Bandon Oil and Gas for a well that will be 115 feet deep – a shallow well. – 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana. According to the article cited above, “Obama quietly allowed a three-week old ban on drilling in shallow water to expire.”

I voted for Obama in 2008. I believed in his message of change. But he has flipped on so many major issues that he won’t win my vote again. It’s not like I’ll vote Republican (not in this life) and it’s not as if Obama will miss my vote.

But a vote is my contribution to a democracy – that is beginning to look more and more like that a corporate game. When the supreme court recognizes corporations as individuals, you know you’re in deep trouble. There’s a standing joke – a very dark joke – among some progressives that when people like Obama make it into the White House, they’re shown the Magruder film of the Kennedy assassination and are told to tow the line or else. So they flip flop. Conspiratorial? Maybe. But suppose it’s true?

And yes, as the NY Times reports, there’s some serious talk about nuking the gusher.

Here’s what author and radio guy Thomas Hartmann has to say about it:

PS I was angry when I wrote this and know I probably will vote for Obama in 2012 because I simply won’t vote Republican. If there’s an independent party candidate, however, who’s a progressive and – dare I use the word? – genuine, then all bets are off.
– Trish

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Posted in dolphins, oil spill | 28 Comments

The Ghost of Cassadaga Hotel

Posted on June 2, 2010 by Trish and Rob
Cassadaga 1936

Cassadaga, Florida is a Spiritualist community just north of Disney World. We’ve posted about it several times. Established in 1894, it’s now a flourishing little town where nearly every resident is a medium or psychic who specializes in contact with spirits.  On weekends, the place is jammed with cars and tourists, all of them walking through the old, narrow streets, past Spirit Lake, in search of exactly the right medium. Hotel Cassadaga is usually booked solid on weekends.

 When Megan was just a baby, we went to Cassadaga for readings and stayed at the Cassadaga Hotel. We were surprised that we were the only guests and later learned it was bike week in Daytona, so that’s where the tourists had gone. We had our choice of rooms and selected one on the third floor. It was actually two connecting rooms that  overlooked the Colby center – now a bookstore and gift shop.

We walked around the town that afternoon, pushing Megan along in her stroller. I think we had readings with Hazel Burly, mentioned in the linked post above. I have this vague memory of Megan crawling around on Hazel’s floor, scampering after her cat or dog. That evening, we ate at a restaurant in nearby St. Helen’s.

When we entered the hotel later that evening, I was struck by how eerily quiet it was. The hotel doesn’t have an elevator, so we folded up Megan’s stroller and headed up the stairs to the second floor. It was so still, the groan and creak of the steps and the old wooden floors sounded abnormally loud.

We settled in for the evening with our books. We didn’t bother locking the doors.  The town was deserted, the hotel was empty, what was the point? Around eleven or twelve, we turned off the lights. Megan had fallen asleep earlier. I remember it was unusually chilly that night and my feet were cold. I got up to scour the closet for additional blankets, found one, and fell back into bed. Just as we were drifting off to sleep, we heard footfalls on the stairs. Loud footfalls. It sounded like a troop of bikers from Daytona had arrived wearing heavy boots. It sounded like an army.

I was a little spooked and whispered, “Hey, Rob, aren’t we alone in the hotel?”

“That’s what the guy at the desk said. Maybe he’s doing his midnight rounds or something.”

Rob is more grounded than I am when it comes to this stuff. But I could hear uncertainty in his voice. We lay there, listening. The footfalls became echoing thuds. It began to freak me out. The clerk, I recalled, was a short, skinny guy; these thuds sounded like they came from a 300 pound monster.

I suddenly got up and hurried into the adjoining room to get Megan. Rob turned on the lamp, but the light didn’t do much to mitigate my mounting fear and panic. The thuds now sounded like something out of The Shining, so hard and loud I thought I could feel the hotel shaking. I swept Megan out of her bed and rushed back into the other room, where Rob was now locking the doors. I set Megan, who still slept on, oblivious, in our bed and hurried over to where Rob was.

“What the hell is it?” I hissed.

“Not the night clerk.” He pressed his ear to the door.

The clunks and thuds reached the top of the stairs. A sense of profound malevolence electrified the air, that’s the only way I can describe it, and for moments, neither Rob nor I moved. The thuds escalated to the point where it sounded as if a semi was slamming repeatedly into the building. Then the thuds stopped. Total silence. We could hear someone breathing outside our rooms.

Rob and I immediately pushed a heavy wooden dresser in front of one door and moved the bed in which Megan had been sleeping in front of the other door. We moved back to the bed, Rob on one side, me on the other, both of us terrified that whatever it was would break through our defenses.

The knobs turned, rattled. The inside of my mouth flashed desert dry. We simultaneously reached for Megan, Rob grasping one of her hands, me grasping the other. I don’t know where we thought we would escape if whatever was on the other side of that door broke in. There was no fire escape, just a roof – and a long jump to the ground. Whatever it was kicked the door viciously, then the thudding footfalls continued down the hall and gradually faded away.

 We didn’t sleep much after that. The next morning, when we checked out, I asked the clerk if the hotel was haunted. He sort of grinned. “You bet. But we’ve only got friendly ghosts here.” It even says that on the hotel website. 

We beg to differ. What  happened to us in Cassadaga was terrifying. But we had a similar experience in the Dominican Republic that was energizing. We didn’t feel threatened then. I’m not sure why the experiences differed so radically emotionally. Perhaps it had something to do with the spirits involved.

 Rob wondered whether this story is a true synchronicity. So let me add this to put his mind at ease! For Carl Jung, many types of psychic phenomena fell under the larger umbrella of synchronicity. Jung had several experiences with spirits.

During the winter of 1924, he spent vast stretches of time alone in the tower of the home he built on the shores of Lake Zurich. As author Deirdre Bair recounted in Jung: A Biography, he experienced “ghostly presences” in the tower. “He heard music, as if an orchestra were playing; he envisioned a host of young peasant men who seemed to be encircling the tower with much laughter, singing, and roughhousing.” Bair says these experiences happened only once to Jung, but that he never forgot them.
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Cassadaga today
Posted in Cassadaga, ghosts | 14 Comments

What We Attract

Posted on June 1, 2010 by Trish and Rob

This story is about what we attract. We’ve posted some synchronicities in this vein before, but this one illustrates just how immediate manifestations can be. It comes from Gypsy, who is very likely one of those individuals I think of as synchronicity generators!

A couple of years ago, around the winter holidays, Gypsy  was really wanting/needing a break from everything. But let her tell it!
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I wanted a real vacation, except that I couldn’t really take one right then. I was in the midst of seeing someone with whom time was a real commodity. Anyway. this particular Friday,  my friends and I were standing around as we were leaving work, talking about our weekend plans, etc – and I mentioned how I was thinking of just checking into a local motel for the entire weekend. A friend was in the hospital, so I said, “On second thought, I’m jut going to go over to the hospital and check in. That way I’ll be able to see my friend and have a complete at my command.  

“Be careful what you wish for,” warned another friend.


I laughed and said, “Yeah, right, I’m counting on it!


Well, I go home, everything is fine, I go to bed. Within an hour I’m awakened by severe nausea and minutes later, I’m throwing up. I have terrible stomach pains and just can’t stop vomiting. 

My daughter and granddaughter are visiting and are in the other bedroom. Lisa hears me getting sick and by daylight, Lisa has called my other daughter. She takes one look at me and they call  my doctor, who says to come to her office right then. I get there and my doctor takes one look at me and sends me across the street to the hospital. 


I end up in the hospital for the entire weekend on IV fluids for the dehydration and nothing ever showed up in the lab work or radiology results. Nothing – not a virus or bacteria, absolutely nothing that would explain this. But there I was,  with exactly what I had wished for.


When I got back to work, of course, my friends were beside themselves with it all and still, when we get together, this story comes up at times!



Posted in law of attraction | 17 Comments

Tracking the Gusher

Posted on June 1, 2010 by Trish and Rob

This 39 second video tracks the gusher since its genesis through May 28. As you watch the spill spread and move, it’s eerie. I could see the shapes of marine life that are or will be devastated by this. Some shapes struck me as dead zones. It’s a Rorschach test for this disaster, a kind of oracle.

Posted in oil spill | 15 Comments

Woman in the Yellow Dress

Posted on May 31, 2010 by Trish and Rob

Rhodes, Greece

We love travel synchronicities. They’re always intriguing in one way or another and underscore the mysterious nature of the world/reality in which we live.

Mike Perry’s blog on synchronicity often features a travel synchro. And, like Butternut Squash, whose travel synchros we’ve posted here, Mike travels to the most fascinating places. I always feel like an armchair traveler when I read their blogs.This synchro of Mike’s takes place in Rhodes, Greece, and has such a positive spin to it that we asked if we could re-post it.
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I was about to sit down to dinner with my wife when I had this clear picture in my  mind of a woman wearing a yellow dress. She was someone we had seen some seven or eight years ago, while in the village of Lindos on the Greek island of Rhodes.

At the time we had been staying in a fisherman’s cottage built into the mountain side overlooking the village. Lindos is on a hill which seems to erupt from the blue sea with sparkling white houses glistening in the sunshine and peaked by a monastery. It’s a very magical place.

One day we had been to the beach for the morning, swimming in the clear water and generally enjoying the sunshine. In the early afternoon we strolled back to the village and in the main square a wedding group were forming after the ceremony. Music started to play and there was laughter and happiness everywhere.

We decided to have a glass of red wine and watch what was going on. It was a real Zorba the Greek occasion and the wedding guests were soon dancing and enjoying themselves. Amongst them was a woman wearing a yellow dress.

She was so radiant that she stood out from the other guests. She danced, laughed and sizzled with being alive and enjoying the moment. Even as outsiders my wife and I couldn’t help but get caught up in the moment – and, for some reason, I was transported back to this scenario when sitting down to dinner a couple of nights
 ago.

I said to my wife, “Do you remember that woman in the square in Lindos?”

“Oh yes,” she replied, “The one with the yellow dress. We had such a fun time in Lindos, didn’t we? Do you also remember ….”

And over dinner we relived our time in Rhodes.

It’s always odd how an image from the past can form in the mind. When I went to my office later that evening I pulled out some papers from a file and there amongst them was the programme to a play we saw last year at the Minack Theatre.

The play was called The Greek and it was roughly based on Zorba the Greek and how a young studious traveller meets up with the life loving Alexis Zorba. The author Nikos Kazantzakis wrote:

“We stayed silent by the brazier until far into the night. I felt once more how simple and frugal a thing is happiness: a glass of wine, a roast chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea. Nothing else. And all that is required to feel that happiness here and now is a simple frugal heart.”

I feel that my mind’s picture, of the woman in the yellow dress, combined with The Greek programme was there to remind me what happiness is all about – and that sometimes, perhaps, I take life a little too seriously.
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That’s a very uplifting story from Mike, an enchanted description of a time, place, and a dazzling individual. Now if you want somewhat darker, but compelling read, go to The Girl in the Yellow Dress, from Aug. 25, 2009.

Posted in greece, mike perry, travel | 11 Comments

God must be crazy

Posted on May 30, 2010 by Trish and Rob

We were at the dog park when it happened. When you have something in common with people, in this case dogs, strangers are usually quite willing to strike up a conversation. We had walked over to a bench in a shady corner of the park when a couple in their mid-60s strolled up to watch their Portuguese water dog play with our retriever, Noah.

We started talking about dogs, but one thing led to another and the topic turned to the oil spill and the government. My first instinct was to stick to dog talk and avoid politics with that pair, but Trish decided to engage them. The man quickly announced that he was a ‘religious conservative’ and that the liberals were destroying the country, that Obama was pushing socialism, intent on taking money from the rich, etc, etc.

Trish took after him, asking if he and his wife collected social security and took advantage of medicare. Yes, they did, and apparently saw no conflict in their beliefs and their actions.

The husband and wife became increasingly outspoken about their religious belief that only the faithful followers of Jesus would be saved, that the rapture was coming. “But you’re condemning billions of people,” I said.

“I’m not condemning them,” he answered. “They have a chance to be saved. Read the book, read the book.”

I suggested that the God in the bible, especially the old testament, was wrathful at times, and that the bible was written and re-written over centuries by PEOPLE. The couple vehemently disagreed. It was the word of God and a benevolent God, at that. Not like the Muslim’s God, who provoked terrorism.

“Do you think Obama is the anti-Christ?” I asked to see how far they were willing to stretch their beliefs.

The wife responded. “Oh, no.” The husband quickly followed up: “But he knows him. You can be sure of that. He’s alive now, after all.” (Hm, maybe it’s Bo, the Obama’s Portuguese water dog.

Read the book, it’s all there,” the man repeated before we parted ways.

Something about these people disturbed me, beyond what they were saying. There was something familiar about them. Then, as we started to walk away, the woman turned to me and said: “You know, you are our yoga teacher.”

Oh, my god, these people were in my Wednesday evening class. That’s where I knew them from. They’d come to several classes, always parking themselves in the far right rear corner of the room.  There were usually 20 or more people in the room and it was dimly lit. So I hadn’t recognized them. They did their best in class. The man, in particular, was stiff and now I realized he was as inflexible in his mind as he was in his body. (Synchronicity or cause and effect? )  When I mentioned to Trish who they were, she responded, “So what!”

My next yoga class arrived and there they were. All I could think, when I looked in their direction, was the man saying: “Read the book.”

Now, here comes the synchronicity. In the aftermath of that encounter, we received an e-mail from a friend that was literally filled with bible quotes. We were being nudged to read the book. But wait a minute. Who wrote these verses, anyhow–God? If so, she just might be crazy. Take a look for yourselves.
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Dear Dr. Laura:

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God’s Law.

I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to  defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination … End of debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God’s Laws and how to follow them.

1.    Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can’t I own Canadians?

2.    I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7.  In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

3.    I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of Menstrual uncleanliness – Lev.15: 19-24. The problem is how do I tell?  I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

4.    When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord – Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbors.  They claim the odor is not pleasing to them.  Should I smite them?

5.    I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath.  Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?

6.    A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination, Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don’t agree.  Can you settle this?  Are there ‘degrees’  of abomination?

7.    Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight.  I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle-room here?

8.    Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?

9.    I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

10. My uncle has a farm.  He violates Lev.19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? Lev.24:10-16. Couldn’t we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I’m confident you can help.

Thank you again for reminding us that God’s word is eternal and unchanging.

Your adoring fan.
James M. Kauffman, Ed.D. Professor Emeritus, Dept. Of Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Education University of Virginia

(It would be a damn shame if we couldn’t own a Canadian 🙂

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God winks. And, oh, how tempting it is to bring a copy of that e-mail to yoga class and tell the couple. Guess what? I’ve been reading the book. – R

Posted in bible, conservatives, dogs, yoga | 31 Comments

Day 40

Posted on May 30, 2010 by Trish and Rob
Day 40
 

It’s now official. Top Kill has failed to plug the gusher.  The next step is to use robot subs to cut off the damaged riser from which the oil is gushing and attempt to cap it with a containment valve.

One energy expert,  known for predicting the oil price spike of 2008, says sending a small nuclear bomb down the leaking well is ‘probably the only thing we can do’ to stop the leak.

According to Joe Wiesenthal, writing in Business Insider,  the nuclear option is about to get a lot of attention now that the top kill has failed. “It’s the real idea that the best way to kill this thing is to stick a small nuke in there and bury the well under rubble. Supposedly it’s been done in Russia, and by the middle of the coming week, it will be all over cable news, as pundits press The White House hard on whether it’s being considered and why not.”

WHY NOT? Are these people lunatics? The nuke would be exploded at a depth of 18,000 feet. Raw Story has an excellent piece of this whole nightmare possibility.

 Here’s a video from Bloomberg News about this insanity of nuking:

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 In addition, CNN reports that workers involved in the beach cleanups are getting sick. One of the workers, a Vietnam vet, compared the dispersants to Agent Orange.
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The first tropical storm, Agatha, has formed off the coast of Guatemala, on the Pacific side. Guatemala is already dealing with the eruption of its Pacaya volcano. Ash from the eruption has blanketed the capital of Guatemala and destroyed 800 homes. The storm is expected to bring 10-20 inches of rain.

Hurricane season officially begins on June 1. What happens if a hurricane forms in the gulf? Well, NOAA has issued a PDF file on what it could mean.
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Here’s a video on planetary healing for the gulf coast through meditation. Maybe this really is the last best hope.

Posted in nuclear option, oil spill | 23 Comments

Mirrored Lives, Parallel Selves?

Posted on May 29, 2010 by Trish and Rob

M.C. Escher seems fitting for this synchro!

Synchronicities often accompany major transitions in our lives – marriage or divorce, a birth or death, career change, and moves. We’ve posted a number of synchros that took place during transitional periods. This one is especially interesting, about two families with similar international backgrounds undergoing similar transitions that eventually involved  the same house.

The story comes from Jeanette. She originally posted it as a comment. I liked it and asked her if we could do it as a post.
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As so many, we downsized in 2009 from a house with a yard to a condo in a gated community in the Los Angeles area. Selling our house was a challenge. Three offers fell through. Finally, after 50 real estate agents and their clients had looked the house, we sold the house to a family who had an amazingly similar life story as our own.

First of all, they came originally from Indonesia, like I do. I was born there, and moved to Holland when I was 5 years old. Like my family, they moved to another country because riots in the streets in Indonesia were very unsafe for children and inflation was soaring. Like my family, they came to the U.S. and left again, only to come back. After 10 years here they were able to buy this house. That was also the same amount of time it  took my family to buy the same house!

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In her blog entry, cited above, Jeanette is the Jet family.

Posted in parallel selves | 4 Comments

Oil disaster redux

Posted on May 28, 2010 by Trish and Rob

We don’t mean bombard readers with stories on the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, but this one is eerily synchronistic. It comes from the Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC. She begins by reporting about the shutdown of the Alaskan oil pipeline after a leak noting that the spill is simultaneous with the ongoing disaster in the Gulf.

Then, she shifts gears, and shows clips of the exact same scenario from June of 1979–a leak in the Alaskan pipeline coupled with a major leak of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. She goes on to point out that the exact same technology from 1979 is being used today to attempt to stop and contain the oil. Only in ’79, the leak was at 200 feet, instead of 5,000 feet. The leak continued for weeks and threatened the Florida keys. A very similar scenario, and evidence that nothing has been done to improve environmental safety. A real tragedy.

Take a look here. Thanks to Jim Banholzer for pointing us to this YouTube clip.

Posted in Uncategorized | 16 Comments

The Rainbow Connection

Posted on May 28, 2010 by Trish and Rob

Here’s another music-related synchronicity, this one comes from Luna.
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Back in 2001, I made a mixed cd with songs that make me happy, Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, Cupid, Que Sera Sera, What A Wonderful World, Fire And Rain, to name a few. I was downloading the songs from the net to make my cd, and couldn’t find The Rainbow Connection sung by The Muppets.

Try as I might, all the versions were either sung by other artistes, distorted or incomplete. Then a close friend sent me a link. Yay, it was exactly what I wanted, and my cd was complete.

Almost ten years later, I still play that cd whenever I need to reconnect with myself. I was playing it today and decided to post the You Tube link to the song on my Facebook page. I have many friends who still love that song. But as luck would have it, there was a glitch with my server today and I haven’t been able to share the video.

Then, what should I see, but the current Facebook status of the same friend who sent me the link all those years ago, which read: “What’s so amazing, that keeps us stargazing”, a line from The Rainbow Connection. 🙂

Coincidence or Connection?
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How about a synchro-connection!

If you prefer Willy Nelson over Kermit the Frog. Here’s Willy’s version.

When I was looking for a rainbow photo, what did I come across, but my own rainbow connection, a photo of the cover of a book I co-authored long ago.

Posted in music, rainbows | 13 Comments