#23, updated

Posted on June 25, 2009 by Trish and Rob

Back on March 23, we posted an entry called #23,Anyone? It was about the research that writers William Boroughs and Robert Anton Wilson did on the #23. In researching this number, we uncovered some more fascinating stuff about this number. Interestingly, we were researching this information on June 23, but didn’t make that connection until June 24.

In science and math:

During conception, each parent contributes 23 chromosome apiece to the fetus. Euclid’s geometry has 23 axioms.
23 is the first prime number in which both digits are prime numbers and add up to another prime number.
It takes 23 seconds for blood to circulate through the human body.
Every 23rd wave that slams into a shore is twice as large as the average wave.
The first lunar landing was in the Sea of Tranquility, 23.63 degrees East. The second lunar landing was in the Ocean of Storms, 23.42 degrees West. The first two landings were Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 – 11+12=23.
The earth rotates completely every 23 hours, 56 minutes.
The axis of the plane Earth is 23.5 degrees.
The human biorhythm cycle is 23 days.
The pattern of DNA shows irregular connections at every 23rd section.
Humans have 23 vertebra running down the main part of their spines.
The Harmonic Convergence occurs every 23,000 years.
Geosynchronous orbit occurs at 23,000 miles above Earth’s surface.
September 23rd is the Fall equinox.
23+23+23=WWW, the World Wide Web (W being the 23rd letter of the alphabet)

In Hollywood and with movies and TV, the number also plays a role. Take X-Files. The production company, Ten-Thirteen -10+13 – adds up to 23. 10-13 is the birth date of creator Chris Carter. For fans of X-Files, remember that abandoned nuclear silo where a UFO is being held? 1013 is the number on the silo. In another episode, Mulder goes to the apartment of a recently deceased man and the number 23 is on the door.

In the popular TV series Lost, which builds on layers of synchronicity, there are a number of oddities involving 23:
Oceanic Flight 815 – 8+15=23
The gate number from which the flight departed
Jack’s seat on the flight was 23A
Rose and Bernard were sitting in row 23
Hurley stayed in a Sydney hotel on floor 23
The reward for turning Kate in: $23,000
One of the numbers in the sequence of 6 that won Hurley the lottery and opened the hatch: 4 8 15 16 23 42.
Even if the repetition of 23s in the series is intentional, it’s nonetheless the sort of weirdness that would have interested both Burroughs and Wilson.

Is anyone stalked by the #23??

Posted in #23 | 16 Comments

Twin Deaths

Posted on June 24, 2009 by Trish and Rob

Another story about twins and their inter-connected lives.
***

In 2002, seventy-year-old twin brothers died within hours of one another
after separate accidents on the same road in northern Finland. The first
of the twins died when he was hit by a lorry while riding his bike in
Raahe, 600 kilometers north of the capital, Helsinki. A short time later, his brother died in a car wreck just 1.5km from the spot where his brother was killed.

“This is simply a historic coincidence. Although the road is a busy one, accidents don’t occur every day,” police officer Marja-Leena Huhtala told Reuters. “It made my
hair stand on end when I heard the two were brothers, and identical
twins at that. It came to mind that perhaps someone from upstairs had a
say in this,” she said.
***
Okay, but this story would be more interesting if we knew whether or not the second twin was aware that his brother had just died. If so, his death could’ve had a causal link. In other words, it could’ve been a suicide, or he was upset and in no condition to drive along that same road. On the other hand, if he hadn’t found out about his brother’s death, it would be an astonishing synchronicity.

Posted in c7, death, twins | 6 Comments

Final Destination

Posted on June 23, 2009 by Trish and Rob

David Malcolm – whose synchronicities we have used several time on this blog – alerted us to this story. It’s one of those bizarre and tragic synchronicities. Maybe the message is that you can’t cheat death.

On June 1, Air France flight 447 vanished over the Atlantic Ocean while en route from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Paris. Pieces of the wreckage and several dozen bodies have since been recovered, but authorities still aren’t sure what caused the crash. 228 individuals perished. But at least two passengers got lucky. Or did they?

Kurt and Johanna Ganthaler, pensioners from the Bolzano-Bozen province in Italy, were vacationing in Brazil and were supposed to take flight 447 back to Paris. But they missed their flight. No big deal. Happens every day. But the Ganthalers subsequently discovered that they dodged death.

They took a flight back to Europe the day after Flight 447 vanished. But within a week, while in Kufstein, Austria, their car crashed into an oncoming truck and Mrs. Ganthaler was killed. Her husband was seriously injured.

Rob doesn’t think this one is a synchronicity. But to me, it’s just too bizarre not to include here. So what’s the meaning?

Original article can be found here.

Posted in death, travel | 22 Comments

11:11

Posted on June 22, 2009 by Trish and Rob

In researching cluster synchronicities involving the numbers 11, 111, and 11:11, I came across some intriguing information. First, if you Google 11:11, more than 203 million hits come up. Yeah, that’s 203 million. That number falls between the populations of Indonesia at 237,512,352 and of Brazil, at 196,342,592. A whole bunch of websites, in other words.

The phenomenon of 11:11 appears to be huge, but there are so many theories – and some of them are so far out there – that it’s anyone’s guess what any of it means. But here are some of the best examples of 11, 111, or 11:11:

The WWI armistice was signed at 11:11 AM on 11/11/18.

World War II ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

The Berlin Wall fell on 11/11/89.

Yasser Arafat died on 11/11/04.

JFK was assassinated on 11/22.

Supposedly the Mayan calendar end year 2012 is timed at 11:11 Universal time.

The U.S. Navy lists the 2012 solstice for 12/21/12 at 11:11 Universal time.

Israeli psychic Uri Geller has an entire section on his website devoted to 11:11.

And that’s just for starters.

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Any synchronicities involving these numbers that you would like to share?

– Trish

Posted in 11, 111, 11:11 | 28 Comments

Neda – The Divine Calling

Posted on June 21, 2009 by Trish and Rob

Most of us have seen the demonstrations and the violence in the last few days in Iran as the masses rebel against the government, the status quo, and the highly questionable election results.

Yesterday, I mentioned to Trish that we should watch for synchronicities related to this mass event. Such high drama involving millions and attracting world attention also attracts synchronicity. While watching the news Sunday evening, we found it.

One young woman’s death on the street during a demonstration has been highlighted and become a symbol of the movement. The graphic video is being shown on cable news over and over and it’s being spread through the Internet’s social networks.

The synchronicity here is her name: Neda in Farsi means The Divine Calling. Her death is seen as a sacrifice to a greater cause.

P.S. Anyone who uses Twitter should change the time zone to that of Iran, which will make it harder for the government to locate the Iranians who are Twittering to the outside world.

More news on Neda from Huffington Post

Posted in global, names | 7 Comments

The Two Toms

Posted on June 21, 2009 by Trish and Rob

This story is from Janice Cutbush, a retired teacher and friend in Ballspa, New York. Her husband, Tom Cutbush, died about ten years ago. Her son, also named Tom Cutbush, lives in Haddenfield, New Jersey. About a year ago, Janice’s son was in a bad accident – thus the reference in her story to visits made to a hospital.
***

When Tom and his wife Sara became godparents to their niece,they went to Sara’s family’s Methodist Church in Haddenfield NJ. They had to meet the Reverend and sign some papers, etc. before the christening. When Tom wrote his name on the paper, the Reverend looked up and said, “I graduated from high school with a Tom Cutbush.”

Tom said, “That was my dad.”

Rev. George Morris was stunned. He told Tom that he had a great deal of respect for his dad and even though they didn’t hang out in the same crowd, he and his dad always maintained a mutual friendship outside of school.

Rev. Morris went on to baptize Tom’s little girl Elizabeth two years later and when Tom’s accident happened, he came to the hospital every week and said prayers at his bedside. When I met him at the christening we talked about the coincidence of it all and he said he preferred to think of coincidences as “spiritual appointments.”
***
An added note to this story. When Tom senior was alive, he and Janice were avid runners. One morning, halfway through their run, Janice said she was going to stop, she was tired. Tom turned to her and said, “That’s fine. I’ll go the last mile alone.” He started out, then pitched forward and died of a massive heart attack.

I’ve always found that last statement of his eerily prescient.

Posted in clusters, encounters, family, names | 6 Comments

Fox I Ching synchronicity

Posted on June 20, 2009 by Trish and Rob


Here’s a foxy tale from Adele Aldridge.
***
Three months ago I made a difficult move from one state to another and am just getting settled. Recently an opportunity presented itself to move again into a larger apartment. I need more space so I decided to make the move even though I’m not recovered or settled yet. I notified the post office and friends of this new pending change. But the more I re-packed up my books the more my body went into total revulsion of what it would take to make this move again after just three months. So feeling such strong resistance in my body from something I wanted to do in my mind, with great ambivalence, I decided not to make this move now. Maybe later.

That evening I took a walk in the nearby woods when suddenly about thirty feet in front of me a fox crossed the path in front of me. The fox saw me at the same time I saw him. We both stood still and looked at each other for a full minute before he plunged into the other side of the woods, jumping over a small stream.

Except for years ago in a dream, which foretold an interesting encounter, I have only seen a fox once before. That was about five years ago, when one came hunting for dinner near a pond where some baby geese had hatched. The mother bird made a wild and awesome racket, scaring the fox away.

Since it is a rare event for me to come across such a beautiful red bushy tailed creature I mused upon the encounter, remembering my dream of years ago and thought, ala Casteneda, “Umm … I wonder what seeing this fox is all about for me.” I don’t tell such thoughts to just anyone, but here is okay.

The next morning, while sipping my breakfast tea and doing my daily I Ching reading, I threw Hexagram 63, “After Completion” with the first line changing into Hexagram 38, “Opposition” or as Karcher calls this Hexagram, “Diverging/The Shadow Lands” and …”strange meetings with hidden spirits, the ghost world..”

Reading Karcher’s interpretation for line one, Hexagram 63, he says,

“Already Crossing.
Breaking his wheels. Trailing her cord in the water.
The small fox soaks its tail.
This is not a mistake.”

And his interpretation, “This is righteous and not a mistake. You have a great connection but you are starting too quickly. Hold back. Start slowly. Let yourself be lured on. This is not a mistake. Re-imagine the situation. Gather your energy for a decisive new move.”

My I Ching reading echoed the sighting of the fox, affirmed the decision I’d just made not to move again. Thank you, fox. Thank you, Synchronicity. Thank you, I Ching.
***

Frank Joseph, in his terrific book Synchronicity & You, notes that fox symbolism “speaks of shape shifting, lycanthropy, and all forms of physical as well as psychic change, most often involving female transcendence.”

Jung had a fox synchronicity while walking through a wooded area with a patient.She was relating a dream she’d had as a kid, where she saw a “ghostly fox” descending the stairs of her parents’ home. Just then, a real fox emerged from the trees and walked along for several moments as though it were part of the situation, the narrative.

Joseph notes that foxes have a rich tradition in many cultures. In Japan, they are considered to be magical creatures. Among Native Americans, the fox is believed to protect families.

I Ching Meditations
Yoga Babe Cafe
Cafe Press
Adele Art

Posted in animals, fox, I Ching | 6 Comments

Portland Synchronicity

Posted on June 19, 2009 by Trish and Rob

Several weeks ago, a blog called Life in the Second Half came up in a Google alert for synchronicity. I lurked on the blog for a couple of days, enjoyed what I read, and really liked that the author called herself Lover of Life. So I left a comment on Nancy Atkinson’s blog.

We subsequently began an email exchange. Three or four days before Rob, Megan and I were going to leave for a vacation in Hood River, Oregon, Nancy mentioned that she and her husband were going to Portland for her daughter’s graduation. We discovered that our times in Oregon were going to overlap. Bingo! A Google alert for synchronicity ultimately leads to a synchronicity in timing. So on June 12, we met Nancy and her husband for lunch at a beautiful spot midway between Portland and Hood River. The lunch was great, the company fantastic. Synchronicity works magic.

Posted in blogs, connections, creativity | 5 Comments

N.F.D.

Posted on June 18, 2009 by Trish and Rob

Years ago, an editor asked me if I would be interested in completing a novel for an author who had died. He was forty and passed on very suddenly of a heart attack. He’d written four chapters and left behind an outline.

Trish and I knew him–though we’d never met in person. He and Trish had the same editor and agent. We’d exchanged e-mails and participated in the same mystery novel blog on GEnie, back in pre-Internet days. (They didn’t call them blogs, though.)

I worked on the novel for a few months, and from time to time I felt the author, Dave Pedneau, standing behind me, watching, and sometimes I thought he was laughing! It was kind of eerie. So I wrote faster. Finally, I finished the novel, but there was one thing I hadn’t figured out. Oddly enough, I didn’t know what the title meant. He used law enforcement acronyms for his novels, like B.O.L.O. (Be On the Lookout), or A.K.A. (Also Known As). But this one just had the letters: N.F.D. with no parenthetical meaning and I had no idea what it meant. I couldn’t tell from the story, either. Finally, just before I turned it in, I asked a cop at the gym if he knew. He frowned, then said: “Oh, that’s easy: No Fricking Deal.” Though ‘fricking’ was not quite the way he put it.

That was the title of the book! Suddenly, I knew why Dave had been laughing.

There is a little synchronicity here, too. A few years ago, I was teaching private yoga lessons to a very well off woman. She was religious, also kind of prim and proper, and always had her housekeeper or cook around when I was there. One day I was waiting for her to get ready and looked at the books on a shelf. There weren’t many, maybe a dozen. Just as she walked in the room, I spotted N.F.D., and blurted, “Hey, I wrote that book.”

She picked it off the shelf, looked at the cover, and asked: “What that title mean?”
Rob

Posted in c6, creativity, ghostwriting, trickster, writers | 9 Comments

Book sale synchronicity

Posted on June 17, 2009 by Trish and Rob

Here’s an interesting and somewhat humorous synchronicity related to the sale of our book proposal on synchronicity.

Last week, an editor who heard that we had an offer decided to immediately pitch the book to the sales staff. She was very interested in it. In today’s publishing market, getting the support of the sales department is essential. Without it, there’s no book. At the meeting, she handed out the proposal or a shortened version of it, and started her pitch. She was very enthusiastic and hopeful that the other players would agree. Suddenly, the director of sales looked up and said: “Hey, I just signed a petition asking LucasFilm to re-instate Rob’s Indiana Jones novel.”

It turns out he is a long-time Indy fan and asked the editor to e-mail me for more details on the Indy book. He and others also had a couple of questions about the synchronicity proposal. We responded quickly on both counts, and soon our agent informed us that he’d gotten an offer. After some negotiating, we had a deal.

I’m not sure what role the Indy synchronicity played, but it certainly didn’t hurt.
Rob

Posted in books, publishing, writers | 8 Comments