The Fitzcarraldo

Posted on December 2, 2009 by Trish and Rob

In the late 1980s, we led tours for travel writers to the Peruvian Amazon and took  several trips up the river from Leticia, Columbia to Iquitos, Peru. The Rio Amazona was no QEII. However, as a former rubber-hauling vessel that had been refurbished for passengers, it had a wonderful open deck that provided fantastic views of the jungle.  Its sister ship was the craft that was used in Werner Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo, that starred Klaus Kinski.

The boat stopped frequently for side trips on wooden skiffs with our bilingual guides, most of whom were the sons of Riverenos – Amazonian fishermen. These young men understood the river, the jungle, its moods, risks, and beauty.

So one afternoon when the boat hit a sandbar, we saw concern on the faces of the crew members. It was too early in the dry season for the river to drop so low. The owner of the boat, an American who had lived in Peru for years, tried to play down the problem, assuring us that the crew would find a way to free the vessel.  But we could see he was apprehensive.

Meanwhile, below the deck, passengers were watching a video of Fitzcarraldo, which had begun before the boat hit the sandbar. We joined the others and were astonished that the scene showed our sister vessel
 stuck fast on a sandbar and the crew finally deciding to drag the ship through jungle to another branch of the river.We looked at each other, shocked not only by the synchronicity, but by how none of the other passengers seemed to connect the parallel worlds of the movie and our situation.

Fitzcarraldo had been chosen from two boxes of videos, but even if it had been the only movie on board, what were the odds that the scene of the boat stuck on a sandbar would be playing just as the same thing was happening to us?

When you connect with synchronicity, it’s as if your world holds an added richness and dimension that others apparently miss.

A short time after the movie ended, the crew managed to maneuver the boat into deeper water and we continued our trip. We commented that it was fortunate that we didn’t have to drag the boat, like in the celluloid version of events. “That was just a movie,” one of our fellow passengers remarked. True. But for us, it was more than that.
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We scanned this very old photo of several of us on the open deck of the Rio Amazonas. From left to right: Diane Cleaver, our former agent, Rob, Trish, a woman whose name we don’t recall, and Chris Cox, our editor. What’s especially eerie about this photo is that the people on either end are no longer with us. Chris died in 1990, and Diane died about four years later.



Posted in amazon, fitzcarraldo, movies, travel | 14 Comments

The Monster of Florence

Posted on December 1, 2009 by Trish and Rob

 

Peter Levenda explores the dark side of mankind in his books, such as Sinister Forces, and so it’s not surprising that his reading list would include The Monster of Florence. But for Peter, that book opened synchronicities connecting him with the co-author Douglas Preston.

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I have just finished reading The Monster of Florence, by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi.  It is an account of Preston’s investigation of Italy’s most famous serial murder case. I read a lot of serial killer non-fiction, and this seemed like an interesting addition.  The Monster has been killing and mutilating victims in Tuscany and primarily around Florence — a city I know well — since the 1960s and has never been caught.  But Preston’s book — written with the help of the most-informed Italian journalist on the case, Mario Spezi ,who is referred to as the “Monstrologer” — is equally about the corruption of the Italian judicial system which has allowed the Monster to escape justice to this day.  Okay.
                                            

   Today I was writing an email to a friend of mine about the book.  It was only after I had finished the book that I realized that Preston is the co-author, with Lincoln Childs, of a series of books about an occult detective named Pendergast.  I had been reading those novels in Indonesia last year, during Ramadan, as they were one of the few books I could find in English.   Okay, that was interesting, but …

I had just finished writing the email when I felt compelled to do a search on the Internet for some background information.  I found a blurb by Preston for a book by Whitley Streiber, Critical Mass, on the International Thriller Writers website. Now, I know Whitley and have been interviewed by him on a number of occasions, so that was eerie.  I didn’t know that Preston and Whitley knew each other, or were aware of each other’s work.

 
But what I especially did not realize was that the blurb from Preston appears on the site directly below a blurb for the same book … from me!
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Interestingly, when Peter reviewed Streiber’s new novel, it was called Midnight…and that’s somehow appropriate.

Posted in authors, books, Peter Levenda | 12 Comments

Global Synchronicities- Flight 1549

Posted on November 30, 2009 by Trish and Rob
 

  Global synchronicities are when the universe seems to be addressing us as a collective – as a people, a community, a nation, as citizens of the same planet.

 Given the eight years of George Bush’s controversial presidency, it was stunning to witness the way the universe spoke through synchronicity as Bush’s second term came to an end.

On January 15, 2009 at 8 PM, Bush gave his final speech to the nation. In  a presidency defined by the repercussions of planes slamming into the World Trade  Center, it was intriguing that just five hours earlier, U.S. Airways flight 1549 crashed into the Hudson River, a short distance from the tragic site of 9-11. Yet, the landing was near perfect, all 155 passengers survived.

The first rescue boat to reach the scene was named after Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, a staunch supporter of the separation between church and state, a man consistently ranked as one of the best presidents.

After eight years of flagrant abuse of power, a disastrous war of choice, torture, rendition flights, and the erosion of civil rights, it was as if the “miracle on the Hudson,” was the universe assuring us that we would come through it all intact. It’s no small irony that five days later, the day after Martin Luther King Day, the first black president was sworn into office.

Through mass events and the synchronicities so often associated with them, we’re witness to a deeper layer of existence similar to what quantum physicists speak of when they refer to everything in the universe being intimately connected. As Michael Talbot put it in The Holographic Universe, “Our brains mathematically construct objective reality by interpreting frequencies that are ultimately projections from a deeper order of existence that is beyond space and time – the brain is a hologram enfolded in a holographic universe.”
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As I was preparing this post, I  dropped by Elizabeth Avadon’s blog    and discovered a fascinating post about the salvage of Flight 1549 – in photos. Perfect synchronistic timing.Photographer Stephen Mallon’s exhibition of large scale photograghs, Brace for Impact, The Salvage of Flight 1549, was shown at Williamsburg, Brooklyn’s Front Room Gallery and will be at the Verge Art Fair in Miami from December 3-6.. Take a look at his site for the amazing photos. He kindly allowed us to use this photo.

Posted in global, hudson river, plane crash | 26 Comments

Astrological Synchronicity

Posted on November 29, 2009 by Trish and Rob

 We don’t receive too many synchronicities related to astrology, but Dale Dassell sent us a good one. It’s especially interesting, since it deals with a daily sun sign horoscope from a newspaper. These little ditties are very general, hardly specific to an individual, as a personalized horoscope would be. But this one hit it on the nose for Dale.
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This is so amazing that I had to share it. Yesterday, about halfway through the day, my brother and I were sitting at home playing the Nintendo Wii, when out of the blue I suggested that we go bowling that night. I love to bowl, and I haven’t bowled in months. Doug said he couldn’t go because he had to work late (from 6 p.m. to midnight), so I mentioned the idea to dad, and he said it depended on how mom felt when she got home from work. Well, mom also worked a late shift, arriving home at 6 p.m., and by that time it was dark and chilly outside. She said we could go bowling tomorrow (today), and I said it was cool. About 20 minutes ago, I flipped open the newspaper to do the Jumble puzzle, when I glanced over at my horoscope and read this:

Capricorn: Find ways to acceptably express physical exuberance. Organize a gang of friends for a night at the bowling alley or skating rink.
I nearly fell out of my chair. I had the idea to go bowling yesterday, with no possible way of knowing what this morning’s horoscope would say. Does that qualify as a synchronicity?
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Dale later added:

“As far as I can remember, this is the first daily horoscope that turned out to be accurate. I wasn’t sure whether or not it counted as a true synchronicity since I actually anticipated the notion the day before I read it in the newspaper. I hope it’s not a trend, because I would be terrified if I could predict the future on a regular basis!”

One note: Synchronicity isn’t only simultaneous occurrences of inner and outer events. Jung maintained that precognition, telepathy, clairvoyance and other forms of psychic phenomena were all aspects of synchronicity.

Posted in astrology, bowling, Capricorn | 6 Comments

Storm Surge

Posted on November 28, 2009 by Trish and Rob

 

We’ve talked before about the relationship between creativity and synchronicity. The Edgar Allan Poe story and the Titanic are two of the most astonishing.We’ve experienced our share of these weird synchronicities, where something we’re writing surfaces in real life.

On August 14, 1992, Trish mailed off a novel, Storm Surge, to her new editor at Hyperion. It revolved around a category five hurricane named Alphonso that slams into South Florida and flattens entire  neighborhoods.  On that same day, a tropical wave moved off the coast of Africa, one of many that roll away from that  continent during hurricane season. It had completely escaped Trish’s notice.

But ten days later, that wave had grown into one of the most powerful hurricanes on record., At one point, its winds were estimated to be in excess of 200 mph.Hurricane Andrew walloped Homestead, Florida, wiped it off the map, and obliterated entire neighborhoods.

The synchronicity is striking in several regards. In fiction and real life, both hurricanes were the first named storms of the season and began with an ‘A.’ They were category fives, and were tightly compacted storms that targeted only a small area. Again, an example where creativity provided a venue for a premonition, an

 aspect of synchronicity.

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One of the strangest synchronicities of this sort happened to writer Doug Moench, while he was writing the screenplay for one of the Planet of the Apes movies. This one is truly disturbing and is going to be part of a documentary film, Authors of the Impossible, that will “examine the paranormal and popular culture.” That story is here.

Posted in creativity, extreme weather, hurricanes | 11 Comments

Psychic detective speaks

Posted on November 27, 2009 by Trish and Rob

Yesterday, we posted about psychometry or psychic touch – which Carl Jung considered an aspect of synchronicity, like telepathy and precognition. We mentioned a psychometrist, Noreen Renier, who years ago was one the subjects of a book on psychic archaeology. She saw our post, probably through the help of that clever psychic computer called Google Alerts, and wrote us.

Subsequently, Ray Getzinger asked in a comment what a psychometrist sees when holding an object. So we asked Noreen and here’s her answer. The part about role-playing – the murderer or the victim – is interesting.

“As a psychometrist who works with both law enforcement officers and private individuals, it would depend on my clients needs how I use my mind.  On homicide cases, the detectives usually send me an object off the victim or something the murderer left behind.  They need specific information; what the person looked like that committed the crimes, where he lives, why, etc.  I definitely can tune into the individual and become the murder as well as the victim and sometimes its just me watching and sharing with the detectives what I see.

 Private clients want me to see into the future so its a different part of my mind I would be using.  For more information about how I work, please read my book, A Mind for Murder, or go to my website. Every psychic works different and developing your own style is important.
***
Noreen’s book cover looks a lot like one of my covers. There’s a synchronicity!
Rob

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Can Coincidence Change the Course of Your Life

Posted on November 27, 2009 by Trish and Rob

A recent article in The Times of India tackles a central question to synchronicity: can a coincidence change the course of your life? “Survivors of the 26/11 terror attacks have discovered it is so.”

The attacks referred to are those that took place in the heart of Mumbai India’s commercial district in November 2008. Machine gun fire and grenade assaults on  two five-star hotels, the city’s largest train station, a Jewish center, a movie theater and a hospital, killed nearly 200 and wounded more than 300. The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower Hotel and the luxurious Oberoi Hotel were in flames, with hostages taken in the Oberoi.

An artist whose exhibition was located near the Oberoi believes that coincidences saved her life that night. “My exhibition ended 45 minutes before the attack, and some friends from abroad wanted to go to the Oberoi.” Instead, they went to a bar in another area.

A British TV actor, Joey Jeefun, who is most famous for playing the role of a terrorist bomber, was a Leopold Cafe when the attacks started. “I was covered in other people’s blood. They thought I was dead.”

The England cricket team was supposed to check into the Taj the day before the attacks, but the 25-member troupe had a last minute change in schedule, which probably saved their lives.

Deepak Chopra, referred to in the article as a spiritual guru, believes “there is no such thing as a meaningless coincidence.”

The article can be found here.
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Synchronicity, once again! The escape of the cricket team is similar to a post we put up a while back about a church choir that escaped death.

Posted in coincidence, India, terror attacks | 6 Comments

Visions of Time

Posted on November 26, 2009 by Trish and Rob

I was re-writing a short section on our synchronicity book that deals with psychometry–psychic touch–when I remembered an old acquaintance from years ago who had a talent for reading objects. Noreen had once held my father’s watch, which I’d inherited but hadn’t worn, and described him and how he’d died. And she was surprisingly accurate.

One day she told me how she had caught the attention of an archaeologist who had tested her talents with several artifacts. He’d avoided telling her anything about the culture from which the stone objects had come. She was so accurate in describing the culture and time frame that he continued working with her and eventually wrote a book about psychic archaeology, featuring her and another psychic.

I tried to think of the name of that book and wondered if we still had a copy around here somewhere. Then I moved on to something else, forgetting about it. So a few hours later, I clicked a Google alert on synchronicity and read a blog post by Andrea de Michaelis about her trip to Cassadaga, the spiritualist village in Central Florida. That was odd because Trish and I at that very moment were talking about taking a friend to Cassadaga when she came for a visit from Kansas next month.

As I read the blog, I saw that Andrea had highlighted the name Albert Bowes, who she said she’d seen reading his mail on a park bench in Cassadaga. The name was vaguely familiar, so I clicked it. Albert is a psychic reader and on his web page he mentions that he worked with a university professor in a four-year research project that became a book called, Visions of Time. As soon as I clicked the book title and saw the cover, I recognized it as the book I was thinking about earlier. Albert Bowes and Noreen Renier were the two subjects for the research.

As Andrea says on her blog post:  “…I knew I was in the flow, and when I’m in the flow, life is a synchronistic dance.” Very true!

Happy Thanksgiving, Americanos!

Posted in authors, psychics, psychometry | 10 Comments

Wily Coyote

Posted on November 25, 2009 by Trish and Rob

Jim Banzholder brought this story to our attention. It’s about a coyote that survived impossible odds. And since animals as oracles fall under the definition of synchronicity, we’re including it here.

One of the esoteric meanings about coyote is that he represents the trickster. So it’s definitely synchronistic that Jim’s email arrived just as we were rewriting our chapter on the trickster.
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On October 12, Daniel and Tevyn East were driving at night along Interstate 80 near the Nevada-Utah border when they noticed a pack of coyotes near the roadside. They were moving at about 75 miles an hour when  one of the animals ran in front of the car. The impact sounded fatal so the siblings thought there no point in stopping. 

“Right off the bat, we knew it was bad,” Daniel explained. ‘We thought the story was over.” After the incident around 1am, they continued their 600 mile drive to North San Juan – even stopping for fuel at least twice. But it was only when they finally reached their destination at 9am did they take time to examine what damage they may have sustained. 

Eight hours, two fuel stops, and 600 miles later they found the wild animal embedded in their front fender – and very much alive.

“At first it looked as though it was going to be quite gruesome. “Daniel saw fur and the body inside the grill,” Tevyn East said. “I was trying to keep some distance. Our assumption was it was part of the coyote – it didn’t register it was the whole animal.”

Daniel East got a broom to try and pry the remains out of the bumper and got the shock of his life. “It flinched,” Tevyn said. ‘It was a huge surprise – he got a little freaked out.” 

 Rescuers took apart the front fender to save the coyote. 

And the top picture is of the coyote after his rescue.


The trickster wins again!

The deeper message for the brother and sister  – and for us, since we share the planet with these creatures – may be that our answers lie in our spiritual beliefs and practices. 












 

Posted in animals as oracles, coyote | 18 Comments

The Emerald Tablet

Posted on November 24, 2009 by Trish and Rob
The Emerald Tablet was said to be a mysterious stone or green crystal (moldavite?) on which a coded spiritual formula was written in bas relief. Supposedly, Alexander the Great came into possession of the Emerald Tablet in Egypt in 331 B.C. It was already ancient at that time, going back three millennium. By 400 A.D. it was reportedly buried , possibly on the Giza Plateau, to protect it from religious zealots who were burning libraries and from patriarchs who condemned the Tablet’s universal formula for personal transformation and collective evolution. But the wisdom of the Tablet became the basis for Hermetic sciences and philosophy—alchemy, astrology, and theurgy.

In The Emerald Tablet: Alchemy for Personal Transformation, Dennis William Hauck writes: “The Hermetic tradition emphasized the existence of a supreme force called the One Thing, which has no perceptible form until it is ‘grounded’ or expressed in material reality…The Hermeticists saw the One Thing as a primordial, plastic energy that takes the form of the idea or thought projected by the One Mind.” They believed that calming the mind and focusing our intention through meditation, prayer, and invocation allows us to consciously communicate with and influence this force. The Hermeticists’ ultimate goal was to achieve divine consciousness.
The Emerald Tablet was the precursor to the Corpus Hermeticum, which was based on a number of ancient manuscripts. The Corpus was the Harry Potter book of its day, widely circulated in the second and third centuries and influenced the civilizations of Egypt, Greece, Rome, India, Persia, and eventually Europe. Hermetic principles and passages were also quietly integrated into many major religions and belief systems, including Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Paganism, and Christianity. Portions of the Gospel of John resemble some of the Hermetic writings. Ie. “In the beginning was Thoth, and Thoth was in Atum, and Thoth was Atum in the unfathomable reaches of primordial space.”
The Corpus also recognizes karma and reincarnation: “O son, how many bodies we have to pass through, how many bands of demons, through how many series of repetitions and cycles of the stars, before we hasten to the One alone?”
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There are seven principles to Hermetic philosophy, which is derived from the Emerald Tablet and other sources. Here’s the first one:

Mentalism. Everything that exists in the reality that underlies all manifestation, known as the universe of matter and energy, is spirit in the form of an infinite living mind. The All is Mind; in other words, the totality of the universe is consciousness.

Books, such as Science and the Akashic Field, by Ervin Laszlo, are documenting a wide range of scientific studies that suggest the notion that the universe is underpinned by a subtle fundamental field that connects all things with all other things. Laszlo writes: “At the roots of reality there is an interconnecting, information-conserving, and information-conveying cosmic field.”

And therein lies synchronicity.


Posted in emerald tablet, hermetics | 9 Comments