Archive for ‘Synchronicities from readers writing in’

Datura, dream, and desperados

February 15th, 2012

This reader’s post can be found under my post A Beginning Descriptor, which I wrote when alerted by RA that her friend J had experienced a strange intersection between dream and reality.  Both take place in a small South American town.  Here is J’s story:

 

I will attempt to describe the ¨dream¨referred to in the above posting. I fell asleep with an apricot-hued Datura flower on my pillow, breathing in the blossom´s delicate perfume. A very clear and unornamented dream ensued. 

 

In my dream, a father and son were traveling through a desolate landscape. The scene was a dark night in a desert town. The father was some kind of gambling desperado. The son was there to steer him clear of danger. They received word that they must prepare because the town was to be under siege. A gang was poised to enter the town and create havoc. The macho father wanted to take them on, but the son prevailed. And they took refuge in an upstairs hotel room.

 

I was awakened out of the dream by three loud knocks on the door of our lodging. My partner leapt out of bed to investigate. He found no one there, and looking out of the open screen-covered windows, could see no movement or evidence of anyone in the shadows. He returned to bed and as we were pondering the significance of the knocks, we heard a gunshot fired from very close by. We waited for some movement or explanation. In the next moment, a series of five gunshots were fired, also very close. Afterwards there were no sounds or explanations. We went back to sleep, hoping that the morning would resolve the mystery.

 

In the morning we learned that the town we were staying in had indeed been under siege with robberies, assaults, and attempted highway roadblock assualts.

 

We never learned the significance of the three knocks that woke us.

 

Comment by Lindberg:  This is an amazing situation.  The dreamer dreams of an assault on a town, is awakened by mysterious knocks, sees nothing, but later learns that the town they were staying in was under assaults.  Who knocked?  What was the nature of the assault dream?  Did it act as a synchronous vision of something that was happening simultaneously?  Were both dreams or were both realities?

 

This post will act as my intention to learn more about the phenomenom of dreams that exist simultaneously with a dramatic reality situation.  It’s not a prefigurative or predictive dream.  The assault dream happens at the same time as the assault on the town.

 

If other readers have similar dream-reality situation, please write and tell us, or feel free to comment on this dual dream-reality synchronicity.

 

I am wondering if Jung and other depth psychologists have an opinion.

 

 

 

 

 

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An interception…beginning descriptor

February 8th, 2012

This is the beginning of a synchronicity reported recently from South America.  It is from R who is relating it about her friend J.  J is now traveling in Spain and may not have internet access to write it herself.   This is an edited excerpt from an email.

From R:
I have daily been reading, working on  a new graphic piece, practicing and playing violin.  i met with a local medicine herbalist for my cough,  and he gave me an array of plants that I have been using medicinally, drinking, inhaling, and pouring them on myself in the local tradition.   I am also enhaling sea water and running every morning….trying for a complete effect, to concentrate on healing this persistent cough during this month when I don’t have too many responsibilities.   It seems better.
What is strange is that recently I have had this feeling of ‘falling in love’ with the plants that interact with humans, in my own garden.  Before, my feeling was that gardening was aesthetic, a kind of ornamentation, a love of color and design.  Now, this has suddenly changed about a month ago.  I began to feel this new, different relationship emerge.
Here is a veiled reference to the dramatic synchronicity:  I gave a Datura flower (growing in my garden) to our guest, J, to put at her bedside last weekend.  I said to her, randomly, without much thought, ‘See what happens tonight.’  That night she had a dream that intercepted with the physical world precognitively and synchronistically.  The dream occurred at the same time as some spectacular events occurred here, namely 5 robberies, assaults, and attempted petty robberies all at the same moment during the time of her dream.   I asked her to write into your blog all the details as this was so impressive.
If she doesn’t do it soon I will write this in, as all of us are still trying to understand what happened.
By the way, none of us were robbed and we are totally happy and OK, just livin’ the life here.
Editor’s note:  My expectation, hope, and intention is that by writing a teaser post on the above synchronicity, the author J or her friend R will want, or feel called upon, to describe the details of the dream herself in a future posting.


 

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Orange continues to be hot

October 2nd, 2011

 

I’m noticing that when my blog on synchronicities is first discovered, often the initial comment has to do with orange.   Orange and the transition from orange to green have been written about in my early blog posts–as I noticed the luminosity of orange over time–and it continues to fascinate new readers.  I am not entirely sure why, but it happens enough so that I might call references to orange an ongoing synchronicity.  Others who are new seem to resonate to this color.  Perhaps orange is comforting, flexible, or in tune with themselves in some way.    A colleague in qualitative research said that she read all the posts on orange.  So did another, who said she felt as if she was in an orange state of mind over the past few months.  A new reader on Twitter talks about living in the State of Orange and feeling centered.  So, I dedicate this post to orange.  Again, orange…here are a series of new photographs and commentary on this archetypal color.

 

This photo is from the current exhibition at MOMA/Museum of Modern Art, called Talk to Me; it features the interaction between objects and communication, a new iteration on art in the digital age.

 

 

 

 

Orange represents the spirit of divine joy, emotional connections, deep and important relationships, the spiritual path, and the journey from material to higher levels of transcendance.

 

Orange is a color of the second chakra on development of autonomy and one’s style of the primary formation of relationships.   The sense of self-worthy, judgment, and gender identification is part of the original second chakra phase of childhood, i.e., the toddler time.  However, appearance of or interest in orange in adult life may herald the reworking of some of these choices made early in life.    When there are transitions afoot that cause grief, sorrow, or new way of being, orange comes into play as a signal of deepening one’s spiritual understanding through changes or alienation from how life once was.  Orange can be desperation reviewed and reseen in the new light of alchemical transformation.

 

Frieda Kahlo was the Mexican artist who studied herself and her feelings through multiple self-portraits.  Below is one that called to me from the MOMA permanent collection in NYC.

 

 

 

 

Orange is the power of the collective consciousness.  I am reminded of John Lennon’s philosophy, a quote on which I hung as a sign at a recent consciousness party that emphasized the music and mantras for breaking of obstacles and granting of wishes (Ganesh Chaturthi celebration):  ”A dream you dream alone is only a dream.  A dream you dream together is reality!

 

 

Orange represents the attributes of adaptability, flexibility, processing information at the speed of light, intelligence, the ability to quickly take advantage of an opportunity, a mirroring of the truth of inner thoughts, strength over matter, curiosity, flitting from idea to idea, humor, and vitality.

 

Below, a surrealist painting by, I think, Max Ernst or Yves Tanguay, created in the 1930s.  It is from MOMA’s permanent collection.

 

Linked with the earth element, orange lets us feel compassion for all, able to hold space and listen to others express themselves, and honor all life while we honor ourselves.   Above is The Hierophant or Guide, i.e., the Tarot card that represents Taurus, fixed earth.  Like the Autumn time that teaches us that winter is coming and to store up the harvest for the time of silence and cold, this is the teacher, the one who guides us in sacred ways, the archetype of counsellor, and the initiator into new levels of understanding.

 

 

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Besieged by spam

September 17th, 2011

 

What ideas do good readers have to help me remove and prevent spam and inappropriate backlinks from my (or your) blogs?

 

Spam and backlink reactions are a daily deluge.   If I don’t log on or post daily, I might have 800 spam entries, which is tiresome to wade through to move to trash or spam.

 

Spam and backlinks clutter up a good blog and prevent other readers from sending in important posts to the subject of synchronicities, research, ethnography, and archetypes.

 

 

 

 

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Are synchronicities useful?

August 20th, 2011

 

A reader–RA–writes on the topic of whether synchronicities are useful…or just enlightening, filled with wonderment, or only meaningful in terms of life experiences.  Of course, enlightenment, wonder, and meaning can be satisfying enough in my book, but adding in usefulness to synchronicity seems an extra-special dimension.

 

Here is RA’s story of an extremely useful occurrence from several weeks ago:

 

“We are working on our restoration of a historic house (in a large city in SA).  G needs thirty-five 7-meter -long beams for the exposed beam structure of a studio within the housing structures.  G has been thinking about this for some days because 7-meter beams are very hard to find. He goes to a hardware store, is waiting in line, and overhears an architect talking about thirty-five 7 meter beams that he is buying for his own work site.  After the architect hangs up, G tells him that– unbelievably–he is looking for this exact same item in the exact same quantity.

 

“As a result, the architect gives him the cell number where he can buy these beams, and G has been talking with the supplier to see if the purchase is feasible.

 

“Usually I note that synchronistic events are oddities that can stop you in wonder, but not necessarily useful in themselves in helping one along or making life easier. Except in this case.”

 

Another reader–P–lets me know this morning of a new association related to the color orange.  P writes:

 

“By the way, I read your blog about orange — recently a friend of mine, who is an interior designer in Sarasota, mentioned that he loves orange because it is known as the ‘Qualifier.’

 

“That meant, he told me, that orange goes perfectly with any other color.
“I didn’t believe him at first, but try it — it really does!”

 

Dear readers, please write in to post your own stories of useful synchronistic events and information.

 

 

 

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No smoking in bed….China unexpected

August 20th, 2011

 

This afternoon, P–a marketing colleague whom I haven’t worked with in a while, who lives in Sarasota, FL where he writes a humor column among other ventures–emailed me out of the blue…a strange photo of a no-smoking sign from a Chinese–or Japanese–hotel.  P was taken with it, called it a “classic,” as my readers might feel about it as well.

 

 

The odd thing is that I had this very sign in my Chinese hotel room where I was staying on a global research trip in Shanghai or Shenzhen, China.   The sign was white and red, prominently in my hotel room, and afixed to my headrest. I noticed it because it was unusual, restrictive, and intrusive in its command not to smoke in bed.  I wondered if anyone in the hotel, furniture, or guests had perished from fire while smoking in bed, so management had to make the prohibition really obvious.

 

These characters are supposed to be Japanese, but the exact same sign with Chinese characters with the same English translation of “please refrain from smoking in bed sign” was in my very own Chinese hotel just two weeks ago.  I have just returned from this trip–10 days ago–P did not know I had gone, and I never told anyone else about the sign while staying in my hotel room.

 

P wondered why I didn’t take it with me.  First, it was affixed to the bed.  Second, as I wrote back, “had I slipped everything that was strange about Shanghai or Shenzhen into my luggage, I would still be trying to get through customs or dragging an extra-heavy roller bag up one of the nonfunctioning escalators while leaving mainland China to get into Hong Kong.”

 

This week and next, I am thinking a lot about China while writing up qualitative research findings from the global research….strange.

 

I am curious:  Why did P suddenly send me the photo of the sign?  Why am I being reminded of this memory?

 

 

 

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Meaning of orange at the Taj Mahal

July 29th, 2011

About a month ago, I started to experience the color orange in a numinous, emphatic way that caused me to write about orange experiences, visuals, and to photograph examples of orange from New York City in several posts throughout June and May 2011.  These were “The Synchronicity of Orange I” and “II.”   The subject of orange touched several readers who discussed their own attraction to orange at key points in their lives.

 

I am now beginning to gain more understanding about why orange had this pull, made an impression on me.   I am now writing this post from India during a month-long global research trip.  Three days ago on a free day, I visited the Taj Mahal.

 

Inside the tomb where the queen is buried are walls covered with Arabic designs of inlaid precious stones of lapis blue, malachite green, jasper gold, mother of pearl silver, and carnelian orange, all placed with magnificent care into the Indian white marble by craftsman of the Emperor during the 16th century who created the Taj to commemorate his love for his deceased wife.  A guide shows me with his flashlight, inside the darkened central tomb area, one of the inlaid pieces of carnelian, which glow under the flashlight’s focus.  He explains that it is the only precious stone that glows orange in the dark and is found originally within this inlay inside the Taj Mahal.  The Taj Mahal’s architectural and design elements represent a variety of spiritual, artistic, and religious symbols and metaphors.  In the case of the glowing-orange carnelian, orange is said to represent the clarity of the Soul.  It is used throughout the great tomb, subtly.

 

 

 

 

 

As I realize the meaning of this synchronicity, I notice around me women in dramatic orange saris.

 

Leaving the Taj Mahal, there is another orange moment; while viewing the halls where servants of the Emperor once lived, this portico is said to be constructed in perfect symmetry, all with orange masonry.

 

A new insight…my interest in orange starting two months ago–which seemed mysterious to me at the time–evolves into a synchronistic precedent to the orange carnelian inlay and the depth of spiritual exploration I experienced at the Taj Mahal just three days ago.  Essentially, numinous orange in New York City presaged spiritual symbols of orange in India at the Taj Mahal, which built in meaning as the color unfolded to my vision over time.

 

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Orange and green via readers

July 4th, 2011

K posted recently about personal color preferences in response to my Synchronicity of Orange post.

 

K says that….”Orange is my # 1 color…my second-favorite is green. I hope you find your emerald, or that it finds you”

 

Another reader, P, writes about orange and its symbolism to her.  P says that since our correspondences on the semiotics of orange, she’s been thinking about orange.

 

“When I provide respondents with a 14-color paint chip deck, they usually choose orange to signal danger or a warning that is less severe than red.  Maybe that’s because they’re usually talking about their disease state. If they’re thinking happy, they typically choose sunny yellow, rosy rose, or sky blue.

 

“I don’t feel that way about orange personally, since for me… it’s thoughtful happiness

 

“I was on your blog late last night and, strangely, I have been feeling orange (as in thoughtfully happy) for a long time.  Renovating a condo, having my last daughter marry last week in a very different but wonderful three-day wedding event, looking forward to the change in my life once we move in, suddenly getting a rush of business.  These make me orange.   Strangely of the 20 tee-shirts I have from Chicos, more than 5 of them are orange and I’ve been wearing them constantly for weeks.

 

“Did you find your emerald? I felt your loss so keenly.”

 

To describe more about orange and its symbolism, orange is said to be energy one step removed from its primal source red. Orange gives an impression of warmth and gladness, the color of the harvest moon, autumn leaves, and pumpkins.   Goethe in 1840 said orange is the hue of the intense glow of fire and of the milder radiance of the setting sun.   Orange is fire within rightful boundaries.  It is associated with deepening one’s spiritual understanding through misfortune and alienation.  It is sometimes a symbol for the outcast.  The Buddha and Buddhist monks wear orange robes to signify renunciation.  Orange chosen for a painting or in sketches may imply energetic striving, gaining one’s identity, and assertiveness.  Orange symbolizes power.   Lack of orange may indicate discomfort with personal power.

 

 

And, in line with the comment from K who loves green as her #2 color…there has been a shift from orange to green.  This change from orange to green has occurred, for me, in close association with the recovery-purchase of my lost green emerald.   The green of a jewel like emerald is returning.  A new day of dawning is being experienced, periodically, with this glowing feeling of green that I see everywhere.

 

Green…ahhh, green.   Green is nature.  Concrete reality.   The direction of the South.  Trust.  Knowing one’s heart.  A seeker who has embraced the path toward enlightenment.   Jung sees green in artwork as sensation.  Love of beauty and love.  The goddess Venus.   Capricious forces of nature like fairies and elves.  A new capacity for nurturing.  The presence of the divine in one’s career.   The helping profession.  A longing for greater space.   Healing.  The power of life to create and renew.

 

 

 

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Jewelry loss as synchronous events

June 14th, 2011

 

A reader writes in on Friday, July 10, about a lost-jewelry-related situation.  RA’s words:

 

“This is not exactly a synchronicity but you decide–

Last night I was walking down a city street, having come out of a restaurant. I suddenly decide to feel the long chain around my neck that holds a very old tiny antique Buddha. The chain has opened up and the whole thing is falling off my neck! I am surprised and grateful that it is not lost. I put it safely away. I look down on the street which I am now crossing. There is a small round gold piece of jewelry in the road, with an orb of tiny topazes. My feeling is that I have almost lost something very precious to me, and then at the moment of retrieving and averting this small disaster, find a piece of jewelry that will be sorely missed by someone else.”

 

Two days after I receive this email, on Sunday afternoon, June 12, I lose one of my favorite earrings–an emerald stud.  I discover the backing and then, with horror and pain, that the emerald stud is gone.  Since the backing is in my apartment foyer, the emerald is somewhere between my foyer, the apartment halls, the many staircases (the elevator was not working that Sunday), the sidewalks of New York City heading into a subway station where I took a C train downtown to 23rd Street about 2:45 p.m.  I assume this is when the emerald fell off my ear.

 

I look and look and look.  These emerald studs are very important to me, a gift to myself after a major event last year in celebration of freedom, choice, and a new life.

 

I am distraught all Sunday into Monday.  I sorely miss this emerald.  As of today during this writing, it has not been found, despite more searching, alerting the doormen, residents, and cleaning people to its possible whereabouts.

 

Such a loss I would not have reported in this blog, but it feels like what is called negative synchronicity; my lost-emerald event has been preceded by a reader’s almost-jewelry-loss posting.

 

I continue to look the next day, wondering if my earring could ever be found.   Early Monday, as I am staring at the ground for the emerald post perhaps outside the laundry of the building, I speak with a Spanish woman who reports something interesting:  On Sunday afternoon on Spanish TV Channel 41, she heard the amazing tale of a lost ring found.  A man had lost his ring, down a toilet, 72 years prior, and yesterday on Sunday afternoon while having his plumbing fixed, the ring reappeared… 72 years later.  She noticed it for its strange positivity, a small item on Spanish news.

 

Lost and found.  Lost, not yet found.  Losing and hoping to find.  Rare and beautiful emerald.  Jewelry that disappears from one’s ear or almost in the case of RA’s neck.  I continue to be sad and sorely miss the emerald.   I wear the other emerald in my ear and my other ear feels the absence.   Could this be negative synchronicity?  Is there such a thing?  Will my story have a happy ending, like RA’s catch of the jewelry clasp before the necklace fell off?  What meaning could transcends this loss?

 

 

Posted in Synchronicities from readers writing in, Synchronicity | 2 Comments »

Origin of synchronicities?

June 12th, 2011

 

The debate is on.

 

A reader, G, has recently written into Secrets and synchronicities to indicate that he feels strongly that synchronicities are self-generated, albeit amazing, based upon his 50 years of research (see posting from Gibbons).   I invite you to read his book called Demystifying Meaningful Coincidences (Synchronicities): The Evolving Self, The Personal Unconscious, and The Creative Process, available from Amazon.

 

Jung’s original research, his long-in-development theories, his hallmark book Synchronicity written near the end of his life, and his psychoanalytic experiences in which coincidence plays a tangible role in the healing, revelation, breakthrough, and renewal of his patients’ mental health during therapy…seem to pose a broader underlying forcefield.  Jung hypothesizes synchronicity as having a connection with the vastly powerful but invisible, legendary archetypes that illustrate, inform, and evolve through the stages of the Self in its journey toward ultimate integration.

 

Other readers don’t know where synchronicity comes from, but enjoy the appearance of these coincidences that seem to increase the more one writes or intends to observe them.   Wherever they’re from, meaningful coincidences can startle us into new thinking and often change the course of our lives in tiny or huge ways.

 

Yet others feel they’re divinely inspired, channeled by a divine force, or must be generated from a special guardian spirit/guide, or deific force–akin to God/dess/god–whose messages can be read, interpreted, and used as active personal or professional guidance.

 

What do you think?

 

I invite commentary and opinions from my readers.  1)  What are the synchronicities you’d like to describe?  Please feel to write them into the posts available after each article.   2)  What do you feel are the origins of synchronicities, those meaningful coincidences that are rare, numinous, and surprise the mind into a new way of thinking, believing, or doing?

 

All comments are carefully moderated before being approved for posting.

 

No spam or backlinks please…they’re a waste of my and your time, and will be deleted no matter how complimentary.

 

 

 

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