June 4th, 2011
Today is Saturday, June 4. I am in New York City in mid-town, and with a little time to play, I am using an imaging technique developed by Dr. Win Wenger of The Renaissance Project–his organization is devoted to accelerated learning and problem solving–called 50 Observations. Win suggests that to increase intelligence exponentially, it is valuable to note and then write down 50 observations of events, situations, visuals, or things noticed….without interpreting them, in a given day. He suggests doing 50 observations regularly, daily, but I just remembered this technique today.
For my blog emphasizing a self-experiment combining intent, synchronicity, with observation, I shall see if any of the 50 arbitrary, interesting observations are seen again… a second, third, or synchronous time.
In ethnographic work when I and a client team are spending time observing a household filled with images, icons, objects, and events of a chaotic or unknown nature, it is worthwhile simply to record what one is seeing without editorializing or interpreting until later when the patterns repeating in other households begin to make sense.
I offer a partial listing of the 50 observations here:
- Arranging pink roses in a vase
- A license plate, Rose 16
- Taking a photo of red-pink roses
- 3 homeless people with American imagery on T-shirts or holding a flag, arguing
- A man putting suntan lotion on the back of a woman
- A heavy man with long hair videoing a ship. His T-shirt says Orleans 10
- CircleLine X boat
- A W or upside-down M on the top of a tall building, probably the W Hotel but it looks like the W or upside down M on the Rider-Waite-Smith Ace of Cups
- $29 as part of a sign for Manhattan Mini-Storage
- Building number 601 on 10th Avenue
- Pet store sign with open-eyed cat
- Listening to Enya’s Orinoco River, on iTunes
- License plate BOTS
- A dear friend shares a diagnosis of cancer by email
- 8 fishing lines next to the Hudson River from an organization called Big City Fishing
- Two African Americans, a male-female couple, strolling on the pier. The man has a gold chain; the female has gold earrings and gold bracelets; both people’s jewelry are bright. They pass me twice. The second time walking by me, I realize it is the man who has the gold chain; I had thought on the first time that it was the female
- A lot of blue and yellow
- An airplane in the sky with a banner streaming behind, twice. The first time the banner is unreadable
- The airplane in the sky goes by again, with the same banner; this time I see it is The Glades. I do not know what The Glades is
- A billboard for the movie Super8 by Steven Spielberg
- Reading an article about a new Tarot deck. The interview is edited below. You can read the entire interview, by Rachel Pollack and Ellen, creator of The Minoan Deck, on today’s Mary Greer Tarot Blog.
- Cutting off yellowed leaves at the bottom of my moonflower vine on my apartment balcony
- Writing to RA to ask her to send pictures of koi fish, so I can post on my Secrets and Synchronicity blog
- Receiving a picture of the baby Mirae laughing, from S and T
- A photo of a sculpture of the Roman legend, Romulus and Remus, twins suckled by a wolf, who founded Rome. I’m realizing that already a Cretan-Greek theme has already spontaneously or synchronistically emerged. The Minoan Tarot deck of observation #22 and the Greek legend of R & R in this #26 observation.
Interview with Ellen, creator of Minan Tarot Deck featured at the Omega weekend on Tarot upcoming in July 2011 in Rhinebeck, NY. “Tarot is more of a power than an artifact…a power that is generative and fundamental for the artist, reader and mystic…a power that is alive…a realm that deepens…card images are like keys in a hall of doors.
“Sometimes mythic beings literally come alive in the cards…a reading where I feel a deep and powerful voice speaking…characteristics that…give a voice a name, and through a name, a form and a story.
“You can get good advice…through understanding their story and recognizing where it touches your own…how they would handle your situation, information which can help you create or avert the outcome suggested by the card.