Carl Jung coined the word “synchronicity” or meaningful coincidence. He was intrigued by the mechanism behind divination systems such as the I Ching, Tarot, and even astrology, that caused them to work. Today there are dozens of card decks and divination systems that people use for instant answers, and they all work. I pull an Angel Card each morning to see what the theme of my day will be. In some manner, every day, the card is right. Yesterday, for example, I pulled the card Responsibility, and yesterday Jim and I drove to Steamboat Springs to deliver pottery—our responsibility; our livelihood. According to Jung, divination systems give us a “snapshot” of where we are, and can also tell us where we are going to be in the future.
Jung wrote an entire book on synchronicity, which I have not read. But I’ve read the “Cliff Notes” version in Jung, A Journey of Transformation: Exploring His Life and Experiencing His Ideas by Vivanne Crowley. On page 151, Crowley explains that Jung came to believe that future events could be read from the “patterns of the present.” His studies with famous quantum physicists, including Einstein, led him to understand that time is not linear. Crowly says, “Time, space and events coexist in a way that is beyond the normal understanding of our ordinary senses.”
Jung’s friendship with Richard Wilhelm, a renowned scholar of Chinese religion and philosophy helped him understand the 5,000 year old divination system of the “I Ching,” based on Taoist thought. A person with a specific question, can cast coins to obtain a “hexagram.” The questioner looks up the meaning of the hexagram and finds guidance about how to handle the situation. Two versions of the I Ching that I have used are The I Ching Workbook by R.L. Wing and The I Ching for Writers: Finding the Page Inside You, by Sarah Jane Sloane. These are both available on Amazon.
Synchronicity is the “meaningful coincidence” that happens when the individual is given the answer through divination methods,” which may appear to an individual as if God/Spirit/The Universe already knows the question and provides the answer before the person even asks.
I’m always on the lookout for synchronicities and signs. Two happened last week related to my desire to travel and my hesitation to travel by air. I’ll tell you about each of them.
Because I’ve published my book and need to promote it, and because I would like to do some overdue visiting, I’ve thought about flying East to see friends and relatives. However, after 9/11, I decided not go anywhere I couldn’t drive. From what I’ve heard, air travel is no longer fun. In fact, some people tell me it’s downright miserable. A person must make her own airline reservations, arrive at the airport three hours prior to departure, stand in long security lines, check in at a warm, fuzzy kiosk, carry on a heavy bag or pay to check it, and so on. I need to overcome this aversion to flying and get back in the air.
Last week, with perfect synchronistic timing, my friend Char Tyler from California showed up on my doorstep. She visits once a year. She makes the pilgrimage in conjunction with her personal annual Denver business. Normally, we spend two leisurely days making jewelry and soaking in the hot springs. This time the visit was shorter. I took her with me on my in-town errands, and the following morning, she gave me a crash course (maybe the better word would be “seminar”) in Travel 2010—everything I needed to allay my fears and create an I-Can-Do-This-attitude.
For starters, she uses Expedia.com for all her travel arrangements. There are other travel services out there, but she likes Expedia best. She showed me how to find affordable room and airline reservations. I created a fictitious itinerary–one that I might even use–to Baltimore to see the American Visionary Art Museum. I would fly into BWI, reserve a room at one of the airport hotels for under $100 (Yay, Expedia), take a taxi to the museum, visit a friend in Annapolis, and return to the hotel for the night. That is just the first leg of a journey that would also take me to Silver Spring, Maryland, to visit my cousin, DeDe, and then on to Kingsport, Tennessee, where I would present the library with a copy of my book. It’s a dream trip. It might be a real trip if I can pull all the pieces together.
Next, she showed me how to pack. Char travels for an entire week with her clothing and necessities tucked into one little carry-on-sized bag, which she GAVE me. The bag is now mine, with all of Char’s good travel energy imbued in it. She bought a new one from the Samsonite store in Dillon. Her old one will get me started. Not much wrong with it. I’ll just need to buy a strap for it and some day-glow wrappers for the handles. Here’s my new travel carry-on. Thanks, Char! (Picture)
When she left at 11:30, last Thursday, I started planning two trips in my head. One might be a trial run to a single destination, with a friend for moral support. The second would be the Big Kahuna—the three-part odyssey to Baltimore-Silver Spring-Kingsport. In one of my past lives I worked for Outward Bound. This Baltimore trip is the equivalent of Final Expedition on an Outward Bound course.
The first synchronicity was Char’s timely visit and her generous travel assistance. The second synchronicity—the affirming sign. The day following Char’s departure, I was walking the circle road where I live and spotted this beautiful 4 ½ inch feather. What kind of feather might this be? The big birds that fly overhead around here are Canadian geese, eagles, owls, and hawks. This feather is from a large bird. It’s a lovely pin feather. For me, it’s a clear sign, and the message is Flight. Synchronicities and signs make their presence known in ways that the receiver will understand. I’m a nature lover, and so it was fitting I’d receive a feather as a sign. My primary totem animal is an eagle. I’m comforted that somebody up there agrees that I’m ready to leave the nest.
Are you guided by synchronicity? If not, then, you might enjoy reading Mary Soliel’s book: I Can See Clearly Now: How Synchronicity Illuminates our Lives.
Dear Maria,
I enjoyed reading your blog. Could you tell me the basic contents that Char packs, and does she roll the clothing or pack it flat? Thanks.
Love,
Debby
Funny you should ask, Debby. She buys shrink-wrap bags from a travel store. Then she puts all her clothing into two of those (not jeans and slacks) and presses the air out. She packs those flat. I took pictures of that process. The result is that the clothing squishes down to a flat, airless pancake about 1/6th the original thickness. When she came to Colorado, she was flying with 2 carry-on sized bags. One contained all her business materials–because this bag was full of paperwork she could not afford to lose under any circumstance. She checked the carry-on with clothing in it. If she’s not traveling with a lot of paperwork, she travels with one carry-on. That’s it.
I have traveled for years, including a trip to Europe for 2 weeks last summer, with nothing more than the two allowed carry-on pieces. I do not trust airlines to not lose my luggage. The ultimate – insult – you pay for a checked piece of luggage and then they lose it.
I love your synchronicity post and will look into some of the books you mentioned. I do believe in synchronicity – there are no accidents.
Great good luck on your travel adventures. 🙂
Lindy
Hi Lindy,
Your experiences hearten me!
Maria