Synchronicity

There's something about the library which has connected me to many synchronicities.  I can remember at least 3 distinct book-related synchronicities in the last year in which the books I pick up at random tell me something meaningful...they leave me feeling like I've been led to them for a specific reason.  And it makes sense--if there is a force which can speak to us through synchronicity, why not use the words and stories in books to do it?  Why resort to tarot cards, geomancy, ifa, or the i ching which require intense study to comprehend and then only give general symbolic indications? The thing about books is that they are long--how does a force of guidance make sure that the message is found and properly interpreted?  One thing I experienced was finding the same phrase in multiple books which I'd happened to be reading concurrently--and then hearing the phrase repeated by someone important at the same time.  Also, I would pick up a book at random and...

In "The Daily Coyote," Shreve Stockton describes her experience moving to Wyoming and being handed a baby coyote to care for.  My favorite part of the book is that she is  honest about her struggle to become the alpha after the coyote, Charlie, begins to attack her.  But I also liked that she described a few major syncronicities which she experienced.   One synchronicity which she described was that on the anniversary of her boyfriend's daughter's death (I think 9 years after her death) she went out for a hike and experienced an exhilarating freedom which she imagined his daughter had also felt at the moment of her death.  Then she looked up and saw 15 vultures circling a hill, which she later discovered was the location where his daughter had perished in an ATV accident.  The vultures disappeared as suddenly as they'd come and Shreve and her coyote were unable to find any carcass which may have drawn them to the area.  Shreve described ...

One thing that has come into my life in the last year and a half is spirituality.  Growing up I was very religious.  I aspired to be as sin-free as the Virgin Mary.  I knew all of the stories from the Bible.  I went to Catholic school and church most Sundays.  But I'm not really sure I ever had much first-hand experience with unseen powers, though I desperately wanted God to speak to me.  I was superstitious until sometime in college when I let science fill all the voids, and believed that there was no mystery in the world that science couldn't solve.  Maybe I misinterpreted the nature of science, but I allowed myself to become cold and hard and boring.  I didn't believe in magic anymore. The loss of the belief in magic was tragic.  I thought it was just about growing up--like when you find out Santa isn't real.  I also decided that God wasn't real, an invention to end the fear in death or to control others. But then, synchronic...

Elizabeth Collins, 9, missing since July 13, 2012 from Evansdale, Iowa. Growing up, my mom always said, "Better ask St. Anthony to help you", every time we lost something.  I remember one day when I was 10 or 11 years old my dad lost his wedding ring and everyone searched the house for it.  I prayed to St. Anthony and then I walked into my parents bedroom and lifted the sheet on the bed.  I remember very clearly how the sheet flowed up so elegantly to reveal his gold band, sparkling in the sunlight through the window.  Since then, I've always believed that he is able to help me find what I'm looking for. Lyric Cook-Morrissey, 10, missing with her cousin, Elizabeth. Of course, there are other possible explanations for such phenomena.  For example, maybe praying to St. Anthony gives the searcher just a little bit of hope which renews his or her spirit long enough to succeed.  Or perhaps people invoke the help of some mystical force on a regular ...