messages from the universe

Fallen stars? Pacific Ocean, taken on October 25, 2009.

I am not the superstitious type. And while I am generally quite happy to go with the flow and see where it takes me I believe less in fate than I do in the power of our own actions. But what about those experiences in our lives that touch us outside the realm of our rational being, where the universe seems to have a plan of its own? Where connections are made without deliberate intention by ourselves?

Something Summer said in today’s post about a dream she had of Keri Smith triggered my thinking about all this. Weird connections, psychic predictions, universal interventions. We all know someone who has strange things happening to them all the time, coincidences, synchronicities, you name it. Or that friend who is super psychic or ultra intuitive. I have to admit, my fearful self tends to shy away from all of this and it’s like the universe knows and respects this; it tends to leave me alone.

But tonight I am thinking of those times when odd things happened to me, or crossed my path, and I want to share a few of them with you:

1) Keri Smith. She is one of the first bloggers I used to read and like, and about four years ago I had a dream about her being the ex-wife of a Dutch artist and I blogged about this and other dreams. Six months later I received a comment from a Dutch designer who used to go out with Keri! Now, I don’t know Keri personally and have never had any communications with her, so I had no idea. But I dreamed about it. You can still read this post here, scroll to the end of it and then read the last comment by the Dutch guy, it’s still there. This is kind of weird, don’t you think?

2) When I lived in England I used to go and see Van Morrison at the annual Ross-on-Wye Festival. One year, in 1999, there was a tarot card reader and although I am not really into it I had him do my cards. I cannot remember what he said but when I went back to the festival in 2000 he was there again and immediately recognized me. Which surprised me, especially when he told me that he had been worried about me the year before when he had sensed that I was walking along the edge of darkness. I was quite taken aback by this. Because he was right. I was a mess in 1999, still reeling from the break-up with the Englishman, which I had not mentioned at the tarot card session. Anyway, it was the year 2000 and I was healing, and I had another tarot card session of which I don’t remember much, either. But he was a nice guy and after we had chatted for a bit he asked for my phone number, maybe we could meet some time when he was traveling through London. There was absolutely no romantic interest on either side but I gave him my number and forgot about it. Eight months later, in 2001, I went into hospital to have my gallbladder removed. I had never had surgery before and I remember feeling very alone and scared. All my friends were away on a skiing vacation that week, I was single and my family was in another country. So I took a taxi to the hospital and no-one was there when I woke up after the operation. A few hours later my phone rang. It was the tarot card reader! He had been thinking about me and was wondering whether I was ok? Now you can’t tell me that this is not weird?! After all these months this guy, who barely knows me, calls me on the day of my surgery to ask if I am ok. I was actually a little freaked out by this. But touched, too. We talked for a while, I assured him that I was fine, and I never heard from him again.

3) Fast forward to 2002. Another relationship break-up. After one year of becoming a part of each other’s lives things were no longer working out and I was in bits. Walking along the edge of darkness. Again. There was one night in particular where I was in a very bad state. I had been sobbing for hours and could feel the darkness envelope me with its familiar cloak. It was after midnight when my phone rang. An old boyfriend. Or rather, an old very young boyfriend. He was 14 years my junior and we had dated for a few months before I met the man who I was now heartbroken over. ‘Toyboy‘ and I had not stayed in touch and I was surprised to hear from him, especially at that time of night! But he had been thinking about me and was wondering whether I was ok?! It soon became obvious to him that I wasn’t and before I could say or do anything he made his way across London, arrived at my door at 1 a.m. and did not leave until a week later. He was an amazing cook so he fed me, comforted me and made me laugh a lot. There was never any question of rekindling our relationship and once I was feeling better he left and soon after we lost touch again. I am still kind of amazed and convinced that the universe sent him to me to keep me from stepping over the edge.

4) What do you do when you feel utterly lost? Well, one of the things my friends used to do was pay a visit to a psychic. Like the tarot cards, not really my thing, but this particular psychic was highly recommended and I was in desperate need of some direction. She said a lot of stuff that was either not true, or has not come true, but towards the end it seemed like she suddenly shifted into a different gear and became quite adamant about me meeting a Canadian man in Canada. I thought she was just humoring me because I had told her about my dream of living in Vancouver. She was quite specific. He would be a very ‘normal‘ kind of guy, someone who I would be very happy with and we would have a long life together. A man with a medical background but not a doctor. It is funny because that sounded most peculiar to me back then, and it was the only thing that stuck with me from this session: the ‘normal’ medical man who was not a doctor. At the time I did not know anyone who worked in medicine. Until I met my husband. Although Tom is American he does have Canadian blood in him, both his grandparents came from Quebec. He is also a pretty ‘normal’ guy in the sense that he is not the flaky arty type I used to fall for. And he is a medical man but not a doctor! A qualified respiratory therapist who worked in hospitals for nearly two decades. So after all these years she was right! And being married to him makes me very happy, too.

Anyway. None of these are groundbreaking or earth shattering experiences. But they are all a little strange and out of the ordinary for me. And I wonder what else would happen if I opened myself up a bit more? To the universe, to the synchronicities of life, to those things that we attract if we just stop protecting ourselves?