Saint Synchronicity

"I was just thinking about you," you say, answering the phone. Happens often. In the words of poet Léon-Paul Fargue, "It's only natural," though it often feels tingly and supernatural.

Yesterday, Saint Patrick's Day, I had three distinct shimmers of synchronicity, time-shift experiences that seem to go beyond routine cognition.

Behind the first curtain. Just before lunch at Yogi's -- ordering a customized concoction I refer to as a "Greco-Mexican" omelette -- the strong image of a Mardi Gras face came to mind. Yes, it was Saint Patrick's Day, but it was definitely Mardi Gras green tinged with other festive colors that I saw in my mind's eye.

Imagine my surprise when fifteen minutes later, I came across the above (here courtesy of a mobile phone camera) image. Tingle. Precognition? Memory? Time flip? Gestalt or field perception? A combo of some or all? 

Behind the second curtain. Just hours later, the image of a specific book came to mind -- this book: William W. Freehling's Road to Disunion, Volume I: Secessionists at Bay 1776-1854 (1991).  I actually scanned my office bookshelves to see if I still had it from graduate school. No sign or trace except in the mind's eye.

Imagine my surprise when, not fifteen minutes later on a different floor of the same library, I see a professor type carrying the exact same book title with the same cover that I had "seen" internally.  I asked him about it -- a part time instructor whom I had never previously met or even seen before. I told him of the coincidence. He probably thought I was a bit touched. 

Third curtain. A short while later, I was speaking with a peer about a long-term student who had transferred to another college in January. Within five minutes, that same student strode into the library.     

Finale. What's the point? Nothing in particular. But I wanted to point out how these things happen often, even when we blow them off, or chalk them up to "coincidence" -- whatever that is.

Today's Rune: The Mystery Rune.