Signs of synchronicity

I'm just looking for new ways to love where I am.

Lately, I've been thinking about signs of synchronicity. For most of my life, I relegated woo-woo to the back burner—something fun but not something to spend much time on. Sure, I like looking at my horoscope, but not in a "change your plans because the day doesn't seem like making decisions" kind of way - more in a, I wonder if that sounds like me. It was a habit from growing up reading the newspaper daily. 

But then I started seeing a Jungian therapist. And Jung was pretty much into the woo. He was very into the symbolism of dreams and dream interpretation. He and Joseph Campbell would have been besties for sure. After two years of exploring the weirdness of my dreams, the ideas of synchronicity started to seep in - thoughts and images that reoccur or happen in your life might be leading you towards something.

You know the idea well if you have ever been car shopping. You decide you want an orange Subaru and suddenly see them everywhere. They become the car for you, and you must have one. In my estimation, you have tuned your thinking onto that idea and started seeing it everywhere. It's alert synchronicity or the world guiding you towards what you want - you can think of it however you like.

In my world, I was being brought back to the Tarot. I have a long family history of Tarot and had not picked up a deck since my 30s and only then as a party trick or something silly to do on New Year's Eve. My family, though, took Tarot very seriously. We are descended from Hungarians who were very into fortune-telling, and my grandmother was, by my mother and aunt's description, a witch. She was mean, but they also said that she practiced some witchcraft in the dark rooms of their home. I have no idea if that is true, but the stories were undoubtedly vivid. She did teach both my mom and aunt how to read Tarot. My mom then went on to teach my sister and me. In that way, it is a passed-down practice. 

And I shunned the heck out of it for years. I was relying instead on reason and science.

That is often the way. We look at our family traditions or culture and don't want to be labeled that way. Growing up in the '80s, as a teen, I wanted nothing to do with what I saw as the unmanicured, messy, loud, "not normal" family that I had. They were not the TV family I so craved. I wanted boring. Give me sanitized, perfectly mowed lawns and the mall. I understood the need for perfect rows of houses and the blandness that they embodied. If our places could be boring, maybe we could hold our emotionally unstable insides together enough to match them.

All that strip mall cookie-cutter Southern California surroundings finally became too oppressive because, as a kid with my chaotic and vibrant upbringing, there was no way to remain in that place without succumbing to a numbness that I wasn't willing to have. To continue to paint over the pink and orange of my family life with greige was just too much.

And just as my work is to preserve and create life-giving energy in real places, I have been painting over my greige and bringing back parts of my childhood and family history. In complete abandonment of my critical science mind, I've been opening up to the ideas of synchronicity and allowing it, in small ways, to run a little away with itself. 

My first foray into this uneven path was by noticing that I had been shown or someone had shared with me about the Tarot. I had two friends wax on about the Tarot and how they used it in their lives. Then I had several Instagram accounts start showing Tarot cards they had been given or bought. And so I purchased a new printing of the classic 1909 Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot deck and the book Tarot for Change by Jessica Dore - who, because I know you are now interested in synchronicity - pulls inspiration from a variety of sources, including Jung. 

Full circle, people.

To dive into this Tarot project, I choose one card a day, read Dore's explanation and the little book with the deck, and remember what I know about the Tarot. Not surprisingly, I know quite a bit. I keep a notebook, write down my ideas about each card and save a little monthly spread of what is coming up to notice any patterns. 

Mostly, though, I am just thinking about the ideas that the cards present throughout the day as a different way of navigating situations and relationships with others and myself. It's all about symbolism and epic stories which is a fun lens to see the world. Plus, it's messy. There are cards about tragedy, unskilled conversations, heartbreak, navigating emotions, and the full range of the human experience.

Messy. Like my childhood, the places I try to amplify in my work, and us. We are all messy, and even if you live in one of those neighborhoods where everything looks the same, we all know that inside, it's a vibrant life. Maybe if we are a little more open to synchronicity, we might explore it more. Who knows what path you might find.

Find me in these places: Speaking at the Missouri Downtown Revitalization Conference and the Arkansas Women's Photographers Conference.

And I'd love to be on your podcast, speak at your conference or facilitate your organization's next big thing - connect and let's talk about what is possible. You can also find me on Instagram most days - come say hi there.