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Did You Ever Read About a Frog Who Dreamed of Being a King…
I was listening to a favorite podcast while I walked my dogs the other day and one of the podcasters talked about a book she read, “The Book of Delights” by Ross Gay. The author decided to write about a ‘delight’ that he encountered each day. And as he leaned in and celebrated the delights he experienced, the more delight he found. This immediately made me think of synchronicities and those “not-coincidences” that I am obsessed with. While I haven’t read the book, I know very well that anything you focus on will grow whether those things are good or bad. So, whether you focus on delights, synchronicity or other things like pain, or annoying people, you will get more of that, I promise.
Since this is my blog, I am going to focus on the synchronicity part. Some might also call this serendipity - and if you’re looking for a slightly cheesy but very sweet rom-com, Serendipity is a fave of mine. But I digress, again. I was delighted to find that Carl Jung actually coined synchronicity, because, well, he’s Carl Jung: the king of shadow and the collective unconscious; a hugely influential psychiatrist, and a scientist who also embraced astrology and the spiritual aspects of life, all of which I am here for.
Carl defined synchronicity as “the coincidental occurrence of events and especially psychic events (such as similar thoughts in widely separated persons or a mental image of an unexpected event before it happens) that seem related but are not explained by conventional mechanisms of causality.”
The fact that Carl Jung coined this definition of synchronicity IS synchronicity.
But what creates synchronicity? Is it the simple act of observing and paying attention? As in, it’s there all the time but only when we slow down enough to notice do we actually see it? Or is there some divine intelligence out there steering this ship and these seemingly magical alignments?
Well, you can likely guess what I think. If you are new to this blog, be aware that I am a skeptic first and foremost. I have heavy Gemini in my chart, and I question everything and overthink things to death. I can’t help it. I will say this after some years of observation: there is some divine intelligence out there. Let me tell you why I say this.
Last night as I was brushing my teeth and washing my face, I said to myself, “I could really use some indication of which way to go next.” You see, I often struggle between “regular people” work and moving more towards full time spiritual pursuits and working for myself. I am clearly not a regular person and trying to be in that world all the time is hard for me. It can be mind numbing but alas, it pays the bills. However, it is the spiritual stuff that sets my heart aflame. When you feel something like that, it is not to be dismissed. I am also struggling however to dismiss my paycheck and health insurance and trust that all will work out.
In follow up to my request for guidance, I had one of those dreams that wakes me up and urges me to get up and write it down. It was long and involved but it ultimately led me to a library where I found a box filled with old newsletters. I was aware that they were very old and that they included important information for me. I was asked to leave the library by the librarian, without any notable reason and I obliged. I decided I was taking (ahem stealing) the box of newsletters and went outside to get in an old dirty Chevette with a stick shift. I had a deep knowing that the box was from the Rosicrucian Society. I had no idea what any of this meant but I knew I needed to write it down. I headed to the bathroom where I keep my phone and put it all down in the notes section. I knew I needed to look these things up in the morning. Also jotted in the notes was the song playing in my head while I wrote this all down: “I Am I Said,” by Neil Diamond. Spirit never wastes a message, so I take note of everything that comes along.
I went back to bed, and eventually fell back asleep. There were other dreams but none that got me up to make notes.
If you’re more aware than I am, then you maybe already see it. I assumed the Rosicrucian Society was some Catholic group but no, plot twist, it is not. The Rosicrucians are a community of mystics who study and practice the metaphysical laws governing the universe. SAY WHAT?
This is how I know there is a divine intelligence out there speaking to us in whispers and synchronicities. How do I get a hit like that in a dream when I have no idea what the Rosicrucians even are? Also duly noted, their logo is a rose and a cross which is said to represent the divine feminine and the divine masculine together. Hello again, Carl Jung.
This has happened before in dreams with things I have no idea about until the light of day when I look things up. It always catches me off guard - how do I come up with this stuff while I am asleep? I say there are two possibilities - 1) I am not coming up with it myself, it is planted there by divine guidance or 2) It is something I can recall from past life experiences. Which is it? Perhaps it is both - or perhaps it is neither and it’s something I am not meant to understand but instead to just trust.
I dreamt about both of my parents dying within a year of it happening. My Mom and Dad have visited many times in my dreams; my Mom even told me one time that she can’t tell me what it is that she does on the other side or I would want to come with her and I can’t do that yet. There are so many things that have come up in dreams and readings that I simply can’t deny there is divine intelligence out in the universe guiding us, often when we very least expect it.
As for the frog who would be King? When I woke up from the Rosicrucian dream, Neil Diamond was in my head with “I am I Said.” I always have songs in my head when I wake up and I also keep track of them on Spotify. My ritual is to listen to these songs in the morning and see if anything lands for me or even to see what songs come next since Spotify creates a radio of sorts based on the song you search for. My Dad loved Neil Diamond so I have definitely heard “I am I Said” hundreds of times. I never before noticed that lyric.
“Did You Ever Read About a Frog Who Dreamed of Being a King…. And then became one?”
I LOVE frogs. I have a frog tattoo. I spent the summers of my youth in frog ponds and to this day if I see a toad, I will pick it up and say hello. When I was a little girl, I asked my dad to call me Froggy. I will never know why I asked that. He brought me home a green t-shirt from a work trip that had sparkly frogs on it and I wore it until the frogs wore off.
I don’t know what it all means, but what I do know is none of this is coincidence. I went to bed asking for guidance. My dream showed me a spiritual society and its historical roots. I am not the first person to stumble down this road. It also showed me my path might be winding at times but it is survivable and familiar to me on some level. It also showed me there is support to be found in community. Neil Diamond showed me that we all get a little lost sometimes but if we believe in ourselves things will work out OK. He wrote this song during an especially dark time in his life and the magic in his lyrics are all throughout. “I am” is God and the late great Wayne Dyer said anything that we say after “I am” is sure to be manifested. (Written under this Taurus moon…)
What is my point? 1) there is divine intelligence guiding us always 2) we need to pay attention to the things going on around us - in our dreams, in nature, in our day to day lives to tap into this guidance. 3) we need to trust a lot more that things will be OK in the end. Last and certainly not least, whatever we focus on will expand, whether that is delights, bad attitudes or synchronicity. I personally love synchronistic moments and without a doubt, the more I seek them, the more they happen. It makes me feel connected at the deepest level and to take things less seriously.
Rumi said “What you seek is seeking you.” Make sure what you are seeking is something that will set your heart on fire.