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I make it a practice to notice what rhymes in a day. When we experience a run of incidents or sightings that resemble each other, it can be a strong indicator that something from the deeper reality is breaking through into our ordinary lives.
Remember the moment in the original “Matrix” movie when the black cat crosses the same space twice, in exactly the same way – and we learn that what appears to be reality is about to fall apart? Our everyday experience offers similar clues, when we learn to pay attention.
Here’s a recent example, from a workshop I led in southern France just before Thanksgiving. It involves a symbol: the crown.
1. During our drumming to open the circle, I received the vivid image of a crowned figure, a painted statue of either wood or stone. The knowledge came to me, in French, that this was “la couronne de l’‘Angoulême.”
2. In the initial sharing, a woman in the group told us she had received a powerful vision of a crown during the same drumming.
3. During an afternoon break, another workshop member produced a very special deck of cards based on the book Rencontres avec la splendeur. The cover of the book, and the artwork on the box, features a crown – representing Kether (the Crown) on the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. (Each card features a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, with its mystical associations.)
4. When I sat down to relax in front of the ancient fireplace before dinner, I found a civilized couple happily ensconced, with glasses of wine in their hands and a private table set for supper in front of the hearth. We struck up conversation and I remarked, “You certainly know how to live.” The woman told me, “We need to ground ourselves because we have just come from Kether.” They explained that they were part of another workshop, centered on the study of Kabbalah.
5. At the airport the next day, the woman with the cards appeared unecxpectedly to bid me farewell, and presented me with a copy of Rencontres avec la splendeur with the crown on the cover, above a beautiful depiction of the Hebrew letter Tzadik (Tsaddé in French). This will be part of my current studies.
I have yet to plumb the mystery of the crown of Angoulême, but I am working on that too.
This sequence may seem rather esoteric, geared to my interest in symbols and the byways of history, magic and spiritual
experience. Then again, what we perceive has a great deal to do with who we are and what excites our imagination.
experience. Then again, what we perceive has a great deal to do with who we are and what excites our imagination.
Here’s a simple way to start growing your own poetic consciousness of what rhymes in a day. During a chosen period of time (a lunchbreak, for example) note three things that catch your attention. They don’t have to be extraordinary. You may be drawn to the color of a mound of oranges, or the texture of a scarf, or the rustle of the wind in the trees. When you have your list of three things, study what they have in common. What may count for more than the things themselves is how you perceive them. To borrow from Jung, is it your thinking function, or your feelings, or your intuition, or your senses that come to the fore in choosing the objects or incidents that most catch your fancy – or a combination of all these functions?
posted November 27, 2010 at 3:48 pm
Hi Robert,
I’m loving the way that life rhymes! I especially enjoy the way you describe “growing your own poetic consciousness of what rhymes in a day” in a fun manner that feels like a game.
I just finished writing an article for my newsletter entitled, “Hungry, Hungry Hippo: a Game in Self-Healing,” in which you play a key role. It’s about my friend, who I met in a Facebook group named “Synchronicity” when she offered to provide free tarot card readings. She recently had a healing dream which she acted upon, then shared with you, where she played the childhood game, Hungry Hungry Hippo.
My final sentence is, “Was it ‘in the cards’ for ‘synchronicity’ to bring us together to share in her self-healing?”
posted November 27, 2010 at 9:11 pm
Interestingly enough I just reviewed a book this week called “Arcana V: Magic, Music and Mysticism”. Many of the essays in the book are Kabbalistic. The publisher of the book is “Hip Roads” an imprint of Tzadik, the record label run by John Zorn who was the editor. In the Thoth tarot deck, Tzadik is attributed to Arcana IV, The Emperor (as opposed to the Star, which is the usual correspondence). Perhaps this relates to the crown.
posted November 28, 2010 at 2:20 am
You’ve probably long tracked this but meandering along the byways of history for what it’s worth… The towns of La Couronne and Angoulême are part of the same urban area, and in the early 1100s a priest by the name of Lambert built an abbey originally named “La Couronelle” after the circular site, and later renamed La Couronne. Much of it was destroyed over time (the company Lafarge Ciment purchased the property in 1928 and signed a partnership with local authorities which ended a history of pillaging of the ruins by locals looking for building materials…).
On the subject of three times makes a pattern… St. Peter’s cathedral in Angoulême proper was destroyed twice, then rebuilt a third time. With a bit of a stretch the floor plan could look like a tree of life, certainly the four chevet chapels appear much like a crown.
Thinking of a completely different kind of crown, Marguérite d’ Angoulême, queen to King Henry II of Navarre, and whose brother became king of France, wrote a collection of stories including a mystical narrative that contributed to theories she may have exerted influence on the protestant reformation in England.
Off to play with the rhymes of life now…
posted November 28, 2010 at 6:35 am
Savannah – Thanks so much for your characteristically excellent tracking. More clues to investigate!
posted November 28, 2010 at 6:36 am
Sherry – I look forward to seeing the finished version of the Hungry, Hungry Hippo story.