Synchronicity Revealed

Is it coincidence or fate?

A "coincidence" that seems uncanny isn't just a fluke of fate. It's called synchronicity, when events mysteriously come together in a meaningful way that defies explanation.

Have you ever had the experience of thinking of someone, perhaps a friend you haven't seen for awhile, only to have them call you out of the blue? There's usually a feeling of awe that accompanies such a mysterious event. That kind of synchronicity reminds us that there is a cosmic thread that links us all together.

Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, who was the first to offer theories about synchronicity, believed that the inner life and outer matter are interconnected, which is demonstrated through synchronistic events. When a synchronicity happens, physical and psychic worlds unite for a short time.

A numbers game
Synchronicity can also be a form of spiritual guidance, the universe's way of communicating with you. Stacy offers an example of how a series of synchronicities served as a matchmaker:

After I met my future husband at an industry party, I simply thought of him as "just another manager who wants my help" (I was a journalist). In fact, he lived 5,000 miles away and was married, so it never even entered my mind to be romantically interested in him. He felt the same way, actually. He had emailed me shortly after that night and I had not answered him for more than a month. Then one day it popped in my head to email "that nice British guy" back. My phone rang as I was writing the email and when I picked up the message later, I discovered it was from him and that he'd called at the same time I had hit send on the email. We had dozens of "coincidences" happen in the course of the next six months in several cities and two continents. They usually had something to do with the number 11. A year later when we went to pick a wedding date, my criteria was "a full moon in the Fall on a Saturday night." Well, the only one in nearly two years was on 11-11-00. And that was (you guessed it!) 11 years ago.

Would Stacy have married her Brit without the help of synchronicity? Who can say? Still, the mysterious occurrences deepened their spiritual bond and helped guide them as a couple.

The owl message
Two synchronicities led my husband and I to move from Los Angeles to Spokane, Washington. While visiting friends there, we were captivated by a house out in the country. The first synchronicity occurred when we met the real estate agent who showed us the house - she "just happened" to live across the street and had recommended that area. But the most startling synchronicity involved a barn owl, my favorite "sign" from the universe because we had a barn owl living in the tree outside our Southern California condo. On the last day of our visit to Spokane, we were to view the house one more time, but I'd spent a sleepless night worrying over whether we should even consider taking such a big step and moving away from our friends and family. But as my husband and I got into the car, a voice on the radio announced something that took my breath away. They were about to interview a woman who wrote a book about raising a barn owl, called Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl. These synchronicities convinced us that the universe supported our desire to make the house we saw our home.

Not forgotten
Synchronicities aren't always as dramatic as the above examples. Sometimes a simple synchronicity can serve as a reminder that there are spiritual powers at work in the world. Kathi experienced such a reminder and offers her own explanation for why it happened:

I had just started a new job as a manager for various phone distribution events. I got an assignment in Wisconsin and I was very excited to go out of state. That day, a car drove by with Wisconsin plates - unusual because this was Camp Verde, Arizona, a little Podunk town. What it said to me was God was aware of what was going on in my life. It was God's way of saying I haven't forgotten you, I know you're there.

For Kathi, this synchronicity was a source of spiritual inspiration.

There's a wonderful fact about synchronicity that is similar to your nightly dreams: the more you pay attention to them, the more they'll happen to you. If you open your mind to seeing the interconnectedness between your inner world and events that take place in your life, you'll open the door to more spiritual guidance in the form of synchronicities.

Cortney Litwin is the co-host of the Cosmic Sutra on KarmaSolRadio, an online talk show featuring astrology and dream interpretation.