Working With Synchronicity

I love synchronicity. When it happens to me, I get excited. Some people feel awe, others get creeped out. It can be strange, especially the first few times we experience it. We know something amazing is happening, something we can't explain, and this can either make us uncomfortable or thrilled. I've been in both places.

Recently, two house guests of mine had an amazing encounter with ladybugs. As they hiked along a serene trail in Muir Woods, they happened upon hundreds of ladybugs swarming on a fallen log. Both of them recognized this was noteworthy; they took pictures, mesmerized by the collection of insects. Later on, as they walked along Stinson Beach, they saw a lone ladybug crawling on a rock. Seeing hundreds of ladybugs on a log in Muir Woods was surprising enough, but here was a solitary ladybug in an unlikely place. I suspect that's when they sat up and took notice.

When they returned from their trip, one of the first things they told me about was the ladybugs. They sounded excited and couldn't wait to show me their pictures. That's when I knew this visitation had meaning for them: there was a distinct feeling of awe in the room.

I knew this was a great moment to work waking life as a dream, so I asked them what ladybugs meant to them. Starting from your own meaning of symbols is important. However, in this case, nothing immediately sprang to mind for my friends, so I grabbed Animal-Wise by Ted Andrews to discover what ladybugs symbolize to others.

We learned that ladybugs are lucky in some cultures. They can symbolize wishes coming true. There was another interesting piece to the puzzle: ladybugs can also signal a time when we are pushing too hard for a wish to come true and we need to sit back and patiently wait for it to arrive in its own time.

As we talked, the number three began popping up. One of my friends mentioned her brother had a recurring dream three times that my friend was pregnant with triplets. I realized that the date was 3/9, and then my friends mentioned it was their 9-month anniversary. We all got chills, which were amplified when I read that ladybugs live for 9 months. Then I remembered their plane had arrived at 3:30 p.m., and that they were in town for three days.

The number three is about expansion, creativity, and luck. It is a spiritual number as well: there is the Holy Trinity as well as the Triple Goddess and the Three Graces.

We knew the universe was trying to say something. We talked about it for a while longer and what the signs might mean. Then, at a certain point, we knew it was time to move on.

It is good to eventually stop analyzing all the aspects of such a situation. If you linger too long or overanalyze, you ruin the numinosity of the situation and can miss the important message.

My friends flew home the next day. That night they broke off their relationship. One of them wrote to me a few days later to tell me about it and said, "Maybe the ladybugs signifying that something had run its course was the right interpretation." They saw the life span of the ladybugs as significant and realized they needed to let go of their relationship in order to expand.

I was surprised. I hadn't seen the situation like that. But, my interpretation wasn't important: just like a dream, the interpretation of the person/people experiencing the synchronicities is the crucial one. I was glad I could witness their communication with the Divine through the ladybugs and grateful it allowed them to make an important decision.

The more we work with and honor synchronicities, the more they happen. See if you can detect them in your life. When you do, tell me about your experiences!