Tonight I was, apropos of nothing, offered: a sword.

No, this is not a the opening to a joke.

I was offered this sword while talking about my topic for today's writing challenge: synchronicity.

Astrologer that I am, I immediately grabbed my phone to check the chart for the moment: 24°27' Aries rising. Just what I thought. The same exact precise position of Mars! And it wasn't just that. Mars exactly on the ascendant, during the night of Mars... who rules swords.

Swords, writing, and Mars. Those three things probably seem unrelated and rather meaningless to you. As they should.
But to me? This wasn't just any sword. This particular sword belonged to a bona fide magician. An initiated Thelemite who's an Ancestor now.
And I wasn't just talking about writing. I was talking about writing about synchronicity. ...for a writing project that is itself a magical act meant to clear a path for synchronicity.

Words are spells. Words are powerful. Magic is a word that has its root in the word for power. Sometimes magical words / spells are called 'words of power'. If you'd like to keep surfing this particular wave of synchronicity there's a great video from Dr. Luke Gorton about the history of language, watch the episode 'Magic in the Air' on YouTube.

The year was 2005. I was in college - just 17. And, I was performing slam poetry at the Starry Plough so often I'd accidently entered competition season. One night, rapt and wrapped in the scent of toasted nicotine, I watched a poet whose name I no longer remember drop this Earth-making mantra on the mic:

"sword is apostrophe for spoken word." - Unknown Poet

When I tell you I had a pen tattoo on my arm within a few months I am not exaggerating. That moment was nearly 20 years ago. I sometimes forget I got up on stage and performed poetry at all, but I've never forgotten those 5 words.

You can see just how intent I was to commit them to memory at 22:

No wonder, then, that when I was offered a literal magician's sword while talking about the magical power of the word...

Dear reader, that mystical moment hit me right in the synchronicity frequency.

Can you believe I tried to use that as a marketing slogan?!

I love it, but wow. Far too many syllables.

I may not use that phrase on my business cards or in my copy, but I think about that every time I publish my work or sit down to prepare for a session.

[Here's my transparent act of bravery I hope will inspire you:]

I'm going to face my fear of being ridiculed for saying this, but: I "believe" in Synchronicity. In fact, I'd go so far as to describe synchronicity as a core value and and even a spiritual discipline.

Not the album by Sting and the Police. But the phenomena Jung defined as the, "meaningful coincidence of two or more events where something other than the probability of chance is involved." I don't know if I'm recalling a quote I can't place or if just come to internalize the meaning of synchronicity as 'uncanny coincidences of mundane events that carry significant inner meaning.'

I think the "something other than chance" that infuses everyday events with significant inner meaning is the Cosmos/Source/Ultimate Reality speaking to us directly.

Synchronicity as the Language of the Earth

As an Indigenous person I've been taught since I can remember that Earth is a living being. No different than the animals and trees. Minerals, rivers, and mountains, too. Just like trees, mycelia, and chimpanzees do the Earth speaks a language, too.

If you'd asked me before my family name became Ryver – or earlier, before I was given the name Bear – I'd have told you that the cycles of the biosphere constitute the language of our Mother, the Earth.

I was 18 – it was 2005. The conference was Bioneers, and Caleb Ryen was what they called me then. You can hear baby-voiced me, half a lifetime ago, starting around 15 minutes in this episode of the Bioneer's podcast, Revolution from the Heart of Nature. Listen here, if you're curious.

Who knows, maybe something you hear will resonate with your synchronicity frequency?

Astrology as a Gateway into Synchronicity

I'm a professional Astrologer.

I've also had a long relationship with other divinatory tools like the Tarot, and Runes. Through them, I've learned that engaging spiritual technologies, techniques, and tools (like divination) heightens one's awareness of synchronicity. Perhaps it's the act of noticing synchronicity that invites and makes/creates space for more synchronicity to occur?

Day-to-day, my favorite way to engage Astrology is as a conversation with the Epic Everything.

Because, in my experience, the times laden with the greatest density of synchronic events have been the times I've been living most closely in alignment with my spiritual purpose. When the greatest number of my actions felt (and feel) like acts of Courage. Impactful expressions of Integrity. Where I could see my actions in the present actively Stewarding the future I seek to leave behind me into being.

I believe that the world/spirit/creator co-creates reality with us. And it's certainly true that all the other beings alive are co-creating reality with us through their participation in it too. While we can talk to other people who speak our language pretty easily these days, and even get by communicating effectively with folks who don't (like our animal companions, and other non-humans) living in our local environments, it's equally easy to dismiss the possibility of Life – the World – communicating directly with us.

But I've seen time and time again that it does. Quietly. Gently. "The Universe is wise and loving," as Nadiya Shah says.

Synchronicity is the means by which the Earth, and the Cosmos, communicates with us. The richer our understanding of the language of correspondences, the better able we are to listen to what it is The Universe/God/Nature/Change or our... Agatha Daimon(???) has to say.

You'll find they use the dialect we're most fluent in – as long as we care to understand, or notice.

Synchronicity as the Language of Magic

Like I said at the beginning, I understand speech and writing to be magical s'words. And, the act of publishing these post is a deliberate magical one, too.

Last year, I presented a talk for Nadiya Shah's Synchronicity University called 'Practical Magic with the Planetary Days'.

I don't lust after magical results.

But I'm a pragmatic man, and I know the thing that separates acts of magic from magical thinking (well the two things that do) are:

• mundane follow-through (aka work)
• and, observable results.

They say when you're on "The Path", you can know you're ready for the next step when the invitation/teacher/tool comes to you. You can imagine my humble astonishment then, to receive the offer to work with that specific sword.
...on the night of Mars
...with Mars rising to the minute.

When I grabbed that sword (with my flaming sword tattooed arm) I imagined myself doing an spiritual system comms check.

"Synchronicity frequency check?"
"Success! Comms signal is coming in loud and clear."

What I want you to take away from this writing:

My humble hopes are three:

• enjoyment and pleasure in reading these words
• inspiration and curiosity
• that it opens a door for you into experiencing the magic of synchronicity

The writing lesson?

There's only so much we can do to make sure our writing is "well received." One of the scariest things about publishing, being Authentic publicly, performing original songs or poems... is that there isn't anyone or anything that's for everyone.

We can try to pander to or "win over" the "widest audience possible." Capitalism encourages us to do for the sake of subsistence. But, more often than not I think we find when we do that we compromise the Integrity of the creation itself, or the purpose of the act of creation.

So, while on the surface something like talking at length about mystical "woo woo" stuff like synchronicity and magic might drive away folks who don't care about such things; it's actually an important thing to do.

It creates energetic space and clarity for this work to find the ones that do.

As always, I hope these words find and serve you well.

If there's any way I can be of service to you in creating opportunities for grounded growth or embodied empowerment, please feel free to reach out to me at bear@bearryver.com; or, book a session at: bearryver.as.me

Until tomorrow, friends.

For those of you who care about the stats:

This is post 4/4.
Time from draft to publish was: 3h 33m

Obstacle/fear/barrier(s) overcome: late start, many (well-meaning) interruptions, competing priority non-creative business tasks

For those of you wondering what the stats are about, you read about my Daily Embodied Empowerment Challenge here.