Synchronicity on Steroids
A magical journey orchestrated by my higher guidance
In 1978 I was living in Hollywood at a friend’s photography studio, spending much of my time writing songs. A recent meditation retreat had triggered a major creative surge, and songs were just pouring out. It was fun, but I was feeling the need to do something more with the music than just sit around singing it to myself and a few friends. Since my singing voice is sorely lacking, performing solo in local clubs was not an option. But there I was in Hollywood, so I began trying to peddle my songs to music industry publishers. Wow! Talk about an exercise in futility, rejection, and outright failure!
Plan B
Realizing this endeavor was going nowhere, I started looking for other options. That’s when I ran into Bob — an acquaintance from high school who I knew mainly through having dated his sister. Bob was a musician as well, and had a decidedly better voice than I, so we talked about putting something together and performing around town. After getting together once or twice to play and see if we meshed musically, Bob called one day to see if I wanted to go to this local club called the Natural Fudge Cafe, where they were having an open mic night. We wouldn’t be going there to play — we weren’t anywhere near ready for that — just to get an idea of what was going on in the local music scene.
A musician from Placerville
So we were at the café listening to the various musicians do a short set, when the announcer introduced John — “a guy who’s come all the way down from Placerville in the Sierra foothills to play a couple of his original tunes.” Then up to the mic walked John, who was so nervous he forgot his guitar. But after retrieving it, he proceeded to sing his songs with a voice that was incredibly mellow. I was blown away, and said to Bob, “If I had a voice like that, I’d be putting my songs out there in a big way.” We stayed for a few more sets, then left.
Browsing through the stars
Shortly after that night at the Natural Fudge, I was in a bookstore in West LA, thumbing through astrology books. Astrology was my primary medium of service before I began teaching meditation. And although I had continued to do some astrological readings, it had been relegated to a lesser role in favor of meditation instruction, and at the time, writing songs.
But I’d been feeling moved to resume my studies and expand my astrological work a bit, and after perusing for a few minutes, I picked up a book by an astrologer I was unfamiliar with. After reading only a couple of chapters, his work resonated with me so strongly that when I discovered he was teaching in Sacramento, I decided right then and there to go and study with him.
On the road again
So after tying up loose ends in LA, I took my guitar, put the rest of my worldly possessions in a backpack, and headed for Sacramento. After a full day of hitchhiking, I ended up in Walnut Creek, where the guy who had given me a ride from I-don’t-remember-where had generously put me up for the night. The next morning, he dropped me off at the nearest freeway on-ramp on his way to work.
The blue van
For those of you who are not familiar with Walnut Creek, it’s a medium sized town about 25 miles east of Berkeley — not exactly on the main highway to Sacramento. But after a short time, a light blue Volkswagen van pulled over to give me a ride. The driver, who was a guy about my age, asked me where I was going, and I told him Sacramento. “Great, so am I,” he said. “Then I’m heading up to Placerville for my high school reunion.” He and I hit it off immediately… lots of common ground and just easy, friendly conversation.
As we drove along and talked, he began to look and sound familiar, so I’m thinking, “Where have I seen this guy before?” After a while I turned around to check out the back of the van, and noticed his guitar and a few other instruments, and that’s when it hit me. “You’re the guy from the Natural Fudge!” I said. Astonished, he replied, “You were there that night?!” It had been a couple months, and here we were on a minor highway about four hundred miles from Hollywood.
Sacramento landing
John and I drove along, talking about music, meditation, spirituality, and such, and after a while, we arrived in Sacramento. By that time it felt like we were practically old friends, and since I was a new kid in town, John said, “I’m going to spend the night with some friends. I’m sure they won’t mind if you stay there too. Then I’ll take you around tomorrow and introduce you to some other folks.” As it turned out, John’s friends who put us up for the night were a couple I had met several years before, on my only other visit to Sacramento. But that’s another story. So the next day we were off to get me connected around town.
Pleasant Journey
After a few more introductions, John left for his reunion, saying he’d be back. And after I got settled into Sacramento, John did indeed show up at my door, as was his endearing tendency. Before long, we had put a little band together — he and I and a woman named Beth — and to my great good fortune, both of them had wonderful voices — more than sufficient to make up for my vocal shortcomings. Both of them were also writing songs, and we had an incredibly fun few years together playing our music around the Sacramento area. We named the band “Pleasant Journey.”
Sacramento turned out to be a great place to live, and it seems I had lots of positive “karmic connections” there to reunite with. But the astrologer I went there to study with left town around the same time I arrived. Consequently, I never got to study with him, but he was, nonetheless, an integral thread in the fabric of this story.
Higher Wisdom
I’m guessing that many of you have had experiences of synchronicity, and maybe you’ve discovered, as I have, that they add a great deal of depth and richness to your life. But I believe that their role goes beyond that. For me, these experiences serve as inspiration and encouragement — vivid reminders that a higher wisdom is guiding me to precisely where I need to be, exactly when I need to be there.
If you’ve had an interesting experience of synchronicity, feel free to share it in the comments.
