He described a day with a tightly knit web of meaningful moments, all tying back to a quote from Whitley Strieber he'd read that morning, "...the enigmatic presence of the human mind winks back from the dark." Seconds later, he heard a woman on the radio describe seeing a red cardinal, she said it was "grandma winking back from the beyond." When Joe told his wife about this little coincidence, a red cardinal landed on a branch just outside the closest window.
That caught my eye because that particular quote from Whitley Strieber -- a man who has written many books and produced many quotable lines -- gave its name to my own Strieber blog, Winking Back from the Dark.
The red cardinal is a North American bird, not something I'm going to see in Taiwan, but when I went to pay for my lunch, I saw a somewhat cardinal-like plush toy at the counter.
It's red, with a beak and a crest, but I thought maybe it was supposed to be a pterodactyl rather than a bird. After a bit of searching online, I determined that it is neither a bird nor a pterodactyl but some Japanese thing that's supposed to be an anthropomorphic carrot or something.
Anyway, it was sufficiently cardinal-adjacent that it reminded me of the Christopher Blythe video whose thumbnail I had posted in "Owl and deer" (June 26). I hadn't watched any of it, but I remembered that the title mentioned a woman named Cardinal -- synching with the cardinal in Stories from the Messengers that was "grandma." I went back to his channel to find the video. I found that it was actually the second in a two-part series called "Sherry Cardinal Talks Chief Midegah," so I went to the first one and started playing it. Just 47 seconds in, this appears on the screen:
I was watching this because I'd connected a woman named Cardinal with a cardinal that was "grandma." Now there's a specific grandmother reference. I brought up the video transcript and word-searched for grandmother. Sure enough, the grandmother is Cardinal:
Now Sherry Cardinal was the right-hand woman of a man named David Taylor, and her story is about her experience becoming acquainted with David Taylor and then eventually being appointed as chief grandmother of David's clan.
3 comments:
Hee, a Pikmin! Didn't play that game series much but it made me feel as if I was commanding a colony of ants or something.
Knew I could count on you. You're like a walking Field Guide to Video Game Characters!
William,
Ok, this is kinda odd. I wouldn't describe it as a meaningful sync,
exactly.....buuuuut.... It is kinda odd nevertheless.
Backstory:
I couldn't sleep ( It's 5 o'clock am here).
I decided to search Etsy for a capelet to wear
in airconditioned stores and restaurants and in
also in the fall. I found a really cute one and in the listing
it is described as a popular trend called 'cottagecore'.
Copy and paste:
"Cottagecore is an internet aesthetic
and subculture centred on rural way of life.
The aesthetic centres on traditional and
vernacular architecture, ***clothing, interior design
and crafts."
~~~~~
There is also a subculture of cottagecore
called ****grandma core.
On Etsy as I was searching for capelets I came
across this lovely one and the bright red color
caught my eye, so I added it to my cart.
After that I clicked on your blog, and lo and behold!
( see Etsy link )
Also as you know the Northern Cardinal is Ohio's
state bird and there has been a whole lot of cardinal's
at our birdfeeder this year.
Also the hummingbirds are extremely active
( hummingbirds having a red connection of course ).
I don't know if the Etsy link below will open or not. The link
is really long, and I didn't want to copy and paste
that long link here. I didn't know how to shorten
the link, but I wanted you to see the
capelet as it is a strikingly bright red lace ( like
a Victorian design )and when I saw
your post after putting the red 'granny' capelet
in my cart (and although I'm not a granny IRL,
however I certainly am the age to be).... I thought it
interesting this 'coincidence' with your post today.
And to be fair the only reason why I don't think
this is a sync per se' and perhaps just a 'coincidence
is because of the 'granny connection'.
Because of this strange coincidence I googled and
found these interesting facts about cardinals:
copy and paste:
"Cardinals have black bills as juveniles,
which change to orange-red as they mature
Male cardinals can sing up to 200 songs per
hour during breeding season
And these two facts below with asterisks
which may be a hidden symbolic message
and therefore possibly a sync, I'm not quite sure.
I can see however why they metaphorically could be.
****Female cardinals also sing, which is uncommon
among North American songbirds
**** Male cardinals often fight their reflections,
mistaking them for intruders
https://www.etsy.com/listing/4472862564/crochet-capelet-handmade-lace-shoulder
https://chirpinghearts.com/facts-about-cardinals/
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