When Marie-Louise von Franz wrote the following sentence down while researching a military battle, it triggered the “craziest synchronicity” she ever experienced:
“Sometimes a very insignificant man holds the threads of world history in his hand without knowing it” (Conversations with Marie-Louise von Franz).
She noted this after pondering how even the most well-organized battles can go awry due to a small mistake.
The phone immediately rang and she put down her pen. In broken English a man told her that Prince Charles [the current King Charles III of England] will soon be murdered. Would she please let Colonel van der Post know?
Laurens van der Post was a friend of Prince Charles and also connected to C.G. Jung. She contacted the police after failing to reach van der Post.
Von Franz later found out from van der Post that Prince Charles was reading her book on alchemy at the exact time she wrote down that sentence and received the phone call (!).
The police eventually arrested a terrorist. They likely had been looking for him for a long time, so her phone call didn’t cause the arrest. “But everything was synchronized.” She read her sentence again and realized all the more how true it is.
As I reflect on that same sentence some 40 years later, I see a correlation with this week’s New Moon in Scorpio.
This New Moon will occur in the section of Scorpio that has an association with the Advancement/Clarity Hexagram 35 in the I Ching. It’s an image of the Sun rising above the earth, symbolizing steady progress:
You have stood where you are for long enough. Now is a time for advancement. May the pawn become a queen. Flames must burn, and in the wake of ashes you are the phoenix that rises. Support those above you with loyalty. Support those below you with generosity. That is how you expand your influence. Advance like a mouse. Surmount the throne like a lion. All hail the Queen Mother (I Ching, the Oracle: A Practical Guide to the Book of Changes by Benebell Wen).
The phoenix rising from the ashes is a Scorpio signature of transformation. Notice, however, that the hexagram frames it as advancement, not just death and rebirth. The flames burn to clear the path forward.
The word transformation is overused, so here is a more nuanced definition of transformation from Murray Stein:
Transformation is not the same as change, as in changing from one thing to another. Rather, transformation means drawing something out of what was there all along, bringing it to consciousness, and giving it more expression (Stein, Jung and Alchemy: A Path to Transformation).
What is the path forward? What needs drawing out that has been there all along?
We don’t have to wait passively for synchronicity to suddenly happen like it did for von Franz. Divination is a form of “evoked synchronicity,” as Jungian analyst Ken James describes it. Using symbol systems like astrology, tarot, and the I Ching opens us up to the present moment and helps us set a course to move forward.
With Uranus, the symbol of breakthroughs, freedom, and individuation, forming an opposition to this New Moon, surmounting the throne like a lion might not be such a challenge.
This is a good time to reflect on which thread(s) you may be holding without knowing it.
What small advance would be actually significant for you?
Where is your inner pawn that is ready to become a queen?
Consultations:
Astrology | Typestrology | Tarot and Type
Writing:
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