SYNCHRONICITY – A WAKEUP CALL FROM THE COSMOS

I first became struck by the phenomenon of synchronicity after creating an astrological board game back in the 1980s while I was living in Germany. Intended as a teaching aid for astrology students who were keen to learn more about astrology and also more about themselves, it was published by Burk Verlag in 1986 with the title ‘Lebensrad’ (Wheel of Life). 

During the course of the game players picked cards blindly from a pile, and read aloud the

questions printed on them, which have to do with their personal habits and preferences. Then they would share their answers with their fellow players. I enjoyed travelling around with my publisher to mind-body- spirit fairs promoting the game at their stall by playing it with members of the public, and this was the context in which I first experienced consciously the power of synchronicity. 

Many visitors who accepted our invitation and took a turn at rolling the dice were startled by the appropriateness of the questions on their cards. However, a few were visibly amazed and deeply touched by what the dice threw up for them. These people would tell me afterwards that the subject matter on their cards had miraculously mirrored their present dilemmas, and in some cases it had even pointed towards solutions. Could a disembodied spirit be using my game to counsel them?

I was so fascinated by the phenomenon that I had to explore it further and went on to create several more games for this publisher including a self-discovery game for children called ‘Die Wendeltreppe’ (The Spiral Staircase) before moving back to the UK. By that time playing board games was going out of fashion and online games were ‘in’ instead. So I decided to create an oracle game in book form that could also perhaps have a digital version. 

In January 2001 I was in Manhatten browsing a bookshop in the basement of one of the twin towers shortly afterwards to be pulverised (9.11)! There I chanced upon a copy of David Peat’s book ´Synchronicity: the Bridge between Mind and Matter´ (1987). Peat was a big name in physics at the time, and this book boldly challenged the views on causality of the mainstream materialist scientists of the day by explaining synchronicity in the context of quantum mechanics. Experiencing a synchronicity, said Peat, pulls us up in our tracks. We’ve discovered a flaw in the fabric of reality, and that can change our worldview. 

This book made a huge impression on me, and I became interested in the implications of quantum physics for astrology. I’d long been puzzling my head why it was that so many intelligent people reject astrology outright which after reading Peat’s book became clear. Their thinking is stuck in the old paradigm of a clockwork universe that works through material causes and effects, and lacks any intrinsic meaning. But through astrology I’d discovered experientially that this was not true. Rather than human life and the whole cosmos being meaning-less they were very meaning-full!

We find this truth carved on the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus: “What is below is like that which is above, and what is above is like that which is below to accomplish the miracles of one thing.” One thing – yes, all is one – to accomplish miracles – yes, life is irrational and surrounded by mystery. Therefore, here was the key to explaining how astrologers can use the patterns traced by the planets in the sky above to understand the processes within the human psyche below. The reason is because the two levels are synchronous. (See Phoebe Wyss, Inside the Cosmic Mind, 2014)

In this lifetime I’ve spent over four decades as a consulting astrologer during which time I’ve had the privilege of interpreting the charts of hundreds of clients. Experiencing synchronicity at work has therefore been a daily occurrence for me, and it’s never been boring! Each chart is unique and so becomes a source of new learning. Also, the reactions of my clients to their sessions have proved to me that the shock effect of experiencing synchronicity can shake people out of their accustomed mental groove and more – a forceful experience of synchronicity can be life-changing!

The canny astrologer looking at our chart will be able to recognise the symbolic significance of our outer and inner experiences at any point in time by setting them in the framework of planetary cycles. These put them in wider contexts of archetypal meaning. Thus, using an online astrology programme, the astrologer can scroll back the days, weeks, months and years to trace the path we’ve followed up to the present, and can also scroll forwards in time and discern the qualities of the planetary phases lying ahead of us.

However, I for one prefer not to work with predictive astrology. My belief is that only the present moment is really real, and also that each moment is unique. Our life experience is better expressed by moving verbs than by static nouns, and change is all we can rely on regarding the future. True the circular paths of the planets round the sun suggest eternal return but the reality is that there are no repeats. True that on our birthday each year the sun returns to the same degree in the zodiac where it stood when we were born. Yes but now it´s not the same sun. In the meantime it´s moved further along its course round the centre of our galaxy and has a different vibe. 

What I can do for clients who ask for advice as they have a big decision to make is to inform them of coming astrological tendencies. Through my felt experience of the archetypes and their qualities I’m able to describe the particular archetypal mix of the time ahead, which for the client can be compared to getting a weather forecast before setting out to sea, factoring in that weather forecasts can be wrong. To conclude, I leave it to the clients to make their own choices. Personally, I see it as a good thing if the future is not set in stone because if it were we’d have no freewill!

The prominent mundane astrologer Richard Tarnas in his book ´Cosmos and Psyche´ focuses on the inbuilt indeterminacy of the universe. He uses the word ´multivalent’ to describe what he sees as the chief characteristic of the twelve astrological archetypes that govern our charts. My understanding of archetypes is that they are transcendent cosmic organising principles dwelling in a higher cosmic dimension than our own. 

Tarnas´ main contribution, after defining archetypes, has been to correlate major alignments of the outer planets over past centuries with historical events in the human sphere. This has demonstrated how these cosmic forces have moulded the course of human history to weave over time a vast unfolding order of meaning in which human life is embedded.

Thus, we can experience the “as above so below” principle at work in our lives both on the personal and on collective levels, confirming in my mind that we live in a meaning-laden cosmos, one coherent with our deepest spiritual and moral aspirations. Synchronicities would not occur in a universe if it were random and purposeless!

Phoebe Wyss, February 2023

astrophoebe@btinternet.com