Synchromysticism

" Synchromysticism:
The art of realizing meaningful coincidence in the seemingly mundane with mystical or esoteric significance."

- Jake Kotze

October 18, 2011

Stradbroke Dreamtime

Oodgeroo's storybook illustrated
by
Bronwyn Bancroft
I wrote in the post titled,
Manning and Malthouse and The Dead End (Drive-in) 
that;
"Ned Manning's first wife was Bronwyn Bancroft, an  
Indigenous Australian artist and that will be a synchronicity that will be discussed further in my next post."
Well, the synchronicity is that Stradbroke Island was where I had an OBE (out of body experience) as an eleven year-old.
Our campsite on Stradbroke Island
I remember floating out of my body about four to six feet above and behind the back of my head and watched it walk with my team mates on the beach of the island, feeling no pain as the shells and sticks dug into my bare feet (although I certainly felt them the next day).
It was also the first time I had drunk a full tin of beer by myself.
We got into the father's beer that they had left in the tents, while they all went fishing.
We all had a can each, and no more.
That was so the fathers wouldn't notice so many missing beers:-)
That was our reasoning, anyway and we actually got away with it too, amazingly enough.
Now, I know people will say, "oh, he was only drunk and wasn't having an OBE at all, it was just the beer".
I can tell you it was NOT the beer producing an hallucination, this was as real as me sitting here and watching my fingers type away as my consciousness peers out from my eye sockets at them below working away on the keyboard.
That was the day I knew I could never die, and that my body was no more the thinking part of me than my arm is the thinking part of me.
I could lose my arm and I would lose nothing but the use of an arm ... I would retain 100% of my consciousness.
The arm was not me ... it was mine to use as I saw fit ... but it was not me.
The same went for the body, I knew from this experience that the thinking part of me would survive the death of this body.
As what form that would take, if any, I don't know.
It was very easy for me to understand when people would describe in a NDE (near death experience) and talk about floating outside of their bodies and watching from above what was happening to their bodies below.
Bronwyn has illustrated many books and produced many wonderful paintings, but my favourite would probably have to be Oodgeroo's Sradbroke Dreamtime, a collection of 27 short traditional Aboriginal tales from Stradbroke Island.
Aerial photograph of Stradbroke Island,
 just east of 
Brisbane
I remember when Oodgeroo ... or Kath Walker, as she was known then ... came to visit my primary school to give a talk about Aboriginal culture.
I was too young to appreciate it then, and that was before I ever visited Stradbroke Island.
I love Bronwyn's art, it is so spiritual to me.
And to think if I had not seen Ned Manning's talk at the 
Byron Bay Writers Festival, I may never have come across these wonderful works and stories of Bronwyn's.
Ah, The power of synchronicity.
Bronwyn Bancroft's One Small World
You can visit Bronwyn's website here;
http://www.bronwynbancroft.com/

3 comments:

  1. Sometimes I wonder if we look hard enough for synchronicity, we find it! because ... I have been researching my family history for some years now and it could include the Stradbroke estate, Henham Hall, where I have been and visited as a tourist, I hasten to add.
    I have detailed my search on my Blog under family history and the Jenner family (of Suffolk) if you want to see it sometime. Basically it centres around my ancestor Mary Chaplin who was born on a ship - the HMS Zebra. She was the illegitimate daughter of so far unknown parents, but family stories say it was a local dignity. Since the family hailed from that area and Henham hall was the nearest large house, it is possible etc. etc. Anyway the Aussie Earl as the latest Earl of Stradbroke is known is a very colourful character. I think he had 24 children at the last count. He went to Australia to make his fortune, made it and returned to England and rebuilt his family home, Henham Hall, which burned down previously.
    I also wrote a chapter of my latest book last week, all about an out of body experience.
    So once again, many similarities.
    Interesting post. Thank you.

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  2. My experience is that synchronicity is like a heavenly GPS nudging me to people and places that I would not have made contact with if life was left to my left brain.I've let the cage door open on the right side of my brain to see where it will take flight to,and then I follow.
    I decided to really let it run wild about a year ago,and it hasn't disappointed me at all,yet.
    It's just a matter of blowing in the cosmic wind and letting it decide where it is going to take me and trusting that it is blowing me in the best possible direction to take me to the people I need to meet and the places,books, movies,whatever it is that I need for this life on earth.
    Doesn't mean there won't be storms that I'm blown through,along the way.But it will show that there is a much bigger plan evolving and that life is much more than random events.It shows me that there is a purpose to it all,no matter how cruel and uncaring that looks from where I sometimes view life from.

    My next post called "Bird of Paradise" will show you how random themes can link people and events together and lead each person to different paths that they probably would not have ventured down by themselves.
    Oh...and it involves one of my Brisbane blogging friends named Starr...so you might want to keep an eye out for that one,once I get it all together.
    These things can get really complicated to piece together,because they weave into so many other synchronistic webs that it's hard to say where it all ends.
    Maybe that's just it...it doesn't,it just keeps flowing and moving us all along with it.

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  3. Daz, you dazzle. The art in these pics is amazing, and the connections you pinpoint astound. You're on some kind of weird journey here and I am pleased to be along for the wild ride.

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