Signs and Omens

Many of the worlds traditions include some way to read “omens”. But much of that has degraded into superstition and a sense of victim-hood. There are lots of books floating around listing meanings of events, dreams, and so on in your life.

But think about it a little. Does any given event have the same meaning for everyone? For example, a crow crosses your path. Is a crow to you a pest, a sign of evil, a symbol of secret knowledge, or a communal bird that mates for life? Perhaps it has no meaning at all to you. Rather than looking up what it means to someone else, it’s better to learn to heed your own self authority. To consider what it means to you.

If we understand that life is an inside-out flowering, it soon becomes apparent that the outside world is an effect of the flow of consciousness. As consciousness is rich with intelligence and structure, there is a natural meaning to everything around us. Our world is full of patterns, repeated everywhere.

Some have made a study of patterns and cycles, finding them in lines on the hand, features of the face, number patterns or the cycles of the stars. Such references can be useful. But in practice, much of that is used as a prescription rather than as a means to make those patterns conscious. If we instead use references to discover our own process, we learn to recognize the patterns ourselves and thus find  meaning directly.

There are some general principles about signs. Synchronicities can tell us we’re on track and our direction is supported. Life flows and next steps arise obviously and easily. We’re happy without reason.

Obstacles, on the other hand, may be a way of steering our attention to change course. To get us out of the ditch and back on track.

Or, obstacles may be something we need to work through to bring it up a level. They may be an expression of something unresolved (karma) or resistance that needs to be seen through.

If nothing is happening when we want something to, it may not be time, it may be a sign of resistance or inertia, or it may well mean we need to do something ourselves to help facilitate it. Action flows from action, not inertia.

As the Yoga Sutras put it, we have an aversion to pain so will often steer clear of what isn’t working, continue with it in denial, or otherwise not face it. And yet what is difficult can often be the doorway to our greatest good. But only if we come to it correctly.

We can’t discover meaning from a book. There is an old Vedic saying: Knowledge in books, remains in books. We have to learn to feel our own way. Does this feel like a No? A nudge to shift? Or does this feel like resistance? Where is the resistance located? That can help us facilitate it’s release because it will bring the attention to the area of the energy body wanting release.

The object here is to live better in the world. It is not to culture magical thinking or to open ourselves up to being energetically manipulated. Obsession is an expression of imbalance. A constant craving for meaning is a symptom of being disconnected from ourselves.

Omens are not the road; they are just signposts as we stumble towards ecstasy.
Davidya