Beauty * and * Bread

Remember when The Celestine Prophecy was all the rage? Although the quality of writing is nothing to write home about, the ideas intrigued me. James Redfield says there are no coincidences. I tend to believe him.

For example, just after I’d read Prophecy, friend Carol and I attended my one and only sweat lodge. It is easily one of the most profound experiences of my life, but it’s something I can’t write about–at least not the ceremony itself–because Native American ceremonies are not to be shared with those not in attendance.

My interest in Native American culture began many years ago as a result of my relationship with a Lenni Lenape (Delaware) man. We broke up, he moved to Idaho, and we lost touch completely. The day after the sweat lodge ceremony, I was in my office working on the book he and I had begun, called A Gift of the Buffalo. The phone rang.

“I was thinking about you, and I just had to call.”

No need to announce who it was. I recognized the voice. He continued, “I was sitting outside in the yard yesterday when a hawk came and landed just a few feet away. Somehow I needed to talk to you about it.”

I told him about the previous day’s experience, including the gift of the hawk feather. He, of all people in my life, understood exactly what hawks mean to me. His Indian name was Two Hawks.  I also didn’t have to explain how life-affirming the sweat lodge was.

His phone call a coincidence? Not in my world.

Last May 30 I suddenly had the impulse to see if I could find the Mexican music I loved many years ago when I was a Spanish major in college and spent summers down south. I spent the entire evening getting reacquainted with long-lost loves and long-repressed memories. Why? I couldn’t imagine the reason for this coming to mind when it did and for my seeming obsession with it.  I even went to iTunes and downloaded two albums of Mexican favorites that I still listen to regularly.

On June 15 I received an email from a friend which said, in part,

Also wanted to ask you about Mexico. I was offered a teaching position at an American school in Mexico City. Have you been there before? I’m weighing the pros and cons. . . Would love to hear what you have to say about living in Mexico.

I was blown away.  Yet another synchronicity. It’s been great fun talking with her about Mexico City, the area where I lived and how I loved living there. Seems the school she’ll be teaching at isn’t all that far from where I resided, and it looks like she’s found a house in what used to be one of the best residential areas of D. F.

I’ve said I’ll never go back to Mexico City. I may have to eat my words.

By the way, as I sat outside on the deck this afternoon, I heard a familiar sound–the skirl of hawks nearby. Two of them glided on thermals, making great sweeping circles over North Fork, calling to each other as they soared. Coincidence? Not in my world.