of cigars, foxes, synchronicities, and the color red

Yes, of course I’ve heard the phrase “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar” (oft attributed to Sigmund Freud yet not fully substantiated) — but I never bought it (the phrase, not the cigar, but oh well, that, too …)

The idea that some things “just are,” and carry no deeper meaning, begs closer scrutiny. Doesn’t it? There are always innumerable nooks and crannies to explore and myriad treasures to unearth. Aren’t there? 455,000 Google results for “I Never Metaphor I Didn’t Like” can’t all be wrong. Can they? (Okay, make that 455,001.)

As a card-carrying Piscean (openly and proudly declared here in the inaugural post on this very blog), it’s all about the deep, blue sea for this fish. So sue me: I’m cerebral! (Homage paid to Woody Allen’s short piece, The Whore of Mensa, right here). My friend Christian — linkage eludes me but his website and blog are in the Blogroll in the righthand sidebar — has taken to calling me Sara Bella (you don’t need to be a genius to figure out the wordplay, trust me!)

My 17-year-old daughter requests that I refrain from making global Text-to-Universe Connections regarding happenings in her life. Could it possibly be that she truly doesn’t wish to see how the larger shifts in evolutionary human consciousness inform her feelings about boys? Could it be true that, rather than hear about sunspots and Saturn’s transits, Jungian archetypes, and an ocean liner of synchronicities, she simply wants me to listen, nod, and now and then intone, Whoa, that sucks?

In my world, everything is an oracle and nothing is disconnected from anything else. The lines between what some would call reality and some would call imagination, aren’t even lines at all. The distinctions among nightdreams, daydreams, visions, images of past, present, future or simultaneous realities, blur more softly than ever. I’m opting for multi-dimensional over muti-tasking.

To wit, this kind of stuff happens to me all the time:

I listen to a body activation radio show by Ramanathan Iyer (fondly linked right here), who (Get Ready to Stretch!) invites us to manifest individual and planetary joy by focusing our awareness on the rectum, or Red Door — among other places. If you believe a rectum is just a rectum, you might not be ready for Rama quite yet! On the other hand…

I go to the market and come home with only red and orange things: tangerine juice, oranges, tangelos, peach jelly, cantaloupe, strawberries, red/orange bell peppers. Some hours later, I post a Comment on a friend’s blog regarding another friend’s recently acquired purebred red-nose American Staffordshire Terrier, declaring that “red is the new black.” (Yes, it’s easier to type Pit Bull, but, oh well, you know…)

I rescue a nearly-empty box of henna (for the hair) from the trash – where it has resided for some months – and ponder the ancient art of reddish highlighting. For reasons I can’t possibly fathom, I find myself watching a brief Internet video about Beyonce Knowles, including mention of her role as Foxxy Cleopatra in the movie Goldmember ( a cinematic event I somehow must have slept through).

Sometime later, much to my unfettered delight (!), a full-grown red fox saunters through a spring snowfall outside the window of the house I am currently housesitting.

Hmmm. My first and second chakras are spinning (or not, as the case may be). These are the ones related to (1) the color red and lessons related to the material world – which is not at this moment showering me with the abundance I clearly deserve and need; and (2) the color orange and lessons related to sexuality, work, and physical desire, which are also out of whack, reflecting too much of some and not enough of the other – though don’t fool yourself into thinking you can figure it out: I’m so more unpredictable than that! RE: chakras, archetypes and loads of other wisdom, I love Caroline Myss’s work; check out www.myss.com.

The Fox totem (here’s one site, but there are many others that address the symbolism of animal totems) has much to say about hair and the color red, including: “If a change is needed on certain levels, changing the hair to reflect this desire helps to activate fox medicine…The changeability of the colors reflects change of the expression of the inner force…In general, the Red Fox is associated with sexual energy, the kundalini, and the freeing of the creative life force.” Dang! What’s not to love?

Journey deep. Listen well. Make peace. Evolve. Jewels of insight and inspiration are all over the place: You simply need to bring your awareness into every situation.

Presence required. Humidor, not so much.