11:11 Are You an 11er?

It is amazing the number of people who have 11:11 specifically makes its way into their lives.Some recognize it to represent something significant, but do not know what that is yet they know it means something. Some will make a wish, some think it's just a sign saying all is OK. Some will encounter the number and disregard it or say it is nothing, just random. They might say that is is something in the mind that makes one notice it more often and it is nothing supernatural or magical.
 There is another group of people who believe that they know what the number represents and have sent their beliefs out into the world. Some of those thoughts; the number is a ‘gateway’ number or a function of humanities spiritual evolution, a message from angels, a DNA activation code. 
I fall into the category of knowing that it is significant, yet I do not know what it means. When I come across the number, I feel that it is telling me that I am doing things right in life, I’m on the right track so to speak. I have also come across the idea that it is a number that is presented to all the light-worker/healers upon the earth at this time. With my personal experience, I can sort of resonate with this. I have always been there to help one who is hurt, being physical, emotional or spiritual.
One, of the many things I have found regarding 11:11, here is one that I really like


I first encountered the number 1111 when I was 11, imagine that! I joined a scout troop and that was our troop’s number. It meant nothing to me at the time. I also am a child of the dawning of the digital age. My first digital wristwatch I got for Christmas when I was about 9 or 10. I probably saw 11:11 back then, but did not connect with it since I had no use for knowing time at that age. To this day I still do not wear a watch.


When I was 12, my mom told me about something that started with her fiancé. He was waiting with his brother for a table at a cafe, he looked at his digital watch and saw that it was 11:11. He made a comment about how often he sees 11:11. His brother mentions that he had been seeing the number quite often as well. They thought it odd and left it at that. My mom’s fiancé came home that night and told my mother about the number and the conversation with his brother. That is when it all started for her. She started to see the number quite often and when she told me the story, I started to ‘recognize’ the number.This sort of supports the idea that it is something in the mind, power of suggestion. The idea that it is mentioned to someone and subconsciously they start to be drawn to it. This does not fully apply in my experience. I was wearing this number before the time aspect was presented to me. That is why I say recognize, because the number came to me before I noticed it to be something more common among others.I was no longer in girl scouts so I had not connected my old troop number to this yet, that would come several years later when getting ready for a move and I had to pack the things in my closet. I was quite in awe that day and that sparked and even deeper curiosity on a personal level.
 The number 11:11 would show itself very often. There would be times when I was in no need to know the time, yet, I was drawn to look at the clock. Again one could say that it was a subconscious thing, but try to use that logic for the times when I would be driving along the highway and a billboard clock would say 11:11. I also worked at a business and the address was 1111. Then there are the ticket numbers, the receipts, the flight number....

...and on and on.

How is this explained?

One could say, it’s just a number, like 3:33 or 5:55, when in reference to time, and these same numbers can be repeated in other things for certain individuals. I do not see other patterned numbers at such volume as I do 11:11. What I have found is, that even though people do see these repeated numbers, it is 11:11 specifically that gets the most attention and is the most often seen and talked about. I have ventured into a few ‘spiritual’ communities in www world, and the number seems to be discussed more than any other multiple digit number with the possible exception of 666.
 

I am not surprised that the first time I ‘connected’ to 11:11 was when I was 11. It may have been 1 year 11 months and 1 day, from that first encounter to the second, for all I know and if it was, I would not doubt it. The patterns that are presented to us are amazing when you look for them. To this day I still see the number, quite often. I am always running into other people who also have a connection to this number.

Long ago, my mother sent me an email with the time-stamp of. . . . .11:11. I emailed her back and told her - look there is the 11:11, she emailed back a comment and that time stamp was 1:11, not quite the same, but it goes on. I emailed her back, again, pointing out the time, again, she replied again, at 2:22. Since then, there have been other emails that are time stamped 11:11 between us.

So while it may not be just 11:11, it still hold something over the other numbers. But these other numbers and patterns that people notice are just as valid, they just have something different to it. People who notice these numbers will say that it is meaningful to them, even if they do not know what it means. 
At this moment in my life I cannot say what the 11:11 phenomena is about. There are some things that seem to make more sense to me than others. But I have not come to any solid knowing of what 11:11 means as a whole. It may be possible that all of these theories have some truth to them, none of the theories have a premise that is malicious or detrimental to any persons peace of mind or physical liberties.

Of all the many things that I have found that 'explain' 11:11, this is one I really can appreciate 

The 11:11 Universal and Spiritual Laws of the Cosmos

My Pagan Way - part 2

...read the first in the series of My Pagan Way

How I Got the Pagan Label

We all get labels…like them or not. Some are fairly harmless. I have never had much issue with what labels others put on me, I could really care less. To me labels are often misused and some labels carry a negative connotation.
The question, 'what religion are you?' or 'do you believe in God?' would eventually come up. For a long time I was not sure how to answer that. It took me many years finding out how to answer that question. Lucky for me, I can only remember two times. Well, really once. But I was asked if I was a Christian. I KNEW how to answer that question…."No".

I started out irreligious right from the start for I was not raised in a religion. But I was exposed to the stories of the Bible from a very early age. What I knew of Christianity was not something I could connect to. The world created in six days, Adam and Eve. The idea of a heavenly father that impregnated a human and had a son that was some hybrid was not making any sense to me. While I did have an active imagination and wanted to believe in things like fairy godmothers and super powers, I knew better. The some of the stories in the bible where just the same thing to me. I think that the Bible belongs on the mythology shelf. As much as I thought about it and tried out prayer (to God), I could not find belief in 'God'.

In my search to find my spiritual self, I grasped at things like 'mother earth' and 'father time' to personify those aspects of the bigger spiritual picture of our own realities. Deep within my soul, from an early age, I knew that there was something of great divine power somewhere, somehow.

An early encounter on the playground in elementary school taught me to not express my irreligious nature and I was able to avoid any religious exposing of myself while attending a Christian school for two years.
(why a Christian school is a different story, but I can tell you it had nothing to do with religion)
It would not be until I was 19 when the guy I was dating asked if I believed in God. I hesitated to answer that. I was not sure how to answer that so I simply said 'No'. He then said, 'So you are an atheist', and to that I hesitated and said, 'No'…..What was I? I had no clue. I did not know about things like agnosticism, paganism or Wicca. I was only aware of the major world religions and other than Christianity, I was not knowledgeable as to what those religions were about. Eventually I found the catch phrase, 'spiritual but not religious'. That was my 'go to' reply at the time.

It was also when I was 19 that I was formally introduced to Native American spirituality. I had always admired the native people of this land. As a small child, I would root for the 'indian' in the black and white westerns. The spiritual approach of the native people was something I could connect to, everything was very nature based. And the stories! The stories where much more fun than what is found in the Bible, and there was no vengeful guy in the sky. One might equate the Great Spirit with God, as a heavenly father creator. In those ways they are alike. However, He was simply the grandfather spirit and creator of the heavens. He did not 'rule' over any thing. I never got the impression that this Creator was some sort of dictator or egomaniac. And as far as one's fate, that was in the hands of Grandmother Spider.
But, that was not a 'religion' I could be a part of. Sure I could 'participate', but with all the respect in the world, theirs is one of heritage. I can borrow the personified concepts and often do. It was at this time that I learned what anima was, and that was a major click. I had always viewed the natural world around me in this way, I just never had the word to describe it. I am an animist.... but even that is still no religion.

Through the the years no one brought the subject of religion, so the whole thing was null with the exception of spiritual talk, no faiths mentioned, just people sharing there perspective and experiences. Likely this was due to the fusion of my friends being punk rock and/or Deadheads.

I got closer to a label in my 30's upon discovering pantheism. I liked the concept of 'all is god'. However, there was also the disregarding of things like reincarnation, ghosts and psychic ability in pantheism and those where aspect of spirituality and nature that I believe in. And I just don't believe in these things blindly either. Experience has given me the proof I need, but I felt these things instinctively from a young age.
Proof is just a side-effect.

It was also in my 30's, late in the decade, that I found my own original label. It started when gravitated towards the occult in my late teens, starting with astrology. But that has nothing to do with religion. When it came to religion, I had picked up pieces of all kinds of faiths, found the good in them all, tossed aside the things that where just silly. With those things and my own personal experiences, perceptions and instinctive feelings, I came up with the term, Freeform Spiritualist.

It was art and the internet of all the things that brought me to paganism, For it for sure was not the pagans I had met, but that is a different story. The thing that did it was being part of a well known handmade website.  It was these pagans that were creative and artistic like me, and they were all different 'flavors' of pagans, and all shared my spiritual perspective and where just a whole lot of fun to hang out with. I had found a group of like minded people and it felt really good.
It was then that I became a Pagan.
But I still mostly use the freeform spiritualist term.

Tarot & the Bathroom Ghost

Many years ago I was part of a tarot study group and we would play a game called 'Missing Card'. Someone would do a three card reading and choose one of the cards to be the missing one. They would present the reading 'report' in full but only identify two of the cards. Everyone else would then try and figure out what card is the missing one.

Well, it was my turn to do a reading. I really do not read for myself so much. I usually have to have a very serious 'crisis' that I feel totally lost before I pick up the cards. Finding something to read about was a challenge. After a while of pondering something 'fun' to read about, it came to me; The Ghost!

A little bit about the ghost.
I had been looking for a new place to rent. While at work I happened to strike up a conversation with a landlord (unknown to me) who happened to have a place available. I would not be off of work until late but he said "Go on in, it's open", I could go see it then. So that I did, I was eager to find something. Upon entering the house and getting about 10 feet in, I stopped, I felt something. I knew this feeling from my first ghost encounter. I acknowledged the presence and the feeling by saying, "There is a ghost here." It was a mix of knee jerk, and knowing that I should express that I know that the ghost was there.

I'm not the kind of person to let a ghost stop me from taking a place I like. I have lived with a ghost before. I moved into the place almost immediately.
It took a few months before we started to see a pattern with this ghost. We discovered that the ghost mostly 'hangs out' in the bathroom and the small bedroom.
Back to the reading. I decided to see if I could find anything out about the ghost that lived with us. Of the three cards I pulled, I could not decide what card to make the missing card. The cards flowed into each other so well. However, even with a good flow in the cards, it felt unfinished. I needed that one last card, the mystery card, and I let the ghost pick it (perhaps the ghost knew what I was doing and wanted to have a say, thus the unfinished reading).

I took the deck into the bathroom and told the ghost to pick a card. I left the room for a few minutes, retrieved my deck, cut it and took the card from the top and made that the mystery card.

'So what are the cards, where's the reading!?'
I hear ya!

I used a spread with the card positions; Idea, Challenge, Advantage.
I added the I Ching (**) associations tot he cards and after pulling the cards and doing the reading, I found that the well known Past, Present, Future(*) spread fell into place nicely.

Idea (*past)(**Temptation)
6 of Swords reversed: the imagery, right away, said to me, "crossing over the river" and I thought, 'could this be a drowning?'
The nutshell traditional meaning (upright) of the card is moving on, or away from a bad situation. Moving on and crossing over are terms of death. In reversed, the moving away would then be moving towards. My house was located just across the street from a river, a good sized one. Way back when, the river used to be much bigger. It was then that I got a sense that this was a young boy who wanted to go to the river and did not wait for an adult. The reversed nature of the card and the 'edginess' of the suit of Swords, there is an essence of defiance. In reversed, the card is about being stuck or an underworld journey. A ghost is indeed considered stuck.

Challenge (*present)(**The Well)
9 of Cups: this card continues with the focus on water, as cups is the suit of water, and the I Ching association of the well, as in water well. The challenge in the present is to find that place of calm, of peace & healing. To get away from the worry & have times of enjoyment.

Advantage (*future)(**Liberation)
10 of Cups: this is the card of home & happiness. I take this to be the environment I have brought to this place (the house). Here is a secure home, we, the kids and I all acknowledge the ghost without fear and have no problems cohabiting. The card indicates a goal achieved successfully & the emotional fulfillment (for the ghost I presume).


Water is a significant theme with this set of cards. There are two Cup cards, the suit of water. In the Sword card the river is just another character in the visual story. Seeing all the water is not a surprise, the ghost does like the bathroom, especially the tub, and we live along the river.

So the missing card. I took my deck to the bathroom and set it on the counter and told the ghost to choose a card and asked, 'What do we need to do for you?' After a few minutes I retrieved my deck and pulled the last card.

From the card: the ghost feels a sense of worthlessness. Maybe because he has difficulty communicating to others who have been in the house before. This child was taken away from the family life he enjoyed. His life was abruptly cut off & that is worrisome for the ghost. I believe that making the ghost a welcomed member of the family may give the ghost just the thing he desires, something that no-one else did, which left the ghost feeling doubtful of ever having a childhood.
The acceptance we offer could lead to the ghosts liberation.
(Can you guess the card?)

Now came the guessing. Typically people would just offer their guess, but one in the group wanted to play with this one so they did their own reading. They meditated on the question I asked.
"What do we need to do for you?"
5 of cups- the ghost has lost much and feels alone. He wants to feel cared about again.
8 of swords- the ghost is bound and unable to communicate, however, he could free himself if he were to choose to do so and the offer made.
9 of swords- the ghost is filled with grief and remorse about things lost and unable to recover. He feels very alone with no one to tell his despair to. He thinks all the time about his losses. They tie him to the house.
4 of cups- the ghost is miserable alone but has been given an offer to be cared about and become a part of a family again which he is deciding whether or not to accept.

The guess for the 'missing' card was the 4 of Cups. And guess what…that was indeed the card!

Putting the two readings side by side is very interesting. It is these sort of happenings that I wished that a skeptic had been in the room. Not only did both sets of cards express near the same message,
the cards themselves had a pattern.

 
Starting with the suits; except for the missing card, the first three card suits have 'flipped'. My Sword is their Cup and their Swords are my Cups. Swords is the Suit of Air and represents intellect, the mind and communication. Cups is the suit of Water and associates with emotions and psychic sensitivity. Very significant symbolism when talking about ghosts, or trying to talk to them.
Now the numbers. I have 6, 9, 10; they have 5, 8, 9. the numbers follow the same counting pattern because the second reading the number is one less in each position. I can't say much about any symbolism of the numbers or the pattern specifically. However, the way I see it, it is one of the 'coincidences' that is just a manner of expression that what is going on, really matters.
In other words, a coincidence is not a coincidence. The number pattern is just something to confirm and give validation to the reading and connection with the ghost.

Now let's look at some key words for the cards using words given by Joan Bunning
 ~ follow link for more detailed meanings
'Missing Card'
~ 4 of Cups; self-absorbed, feeling apathetic, going within
First Cards
~ 6 of Swords; feeling the blues, recovering, traveling
~ 5 of Cups; suffering a loss, feeling sorrow and regret
Second Cards
~ 9 of Cups; wishes fulfilled, physical enjoyment, satisfaction
~ 8 of Swords; Restrictions, powerlessness, confusion
Third Cards
~ 10 of Cups; joy, peace, family
~ 9 of Swords; worry, guilt, anguish

Both readings share the sense of sadness, regret, loneliness and so on. My cards logically had the more personal and environmental card, 10 of Cups; giving the ghost a 'home & family'.

It was a really fun and interesting study of the cards. Not just this one game but the others as well. The study pushed us to look at a meaning and stretch the mind to figure out what card had been pulled.