You may be familiar with the terms ill omens and bad omens. Could there be more to this expression than we realize? The connection between omens, manifestation, and synchronicity may be more significant than we realize.
Synchronicity and Omens
People have long sought to understand how the eureka or Déjà vu experience works. Almost everyone has experienced it. The feeling that you are reliving a situation. Let’s take a more in-depth look at this subject.
What is an Omen?
The exact origins of the word Omen are unknown. It is an interesting term with morpheme links to several languages. We can trace the word Omen to the Greek word Oiomai. This word has several derivations: I suppose, I think, and I believe. Omen is also links to the Latin word Audire, which means to hear, and last but not least, Omen has Porto-Indo-European a lexical root means a sighting and to believe. (1)
You’d think that these experiences would be a good thing, right? But the Church couldn’t control them, nor did it want to compete with the indigenous beliefs of the previous Pagan cultures. So, around the 16th century, the Church rebranded the meaning. Omens became a sign of something bad. The negative association is intentional. It’s an example of a culture demonizing a word. Labeling omen in this way makes it or those who use it unacceptable.
This change demonized the term and created a negative social bias for it all of those who they associated with the term. You guessed it. They blamed the occurrence of bad omens on those who practiced the indigenous pagan practices whom they branded as Witches. It is how the Church made prejudice and superstition a cultural standard.
Omens as Signposts
Omens are essential signposts, metaphors, or clues pointing to a message. It’s up to the observer to unravel the meaning.
Many ancient traditions refer to the subconscious mind as the Soul. Our Soul is a universal entity. So, Omens is one way the Universe or our Soul gets our attention and communicates with us.
The meaning of an omen is unique to the observer. Everyone has a unique history. So, the purpose of any omen defers for everyone. An omen is something that sticks out. It could be a prophecy or warning. Or it could be a signal of something positive in our future.
The critical point is learning to recognize unusual patterns. We must sharpen our awareness and our instincts to capture them. Unusual are easy to recognize. The hard ones to recognize or discern are the omens or synchronicities that are hidden or disguised in everyday common events. The key is being in touch with that gut feeling, which alerts us to those Ah-ha moments. Déjà vu events are the sign of an omen. That exact moment when you feel like you’ve lived it before. It is not just familiar; it conjures a hidden connection like a deep memory.
Here, synchronicities and omens have much in common. Almost anything could qualify, so the list of possible experiences is practically endless. Omens can be unusual weather events like lightning and cloud shapes. They may also be encounters with birds, animals, and people. The key is the Déjà vu feeling. When you have that feeling, pay attention.
Omens can either be a good or a bad sign. It depends upon the observer’s point of view. Say, for example, a black cat crosses your path. You say it felt like someone was walking on my grave. So, in this case, the black cat is a bad omen. I see the same black cat and say, an old friend will visit. Hence, for me, it is a good omen, but because these signposts are metaphors, the meaning may not be straightforward. So, people seek help to unravel their meaning. (2)
What is Synchronicity?
Synchronicity is the awareness of a special relationship, an interesting coincidence. It is when two or unrelated things come together. They catch our attention because they are unusual. These combinations fall outside the probability of chance. We know something is going on but are not sure what it is. Carl Jung is the first to call these events a synchronicity.
“Synchronicity is the coming together of inner and outer events in a way that cannot be explained by cause and effect and that is meaningful to the observer.” ― Carl Jung
People describe these events as “a Eureka” moment. It’s like someone removing a veil that has been covering your eyes. At these points, our awareness sharpens, and then we glimpse something unusual.
The event is familiar to us on some internal level, reliving a past moment. It’s where we get the term Déjà vu, which translates as already seen. Is this evidence that time is not necessarily a constant? Similarly, some think these events are evidence our soul or the Universe is trying to communicate, or perhaps they are proof of some supernatural intervention. So, yes, synchronicity and omens are names that describe the same thing.
Manifestation and Synchronicity
To manifest means to conjure something or bring something into your presence. So, we are talking about causing synchronistic occurrences, which is, in essence, what magic is all about. Making things happen through a supernatural power is also the idea behind the law of attraction.
Some people think you don’t need to make synchronistic events happen. These events happen all the time, so we just need to expand our awareness and attention to capture them. So manifestation and synchronicity are two different subjects.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Synchronicity and Omens a Rare Occurrence?
The interesting thing about synchronicity is that the more aware you are, the more you look for them, and the more you’ll find. Without being present and observant, we miss many of these events, and there are two main reasons we miss them.
First, we fail to spot them because routines run our lives, and our daily routines keep our awareness from seeing what’s going on. The second reason we miss them is because of our cultural programming, which acts as a filter to keep us from seeing anything outside our worldview.
How Synchronicity and Omens Are Similar
Omens and Synchronicity appear to be similar events. They come to our attention because they are unusual or perhaps because they elicit that feeling of Déjà vu.
Like omens, it is up to the observer to recognize the synchronic event, and, like omens, the meaning of synchronistic events depends upon the observer.
So, is there a difference? Not really. It’s logical to conclude that synchronicity is a more sophisticated way of explaining omens.
How to Tell a Good Omen from a Bad Omen
Omens and synchronicities are often linked to significant typologies. Symbols and typologies like resurrection, rebirth, and reincarnation have a huge influence on our cultural narrative and, thus, on our thinking and values. When we see one, we attach either good or bad meaning to the situation.
It is a testament to the power of our worldview’s programming. What’s interesting is that everything could be an omen. That’s right. Everything has the potential to become an omen. We all have unique life experiences, which allow us to attribute special meaning to many things.
So, it’s critical to trace the meaning of these arbitrary assignments back to their source. Ask, “What does it mean to me?” We need to weigh the difference between the meaning we get from cultural programming and our unique association with the omen. It’s important to remember that whether something is a good, bad, or ugly omen is an arbitrary judgment. It’s a bias. So, that means we can see them and change them.
For instance, our black cat crosses the path in front of us. In many cultures, this is a bad omen. Or if it’s just your cat, it means it’s walking around. There’s nothing terrible about it. I’m just walking across the street.
What’s worse is when our cultural narrative uses this tactic to label people. Prejudice becomes a part of social programming. We can see this negative branding with witches, for instance. Similarly, some cultures use this negative branding to demonize races and ethnicity. These are negative social prejudices.
Interpret the meaning after you do your research on the source. Learn the difference between personal meaning and the superstitions and biases of the culture, but this isn’t a simple task. We recommend using a spiritual journal to track trends. Finally, add intuition.
Can Synchronicities appear as numbers?
Yes, it is common for us to spot unusual patterns in numbers. That’s because our modern culture is driven by metrics. We may associate meaning with any numbers, and our cultural narrative is full of numeric associations. You need to be mindful of which number patterns are significant to you and not just superstition.
Many people who promote the law of attraction try to find meaningful numbers to sell manifestation and synchronicity products.
Interpreting Synchronicity and Omens
There are people with skills to interpret omens. Shaman, Seers, and Witches specialize in this kind of guidance. I have first-hand experience observing this process. To me, it seems precisely more like a modern psychological session than a ceremony. Beware of the fortune tellers and life coaches who charge exorbitant fees for things you can research on your own.
An experienced guide will ask a lot of questions. In this way, they help lead you to your answers. They ask about your dreams, family history, and what you like and dislike. The question you will hear them repeat is, what do you think it means? It reinforces the fact that the most accurate meaning of an omen comes from the unique history of the observer. The guide merely helps you find the most likely meaning.
How to Spot Synchronicity and Omens
The key to spotting them is your observational skills. We probably miss most of these critical events for two reasons. First, our cultural narrative programming instructs our minds to misinterpret them. This cultural programming writes over our worldview, blotting out our natural situational awareness. Second, our skills of observation are numb. Again, this results from cultural programming. It has the effect of blinding our abilities of perception.
That being the case, we all need to enhance our observational skills. It’s the only way to combat the programming of the cultural narrative. A well-rounded spiritual practice will include these practical exercises as a part of your skill set.
Separating Superstition from Personal Meaning
When deciphering an omen, an issue is our propensity to confuse superstition with our “personal meaning.” We recommend some tools that will help you separate the two. The first tool is the Enneagram personality profile. The second is a set of tools to enhance critical thinking, including logical reasoning, truth-seeker axioms, and spotting logical fallacies.
You’ll need to spend some time doing your research. Everyone starts in a unique place. One thing is for sure: Once you conduct your research, you’ll probably be walking on your sacred ground. That means you’ll touch on your beliefs, likely bringing up powerful emotions like fear and anger. So, learn how to use emotional checks as part of your research process. It will help you keep on track with less emotional stress.
Can Science Explain Manifestation and Synchronicity?
Science shows that the observer affects the object they are observing. The thing we watch and sense also affects us. For example, we view a sunset. We think it is beautiful, and this makes us happy. Here, the setting sun is affecting us. The question is, how do we affect the sunset? The latter effect is the apprehension that something notable, significant, or unusual occurs. Some describe this as a “Eureka” or Déjà vu occurrence.
So, there are countless opportunities for these events every day. The number we capture depends on our level of awareness.
Are Omens or Synchronicity Paranormal?
It all depends upon how you define paranormal. Paranormal experiences are those beyond a scientific explanation. We know from the above example that science can explain, to some extent. It tells us what may happen when we experience them. However, it does not explain how or why or what is causing these events.
Synchronicity Versus Coincidence
A Coincidence is when two or more similar things happen simultaneously. It could be a synchronistic event when there doesn’t seem to be a causal connection. It depends on how it relates to you.
When we recognize something similar or unusual, it could be our intuition trying to make us pay attention. It’s vital to record these events. Documenting them gives you the chance to see possible connections that you otherwise would have missed.
Synchronicity Versus Serendipity
Serendipity is an unplanned, fortunate event. So, this would be the same as a good omen. Or, similarly, a favorable synchronistic event.
How Confirmation Bias Affects Synchronicity and Omens
Confirmation bias is the inclination to fit data into one’s current worldview. It’s a way of confirming one’s current beliefs, so confirmation bias is necessary to some extent. Our worldview is the filter that spots these unusual events we call omens or synchronicity.
We all have a worldview filter, and it probably contains some confirmation bias. Thankfully, we can remove harmful programming, such as religious, ethnic, and racial bias. Repairing negative programming takes thoughtful inner work. The Enneagram of Personality and Comparative Religious Study are excellent tools to help.
We can expand the depth and bandwidth of awareness. We do this by eliminating things that clutter our perception and cognitive abilities. Again, this will require self-reflection and analysis through “serious inner work.”
We can use several tools to identify the roadblocks to our perception and awareness. The Enneagram Personality Profile is one tool we use. The Study of logical reasoning can help us unravel our thinking.
In Conclusion
Manifestation synchronicity and omens are not similar. Synchronicity is the modern term for omens. Manifestation is the desire to make these occupances happen.
The real question is, are omens and synchronistic events messages from the subconscious mind, or divine communication from our soul or the Universe? Synchronistic events are known by many names. Some call it a coincidence, a twist of fate, spooky action at a distance. No matter what you call it, we all experience it from time to time. When we look for them, we are more likely to find them. What is your experience?
References
(1) Signs and Omens: Are They For Real? psychologytoday.com
(2) Research Suggests That Synchronicities Can Aid Psychotherapy. psychologytoday.com