It happens twice a day. The clock will, at some point in the day, display 11:11 am or 11:11 pm.

This time is significant to a growing population. These people will look at the clock at exactly 11:11. The glance toward the clock  at that exact time happens too often to be a coincidence, they say.

“Numerologists believe that events linked to the time 11:11 appear more often than chance or coincidence. This belief is related to the concept of synchronicity. Other authors believe it is an auspicious sign, and others that it signals a spirit presence.” ~Wikipedia

These people, who call themselves “eleveners” see 11′s everywhere.

I know many twenty-somethings who make a wish when they happen to see 11:11 on a clock. I’m not talking about these people. It’s the people who look for the number 11 everywhere and try to find meaning.

They even look forward to the date 11/11/2011, or 11/11/11.

The number 11 doesn’t have to appear in a date or a time. The number could appear in an address, a phone number, or even be the total dollar amount on a receipt. The number doesn’t even have to be 11. The sum of a set of numbers can result in 11. Take the year 2009 and add the digits together (2 + 0 + 0 + 9). It is an “11″ year this year. So, wait a minute. Adding the digits together for 2011 (2 +0 +1 +1) add up to 4, then on 11/11/2011, isn’t is 11/11/04? For some reason, most eleveners ignore that fact and just refer to the “11″ in that upcoming 11/11/11 date.

What does it all mean? Heck if I know.

Google “11:11” and you will find that it means something different to different groups of people. To some, the time prompt signals the coming of UFOs. To others, it is a wake up call that the end of the world is imminent. It goes on and on. My personal favorite is that the prevalence of 11′s in one’s life coincides with the meeting of a soulmate, or twin soul.

Let’s focus on the twin soul. According to some “eleveners”, we each have another half (a cosmic twin) who will make us “whole” spiritual beings. The twins have a feeling that they have known each other their entire lives (or in a past life). Their backgrounds and experiences are eerily similar. The twins face difficulties that prevent them from being together. A large age gap (usually 11 years) prevents them from having a romantic relationship. One twin is often married to someone else. Other criteria exists for a “twin soul union”, but you get the point. I once had a friend who met this criteria to the letter.

My “twin soul” wasn’t a mystical cosmic being, though. He was just an average guy with whom I had many things in common. For a while.

Our daily conversations eventually slowed to weekly, then monthly. Then, they stopped. We found other interests. It happens every day to many people.

Some would argue that we found each other back then so we could evolve into the beings we are today. Perhaps. I’ve experienced deep bonds with others when “11″ wasn’t prevelant in my life. It means that I shared a bond with someone, no matter how brief the attachment was. There’s no real label that can be bestowed on a friendship. Who wants to place a label on a bond with someone anyway?

I concluded that it doesn’t take a number to form a bond.  I’d like to think we can experience deep bonds with others, whether we see a particular number, hear a particular song, or experience any other sort of synchronicity during our daily encounters.

Just a couple weeks ago, 11/11/2009, or 11/11/11 came to pass without incident for most people. So, I am not really convinced anything will happen on 11/11/2011. We’ll see.

What does the number 11 mean to me? After serious thought, I have concluded that it’s just a number we are bound to see hundreds of times each day.

It’s nothing special.

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For a differing viewpoint on the 11:11 phenomena, the subject is likely to arise during Coast to Coast AM’s show on Thursday night (11/26/09). “The numbers lady”, numerologist Glynis McCants, is scheduled to talk to George Noory. Check the website for times and radio affiliate information.

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Dragonfly

I left my house tonight, very excited to have the chance to attend a presentation given by Professor William Everist at the Columbus library. The topic was: “The Paranormal is the Normal Unexplored.” Yes, it’s not your every day “normal” event attended by most of us. There were 60 people expected at the event, which is such a small portion of Tucson’s ever growing population. I almost didn’t make it to the event myself. I forgot to complete my online RSVP and was placed on a waiting list. Less than 2 hours prior to the event, I received an email letting me know that a spot had opened up. I don’t know whose spot I was given and why. I am sure that it was an unusual event which prevented the person whose place I took from attending. Even the manner in which I learned about tonight’s event is unusual in itself.

I wrote a post a couple weeks ago about a tragic event in Toronto. An intoxicated woman was with her boyfriend on a “ghost hunting adventure” on the top of a university building. She fell to her death. Due to her death, I went on a rant in that post, about the motivations of thrill seekers versus the small percentage of the population who are actually interested in the science behind paranormal phenomena. I listed a few of the names of those paranormal research professionals who work right here in Tucson. When I referenced Professor Everist in that post on September 11th, I initially gave him the title of “Doctor‘” because I wasn’t sure if he had completed his doctorate. I looked it up on the trusty Google search engine and found very quickly that not only is he working on his PhD, but Professor Everist was to be speaking tonight. So, when I arrived at Columbus library tonight to hear him speak, I thought about how sad it was that I learned he was speaking, due to the news of the death of a woman who I didn’t even know. Then, I wondered about the various reasons behind the RSVP cancellation of someone else that allowed me to attend. This isn’t the first encounter I have had with Professor Everist, though.

A few years ago, I attended the premier party for Ghost! Magazine at the Z Mansion downtown. I heard about that event through my friend Debe Branning of the MVD Ghostchasers. Debe was asked to attend to promote her book Sleeping With Ghosts!: A Ghost Hunter’s Guide To Arizona’s Haunted Hotels And Inns. So, if it wasn’t for Debe, then I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to meet so many paranormal professionals on that particular night. If it wasn’t for Debe, I wouldn’t have signed up for a Ghost! Magazine subscription. From within the pages of that magazine, I was able to read contributions to the magazine written by Professor Everist. Professor Everist is a member of the scientific community whose goal is to present the scientific side of the paranormal to the general population who have an interest in the paranormal. Though the magazine ceased printing a hard copy of the magazine, you can still read Professor Everist’s articles on the Ghost! Magazine website.

Well, now I have to back up a little bit about why my own RSVP to Professor Everist’s presentation tonight wasn’t submitted on time, and why I was put on that waiting list. There were still a few spots available when I last checked, but things kept coming up. Most notably, yesterday. I went with my dad and my sister to Sonoita on a last minute day trip. I figured that there would still be time to RSVP when I arrived home. While in Sonoita, we stopped by “Bog Hole”, a waterfowl preserve in the San Rafael Valley. There, we didn’t encounter any waterfowl. My dad said it was the first time he had never seen ducks in that bog hole. Instead, we saw plenty of frogs, who quickly hopped for their lives and jumped into the water. A dragonfly flew around us. It wasn’t afraid of us and stayed close by. It was very unusual looking, and I was mesmerized by it. I made my dad take a picture of the dragonfly even, so I have proof that it was there. Stay with me, there’s a point to all of this…

Back to tonight and to Professor Everist. Professor Everist spoke about various topics tonight, focusing mostly on psychic phenomena, ESP and remote viewing. He presented us with an exercise for fun. This exercise consisted of 60 pieces of paper, each folded into quarters, and taped shut. A bowl was passed around that contained these 60 pieces of folded paper. Each paper had a unique image printed inside. Everyone was to select one of those papers, but not open it. Instead, we were to concentrate on our selected paper, and guess the random image that was hidden inside. I kept thinking of a floppy eared dog. It was a rather cute image in my mind. In the next part of the exercise, we had to tell the person next to us what we thought the image was on the paper we selected. So, I told my neighbor that it was a floppy eared dog. After we each shared what we thought was on the paper, it was time to unfold them. Mine was a dragonfly. The man sitting directly in front of me got that floppy eared dog I was picturing in my head. The people around me said that I was probably focusing on the energies of the man in front of me, but not on my own. That’s a possibility, I suppose, that it was a really good guess “by proximity.” The man in front of me let me have the picture of the floppy eared dog. I was a bit disappointed that the dog I was thinking about looked nothing like that image of the dragonfly that I held in my hand.

Then, my thoughts wandered in another direction. I couldn’t help thinking about my image of the dragonfly, coupled with my encounter with the one from yesterday. I brought up my experience to the group, and though I chalked it up to ad hoc reasoning, I did feel that it was worth mentioning. I mean, perhaps the encounter with one yesterday was “a sign” of the experiences to come today. Some members of the group became very excited about my dragonfly revelation, stating that the dragonfly represents transformation. He is the essence of change and the power of light. Dragonflies foreshadow wonderful things to come in one’s life. It is apparently quite the synchronicity that my encounter with the dragonfly yesterday coincided with that image of one on the piece of paper I selected today. Did the dragonfly represent a precognitive episode which actually foreshadowed the dragonfly image I received tonight? Did my encounter with the dragonfly yesterday lead me to purposely select that very image from the bowl? Did it all of it happen just by chance? I don’t know. Professor Everist, despite his wealth of scientific knowledge, does not know. All I know is that this small event makes me wonder. It is one of those things that happens that makes you wish that professionals like Professor Everist are able find answers to seemingly meaningless questions like that; which some of us would very much like to have answered. However, tonight, all I can say in response to those questions is: I don’t know.

One thing is for sure though. I attended tonight’s presentation so I could write about it. However, the image I had in my mind of the article I wanted to write, versus the one I have written, are very different. Instead of relaying an introductory lesson of paranormal phenomena that Professor Everist presented tonight, the article has very much transformed from what I intended it to be. I am relaying to you my experience involving dragonflies, which may or may not be worth mentioning – which could really be nothing more than a coincidence.

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Thank you to Tucson Metaphysics for hosting this fun and interesting event – and much appreciation to Professor William Everist who keeps on looking for those answers!