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August 20, 2011

A French Messenger in Victoria

Perhaps you have heard of that old television show, Touched by an Angel.
Don't you just love the psychedelic in the door?
Today, I truly felt as if I was "touched by an angel." The really weird part is that until I started writing this, I hadn't thought about the meaning of his name, Raphael, which is of course the name of Saint Raphael the archangel. Sometimes I really feel like I'm living that book, The Celestine Prophecy that says you must pay close attention when synchronistic events happen to you. And, I don't even believe that book, but you know, I'm beginning to think maybe I should. Here's the story.


I'm in Victoria strolling along the upper harbour in front of The Empress Hotel on the water side where you can look over the cement wall down onto all the tourists and the buskers and the vendors selling their arts and crafts. A man arrives to my left. I notice him when he arrived because he was alone. As I have begun to notice, when these types of interactions happen for me, I have an instant feeling before they occur that there's something about the person that draws me to them, and with this man,I felt it but I didn't have the energy to do anything about it.


If I had been feeling more social, I may have even started a conversation on purpose because it might sound weird to say, especially if you have never had this experience, but I get a very distinct feeling prior to these types of interactions. I'll just call it intuition but it's an actual physical feeling that I can't really describe except to say, an internal knowing that I need to interact with the person in some way. In his case I had the thought that if my feeling was correct, I would see if he would find a way to talk to me.
 Don't you just want to get to know whoever made this fountain?
I wasn't feeling very social or like making any effort however so I didn't. About six or seven minutes passed, and then he stepped closer towards me and began telling me about the busker we were both watching. I was surprised when he did that because I'd become engrossed in the crowdwatching.

This man proceeds to tell me how good this particular busker is and how he has watched him for years. I'm a bit confused because this man has a very thick French accent and I thought as soon as he spoke that he was a tourist from France.  Later, I discover that he is from the French Alps. He ended up in Victoria where he and his wife have lived for five years when their participation in a biosphere in the Kootenays turned out less than stellar and they followed friends who had moved to Victoria from there.



I can't explain our conversation but it was almost immediately at a very deep level and not the kind of conversation I ever have with strangers. It rambled from life after death to the connectedness of all living beings and how we draw those of the same frequency to us to choosing our parents to reincarnation and Buddhism to German New Medicine,  and the fact that this year's 13 moons, instead of 12, has impacted the weather and if you were to go back and examine the data, you would find that every year that has 13 moons has the same problems.  Let's face it, you don't launch into these types of conversations as a matter of course with just anyone.  

(Employee of RedfishBluefish making an unusual fashion statement.)




We were so intent on speaking with each other that time seemed to stand still. When we parted company, 45 minutes had passed and we hadn't moved from the spots we were in.
 Decent shot of kayaks I'd say

 These were in front of the Parliament Buildings; metaphorical Amber and Red lights perhaps.

And, for you cynics out there, he wasn't trying to pick me up. The nature of the interaction had none of those overtones. When we parted, I shook his hand and told him it was lovely to talk to him. That's it.
But, as I walked away, I was feeling amazed, as if someone was trying to tell me something that I just haven't been hearing.  It wasn't just a conversation. It felt as if he was some sort of messenger.  I know this will sound ridiculous to many of you, especially to those of you who don't have these types of interactions, EVER, but I like to pay attention when extraordinary meetings occur seemingly out of nowhere.

Can you allow for the possibility that we can't understand or explain everything but we can be open to wondering about it the way we might have as a child before our natural instincts or clairvoyance was deadened by socialization?
 
 PS: The photos have absolutely nothing to do with the text, other than they were taken in Victoria!:-)