Three Signs of Luck… when life shows me a sign, I take note … three signs and I pay full attention …
One sign of luck is a note, two signs are a message, and three signs are a conversation worth listening to. On Sunday, during a quiet morning walk through Paris, something unusual caught my eye: a horseshoe fixed to a weathered brick wall. It wasn’t part of a doorframe or a stable; it was a wall on a one-way side lane for cyclists and pedestrians. Sign one: something good is coming today. I paused briefly and continued walking, not yet knowing that the universe was setting the stage for something more. On Monday, yesterday, I stepped into a small shop looking for an ornate belt buckle because I had seen one there six months prior. There were none, but before I left, the owner pressed a tiny key ring into my hand: a Japanese doll, delicately painted, with a soft pink flower in her hair. Not with black hair, but straw brown, and it looked like me. “For luck,” she said. Sign two: blessings arrive through friendships. This wasn’t just a trinket; it felt like an invitation to carry a piece of optimism with me. Two signs of luck in two days. The third sign of luck arrived last night, Monday evening. A white feather whirled in the air and caught my attention. It landed on my balcony railing. Perfect, fragile, and luminous in the fading light. Sign three: you aren’t alone. For me, it was deeply personal: to see the feather brought me a wave of peace and reassurance. A horseshoe, a doll, and a feather: none of them extraordinary on their own. Appearing from Sunday morning to Monday evening – 36 hours – feels like more than chance, or synchronicity, or luck. The horseshoe has long been a talisman of protection and prosperity. Hung upright, in a U-shape, it is believed to hold good fortune, a promise that luck can be found in unexpected places. The Japanese doll, often inspired by Kokeshi tradition, carries meanings of friendship, love, and good fortune. To receive the wooden doll as a key-ring gift feels like an intentional act, a blessing disguised in something small and delicate. And the feather, light and white, is heavy with symbolism. Across cultures, white feathers have been seen as messages from loved ones who have passed on, signs of comfort and protection. In my 2025 novel, If Paris Were My Lover, I gave the feather this exact meaning: a sign that my mother was still watching over me. When that feather wafted high enough to attract my attention and then rested on my balcony rail, it didn’t just feel like luck. It felt like love reaching across time and space. Three signs make this experience lucky, luckier, and luckiest. Three is associated with completeness: such as past, present, and future or mind, body, and soul. In numerology, the number three represents creativity, harmony, and manifestation: “Good things come in threes.” Carl Jung called moments like these synchronicities, meaningful coincidences that speak to us in the language of symbols. They often appear when we’re questioning, hoping, or ready for change. Here I am in August in Paris, ready for the summer vacation, thinking about how I want the rest of the year to hold. These three symbols don’t seem random to me. They seem to say to me: You are on the right path. Keep moving forward. Luck, love, friendship, and unseen hands are guiding you to positive experiences. I take these signs as reminders to stay open, keep creating, and trust the journey, even when I can’t see the whole map. What symbols are showing up for you? A word, a gift, an image, a person, a feather on the wind? Life speaks softly, barely audibly, sometimes. Are you listening? *** The world is worn out like a coin Now life is empty and quite dark Don’t be surprised if at this point I’m grateful for a little luck. - Georgian poet, Galaktion Tabidze (1892-1959)
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Tuesday, 5 August 2025
Three Signs of Luck
Monday, 4 August 2025
The missing resolution
Trying to figure out WTF is going on The Glasgow Kelvin resolution reported in today’s National is certainly distinct from both the Swinney resolution and the one supported by 40-odd branches - which we may as well call the McCormick resolution since Graeme McCormick appears to be the appointed spokesperson for this group. Swinney's resolution proposes a 'strategy' not for independence, but for yet another supplication for a Section 30 order - which we can only hope Starmer isn't smart enough to grant. The McCormick resolution proposes a 'strategy' not for independence, but a plan to "open negotiations with the UK Government around independence" - which the UK Government may turn up for but probably won't. The Glasgow Kelvin resolution proposes a 'strategy' not for independence, but for waiting "an extended time period" - while the British state continues to expropriate Scotland's resources leaving a desiccated husk as our legacy to future generations of Scotland's people. While there are these differences, there are also similarities. Perhaps the two most significant similarities being that all the proposed 'strategies' prioritise votes for the SNP and all will be dishonestly promoted as strategies for independence. The most recent of these resolutions - the Glasgow Kelvin one - is a transparently obvious attempt at creating a spoiler for the McCormick motion. It is similar enough to the Swinney resolution that the two could easily be rolled up together in a composite resolution. Which is one of the ways the leadership neutralises 'rebel' resolutions. If two of the resolutions are being hammered into a composite which leaves the leadership motion intact, there will be pressure to melt down the McCormick resolution and pour it too into the Swinney mould. The SNP leadership wins. Everybody else loses. Including Scotland's cause. Meanwhile, there is a resolution that really does propose a strategy for independence. Curiously, Abbi Garton-Crosbie neglects to mention the Newington Resolution. Neglects? Or declines? Whatever! It isn't mentioned. Neither was the Newington Resolution referred to in The Herald's "exclusive" on the McCormick resolution. Also, while both The Herald and sister paper, The National, went to some trouble to report both the Swinney and the McCormick resolutions and now the Glasgow Kelvin resolution, the Newington Resolution only became known by way of a letter from one of those responsible for drafting it, Mike Wallace. Is there a pattern developing here? If there is a pattern, then it is a pattern which suggests an effort to 'sideline' the only resolution proposing a fresh approach to the constitutional issue and the only one that proposes a genuine strategy for independence. The Newington Resolution is too distinctive and too radical to fit in a composite motion along with the others. If the SNP leadership wants to kill the Newington Resolution - and it certainly does - it will have to find another way. Of course, there may be no connection at all between the SNP leadership's desire to squash it and the odd lack of media coverage of the Newington Resolution. It could all be just a coincidence. Jist sayin'! You're currently a free subscriber to Peter A Bell. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.
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petrini1 posted: " For Week 7, the theme of genealogist Amy Johnson Crow...
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The power pose of personal peace - with psychological benefits ... ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ...
