Read Part 1 and Part 2 of the series
The saying “sometimes a cigar is just a cigar” (often misattributed to Freud) is one I try to live by when I’m dabbling in the world of the strange.
Not every encounter with a meaningful symbol is in itself a meaningful experience.
A Series of Meaningful Encounters
Synchronicities aren’t a matter of having a singular encounter – they require a series, even if that’s a series of two events.
For example, in my previous post, I told the story of 1. Discussing Hellier with my friend (who hadn’t yet finished Season 1) and having him show me his new piece of art, then 2. Watching an episode of Hellier later that day from late in Season 2 and seeing the exact piece of art my friend just bought.
When it comes to Hellier fans and balloon sightings, I was strongly of the opinion that sometimes people were putting too much into seeing a balloon without an adjacent meaningful event.
And the first time I finally said that out loud, well…
Called Out By Balloons
I have always felt like the Universe is lying in wait for me to give in to my grumpy side and say something negative in public, JUST so it can slap me upside the head with a life lesson that gives me perspective from the point of view of the person/behavior I just trashed.
I swear I can feel the Universe winding up for the swing – it’s like a little electric storm deep in my gut that groans, “Girrrlll, maybe dooooon’t…..”
Cursing myself
It was March 13, 2022. I was on a Zoom call with my friend Shawn talking about a wild rabbit hole I’d started down just the day before (it will be the subject of the next post).
We chatted at length about all things weird, and at one point I uttered the words, “I think people make way too much out of seeing balloons.”
I hadn’t ever said that out loud, because I knew it was so rude to discount other people’s experiences with the phenomena.
Well.
The sighting
We eventually ended the call and I went for a walk down by the Mississippi River. I have frequented this park/nature area for the past five years, spending hours upon hours observing nature, rockhounding (when the shoreline is thawed), and picking up trash.
I was out exploring for an hour and a half when, on my way home, I spotted trash stuck in a tree at the park directly across from my house.
I’ve seen some impressive trash in the wilderness – couches, car parts, every sort of food wrapper and drink container. I’ve seen full-on plastic sheeting in trees, and lots of plastic bags in trees. I pick up trash as often as I’m able, so I have a pretty good memory catalog of things I’ve found in the wild.
As I drew closer, it suddenly dawned on me what I was looking at.
A fucking balloon.
The story doesn’t end there
This balloon stayed in the tree for several weeks. Over that time, I dug deeper into the rabbit hole I was in, ultimately publishing the account on March 31, 2022.
On April 2nd, a balloon showed up behind our garage.
Now, it’s important to recall the color of the balloon in the tree: it was silver. The balloon that appeared on April 2nd was a white star.
Either way, a balloon ending up in my backyard right on the heels of a massive synch that started the day before I saw the first balloon felt a bit too on the nose.
And then on April 12th (incidentally the 4-year anniversary of moving into our house), we were pulling out of the garage when I spotted something else.
A silver fucking balloon. THE silver balloon? Who knows. But, WTAF, dude?
Addendum
After writing this all up, I started thinking about the whole blue star thing on Hellier, and the significance of Sirius the blue star and the star sapphire ritual.
I know that Sirius is a twin star system, so I looked up more about the stars.
Sirius A is a type-A main sequence star.
Sirius B is a white dwarf.
Sirius A in EQ31: 82, Sapphire
Sirius B in EQ31: 103, Balloon
I can’t recall a time when I didn’t believe in magic, or that when I spoke with the trees they could hear me, or that one day I would see a unicorn.
I still believe all these things, but more than that, I have grown in curiosity over the years.
My path had largely been solitary, and while I do enjoy my alone time, I love supporting community and finding opportunities to support independent creators, artists, thinkers, and performers.
The Weirdo Collective is a passion project. The idea was sparked by two desires:
1. To keep up with the content my freinds create, regardless of how regularly they post
2. To have a searchable database of Weird thought so we have a better chance of building on ideas and learning from one another.
My personal favorite topics are: lucid dreaming, rocks, nature energy, teaching natural observation skills, and diversity in Weird spaces.
