On Dream Penguins and Synchronicity

On Dream Penguins and Synchronicity

One question readers ask a lot is, “Why is there a penguin in Between?”

Good question. Before I answer, let’s play a word association game. Read the question that follows and then stop and figure out your answer before you read on. Ready? Here we go:

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of penguins?

Got it?

Now, my turn to guess. Penguins of Madagascar. Happy Feet. Cute and funny. Symbols of conformity. Cold and snow and polar bears. Was I right?

Let’s move on to some penguin factoids that you may or may not know:

1. Penguins and polar bears actually do not ever share a natural habitat ““ there are no penguins in the northern lands, and the polar bears don’t travel south.
2. Lots of penguins live in warm climates ““ South Africa and Australia for example. In some of these places there are Penguin Warning signs, like this: 
3. Penguins can be feisty ““ they may hiss and bite if you bother them.
4. Forget the conformity thing. Penguins are the totem animal for mystical dreamers and the ability to transition easily between waking and dreaming. The Australian Aborigine mythology includes penguins. I offer you proof that I am not making this up:

 ” A Penguin Totem can show you how to move freely through the astral plane and the dream dimension. A Penguin person will have lucid dreams and have the ability to change the course of those dreams while still asleep. You can use those same energies to change the course of your waking life as well. Think of the leap the Penguin makes from land into the water ““ astral projection is just that easy for Penguin people.” (http://mara-gamiel.blogspot.com/2009/02/power-animals-penguin.html)

“Unfortunately, many of the books I own, and many internet resources, are very dry on the topic of penguin mythology. However I am aware that penguin has had some significance in Australian native aboriginal dreamtime stories, in one story they are known as the djulia kutjara, and escort Jeedara to a round stone table where many animals met to hold a corroboree in Dhulanda.” (http://www.wildspeak.com/totems/penguin.html)

When I was writing Between, Poe figured out that he was a dream penguin before I did. And Vivian’s penguin pendant talisman found it’s way into the story before I’d ever even considered the possibility of a penguin as a totem animal.

Coincidence? I prefer to think of it as synchronicity.