Octopus Trickster Synchronicity

Yesterday afternoon, I listened to the Paratopia interview with George P. Hansen, author of The Trickster and the Paranormal. As I mentioned in an earlier post today, I've long been an admirer of Hansen's, and think the book should be on anyone's shelf who is interested in Fortean events. I also mentioned in that earlier post that I'm working on a longer item about some of the ideas Hansen puts forth, and, began working on it today.

Now and then, for brief moments, I think of some things I've never shared openly in the context of all this weirdness. These things are weird, sure, but that's not why I've hesitated to share them. I've never spoken of them publicly because it's just too embarrassing. I don't want to admit certain things. Yes, even me, thinking like this, imagine! We all do this, and in fact, because of this happening to me, I wonder just how many of these weird things go unsaid, due to our individual bias, values, and so on. A huge body of data remains hidden because of this. So earlier today,I started a blog just for that kind of stuff, and called it Octopus Confessional.

Then I visited Lesley's Debris Field blog. And found two links that shouted "Trickster!" in a loud voice: Octopus as Trickster, over on Richelle Hawks blog Beamships Equal Love, and Encounter with the Trickster, on Iggy Makarevich's What's All This, Then? blog.

I titled my new blog "Octopus Confessions" (instead of say, "elephant" confessions or some other animal adjective) because of the many-tentacled aspects of Fortean -- including UFOs -- phenomena. Here's what Richelle Hawks writes in her Octopus as Trickster post:

So, since the terms octopus and tentacles have been present in developing UFO rhetoric the last few months, I've been considering the deeper meaning/implications.

Yep, as have I. Great minds thinking alike :) Hawks goes on to say that the octopus she writes about (one that flooded a California aquarium) was referred to as a "trickster."


In Encounter with the Trickster, Iggy writes:

Many people have experienced things that beggar belief. Do you find yourself reluctant to talk about it with strangers? You would really rather not think about it, right? It makes you vaguely uneasy, even after all this time.

(Iggy notes that he wrote this in 2005, and it appeared in FATE in 2006, but decided to repost it at this time!)
The Octopus Trickster, indeed. Thousands of tentacles reaching out, connecting, grasping, and throwing back at us all the bits of strangeness. As Iggy says, of the trickster aspect:

As if to confound us, when a question is answered, ten more take its place.

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