Sidewalk Oracles: Week 7

Notes on Week 7 of Sidewalk Oracles by Robert Moss, Winter 2024

“Before you walk into a room or turn a corner, your attitude is there already. It is engaged in creating the situation you are about to encounter. Whether you are remotely conscious of this or not, you are constantly setting yourself up for what the world is going to give you.” Robert Moss, Sidewalk Oracles

A Willingness to Walk the Path

Each week, I will post some general discussion, reflection, and thoughts on the chapter or “games" from the week. You are invited to share your experience with this book in the comments section.

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Basic Information

📌 We are reading Sidewalk Oracles: Playing with Signs, Symbols, and Synchronicity in Everyday Life by Robert Moss.

📅 The reading timeline outlines a slow reading (with weekly discussion posts) for anyone who wants to read along.

📌 Weekly reading notes and discussion (the timeline links to the weekly posts)

🍥 I encourage you to go into this reading with an open mind and a willingness to consider what is being described/discussed.

🧵 I use the comment area for discussions rather than a chat thread. Neither would be private because this read-along is free to everyone. You are invited to comment on comments and interact with those reading together.

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From Within the Fog, Week 7

In week 7 of our Sidewalk Oracles read-along, we read about Games 7-9 in Chapter 4.

Week 7 felt a bit like a black box for me in terms of gathering symbols. Like some of you, reading this book makes me wonder if most of the time I am just too caught up in my head when I get in the car or go for a walk or enter a store. At the same time, part of me thinks that, rather than simply a factor of me not paying attention, we should not expect signs and symbols around every corner.

If it was always Christmas (or your birthday or Saturday or whatever day or event you enjoy), we would lose sight of it as special. The magic would wear off.

Several of us have expressed this fear, this niggling concern that if we overthink what we see, symbols may no longer be moored in ways that make them seem special and, possibly, instructional.

In terms of being attuned to symbol and synchronicity, it seemed like a relatively blank week. I wasn’t out much, but I did go to the hospital and to the library. I did go to the pharmacy and then walked through the grocery store. Nothing.

Reading this week’s games didn’t overly inspire me. There was an earworm though. I find myself humming or singing or whistling songs all the time, out of the blue. The soundtrack game made me really think about the fact that often I have no idea where a song stuck in my head came from or what lodged it there.

We tend to think of earworms as songs we hear in passing (the radio, playing in a store, a commercial) that then stick with us. But sometimes, it seems that the song that keeps popping up isn’t one we can trace. I had never really thought about that before. When a song is stuck in my head, I always just assume that I heard it somewhere, even if I didn't really consciously notice it. Maybe not.

I found myself whistling "Chandelier" this week. It happened several times before I stopped to think about why that song was lodged. What brought it to mind? I still don’t know, but it was an interesting connection with this week’s reading.

I'm gonna swing from the chandelier

From the chandelier

I'm gonna live like tomorrow doesn't exist

Like it doesn't exist

I'm gonna fly like a bird through the night

Feel my tears as they dry

I'm gonna swing from the chandelier

From the chandelier

(This song struck me as especially odd because I didn’t realize, consciously, that it is Sia. Even when I made a note that I kept whistling this, I attribute it to someone else.)

When I drove to the library today, the car in front of me had a vanity plate: DUCK.

I think it was simply “the car in front of me,” not a message. But as I drove on, I did think for a minute…. Should I be ducking? Should I be watching for things falling from overhead?

Reading this book, especially slowly this way, where we are talking each week about what we are reading and what we are experiencing each week, definitely has me walking around with a "Sidewalk Oracle" lens on. Often, I'm laughing at myself even as I stop to think about whatever the random moment brings.

For fun, I tried the book game from last week while sitting at the library with a pile of books from the reserve shelf. I selected one of the books to use (so it wasn’t a random pick, but it was a random pool: books I had on hold). First, I randomly opened the book, but the page didn’t seem relevant. Don’t forget to point, I reminded myself. So I took a do-over. I opened the book again, randomly placing my finger (without looking) at a certain spot on the page. The passage was possibly more meaningful to me. Symbolic? I don’t think so. I wasn’t asking a question. But maybe this was somehow “apt” for these days? Maybe.

“Also, I was thinking about how when it’s not destroying us, grief is something comforting. Like a neighborhood street cat who rubs against our ankles in the morning, then digs up our flower beds in the afternoon. Which is to say grief can be familiar to you and thus pleasant in that way. It shows up every day. Grief comes and goes as it pleases. We don’t get to choose when we’re done with it.” (1000 Words, Jami Attenberg, 201)

Note to self: I have to get better at asking a question.

Continuing with the “Games” for Kairomancy

Chapter 4 contains 17 games, different ways of inviting or paying attention to oracles. These are the games Moss puts forth as tools for being better attuned to symbol and synchronicity. This week, we read about games 7-9.

#7: Chance an encounter: pay attention to the people you encounter and, if comfortable, strike up a conversation (or ask the person to tell you a story).

“When synchronicity brings you into an important encounter with another person, you can be pretty sure that in some sense that person is going to be a significant other…on the roads of life.” (125)

#8: Notice what’s showing through a slip: pay special attention to times when you get the wrong word, repeat a typo, or notice some other “slip.” Moss also refers to these as instances of “word amnesia” or “name substitution.” (Note: this chapter is grounded in the idea of Freudian slips, but Moss broadens the significance of a slip to be more than something related to repression of memories/information that may cause pain.

“Pause in the presence of a slip to ask what it might be showing. A slip of the fingers can be quite as revealing as a slip of the tongue. Don’t correct or brush away typos without taking at least a quick look to see what they might reveal.” (138)

#9: Check your inner soundtrack: Notice the songs that run through your awareness, especially when they recur. Listen to these songs to see what they may be telling you and whether they are contributing positively or negatively to your mindset or self talk. If you don’t like the narrative, change (or delete) the song.

“When you check your inner sound track, don’t just listen to the music; find the words that may or may not come with a tune.” (141)

For me, personally, the games this week were less accessible than some of the previous ones. I am not routinely around strangers (and unlikely to strike up a conversation). I have plenty of memory issues, and I don't interpret missing words and wrong names as symbolic. I did have a song in the wind and found the soundtrack game one to ponder, as noted.

Your Thoughts?

Thank you for sharing your comments last week.

• What did you think of the games this week?

• Did you try any of them (deliberately or by accident)?

• Did you notice anything this week as a result of your heightened awareness?

• Did you catch a song in your head at any point?

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