Synchronicity & The Elemental World (via bookcrossing.com)

Like everybody else, I am the product of my own tastes (character is fate and all that) for better and for worse. Last week, I had been pondering the limitations of my current reading, which, although wide-ranging, also tends to be rather "heavy" just now. What a pleasant surprise, therefore, to receive (metaphorically, but perhaps magically as well) a present from the fairies. The present in question is a rather good biography about Audrey Hepburn by Brian Paris (Publisher Orion) which I received from the fey-sounding "Nordie" via something called bookcrossing.com. More accurately, I found this biography in a smart little plastic bag in the street, labelled "FREE BOOK !". For those who haven't come across bookcrossing.com, let me explain, and then I'll come onto to the subject of "The Elemental World".

bookcrossing.com - http://www.bookcrossing.com/ - is a "scheme" whereby anyone can release an unwanted book "into the ether", and track its future readership (if they participate in the scheme). See their website for more details. The Los Angeles Times has described the scheme as "A phenom amongst readers with a taste for mischief and a touch of altruism", and perhaps this is also rather a good description of "The Elemental World".

Now along with pondering my taste in books (and more generally as well), and I have been reflecting lately on my interaction with what some people describe as "The Elemental World". Put simply this is the world (unseen by most, but apparently visible to some) of spirits associated with the natural elements : air, water, earth, fire...and ether). Fairies are the spirits most commonly associated with air, and can bring a sense of lightness, and sometimes luck, into the life of those they choose to favour (hence the expression "fairy favours"). Now Audrey Hepburn when asked to have describe her life in one word is said to have responded "Lucky !".
Lucky is also how I would describe my find, a positive syncronicity in fact, at a time when, as some of my other blogs may suggest, my taste is for rather "dark material", but that's another story.

Incidentally, I'll be reviewing "Audrey Hepburn" later, as she is something of a contrast to what we tend to think of much "celebrity" today : ie rather more earthy, even "troll-like".... but then even trolls in my experience, have their positive qualities....