Fortune Telling

I have just been reading the late Carl Sagan's book
The Demon Haunted World
Sagan was a science purist
in this book he rails against claims
to any and all forms
of super-natural phenomena
calling fortune telling, astrology  faith healing etc
pseudo-science
and those that believe in it a regression
to the realm of medieval superstitions

his argument
of course
flies in the face of millions of personal meta-normal testaments
made over thousands of years by people of all faiths and climes
including the claims of our saints

for me his insult s personal
I have lost count of the super-natural phenomena
that i have experienced over the past forty years

here
just for the fun of it
is one of the earlier I experienced

Back in the 1970's, I remarried,
I landed a job as a television producer for SABC
bought a house in, Parkhurst, a suburb of Johannesburg
and settled down for the long haul

our next door neighbors where an elderly couple
a couple of years after we moved there the husband died suddenly
the shock of his death triggered latent clairvoyant capabilities in his widow
she became an over-night sensation when she solved a murder case
telling the police exactly where to find a missing body
thereafter cars with number plates from as far as Natal and the Free State
were regularly parked outside her house
obviously customers come for personal readings

My wife
eager to have her own fortune told
got friendly with the old lady
and brought her over to our house for tea one day
eventually the old lady hauled out a marvelous crystal ball from a velvet bag
and stared into it
" I cannot see anything about you. my dear" said the old lady
to the disappointment of my wife
"But I do see a lot about your husband"

I was a total a atheist in those days and would have none of it
I had removed myself to a couch with a book and left them to it
"Please Stu, I know you are not into it - but let her."
I shrugged.
"Go ahead - if you really must."
We sat waiting while she peered into the crystal,
"You will be leaving South Africa for good soon."
"Yeah!" I scoffed to myself
I have just got married
got  new house and a new job
fat chance.
"And just where will I be going?" I asked politely
"I see palm trees.
I see snow-capped mountains.
I see a building of many pillars with a crowd staring up at man wearing white.
I see great wealth"

Some months later I tangled with the SABC
who banned my programs on race relations
The Bureau of State Security threatened me with house arrest
I resigned my post at the SABC
we sold the house
bought two round the world tickets
and left South Africa for good
searching for a new home in a new country

After five years in the Middle and Far East
I settled in an apartment in. Hollywood, California
I lived there in the same apartment for ten years
I moved and settled on this ranch here in Nevada
I have been here 20 years

If you go to Google Earth
and zoom down on my old address. Carlton Way, Hollywood
you will see a short side street
dominated on both sides
by 90 foot high palm trees

If you zoom down on Fish Lake Valley, Dyer,  Nevada
you can see my ranch in the midst of alfalfa crop circles
surrounded by 14,000 feet high snow clad peaks

3 completely unlikely predictions right out of 5
so far

in the wake of 9/11
New York ran an architectural competition
wanting to build a monument in memory of those who died
I was interested in entering
a month earlier while climbing in the mountains with my kids
I had a vision of a monumental building

I built a scale model
and sent it in as my entry
fifty huge pillars
each one 400 feet high
each representing a United State
with each's history inscribed
all 50 standing like a white forest on a huge pedestal
with a vast interior hall
and a gigantic statue of an eagle taking flight off the roof platform
on 9/11 each year the sun would shine down thu a hole in the roof
and illuminate a plaque with 3000 names on it

not modern
classic Greek
just ten times higher than anything they could have ever attempted
perhaps the most massive man-made monument on the planet
walking amongst the pillars
one would be dwarfed - much like strolling under the redwoods

rejected of course

I have since seen that same monument standing on top of white mountain peak
as a monument to the Western Pioneers
I will be submitting a visual reality of that monument idea on the web shortly
who knows
There never has been any great tribute to the tens of thousands
who pioneered the West

prediction No 4 might well happen yet

as far as i am concerned No 5 has already happened
what greater wealth could a man ask for
seven amazing kids
and a  ranch
now worth a few million