User:Charlie/Omens From The Dog Park
✧✧✧ Omens from the dog park is a form of divination, based on findings during dog-walks at a park. ✧✧✧
𝒯𝒽ℯ 𝒟ℴℊ 𝒫𝒶𝓇𝓀
Since adopting my dog Kiri in 2021, I have been regularly taking her to our local park, Museum Park. Since starting that routine, the park itself has undergone many changes. But one thing has remained the same: its generally ominous aura..
In addition, since walking my dog, three times a day, everyday, the way I perceive and observe the city, and especially the walkways has drastically changed. Kiri is a habitual scavenger, like many former strays. This has led me to develop a new skill, the ability to proficiently scan the ground for any sort of comestible and/or non-comestible objects, always one meter ahead of a sniffing dog. A skill that greatly benefits from color-vision! All in all, this has led me to regularly spot "interesting things" scattered on our walks. Which I have started documenting throughout the years. Becoming in my own way a habitual scavenger.
𝒪𝓂𝒾𝓃ℴ𝓊𝓈 𝒪𝒷𝒿ℯ𝒸𝓉𝓈
Omen: "An omen (also called portent) is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change." [1]
In January 2025, I finished reading the Liveship Trilogy by Robin Hobb, in which exists an island called "the Other Island". In the story, the island is believed to house an oracle, where pirates and sailors travel to seek divination from "the Others", grotesque humanoid fish creatures who inhabit it. When on the island, the omen is sought by walking over a designated beach and picking up one to three stranded objects, of the many strange objects one may find, that most resonate with oneself. Then, after crossing the shore, one meets an Other who will take the objects, and from them, profess an omen to the visitor. After that, one is to promptly leave the island, and under no circumstances sneak off with an object!
The overall plot of the island and this form of divination resonated with me. Especially, because it reminded me of all the odd teed-bits and pictures collected on my walks, over the years. And how, many-a-times, I have found myself fabulating on their origins and meaning. Sometimes, even trying to construe some sort of omen from my findings.
Omens from the dog park are just that, omens interpreted from the odd finds and encounters from walking my dog at the park. Having fun making stuff up through intuitive associations and to find meaning even in the most mundane.
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𝒯𝒽ℯ 𝑂𝑚𝑒𝑛𝓈
Sunday - 26/01/25
1. "Walhalla", a newspaper
2. A white lighter
3. Another white lighter but with an "X"..
(𓁺𓂏𓁺)
- Object reads "Walhalla", with an illustrated white man's face. Ominous..! It seems to be the latest newspaper from Theater Walhalla, here in Rotterdam. The newspaper already laid there yesterday, and since it was still there today, I took it as a sign! "Walhalla", dutch for Valhalla, is the realm in Norse mythology in which fallen fighters and legendary heroes ascend to, after death. "What finer way to exist other than fighting, killing, and feasting with your erstwhile enemies, united in the common enterprise of training for the final battle”[2] As many other parts of Norse mythology, it is frequently co-opted by alt-right and white-supremacist groups. Very ominous, indeed. When visiting Theater Walhalla's website this morning, the first headline read "2025 is het jaar van de Vrouw": 2025 is the year of the woman.
- The white lighter made me think of the infamous "white lighter theory" and the 27 Club, an urban legend fringing on conspiracy theory about musicians and famous people who died at the age of 27, supposedly while in possession of a white lighter. The number 27 may have an ominous significance. Maybe relating to a date? Today is the 26th, and tomorrow.. Or the year 2027, two years from now?
- I walked past another white lighter, shortly after the first. This clipper-style one had a prominent "X" on it. And some other text, which I did not read. Alas, the "X" currently makes me think of one thing only: Elon Musk's Twitter rebrand. (Which Musk would certainly be pleased to know.) Considering Musk's current actions and blatant public alignment with right-wing fascist rhetoric and neo-nazi groups, something nasty must be afoot..
꧁𝑂𝑚𝑒𝑛꧂
✦ The omen seems bad, possibly a warning! ✦
The first object could point towards something relating to the news and the alt-right. The second, towards the number 27. Both evoke the theme of death. The last could point towards an individual, or a platform, which also link back to the alt-right of object 1. All three objects are primarily white. And at closer inspection, all three objects are positioned in a declining angle (left to right), in the pictures. Another possible hint at the negative impact of a near-future event. "The year of the woman" remains to be placed within this premonition.
Only the future will tell..
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Sunday - 02/02/25
(𓁺𓂏𓁺)
On this cold early Sunday morning, ominous signs from Museum park were sparse.
What was plenty, however, were the sheets of ice covering the entirety of the river, and the many coots running across it, merrily quacking. A heartwarming, if not finger-freezing sight.
The otherwise deserted park's atmosphere was that of tranquility and peace; As if frozen in time, awaiting the promise of spring to bring about warmer days.
As Kiri and I made our way to the park's exit, the crisp air was suddenly filled with the resonance of church bells. As their echoes subsided, marking the beginning of weekly congregations, I, too, felt the urge to seek refuge in a place of worship—home.
꧁𝑂𝑚𝑒𝑛 ꧂
✦ Cold times ahead. Or are there? ✦
Whilst we arduously continue to chop up the Amazon forest to make into yet another fugly iteration of the same tarot cards, so that one day, everyone may be able to find the deck that really speaks to their soul, for the good of all people and Amazon©; We are turning a blind eye to the growing lies and misleading of another (state-sanctioned, may I say) divination method: Meteorology. A practice of future-telling that has become increasingly unreliable! Just a few days ago, the influx of dutch people out-and-about, basking in the sun, brought with them the hope of warmer weather ahead. Only for this hope to be squashed by sudden frost and misery. - But maybe it is all a sign of bad omens ignored for too long.
"Monday ☼ 5° ☾ 2°, Tuesday ☼ 5° ☾ 2°, Wednesday 6° ☾ 3°, Thursday ☼ 6° ☾ 3°, Friday 6° ☾ 3°, Saturday ☼ 6° ☾ 3°, Sunday ☼ 7° ☾ 3°"???
Only the future will tell..
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Wednesday - 12/02/25
(𓁺𓂏𓁺)
Today was a day of 𓅪 BIRDS 𓅪 ོ.
There always are many birds around the park. But today, I had the honor of encountering a very special one. A crow I have been attempting to befriend over the past year! It was a pleasant surprise when the crow came to Kiri and me, a sign that they have started to recognize us. After a customary 'hello' and throwing it a few kibble, we went on our way.
A few moments later, another bird encounter made us stop. Or at least, made it harder to drag my dog away. A group of coots were having a heated argument and Kiri may have hoped to take advantage of the agitation. Whatever the public feud was about, it must have been quite serious, as we could still hear the angry squawking when leaving at the other end of the park.
꧁𝑂𝑚𝑒𝑛 ꧂
✦ ♡ Cherish your friendships ♡ ✦
Friendships need to be fostered and appreciated, even the most long-lasting friendship that feel like a given. And sometimes, voicing concerns and facing these disagreements with others, is just as needed to nurture a friendship.
✦ And best keep the most nasty discussions private and away from opportune gawkers! ✦
But at the end of a Wednesday, if a friendship lasts or not, only the future will tell..
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Tuesday - 11/03/25
(𓁺𓂏𓁺) Wherever we are, we leave our mark (𓁺𓂏𓁺)
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Among the oldest forms of mark-making are hand prints and painted dots on cave walls.
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Artifacts of human existence which reappear, in similar forms, throughout all of our history.
Human's first attempts at communicating, documenting, storytelling and art-making.
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A testimony to humans inherent urge of making a mark. To leave something behind.
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To make a mark is to create. To summon into existence an external part of yourself. To transmutate thought into materiality. To bind past experiences to the present, and project yourself into the future. To overcome life itself. To exist past death.
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꧁𝑂𝑚𝑒𝑛 ꧂
✦ I mark, therefore I exist ✦
However you frame it, there is no afterlife without death.
Can there be death without an afterlife?
Metaphysically or not, to exist past death is to make a mark.
To find a way to tell the future:
"I have existed. I was here. My ass has sat on this patch of grass!"
But whether afterlife exists or not, only your future will tell...death.
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Wednesday - 13/03/25
(𓁺𓂏𓁺)
✧✦✧ Today's ominous encounters appeared particularly ✴enigmatic✴. ✧✦✧
How did they come to be at the park? And why?
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The park itself was littered with trash a lot more than usual. Expected, after these last few days of sun and the ensuing surge of visitors.
Yet, amongst all the usual garbage, spread across a field of grass fourteen mysterious blue tubes appeared to me. Their shiny aquamarine coloring and the mere amount of them seemed intriguing. Each container was empty. Had they been used and then discarded?
Then, after taking a closer look at the pictures, a message emerged! Hidden in the pattern formed by the tubes:
"S-T-O-N-D"
But what does it mean?
After pondering the enigma for a while, the only possible solution became clear: An anagram!
STOND⇨TODSN⇨TONDS⇨SNOTD⇨ONTDS⇨NTODS⇨NOSTD⇨NDSOT⇨NDOTS⇨NDOST⇨DTONS⇨DSONT⇨DNOST⇨ DONTS!
꧁𝑂𝑚𝑒𝑛 ꧂
✦ DONTS ✦
Do enjoy a sunny day at the park.
Do not leave your fucking garbage laying around!
Garbage may create interesting omens, but they pollute the park and its nature.
It is hazardous for all the animals, including the dogs that enjoy the park.
An area full of trash is an area unsafe for dogs to sniff, walk and play in.
Do not leave your fucking trash at the park!
Unfortunately, whether this omen is heeded and the garbage fest ever stops, only the future will tell..
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