Fanny, Bee Gees, Keats and a Synchrony of Letters

Fanny, Bee Gees, Keats and a Synchrony of Letters

by | Dec 22, 2021 | Bee Gees Songs and Books, Synchronicity

This post, “Fanny, Bee Gees, Keats and a Synchrony of Letters” is written to honor two of my favorite things: The Bee Gees’ song “Fanny (Be Tender with My Love)” and poet John Keats’ love letters to Fanny Brawne. I also share how a letter I wrote to a dear pen pal synced up with one of Keats’ letters to Fanny. At the end of the post, I share a surprise synchronicity.

I write this post in honor of Robin and Maurice Gibb’s birthday on December 22, 2021 on which they would have been 72 years old.

For a long time, I have been wanting to write a post connecting the song “Fanny” with Keats’ love letters. It’s the perfect combination. So to begin, I would like to share a little background about John Keats and his relationship to Fanny Brawne.

About John Keats and Fanny Brawne

Here is a brief summary about John Keats from Wikipedia:

John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet prominent in the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, although his poems had been published for only four years when he died of tuberculosis at the age of 25.[1] They were indifferently received, but his fame grew rapidly after his death.[2] By the end of the century he was placed in the canon of English literature and an inspiration for the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, strongly influencing many writers; the Encyclopædia Britannica called one ode “one of the final masterpieces”.

 

Jorge Luis Borges named his first encounter with Keats an experience he felt all his life.[3] Keats had a style “heavily loaded with sensualities”, notably in the series of odes. Typical of the Romantics, he underlined extreme emotion with natural imagery. Today his poems and letters remain among the most popular and analysed in English literature. Especially acclaimed are “Ode to a Nightingale”, “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, “Sleep and Poetry” and the sonnet “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer”.  (1)

According to an introduction written by Jane Campion in the book So Bright and Delicate-Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne by John Keats (2), Keats and Brawne came to love each other while they were both living at Wentworth Place, Hampstead, London in 1819. It was originally two semi-detached houses. Fanny lived in the house right next to where Keats lived. Therefore, they were very close neighbors that could see each other all of the time.

Initially, Keats was not very attracted to Fanny. But that changed over time. Although he was not considered to be financially sound enough to marry Fanny, Keats still gave her his mother’s garnet ring which she wore indicating an informal engagement.

It was during the summer of 1819 when John Keats went away on a writing retreat to the Isle of Wight that his love letters to Fanny began. They bore witness to the all-consuming love he felt for her at times. Ultimately, their love affair was cut short by Keats’ grave illness with tuberculosis and death at a young age. Thankfully, we have his letters to reflect on and be inspired by.

I’m sure the Bee Gees’ song “Fanny” would have come in handy for John Keats to share with Fanny Brawne if it had been available to him!

A Synchrony of Letters

During this past fall, I had felt the inspiration to write this post, but I was having trouble coming up with an idea of what to say. It had been on my mind in November and I had browsed through the love letters of Keats to Brawne in the book So Bright and Delicate a few weeks earlier, but still nothing came to me.

On November 27th, I spent time writing a letter through email to my pen pal Autumn Imara, who shares a twin soul connection with Jimi Hendrix. It just so happens that November 27th was Jimi’s birthday. We were sharing ideas about the similarities between Native American and African spirituality. Autumn shared an enlightened perspective about Thanksgiving and her Native American ancestors, which you can read about here.

I wrote to Autumn about my perspective on spirituality and I shared my feelings. I quote exactly what I wrote to her below. Both African and Native American spirituality have strong connections with nature:

I resonate with any type of spirituality that loves and honors God’s creation of nature including trees, flowers, plants, rivers, streams, oceans, the wind, sunlight, moonlight and wildlife. It is so rich and life enhancing. Our ancestors had a true connection and deep relationship with these elements which I respect. I love connecting with the rhythms of nature and consider this also a part of my spirituality.

After I wrote Autumn this letter, I felt a strong pull to go back and read Keats’ book So Bright and Delicate. I kept thinking of what I could write for a blog post. I flipped through some pages of the book again. And then I came across an amazing synchronicity in one of Keats’ letters to Fanny that matched what I just wrote to Autumn a couple of hours earlier. This was a letter I did not remember reading and had not marked the page in any way

Here is the quote. The bold is mine for emphasis:

Do you hear the Thrush singing over the field? I think it is a sign of mild weather-so much better for me. Like all Sinners now I am ill I philosophize aye out of my attachment to everything, Trees, flowers, Thrushes, Spring, Summer, Claret, &c. &c. – aye everything but you. (3)

I noticed the matching of “trees, flowers” and how both Keats and I wrote about them first on our list. He mentioned the bird Thrush and I mentioned wildlife. I typed out more aspects of nature which could have been included in his etc. etc.

I felt very moved by how my email letter to Autumn synchronized with John Keats’ letter to Fanny Brawne. I felt so joyful that my guidance to read the book again lead to this meaningful synchronicity. It means even more that it is two letters synchronizing and makes the message more powerful. I think it’s fascinating how energies converge like this. When aspects of my life connect so well with something to do with Robin, like a blog post I’m thinking of writing, I feel a true attunement with his spirit.

When I begin to engage with Robin’s energies in this way, I feel like I enter into a field of magnetism that pulls me right into something that will match with him. I kept feeling guided to read Keats’ book after I wrote to Autumn and now I can see why. The energies were flowing in just the right way.

While I was in the process of doing research for this post on Saturday, December 18, 2021, I received another synchronicity which continued to signify this attunement and alignment.

A Dog Named Fanny

On December 18th, my husband watched the Marvel Comics movie “Black Widow.” I didn’t watch it because I was busy reading about Keats and Fanny.

After a while, I needed a break from reading. So, I sat down close to him to hang out with him. The movie was nearing the end, so I just watched along, kind of detached because I did not know what was going on. 🙂

My husband wanted to watch the end credits of the movie because they show a scene introducing you to another upcoming Marvel movie. Therefore, I continued to sit with him to watch it.

I watched as a woman got out of a truck and then called to her dog. To my great surprise, her dog’s name is Fanny! I looked at my husband and said, “I can’t believe that dog’s name is Fanny.” Here are some screenshots:

 

I shared with him that I had just been thinking about the Bee Gees’ song “Fanny” and reading Keats’ letters to Fanny Brawne all afternoon. Then, I sit down to hang out with him during the last few minutes of a movie and encounter a dog named Fanny. What are the chances of that? It was an amazing connection with Robin’s spirit and the “Fanny” theme.

The timing was impeccable. It was like it was all meant to go together. I feel so grateful for this.

This is what I mean when I say that when it comes to Robin, the Universe magnetically pulls together events in my life that match and have to do with him in some way. It has been happening for years. It is synchronicity like this that leads me to feel the twin soul and soul family connection with him the strongest.

Robin really loved dogs so it’s nice that the synchronicity showed up as a dog named Fanny! He would like that.

I share this story and others on this website because I know that many people experience similar uplifting synchronicity when it comes to twin soul, soul mate or soul family connections. Sometimes it helps to see that someone else is experiencing the same thing, especially when the person involved is deceased. So, I hope you can find something you can relate to in the stories I write about concerning Robin’s spirit. I find great joy in writing about them.

Thank you very much for reading! I truly appreciate it and hope you enjoyed this. Happy Holidays to you and your family and a very blessed New Year.

Happy Birthday to Robin and Maurice in Spirit. You are remembered, cared for and very loved.

Photo below: Altar table for Robin and Maurice Gibb, December 22, 2021.

References

1. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, John Keats.

2. Keats, John (2009). So Bright and Delicate: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne, London, England: Penguin Book, Ltd., Introduction Pages ix, x and xi.

3. Ibid., Page 38.

Love,

Christina Samuels Signature

My Interview with MysticMag: Afterlife Communication and Mystical Experiences

My Interview with MysticMag: Afterlife Communication and Mystical Experiences

by | Nov 13, 2021 | Synchronicity

This post is about my interview with MysticMag: afterlife communication and mystical experiences.

I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by author Sarah Kirton who wrote the article, ‘Stayin’ Alive’ with Christina Samuels. You can read the article here.

MysticMag is a wonderful online resource covering a wide variety of spiritual topics. If you like reading about afterlife communication, then I invite you to see what MysticMag has to offer.

On their blog, you can find articles on psychic readings, tarot cards, astrology, spirituality, love, relationships, yoga, energy healing, mediumship, and personal growth.

In the interview, I shared perspectives on my afterlife twin soul connection with Robin. I also answered questions about afterlife communication and grief and whether my connection with Robin led me to seek deeper knowledge about the afterlife.

After the interview, I started thinking about how afterlife communication relates to mystical experiences. So, that is what I would like to talk about next.

Afterlife Communication and Mystical Experiences

When you think about it, many forms of afterlife communication fall within the domain of mystical experiences. Whether it is a powerful synchronicity or dream visitation, we are deeply affected by these unexpected phenomena that we are a part of but that ultimately, are being orchestrated by a power much greater than us.

According to Forrest Rivers in the article, Divine Signs and Unseen Ties: Synchronicities, Mystical Experiences and Psychic Phenomena:

The mystical experience is an awe-inspiring event, recounted through the ages by mystics, that can be described as a transcendent moment of knowing. The occurrence leaves one with a deep and intuitive understanding that they are part of a greater whole. During such an encounter, one may experience a range of emotions that include gratitude, humility and wonder. (1)

I have experienced exactly what he said on many occasions over the years in my communications with Robin’s spirit. I’ll bet you have experienced this too!

Now I would like to share an example of an afterlife communication I recently experienced with Robin that was mystical in nature.

On Monday, November 8, 2021, I was thinking about cosmic love poems. I love poetry that refers to stars, galaxies, planets and the moon with beautiful imagery. So, I did a google search on them.

As I scroll down the page, I came across an entry for “Cosmic Love Poem – The Poetry of Rob Radcliffe.” I thought, “Hmm, Rob Radcliffe? Didn’t Robin once use the pseudonym ‘Radcliffe’ when he was in the hospital?” I had not thought about this for a long time, but seeing the entry for the poem jogged my memory.

I began another google search to see if I could find confirmation that Robin Gibb once used the pseudonym “Radcliffe” while he was in the hospital to conceal his true identity. It took me about a half-hour to find the confirmation, but I did. Here is a quote from his wife from thefreelibrary.com:

She said: “I hate it when I find empty Ensure canisters. He would have these drinks of vitamins because he struggled to digest food. I have also found his hospital wristbands with the name Robin Radcliffe. He made up a false surname from the first hospital he attended, John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.” (2)

I felt sad to read about this again. But in a way, I feel like there is a blessing occurring. It is healing to now associate Robin’s pseudonym with a beautiful cosmic love poem, not just the time he was in the hospital. It is very symbolic of the loving, transcendent, healed and whole state Robin now resides in.

The Healing Power of Mystical Experiences: Afterlife Connections

This is a good example of how afterlife communication in the form of synchronicity can help heal grief and mend our hearts. It is very much the activity of God, the Infinite Creator, flowing through our lives to bring this divine healing.

It is the sentiment expressed in this beautiful song by Singh Kaur and Kim Robertson called “Mender of Hearts.” It is a love song to God. If you have never heard it, I highly recommend it for healing, especially if you are going through a difficult time. Here are some of the lyrics:

You are the mender, the mender of of hearts.

You are the sustainer of all.

You are the mender of the wounds of life.

You are the sustainer of all.

In your heart You care for everyone.

Within all hearts, in everyone.

Rob Radcliffe’s poetry is a mystical healing balm and a gift. It’s a beautiful poem which you can read here. In his introduction, he briefly mentions quantum entanglement.

It’s so fascinating how researching ‘cosmic love poems’ led me to a writer whose full name is a nearly identical mirror to the pseudonym Robin Gibb chose. I could feel Robin’s presence so clearly and it really felt like his spirit was with me. I felt very in sync with his energy. This message points directly to him. It was very meaningful for me to see the name “Rob Radcliffe.”

This reminder of Robin’s spirit gave me the mystical feeling of awe, wonder and gratitude that was just described above. I am in awe that things to do with him show up in my life so unexpectedly.

It came as a complete surprise to find the poetry of Rob Radcliffe as I had never heard of it before. But as soon as I saw his name, I knew something was up. I feel led and guided to this.

That was the way Robin’s spirit spoke to me on that particular day. The interconnectedness of all of these details felt wonderful. Through this synchronicity, I felt a Oneness and Unity with God, the universe and Robin’s spirit that is characteristic of mystical experiences. There is definitely a healing presence there bringing all of this together.

This quote by Frank Joseph, author of Synchronicity as Mystical Experience: Applying Meaningful Coincidence in Your Life, sums it up well:

Properly nurtured, synchronicity is the true mystical experience of our times, that personal connection between us and the creative consciousness that pervades everything—from our unspoken thoughts to the swirl of whole galaxies. (3)

I hope you liked this post! It was fun connecting you with MysticMag. It is informative and a very enlightening resource. Enjoy!

mystical experiences

                                                                       Image by Reimund Bertrams from Pixabay

                                          Featured photo at the top of the page: Image by cocoparisienne from Pixabay

References

1. Rivers, Forrest (2019). Divine Signs and Unseen Ties: Synchronicities, Mystical Experiences and Psychic Phenomena.

2. Herbert, Dominic (September 30, 2012). ‘Memories of Robin singing will never go away..I still hear his music everywhere’ Exclusive: Bee Gee Widow on Life Four Months after her Husband’s Death, thefreelibrary.com.

3. Joseph, Frank (2018). Synchronicity as Mystical Experience: Applying Meaningful Coincidence in Your Life, Pine Mountain Club, CA: Shanti Publishing, Page 5.

Love,

Christina Samuels Signature

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How Afterlife Communication Helps Reduce Loneliness

How Afterlife Communication Helps Reduce Loneliness

by | Oct 15, 2021 | Synchronicity

Loneliness is a common phenomenon amongst humans. Some would even say it is epidemic. So, I thought I would like to spend some time writing about how afterlife communication helps reduce loneliness. Reduce is the key word, not eliminate it entirely of course.

Since this website is about afterlife communication with Robin, I thought it would be interesting to explore how his spirit and other loved ones in spirit can help alleviate some of our loneliness, even though they are no longer here in bodily form. It is amazing what our unseen companions and loved ones are capable of and I’m so grateful everyday for the experiences I have had.

This post is also inspired by the Bee Gees’ lonely-themed songs. Recently, I have been pondering just how many songs the Bee Gees wrote that had the theme of loneliness. Like many other singers and songwriters, they were tapping into this ubiquitous human condition.

Loneliness Amongst Humanity

According to The Cost of Loneliness Project:

Loneliness is often defined as the distressing feeling generated by a lack of meaningful, intimate, and reciprocal interactions. One might describe it as emotional isolation. Exacerbated by its gross under-recognition, loneliness is rapidly emerging as the great public health crisis of our time.

I have personally experienced loneliness off and on throughout my life. This pandemic exacerbated that feeling. Even though I am primarily an introvert, I still value and need meaningful social connections. That was reduced greatly last year and still to some extent this year. I have felt the emotional isolation mentioned in the quote above.

I really felt the pain of loneliness and missed being able to talk to people face to face without wearing a mask. I missed being able to hug people, go out for a meal at a restaurant or go to a class in a yoga studio. It was really horrible. It made me realize how much I do need loving and friendly connections with kind people. I know from experience that many others feel or felt the same way I do because I have read about it.

There is so much loneliness in the world that there is another website devoted exclusively to it called The Loneliness Project. It is a beautiful site where people can come and share their stories of loneliness. Somehow, loneliness is eased a bit when a person can open up and be honest about how lonely they really feel.

I would highly recommend both of these websites I have cited to build a sense of empathy for what some people are going through. It may apply to you personally and maybe you can receive a sense of comfort in one or both of these websites or at least find something you are able to relate to.

Bee Gees’ Lonely-Themed Songs

Given what was just mentioned above, there is a good reason singers and songwriters turn to loneliness as a common theme in their songs. People can relate to this and turn to music for comfort, healing and understanding.

Here are some of my favorite Bee Gees’ loneliness songs with the lyrics from azlyrics.com:

Run to Me

Run to me whenever you’re lonely. (to love me)
Run to me if you need a shoulder

For Whom the Bell Tolls

When the lonely heart breaks
It’s the one that forsakes
It’s the dream that we stole

Rings Around the Moon

If you’re lonely in the black of night
If you call me, I’ll be there

Another Lonely Night in New York

Another lonely night in New York.
The city of dreams just keeps on getting me down.

Heart Like Mine

Night grows cold
I’ve been lonely so much

I Can’t See Nobody

I walk the lonely streets; I watch the people passing by
I used to smile and say hello. Guess I was just a happy guy

Living Together

Take this lonely soul, the water or the wine
A chance to make you mine
I lay my body on the line

I’m sure there are many other Bee Gees’ lonely-themed songs, but I think the point is made with the ones I mentioned. They really tapped into this emotion and human experience because they knew and understood that people could connect with this. They make loneliness and sadness sound beautiful which is one of their gifts as singers and songwriters. This is probably due in part to each brother’s own personal sense of loneliness that they could draw from.

How Afterlife Communication Helps Reduce Loneliness

Many, many people around the world have experienced various forms of afterlife communication. If I had the chance to talk to some of them, I would imagine they would tell me that on some level, the communications helped them to miss their loved ones a little less and helped them to feel a little less lonely.

I’m not saying after death communication completely removes the loneliness of life in general or the loneliness that results from “losing” a loved one to physical death. I am saying that it can lessen the intensity of the loneliness.

Personally, it reduces my loneliness in the third dimension to know that loved ones in spirit are there and are willing and able to communicate. Robin and other loved ones in spirit I have connected to have added a beautiful and comforting dimension to my life just with their ongoing presence and willingness to stay connected to me.

Since loneliness is about the lack of meaningful connections, it would follow that having meaningful connections with loved ones in spirit could help reduce loneliness on some level.

Here are some key manifestations of afterlife communication from the categories of synchronicity and telekinesis and how they can help reduce loneliness. I will share my personal stories with Robin.

Synchronicity:

On October 13, 2021, late in the evening, I decided to browse through one of my Bee Gees’ books called Tragedy: The Ballad of the Bee Gees by Jeff Apter. My husband gave this book to me a few years ago as a gift. I have never read it cover to cover though because I have already done so with two other Bee Gees’ books I have. So, with this book, I just flip through it from time to time.

On this evening, I opened to a page where the story was told of how the brothers used to like singing in bathrooms to practice their singing. Here is the interesting quote I read:

When not performing for an audience, Barry, Robin and Maurice would rehearse wherever they could find a suitable space. A neighbor let them use her cellar; they also found a user-friendly echo in the men’s toilet at the John Lewis department store. They liked the ambience there so much, in fact, that for the rest of their musical lives, the Gibbs preferred to rehearse and record in rooms that reminded them of that toilet. They’d ask each other, ‘Does it sound like John Lewis?’ (1)

As I read this, I remembered that the Bee Gees’ used to like singing in bathrooms. I wrote about this in this post:

Will You Wait for Me?

I knew they liked singing in Lewis’ department store because I read about this in another biography. But I didn’t know the full name of the store, John Lewis, because it was not mentioned. So, as I read the Apter biography, I thought to myself that it was a little more new information. It made me think of the late African American congressman, John Lewis.

The next evening, October 14th, my husband said to me that he wanted to show me a video. He likes the videos on YouTube showing unlikely caring relationships between animals called The Dodo.

The video he showed me was about a relationship between an injured cow and a dog. As I watched the video about the cow’s healing and recovery, I received the most amazing synchronicity.

The narrator mentioned that the cow’s name is John Lewis! Here is the video:

This screen shot shows the name John Lewis:

John Lewis

I was so happy and amazed by how events in my life synchronized so precisely with what I read about Robin and the Bee Gees just 24 hours earlier.

This has happened to me before over the years, where what I am reading in a Bee Gees’ biography mirrors what is going on in my daily life. I see it as a sign of my connection with Robin’s spirit. I wrote about this here as well:

McKenzie and Massachusetts

This time, I have my husband to thank for this as well as God and Robin. I love that my husband is a part of all of this and that is how it should be.

This is how afterlife communication can help reduce loneliness. The expansiveness, awe and wonder that can arise within a person when receiving synchronistic experiences can help reduce loneliness because you can really feel the presence of your deceased loved one.

This synchronicity caused me to feel so loved by this amazing force, which you could call God. This interconnection between Robin’s spirit, my husband and me is the essence of what alleviates loneliness. This makes me feel like my connection with Robin is still very strong even almost 10 years after his death. It makes me feel like his spirit is very close to me. This is an antidote to loneliness.

Telekinesis:

Well, what could help reduce loneliness more than to know your loved one’s spirit is actually in your home moving your things?:) Robin let me know many times over the years that I really was not alone, even if at the time I felt like I was. Yes, spirits can come into your home and probably do all the time. It’s good that Robin let me know, in no uncertain terms, that he was there and had the skills to move objects.

My favorite examples of this is when he moved my necklaces with spiritual symbols in 2013. He also gifted me with an infinity symbol made of dental floss and left it on my tea pot handle, also in 2013. To me, that sounds exactly like the sort of thing Robin would come up with! It’s thinking outside the box in the most unique of ways and I love his spirit for this always.

Telekinesis includes moving a physical object with non-physical energy and creating something, like a design, with a physical object from non-physical energy. This is something Robin taught me that I did not know before his passing.

These experiences with his spirit are incredibly priceless to me and ones I will never, ever forget or ever take for granted. If you experience something like this with a loved one on the other side, you are BLESSED beyond measure. The excitement that these actions by Robin generated within me definitely help reduce loneliness I feel in my life. I still feel excited about these things even though they occurred over 8 years ago. But time is not a factor when it comes to spiritual matters.

I’m sure our loved ones in spirit know the impact they have when they do these things. I’m sure they love our ongoing appreciation of what they have done as well. I’m pretty certain that Robin loves it that I have shared with whomever is interested what he is able to do as spirit!

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you can see how afterlife communication is a sacred gift that truly can help reduce loneliness. It is so kind of our loved ones in spirit to reach out and still make such a powerful difference in our lives.

References

1. Apter, Jeff (2016). Tragedy-The Ballad of the Bee Gees, London: Jawbone Press, page 23.

Love,

Christina Samuels Signature

How Soul Connections Heal Our Sense of Separation

How Soul Connections Heal Our Sense of Separation

by | Jul 24, 2021 | Synchronicity

 “Our most deeply experienced belief is that we’re separate.”

~Tara Brach, Real But Not True: Freeing Ourselves from Harmful Beliefs

On July 20th, I watched the video by Tara Brach that I linked to above. I begin this post with this quote from her because it is true in its simplicity. It is meaningfully connected to the topic of this post which is about how soul connections heal our sense of separation from one another.

Humanity Carries a Belief in Separation

Collectively as a human race, it is clear to me that there is a strong belief that we are separate from each other. This belief is played out in how we treat one another here. If we did not believe we are separate, there would be no such thing as racism, sexism, ableism, anti-semitism, and homophobia, which are all forms of abuse and cruelty. Those behaviors are born out of a deeply held belief in being separate from the ones judged as worth less.

While we are still embodied in the physical world, that sense of being separate can be monumental. Our physical bodies give us the illusion of being separate.

If we still feel separate whilst we can still see each other, talk to each other, and touch each other, what happens when someone we love dies and they lose their physical body?

Won’t the sense of separation be deepened even more? The sad truth is that yes, in many cases, for many people, the complete loss of the physical body equals a complete loss of connection with the deceased person.

This is in part due to many people living at the level of body consciousness with little or no soul consciousness. Many people hold belief systems that life does not continue after death. Perhaps the physical death of a loved one reinforces and heightens the awareness that while they were alive there was a sense of separation that was never healed.

Healing My Sense of Separation

I have been sharing with you my direct, felt experiences of afterlife communication with Robin Gibb, someone I never met while he was alive in the physical world. In 2012, when I first woke up to my soul connection with his energy, I felt a sense of separation from him even though I still felt like he was a member of my soul family. We as humans are so complex that we can feel close to someone and separate from them at the same time!

Interestingly, I did not feel separate from him because he died and was disembodied. If anything, that made me feel closer to him because I could connect with his spirit in ways I could not while he was alive. I only know Robin as  Spirit-Energy-Light and I am quite comfortable with that at this point even though I still feel sad sometimes that I did not have the opportunity to share any physical world experiences with him.

Initially, I felt separate from him because I did not know him on a personal level while he was alive. I didn’t know if his spirit would want to connect with me because he had never met me. Also, due to his fame, I felt separate from him in another sense because in no way, shape or form do I have any connection to the world of wealth and status that he occupied.

But I recognize that that is a form of ego, to feel separate from someone just because of their earthly status which is a falsely constructed narrative designed to separate members of the human race, making some superior and others inferior, falsely in both cases.

So, one of the most healing and life-changing messages I have received from Robin’s spirit through afterlife communication and through studying our lives is that we are not separate. In fact, I believe that to a great extent, one of the major reasons his energy came into my life was to show me that we are not separate and to teach me this with actual experiences.

Death cannot separate us spiritually and in some ways, it can bring us even closer to someone we love.

I believe his spirit came back to me to help heal this sense of being separate from him, from God, and from the Universe. Through my communications with Robin’s spirit, I had begun to feel more connected to God and that I was a part of this magnificent interplay of energies, showing up in my life in the form of synchronicity directly related to Robin. In fact, it was frequent, precise synchronicity that brought me to the conclusion that we share a twin soul connection in the first place. Here is an example of the synchronicity:

 

Synchronicity: RAF Bomber Command Memorial Unveiling

After he died, I began to notice significant life parallels that really gave me the sense that, even though we did not know each other while he was embodied, we were not separate on the soul level. There were so many connections with family members, places we lived, numbers and dates that I really began to see a pattern. The life parallels gave me the sense that we really were connected on deeper levels that were orchestrated by a power greater than both of us. With the deeper sense of connection came a deeper sense of belonging to a soul family in spirit that Robin is also a part of. So, that was and is very healing.

Afterlife Communication Helps Heal the Sense of Separation Between the Living and the Deceased

Concerning Robin’s spirit, there are still powers and forces at work in my life that continue to reinforce the truth that we are not separate. Those powers show up as synchronicity which connect aspects of my life to aspects of Robin’s life. How is this possible now that he is disembodied?

It is because his energies are still here! He left behind a wealth of videos, televised interviews, photos, music and biographies written about him and his brothers. So actually, it is quite possible, even easy on some level, to still connect with him energetically and synchronize.

I would like to share an example of this with you now.

During the early morning hours of Friday April 30, 2021, I was up late. So, I decided to look through some Bee Gees videos on YouTube. I noticed the documentary, Keppel Road. I had not seen this before, so I decided to watch it for the first time.

At about 1:19:48 minutes into the video, I noticed children (I think Barry’s) riding ATV’s (All-Terrain Vehicles). This caught my attention because I had never seen this footage before and not too long ago, my husband Julian and I were talking about wanting to ride some ourselves. It looks like fun!

The same day, April 30th, during the afternoon, we went driving to a local park. On our way, I saw a truck towing some brand new ATV’s. This of course reminded me of the documentary I had just seen.

However, I did not think this was a synchronicity or any type of communication from Robin. I noticed it but didn’t think much of it. ATV’s are common where we live and we do talk about them every so often.

The next day, Saturday, May 1st, just after midnight, I sat at Robin’s altar space to connect. I lit a candle to say hello. I was thinking about the next blog post I wanted to write and how I wanted to keep focusing on his music like I did in previous posts.

I felt guided to explore the lyrics to the Bee Gees’ song, “Living Together.” I thought about and focused on the lyrics Robin sang solo in the song.

I decided to research the lyrics so I could see in more detail what they were singing. I looked at the lyrics on Google. I read the lyrics, scrolling down.

As I reached the end, that is when I received the most amazing synchronicity and energetic alignment with Robin.

I saw, just below where songwriters were listed, “Living Together lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group.” Here is a screenshot from Google:

Soul Connections

ATV Music? There was “ATV” again. It was in a different context because this one mentioned with the Bee Gees music is Associated Television and connected with Sony Music Publishing. Still, there was “ATV” showing up again when it had just been on my mind. Once again, it was associated with something to do with the Bee Gees. According to Wikipedia:

Sony Music Publishing (formerly Sony/ATV Music Publishing) is an American music publisher, part of the Sony Music Group[1] owned by Sony Entertainment. The company was formed as Sony/ATV in 1995 with the merger of the original incarnation of Sony Music Publishing and ATV Music, which was owned by entertainer Michael Jackson. Jackson had purchased ATV Music, which included the Lennon–McCartney song catalog, in 1985.

For the record, I did not know anything about ATV Music prior to seeing this in the “Living Together” lyrics and I don’t recall seeing it in the past. It was fascinating how this all came together within a day of each other. I was being presented with the Rule of Three again which I wrote about in this post.

I didn’t believe it was synchronicity when I saw the ATV’s being towed. But with it showing up again so unexpectedly the third time within the context of the song lyrics that I felt guided to study, this felt like a striking and attention-getting synchronicity. I was so surprised! This made me feel so strongly connected to Robin’s spirit.

How Soul Connections Heal Our Sense of Separation

The strong inner message I received regarding Robin’s spirit after receiving this synchronicity was this:

“We are not separate. I have ATV, you have ATV’s all within a day of each other…for fun!”

That is what this energetic alignment is about: fun and how afterlife communication can be fun, uplifting and a reminder that we really are not separate, even if our loved one is deceased.

It is really hard when someone we love dies, even if you never met, so it is such a blessing to be reminded that we are connected through our everyday lives. The things we do and notice in our everyday lives can match with the energies of our deceased loved ones through the things that they have left behind here.

Robin left a lot of his energies here in terms of his music. Since we are spiritually connected, aspects of my life still magnetically align with some aspects of his life, even though he is no longer here physically. I think this is amazing and something I only learned about after his death.

I firmly believe that this type of synchronistic energetic alignment is possible between any embodied person and deceased loved one where there is a sincere bond of love, caring, respect and faith. Through these alignments, our sense of separation can be healed.

Thank you for reading! I wish you fun and enlightening energetic alignments with your soul connections that will heal any sense of separation you may be feeling.

Love,

Christina Samuels Signature

Twin Soul Synchronicity

Twin Soul Synchronicity

by | Jun 26, 2021 | Synchronicity, Twin Souls

This post is a republished version of the original post called Afterlife Communication: Levine Synchronicity. Some updates have been made. I hope you enjoy it!

For this post, I have a powerful twin soul synchronicity and life parallel with Robin to share with you. We’ll be taking a journey back to the past, about nine years ago.

Twin Soul Synchronicity: Introduction

To begin, I would like to say that to me, twin souls are not souls split in two, or being half of a soul that is incomplete without the other. I don’t buy into the notion that we are incomplete souls until we find some other “half.”

Twin souls are whole souls that vibrate at a nearly identical frequency of spiritual light with nearly identical hues. They are from the same soul group. No two souls are exactly the same. But there are souls with whom we share a very close, even nearly identical vibrational resonance with. This is how I see my connection with Robin. This is based on information I was given through synchronicity which I shared in my background section.

If you disagree with how I see twin souls, I respect that. I’m sure you have very good reasons for believing what you do, just as I have very good reasons for believing what I do.

I don’t have all of the answers and I never will. I am a twin soul student, not expert, which is what I love being. I can only go by the information I am given for my particular spiritual journey. Yours may be different.

It is important for me to be clear with my readers about how I see it at this point. With that said, I am a growing and evolving soul and my perspectives about twin souls could change over time. But for now, this is how I feel.

Now, I’m ready to share today’s story!

Common Threads

In 2012, I was just getting to know who Robin was as a professional singer and a person because I had not been following his career prior to his death. I spent time looking at different pictures of him over the years to see what he was like at different stages.

On September 3, 2012, I emailed to myself four photos of Robin that I wanted to keep.

Later in the day when I looked at the email of the photos I sent to myself, I noticed that one said “© Steve Levine-2005” in the bottom left hand corner. I was surprised because I hadn’t noticed it before in the flurry of looking at so many pictures. There are only a million or so pictures of him online, lol! Also, the print was a little small.

Here is the picture of Robin I am talking about from the website famousfix.com: (1)

All joking aside, this was very important to me. I thought to myself that Robin and I have a “Steve Levine” connection because one of my favorite authors is Stephen Levine.

The late Stephen Levine (1937-2016), has been very important in my life. He was one of the world’s most beloved grief counselors.  Even though I never met him, he felt like a father figure to me.

I have had a very strong connection to Stephen Levine’s writings since 1993 when I was studying clinical psychology. A colleague of mine introduced me to his books. He wrote in a way I had never seen before. I found him incredibly insightful on a personal and professional level.

When I first met my husband Julian, we read his book called Healing into Life and Death together. I shared with him how important this book was to me. It was helping me to touch the painful areas in my life with loving kindness instead of fear. He listened and even made some notes in my book when we had first started dating.

I mentioned in my background section, how I had a ceremony for Robin on June 8, 2012 and read from this book.

Here is some more information about Stephen Levine from Wikipedia.

So, on September 3, 2012, I pondered how Robin had a photographer named Steve Levine and how I was connected to beloved author and counselor Stephen Levine. It was a nice parallel and common thread that ran through our lives.

After Death Connection Through Synchronicity

Right after I was done looking at his photos and logging off of my email, I decided to watch a video on YouTube called BBC Learning-Previous Lives. It is a documentary about reincarnation, past life regression therapy and past life research. I had never seen it before.

As I watched the video, I received one of the more shocking synchronicities I had experienced with Robin at that time. It’s still one of the strongest communications I have ever been given and is very meaningful to me.

At approximately 7:00 in to the video, an ear, nose and throat doctor named Dr. Steven Levine appeared on the screen. Here is a screen shot of the video below:

Dr. Steven Levine

 

This was an incredible, amazing synchronicity that truly made me feel very connected to and one with Robin’s spirit. I felt a little bit like I was in the twilight zone with this one. This synchronicity occurred about 3 ½ months after Robin’s passing. At that point, I did not know we were twin souls, so I was thinking, “What is this thing with Robin?” My husband was freaked out by this as well and thought it was kind of spooky, lol!

In that moment, my twin soul connection with Robin manifested in the fact that we are/were both connected to men named Steve or Stephen Levine. The timing of these events in close proximity with each other is significant and what makes it so remarkable. The documentary with Dr. Steven Levine brought it all together, strongly emphasizing this connection.

Levine Grief Work

Steve and Stephen Levine were/are both connected to the issue of grief and doing something to heal it.

I already reviewed the Stephen associated with me.

The Steve associated with Robin, Steve Levine, is a music producer who produced the song, Grief Never Grows Old for the One World Project created to raise money for the 2004 Asian Tsunami relief effort.

Here is the song.

After all these years, I found out about this association of Steve Levine with the song, Grief Never Grows Old on August 17, 2019. When I first saw this picture of Robin in 2012, I thought he was Robin’s photographer and never looked into it any more.

It was only when I decided to write this blog post and do a lot more research on Steve Levine that I found out about how he does not only have a similar name to Stephen Levine. Both are associated with the topic of grief. The matching is truly incredible.

It just goes to show you how multi-layered afterlife communication can be. It could potentially take years before you get the complete message and synchronicity connected to your deceased loved one.

Robin and Past Lives

Since the twin soul synchronicity occurred through the context of a documentary on reincarnation, I think it was meant to get me to think more about this. I certainly believe reincarnation is possible, even highly likely, but I don’t understand how it really works. It seems a bit confusing to me to have 1000’s of incarnations on Earth, which is what some cultures believe.

Has Robin had past lives? His ex-wife Molly seemed to think so. I would like to share this quote from her from the book, Bee Gees: The Authorized Biography by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb (as told to David Leaf). Of all the things I have read about Robin over the years, I think this is one of the most interesting and insightful comments. The bold is mine:

All the years I’ve known him, it’s always seemed to me that it has been a race with time. Which was so crazy. He was seventeen when I first knew him. Yet then, it was sort of as if he’d lived a lifetime, and time was running out. I’ve always felt that some part of him is suffering a great deal. Almost as if he’s lived before. There’s something he draws his lyrics from, draws his force from, that is very much a part of him that nobody else can get into. The things that he draws his lyrics from are so deep and so meaningful and so hurtful as well, as if there’s been a great pain there. (2)

It is so interesting how she connected his suffering to a past life. There was so much more to him that only those closest to him could witness.

His brother Barry made a similar comment about him in terms of his sadness. I quote from the book, Tragedy-The Ballad of the Bee Gees by Jeff Apter:

Robin was an absolute dichotomy: he was two extremes. He could be the funniest man you’ve ever known, or the saddest man you’ve ever known. That was his gift; some of the great songs he came up with came from this sadness (3)

Upon reading these passages, one of the first things I thought of was his song, One Million Years, which he recorded when he was only 19 years old.

Here are some links to the video:

Of all the songs he sang and wrote, this one is still one of my favorites and most moving. I read the lyrics from time to time and wonder how he was able, at the age of 19, to write a song of this magnitude of such depth and loss. Where did the lyrics come from?  They surfaced from somewhere deep within his soul.

In this song, he is singing about an afterlife communication, the deceased informing the one living that they will wait for them for one million years. It is a loss so deep and hurtful that they are willing to wait that long. It is a true soul mate song on a deep spiritual level.

When I was 19, topics like this were not even on my radar. But they were on his radar and he set these sentiments beautifully to music. If anyone could make sadness and loss sound beautiful, it was Robin.

Is One Million Years a glimpse into one of Robin’s past lives? Was he singing about his own death and loss of a marriage partner from a previous lifetime? I don’t know and will probably never know while I’m alive. But his ex-wife’s comment definitely got me thinking of that possibility.

He could have put his past-life loss, separation, and sadness into this song in his incarnation as Robin. If musicians have had past lives, it makes sense to me that they could be unconsciously connecting with a lifetime and channeling that into their music in their current lifetime. I think it is interesting to look at things from this perspective even if I can’t prove it because it takes things to a deeper level.

Conclusion

Twin soul synchronicity is very profound, especially when it is new to you and especially when it is occurring so strongly with someone you never met. I did not know exactly what was going on and why when this all started in 2012 after Robin’s death. That is how I felt when I received this synchronistic message. Back in 2012, it led me into a much deeper and evolving journey of discovery in terms of the nature of my connection with his spirit.

I have built a narrative on this website showing our spiritual connection. So, I hope you can see why, by December of 2012, I was asking in prayer if Robin is my twin soul.

The synchronicity I just presented to you is one of many situations that led me to ask for an answer to this question. It was a lot to figure out on my own, so I sought help from God, which for me, is the best place to look for help. I have come to view the synchronicity as signs and symbols of our connection.

I did not know anyone I could trust in the physical world who could assist me and who would not judge me. So, I am always grateful to God, the Universe, and Robin for making the truth of our connection so clear.

I hope you enjoyed this post about how twin soul synchronicity can manifest. I present these stories to give examples so that if you are experiencing something similar, you might want to consider whether you are experiencing a twin soul connection too.

Thank you for joining me here. Until next time, take good care!

References

1.  Source of Robin Gibb photo © Steve Levine-2005: https://www.famousfix.com/post/robin-gibb-12047685.

2.  Gibb, Barry, Robin and Maurice and David Leaf (1979). Bee Gees: The Authorized Biography, New York: A Delilah/Delta Special Publishers, page 126.

3.  Apter, Jeff (2016). Tragedy-The Ballad of the Bee Gees, London: Jawbone Press, page 273.

Fair Use Disclaimer

The photo of Robin Gibb is being used in accordance with the “fair use” clause cited in The Copyright Law of the United States, Title 17 of the United States Code, Chapter 1, due to its use for comment, educational, informational, and reference purposes from which no material profits shall arise. Title 17, U.S. Code § 107 recognizes a “fair use” of copyrighted content. Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act states:

  1. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.

Love,

Christina Samuels Signature

 

 

 

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Robin and Strauss

Robin and Strauss

by | Apr 17, 2021 | Synchronicity

Robin Gibb Inspired by Strauss

For this post, I have the pleasure of writing about a music education journey I have been on. It involves Robin and Strauss, or more specifically, classical composer Johann Strauss II and how his musical compositions likely inspired Robin and the Bee Gees to write their famous song, ‘I Started a Joke.’

This journey involves mysterious synchronicity which kept pointing to Strauss, so I felt the guidance to follow this connection to see where it was going to take me. Robin really took me to school on this one, so I hope you enjoy it! He doesn’t let me rest on my laurels, but it is really fun and I enjoy it so much.

Robin and Strauss

During the early morning hours of Feb. 22, 2021, I read the book Tragedy-The Ballad of the Bee Gees by Jeff Apter. I was reading it to connect with Robin’s spirit. Due to the fact that I have already read two books about the Bee Gees cover to cover, this book is one I just skim through periodically because a lot of the information are things I’m already familiar with.

So, as I flipped through the pages, I came across a story about an interview with Don Pietro, an American radio DJ at the time,  who asked the Bee Gees about the meaning behind, ‘I Started a Joke.’ According to the book:

Robin recalled how he was on a Viscount plane and the roar of the engines reminded him of a Strauss composition, ‘and the tune came to me.’ After a nervous pause, Barry added, ‘With a lot of our songs, you need to make your own personal meaning, read into them what you want.’ (1)

This story about Robin being inspired by a Strauss composition was news to me. I found it fascinating that he heard this composition in the roaring of an airplane engine. That’s how the minds of musical geniuses work.

I started my own joke with Robin and asked if he had heard music in the whirring of a fan or  swooshing of a clothes washing machine too! The Bee Gees created ‘Jive Talkin’ from inspiration from the sound of driving over a bridge in Miami, so why not! 🙂

Anyway, I folded the page over so I would come back to it later. I wanted to look more into Strauss’ music because I was not familiar with it.

Pottery Leads to Strauss

The next day, on Tuesday, Feb 23rd, my husband informed me that there was a second season to the pottery show I like on HBO MAX called “The Great Pottery Throw Down.”  I finished the first season and loved it because I used to throw pottery as a hobby. If he had not told me there was a second season, I would not have known…and I would have missed the sign I’m about to write about.

On the first episode of the second season, one of the contestants mentioned that the inspiration for a 16-piece dinner set he was going to make was Richard III’s Yorkist rose which was a ‘white rose’ and Harry Tudor who was a ‘red rose.’ One of the judges mentioned that the contestant was representing “The War of the Roses” through his pottery.

The narrator said this contestant had a passion for history. This reminded me of Robin and his passion for British history which he talks about in this video:

When I heard The War of the Roses mentioned, it immediately jogged my memory about a book I bought and read years ago in 2016 called, All You Need is Love, by Jewelle St. James. I remembered that The War of the Roses was mentioned in this book.

This book has been very important in my journey of discovery with Robin. It is about her past life and spiritual connection with John Lennon of the Beatles. I could see many similarities between her story and mine because for both of us, our spiritual connections were triggered when they died.

She found herself having deep feelings of grief after John Lennon died even though she had not been following him at all. I found myself having a similar sort of grief even though I had not been following Robin’s career. I share this quote about how she felt after she found out he was shot in New York to illuminate this point:

My thoughts were erratic. New York … why didn’t I find that out … before it was too late? Why haven’t I been paying attention to where he has been? Inexplicable feelings of grief, desperation, and loss washed over me, leaving me drained and confused. (2)

I felt exactly the same way after Robin had died. I had thoughts like, “Why did I lose track of them (The Bee Gees)? Why wasn’t I paying attention? Why didn’t I go to a concert while I had the chance?”

It was the grief of missing his entire life. This made no logical sense at the time, but since then, I have come to understand this grief more fully.

So, after I heard The War of the Roses mentioned on the pottery show, I paused it and got up right away to see if I could find the passage in this book about The War of the Roses. My recollection was correct and I found the exact passage.

After I read this, I began to think of something else I read in this book years ago. It was about how Jewelle’s daughter, who has psychic abilities, told her that it was her job to help people remember John Lennon and his music. I decided to look for this quote as well, which I found easily through my tablet search function.

I read this passage first which was at the bottom of this page. After I finished, my eyes traveled to the beginning of the page.

To my surprise, there was a mention of Johann Strauss!

This was not something I had remembered because as I mentioned, I had not read this book since 2016. I thought to myself, “I’m syncing up with Robin again.” It felt like a beautiful connection because I absolutely love connecting with him around subjects that have to do with his music.

Here is the quote about how John Lennon had been spiritually assisted by Johann Strauss during his career. It is Jewelle’s daughter that is giving her the information because according to the story, John Lennon’s spirit contacted her:

“John had a teacher who had always helped him with his music. Through this teacher he has grown to love waltzes.” “Does this teacher have a name?” “Johann.” My mind raced. Waltzes … Johann … “Is this Johann Strauss?” I asked.

 

Joanne paused for a minute, then said, “Yes, Johann says that’s how people knew him.” The girl looked puzzled. “Mom, who is this Strauss guy?” “A man who wrote beautiful music …” I trailed off, not knowing what to think, yet feeling a sense of overwhelming awe. (3)

Well, I felt awe too after just reading about Robin’s connection with Strauss the night before in the Bee Gees’ book. So, this whole thing with the British pottery show and British history took me right back to Strauss…and Robin. It was nice to see this connection between some of the things he loved.

Strauss for the Third Time

A couple of days after the synchronicity I mentioned above, I was reading a book I had just purchased called, Twelve Steps to Heaven: Introducing Twin Flames, Angels and Soul Wisdom by Jayne Chilkes.  Her writing on twin flames is very beautiful and I strongly resonate with it. If you are interested, you can read it beginning on page 111 in the Afterword in the link I provided above.

I have a habit of flipping through books when I first get them. As a result, I came across a mention of Strauss again, for the third time within a handful of days. Mind you, I never hear about Strauss in my day to day life.

I usually listen to Mozart if I’m going to listen to classical music, so seeing Strauss come up this often within such a short period of time was noteworthy.

Here is the brief quote where Jayne Chilkes’ spirit guide is telling her about the music he likes:

 “…Classics, mind you, I do not like this modern stuff, no, but the music where there is the melody from the heart. I am very fond of this. I was not quite so struck by the Strauss Brothers-very good-, but they did not move me like the Russian Rachmaninoff….” (4)

Well, to each his own. The main point I noticed was Strauss showing up three times and how his sentiments matched Robin in terms of singing from his heart.

Signs and the Rule of Three

This appearance in this book was the last time ‘Strauss’ showed up in my life spontaneously. But, this really got my attention because I have read over the years to pay attention when signs show up in threes.

According to a website called Psychic Elements, there are reasons “3” is important when it comes to signs and messages:

Its simplest and most obvious reason is that one time is random, twice could be coincidental, but three becomes a pattern. So, for example, if you heard a certain book mentioned on TV, then read a reference to it on Face Book, and then someone you knew casually dropped it into a conversation, maybe you should take a look at it – it may contain important information for you.

 

When something appears on your radar three times in a short space of time, then it will have significance for you. If you can’t quite work out what that meaning is, just wait a little. In the meantime, journal about it, mull over it and let it percolate through your consciousness. Writing about the signs, and allowing your thoughts to land on the paper is a wonderful way to open up your intuition to possibilities. (5)

I did what she said in terms of mulling over the synchronicity with Strauss because I did not quite understand why he was showing up so much all of a sudden. I did some additional research to see if I could come up with some answers. This led me to deeper insights about the song, ‘I Started a Joke.’

Which Strauss is It?

In the quote I mentioned above, Robin said that the airplane engine sounded like a Strauss composition which inspired the tune for ‘I Started a Joke.’ But during my writing and research for this project, I discovered that there are several classical composers named ‘Strauss,’ including Johann Strauss I, Johann Strauss II and his brothers Josef and Eduard Strauss. There is also another composer named Richard Strauss who is unrelated to the others.

So, even though I thought he was talking about Johann Strauss II at first, I thought to dig a little deeper to see which composer he was most likely talking about.

I did a little more research on ‘I Started a Joke,’ this time on Wikipedia. I found this noteworthy quote of Robin’s about this song:

According to Robin Gibb, the melancholic melody of the song was inspired by the sounds on board an aeroplane:

The melody to this one was heard aboard a British Airways Vickers Viscount about a hundred miles from Essen. It was one of those old four engine “prop” jobs, that seemed to drone the passenger into a sort of hypnotic trance, only with this it was different. The droning, after a while, appeared to take the form of a tune, which mysteriously sounded like a church choir. (6)

In the first quote from the Tragedy book, he said the airplane engine sounded like a Strauss composition. In this Wikipedia quote, he said it sounded like a church choir.

So, now I’m confused. What happened to Strauss?

I decided to look into Richard Strauss a little more. His work with symphonic poems sounded beautiful, and something Robin would have liked, but there was no mention of church choirs associated with him.

So, I went back to studying Johann Strauss II and saw that he did have a connection to church music as you can see in the quote below from naxos.com:

The report in the Allgemeine Wiener Musik-Zeitung confirms beyond doubt that a piece of church music by the younger Johann Strauss was played on 4 August 1844 in Vienna’s Kirche Am Hof (known also as “The Church of the Nine Choirs of the Holy Angels”).

 

…Strauss’s composition was given in an a cappella (i.e. unaccompanied) choral performance – or, at most, with organ continuo – and that the version for wind ensemble was first heard at another event, perhaps in the open air….  (7)

I put two and two together and hypothesize that ‘I Started a Joke’ was inspired by the airplane engine that sounded like the church choir music of “the younger Johann” who is Johann Strauss II.

On August 4, 1844, Johann Strauss II was 18 years old. Robin was 18 years old when ‘I Started a Joke’ was recorded on June 20, 1968. Both of them showed genius level musical talent at a very young age. It seems that 18-year-old Robin was inspired by 18-year-old Johann Strauss!

The Whole World

Another thing I noticed from the naxos.com article was the text of Strauss’ church music/choral work- Graduale: Tu qui regis totum orbem. This means “Thou who rulest the whole world.”(8)

  

I see the lyrics for ‘I Started a Joke’ here:

I started a joke
Which started the whole world crying
But I didn’t see, oh no
That the joke was on me, oh no

I started to cry
Which started the whole world laughing
Oh, if I’d only seen
That the joke was on me

In writing this song, did Barry, Robin and Maurice gather inspiration from the text of Strauss’s choral work, including the words, “the whole world?” I may never know, but I can’t help noticing the glaringly obvious exact match.

Since Robin heard the church choir music of a Strauss composition in the airplane engine, maybe he knew about this text and it helped inform the lyrics to the song.

The graduale Tu qui regis totum orbem (1844) was the only sacred work Johann Strauss II ever composed and perhaps Robin knew of it for this reason.

Conclusion

After this close examination, I surmise that the answer to “Which Strauss is it?” is Johann Strauss II. As for why I got Strauss in threes, I feel like Robin wanted me to learn more about the inspirations for his songs, which is in essence learning more about him.

And if I can help remind people of how truly gifted he was in terms of how his mind worked musically, then all the better. He doesn’t need my help in any way in this regard. I know millions of people remember and love him and his gift. It’s just nice to give a shout of praise on his behalf when I can because I love him too.

I hope you enjoyed this journey with Robin, Strauss and me. Until next time, take care.

References

1.  Apter, Jeff (2016). Tragedy-The Ballad of the Bee Gees, London: Jawbone Press, page 140.

2.  St. James, Jewelle. All You Need Is Love, St. James Publishing. Kindle Edition, Location 136.

3.  Ibid., Location 587-593.

4.  Chilkes, Jayne (2001). Twelve Steps to Heaven: Introducing Twin Flames, Angels and Soul Wisdom, Lincoln, Nebraska: Writers Club Press, Page 51.

5.  Psychic Elements (July 25, 2017). Symbols, Signs, and Messages: The Rule of Three.

6.   Wikipedia, ‘I Started a Joke,’ by The Bee Gees.

7.  Naxos.com, The Johann Strauss Edition; Volume 46, Section 10: Gradule

8.  Ibid., Section 10 Gradule: “Tu qui regis totum orbem”

     Love,

    Christina Samuels Signature

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