When cops are seeking a man with a black dog

I'm in favor of personal omens, not hand-me-down superstitions, but signs that you come to recognize as fairly reliable markers. I am fond of black dogs, and lived with big black labrador mutts for many years. I notice that when I come across a friendly black dog, especially in an improbable situation, this often signals that whatever is going on at that time is likely to come out well.

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An incident this morning puts a spin on this theme.

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I'm walking my little dog when a car slows to a stop beside me. "Hello, sir?" The driver waits for me to register the fact that he is a State Trooper. I respond that I'm fine. The officer is friendly, and seems like a pleasant fellow. He asks, "Did you happen to see a man with a black labrador walking along here?" He indicates the block from which I've just come - my block.

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"Not right now."

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I didn't ask why the cop was looking for a man with a black dog. My feelings about this odd little encounter are neutral. I don't know what it means.

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If it were a dream, I might ask whether the trooper in me is in quest of the part of me that knows THE black dog, one of whose names is Anubis. That rings a bell, since I am about to record a radio show with a guest who will talk about personal evidence of life after death and communication with people on the Other Side, all of which falls in the province of Anubis. I have a little statuette of Anubis as black dog/jackal, acquired at an Egyptian exhibition last week, at my right hand as I type.

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My mind is cast back to a dream from over six years ago in which the cops actually detained a man with a black dog - me. Here's that report, from my 2003 journal:

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June 14-15, 2003
Dream

My black dog leads me to a police badge

I am with a large black dog whose ears are up.

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At a traffic circle in a pleasant green landscape, my dog takes the wheel of a white sedan, and drives it carefully around the circle while I watch. As he nears the place where I stand, a police officer appears on the far side of the rotary. The cop seems unable to believe his eyes, but is quite agitated.

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I call to my dog to leave the car and come to me. I have him on his leash when the cop reaches us. The cop wants to ticket us for something, but can’t bring himself to record what he has witnessed, so he starts to write me a ticket for a misdemeanor – violating the leash law, or the seat belt ordinance.

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Then the policeman decides to take us downtown, to the station.

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Here he or one of his colleagues proceeds to give me two police badges. The first is a gold shield, which he clips to the tie I am now wearing. The second is a smaller silver badge that he attaches to my shoulder. It seems that instead of being charged, I am being given honorary police rank.
One of the cop’s superiors comes over. He seems grouchy and suspicious, but I know that everything is okay.
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Feelings: happy, exuberant, well.

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As for the meaning of today's incident in the unfolding of physical events, I'll have to see what comes. That's the way you test what personal omens mean for you, and whether they are working the way you think they should.