Something odd happened to me a few years ago. It was during a time of emotional turmoil in my life, the onset of a depression which was later lifted. I have not really known how to talk about it, but here goes.

It was dark and I tripped and and almost fell in my room. Perhaps it was at night, but I caught myself on a bookshelf and saw the small statue of "mary" or some beautiful goddess, abstract, sitting across the room. I felt its presence in the oddest way. I felt so discouraged, at the time, profoundly discouraged, and tripping was just another part of my extreme tiredness.

"Are you here, Mary?" I asked in the darkness. Was I speaking to the statue, or was I speaking to a dear relative I lost many many years ago? Who knows?

Later, I was on the computer, was it hours later, or a day? I could not keep track of time in my illness. I was casually reading the comments section at the bottom of an unimportant article on a website. There, incongruously, for no reason at all, was typed among a long list of commentors' reactions to the article:

"Are you here, Mary?"

It unsettled me. So, now I've mentioned it. That feels better. I've never before or since seen such a comment with no purpose in a comments section on a website. It gave me the most peculiar feeling. That's all.

Sometimes odd things can happen in a context in which people can find meaning.

I am reminded of a book by a guy named Dave Kane. He is a Rhode Island radio personality, but in 2003 he lost his son, Nicholas O'Neill, in what is called The Station Nightclub fire. Maybe I was reminded because there was just a 10-yr anniversary for that event. It was pretty horrible. After the fire, the family started having those coincidences of odd things occur, except they involved a number, 41,  that the family associated with Nick. They came to understand that Nick was communicating with them and Kane wrote a book about that, using the number 41, called 41 Signs of Hope.

Kane wrote an anecdote about another communication from the son and put it here:
http://www.rolandcomtois.net/fellow-travelers
under the title
No Pain.

So my point is, maybe the Mary thing was someone trying to comfort you, but it didn't fit into your worldview, which is fine and understandable, so it made you feel weird and so the someone stopped.

It could have been a psychic experience.  In the weird state you were in, your mind brought this question from the future to your present moment of conscious awareness.  It might not have any real meaning other than a psychic flash presenting in a weird way.  

Or it might have been a synchronous event designed to get your attention.  If the question itself does not mean anything in your life, then perhaps the only thing it means is that you should ask yourself what the two moments in your consciousness had in connection with one another.  For instance, what was going through your mind (or in the back of your mind) during both instances?  You said you were dealing with emotional turmoil, so obviously you must have had heavy thoughts on your mind about something.  Sometimes when you have sychronous or repeated events, it's a way of your consciousness trying to get your attention to confirm what you're thinking, feeling, or doing. 

Was something heavy on your mind, or was there something that you've needed to sort our in your mind for a while, like a worry or concern that wasn't quite clear to you yet on the surface?  There's a message in there but you have to be the one to tell yourself what it is.  It's as simple as just feeling inside yourself what the message means most to you, even if you feel like you're just making a best guess.  Then ask youself if that feels right.  If it does, then just accept it.  If it doesn't, then you'll be more aware of this kind of process the next time it happens.  The more synchronous experiences you have, the better you get at recognizing them. 

Thank you for your kind replies. In answer to the question of how I was feeling when I read the phrase on the web at that time...I would describe it as a tugging of the heart. A slight surprise. The feeling of turning around and finding someone behind you. A vague sense of being watched. Being a bit dazed. Feeling an invisible arm around my shoulder. That kind of thing.

I would completely freak out if I began seeing people popping into view, or frequent and more obvious signs of a mysterious otherworld, but I can somehow tolerate smaller signs of presence, and so ask for those, because no matter how many times I feel the presence of the otherworld I am still a big doubter.

I need ongoing communication to bring me away from my list-making, sensible, logical side. Signs and Presence are subtle, but they are hard to ignore over time.