Intimations

I got an email, from shamanic healer Ross Bishop, about some rather alarming predictions for the upcoming year, starting with a trigger on October 7th. Ross's blog provides some background on the Time Monks and how they've developed, and are refining, their prediction model. Their web bots analyze the communications patterns exhibited on the world wide web for linguistic/emotional patterns. They are effectively analyzing the collective unconscious as it is expressed in internet communication. They, themselves, admit that this is a new technology and that they have a history of both hits and misses, but their record of hits seems fairly impressive.

I have no idea how accurate the data from their latest prediction will prove to be. I certainly hope they're at least a bit off. However, I'm inclined to think they're onto something. Why? Because, I've been having intimations, myself. I discussed a bit of this here and here. But, I have to tell you, gentle reader, that this is not the sum of it. Something is shaking apart. I can feel it. I think this financial crisis is real and serious. And, I think it's the tip of the iceberg. Simultaneously, I have a sense of something dramatically "opening" in a way that could be quite extraordinary.

And then, there are the tones. Those who have known me for some years, know that I get tones in my head before earth change events. Major earthquakes and other natural disasters, as well as dramatic shifts in consciousness, for reasons I don't quite understand, cause me to hear beeps, hums, and sometimes inaudible pressures through my head. It's something I've been experiencing for some years, and it jumped to a whole 'nother level after my trip to Mexico; a trip in which I trained with Drunvalo Melchizedek and visted Teotihuacan. Well folks, my head is ringing off the proverbial hook. I haven't be treated to such a cacophony in some time, and it's been going on for days.

I should also point out that Karen Bishop has been hinting at a calamity for some time. She's written a good deal in recent months about the "old world" being in it's final fall, and endorsing her readers to try to stay in comfort space; to detach from the unfolding drama. She doesn't say anything, that I can recall, about October, but she does point to some unpleasantness in November. Karen Bishop in her August 21 update:

September will bring in more of the new….more of the beauty, simplicity, and light we have been longing for. And October will usher in more rapid and solid manifestations of our new spaces, including the supports we will need in times to come. October will be much more fast moving and intense and we will barely be able to catch our breaths with all the new manifestations occurring for us. And November will very possibly bring in a rocky, tumultuous, and gutting surprise for much of the old world.

Rocky, tumultuous, and gutting, sounds like a good description of what the Time Monks relayed in in their interview with Coast to Coast radio on 9/22. Their short and long term predictions sound pretty dire. I've posted the entire interview in a YouTube player at the beginning of this entry, but, here's a run-down of some of the major points from the Pimpin Turtle, starting with a pre-amble from their 9/2 prediction.

"The Web Bots see September 22-27, 2008 as precursor dates to the main turning point date of October 7, 2008. Closely watch events during September 22-27, 2008 for hints as to what to expect on October 7, 2008.

Cliff said whenever "it" happens, and whatever "it" turns out to be, "it" will be a date in history you remember like 9/11, we will remember 10/7.

The Web Bots foresee that October 7, 2008 to February 19, 2009 will be filled with emotional intensity, and the length of the release period will be extraordinary. The Web Bots have never picked up any event lasting this long. In comparison, 9/11 length lasted about 10 days. This event will be four months of high emotion……."

Next, is an outline of upcoming events from their 9/22 interview.

The next year will get very ugly and will change your life worse than 9/11. It is important to understand the magnitude of the data. The sort of agony, grief, pain and rage that was felt the six days following 9/11 will be felt for five and a half months. From October 7th, 2008 until March of next year….

• Will there be a total economic collapse?
  
  Yes. 2009 will be a “year of transformation.” The keyword “monumental” shows up as how the future will view our current situation. Time Monks describe this as an “epic situation”



• How to prepare for what’s coming?
  
  The Time Monks say:
  Have a plan in place to be as independent of the institutions of society as you can possibly get. Prepare for a situation in which you will have no water, food, electricity or heat. Have clothing for all seasons and EXTRA MEDICINE. Possibility of oil going up to $500 a barrel, also possible massive deflation from nobody buying anything. This is the kind of thing where the other nations on the planet will be so scared of what’s going to happen in the U.S. that they will begin preparing, fearing that the U.S. will go crazy. This includes mobilizing military.
  
  Try not to panic, we have a couple of weeks. You can not store enough to get you by indefinitely. A situation my arise in which you may need to move or be relocated. Time Monks do not advocate bank runs because money may become useless. Says longer term data “implies money is less intense part of society than it is now.”



• September 22nd - 27th - The Plateau of building tension.
  
  On October 6th, 11:59 pm, the planet is going to go through a “period of release” following the traumatic event. The information will spread very quickly due to technology. The release language will start at the point of impact.
  
  The event could be something such as a “false flag terror attack” in some part of the world, U.S. may not necessarily be at epi-center of said event. It could also be a “slow boil” event such as a bio-agent released. There are expected elements of a prequel that will set the stage for the event, between the dates of September 15th-September 27th.

So, these are the really scary bits, that have everybody worked up. There seems to be a cascade effect of horribleness, encompassing economic, military, and "terra activity," which could directly impact anywhere from 2 to 22 million people. Although, they suggest, as did Edgar Cayce, that we may be able to uncreate this manifestation through consciousness shift.

Here is some of the possible "terra activity":

• December 10th-12th, 2008 - China sized earthquake in Pacific NW.


• In 2009 there will be a global coastal event.
  
  This does not necessarily mean a tsunami. If you live around water it would be good to have a boat.

. . .


• Anything about Antarctica/Global Warming?
  
  Antarctica is very important to the “powers that be”. 13% of linguistics related to the “powers that be” concern Antarctica. Antarctica is big key to whatever is driving them.

Here, they answer a question I've had, from the time I started to feel this discomfort, because my tension began concurrently with the event at CERN.

• Anything to do with the Hadron Collider?
  
  Time Monks not worried about Hadron Collider. Data so far indicates that the scientists at CERN are performing a "juggling act and keep dropping oranges". Doesn't show up in linguistics as a driver in what's about to occur.

Fair enough, but I sure do wonder what they might be juggling.

Now, this is where it gets fascinating for me.

• Do you believe extraterrestrials are real and/or play a role?
  
  Within consciousness, there is a distinct consciousness that is not human.
  Clear that there is something outside of the human realm that drives the “powers that be”. There is “stuff” in the model space (of the web bot) that goes through the idea of “disappearances” beginning next year (relating to extraterrestrials). It’s as if an inter-dimensional door opens up and people are sucked though the door and the door closes.





• 2009: Disappearance language gets more specific. Big changes. Some of the “powers that be” will disappear. “Powers that be” will be out and about with large groups of people with them and they will all disappear.


• A lot of alien activity way off in the future.


• Indications in language involving e.t.s (possible result of disinformation):




• Alien wars are coming.


• These alien events may or may not be real but people are acting as if they are real.


. . .


• Big revolution coming against the “powers that be”

So, why do I find this fascinating? To explain this, I must, necessarily, digress a bit. Their description of this alien intelligence, which controls the "powers that be," sounds, to me, distinctly like the "archons." The term comes from the Gnostics. It describes an inorganic consciousness that has installed itself as the rulers of humanity. Here is John Lamb Lash's interpretation of the Nag Hammadi Codices, regarding the archons.

According to the Gnostics, the parasites or Archons, as they called them, originate with the earliest phase of the formation of the solar system, before the Earth coalesced as a planetary organism. Their habitat is the solar system, exclusive of the Earth, moon and sun. They are inorganic forms with intelligence of an electrical nature – cyborgs, as we would say.

. . .

The Gnostics taught that the Archons did not create us, but they are caught in a delusion, and they think they are our creators. One of their main goals is to convince us that they created us – in effect, to get us to think as they do... If the Gnostics were correct, the Archon ETs attempt to take credit for imparting certain skills like this to humanity, but the claim is false, I believe. We ourselves have discovered these skills, but forgotten how, so we are susceptible to accept the explanation of a foreign or alien intervention.

. . .

The NHC does not say that “the universe is a mistake.” It says that the world system we inhabit, our planetary system, is an anomaly due to the presence of the Archons who impinge upon life on earth. Gnostic cosmology explains the emergence of the Archons at the cosmic level, so Gnostics understood the origin and behavior of these alien entities.

Later in this interview, Lash discounts the idea that "the archons" were the "giant bats" encountered by Michael Harner, in the ayahuasca journey he describes, in the opening chapter of The Way of the Shaman. But, I think Lash misapprehends Harner, possibly because of the way the question was phrased in the interview. Here is how Harner describes his experience:

I became aware of my brain. I felt--physically--that it had become compartmentalized into four separate and distinct levels. At the uppermost surface was the observer and commander, which was conscious of the condition of my body, and was responsible for the attempt to keep my heart going. lt perceived, but purely as a spectator, the visions emanating from what seemed to be the nether portions of my brain. Immediately below the topmost level I felt a numbed layer, which seemed to have been put out of commission by the drug--it just wasn't there. The next level down was the source of my visions, including the soul boat.

Now I was virtually certain I was about to die. As I tried to accept my fate, an even lower portion of my brain began to transmit more visions and information. I was "told" that this new material was being presented to me because I was dying and therefore "safe" to receive these revelations. These were the secrets reserved for the dying and the dead, I was informed. I could only very dimly perceive the givers of these thoughts: giant reptilian creatures reposing sluggishly at the lowermost depths of the back of my brain, where it met the top of the spinal column. I could only vaguely see them in what seemed to be gloomy, dark depths.

Then they projected a visual scene in front of me. First they showed me the planet Earth as it was eons ago, before there was any life on it. I saw an ocean, barren land, and a bright blue sky. Then black specks dropped from the sky by the hundreds and landed in front of me on the barren landscape. I could see that the "specks" were actually large, shiny, black creatures with stubby pterodactyl-like wings and huge whale-like bodies. Their heads were not visible to me. They flopped down, utterly exhausted from their trip, resting for eons. They explained to me in a kind of thought language that they were fleeing from something out in space. They had come to the planet Earth to escape their enemy.

The creatures then showed me how they had created life on the planet in order to hide within the multitudinous forms and thus disguise their presence. Before me, the magnificence of plant and animal creation and speciation-hundreds of millions of years of activity-took place on a scale and with a vividness impossible to describe. I learned that the dragon-like creatures were thus inside of all forms of life, including man.* They were the true masters of humanity and the entire planet, they told me. We humans were but the receptacles and servants of these creatures. For this reason they could speak to me from within myself.

. . .

I was now eager to solicit a professional opinion from the most supernaturally knowledgeable of the Indians, a blind shaman who had made many excursions into the spirit world with the aid of the ayahuasca drink. lt seemed only proper that a blind man might be able to be my guide to the world of darkness. I went to his hut, taking my notebook with me, and described my visions to him segment by segment. At first I told him only the highlights; thus, when I came to the dragon-like creatures, I skipped their arrival from space and only said, "There were these giant black animals, something like great bats, longer than the length of this house, who said that they were the true masters of the world." There is no word for dragon in Conibo, so "giant bat" was the closest I could come to describe what I had seen.

He stared up toward me with his sightless eyes, and said with a grin, "Oh, they're always saying that. But they are only the Masters of Outer Darkness."

Harner associates this final statement with outer space, but I interpret it differently. I think the old shaman is describing the carefully crafted illusion in which we are ensnared. In short, the "archons" are the architects of "maya." They would be analogous to the "Smiths" in the Matrix movies. But, note that in both cases, the description is of an alien consciousness that insists that it created and controls this world, but that this is incorrect information. According to the Gnostics, this is the nature of the illusory world in which we are ensnared and remain deluded about the very nature of the universe.

But, to sum up. My sense is that things are about to change. Possibly, dramatically. There is a very jagged component to this, but there is also a sense of expansion. The problem is that I don't feel able to share some of the more optimistic information I've been receiving over the past week or so. I have not been given the go ahead by my guides. It may that the information is very selective and not helpful to the whole. It may be that I just don't have enough of a grasp of it to put it out there directly.

I do feel, though, that I need to say something about pole shift. I've been feeling like there is a very real possibility that it's imminent. I first learned about the potential for pole shift from Drunvalo and the Flower of Life curriculum. As I learned it then, the pending pole shift would be tied to a jump in consciousness.

There will be a pole shift. This will include the kind of violence that is normally associated with pole shifts, the continents going up and down, huge tidal waves that are 100 feet high, the entire south pole moving to the Equator at 1300 miles an hour and these kind of things, this may still occur. But because of something I cannot quite explain about who we are becoming and about ourselves and our ability to control our reality as a planet, we may find that the environment, even though the poles may shift, may not be nearly as violent as we think. It could actually be a very beautiful experience.

My feeling on this may go against what a lot of people think. There are many people saying 'go out and dig holes in the ground, put lots and lots of food in, and guns and munitions and hold on for the worse'. But really what you are preparing for is that time right before the pole shift. Because when the poles shift, we will go through an electromagnetic no zone for about 3 and a half days, and then, after that time we'll be on a totally different dimensional level of the Earth. Whereby anything that is happening on this level will make no difference. That's a preparation prior to the time when all the systems, the social and the financial systems and all this kind of things break down. And it's normal for them to break down. Scientists will see in the magnetic field a direct correlation of the events of the Earth.

Prior to the poles of the Earth moving to new locations, which is when the human consciousness usually moves into the fourth dimension, there would be a period of time where there may be worldwide chaos. It is a period where most people go insane, all social systems, financial systems, political systems etc., collapse and the planet is plunged into total chaos. This time period traditionally, throughout the universe, has been about three months to two years directly prior to the actual poles of the planet shifting. We'll call this time period the Translation Period.

The chaos is caused when the geomagnetic poles of the Earth drop to zero. This causes chaos because the human being needs the magnetic field of the earth to maintain it's emotional balance and memory. When the magnetics drop to zero, people go insane.

However, to believe that if you prepare in this way with food and supplies and that everything will be the same after the Translation Period, is unrealistic. At the end of the Translation Period you will change your consciousness and begin to move through the void, the birth of the new consciousness into the fourth dimension. From there on out, everything you do to physically prepare on Earth will be of no use to you in your new world.

We are going into a dimensional consciousness change and though a physical preparation may help a little tiny bit at the beginning, as we pass through these changes. The only real help is who you are, what your character is, how much your heart is open and how well you are to love and to connect with God. So the most important thing is to work on your innerself. This is more important than preparing with food and in the little bit of time that we have left.

I did a little googling for some current material from Drunvalo on pole shift and found this video. It's about an hour long, but it's worth hearing through. The stuff on pole shift and how to move through it is close to the end, but the whole thing is fascinating, and offers some background on his book Serpent of Light. The whole thing can be viewed here.

So, I realize that this is very disjointed. I can't help that. I hope I will have more clarity in the coming days, and be able to offer more. But, for the time being, I feel like it's important to get as much of this out there as possible and let people sort through it for themselves. Try not to get caught up in the fear. Listen to the Time Monks interview for yourself and see if it resonates for you or not. Don't take anyone's word for any of this. Trust your own inner knowing first, last, and always.

Sarah Palin and the Religion of Ecstacy

There has been a good deal of discussion, in recent weeks, about Sarah Palin's connection to the Pentecostal church Assemblies of God, and even to a possibly heretical sect of that church. Much of it, in both the blogosphere and the mainstream press, has been extremely critical of her participation in the church. Some of those concerns are, I think, quite valid. There are possible ties to dominionism; a philosophy which seeks to tear down the Jeffersonian wall and establish a Christian theocracy. For those who hold the First Amendment dear, I should think that would be a reasonable area of inquiry, when assessing Palin's viability as a candidate. As would concerns about how her religious beliefs may inform her political positions on issues like reproductive freedom and the environment.

However, I am somewhat dismayed to see how much of the coverage of Palin's religious background has focused on the religious practices themselves. It would seem that Steve Waldman at Beliefnet agrees with me. He recently called on a Washington Post cartoonist to apologize for mocking Palin's Pentecostalism.

Did the Wa they [sic] run a cartoon ridiculing Joe Lieberman for thinking that God spoke through a burning Bush? Or Barack Obama for thinking that Jesus rose from the dead?

Here's a general rule of thumb: if you look closely, every religion's practices and beliefs seem idiotic to those who aren't part of that faith. Yet they're profoundly meaningful to those who believe.

Really best not to go there in a political campaign..

The video posted at the beginning of this diary puts Palin's church under scrutiny. (If the YouTube version is deleted, as a number of versions of this have been, Vimeo also has one posted, which seems to be holding.) It cannot help but raise eyebrows. Some of the things depicted in the video: speaking in tongues, a cell phone anointing that apparently "blitzes" phone call recipients, intense emotional outpourings... None of this should come as a shock to anyone who's ever been in a Pentecostal church, but to those who haven't it can't help but seem very foreign and strange. Somewhat alarming is Palin's connection to a minister whose claim to fame is having driven a "witch" out of a village in Kenya. Horrible, but not inconsistent with some of the Christian/indigenous hybrid religions that occur in the wake of missionary work in tribal cultures. And, it's certainly not the worst of those. Which is to say, no one died.

What strikes me in viewing that video, and not for the first time, is how much Pentecostal ritual looks like the ecstatic religious practices of many non-Christian, tribal peoples. At moments, I could swear I'm watching a National Geographic documentary. As I've pondered this issue over the last week or so, I've been forced to reconsider some of my own negative impulses regarding Pentecostalism. Full disclosure: I was a born again Christian for a brief period in my youth and attended a number of Pentecostal services. It never moved me as it appears to do many of the believers in that video. I left that experience deeply disenchanted, on many levels. Bitter, even. But time, distance, and years of studying a range of religious and mythical beliefs have enabled me to put the experience in some perspective.

One of the staples of evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity is the claim of a "personal" relationship with God and/or Jesus. That didn't resonate for me then, and it sounded strange to my ear when I heard it repeated in that video. But, the more I watched, the more it made sense to me that people in those services are having a very personal and transcendent experience. It is those very intense outpouring, the glossolalia, the sometimes violent tremors, that more mainstream and secular viewers find most disturbing. But, they are what I find most fascinating. Quite simply, because they look like elements of some shamanic practices.

The use of rhythmic drumming, singing, and dancing, are elements of many tribal rituals. This is covered somewhat in Graham Hancock's Supernatural. While Hancock's book focuses largely, even disproportionately, on the use of psychotropes, he does get into some discussion of trance dancing and the evidence that it is depicted in paleolithic cave paintings. These techniques have been used since time immemorial to alter consciousness and "pierce the veil." Many who have had these ego shattering experiences have the tangible sense that they have touched the numinous; that they have seen "god."

This experiential connection is seminal to the defining practice of Pentecostals: speaking in tongues, or glossolalia.

The most scrutinized and least understood aspect of the Assemblies of God Church and Pentecostalism in general is the ancient practice of "speaking in tongues."

"Speaking in tongues is a heavenly language," said Donna Morgan, a member of the Pennsylvania-based Freedom Valley Worship Center who embraces the experience. "That we're going to God and Jesus intercedes for us."

"It's almost as if I'm able to tap into God's heart and what he wants," said Amber Crone, who is also a member of the Freedom Valley Worship Center.

But, glossolalia is not the exclusive province of Pentecostals, who base their belief in the practice on the second chapter of Acts.

¹ And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

² And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

³ And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

⁵ And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.

⁶ Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.

According to Wikipedia, glossolalia appears in a variety of religious traditions.

Aside from Christians, other religious groups also have been observed to practice some form of theopneustic glossolalia. It is perhaps most commonly in Paganism, Shamanism, and other mediumistic religious practices.^[68]

Glossolalia was exhibited by the renowned ancient Oracle of Delphi, whereby a priestess of the god Apollo (called the Pythia) speaks in unintelligible utterances, supposedly through the spirit of Apollo in her.^{[citation needed]}

The Jewish religion has various citations of unintelligible speach beginning with the verse in Psalms 81:6...

I should note that Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance (whom I'm convinced is a reincarnated Delphic Sibyl), is often described as singing in glossolalia, but which she describes as her own language. I find it fascinating that many people hear comprehensible words and stories in her vocalization.



Beyond tongues, there is another form of Pentecostalism, which reflects deeper mythical underpinnings. Not practiced, to my knowledge, in Sarah Palin's church, but rooted in Appalachian Pentecostalism is the practice of snake handling. Billy Ray Cyrus explains:



It's hard to miss the layered symbolism in both the practice and the scripture upon which it is based.

It becomes difficult, if not impossible, to judge negatively some of the more outré charismatic Christian practices and simultaneously justify pagan and shamanic practices here and around the world. Graham Hancock posits a connection in Supernatural (pp. 495-498).

Despite the advance of science, which has no space and no patience for the supernatural, roughly two out of every three human beings alive today continue to hold strong beliefs in supernatural entities and in the existence of spirit worlds. Hindus and Buddhists recognize the veridical existence of limitless non-physical realms, entities, intelligences, and states of existence. Traditional Jews believe that Moses talked to God face to face, as the Torah states, and received from him "heavenly writings" in the form of the Ten Commandments. Muslims are taught that Muhammad had encounters with a majestic supernatural being, later identified with the Angel Gabriel, whose apparitions were preceded by a "peculiar sound like the tinkling of bells," and who subsequently revealed to the Prophet the entire text of the Koran.

. . .

Since religious beliefs are so important, it should not be controversial to state clearly what the evidence shows about their ultimate source and inspiration. And what the evidence shows, if we probe deeply enough into the foundations of all the world's great religions, is that they rest upon a bedrock of supernatural encounters and experiences involving powerful and charismatic individuals with the gift to communicate what they knew to others. Although such beliefs quickly crystallize into dogmas passed on from generation to generation, it is clear, even from the few examples given above, that they were not originally conjured out of thin air, or arrived at through scholarly study, or deliberately devised to assuage supposed human needs, but that they arose in every case solely out of attempts to describe, depict, and explain the supernatural experiences of their founders -- who were, by any standards, shamans of the highest order.

. . .

In the case of all the great religions of the modern world, the original supernatural experiences and revelations of their founders are now so far in the past that salaried priests, ministers, rabbis, mullahs, and bishops have taken over entirely -- presenting themselves not just as adminstrators but as true and exclusive intermediaries between humanity and the otherworldly powers.

. . .

What hope do we have of rediscovering the truth? In a sense it is always there waiting for us. Indeed, it is our birthright. Shamanic ecstasy lies at the root of all religions and, Weston La Barre admits, "the nature of the shamanic ecstacy may be illuminated by attention to ancient hallucinogens..."

But hallucinogens are not the only path, as Hancock, himself, admits. I would suggest that some of the practitioners of Pentecostal Christianity are periodically accessing the hidden world through their own ecstatic rituals, even if the confines of their over-arching belief system do not allow a fuller exploration of those experiences. For some it may just as easily be mimicry; a "fake it 'til you make it" approach. Either way, it is a personal experience best not judged by those who don't understand it. Again, I quote Steven Waldman:

It's impossible to know about the absolute genuineness of someone's speaking in tongues experience -- just as it's impossible to know whether a Christian is faking when he describes being saved, or a Catholic is faking when they claims to believe in transubstantiation, etc. In interpersonal relations, it's an easy call: just assume they're telling the truth and go about your business.

Happy Autumnal Equinox

Today at 15:44 UT (GMT) the earth achieve that moment of balance that occurs each spring and fall.

When and why the fall equinox happens:

The seasons of the year are caused by the 23.5° tilt of the earth's axis. Because the earth is rotating like a top or gyroscope, it points in a fixed direction continuously -- towards a point in space near the North Star. But the earth is also revolving around the sun. During half of the year, the southern hemisphere is more exposed to the sun than is the northern hemisphere. During the rest of the year, the reverse is true. At noontime in the Northern Hemisphere the sun appears high in the sky during summertime and low in the sky during winter. It is highest at the summer solstice (about June-21) and lowest at the winter solstice (about December-21). The half-way points in the year are called the equinoxes. It is time of the year when the sun rises exactly in the east, travels through the sky for 12 hours, and sets exactly in the west. _1,2 Everywhere on earth experiences close to 12 hours of daylight, and 12 hours of nighttime.

Crystalinks gives a good round-up of Autumnal Equinox observances from around the world, and offers this more general advice.

There are those who believe the equinox solar affect produces a reduction in the magnetic field of the Earth, providing easier access to other dimensions beginning around 24 hours before, and ending around 24 hours after the exact Equinox point.

Doorways or thresholds into the mysteries are more easily accessed during equinoxes and when we consciously engage this timing we are taking advantage of the opportunity to further activate our own experience of these sacred timings and what they have to offer us. This is a great time to be on the land, in a power spot that calls to you, whether that is in a forest, near a body of water, on a mountain, in a sacred site or in your back yard. What is important is to create the time and space that supports a direct experience of the mysteries that are ready to reveal themselves to you.

Happy Birthday Mr. Darwin and Sorry About the Persecution

Hat tip to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, on this juicy tidbit. It seems the Church of England has a message for the late, lamented Charles Darwin. From the Telegraph:

The Church of England will concede in a statement that it was over-defensive and over-emotional in dismissing Darwin's ideas. It will call "anti-evolutionary fervour" an "indictment" on the Church".

The bold move is certain to dismay sections of the Church that believe in creationism and regard Darwin's views as directly opposed to traditional Christian teaching.

The apology, which has been written by the Rev Dr Malcolm Brown, the Church's director of mission and public affairs, says that Christians, in their response to Darwin's theory of natural selection, repeated the mistakes they made in doubting Galileo's astronomy in the 17th century.

The apology is to coincide with Darwin's 200th birthday, which is February 12th, 2009, and the 150th anniversary of his seminal work "Origin of the Species." Rev. Brown has added a section to the C of E website to commemorate and honor Darwin's work. His introductory press release can be found here, and the new Darwin retrospective here.

This is all well and good, but from here, the story takes some strange turns. For starters, while Rev. Brown seems both passionate and sincere, it seems his church doesn't really have his back.

The remarks by Dr Brown come after the Church of England voted two years ago to apologise to descendants of the slave trade.

A Church of England spokesman said Dr Brown's piece was a "personal view" of Darwin's contribution to science and did not amount to an official apology by the Church.

He said: "I think it is fair to say that he is summarising the relationship between the Church of England and science but it is not an official apology."

So... good to know they've stepped up on the slavery thing, but on Darwin, Rev. Brown looks to be pretty well on his own. So, it's not the C of E that is apologizing, but their public affairs director.

It also seems that even if the church itself were apologizing, Darwin's family would still think it's too little, too late.

Howevetr is [sic] has cut little ice with Darwin's descendants. Andrew Darwin, a great-great grandson of the scientist, said: "Why bother? When an apology is made after 200 years, it's not so much to right a wrong, but to make the person or organisation making the apology feel better."

Pema Chodron: "A Beautiful World Covered in Leather"

My personal hero Stuart Smalley (aka Al Franken) put it a little more simply.

It's easier to put on slippers than to carpet the entire world.

The Ides of September

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If you read my last post, you may have noticed that I've had a very ominous feeling the last few days. Over the weekend I was heavily involved in family commitments and a lot of travel, which kept me somewhat distracted. But periodically yesterday, I had the sense that something very bad was happening. I wondered several times if there was a spike in violence in one of the many active war zones, or perhaps a natural disaster. It was just these flashes of things that felt like mini explosions.

My questions were answered, at least to some degree, when I learned, last night, that Lehman Brothers was declaring bankruptcy, Merrill Lynch was being sold to Bank of America, and American International Group was scrambling for cash.

The only question when I went to bed last night was just how serious the stock market drop would be. Pretty bad.

The pullback, which erased about $700 billion in shareholder wealth, occurred across much of the globe as investors absorbed Lehman's bankruptcy filing and what was essentially a forced sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America for $50 billion in stock. While those companies' situations had reached some resolution, the market remained anxious about American International Group Inc., which is seeking funding to shore up its balance sheet. A faltering of the world's largest insurance company likely would have implications far beyond that of Lehman, already the largest U.S. bankruptcy in terms of assets.

. . .

For the first part of Monday's trading, the market was falling, but in a largely orderly fashion as investors seemed to draw some relief from the resolution of Lehman's problems. As the session wore on, and there was no word about AIG, the market suffered another bout of fear that the credit crisis will continue to devastate the financial sector ...

I checked the numbers around 10:00 am to see where we were. (Note the numbers on the Dow.)




The next few times I checked, they retreated off those lows. Some time later, it went into a free-fall.

... Selling accelerated in the final hour and then took on more momentum as stock indexes broke through lows set in July _ an ominous sign for some traders.

Monday's trading followed the pattern of the past year; there were some signs of optimism, but they were dashed when investors weary of bad news perceived there was more ahead.

Ouch. No one -- not even that cheerleader Alan Greenspan -- seems optimistic about hitting bottom and stabilizing for a while. I think the horror of this may exceed even the worst expectations of economists and financial wizards.

A while ago Karen Bishop wrote about how the US was starting a massive fall.

Here in the US, this is occurring in a dramatic way indeed. Our country is beginning its final fall…and it will occur very rapidly now. The rug has been pulled out from under it, and it has nothing much to hold onto anymore. The super power that it thought it was, is now needing to tap into and become what true power really is. The old false power must now depart. There is nothing left to support it. But this is the natural and rightful process of ascension and evolution.

. . .

This was difficult information for me to bring forth. I checked and re-checked it. I am not normally a gloom and doom reporter. I sat on this information for quite awhile, so as to make sure. I even went so far as to stay in a better feeling space, so I would not have to acknowledge the impact. But eventually I had a visit from by ever trusted guide, who imparted this news once again. So there it was, not to be ignored.

The far majority of the time,[sic] when the energies are aligned for dramatic changes, a difficult scenario is most always averted. Choices are made by all, and things seem to commonly end up with a much softer outcome. But with the advent of this latest phase of evolutionary growth, a much more dramatic and severe outcome is on the horizon. It is time for forward movement, and this seems to be the course it will take.

Fasten your seatbelts, folks. It' going to be... Well, you know the rest.

Anniversary

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Last night we went out to dinner to celebrate my daughter's birthday. She turned seven yesterday. And, seven years ago today, the World Trade Center fell down. I can so clearly remember watching it collapse from a hospital bed in San Diego, with my new baby in my arms. Her birth will always be tied, by simple chronology, to that terrible event. But, for some reason, this year the cumulative memory is particularly vivid.

Yesterday was one of those preternaturally beautiful days. The sky seemed almost too blue; the clouds like they'd been painted on. I was awestruck every time I glanced at the horizon. We walked out of the restaurant, last night, and stared at an eerily beautiful sunset, that left me spellbound for several moments. It was one of those days that made me want to believe in the indelibity of nature. Perhaps it was that very sense of beautiful unreality that most made me long for a sense of permanence.

As we drove home last night, along a remote country road, I saw them again. Those flashes in the sky that look like lightening... but aren't. Those flickers of light that I can only describe as small ruptures in reality itself.

Flicking in and out of my thoughts, for days, now, is a dream I had, some years ago. A couple of years before 9/11, actually. I dreamt that the horizon was dissolving. I was looking at the Manhattan skyline and it was melting away, like film overheated on a projector. It was melting off a frame and leaving nothing but the whiteness of an empty screen. It was all over the news. The city was disappearing... and the disappearance was spreading. I was planning on heading west, to get my sister, in Colorado. I knew that the nothingness would eventually reach there. It would consume the entire planet, but I wanted to be with my family, before everything ceased to be. I realized, later that day, that I'd been dreaming of Atlantis. It was both memory and premonition.

Listen. Listen very carefully and you can hear the sound of something cracking.

What is the Title of This Thing, Again?

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Am I the only one who's feeling absolutely wiped? I know Karen Bishop discussed the "dead battery" phenomenon, in her last update. Noted. But, this is unreal. It's not just the exhaustion. I'm so forgetful. Disoriented even.

Today... or was it yesterday... it may have been both... I couldn't remember how to put the coffeemaker together. Over the past week, I've forgotten to put coffee in it. I've forgotten to put water in it. I've forgotten to put the pot in it.

Tonight I made carrot juice and forgot to put a glass under the spout. I found myself staring at an orange puddle on the counter and thinking, "Is this thing leaking?" Wow. Thankfully, I figured it out, when I was only about a half a carrot in.

I just keep forgetting what I'm doing, when I'm in the middle of doing things. Either I'm developing Alzheimer's or we are in the midst of an intense a shift.

What I keep reflecting on, is something I learned from my former teacher, Virginia Sandlin. As we become increasingly aware of our multidimensionality, one of the first things to go is short term memory.

Karen Bishop also touches on this phenomenon in her list of ascension symptoms.

• A feeling of disorientation; not knowing where you are; a loss of a sense of place. You are not in 3D anymore, as you have moved or in the process of moving into the higher realms.
. . .
• Memory loss. Difficulty accessing words. A great abundance of short term memory loss and only vague remembrances of your past. You are in more than one dimension at a time, and going back and forth as part of the transition (you are experiencing a "disconnect"). Also, your past is part of the Old, and the Old is forever gone. Being in the Now is the way of the New World!
. . .
• Not remembering the meaning of anything. When I was in an intense period of the transitional process and we were in the throws of a substantial energy thrust into the higher realms, I remember looking at a trashcan and not knowing what it was for. I had to access my memory of the "old" and reach far. What was happening was that I was vibrating at a point where everything only possesses the meaning and identity that we give it. In the higher realms, energy is just energy with no label or meaning. All is fresh and new. Sort of a Course In Miracles undoing process, without the "trying".

Exactly. What is a trashcan for? What's a coffee filter for? I've just gone all loopy.

Totem Series: Skunk & Opossum

I'm writing about these in the same post because they have been coming up in my reflective reality in a kind of tag team fashion. They're not power animals I've ever given a lot of thought to, but lately they've been insinuating themselves into my life in rather dramatic fashion.

It started a couple of weeks ago when I was meditating. I found myself staring into the oddest little face; pale beige with dark eyes. I didn't even know what I was looking at, until I heard very clearly "opossum."


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So, I looked it up.

The opossum is a crafty animal that shows us how to play different roles. It knows when to act, when to hide, and when to show its true colors. Opossum is a master at recognizing truth as well as falsehood. When it wants attention it gets it. When it wants to be left alone it plays dead. It is a strategic animal that knows how to mold each situation according to its needs. It has the ability to decode hidden messages and read between the lines.

. . .

Opossums are nocturnal and raise their young in a pouch on their mid section. The young are born blind and rely on their feelings to guide them to their destination. They learn to sense their way around at an early age developing strong instincts by the time they reach adulthood. These instincts are complimented by their inherent ability to disguise themselves. The opossum is a multi-faceted actor that continually changes its appearance. It does not allow its emotions to consume its actions and partakes in the game of life with strategic maneuvers. Part of what the opossum teaches to those with this totem is emotional and mental stability.

The opossum is a craftsman in the art of appearances. When it appears in your life it is telling you to wake up and pay attention. Things are not what they seem to be. By observing your actions, reactions, thoughts and feelings, deeper insights emerge. This emergence leads to self-empowerment. Congratulations and welcome home!

The very next night, as I was drifting off to sleep, I found myself watching a little skunk walking along the side of a road. I had a sort of aerial view of the little creature as it toddled along.


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So, I looked it up.

The skunk is a very powerful totem with mystical and magical associations. It teaches how to give respect, expect respect and demand respect. This totem helps you recognize your own qualities and assert them.

Skunks are fearless but very peaceful. These are two wonderful qualities which you can learn from your skunk totem.

. . .

Individuals with a skunk totem must learn to balance the ability to draw and repel people. Skunks remind us that there is a time to be with people and a time for solitude.

The skunk's stripe is the outward sign of kundalini or life force. When you receive a skunk totem, your kundalini or life force activates and amplifies. You must learn to use this force effectively.

After this, I kept noticing both of these odd little critters, that are so rarely in my thoughts, coming up in conversation around me. I thought it a curious reflection. But, they both made themselves impossible to ignore the other evening when our house was, essentially, skunk bombed.

My husband I were sitting in the living room, watching the Republican Convention, when I noticed the smell wafting into the room. As luck would have it, it was an excessively warm, humid evening, and we had the house completely closed up and the air conditioning on. I knew it had to be fairly close, if we could smell it at all. So, I cracked the window to see what was up. Big mistake! The stench was unreal. And, it was starting to seep in from every crack and crevice all over the house. There was no room any floor, where you could not smell it.

We surmised that a fight must have broken out over cat food. We have a couple of very timid stray kittens we've been feeding. We've been winning them over slowly. So, we were concerned that one, or both of them, had gotten into a scrap with a skunk. My husband peeked out the front door at the bowl and came face to face with, wait for it... an opossum.

Husband: Not happy to find he's been feeding wild creatures in his attempt to nurture our little, waifish, feline friends. Me: Not happy at having a house full of skunk smell. It took a good two days to air it out completely.

I don't think it's any accident that these two archetypes have been appearing in tandem. There are some noticeable parallels between their respective medicines. Both have to do with striking a balance between the public and the private; assertion and withdrawal. And, they're both kind of cute, in their own ways. I just prefer to view them -- and smell them -- from a distance.

Of Bees and Fireflies

It would appear that both bees and fireflies are disappearing. The fireflies, I have been noticing for years. I can remember when I was a child and the lawn was blanketed with twinkling light every evening. I used to catch scores of them and put them in jars, with a little grass. I'd watch them flash as I fell asleep at night and free them in the morning. I was secretly delighted when one or two would escape the jar and twinkle from various nooks and crannies in my bedroom. Some years ago, I realized that I could go an evening with nary a sighting. In more recent years, they seem to have made a resurgence, but it's nothing like the fireflies of my youth.

I'm not the only person who's noticed the diminishing of the firefly population.

The fate of the insects drew more than 100 entomologists and biologists to Thailand's northern city of Chiang Mai last week for an international symposium on the "Diversity and Conservation of Fireflies."

They then traveled Friday to Ban Lomtuan, an hour outside of Bangkok, to see the synchronous firefly Pteroptyx malaccae — known for its rapid, pulsating flashing that look like Christmas lights.

Yet another much-loved species imperiled by humankind? The evidence is entirely anecdotal, but there are anecdotes galore.

The evidence apparently consists of people, like myself, who remember. And what is causing it, they do not know.



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The other unsolved mystery -- one that is causing far greater panic -- is the disappearing honeybee. Panic, because they are integral to the food supply. In both cases, it seems quite clear that human technologies are the culprit. But, the bee disappearance, if Richard Hoagland is correct, can be traced quite directly to the utter stupidity of corporate farmers.

If you watch the video series I've posted, you'll learn some surprising things. Things which directly contradict the media narrative that has whipped people into a frenzy.

For starters, there is no record of Einstein ever making the statement that has been attributed to him from the earliest writings on colony collapse disorder. This one:

If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left.

Nope. Never said it. At least, not that can be documented by people whose job it is to document these things.

To answer that last question (without denying the importance of the honeybees), we have to consider the related question of "Did Einstein really say this?" First off, searches of Einstein's writings and speeches and public statements, as well as of (scholarly) compilations of Einstein quotations reveal nary a reference to the "four years" phrase or any other statement mentioning bees (save for a brief comparison between humans and colony insects such as ants and bees). The compiler of The New Quotable Einstein also found no Einsteinian source for this quote and lists it as "Probably Not by Einstein."

More importantly, it appears to be only the corporate beekeepers who are losing bees. This, for me, was the really shocking revelation. I've had a hard time independently documenting it, because it just isn't part of the media narrative. What you do find, if you google it, is a lot of statements on message boards and the like, from organic beekeepers, who say their bees are doing fine. But, if Hoagland's research is correct, the problem can be fairly directly traced to practices of industrial farming. That raises some obvious possibilities, like pesticide use. But, it gets even stranger than the obvious. And, it has to do with some direct tinkering with the bees themselves.

It seems that some years ago, these beekeepers thought it would be a good idea to make a bigger, better bee. They did this by changing the size of the starter comb they provide for the beehives. The bees adjusted to the new size of comb by becoming larger. Now, it seems fairly obvious to me, that making giant, mutant bees was an idiotic idea on its face.



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Hoagland has a theory on torsion physics, that I recommend hearing out. Fascinated as I am by sacred geometry and its relationship to sound frequency, I found it compelling. It is far from proven, but definitely worth some thought.

There is also some indication that making the bees larger has had an impact on their natural immunity to things like the much discussed mites.

Another component of this that has not gotten nearly enough discussion in the press: No bee corpses. The evidence of colony collapse disorder points to their disappearance, not their death. What these farmers are finding is empty, abandoned hives. There are also cases of bee colonies springing up in strange places; like houses. I remember seeing a story on the news a year or so ago. They were interviewing a woman whose house had pretty much turned into a beehive. It was swarming. I remember thinking, at the time, the bees haven't disappeared. They're all living in that woman's drywall.

None of this is to discount the importance of colony collapse disorder. Clearly, most of us live on the produce of big, industrial farms. And, those farms rely on commercial beekeepers. But, it does shift the context of the conversation quite a bit.

Bottom line: It's not nice to fool with mother nature.