Daniel Jacobs

I don’t like to just forward material directly, but this came in a few moments ago, and I was struck by the coincidence of topic, relative to astrology’s, Zbigniew’s and Drunvalo’s perspectives.  Daniel’s website – http://www.reconnections.net/ – doesn’t seem to work so good with Firefox, and he does give us permission to share “for purposes of … personal growth,” so here it is.  If you wanna sign up for his emails, Daniel can be reached at reconnections{AT}thestarchildren.com.  He’ll be talking about Star Children in a teleconference on Tuesday, February 1 – see http://saturn3lightflyers.com/ for details.

(Note: it’s good internet form to disguise the at-sign when including edresses in emails or on websites, because spammers with access to an ISP scan all passing traffic for at-signs so they can harvest eddresses to spam; to use the eddress, replace the {AT} with an at-sign, or shift-2.)

From The Reconnections………

My Dear Friends,

We have spoken to you, in our Trans-Portals series, about this process known as “Phase Shifting.” This is the gradual integration of divine and human consciousness—wherein human beings change places (and viewpoints) with Gods, Goddesses, Archetypes, Extraterrestrials, Elementals, and many divergent types of consciousness…….. expanding, contracting…….back and forth across the Veil………..traversing Celestial Realms, The Underworld……..the Flexibility of Hermes, the Alchemy of Thoth!

In a similar way, various Divinities and Archetypes are now taking on human form as well. After all, what better way is there to unite the Multiversal Oneself that allowing its various “parts” to walk awhile in each other’s shoes? You may not recognize them, as they step forth through special Energy Gates, opening now around the world, but they are there! And it is because of the proliferation of this special process, during this important time, that we must speak to you now about that area of your planet which is known as The Middle East.

For many years, this region of Earth has been a hot bed of tension and strife. Many brilliant people have expended untold amounts of energy—trying to achieve a lasting peace in this troubled portion of your world. Let us share with you some ideas that may shed new light upon why things are so turbulent in this place during this period in history.It is no mere co-incidence that this part of the planet is known as The Holy Land.

As a centering point, and origin for many of your planet’s mainline religions, The Middle East has become a primary location for the opening of the first of these Multiversal Energy Gates, through which the Ancient and the Shining Ones now regularly come and go! Through these Portals their essences pass, bringing with them a certain Radiance (Intense Energy) bleeding through from the Other Side of the Veil.The power of this Radiance is profound, creating an acceleration in the energy fields of all who are exposed to it. The effect that it has upon the human nervous system is like the Siren’s Song in the mythologies of old. It can drive people crazy, if they are not prepared to rise with it to new levels of love and allowingness.

Please note the convergence of timing between the beginning of strife in the Middle East, and the first appearance of Extraterrestrials, crash-landing upon your planet. Though many universes are using this data to explore story plots of conspiracy and intrigue, we tell you now that there are other, very expanded universes wherein this convergence of activity means so much more than mere wargames, played out in cloak and dagger fashion.

The turbulence in The Middle East, though heartbreaking and sad, serves well as a cover for this Divine Exchange of Consciousness that is occurring through these open Gates. Indeed, all areas of the world today, which are sites of continuous uprising—especially those conflicts which appear as “senseless violence”— have been or are now being infused with incoming Radiance, as designated Energy Gates start to open. The upheavals being experienced in these regions have political overtones, but the real issues are not political. They are Bio-Energetic.

For those whose hearts are open, the Radiance has very little effect, beyond the feeling of a gradual, daily increase in personal joy! When you are in Oneness, there is no objection or hindrance to being exposed to Radiance. However, if you are of a territorial or separatist mindset, or have hunger for power, these vibrations can make you crazy. What is happening in the Middle East now will soon be happening everywhere, as Energy Gates begin opening wide all over the globe. However, by that time, the vibrational flux will be so intense that control-based individuals will have a difficult time even functioning, let alone making war.

We are giving you this information—about the Energy Gates, and the non-political sourcing of these conditions, so that you can realize how important at this time is your need for OPEN HEARTS, in order to be protected and to survive in the days ahead. If that “message” becomes grounded and anchored in you…….you will be able to spread that TONE to many, many people. Not all people will understand………but they won’t need to. All they will need is exposure to the TONE of a person who is Reconnecting……….and they, too, will begin that process, on some level. It’s the 100th Monkey dynamic again, do you see?

It is very possible that many of you are focusing upon this question: “How can I help this area of the world? How can I make the suffering that is all around us diminish?” The answer to that question is STOP SUFFERING YOURSELF………and listen to what is being shared here. Begin sourcing your strength and motivation from within, and show everyone around you what that looks like. Do not preach, and do not seek them out to evangelize. Just keep washing your own “potatoes” (as the story says)…..and others will seek YOU out, and learn from you how to survive this awesome translation into 4D Consciousness.

As the vibrations on the planet continue to rise, Organizational Structures are starting to derange themselves and crumble from within. Few there are of you who fully realize how at odds your Governments are—within themselves—as they seek to gain a fresh foothold on the side of a mountain that is about to fall over.The “mountain” we are speaking of is NOT physical reality, My Friends. You are not in danger of losing your society—-or of reverting to some sort of primitive, boundary-less anarchy, wherein you will have to plot and struggle to stay alive. All of that is being sidetracked into other universes, other realities, that are less focused upon sustaining a spiritual tone.

Though each of you DOES have an “animal” component present within your DNA, you have collectively moved beyond the need to explore that in detail at this time. Any small remnants of those issues or themes will simply be a reminder that this is material you have already covered. If it goes by you, simply notice them and move on. There are far more important objects of focus ahead!

That “mountain” crumbling, of which we speak, is a mindset………….a way of seeing……….that is built upon a PROJECTION OUT of your power, your creativity, and your initiative. More and more, humankind is beginning to recognize your own causal relationship to everything that is happening around you. As this occurs, there is less and less need to project your Power Energies out…….. in the form of dictators, terrorists, saints, saviors, or generals! The AUTHORITY of creation is beginning to be implanted in the minds and hearts of everyman.

You are beginning to TAKE CHARGE of your own creations…….and that is a powerful (and turbulent) shift, indeed!Imagine driving in a car, down a thoroughfare, at 55 mph. Suddenly, the person who is in the passenger’s seat decides he is ready to take the wheel. The driver consents (after a little persuasion!)…….and the “transfer” begins to take place. Don’t you think that your vehicle is going to bob and weave a bit, going down the road? Don’t you think that some fear and trembling will accompany such a drastic move?

And so, during this time of outer (and inner) upheaval, it is important for us to remind you that all things are in the keeping of the GUARDIAN SPIRIT that has been in place since the beginning of your Harmonic Convergence, back in 1987. The Guardian Spirit is a fusion of Form and Chaos, wherein both stipulate that neither of them will have full dominance over your world at any given time. Though one may rule over the other for a short while, the Guardian Spirit insures that both will remain in place to keep the Oneness Vibration intact.

This tells you that there will never be a time when structure is completely ousted, in favor of darkness and travail. However, it also says that there will never be a time when so-called “peace and safety” is guaranteed by some system of laws and restraints. Both “extremes” will be held in check………….by mutual agreement, as the Oneself continues to manifest its shifts and changes upon the planet.

In these coming days……….you will see many tyrants and dictators………who will attempt to perpetuate old “systems” of outward control, and outward focus.   Sit back and enjoy the show, My Dear Friends. There is no need to struggle against it. They will show themselves to be court jesters, mindlessly striving to perpetuate a way of life that is rapidly passing away.   Now is your time to observe. Now is your time to be instructed!

Those who seek to unravel the fabric of society out of its season, who think of themselves as SYSTEMS BUSTERS will also experience frustration and blockage to the achievement of their goals, unless their “terrorist acts” serve some purpose in the unfoldment of the Greater Whole.   Relax, renew yourselves, and allow yourselves to release any sense of judgment concerning what is going on.

If you experience deaths, pain, or losses…….feel your emotions, express your pain, and then get up and go on. Remember what we said about death and about power. Remember also that everything and everyone you see around you is a reflection of some part of yourself! The more you allow yourself to look with PERSONAL EYES, at a humanity that is rapidly changing, the less will be your need to look with GENERAL EYES, waging warfare and heaping judgment upon those around you.

Judgment is, in fact, the only thing that can harm you during this upcoming period. For, when you allow it to take hold on you……..you drop your own energy field, which must be allowed to remain high during these changes. More information will be brought through about this as it applies! We hold you all in wonder and amazement! We are enjoying this ride as much as you are. Now is your time to take to the skies—to leave the land of the mortals! Now is your time to go forward, BEYOND HUMAN BOUNDARIES.

Stand still, and be amazed!

(end transmission)

Copyright, 2002. by Daniel Jacob.  All Rights Reserved.  May be copied and shared for purposes of research and/or personal growth.  All reproduction for profit requires written permission from the author.

More metaphors, the more the better, not just Both/And, but Allof/And/And/And…  The only thing I’d add, is a note about tapping when Daniel says, “If you experience deaths, pain, or losses…….feel your emotions, express your pain, and then get up and go on.“

Shoes

The most important thing about Both/And, is that all – ALL – explanations are metaphors.  Quite simply, the mind is two-dimensional, and the Universe is multi-dimensional, and every explanation for anything is woven from mindstuff.  Primary cultures focus on stories, not explanations, because story is metaphor.  When you identify any explanation or story that you regard as literally true, you’ve found a treasure, because you’ve found the doorway to your own Growth in Consciousness.

When you encounter someone who wants to convert you to believing their story as literally true, meet them with your Heart, because it’s excellent practice for you, and exactly what they need.  You don’t need to spend any more time listening to them than is fascinating for you, but meet them with your Heart while you are.  No need to judge them – before you criticize anyone, walk a mile in their shoes.  That way, when you do criticize them, you’ll be a mile away, and you’ll have their shoes.

The Grand Cross is still very much with us, and recall that the Grand Cross is about becoming aware of the limitations of our unconscious Identities (Juno), and adapting our self-concept to the new Realities we’re experiencing on the personal level (our new Soul Chord Download, Jupiter-Uranus), the Karmic level (the Moon’s Nodes), the cultural level (the Planet’s infant new paradigm, aka Miracles, Chiron-Neptune), and the planetary level (Pluto) – this is not a trivial transformation.

Now, some things you know to be true in your Heart, or your Gut, or your Vision.  That’s a whole nuther story.  Think about those things.  You can never fully explain them, except through metaphor or story.  It’s the things you know to be literally true with your mind, the things which are binary, Either/Or, that lead you to your path of transformation.  These are the places, on the cultural level, where Science is trying to compete with Religion for literal truth.  On the personal level, it’s our programming, the lessons that Great Grandma learned from life, and passed on to Grandma as rules.  Those are famously unconscious, and this is the time to pull them up into consciousness and let them go.  You might even consider an intention to that effect, to accelerate your process.  Always include a request for a loving and gentle transition.

Here’s one of the apparently literal truths we’re wrestling with on the cultural level, which appears to be rapidly spreading to the planetary level:

http://www.prisonplanet.com/brzezinskis-feared-global-awakening-has-arrived.html

Over the next couple of weeks Venus, which symbolizes the Heart, and Vesta, which symolizes that which we hold Sacred, join the Grand Cross, at the Pluto corner.  Pluto, recall, can transform and be transformed, but resistance is futile.  So over the next few weeks it will become more and more painful to be out of the Heart, and more and more painful to violate the Sacred – which is personal and intuitive, not ideological or programmed.  Since the Sacred is personal, that makes it all the more important that we see the World through the eyes of Both/And.  You may discover beliefs which you thought were Sacred to you, but in fact weren’t yours at all.

Set aside time to focus your attention just on this transformation.  If you’re called to directly help the souls that are experiencing the transformation as turmoil, you can try this meditation (one that Steve Nelson recommended for an earlier drama) – hover high over the area of the Planet that’s in pain, and slowly stir the Energy clockwise.  Doing that, of course, will increase the probability of your taking on their limiting beliefs as your own.  Which is to say, if you’re called to help directly, it’s most likely a doorway for your own transformation of Identity.  Both/And – circle the Energy for them, and walk through the doorway to expand beyond your own projection into their situation.  Don’t know how?  Here’s one suggestion: imagine yourself in their shoes, then float up about twenty feet, leaving their shoes on the ground, and just hover there, holding the attitude of Curiosity.  See what happens next.

Here are some very important metaphors for you to consider.  You don’t want to expect any of them to be literally true, but you want to hear them with your Heart open.  This one has three parts; you can link to the subsequent parts from this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6aGCmoWtgY&feature=relmfu

This one has two parts.  I’m linking to the second part, but you can get to the first part from there.  The first part is important too, but this part is meatier:

http://www.liloumace.com/Plasma-Beings-ITs-with-Drunvalo-Melchizedek-Part-2-2_a945.html

I was in a workshop several years ago with Bryan De Flores, who talks a lot about these same topics.  The final exercise in the workshop was a group meditation where our instructions were to locate the seven keys to the transformation of the Planet, which were hidden here and there about the Universe.  Sixty percent of my consciousness was skeptical, but the other 40% was willing to take the journey.  I found the first four keys, and the last two, easily, though of course with only 40% presence, I had no certainty about any of them.  For key #5 I went to a planet where a strange bear-like but timid and furless being and her baby were living in a cave.  The key was the baby, but I figured that can’t be right, to take a babe from it’s mum, so I found a likely-feeling substitute outside the cave.

During the meditation, Bryan was moving from person to person, offering individual help.  When he got to me, he said, “You’re doing good, but you didn’t get that fifth one quite right”!  I went back immediately and took the baby, which the mum handed to me without any hesitation – she knew the baby was just a metaphor.  I believe my 40% partial presence was actually a boon – even though my Ego-identity was “above it all,” that meant it wasn’t getting in the way, so I had no egoic need to “get it right.”  Now I need Both/And – no egoic need and full presence.  My mind can’t even grasp that, and I think that’s a good thing!  So all I need to do is PIAVA (Pray for, Intend, Ask for, Visualize, or Affirm) it directly!  And leave my shoes behind.

Dr. Look’s Relevant Find Your Why…

Carol Look either has great intuition, or a great astrologer, probably both.  In her great Attracting Abundance series of free email newsletters (subtitled “Combining EFT and Law of Attraction for a life of abundance!”), the current edition couldn’t be more tailored to the astrological current moment.  She calls it Find Your Why… – as in the honest question, Why am I doing this? The previous link there mostly advertises some probably-excellent teleseminars; you can sign up for her free newsletters at the middle link.  In her newsletters, she leads you through a coupla useful and relevant sample EFT sessions.  I’ve gotten the newsletters for years, and she never gets pushy or spammy, so my recommendation is unequivocal.

Saturn’s Blessing

The Identity-Transforming Grand Cross is still strong as Saturn stands still, and as it does a very big Blessing stands in the wings.  The blessing is strongest for only a few hours, right at the Saturn Station, so I highly recommend that you spend the hours around the Saturn Station (9pm PST Tuesday), especially just prior to the Station, in meditation.  Since one interpretation for Saturn is Ego (introjection of the father – an “introjection” is a projection in reverse, where an element of our personality sees ourself through the eyes of another, in this case our father or an alternate father image from our kidhood), it’s not a stretch to see the Saturn Station as the Ego Standing Still.

You can see the Ego as a movement of energy out from the body, protecting us from an invasion of disruptive foreign energy that would invalidate us and thereby reduce our attention to furthering our own goals and promoting our own values.  If this energy Stands Still, we’re vulnerable to disruption of our habitual Ego programs.  So we want to avoid placing ourself in a situation where we could be assaulted by unfriendly fire.  But more important (since we can use unfriendly fire to the utmost advantage if we have the skill), the Ego programs which serve someone else’s goals and values also come to halt.  Chances are that many of the programs your own father figure installed in you didn’t even belong to your father – in some perspectives, some as many as seven generations old.  (Note: it’s entirely possible that your father figure was female.)

But it’s not just about your father figure (Saturn), it’s also about the Ego programs that you’ve inherited from your own “past” lives, your Karma (one corner of the Grand Cross is the Moon’s South Node).  Those energies Stand Still as well.  Most of the time, stepping off the Wheel is tricky, as you’ll recall from the last time you jumped off a moving merry-go-round.  You have to run to keep your legs under your body, you end up running in a direction you probably didn’t intend, and you’re dizzy.  The same is true any time you try to slip out of your Birdcage.  But now the merry-go-round stops!  You can simply step off.  But you wouldn’t know you wanted to, unless you were conscious of the timing and the opportunity.

The Blessing is a Grand Trine from one corner of the Grand Cross.  A Grand Trine is three planets equally spaced around the Zodiac, in Third-Harmonic (Love with Wisdom) relationship.  No other astrological phenomenon has more power than the combination of a Grand Cross and a Grand Trine, connected at one corner.  It’s a challenge because most of us aren’t accustomed to handling that much power.  Hence the recommendation to spend the time in meditation – so you don’t get tripped up by the excess amperage, and so you can take maximum advantage of the opportunity.  The corner that the two Grands share is the Moon’s South Node – our Karma.  This Node is already in a Third-Harmonic angle to the New Planetary Paradigm, aka The Miracles (Chiron-Neptune), and we’ve talked about that before. as part of the Grace that’s adjunct to the Grand Cross.

But as Saturn comes to a complete halt, the Moon slips into position to form a Grand Trine with these, the South Node and Chiron-Neptune.  The Moon moves quickly – one degree every two hours.  In these kinds of situations, astrologers usually allow only one to three degrees of “slop” (or “orb,” to use the official term), so when the Moon forms an angle in the sky, it holds for only a few hours.  The greatest power will be in the two hours prior to the Saturn Station.

The Grand Cross, recall, is all about Identity and Transformation – the corners are Juno (unconscious Identity), Jupiter-Uranus (the New Soul Chord download), the Moon’s South Node (our accumulated prior-life skills along with our Karmic baggage), and the Moon’s North (our possible Futures) Node plus Pluto (transformation).  By now the asteroid Vesta (that which we hold most sacred) has joined Pluto-North Node, adding an element of protection, and programming the transformation in directions which are most valuable to us.

The Grand Trine is about updating our Karma so it aligns with the new Planetary Paradigm, the one that allows Miracle.  The Moon implements – it takes potential and manifests it into hardcopy Reality.  The Moon is about Gravity – look what it does to the Oceans!  Science has been unable to discover why Gravity is so much weaker than the other Forces of Nature because Gravity and Emotion are poured from the same flask, and both bleed between the dimensions.  Gravity is weak in the 4D Touch-Me Universe because science hasn’t learned how to quantify Emotion, and hasn’t (except for modern Physics) learned to respect the 5D Invisible Universe.  The Moon represents Authenticity – yin Integrity.

In other words, our own unique Etheric Blueprint will be hovering very close to our body, and our programmed inauthenticities will be coming to a standstill – it’s a perfect time for a Walk-In; your new Soul Chord can Walk directly Into your body, without resistance from your old programming!!!  This is Huge!  Do not miss this opportunity for Grace!  All you need to do is sit comfortably, quiet your mind, and declare a solid intention, such as

Spirit, may I please come to full Authenticity, lovingly and gently, rapidly and completely, with no hangover!

– or something like that.  It’s fine if you fall asleep – in fact “you” (your old Identity) will be falling asleep for good anyway!  Between now and Tuesday evening, test potential intentions, to see which are frightening (tap it out!!), and which feel most solid in your body.  Let them evolve.  You can even intend, Spirit, may I please come to the perfect intention two hours before the Saturn Station!

The no hangover part is important.  Change is disruptive; if you intend or visualize or pray for or ask for or affirm Change, in almost all cases you’ll be dealing with the fallout from change – disruption of useful habits, pressure from people who are invested in your old Ego, the fear that danger can befall you if you drop your shoulds.  That’s how the no-pain-no-gain school got started.  So whenever you ask for a Change, always find a way to ask that it be loving and gentle, and without negative or uncomfortable side effects.  If you do nothing else, one of the most powerful ways to expand yourself is just tapping out the Yes, Buts that come up when you contemplate your fondest dreams.

Sick and Poor, and Abundance

This is totally remarkable.  At least, it is for an economic geographer.  Hope you find it as entertaining…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkSRLYSojo&feature=player_embedded

Watch the way some of the globes bounce down and up like a basketball, when epidemics or wars or famines hit.  And look how quickly the Asian countries bounce up once they’re released from the yoke of Colonialism!  Unfortunately, Africa’s now being sold piece by piece to foreign Agribusiness, so they may remain “sick and poor” for a while yet.

And this second link is a good story about the Thumb of Saturn, current today, about how the Neocons are proposing additional internal Colonialism, the Elites colonizing their own Peoples, the modern equivalent of Sixteen Tons…

http://www.kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/Broadcast/Entries/2011/1/22_Jim_Rickards%3A.html

Not that this is anything new; this link just does a great job of detailing the Elite’s currently proposed format.

Oppressing and Depressing, right?  Or is that Saturn?  Saturn tells us to face Reality as it is as much as we’re able, and in that context, to focus our Attention on the most important thing for us to respond to.  Saturn is dispassionate.  So if either one of these links triggers emotion, do tap it out.  Emotions are Real and Useful, but they’re tricky.  Some of them defend our Values.  Many of them aren’t really ours, and many of them aren’t really present-moment.  Some of them are programed, and really belong to our programmers, many of whom aren’t around to own them, or refuse to own them.  Tapping may be able to release us from their tyranny.  Tapping may also help release us from heavy Karmic or non-present-moment Emotions.  The Emotions that defend our Values aren’t strong, but they’re persistent.  Tapping won’t diminish them.

Heavy Emotions prevent us from focusing on the most important thing for us to respond to – and worse, they prevent us from responding effectively.  They keep us stuck in reaction rather than response – and we won’t be reacting to the present moment.  Persistent Emotions support the focusing and responding we need to do.  We don’t get to our Persistent Emotions till we face down our habitual Heavy Emotions.  If Hans Rosling’s conclusion in the first link is believable, then there is a great “trickle-down” from what the Elites have been doing.  On the other hand, the Elites have been working very hard lately to make most of us in the US and Europe sicker and poorer, unabashedly stealing benefits and pensions as they have been, and still are.

If you look at the experience of Asia on Hans’s graphs, maybe the greatest benefit derives from resisting Colonialism rather than collaborating.  If that’s so, then winning the war is probably more important than winning any specific battle, so one important thing would be a sober assessment of when to resist and when to concede.  We can probably all count many “past lives” – and as many past deaths – spent resisting Colonialism.  Fighting the “last war” – or one many lifetimes ago – almost guarantees loss.  As Dennis Kuchinich says, we have lost the Class War, but the best revenge is still living well – what applies to the collective doesn’t have to apply to everyone.  Abundance is having enough to share.  Unless we’re Ghandi or Nelson Mandela or MLK – and still alive, that may be our best way to help the victims of Colonialism that can’t help themselves.

Saturn is not conducive to Heavy Emotions, except perhaps oppression or discouragement.  But the Emotions that do arise under a strong Saturn, have strong heavy undercurrents that are pregnant with material ripe for release.  Asking ourself, What am I afraid of? might be a useful response to oppression or discouragement.  It might be useful to respond to depression by asking ourself What am I angry about? It’s unlikely to be an opportune time to confront our fears or act on our anger.  It’s a totally appropriate time to tap out these feelings.  If they persist, then they may be fodder for future action – but remember, we’re just beginning a six-month period of reconsideration.  If you decide you need to act now, make it a very small step.  You’ll do a lot better to save the Big Steps for June.

(Contracted) State of the Union

In the USofA, former Hopester Obama gives his annual State of the Union address, and some Retrograde Clown refudiates him, just as Saturn’s standing still.  What a drama that’ll make.  Of course life is easier when the Economy is expanding, than when it’s contracting, and the Powers That Be are cheerleading us to make us optimistic again that expansion is underway, in hopes that we’ll expand our own economic activity as well – every little bit counts.  But Saturn’s also about looking Reality square in the face, and the perspective in the following articles is important, so we aren’t blindsided by a raid on our party…

http://www.financeandeconomics.org/Articles%20archive/2011.01.12%20USDGP.htm

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/central-bank-steps-up-its-cash-support-to-irish-banks-financed-by-institution-printing-own-money-2497212.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/globalbusiness/8270412/Brazil-slams-brakes-to-curb-inflation-risking-hot-money-tsunami.html

https://marketforceanalysis.com/article/latest_article_011511.html

We ignored Saturn when we were discussing the Eclipses, because we were focusing on the larger configuration, the Grand Cross.  But Saturn was in a Fourth Harmonic relationship with the January 5 Solar Eclipse.  One way to interpret that, would be an implication that we would become aware (Eclipse) of the need for additional discipline (Saturn), the result of which would be competence, but the process for which would be challenging (Fourth Harmonic).  This was a waxing Fourth Harmonic relationship, meaning that Energies that were born when the Sun and the Moon crossed Saturn, were coming into visibility.  So we go back to see what Energies those were.

The Sun crossed Saturn on September 30, at 8 degree of Libra, “A blazing fireplace in a deserted home.”  Ouch.  Hits a little close to home in the US and parts of Europe (and possibly in the near future in Australia and China), where Mortgage Mania and Bank Avarice have created a slew of foreclosures.  Is the blaze in danger of igniting the whole house, or is it a reflection of the fact that not just the house, but the home, is there, warm and waiting for an occupant.  It’s just that the Bank and the Sheriff have locked the door with the would-be occupant peering in through the window.  Saturn, Contraction, can symbolize Scarcity – not having enough to share.  Certainly the wealthy Elite and their government lackeys don’t have enough to share here.  They’re busy prying pensions away from the remaining unions.  This Energy peaks this coming (northern) Summer, and in October it’s replaced with “A Sunday crowd enjoying the beach,” so there may yet be cause for hope.

The Moon last crossed Saturn, as we said, the day before Saturn’s Station, in 18 degrees of Libra.  That’s “Two men placed under arrest.”  Ouch again.  Maybe two men who were trying to get into the deserted home to get warm, or two men caught stripping the copper out of the house.  Moon cycles are short – the Moon changes this Energy next month, changing it to “A retired sea captain watches ships entering and leaving the harbor.”  That’s probably a good sign, as there’s a good chance that the ships are representative of expanded economic activity.  Or at least, they might bring in some fish.  We don’t know if the sea captain retired because he had a sufficient nestegg or pension, or because he was outsourced.

The Libra-to-Capricorn Fourth Harmonic is about becoming more pragmatic in our relationships.  Where we used to serve others because out Identity required it, we’re now likely to be seeking more equal exchanges of energy in our interactions and relationships.  This bodes ill for class-structured societies, as those whose Identity requires that they be served suddenly find a hole in their Reality.

The Balance

Oh, so many dimensions to keep in balance, all the time!  For the next week or so, our balancing act revolves around Expansion and Contraction, with the emphasis on the latter.  You can play with this using your Muscles – have a “look” to see whether your Muscles are expanded (relaxed) or contracted (tight) – your sphincter, gluteus, and jaw Muscles are great places to “look” (feel, actually, but that word has sooo many meanings and connotations!), cuz they measure your stress level.  Knowing your stress level, and acting to relax it, can add years to your life.

Dunno about you, but I was programmed to believe that Expansion is better than Contraction.  But yer Muscles are a good example of the contrary – by and large, it’s their Contraction that does useful work.  You can see stress that way too – as Hans Selye put it, it’s “eustress” – positive stress – that does useful work.  The “labor of love” kinda thing, where yer working yer butt off and loving every minute of it.  And by and large, Expansion feels a lot better than Contraction.  That’s what alcohol does for us, it makes us feel expanded, and that feels good.  Some of us, particularly those of us who were programmed to believe we had worth only to the extent that we served others, can hardly stand to feel contracted.  We hate having to draw a Boundary.

The poster child for Contraction is Saturn, which is standing still this week.  Even more than when a planet is outabounds, a planet’s influence is strongest when it’s stationary.  So we’ll all be feeling the urge to contract.  Lemme digress for a minute to a quote from Pam Montgomery’s Plant Spirit Healing –

“When we tell ourselves how we are not good enough, pretty enough, smart enough, or not worthy enough, we begin to wage an internal war that destroys life.  It is this internal warring that can cause imbalance, lead to depression, and contribute to illness.”

So often, so many of us respond to Saturn that way.  But that’s not what Saturn is about, it’s what our programming is about.  So Saturn events are always a big opportunity to turn our entire life around, by becoming conscious of this kind of programming, so we can respond to it consciously and lovingly.

Saturn asks us to focus, to concentrate.  It usually asks us to give up on all of our Plan B fallbacks, and put all of our energy into Priority #1.  That’s always scary, cuz our Plan Bs keep us safe from the possibility that we may not be “good enough” to make a success of Priority #1.  Saturn’s always a test, but if we recognize that it’s just trying to pull the best out of us, it doesn’t have to be negative.  In fact, it’s enormously positive – it’s half of life, when we look at life as the dance balancing Expansion and Contraction.

Now, if Saturn is lit up and the Planet is exploring Contraction, does this mean we need to contract along with it, or that we need to expand to compensate?  Well, that’ll be different for each of us and probably different for each realm of our life, and if we experience this question as a dilemma, it just tells us we’re too much in the mind.  Whenever we aren’t sure whether to choose heads or tails, we need to choose the coin.  Life is not binary, and the Universe is not binary.  It’s the mind that’s binary, that thrives on contradistinctions and oppositions.  Never let an Either/Or question slow you down – train yourself to detect the Stop, and switch to Both/And instantly.

Often we experience Expansion in the Fourth Chakra, and Contraction in the Third.  That’s an easy dichotomy to “fix” – we need to keep all of our Chakras open evenly!  We all love to think everything will be wonderful if we just live in the Heart all the time – it feels great to be in love!  But that’s precisely when we need good Boundaries most.  And many of us love that steely feeling of Nobody messes with me! that we get by empathizing with those hardass supercompetent movie heroes and antiheroes – John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sandra Bullock, The Incredibles.  But it’s Both/And.

Next time you get angry or need to set a Boundary, see how it feels to open your Fourth Chakra just as much as you open your Third.  Next time you’re feeling in love or need to express Gratitude, see how it feels to open your Third Chakra just as much as you open your Fourth.  You prolly wanna practice this first in non-critical situations, before you try it when you’re in a job interview or proposing to somebody, cuz for most of us it’ll feel pretty weird for a while, till we get good at it.  First time I ever tried it I was bathed in sweat!  Fortunately, it was during a difficult telephone conversation, so I didn’t have to explain my diaphoresis!

I used to run on a three-mile hilly dirt path through the woods and meadows, six or seven loops at a time.  It always took about a loop and a half of conscious effort before the endorphins set in and made the rest effortless.  Then one day I ran when Saturn was stationary.  It was conscious effort all twenty miles!  I kept expecting the endorphins to click in any minute, but they never did.

On Saturday (January 22, at 9am PST), Jupiter goes back into Aries after backtracking into Pisces.  I’m sure you remember back in early June, when Uranus and Jupiter entered Aries in tandem.  We labeled that a huuuge New Download from your Soul Chord.  Not to be too simple-minded about it, in July both of them turned around, and went back into Pisces, giving us the opportunity to clean up any unfinished business that our Old Identity may have left hanging about.  They turned and went direct again in November, and they’ve been steaming back toward Aries since.  On Saturday Jupiter crosses the line.  Uranus dallies till mid-March, so we aren’t completely done with our Old Business, but we should be feeling a jolt of exhilarating freedom on Saturday, as our New Self expands.

“Should” that is, because we may have to look for it, if the Saturn Energy dominates.  Saturn stands still on Tuesday (January 25), at 10pm PST, and the Moon crosses Saturn a little before 9pm PST on Monday January 24, so the Energy may be strong earlier.  You could feel like a giant tack, as if a giant thumb was trying to push you into the ground.  No worries, just knuckle down and pay attention to what’s most important.  Just focus on one thing, and let go of the rest.  You might have to negotiate with yourself to figure out what’s most important, but if you do, that just says it’s essential work you’ve been putting off too long.  If you start negotiating now, you’ll be ahead.

Be careful to distinguish between what’s most important to you, and what’s most important to someone else to whom you usually give your power.  Don’t exclude the possibility that pleasing someone else may well be the most important thing in your life at this juncture – that’s perfectly valid.  But you wanna be conscious of making that choice, and you wanna be conscious of any jealousy you or someone else may have about that, and deal with it using your newfound skill of keeping Both your Third And your Fourth Chakra open equally.  If you have to do that verbally, you prolly wanna keep your Fifth and First Chakras open just as much as well!  In any difficult negotiation, Manganotantalite is your best friend.  Wouldn’t it be amazing to live most of your life with all of your Chakras open equally!?!?

I find that it’s far more important to know when a planet is standing still, than to know whether it’s “stationary retrograde” (about to go backwards) or “stationary direct” (about to go forwards).  The more sensitive you are to the Energy, the longer the time when you’ll feel the Station.  I usually feel an outer-planet Station (like Saturn) for about a week, prior to the Station.  Then once the planet starts to move again, the sensation drops off quickly.  You can dig yourself a hole by failing to recognize that a Station is happening, attributing the feeling to some aspect of your life, and making decisions accordingly.

For instance, Saturn may be asking me to tighten up a Boundary a little with a friend.  But if I don’t know Saturn is acting up, I might blame my feelings on my friend, say so, and create a lot of unnecessary havoc, maybe even losing the friend.  The most important thing could just have been tidying up my relationships.  I might indulge in I hate this job thoughts, give them unwarranted credence, and make a decision to quit, which could subject me to unnecessary hardship afterwards, when I discover that there aren’t any better jobs to be had.  The most important thing may just have been adjusting my attitude, or getting along with someone when I was stuck in Either/Or with them and their values, or seeking a profession that I enjoy doing.

If we’re conscious of any astrological event, the Energy drops off quickly after the event.  If we aren’t conscious, our decisions can extend the Energy indefinitely.  A classic example is the 9/11 trauma.  The nasty Saturn-Pluto Energy that prompted 9/11 was finished by the Summer of 2002.  But George II and his Lizardly cronies, for their own political purposes, exploited the Energy to meet their own ends, and we’re still suffering the consequences.  Wouldn’t you rather it was your love partner or your fantasy lover that’s feeling you up?  It was another King George that presided over the events leading to the original Tea Party.

While it’s more important that Saturn is Stationary than that that it’s Stationary Retrograde, it’s worth our time to consider the Retrogradation as well.  The outer planets go retro every year; since we go round the Sun faster than they do, we pass them, so they appear to be receding from us, or moving backwards, for a while.  Saturn goes retro on January 25 at 18 degrees of Libra, and turns direct again on June 13 at 10 degrees of Libra.  Basically, a Saturn retrogradation in the center of Libra means that we’re reconsidering (Retrograde) how we use Boundaries (Saturn) in our relationships (Libra), or reconsidering how open we are to relationship – and our relationshit (the issues that relationship inevitably brings up).

In general, Libra eschews Boundaries, because Libra’s mission is to establish a harmonious connection.  Libra’s more about meeting you than about getting met.  To another sign that might be codependence; to Libra it’s integrity.  The central third of Libra, though, is the “Aquarius decanate” of Libra.  In the Aquarius decanate, Libra begins to put relationships into context, granting continued nonjudgment to relationships that meet an appropriate social/philosophical framework, and beginning to develop Boundaries with those that don’t.  The Boundaries are “primitive” – they’re more likely to be curiosity about motives than exclusionary.  In the first third of Libra, the Self is invisible; it’s all about Other.  By the second third, the Self begins to have some preferences.

The implication is that there are things we’ve been taking for granted, without realizing that we could express an opinion or have a preference or exert any healthy control.  The entire “Shadow Period” of a retrogradation begins when the planet first crosses the retrogradation zone.  Between October 23 and January 25, Saturn crossed this region going forward.  For each of us, issues about Boundaries or Contraction/Expansion may have arisen during this period.  During the retrograde span, we reconsider how we want to relate to these issues.  Then finally, from June 13 to September 18, Saturn crosses the region for a third time.  This is when we implement our reconsiderations, and act to set our new Boundaries.

So that feeling of having someone’s thumb pressing on the top of your head, if you feel it, could be accompanied by thoughts about how someone offended you, or how you gave someone too much benefit of the doubt, or how you need to make a change in your relationship with someone, or in your relationships in general – to be more accepting perhaps, or more assertive about making space for your own beliefs and values, or both.  The important issue here is Responsibility – ability to respond rather than react.  In other words, if you’re in Blame, you’re on the wrong path.  It’s never their fault.  It’s always How did I let that happen? It’s not what they did wrong, it’s How could I have set better Boundaries? If you’re dealing with anger or a feeling of oppression or feeling wounded, tap it out.

You want to release your emotional attachment in the privacy of your own Energy System, so you can respond dispassionately and fairly when you revise your Boundaries.  Remember the context – we’re adjusting to a new Identity in alignment with a New Soul Chord Download, and working out a Grand Cross (which is always about Balance) balancing new and old Identities with the direction of History/Herstory and our own Karmic path (that is, Juno, Jupiter-Uranus, Pluto, and the Moon’s Nodes).  The elements of Grace are about the new paradigm that the Planet is moving into (fresh Violets in an ancient pottery bowl – Chiron-Neptune), or Miracles, and our own personal Values (Venus).  So it’s not about  burning bridges, it’s about laying the foundations for a whole new infrastructure.

Who Are We

This year in the USofA, Monday January 17 is a holiday, Martin Luther King Day, often shortened, fondly, to MLK Day.  This year it’s very busy, as our continuing Grand Cross, the same Grand Cross as the Solstice Grand Cross, the Grand Cross which we can consider the harbinger of 2011, gets lit up bigtime.  So it’s a good day to understand more about 2011.

The Moon lights up the Jupiter-Uranus corner early, in the 5am to 10am PST timeslot.  That’s the New Soul Download corner.  See if you feel rambunctious during these hours.  It should be a good time for creativity to overcome restraint.

Then later, in the 8pm to 11pm PST timeframe, it gets really busy.  Mercury represents observation, but it’s a trickster.  How many different interpretations can you craft from what you observe?  The more the better.  See if you can do a multiple Both/And with your interpretations of what you observe on Monday.  Reality is multidimensional, many times over.  The mindbone loves to simplify, and tries very hard to make things match preconceptions.  It would be useful to spend a little time between noon and 4pm PST asking yourself, What do I expect to see in 2011?  Make a separate list of what you couldn’t stand to see, and a third list of what you’d love to see.  Put the lists away and don’t look at them till Tuesday.

Then, on Tuesday, see how many of your observations on Monday reinforced what you expected to see.  Separately, see how many of your interpretations matched what you expected.  Mercury crosses Pluto in the later Monday timeframe, at the same time that the Moon opposes Mercury-Pluto and squares Juno.  This later timeframe should be an excellent lesson in differentiating between what’s really going on (in this case, Pluto), what we want to see happening (Mercury), what we’re excited about or scared of (Moon), and what our Ego is deeply invested in happening (Juno).  We want to cut through our intellectual and emotional and egoic investments so we can see how “objective” Reality is changing (Pluto).  How to do this?

Well, you can compare your thoughts and feelings in the earlier Monday timeslot, with your thoughts and feelings in the later Monday timeframe.  Your New Soul Download is a babe recent of the Far Reaches, and is likely to be less entangled with the Karma you’ve been working with recently.  Our Karma is like a funhouse mirror, it distorts our view of present-moment Reality.  In the earlier Monday timeslot, we’re more likely to be seeing Reality more clearly.  Hint – your curiosity should be evoked.  In the later Monday timeframe, we’re more likely to be seeing more of our Resistance to present-moment Reality.  The day as a whole gives us a unique opportunity to look in on history as it unfolds.

Monday will be a fabulous time to pray, or visualize, or intend, or ask for, or affirm Clarity and Guidance.  Coasting with the Wind of History behind your back is a zillion times easier than trying to tack against it.  The underlying Victim program here is letting go of old ego attachments that no longer serve us.    The overlying Master program is trancing into our New Soul Download.  The difference could be subtle.  Watch for it.

Ophiuchus in Uranus

A jeweler would call this a yellow Sapphire, a geologist Corundum, a chemist Aluminum Oxide, and an Artist a sleeping animal.

A correspondent writes,

So, now  what ??  Ophiuchus  ??   … I’m sure everyone’s asking you WTF as well  .. and I dont have a clue about what to think about this new astro sign until I hear from you !!  .. what are the characteristics?   ..   …  also, I refuse to be a sign that I cant even pronounce ..  wtf were they thinking to add a zodiac and then make it one no one can even pronounce  ..   I think  it’s a buncha  hogwash  it’s a travesty I tell ya, a travesty !!    >>>  and I’m not changing .. I’m staying a Sadge ..  and ‘they’ cant make me change either, so there ! .. So, in the meantime in the midst of  all of my ranting, what’s yer take on it ??  I am so confused ! …

I guess some dunderhead decided they could change astrology with a pronouncement, though I’m surprised it didn’t come from Newsbiscuit., and most of the news reports I’ve seen say “astronomers” have added a 13th sign.  That’s kinda like a radiologist announcing that people really have 378 molars – I mean, dentists use X-rays, don’t they?

Actually astrology’s easy to “change,” but if you want the “change” to stick, it has to be more useful than a placebo.  From circumstantial evidence, we assume that Western astrology started a coupla thousand years ago.  Like any other body of knowledge, what’s useful sticks around, and what aint fades into the woodwork.  Sure, Ophuckus is a constellation, and it’s half-in and half-out of the zodiacal band, and always was.  But if you want to add it to astrology, first you have to demonstrate that its use makes astrology more useful, and second, you have to demonstrate how it’s more useful.

And like any other body of knowledge, you always gotta work to separate dogma from utility.  Knowledge, which is basically nothing but pattern recognition, grows in two ways – from observation, and from intuition.  If I notice that a few neighborhood kids born just after the Spring Equinox are pretty feisty, and a few kids born just before it are pretty sensitive, and I mention it to someone else, and they verify it, and they talk about it to others, and it has enough of a grain of truth to it that it starts to become useful information, and parents start soothing their just-before kids instead of punishing them for being so fussy, and find ways for just-after kids to let their energy out safely instead of yelling at them to settle down, then we might have the start of something useful.  That is, up until the point when parents start expecting their just-before kids to be crybabies and their just-after kids to be troublemakers, and then all hell breaks loose, cuz yer caught in feedback loops that are as likely to be negative as positive.

Western astrology isn’t based on the constellations anyway, it’s based on Time relative to the northern Spring Equinox.  We guess that when the first inklings of Western astrology were observed, the constellation Aries was behind the Sun at the Spring Equinox, but it’s only a guess.  It aint now, and Western astrology just uses the names of the constellations, not the locations.  In Western or “Tropical” astrology, Aries means the first 30 or so days after the northern Spring Equinox, period.  Any correspondence to constellations living or dead is purely coincidental.

There are lots of other ways to do astrology.  For instance, even in the “West” (that is, wherever European colonialism succeeded in destroying the aboriginal culture), there is a fairly well-established tradition of “Sidereal” astrology, which does use the constellations as benchmarks rather than time.  It’s much younger than Tropical astrology, which may mean less dogma, or may mean less empirical validation, or both.  In any body of knowledge, the dogma-to-empiricism ratio depends a lot on the charisma and politics of the founders and subsequent leaders.

We guess that Sidereal astrology might be useful because there could be consistent frequency patterns of Energy coming at us from specific regions of the sky.  With locations like the Galactic Center and the Great Attractor (an unknown astronomical entity beyond our ability to see, which is pulling our Galaxy and our region of the Universe toward it, like the Vacuum Cleaner Beast in Yellow Submarine) as examples, we have to consider this to be plausible.  Then again, if the first experience of our Planet is warm Sunshine for a Leo, and cold snow for an Aquarius, it’s hard to imagine this doesn’t have an effect.  Could it possibly be Both/And?  Wouldn’t that be unusual!

This isn’t actually that hard to test.  If Aries kids born in the Southern Hemisphere seem more like Libra than Aries, then maybe seasonality is more important than Galactic directionality.  I haven’t seen anyone study this, have you?  Whether it’s worth studying is another question completely, because astrology isn’t about how it works, it’s about whether it’s useful.  It’s empirical pattern recognition.

In India, astrology developed using constellations rather than signs, and using the Moon’s travel inna day, instead of the Sun’s travel inna month, so they cut the Zodiac into 28 divisions that cycle in Space rather than Time.  In China, astrology developed using Monkeys and Rabbits.  Habitual Western thought sees the World through four dimensions, while Chinese thought uses five.  Western thought is bamboozled by the Fourth Harmonic.  Chinese thought is older, and much more sophisticated.  Western astrology barely mentions the Fifth Harmonic, simply because 360 divided by 5 is not a multiple of 30!  The more perspectives you can use, the more likely you are to see the World for what it is.

Now, with respect to Ophuchus in particular, it adds nothing to Tropical astrology, because it’s just changing the name of a chunk of the Zodiac.  It’s the same piece of sky, and the same piece of the calendar, it just has a different name.  That’s about as useful as calling the water signs Tess, the fire signs Joe, and the air signs Maria.  At least when you talk about the difference between Gdansk and Danzig, or Konigsberg and Kaliningrad, there are deep historical implications.  But if you rename the first half of November to Octember, it might have some utility in poetry, but not much else.

Friday, Monday, and Thursday

Photo of the Partial Solar Eclipse, rising in Europe, by Robbert Jan Westerduin

Well, folks are reporting that they sailed through Monday (when the likelihood of Ego Death could have been high, as our new Soul Download could have been shoving old Egos out the door), but that Friday (when the cultural New Paradigm was activated) was miserable.  I couldn’t agree more; Friday was praying-for-mercy miserable for me, and Monday went pretty well.  How ’bout you?  If you comment, I’ll keep your responses anonymous unless you say it’s okay to post them.

If this is generally true, then we need to be on the lookout this coming Thursday for more potential regression.

This is not the first occurrence of Friday’s Energy – we’ve been immersed in it for several years now, and I haven’t experienced previous occurrences nearly as powerfully.  We should be able to discover Thursday evening whether last Friday was just an unrelated Disturbance in the Force, or an indication that the New Paradigm sees the Seventh Day as time to get serious.

In the interim, one of my Worldviews is this.  We, as Souls, came here to help heal the Planet, which is seriously afflicted with contagious negativity.  To come here and have a practical effect, we have to manifest into hardcopy reality, and when we manifest, of course we, as Souls, have difficulty seeing out through the tiny eyeholes of our humansuit.  The biological and astral (emotional) currents are so strong that most of the time, most of us forget our SoulSelf and our Mission.  Emotions are Energy Fields, and most of them aren’t personal.  What the Arizona Assassin called “Mind Control” is eddies in these Fields, which amp up the intensity of the Emotional Weather.  We felt the same eddy that he did.

As many do, you can personalize these eddies as the Evil Intent of some Arch Enemy of yours, and there are certain advantages to doing that, if your Arch Enemy is disincarnate or semi-incarnate, like Harry Potter’s Moldywart – you at least project this Evil Enemy outside yourself, and that’s probably marginally better than introjecting it, where the Evil Enemy is part of your own personality.  Eventually you’ll have to give up on this Duality, just like all the other Dualities, because all Dualities are mindstuff, and the Universe is a lot bigger than your mindbone.  I doubt that most of us came to this Planet to enjoy mindgames.  Mindgames, by blocking compassion, are part of the contagious negativity.

I know, this Worldview is far out, but recall, it’s Both/And, and the more perspectives we can bring to an issue, the more likely we are to be able to avoid the dilemma that Einstein decried – you cannot solve a problem using the same thinking that formulated the problem.  And this is a useful perspective, and you’ve all actually had experiences of it, when for instance you felt awful for no reason, only to discover the next day that your neighbor or relative or friend was experiencing a serious trauma.  Often Emotional Waves don’t travel far, but like any electromagnetic phenomena, when the Waves reinforce one another, they can build up to incredible degrees, and even become global.  If we were having a sorta-bad day when the neighbor was being traumatized, we could easily introject the Energy into some earlier trauma of our own, amplify the Energy, and pass it on to the next neighbor a little bigger than it was when we received it.  If you know chaos theory, it’s just the Butterfly in China phenomenon.

So, what if Friday’s Disturbance in the Force was indeed related to the New Paradigm?  The media’s working their tail off to make us believe that there was nothing political about Saturday’s assassinations, because they’re afraid it might hinder their agenda of herding us back into WalMart.  That’s a clue.  What if the New Paradigm is a shift toward surrendering the Planet completely to Business interests?  That means the smart rich mercenary sociopaths get whatever they want, and the other 99% of the People just get poverty and abuse and depravity.  Or, what if the New Paradigm is about bringing that age-old phenomenon of corruption into our full Awareness, so we can choose otherwise?

Of course we don’t want to exclude other perspectives.  For instance, several well-respected folks have written about how the Planet will be splitting in two energetically.  And the above is obviously written from the perspective of a declining Western Civilization.  China, for instance, is highly motivated to keep the Chinese people employed and believing in their own future.  Even if their motivation is Power, at least their methodology shows some compassion.  In the US, the Powers That Be think they have the Sheople so hypnotized that they no longer even have to hide their motives – and with the firepower they have at their disposal, they may be right, for a while.  Brazil appears to be making progress toward improving the lives of Brazilians without destroying Brazil in the process.

Speaking as an economic geographer, it should be fairly clear that one timely meaning for a New Paradigm is a decline in economic colonialism, which means an equalization of the bottom-line survivability of life in the Colonies, versus life in the Colonizers, namely Europe and the US.  Lester Brown thirty years ago wrote about the disparity between resource use in the “First World” and resource use in the “Third World” – in the 1980s people in the US and Europe consumed 22 times as much as people in the Rest of the World.  And the Planet doesn’t have enough total resources to allow simply multiplying the standard of living in the Rest of the World by 22.  Advances in shipping and communication since the 1980s have allowed the Rest of the World to begin inching up – and as they do, the “First” World is seeing its living standards reduced.

I don’t see anything controversial about that, other than that most of the “First” World will be working hard to either avoid or deny it.  Well, the smart rich mercenary sociopaths have done an excellent job of avoiding it.  To a sociopath, Us versus Them provides no moral dilemma whatsoever – clearly, it’s JustUs that counts, and we need protection against Them.  And the hypnotized Sheople are working hard to deny it.  Sure, technological advances will continue to change the game and improve things for everyone, but it’s a simple fact that living standards in the US and Europe are declining, just as living standards in the Rest of the World are improving.  The Chinese are actually working to reduce their negative impact on the Planet, while the US has been moving in the other direction.  Obama’s making some changes, but none that will stand beyond the next president nominated by Business and elected with Corporate Money.

So how do we deal with the truth of We Lost?  Well, first we have to accept it.  Fighting anything just makes it stronger, because you’re reinforcing the Wave.  Categorizing it as External Evil is a mindgame that produces no useful result.  We will need to grieve the loss of our Material Dreams – all losses must be grieved, even the loss of things we didn’t really want.

Second, we have to work to protect our own space.  Maslow was right – when we’re hungry, it narrows our eyeslits even more, and we all become sociopaths.  Hungry and powerless is a good way to get dead, when you’re dealing with heavily armed Us against Them sociopaths.  So we want to avoid hunger – and some fasting practice wouldn’t hurt.  Fasting, in reasonable quantities, actually makes us healthier.  And if we get good at it, we might even learn to see outside our humansuit while hungry!  Obviously, local community of some sort will be useful – remember the Buddhist story about being in front of a sumptuous banquet with our elbows locked.  Feeding ourself was impossible, but feeding each other worked fine.

Third, hedge your bets.  What if the New Paradigm is about bringing the age-old phenomenon of corruption into our full Awareness, so we can choose otherwise? Intention follows Attention.  The more time we can spare to visualize the possibility of people treating one another with Respect and Abundance, the more we reinforce this Wave.  Abundance means having enough to share freely.  We could be Monkey #75 on the way to a hundred.  The more we can stand in the Energy of Abundance, the more likely we are to board the right train when the Planet splits in two, if that’s what She chooses.

Now, the way we heal the Planet, is to depersonalize the Waves of negativity when they pass through us, and “sit still” for it.  Reaction reinforces the Energy.  Sure, it feels like some of the most horrible experiences we ever had.  We’d “rather die” than go through that again (which is the definition of Ego Death!).  But that’s a hologram, a paper tiger.  Are we, in this moment, safe?  Then the experience of terror and loathing is not real.  Recognize it for what it is – a horrible feeling.  What would you do if a friend was experiencing a horrible feeling?  You’d be compassionate and caring.  You’d speak softly, treat them kindly, and avoid denying or diminishing what they’re feeling.  Step outside of your body, and treat yourself the same way.

We heal ourselves by checking to see whether, when we re-experience a trauma, we’re inside of our body, or outside of our body.  We can experience real-life trauma either way.  We can stay in our body, and feel the pain physically.  Or we can dissociate, and watch our body experiencing trauma from above it, or from across the room.  Ask yourself which was the case.  Then, while you’re treating yourself with compassion and caring and kindness and speaking softly to yourself, see if you can slowly and gradually do the opposite.  If you were inside of your body during the real trauma, ease out of it, so you can see your former self from a different perspective.  If you were outside of your body during the real trauma, see if you can ease yourself into your body.  Don’t push it – if you can 2% in or out, you’re doing good.  Don’t expect to go from zero to 100% in one or a few sessions.  Be very gentle with yourself.

It’s the same way with the Planet.  When you consider the Planet’s trauma, are you witnessing it from inside your body, or outside?  Is the Tucson Assassin shooting you?  Or are you watching from a nearby lightpole?  Or are you shooting?  Try all three perspectives.  How does each feel?  Be gentle and loving with yourself.