Tuesday, April 29, 2008

World Wide Disaster

In line with my post about the Aztec predictions, this is a letter I sent to a student in September of 2008.

I am so sorry that it has taken me this long to respond to you. I had not realized you were off line until you sent the email from the library. I will try to respond to your correspondence chronologically, and send it both email and snail mail. Your vacation certainly sent you into a tail-spin. It will take a while to get back on a more even keel. If you persevere with meditating, the ego will ultimately stop fighting you and it will help.
Although you feel like your are being pulled back into the old role, it is no longer your purpose. You have been chosen to work to help bring light to those striving to find it. There will be great need for light, and those of us who can carry a light and a mirror are needed now more than ever before. I know it will be hard to extricate yourself from the old things and the old battles, but others will take up those causes. You are needed for the future..to help those who will be the future to find their own inner light now.

I'm not sure what you are asking when you ask if there is a council above the watchers and those in the Cathedral. All is One and One is all. When we merge with the Sitters, we are indeed part of the One in every way.
When you ask me what I know, I am reminded of the letter I wrote to Linda in 2002 and sent a copy to you because you were both very drawn into world wide disaster scenarios at the time. I responded to Linda's question with some thoughts on what is to come and the particular aspects that I have been aware of for many years.
One of the first prophecies of the end times came from Nostradamus and had to do with the Jews going home, which they did a number of years ago. The Middle East has not settled down since. Another of his prophecies had to do with the mark of the beast on the forehead of a world leader and was interpreted to mean the birthmark on Khrushchev's head. Much was written about the bear and the eagle, meaning Russia and the U.S., or perhaps China. Even the Book of Revelation in the Christian Bible referred to the end times in graphic detail.
Many of these prophecies are coming true, and with each passing day the end of the world as we know it is more and more certain. Operation Desert Storm brought us closer to the end as has the American declared war on Terrorism. Iraq was heating up again even back in 2002, India and Pakistan are at the ready and both have nuclear weapons, in part thanks to Canada giving freely of our technology to make Nuclear Reactors to generate electric power. China is still ominously silent. North Korea keeps rumbling. Both nuclear and chemical weapons exist in abundance and the ability to deliver such weapons anywhere in the world is an accepted fact. Africa is starving and plagues and pestilence, including Aids are spreading through the world.
The 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center signaled the end of our innocence and freedom as we know it. More and more freedoms are being taken away in the name of safety and the populace is gladly accepting these changes. The world economy is shaken to it's very roots. The American economy is heading for a very real, very drastic upheaval as the bills for the aftermath of 9/11 come due. Now on top of that, the costs for the Afghan and Iraqi wars, and disaster relief for the victims of the Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina are beyond comprehension. The Japanese economy teeters on the brink. Even here at home, we lose services at a steady rate without making any real dent in the National Debt. More of the world's population slips below the poverty line every day. Starvation is no longer a third world prerogative. It is happening right here at home. Everywhere there are predictions of dire events, global warming, untreatable disease, floods, droughts, famine, earthquakes, destruction of our environment at an incredible rate, holes in the ozone layer, extinction of more and more species of both plant and animal life before they can even be cataloged.
I think it is obvious that if we do not succeed in wiping ourselves off the face of the earth, Gaea will have a flea bath and certainly reduce the number of earth's inhabitants drastically. We are seeing the beginnings of such loss of life even now. There is truly no way to prepare for what is to come. Because the course of history is cyclic, civilizations rising and falling, going all the way back to the decimation of the dinosaurs, Atlantis, Egypt, Athens, Pompey, Rome, The Biblical Flood (a version of which exists in all religious histories), the European Dark Ages, the British Empire, the Russian Tsars and now the USSR, Aztecs, Incas, and the list goes on.
Life itself is in an eternal spiral of becoming, such that with every turn of the wheel, civilizations fall, but with something left over to begin again with. I believe our emphasis must be not on saving life, but on saving souls. Death is the eventual outcome of all births, for as we know, death is simply a rebirth on another plane. Panic is not called for, we are simply living in the end times of another civilization. Because it has become truly a Global Village, we are privy to much more "News" than even twenty years ago. I'm not sure I would want to survive at my age, and with my health problems, to greet a "Brave New World" where living simply is a must, with no medical services, no system of care for the elderly and no more conveniences that make growing older easier. I believe this is a job for the young.
There will certainly be survivors to repopulate the world and start the cycle once more. It would be hoped that these survivors would be much more spiritually aware than past generations. Our responsibility lies in trying to make for a more enlightened populace. People are definitely searching for answers, for a better way, for connection with the Divine, the Creator, the Cosmic All. That is why so many Eastern Religions have taken hold in the West, for example Buddhism, Baha'i, Hare Krishna, Transcendentalism, Wicca, Native Medicine, Spiritualism, as well as a number of fakes allying themselves with the New Age movement.
I see our role as one of bringing light to the dark recesses of the human condition, in all possible ways. I have been quietly doing my part as assigned by the One for most of my adult life. I realize there is much here that we have not previously discussed, and probably a lot of questions. I
Someone wrote me very recently about the fact that help was so slow to arrive for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, the poor leadership offered by our elected officials and the suffering that has been so severe. I would like to share with you, my reply to her as well. There is an old saying that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. There are no psychological profile tests given to the leaders we elect. We only learn the truth of their strengths and weaknesses after a catastrophe of such magnitude. Perhaps part of the blame for this is the Pollyanna attitude that "It will never happen to me".
Well it can happen to anyone and is happening more and more everywhere., Last month six commercial airplanes fell from he sky, there have been fires, floods, disease and all sorts of other "natural" disasters piled on top of wars, police actions, rebellions and just plain anarchy. I believe that the world as we knew it ended on 9/11. Our innocence was lost, not to be regained.
Until we stop ravaging the earth, the catastrophes will not stop. Until we use better judgment in our elected leaders, more and more people will be lost each time. If we don't soon start to deal with the roots of the problems, it surely will be the end of the world. Civilizations rise and civilizations fall, but never before with such devastation to our planet. There is no sane way to view what is happening, The feelings of helplessness are being experienced by every thinking person on the planet. We give until it hurts, then give a little more, but it is never enough! If we don't find a way of thinking about these things, and doing what we can, we will collapse into madness trying.
When I think about how different my world was as a child, the change is staggering, and happening so rapidly that I can not even catch my breath. The world today's children will inhabit as adults, will be even more changed, and even more rapidly changing. The only thing that saves my sanity and allows me to get up each morning and do whatever little thing I can, is the knowledge that there is a higher power, a higher purpose, that we can not even begin to understand, and that my role, my life can only be counted as a success if I bring positive change into the world that I touch. That is a very small world but if we do nothing, it will rapidly become smaller still. Individually, we can not effect any real change for the better, but as an army of voices, perhaps we can at least lessen the damage by even a small amount.
Our children are our hope, we need to pay attention to them, try to raise them with an understanding and appreciation for nature, life in general, and our fellow human inhabitants. We had no money, but we had so much love . Magic filled my world. Anything was possible! The things I learned at my grandparents' knee have stayed with me all my life.They had been farmers and my grandfather had hunted, trapped for furs and did some carpentry and blacksmith work for a little cash. In their golden years, they had nothing, a little old clapboard house on a quarter acre of land deeded to my great great grandmother as she was the first white woman settler in that small community. There was no electricity, no running water, in fact no water at all (it had to be dipped from the well across the road and carried home by the bucket full.) They grew a small garden, had chickens for eggs, a cow for milk and a pig for winter meat. A neighbor, about half a mile away, lived with an alcoholic husband and struggled to feed her children. Many times, my grandmother would dress me as warmly as possible, wrap a cape around me and send me off to Mrs. Lott's with a basket of eggs, or butter, or milk, or bread. As a result of my grandmother's example, I have always been open handed, giving away the last of what I had on more than one occasion.
The creator has always looked after me, not often providing what I wanted, but always providing what I needed...usually at the very last moment. The little, seemingly unimportant things, often make the biggest impact. The best way to teach is by example. As I said, magic filled my world, but these days, magic has almost disappeared from the lives of children. That magic is so very important in shaping who they become. One of the most priceless gifts we can give the children is to give them back the magic. That will allow them to grow up dreaming big, trusting the One to provide and having an open heart and an open hand in their dealings with the world. The ripple effect of such small deeds can be unbelievably huge.
In summary, I see our work as carrying a light and a mirror through our world, helping all those we can, to find their way back to their path, and to bring a little magic back into the lives of the children who touch our lives. We are protected by the One, whose work we do. We need no other armor or weapons but truth and light. We are as nebulous as mist in this world, not really here, not of it, only doing our work in it. Others will deal with the things of this world, the fight between good and evil, whose battleground is this earth, this earthly life. We must work to prepare those who will come after to be able to lead in the right direction. They will be brought to us by the One when they are ready to return to the path.
I know this is a lot to absorb all at once, and there will be questions and points needing clarification. I also know that you are taking baby steps, new in this very important work, but you will be able to do it. You would not have been chosen if you could not. Hold to that thought when you are feeling fragile, and know that the One is with you. With love and companionship on the Journey

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Depression and Meditation

As spring blooms, and we all expect to have our spirits lifted, leaving the dreary feelings of winter behind, there are those whose spirits do not lift.

This was written in the fall of 2006 when depression was being discussed in another group and I think is still valid today. So many people suffer with depression without support or finding ways to help themselves.

Meditation has been a major tool in bringing my own emotional state back to as close to balance as we can hope to achieve. Balance is that point in a pendulums swing that is neither to one side or the other of it's arc, and can exist only for an instant before it moves on. Like the pendulum, we are always in motion. Meditation can help us to mitigate the length and duration of the downward swing and help to prolong the duration of the near-balanced state ... Meditation is not a substitute for medical attention, but can help in conjunction with it. Depression or bi-polar disease is often caused by an imbalance in the brain chemicals, and one needs to seek medical help in addition to any self-help.

I do know quite a bit about depression, having had a mother, brother, daughter......in short, four very dear ones close to me, who all at one time or another suffered from deep, deep depression. It is hell. It is hell to watch helplessly while a loved one goes through it. It is hell for the person experiencing it. It is hell for all who are affected by it. It is not a place one goes by choice, it is not a place that one can climb out of by one's self. It can not be cured by bludgeoning, or by appealing to reason, or lecturing, or abandonment, or wishing.

Some depressions are caused by situations and mitigate themselves with time and with love and support. Those experiencing this type are the lucky ones, and I have been down that road a time or two. My first personal encounter with the dark days was at the age of 25 when I lost a 5 year old daughter to encephalitis. Even with another child at home, it took me a year to find a reason to want to get out of bed in the mornings. Obviously I did it, I got up. I went through the motions of living each day and got through it somehow, until finally the pain was lessened enough that I could take pleasure in life's daily events.

The second time, I was just 40 and was struck down with a hereditary neuromuscular disease. I went through about 3 months of getting weaker and weaker and being able to work shorter and shorter days, until finally I was in hospital for 6 weeks. I was never able to return to my flourishing career. My professional life and the income it brought in was OVER at 40. Again, it took me a year to adjust. Each night I would write in my journal the things I had done that day and what I needed to accomplish the next. Not only was my professional life over, but I knew that an uncle had died from the disease 5 years after it showing up, and my mother in less than 10 years. I was a ticking time bomb. With my husband's help, we changed our life style, moved to the country and decided that we would fight it with every fiber of our beings. That was in 1984! We made a conscious effort to make the best of whatever time was left for us to be together and we have done so. I have no regrets on that score.

The third episode is just now easing up. As you all know, on April 6th, 2006 I died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. They were successful in resuscitating me but nicked a lung in the process which left me with tubes coming out of every orifice of my body, plus one extra under my arm that led into the lung they had collapsed by accident. For one week they kept me comatose with a drug that made life in my head worse than any hell one can conjure up. I was crawling over burning hot, broken sharp, stones in the blazing sun with no way out, and only the occasional hallucination of a room somewhere with kind people in it, but I could not find that room except for a couple of times by accident. After a week of this, my husband demanded that the doctors wake me up so that he and my daughter could communicate with me for a short time. Under duress, they did! That saved my life because they were both able to tell me that if I needed to go, it would be alright, but that if I wanted to fight, I could win. Seeing their faces, I chose to fight. The dose of the medication that kept me comatose was reduced immediately and within 2 days, was replaced with morphine which did not have the same effect on me. After another week, there was real concern that the respirator tube would cause permanent damage and/or infection and they wanted to do a trach to replace it. I was reluctant, but they convinced me and it did hasten my healing immensely. The doctors and nurses expected me to be in intensive care for months at least, if I recovered at all. When I told them I would be going home on a day pass, the third weekend and home permanently on the fourth, they laughed but humored me. I went home on pass the third weekend and home for good on the fourth. Since then, I found that the trach would be permanent, to be changed every 4 weeks in hospital, I have been in and out of emergency and had to go back on prednisone and antibiotics frequently. Every cold and every germ that passes by stops in for a visit. I have had to have more scopes, tests and whatever than you can shake a stick at. The emergency department is always interesting as I have one of the only two trachs walking around outside the hospital in this area. I am a rarity here. It has been two years now and I can not regain the strength I lost that month. There were days that I was not sure I made the right decisions, but with the help of my loving family, by birth, marriage and choice, I have learned to live and enjoy what I have been left with. My on line family and friends have also played a large part in my recovery.

That is what I know personally about depression. Now let's visit the other kind of depression caused by chemical imbalances and exacerbated by life's events. What I know about it is all from the outside looking in, right from the time I was a child.

My mother was given to depression all her life, and in my very early teens, I repeatedly had to go to the neighbor's house and phone the family doctor to come and get her through the newest attempt at suicide. He finally told me that I must leave home at the earliest opportunity and pursue my own life or I would never get away. Over the next number of years, she was in and out of hospital, on and off various drugs and had a number of series of shock treatments. I really never understood it and resented her very much. It was only after I had also dealt with others in my life who suffered a chemically induced depression that I began to understand and to empathize.

My daughter inherited the same chemical imbalance and has also battled her whole life with both depression and ADHD. She does well with the new generation of antidepressants, therapy and the love and support that we all try to give her. There are bad times, sometimes brought on by life's events and sometimes by the medications no longer working. It is a life sentence, but she is making the best of it and finding her happiness where she can.

My husband, whom I love with all of my being also suffers from chronic depression and during the diagnostic phase, life was hell for both of us. He would go to sleep in the middle of conversations, could not motivate himself to do anything, became capable of causing himself harm and ended up in hospital for both diagnosis and treatment. From that point, life began to improve but when it got bad again, he self-medicated as they say. He could not leave a gathering if there was a drop of alcohol around. No matter how hard he tried to escape, the alcohol simply made it worse. We even separated for a year because I could not cope with the whole situation. He quit drinking and we got back together. The whole vicious circle started up again and one night it was finally all I could stand and told him that he had better like wherever he got drunk because he would not be coming home again. That was his last drink and he has been sober now for over 15 years now. We have both learned. He takes antidepressants and increases them when necessary, backing down the dose again when the crisis is over. If I notice he is falling into apathy, I mention it, he denies it, thinks about it and then increases his meds again. One of the good things is that the new generation of antidepressants does not stifle the personality or flat line the emotions, it simply allows the person to cope with life and enjoy the things that others enjoy. I would not be alive without him and I have learned so very much from this wonderful man with one little flaw that could have destroyed his life and mine.

I could go on, but the other stories do not vary enough to add anything material here.

The Mayan Prophecy of 2012

This link was sent to me today. http://www.13moon.com/prophecy%20page.htm
I went and read the article, and found it interesting and does not conflict with what I know to be true. It is worth the read, and I would be interested in any comments anyone has on it.

Quotes from the article:
"Known as Time's Special Witness, 7th century Mayan prophet Pacal Votan left a universal message for future generations of an evolving Earth.Proclaiming,"If Humanity Wishes To Save Itself From Biospheric Destruction It Must Return To Living in Natural Time," he foretold of our accelerated technological society, and the resulting damage of our collective divergence from Natural Law in exchange for materialist values."

"Pacal Votan's prophetic call is alerting present-day humanity that our biological process is transforming, approaching the culmination of a 26,000 year evolutionary program. Bringing the return of universal telepathy, heightened sense capacity, and self-reflective consciousness, this is a return to the sacred domain of our inner technology."

"This grand cycle of evolution will culminate winter solstice, December 21, 2012 AD."

"This time we are now in has been called "The Time of Trial on Earth," "Judgement Day," "The Time of Great Purification," "The End of this Creation," "The Quickening," "The End of Time as We Know It," "The Shift of the Ages." It is foretold that the completion of the Precession brings regeneration of Earth, offering awakening to all open, willing hearts. Many peoples spoke of these last days of the Great Cycle, including the: Maya, Hopi, Egyptians, Kabbalists, Essenes, Qero elders of Peru, Navajo, Cherokee, Apache, Iroquois confederacy, Dogon Tribe, and Aborigines. "

"Thus the December 21, 2012 AD is not the day where all of the sudden a light switch will flip on and everything will change, rather, we are NOW in the process of this transition from one World Age to the next. The changes are underway and will continue steadily accelerating as we head towards the culminating date!"

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Astrological Addiction

We have been discussing astrology elsewhere and it reminded me of my concerns about the damage it can do.

I have had only a casual interest in astrology. There are certainly things that appear to be right on, but for someone who is totally addicted, it becomes a crutch and a way of abdicating responsibility for their decisions. "It's all fate" "It is written in the stars" "It was fore-ordained, I couldn't help it"

I have always had a very negative attitude toward astrologers and fortune tellers. The gifts we receive, the talents we are given on the path, are given to us for the purpose of truly helping others, not for personal gain and not for parlor games or for self aggrandizement. Should someone have those talents and miss-use them, I believe they are lost to that individual, who then has to rely on a good knowledge of human nature and the ability to read the face, posture and voice of those they read for.

Are "psychics" picking up on something? Yes, at least the good ones see "shadows of what might be." Is it set in stone? No. Unfortunately, it is so often a trap for the Ego and the "psychic" loses any ability they had to perhaps help people to guide their lives on their individual road maps.
Because we have free will within the road map we are born with, it is not possible to predict events with any kind of certainty, only to glimpse the possible consequences of following the road the client is currently on. The great danger with Astrology, is of self-fulfilling prophecies. Predictions that come true because of the client's belief in the fortune teller, store up karma for the fortune teller to work through in future life times. That is a responsibility I would not care to carry, or a debt that I do not care to incur.

I have had far too many experiences to dismiss it as nothing, but I do refuse to either read or be read for. I find that my connection to the All provides me with guidance and answers when I listen. I try very hard to simply carry a lamp to light the path and a mirror to reflect each person's own truths.
Meditation keeps me centered and allows me to listen to that still small voice within.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Always to Start Anew

To escape time, …

Always to start anew....... Each new year, each new week, each new day, each new minute ... We may always begin again, we may move on from where we were, or we can choose to remain where we are stuck, by our own choice.

This is heady stuff! It means we can begin anew when we have messed up. We can dust the old off our shoes and take up a new path, one of light and love. We can leave the old behind, having learned from it all that we could. There are those who say they have no choice, but that is not exactly true. We always have choice even if it is only choice to do or not do something. We can own ourselves and our choices, in effect becoming master of our own selves, or we can allow the world to make choices for us while we whine that we had no choice. To become masters of our selves, our choices, our destiny, that is worth working for!

What we may not have is fortitude, strength to do what we know to be right for us at that particular time. We see opportunities come and we see them go without us. Sometimes we also lack the wisdom to act on the opportunities that come our way. Our inner selves, our spiritual selves know what is right for us and when. All knowledge is within our selves if we wish to find it.

This is where meditation comes in and can help us commune with our spiritual selves, our subconscious if you will. At some time in our spiritual lives we come to recognize that when we live in harmony with the universal laws, what we need will be drawn to us when we need it. We tend to stop asking for things or for things to work out a particular way. We come to trust the process. We begin to petition only for strength and wisdom for ourselves, the strength to do what is right, and the wisdom to know it.

It has been many years since I have asked for more than strength and wisdom for myself, with one exception. I asked to live long enough to finish what I believe is my task here on earth, and I asked to be able to hold the two persons responsible for my return through the mist two years ago, in my arms just once before I go through the mist again. These two wishes are being granted, and I am so very thankful and so very blessed.

I do petition to have other's burdens lightened, for them to find their strength and wisdom, to have their pain and grief eased, to find enlightenment. Love is the most powerful thing in the universe, and when we petition with love, whether personal or universal, that petition has power to help those we petition for.

Meditation for me, allows me to commune with my inner self, the spiritual self within me. It allows me to reach a state of deep relaxation, leaving my daily cares behind, and renewing my spirit. It also puts me in a mental state conducive to petitioning for others. After years of practice, I find that I can now drop into that state on the count of 3, which can be very useful at times. Using a candle for focus is also useful.