Winter Solstice 2012: Why It's Not the End of the World

 The Solstice-to-End-All-Solstices is an illusion, albeit a very persistent one, fueled by Hollywood hoo-ha and our love of fear. In truth, it's another turning of the Great Wheel, as one cosmic cycle concludes and another begins. Mayan scholar Mark Van Stone dives deep into the nuances behind the hysteria. And this piece I wrote several years ago explains why it's not the end of the world, but the end of a World Age: The Sky Is Falling — NOT! The Truth About 2012.

At this stillpoint, the longest night, take a moment to breathe out all that no longer serves who you're becoming, and breathe in the light and Love of Oneness. Like its companion astronomical event in summer, Winter Solstice is a grand opportunity to burn away old patterns in order to become more whole. Whole, holy and heal originate from the same root word, hale. When we are hale we are robust, renewed, invigorated, fully alive. This is what such a quantum moment heralds for all humanity: an alivening, a once-in-a-precessional-cycle zone of opportunity to align ourselves with the galactic source of life.

How will you create a worthy life in 2013? Becoming creageous — creatively courageous — is a worthy start. Blessed Be!

Ariel Spilsbury is a mystic, an embodiment of the Divine Feminine and co-creator of The Mayan Oracle, a divination tool that assisted me tremendously on my awakening journey. Her Turning of the Wheel transmission reminds us that in emptying ourselves, we receive the gifts. As I've long envisioned my vessel as a chalice, hers is a potent blessing for this auspicious moment in our evolution. I couldn't have said it better:

The Turn of the Wheel Winter Solstice - Dec 21-23, 2012 "Empty your chalice to receive My feast." The Mother

An Invitation from Unity Consciousness for the Wedding Feast: Your participation with the Creation is cordially requested in "the Milky Way Rift", from Dec. 21st to Dec 23rd 2012  to Walk the Road of Awe Xibalba Bey, in Ecstatic Emergence together! Kindly RSVP to the Divine One   Dearest Ones, What if YOU were actually "enough" in this moment just being empty, totally lovable with NOTHING ADDED, NOTHING SUBTRACTED? Just FEEL that possibility in this moment! How many lifetimes will it take to recognize yourself without judgment, as already whole, perfectly lovable as you are in this moment? Imagine right now, who you would be with nothing left to do, strive for, or become. Oh, your mind can come up with a million reasons why that just isn't possible, but at some point in the soul journey through lifetimes, you WILL recognize that you are enough just being an open, empty vessel for the Divine currency of Love to be poured into. Could this Solstice be that moment? Could all of our striving, driving, craving, doing, grasping, have finally led us to realize the truth that lies behind all the changing appearances? What if all this hoopla and mental conjecturing leading up to the Dec. 21st 2012 date has all been merely pointing us to this ultra simple recognition? What if for this short time in human history, in the Solstice somewhere in the window between Dec. 21st and Dec 23rd you were actually to RECOGNIZE IN A LIVING TANGIBLE WAY what the Buddha's Heart Sutra states: WHAT IS REAL IS EMPTY AND WHAT IS EMPTY IS REAL? Form is emptiness and emptiness is form. Folks, these are not just words. This is NOT just another spiritual concept. Most have not experienced this state in a direct enough way to take it out of being a concept... but what I am going to witness with you here, is that we will have an unprecedented opportunity to have a REAL experience of this state, this Winter Solstice 2012. While many will be called into various forms of "doingness", I am here to hold a strong voice for EMPTINESS during this precious opportunity and window... for being simply Empty Vessels for Divine frequency to uplift and recalibrate, through Grace, the vibration of the whole planet, the whole human race. And all that is required is that we are in Emptiness, to receive this Divine gift of frequency that will allow us to have a direct experience of Unity consciousness! Our purpose is to simply be human tube torus electro-magnetic oscillators. (I highly recommend seeing this beautiful video link for a visual of this.) Or more simply put, we are simply resonant tuning forks that will, through our coherence* in Emptiness, ground, transmit, amplify, stabilize and resonate what is being Divinely poured into our planetary Chalice.  The pyramids around the globe are the hardware that we are analogously the software to, in this process of transmission, stabilization and amplification. It is time now to demonstrate our ability to simply BE empty, coherent, resonators! (*Coherence is ordered, focused energy, the difference in effectiveness, between a flash light and a laser beam.) What has been demonstrated to me, over and over as a vessel for the Sacred Feminine in  the  space of my long life, is that if it is simple, it is more likely to be true. What could be MORE simple than this? The mind says, "Ah, it just couldn't be that easy." I have witnessed Her grace personally too many times not to strongly counter that perception. It IS just that easy, as we open to receive the Divine gift of Grace! As Osho so eloquently puts it: "Emptiness is the means, the destination and the attainment!" I have endeavored to live my life from this place of Emptiness being what is REAL, and I am overjoyed to see it coming to bloom in the planetary collective. We are all now powerfully, mythically called to be resonant capacitors, frequency holders, in this emergent, planetary field, in Emptiness! We are also at the same time called to be sacred Witnesses to the holy alchemical marriage of male and female within each of us, the Heiros Gamos, that is now astrologically playing out in the larger field of the Milky Way Rift at Winter Solstice 2012, where Cosmic Mother and Cosmic Father, Christ and the Magdelane, Thoth and Seshat, Isis and Osirus, Venus and Mars are joining to celebrate with us, the Wedding Feast of the release of a new cosmological template of balanced human evolution. Let us celebrate entering into Unity Consciousness, in the freedom of Emptiness! Will things look like we have entered a new world? Yes, if you are looking from the inside out. To some it will appear as if nothing has happened. As the alchemists say: "As viewed. So appears." This is just the way awareness works my beloved dears, since, as you well know, we are the movie directors of the outpicturing of our own consciousness.  In this process, remember, the nature of the Chalice is to be empty in order to contain. We ARE each a chalice. By simply being empty, we are creating a clear station on which the Divine can transmit pure vibrational frequency. Mother's response to me, in all simplicity, in answer to how to prepare for this time was, "Empty your chalice to receive my feast!" We have been doing that over the last months/years with clearing our bodies, our psyches, our shadow material, emptying out, in preparation for this "once in many lifetimes" opportunity. For many, this stripping down to Essence has been perceived as a painful process of shedding, houses, jobs, relationships, but take heart, it was all necessary to "empty your chalice to receive the feast!" During this potent time, continue to be aware personally and collectively, owning, shedding and releasing whatever shadow material still appears to stand between you and embodying Divine Love! It all comes down to a very simple choice, in each moment, each interaction, to choose love rather than to separate from self or the appearance of "other". Is this the lifetime to MAKE THAT CHOICE?    On the other end of the spectrum, as you approach this potent window of opportunity, remember that being in the open eyed meditation that Emptiness represents, engaging in the expanded states implied in open heartedness, joy, unconditional love, gratitude, awe, celebration, (ecstatic process of all sorts), all lift our frequencies to resonate with the expanded frequencies that will be available for us to resonate with during this time. Now, did I catch you off guard? Were you holding a belief/perception that you had to be sitting still in closed eyed meditation, in order to be empty? As Adyashanti says: "If Emptiness isn't dancing, it isn't Emptiness." Emptiness cannot actually be defined, rather can only be pointed to in the description of being a mind without thought to clutter it, a spaciousness, a sense of profound peace and resting in joyful non-doing. And in a culture that does everything in its power to keep us asleep and distracted from embodying that awareness, it is wise to remember that Emptiness flourishes in conscious cultivation. The good news is that in the Sacred Feminine, ecstatic process is what empties us, whether that is dancing, singing, love making, eating with full ecstatic awareness, getting a massage, being in awe in nature etc. Doesn't sound like difficult preparation, right? Easy. Ecstatic. Graceful. Joyful. Praise be, that is Her way. And so, I lovingly leave you with this: STOP STRUGGLING, TRYING, DOING! FINALLY fully RECOGNIZE THAT YOUR ECSTATIC EMPTINESS AND LOVING BEING ARE MORE THAN ENOUGH!! Wherever you find yourself this Winter Solstice 2012, please BE EMPTY, being there! And may you have a direct experience of the truth of the Buddha's Heart Sutra: What is real is empty and what is empty is real and thus ecstatically embrace the wisdom of Emptiness in your daily life! And with Grace may you truly emerge in the ecstatic freedom of the Nada and Her holy Temple of I am Not, Essence as Unity Consciousness! I end this simple Solstice offering with a quote from my Beloved, Rumi: Nothing. We are Emptiness. When you are with everyone but me, You are with no one. When you are with no one but me, You're with everyone., Instead of being so bound up with everyone, Be everyone. When you become that many, you're nothing. Empty.    I celebrate each one of us finding and dancing in Ecstatic Emergence, in the freedom of Emptiness!  And to that end, do I dedicate this offering.       In Devotion to the One Heart, In lakech, Your Sister, Ariel

Year of the Water Dragon: Thunder EnLightening

We're in the midst of a pretty incredible ride: it's 2012, a Leap Year, an election year, we're OccupyingEverything, and now we're about to enter the Chinese Year of the Water Dragon, on the New Moon in Aquarius.

The dragon is a formidable, flamboyant, magical creature, calling us to enter the alchemical fire. According to astrologer Stephanie Austin, "Of the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac, the dragon is the only mythological creature, setting it apart from ordinary reality. On a spiritual level, dragons symbolize kundalini, the cosmic or 'serpent' energy coiled at the base of the spine, which leads to unity consciousness. That the Chinese Year of the Dragon occurs in 2012, a year considered by the Mayans, Hopis, and many others to offer the potential for a huge leap in consciousness, further emphasizes the evolutionary nature of this year."

And since this year is a Water Dragon, it's also about balance: fire and water. I just learned from a Twitter connection that "a fulgerite is fossilized lightning. It forms when a powerful lightning bolt melts the soil into a glass-like state." So 2012 might be described as a Water Dragon fulgerite year: enLightening melting what's soiled, watering our individual and collective Soul with awareness and possibility.

In fact, Water Dragon Inc. confirms, "Most people know that water covers two-thirds of our planet and comprises 95% of our bodies; we simply cannot live without it. In Chinese element theory, water produces wood, which signifies growth and is the natural element of the dragon. The dragon governs east/southeast, wealth accumulation and the hours of 7 a.m. - 9 a.m. Associated with thunder, lightning and arousal, the Water Dragon personifies creativity at its best.

As visionary activist astrologer Caroline Casey pointed out during a recent delightful duet on An Organic Conversation: "It's a Water Dragon year: we can ride this thing!"

Let's OccupyMythology, create a new millennial mythos, and ride the fire/water fulgerite dragon off the edge of the known maps, right on into a new dawn.

Timeshifting as the New Earth Rises

Celia Fenn offers an extraordinary discourse on what's happening now, beginning with the total lunar eclipse of June 15th, through Solstice on June 21st and through our November Stargate and into 2012. I highly recommend digesting her entire entry: New Earth Rising: Mastering Time and Embracing the Energy of Love and Support. Here's a summary:

Time in 3rd dimensional reality is only one measurement, and not the most effective, for accelerating consciousness. Celia introduces us to Astronomology, an amalgam of astronomy and astrology that combines the best of both worlds to enhance our perspective.


She writes, "the New Reality Science of Astronomology (is) a new way of viewing the evolution of the Earth and of humanity through the stellar charts of the Heavens, and one that incorporates thirteen houses instead of the twelve of conventional astrology.

"The thirteenth house is called Ophiuchus, and it falls in that area between the end of Scorpio and the beginning of Sagittarius. The name "Ophiucus" simply means "Serpent Holder" and this constellation is identified with healing and the Master Healing Energies, and the Archetypal energies of Aesclepius, Imhotep and the Snake Goddesses!

"Primarily, Ophiuchus is an energy that supports and nourishes and heals. But, it is also interesting that Imhotep was known as a 'Master Builder' and Architect, and in some accounts is credited with the design and building of the Great Pyramid. This is of interest because the Total Lunar Eclipse and the Solstice Alignments will be activating the Stonehenge SuperGalactic Portal, or 'resetting' the clock on the Stonehenge sacred site to align the Earth with the Galactic Center, and this resetting wil be transmitted to all those sacred sites that function as the 'nodes' of the Planetary Supercomputer, including the Pyramid Complex at Giza, and that will ensure that Planet Earth is perfectly aligned on her trajectory towards the 2012 alignment with the New Age of Light, which is also called Ascension.

"What is most important is that Ophiuchus is the energy of healing and support, and the energy of aligning with the Galactic Frequencies. So many people complain of feeling lack of support on so many levels. Yes, probably because you have been living according to one singular calendar or time cycle technology that completely misses out this energy of healing and support. As we shift into an awareness of the Zodiacal Healer and how these energies work with us, we can channel these energies into our lives in ways that are healing and supportive of our changes.

"On the 15th of June 2011, the Full Moon will rise over Stonehenge in Total Lunar Eclipse. The Moon will also be just 3 degrees from the Galactic Center, that is, almost in conjunction. At that moment, powerful Lunar and Galactic Light Codes will recalibrate the Divine Feminine energies of the Snake Goddesses and the Platinum Ray energies of the Shekinah into the Stonehenge Time Code Frequency Cycles. The Energy of the Great Cosmic Mother, Ma'at, will bring the entire Henge back into Cosmic Balance..."

The Mother of All Winter Solstices

Visionary activist astrologer Caroline Casey has been calling it, "The Mother of all Winter Solstices". This December 21st heralds a full moon / total lunar eclipse, making our inner darkness visible. What has been concealed is now revealed, and ready to be healed.

It's a galactic Dark Night of the Soul as we surge down the 2012 corridor into a brand new world, eclipsing millennia of spiritual darkness, says astrologer Allison Rae. She offers one of the more eloquent and inclusive depictions of now, and what it means for each of us. READ MORE

Two no-cost events I'm participating in that are sure to provide groundbreaking guidance and information:

Celia Fenn with Archangel Michael in conversation with Jim Self, Solstice eve webinar from 4-5:30 pm PST

And immediately following, human capacities pioneer / social architect Jean Houston, offering her signature Mystery School as a teleclass.

Join me, and invoke the 2011 you deeply desire and envision.

The 7th Day of the Mayan Galactic Underworld Begins!

On November 3rd we entered the 7th and final "day" of the Mayan Calendar, which takes us up to its momentous conclusion in this time-space continuum, the much-lauded 2012. According to Mayan scholar Carl Johan Calleman, the end date is actually October 2011. But we're quibbling about minutiae when dealing with cycles so vast: on a scale of 26,000 years (the Mayan long count), 2011 or 2012 makes little difference. Besides, the Maya were not using our Gregorian calendar, but indigenous cycles aligned with the seasons and the stars.

The particular passage is all about balance: fully embodying the feminine after millennia of masculine dominance, and allowing both our bodies and our planetary body to come into wholeness and fusion.

This is not about masculine and feminine as they apply to gender distinctions, but to the energies we all carry: masculine being synonymous with dynamic, assertive, solar, outward, yang energy, and feminine synonymous with magnetic, receptive, lunar, inner, yin energy. Wedding the light and the dark within ourselves is the beginning of sacred reUnion for us all.

For more information on Mayan Calendrics, here's the piece I wrote a year ago when we entered the 6th Night: The Sky Is Falling ~ NOT! The Truth About 2012.

Dancing With the Shadow: Mercury Retrograde

It's that time again: Mercury is retrograde (Rx), and as the past cycles back (or recycles, if you see Mercury as an environmentally-minded messenger!) we have an opportunity to claim/reclaim what's been hiding in the shadows. Mercury Rx is also when technology, travel and the best-laid plans often go haywire — especially in the season of fire.

For instance: three days ago I discovered that "Live Your Light" (my website URL) was at last available as a Twitter handle (it had been parked, unused, since 2008) and joyfully added it to my existing Twitter presence. The next day, the power cord to my laptop appeared to short-circuit; it wasn't working at all last night. Today, after sending my Mac and its accoutrements some good juju, all systems are go — but the refrigerator in my van isn't cooling.

This might be because it's been well over 100º, highly unusual for northern California. I mentioned the soaring temps to a friend back East, who opined, "The mercury at 112 is certainly in retrograde." It's all highly amusing, when we can get a bit of perspective.

Dancing with our unhealed/unacknowledged aspects, observing how they control us in ways that do not serve our highest good, reveals a potent opportunity to live into Aretha Franklin's song Respect, where she sings: "Re-re-re-re". You know: review, redefine, renew, reform, reimagine …

This particular Mercury Rx began in Leo, seguing quickly into Virgo, where it remains until September 12th. What do you need to release to the fires of transmutation? What needs to be planted in fertile soil for the future?

Astrologer Allison Rae counsels, "Mercury's transiting back through Virgo, so pay attention to details. Take the time to get things right. Also pay attention to your health and well being. Mercury Rx check-ups aren't just for cars and computers. On a deeper level, our path of service is highlighted in the sign of the Vestal Virgin, goddess of hearth and harvest. What did you come to do in this lifetime? Are you tending the flames of your soul's passion? It's time to remember and recommit. Soon, it will be time to take action."

As we surge towards 2012 we're in the midst of the most accelerated period of personal and planetary transformation in history. The energetic of the new exhorts us to live as large as possible NOW, not some time in a shadowy future. It's a continual process of reinventing ourselves.

We can use the energy of Mercury retrograde to release our resistance to going higher. The world needs all of our gifts, especially now. We've never been so primed "to boldly go where no one has gone before." This star trek begins in our bodies, minds and hearts as we begin to burn brightly with purpose and to activate our true potential in every realm.

You are the gift; open yourself now. It's time to shake hands with the shadow, unbox its message, and multiply our power exponentially.

For further illumination:

What's shadowing your potential? Is there:

∞ Someone you need to forgive (including yourself)?
∞ A phone call you're afraid to make?
∞ A long-standing debt (monetary or otherwise) you've not yet fulfilled?
∞ A health challenge?
∞ A relationship issue that's quarantined your emotional energy?
∞ A job that leaves you too drained to think about anything else?
∞ Or "simply" an all-encompassing fear of living your light?

The Sky is Falling — NOT! The Truth About 2012

On November 8th, we enter the next phase of our global evolutionary upgrade, known as the Sixth Night of the Galactic Wave Movement, according to Mayan scholar Carl Johan Calleman. It's a demanding time, and a bit messy, as planetary birth processes tend to be. But is it cause for alarm?


Until recently, comparatively few people were interested in Mayan culture or ancient prophecies. The Mayan Calendar, popularized in the West by authors such as Jose Arguelles (The Mayan Factor), Barbara Hand Clow (The Mayan Code: Time Acceleration and Awakening the World Mind) and Carl Calleman (The Mayan Calendar and the Transformation of Consciousness) touched a relatively small audience.

With the release of the doomsday movie 2012, however, that's changing dramatically. Now that the end date of the Mayan Calendar — December 21, 2012, on our Gregorian calendar — is a scant three years away, people are beginning to panic. Is the world going to end? Is this like Y2K, only infinitely worse?

It depends where we choose to place our focus. Our culture thrives on fear, READ THE REST

The Shift in Human Consciousness

Unless you've been inhabiting one of Jupiter's moons lately, it won't likely be news that humanity is in the midst of a massive evolutionary upgrade. In a brilliant 2-part article that is also available as a radio interview, Sol Luckman discusses the manifold aspects of this shift, from the implications of the Mayan Calendar 2012 end date to the significance of spirals to the Law of One. I highly recommend reading both articles (or listening to the show), slowly, allowing the information to seep into your cellular awareness.

Here's an excerpt:

"The spiral is the sign of the eternal, creative, unifying and organizing force or principle at work in the universe, and especially of the ongoing creation of consciousness. It is a divine mark on nature, what may be termed God's personal signature on the cosmos, the Great Architect's own autograph—from the cradles of stars and planets in the awesome spiral arms of galaxies to the beautiful double helix structure of the DNA molecule [...] As the spiral seems to be integral to physical growth, so it is also the symbolic pattern of human spiritual growth ... [T]he spiral is as much part of our 'cultural' DNA as it is part of our biological DNA [...] Indeed, I have come to realize that 'spirality'—the condition of being spiral—and 'reality' are almost interchangeable terms.

"Recalling the aether theories of Kozyrev, fellow Russian scientist Sergey Smelyakov's research demonstrates that the harmonic vibrations of Phi, also referred to as the Golden Mean and Fibonacci sequence, inform the very fabric of space-time. Mathematically, the Photon Band appears to be structured on Phi, producing set cosmic intervals the Maya apparently were aware of when constructing their uncannily accurate calendar. Smelyakov's The Auric Time Scale and the Mayan Factor compellingly suggests that Earth connects to Galactic Center via our solar system in a harmonic, fractal fashion he calls 'Solar-planetary Synchronism,' a vibratory relationship based on the Golden Mean.

"In an article entitled The Ultimate Secret of the Mayan Calendar, Wilcock analyzes Smelyakov's research, writing that it helps explain the end of the Mayan calendar in geometric terms as an 'infinitely-converging end point' in which time appears to 'collapse.' This is because time as we experience it follows the imploding spirals of Phi much like a finger tracing the cyclical involutions of a conch shell to its centerpoint.

"A salient point in the evolutionary model I am elaborating here is that evolution of species ultimately is driven not by material, but by metaphysical energy, or consciousness, of a spiraling, 'meta-genetic' nature.

"Swedish Biologist Carl Johan Calleman reaches precisely the same conclusion in The Mayan Calendar and the Transformation of Consciousness, cautioning 'against a narrow interpretation of the term cyclical. The Mayan calendar describes evolutionary rather than strictly cyclical processes, so history is more like a spiral of evolution, in which similar types of events are favored at certain points in the cycle.'"

New Moon, New Dawn, New Age

Astrologer Allison Rae has some potent information about Thursday's New Moon in Aries:

"This Equinox/New Moon portal is a real eye-opener.

Not only is this the beginning of a 28-day lunar cycle, it's also the beginning of a year-long solar cycle. Because it's happening as vast cosmic cycles are converging, this New Moon is initiating energies of the Aquarian Age and a new 26,000-year precessional cycle. As we make our way through the 2012 transition, all Aries New Moons carry this importance.

Depending on how we play it, this could be the dawn of the next Golden Age.

The current economic reconfiguration, climate change, social revolution and spiritual awakening are all related to this shift. While these cycles have been flowing and converging for millennia, we've never experienced a shift point like this before, with so many beings on the planet. The potential for positive change goes quantum through this portal.

At this New Moon, we have a unique opportunity to align with these cycles. To pause and reflect, to create with intent. To seed a higher expression of human consciousness on Earth.

What's completing in your world, and what are you creating that's new? Don't miss this opportunity to seed your new beginning!"

Gregg Braden on 2012: "It's Not the End of the World!"

Community,

I invite everyone to listen to this riveting radio interview with scientist, systems engineer and best-selling author Gregg Braden, who demystifies 2012 in his breakthrough book, Fractal Time: The Secret of 2012 and A New World Age.

A true visionary who weds science and Spirit in clear yet compelling language, Gregg explains how what's happening on Earth now has happened before: it's just that, because these time cycles are so vast, no one alive today was around during the last cycle (over 5000 years ago).

What's especially fascinating is the Time Code Calculator on his website, which allows anyone to determine when past cycles ~ in either in the world or your own life ~ will repeat.

Obama Lama? New Wisdom for a New Age

It's clear we're living in what the Chinese maxim euphemistically refers to as "interesting times." Legalized gay marriage. An African-American U.S. presidential candidate. Human potential pioneer Louise Hay profiled in The New York Times magazine (albeit with the skeptical, slightly sarcastic tone with which the Times treats subjects outside its normal purview.)

Like the fall of the Berlin Wall or the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. in years past, what's happening now is a herald of human evolution. One reporter at the San Francisco Chronicle even calls Obama a lightworker, in a conversation-provoking piece that expands his role beyond that of mere politician:

Is Obama An Enlightened Being?

Now, lightworkers don't usually appear on the world stage in such a "spiritually demeaning" role as politician, says the article's author. Yet we are living in increasingly intense acceleration as we swoop towards 2012, the Mayan Calendar end date and the moment prophesied in many indigenous cultures as ushering in a Golden Age for the Earth, so it makes sense that our guides would take more drastic measures to facilitate the shift.

Whatever you believe, it makes for healthy pondering. I was a Dennis Kucinich supporter when he was running for president, in both the 2004 election and this one, and would love to see an Obama/Kucinich ticket, personally. Playing with their initials, it sure seems like a win: "OK".