Victim, Volunteer — or Visionary?

Music artist Christine Lavin once penned an arresting tune called Victim-Volunteer, with blisteringly insightful lyrics that lay bare how we hide from ourselves:

Do you think of yourself as a victim? / Or do you volunteer? / Do you let somebody else call all of your shots? / Do you cower in the corner in fear?

Or do you follow because it is easy to do? / Do you fool with modern high tech voodoo? / Too bad if you're a victim but whatever you do / Don't volunteer.

Two is duality: victim or volunteer, we're still dancing to external music, out of time with our own rhythm. It's been the way of the world for eons — until now. As we enter an era beyond history, we can drop duality along with dusty yesterdays, and embody a grander possibility. Caroline Casey calls this magnificent moment "a windfall of wherewithal," when the capacity and connections we need to give our vision a voice materialize at the speed of Light. It's time to acknowledge our intrinsic genius, which means saying yes to a third "V" — visionary.

The catch to claiming visionary status is, READ MORE

Generosity, Baby!

 

Babies are big blobs of give.  I once watched a mother snuggling and kissing her four-month-old son for many minutes, and was astonished when the baby attempted to kiss her back! Infants are born bundles of Love, and only release it gradually, as the world ruptures their sense of security.

The other day I was in my favorite local consignment store, more for respite from the searing late summer heat than for shopping, and a 16-month-old girl was toddling around the racks of clothes, shoes and knickknacks having the time of her life. One customer commented wryly, "If only she were happier!"

At one point I tried on a shoe that was too small, and as I put it back on a shelf exactly at the toddler's height, she grasped it and offered it to me. The generosity and joy of that baby uplifted everyone in the store.

I was musing, here on the far side of a half-century, that we tend to "age up": that is, many older people are open to association with those younger than them, though it doesn't necessarily work in reverse. I am invisible to most teens and early 20-somethings; I'm simply too far from their age and worldview to be acknowledgeable, and I understand this. However, given the nature of who I am, the fact that I never had children of my own, and that I will talk with almost anyone, any time, I do have a lot of contact with people in all decades of life. This is enriching. I also learn a great deal.

The other evening I told a new deli worker at a local food co-op that he looked like actor Ray Liotta — thirty years ago. I asked if people said he looked like anyone famous and he mentioned Leonardo DiCaprio, whom I still think of as 23 but who is actually closing in on 40. The deli worker told me he's 27. From there our conversation evolved to the years he spent in Hollywood (though not to become an actor!), to what it's like to spend time in New York City, to his recent relocation to my area. It developed he's also an avid reader and budding writer, and we ranged far afield about genres and what we learn from books. I shared how a pivotal message during my awakening journey came from a novel: the protagonist is a young man itching to quit his magazine job and write full-time, which, he tells his best friend, he'll do "once he's saved up more security" — meaning, of course, money. His buddy wisely responds, "Security isn't something you save up. It's what you find when you take risks." I still get goosebumps relating this.

Then my very cool new pal and I connected over the awareness that the days of the week are named for the five visible planets, plus the sun and moon. You can "hear" this much better in the Romance languages than in English, and since he's bilingual in English and Spanish, and I speak some French and rudimentary Spanish, we went back and forth, delightedly naming each day in three languages. Other customers occasionally joined our meandering conversation.

When I left the store my energy was elevated, probably akin to how the 16-month-old darling I'd met earlier feels most of the time. It's radically wonderful to live this way, and becoming easier all the time as we awaken en masse at Light speed.

Reach out in the most unlikely places, to the most unusual faces. Once you scratch the surface, you'll discover commonalities you never dreamed were there. At heart, we're all One, pure Love awaiting expression. Pass it on, baby.

Grace Notes: Other Mothers and The Mother of All

I didn't send my Mom a Mother's Day card this year; she made her transition in January. I did send a trio of cards to a beloved 100-year-old friend who's been a spiritual mother my entire life, from the days when I'd paste my artwork on the kitchen window she'd pass on her way to work (and to which she'd respond in poetry), to our adult friendship spanning four decades. Ellie and her husband never had children, yet I don't think that's why so many "young people" (as she characterized those in their 50s when she was 92!) have adopted her as a surrogate Mom. It's because, by her very essence, she engenders the deep love and appreciation we associate with mothering.

I've been blessed to enjoy this kind of relationship a few times in my life. Another was with a woman whose husband I met in the park, not long after I'd graduated from college. He brought me home to meet his wife as though I were a flea market find, and the three of us became fast friends during the year before I moved to California. I was just launching my life at 22, and Sten and Ethel provided the support and encouragement I needed to thrive — right down to lending me their old car for the final weeks prior to my relocation, so I could get around town once I'd sold mine. Ethel had multiple sclerosis (MS), and her optimism and sunny disposition in the face of her illness seem even more amazing to me now. For her birthday that year I sent a singing balloon-a-gram; the center balloon was shaped like a heart. She told me this balloon kept its helium for weeks and followed her around the house! That's the power of Love.

Another spiritual mother for 26 years and counting is Louise Hay. An old friend gifted me with Louise's signature book, You Can Heal Your Life in 1988, the same year I was blessed to meet Louise in person when she held a "Hay Ride" event in San Francisco. Her breakthrough personal growth work has sustained and healed me on many levels since then. Louise is just nine months older than my biological mother, so in many ways she really does feel like my Mom.

Who are the "other mothers" in your life? Mother's Day is a beautiful moment to let them know how much you cherish their love, their support, their wisdom. Whether they know you personally or are a public figure who's helped you via their planetary service (Oprah springs to mind), take a moment to acknowledge this gift. In the level playing field of the digital age we can connect with almost anyone, yet your thank you needn't be splashed across the social landscape unless you so choose. If you send your message via the quantum field, it will be received — at an even more profound level.

If you can and want to connect in 3D, that's always a delight. I'll call my 100+ year-old friend in the morning, and thank her again for shining her Light in my life.

Finally, there is our collective Mother, Gaia, in all her (wo)manifestations. During my awakening journey I realized how profoundly I yearned to nestle into the nurturing archetypal arms of the Great Mother. I found her in trees, in our animal kin, in metaphysical bookstores and sacred ceremony, and in the wisdom of those who had gone before me and could give a name to this longing.

Reaching our Light means daring a descent into the dark, to the ancient womb of Mystery that lives within each one, calling us to awaken and claim our power. Men and women alike are capable of this kind of birth, which knows no gender — only the willingness to open to the immanent truth of our being.

Everything arises from this awareness: how we move through the world, how we effect change, how we define what "matters" (which comes from the same root as "mother".) Uncloaked, we are cut from whole cloth — "material" in its original sense. When we abide in the Mother, who we are matters — and we are always Home.

Mother yourself, today and every day. That's the greatest grace note of all.

~ Much Love to you ~

Beltane: Light Night of the Soul

We're all familiar with the classic "dark night of the soul", even if we don't know the terminology: the last few years, especially these past few weeks, everyone's felt the energies ramped up to gale force as lunar/solar eclipses, meteor showers and a Cardinal Grand Cross (the 5^th of 7 Uranus/Pluto squares plus) buffet the planet and liberate us from old beliefs and behaviors. We're being cleaned out and burnished to roar our "YES!"

May 1^st ushers in Beltane, one of eight Shabbats on the Nature-based Wheel of the Year. [The others are the Solstices and Equinoxes, Lammas (August 1st), Samhain (October 31st), and Imbolc (February 2nd).] Beltane breathes renewal into our cells as we acknowledge the elemental world and the advent of summer. For our Southern Hemisphere allies, the Wheel of the Year is reversed: they now celebrate Samhain. 

As Stargazer Li reminds us, May 1^st also commences the time cycle known as the Night, "to source what is from our own deep dreaming depths... which carries us the following day into the Moon of Liberation, to release the old stories and live at the next level...

As Samhain honors the power of death, so Beltane honors the cycles of life and rebirth. Beltane takes place in Taurus, the zodiac's earthiest, sensual sign, and focuses on exuberant sexuality: the pollinating of flowers, the lush cornucopia of fruit-bearing plants and trees, the reproductive cycle of the entire natural world, from birds and bees to people and trees. It's a fire festival of fertility in all its forms — and thus we dance in homage to Aphrodite, the Goddess Herself.

Are you ready to dive into a Light Night of the Soul, a sacred reUnion of our masculine and feminine selves? The temperatures are soaring into the 90s this week, welcoming the solar eclipse and activating our solar/cellular recognition of the Light we are.

Ignite your Light, and let it shine. As Pharrell sings, clap along if you feel like a room without a roof…

When You're About to Give Up…

"Come in out of the darkness." 

 

~ Stevie Nicks, Bella Donna

We're living our Light more magnificently than ever before, shining our radiance in everyday interactions. It's never been so easy — or, in some ways, so strange. Archangel Michael describes how it looks: "Our peace and comfortableness with the shifting energy will help other people feel more comfortable. We will do this from our hearts...by just walking through a grocery store, the post office, or sitting in a movie theatre. People will automatically feel a little bit calmer, because we are carrying that pivotal, new orientation point inside us..."

I've been noticing that people tend to park next to my car, even when an entire parking lot is virtually empty, or sit next to me when there are numerous other seats available. At first this disturbed me; then I began to understand. People feel drawn to the energy those of us who have walked this road carry, even if they are unaware of it or can't articulate it. Our role now is to listen them into awareness.

An example: our local senior center offers high-speed WiFi, though I don't usually get much work done there because as soon as I sit down, someone wants to chat! The conversation has been desultory — until last week. A woman sat by me, spoke casually at first, then shifted into deeply personal material. I felt called to respond as I would with a coaching client, and watched her growth in the moment as I validated how she was stepping into her power. It was remarkable, beautiful, and thrilling to observe: I was simultaneously participant and witness to the process.

Archangel Michael says, "Instead of taking months or days, it is taking hours or minutes to shift. Our service to the world is anchoring and just staying in that new center point...We are of service to the planet by BE-ing who we are."

Gillian Macbeth Louthan adds a surprising caveat: "When you feel like destroying something that you have worked on or worked for or worked toward — you are at the edge of succeeding. At the very edge of success, there is an 'initiation via potential sabotage'. Many are comfortable in succeeding a little bit, but not totally."

Darkness and Light are a Möbius strip, the both/and of life in 3D. May Sarton's Invocation to Kali expresses it best:

"Help us to be the always hopeful

Gardeners of the spirit

Who know that without darkness

Nothing comes to birth

As without light

Nothing flowers."

Ley Down Fear, Lift the Light!

February 2^nd is Imbolc (literally, "in the belly"), a sacred moment when the Light returns. Imbolc is a powerful portal: the exact midpoint between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox. As the first "cross-quarter day" on the Wheel of the Year, it heralds the Equinoxes and Solstices, as well as Beltane (May 1st), Lammas (August 1st), and Samhain (October 31^st).

This year, February 2^nd is also an auspicious moment to connect, clear and heal the ley lines of the planet. You're invited to join with your galactic brothers and sisters at the time and place you choose (sunrise or sunset are optimum, but your heart focus is what matters most). The Ley Lines Project says, "It is as if Gaia appears to be especially invigorated by a low elevation Sun. Her ley lines appear to dilate and increase both in their energetic and information carrying capacities during this twice-daily solar aspect. So, with the pathways enlarging to at least double their capacity, is this not an opportune time to purge them of unwanted energies and replace them with the light of compassion?"

Mystic Ariel Spilsbury writes, "This year, Imbolc is presenting us with a 'gateway', indicating work to be done inside and outside ourselves. Let us use this sacred time to reflect and confront what is hidden in ourselves, what must be exposed and examined before action is undertaken at Spring Equinox.

"Imbolc is a 'fire festival'. Imbolc marks the transition and transformation from death to rebirth, as the light of day grows significantly longer and you can be assured that Spring is right around the corner. At this time the animal world comes out of hibernation, the birds fly north again. This is a very holy day for initiations and a day to devote yourself to the God/dess and your own spiritual path. This is also a powerful time for intuitive and visionary work and to seek inspiration. At this time if you really tune in, you can just begin to feel and sense the 'inner stirrings', the seeds beginning to stir, and the inner light growing stronger.

"It is time to let go of the past and look to the future, clearing out the old, making both outer and inner space for new beginnings. This can be done in numerous ways, from spring-cleaning your home to clearing the mind and heart to allow inspiration to enter for the new cycle. What was born at the Solstice begins to manifest, and this is the time for individuation, as we each light our own light, and set ourselves tasks and challenges. We nurture and kindle our resolutions and begin to look outwards again, do outer activity, although first we look deep within to discover what potential lies there waiting to be fulfilled." 

Where's the Survivory?

Welcome to the second year beyond prophecy (which ended when the world didn't, in 2012). We are now in a time unwritten, and everything is possible — although, as I said in a recent radio discussion, Embodying Your Deepest Truth, not necessarily easy. 

Fourteen in numerology equates to 5, which has always been "my" number. The fifth element is about going beyond: the ancient Greeks called it quinta essentia, the pure and concentrated essence or invisible connector that allows earth, fire, water and air to communicate. While the grounding energy of four is significant, five takes us into unexplored territory. It's pure Spirit, the marrow, the core of creation.

There's a lot of power in five, which configures a star. Cross-culturally, five is a centering and balancing element. As the center of the Native American medicine wheel, five signifies the place of transformational possibilities. Five symbolizes access to the Spirit world in the Mayan tradition. Coming to balance and resonance means learning to honor the both/and, becoming inclusive rather than exclusive.

In her January newsletter, Gillian Macbeth Louthan nails it: "Number 14 is a karmic number and not the easiest of energies to walk through. The receptive quality of the 14/5 allows change and freedom.

"2014 will offer the opportunity for magnetic communication. Both gains and losses are temporary, due to the strong currents of change. In 2014 you will need to rely on self. It's a mistake to rely on others. Everyone is in their own wind tunnel. Rely on the intuition of the self, the voice within."

All of this is prelude to this morning's brief encounter. Since I wrote about how we can learn to listen at a deeper level in my January What Shines newsletter, this was especially amusing. As I was walking back to my vehicle, parked around the corner from the library, a woman in a wheelchair rolled by and asked, "Where's the Survivory?" I micro-processed her inquiry, translated what I thought I'd heard, and pointed, "It's right there!"

She had asked, of course, "Where's the library?" But pondering the medical drama unfolding with my birth family, along with some of my personal challenges, I was in my own wind tunnel. Seeing someone with a disability approach, my creative brain heard what resonated with my thoughts. Fortunately, I mentally clarified (like butter) or I might have answered her with a bewildered question of my own.

So be prepared for this astonishing and potentially rewarding double-seven year. Macbeth Louthan says, "Seven in all of its forms is the vibration of the spiritual warrior. One who walks a fine path within self and Soul. Seven works for the light, by the light and with the light. Seven is a place where wonder, magic and miracles are seen as natural events. Seven is your natural state of being. In 2014 see all this times two, opening unpredicted doorways of opportunity."

Fomenting Fear: Boston As Red Herring

Here we go again. Humanity's on a roll, awakening at the speed of love, co-creating ingenious solutions for local, regional and international challenges in ever more magnanimous ways. We might even be moving towards global unity.

The faster and stronger our rise in Light, the greater the resistance from forces that fear losing control. Whether we perceive these dark energies as originating from beyond the country or beyond the planet, one certainty is this: the best way to prevent questioning, growth, and union is by generating fear. Keep the people cowed and obedient, quaking within at the potential threat everywhere, and separation is assured.

After all, who can you trust when something as apple-pie American as the Boston Marathon, an institution more than a century old that attracts runners from all over the world, is tainted forever by a bombing at the finish line? How safe can we be in our backyards if something like this could happen in the midst of half a million people and all that security?

This is precisely what the instigators want. Do not trip the trap. Grieve for those injured or killed, yes. Make every effort to bring the terrorists to "justice", if such an action is possible. But don't crawl meekly back into the old skin. It's shed. It is time to arise as One and light the way to the higher truth of our intrinsic unity.

Rumi says it best:

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.

Don't go back to sleep.

You must ask for what you really want.

Don't go back to sleep.

People are going back and forth across the doorsill

where the two worlds touch.

The door is round and open.

Don't go back to sleep.

** If you'd like to read the message I sent out after 9-1-1, please email me.

Reimagining Death: The Elephant in the Room

Woody Allen famously said that he didn't want to achieve immortality through his work; he wanted to achieve it through not dying. While we celebrate birth, its corollary, exiting the Earth plane, is feared only slightly less than public speaking — at least, in the Western mind.

As someone with a gerontology (study of aging) background and an abiding love of elders, I've been exploring positive aging and death-related subject matter for years. I'm currently reading two complementary books with mirrored titled: From Age-ing to Sage-ing by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, and Sage-ing While Age-ing by Shirley MacLaine. MacLaine's book has been eye opening, not least because she articulates much that I've discovered/remembered on my own awakening journey, but also because she ratchets up my knowledge to the next level. In Chapter 11 (number of Aquarius), she focuses on soul development and references the work of regression therapist Michael Newton, PhD.

Suddenly I read, "All regressed souls speak of how much easier death is than birth. With death there is a release into the light. With birth there is an entrance into density." Of course! It's easier to expand than to contract.

And this awareness dovetails beautifully with another stunning book I read last year, Deathing: An Intelligent Alternative for the Final Moments of Life by Anya Foos-Graber.

Deathing is the real deal on conscious departure. We're not meant to die alone and afraid, maintains Foos-Graber. This definitive guide — the first of its kind I've seen, and it was published in 1989 — spells out clearly how each person can prepare for an informed death. Since most of us avoid any discussion of the subject, the very concept of a 'how-to' manual may sound frightening. Yet like MacLaine, Foos-Graber maintains that death can be a light-filled, spiritual experience.

We have a lot of help entering the world: we emerge from the body of our mother with attendants such as doctors, nurses, midwives, spouses and friends at the ready to welcome us and tend to the birthing mother. But there is no corresponding death ritual to support us in exiting the body we've inhabited as we return to the Great Mother of All.

Through two teaching stories, Foos-Graber shows us what both a typical, unconscious dying and a planned 'deathing' experience look like. The second half of the book provides step-by-step instructions and simple exercises such as breathing, visualization and remembering the Love that you are, to assist you in releasing the body and making a conscious, even joyful, departure from this life — and to support others in doing so.

Plus, we can rehearse while alive! Foos-Graber writes, "By practicing ahead of time with an eye toward this spiritual life insurance, you can increasingly live in an atmosphere free from fear and ignorance. A correct grasp of how to die necessarily produces an expanded philosophy of how to live more abundantly, however long or short your time of physical life."

As I was reading this book, a friend of mine's husband surrendered to cancer. Here's how she described his conscious death: "He squeezed my hand and left his breath here to begin to inhale the ethers of elsewhere. A gentle wave of joyful contentment spread out in ripples of sparkling delight. He was free again and slowly twirling in the softly glowing wonder of it all. This ethereal mist of farewell whispered through our home for an hour or so and then was gone."

So let us bow to that elephant and embrace its wisdom, rather than indulge in what MacLaine refers to as "amphysteria" ~ a condition of forgotten fear, usually of a place. We have no reason to fear expansion into the Light of All. And the elephant-headed Hindu deity Ganesh is revered as the "Remover of Obstacles". We can ride the elephant of awareness right on into the next adventure.

Have Body, Will Travel

On the freeway one day, an engaging tour bus slogan snagged my attention at 65 mph: "The Art of Transportation." I maneuvered closer to read the company name and logo: "Van Go," with the image of a paintbrush daubing the "o". What a playful, memorable way to advertise bus travel! Since I've written about how to see yourself as an artist, this tickled me. As usual, it also got me thinking:

What is your vehicle of transport? Will it get you where you most need to go? And are you driving/piloting/captaining your vessel, or are you a passive passenger?

While in the throes of my awakening odyssey, I often had dreams of riding in the passenger seat of a car. It's enlightening, then, to note who (or what) is "driving you." The symbolic language of dreams can often be both revealing and humorous. A friend who taught speed-reading once dreamed of driving in a car that had no brakes — but he found he could stop it with his mind!

And I dreamed of being in a car with others as we skimmed across a shimmering sea. It felt glorious, yet even in the dream, my questioning mind wanted to know how it was possible for a car to glide effortlessly over water. The answer that came to me, not from my fellow passengers but from Existence itself, was, "If you believe there is a bridge, there is."

Here on Earth, our bodies are our primary means of transport, our third-dimensional "space suits". What shape is yours in? Will it serve you well as your bridge to quantum being-ness? It's harder to house the infinite in a neglected vessel.

Perhaps some cosmic re-coloration with the planetary paintbrush is in order. We might begin on the physical plane, and then add a little airbrushing of our mental, emotional, spiritual and causal bodies. Another dream image of mine involved walking into a doctor's waiting room and picking up a magazine entitled, "Woman, Clean the Mind."

Tossing out excess baggage from all of our bodies will make it that much easier to travel light, and travel into the Light.

Imbolc: Return of the Light

In mid-winter, we celebrate the return of the Light, in every sense. In my We'Moon Daybook, Marian Spadone writes of Imbolc, "All is contained within us — all future possibilities, all growth, all knowing. This is the time after the Great Dark but before the Bursting Forth. This is the time for dreaming and for knowing our dreams. This is the time of illumination…Resting still in the cauldron of birth, we close two eyes and open our third. We have enough light to see now. Use the light! Brighten the light of your Inner Knowing." My February What Shines newsletter will explore many ways to do this, playfully.

This cross-quarter moment (February 1-2) wears many guises. In the U.S., it's popularly celebrated as Groundhog Day, when a small furry rodent either sees his shadow or doesn't, and the result determines whether we experience six more weeks of winter. The day has far deeper meanings than this, as Spadone intimates — and yes, it is a potent moment to observe your shadow!

Celebrated globally, Imbolc is both a Christian and Pagan holiday, known by various names: Imbolc, St. Brigid's Day (Bride's Day), and Candlemas ("mass of the candles", which in the Catholic religion marks the end of the Yule season).

In Celtic and Earth-based traditions, Imbolc ("in the belly") is one of the most powerful portals on the Wheel of the Year: the exact midpoint between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox. A harbinger of Spring, Imbolc celebrates the return of the Light in a profound sense. As the first "cross-quarter day" on the Wheel of the Year, it heralds the Equinoxes and Solstices, as well as Beltane (May 1st), Lammas (August 1st), and Samhain (October 31^st).

At Imbolc, the energies begin to pulse with renewed life and hope. Fire festivals are common. Vicki Noble, co-creator of the Motherpeace Tarot and author of Shakti Woman: Feeling Our Fire, Healing Our World, which affected me profoundly during my own awakening, writes, "Traditionally a time of transformation and initiation, Imbolc brings 'big dreams' and a raised vibration …

"With powerful Pluto in the physical sign of Capricorn (until 2024), we look forward to momentous planetary and personal change. As old structures crumble, inside and all around us, imagine yourself sitting safely inside of Kali's dance of liberation."

What most astonished me was discovering that St. Brigid (in the Irish tradition) is the Patroness of Midwives. Since my birthday is February 4th and I've long referred to myself as a midwife for our global rebirth, it was a clarifying reminder of "what we know, before we know that we know!"

Perfect Social Upgrades: A Year of 'Yes'

Aussie Jasmuheen, who lives on light (pure prana; she doesn't eat food!) composed this poetic insight to what she's calling the Year of Yes:

Chillin'

 

We're chilling 'cause it's cool,
new streams are here to rule.
We've chosen so much more,
than we ever have before.
Just sit there and be still,
breathe slow until we chill,
new times, come fun and fast,
new ways that will now last.
 

A smile it fills my heart,
for now we feel a part,
of something bold and bright,
of warmth and pure delight.
We say these words out loud,
we call upon all crowds,
to bless where we have been,
we open to new scenes.
 
To all who hear these words,
to all who will heal wounds,
it's a time for letting go
to move in truth's pure flow.
A field of light is here,
for all who've come to care,
a flavour of pure fun
where wisdom's song is sung.
 
So join me, tune in now,
rise, remember how,
step into your heart,
and feel your blessed part
Stand up tall with me,
then sink upon your knee,
respect, we tune it in,
with love all life begins.
 
With perfect social upgrades,
that benefit the whole,
we know that we're now ready,
to embark on our new role.
So say these words together,
first feel them in your heart,
perfect social upgrade now,
so all our lives now spark!
 
Yes here we are together, making this new pact!
Say yes to this upgrade, then leave it at that!

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!

Lammas and the Olympics: A Richer Harvest

This year's cross quarter gateway of fire, Lammas, takes place on a full moon, in the middle of the only event to harness at least half the entire world's attention: the Olympic Games. And in this momentous year, says Patricia Cota-Robles, the Olympic opportunity is truly what its name implies:

"A plan has been set into motion that will take advantage of the powerful celestial alignments and solar flares that are flooding the Earth during this awesome summer of 2012. This plan requires that people around the world create a collective Cup of Consciousness through which the Light of God will flow to transmute the surfacing negativity and pave the way for the birthing of a New Renaissance of Divine Love.

"The only positive event that has the potential of drawing the global focus of humanity's attention in the numbers necessary to transmute the amount of negativity being pushed to the surface all over the world is the Olympic Games. The Olympic Games are truly a global event, and they draw the attention of an estimated 4,500,000,000 people during the 17-days of competition. The Olympic Games signify the Family of Humanity setting aside our differences so we can come together to attain our highest level of excellence. This is the perfect thoughtform and intention needed for the collective Cup of Humanity's Consciousness. Together we will magnetize enough Light to transmute our human miscreations.

"The more Light we can project into this surfacing negativity the faster it will be transmuted and the sooner the patterns of perfection for our New Planetary CAUSE of Divine Love will tangibly manifest in our lives. The Olympic Games are providing an opportunity to catapult this process forward at warp speed.

"Pay attention to the positive things that are being brought to your awareness and you will confirm this for yourself. Do not focus on the bombardment of negativity that is designed to polarize people and to perpetuate fear and separation. Focus instead on the evidence of positive changes that are happening everywhere. Remember, where your attention is, there YOU are. Empower only what you want to create in your life, not the things that you do not want."

What Is Lammas?

August 1-2 marks the mid-point between summer and fall. Known as Lammas, or Lughnasadh (LOO-ne-sah), it's one of the eight cross quarter days on the Wheel of the Year (the others are the Summer and Winter Solstices, Spring and Fall Equinoxes, Candlemas (Feb. 2), Beltane (May 1) and Hallomas/Samhain (October 31). (Of course, the dates are reverse for our southern hemisphere allies.) Lammas is a celebration of abundance, the harvest time, and a potent moment to bring ourselves back into alignment with the natural world.

Myth*ing Links, an annotated and illustrated collection of worldwide links to mythologies and folklore, sacred arts and sacred traditions, offer an evocative description of this turning:

"Lammas...is a hot, lazy, delicious time of the year. Bees buzz in the heat of the day, the air is still, and the force of the sun remains strong, even though its sway over the earth is slowly diminishing day by day. In the cooler nighttime, frogs and crickets keep us company. It is here, in the gloaming, when so many rituals begin...

"This is when the powerful gods of the grain harvests are honored. They are in their prime, sometimes generous, sometimes quixotic, and always aware with a bittersweet pleasure that their time will wane, as it always does, and they will die, as they always do, and yet nevertheless they will return to another delicious summer next year, as they always do, and have, and will, for this is the endlessly circling Wheel of the Year, and they ride it proudly.

"Yet there is a darker nuance, one that surprised me, for I had thought that this was a purely masculine god's festival. I learned however of Lugh's touching and loving devotion to his foster-mother, the royal Tailtiu, whose fate may be even more intimately woven into this season than his..."

Parabola magazine author Mara Freeman on the further genesis of Lammas:

"...Lugh dedicated this festival to his foster-mother, Tailtiu, the last queen of the Fir Bolg, who died from exhaustion after clearing a great forest so that the land could be cultivated. When the men of Ireland gathered at her deathbed, she told them to hold funeral games in her honor. As long as they were held, she prophesied Ireland would not be without song. Tailtiu’s name is from Old Celtic Talantiu, 'The Great One of the Earth,' suggesting she may originally have been a personification of the land itself, like so many Irish goddesses. In fact, Lughnasadh has an older name, Brón Trogain, which refers to the painful labor of childbirth. For at this time of year, the earth gives birth to her first fruits so that her children might live..."

As Cota-Robles explains, our collective negativity and fear are what needs to "die" so that we may be reborn into 5^th dimensional abundance and grace.

Canadian tarot reader and astrologer Tara Greene says that Lugh's festival points Southwest, and resonates to the element Air. "Southwest represents the Place of Healing, of the Dreamer and the Dream. It is the place of both your Personal Dream and the Sacred Dream of the Planet. What is your Personal Dream? What is your Sacred Dream? The Sacred Dream is your Highest Spiritual Dream."

This August, especially if you've never honored Lammas before, remember your relationship with the Earth and her cycles. Give thanks for the beauty, harmony, love and healing you are inviting into your life and into the collective. Image-in your sweet Sacred Dream.

Managing Those Weird Cosmic Aches and Pains…

We're in the birth canal of the greatest shift humanity has ever known. Becoming a light body isn't easy, though it can be a lot more manageable once you understand what's going on! Celia Fenn offers some wise reminders about how the cosmos is affecting us multidimensionally. Excerpted from Radical Shift: The Venus Transit of 2012:

"Venus is the Solar System level of Consciousness that resonates with the Goddess Energy, with Love and Relationship, with Money and with Passion and Beauty. At this time, all these issues are being highlighted and transformed. On a Planetary scale we can see how the Economic system is crumbling, especially in the 'First World' of the USA and Europe, and how it is making space for the 'New Economy' that will take us into a sustainable and co-operative way of living. On the personal level, many people are finding that they are making radical shifts in their attitude towards money, and that the desire for conspicuous consumption has been replaced by the desire to live in an balanced way and in harmony with the Earth. Money is simply a means of achieving a balanced lifestyle, where the focus is on living in the energy of beauty and harmony with all beings and with the Earth.

"In close connection with this is finding work that ignites your Passion for life and is harmony with your soul purpose and brings you Joy. Many of you will be feeling the urge to let go of past ways of work and reaching out for work that is an expression of your Soul and your Passion.

"As far as Personal Relationships are concerned, there will also be tension in partnerships whose basis is no longer in alignment with the purpose of your Soul and the energy of the New Earth. At this point, you will be guided to reconsider your contract in your relationship, or to simply move on to a new partnership that is more aligned with what you are becoming and what you wish to create in your life.

"These energies and challenges will build towards the transit on the 6th, and you may find around that time that there will be some very deep and fundamental changes in your life. Don't panic! This is all leading you towards something better and deeper, and more suited to where you are heading in the time after the 2012 portal!

"You may also be feeling quite intense physical symptoms as your Light Body makes its final adjustments for the Transit and for the later Portal transit. As you bring your Soul Star and Earth Star chakras 'online', you may experience pains and discomfort in the legs, or dizziness and nausea and disorientation, or bouts of flu and colds. These are all part of the process as the DNA activates and the Light Body surges energy through the system to bring everything into harmony and activation. This also activates the Template for Human Divine Perfection in the DNA and activates the ability to go the 'next step' in this ongoing process of Spiritual and Physical Evolution."

It's stretchy, it's fluid, and we've worn it unaware … until now

Ever since I was a child, I've been fascinated by the nature of time. The phrase, "time seems both elongated and compressed" rippled through my consciousness years ago, though I couldn't explain what it meant; only that time wasn't what it appeared to be: a unidirectional progression from birth to death, marching inexorably forward. Instead, I felt a taffy-like quality to it; a pliable, stretchy, deliquescence, like Dali's famous clocks. Certainly anyone who's ever melted in a lover's embrace or suffered a public humiliation is intimately acquainted with the one-minute hour and the 24-hour minute!

Gillian Macbeth Louthan's latest transmission carries confirmation that my intuitive perceptions were not only accurate: they'll now be experienced by everyone.

She writes (all emphasis is mine):

"As you are quickened into bonus time cycles, you are also able to access your pasts that stand within the frequency of the future. In the expansion of time, there is a contraction of time. In the moving forward there is a simultaneously moving backward. Forward stretches are always paralleled by backward movement. Getting to the destination of the future can only be entertained through the nuance of the past. All time runs hand in hand. Moving forward is the same as moving backward, and moving backward is the same as moving forward. 

"In the time of the eclipses, there will be a sequence of numerical encodings that are shifted within the common denominator of earth. The numbers held hostage within your chronological age will change. The numbers of your biological age will change. The number sequences that you know and hold within your DNA will shift and change. The number sequences that hold time together will change. The latitude and longitude of where you reside will shift. All will be tweaked. There is galactic movement and time will move backwards. Backward movement is needed in order to re-calibrate the near future. 

"It is similar to times in history when calendar days were deleted and added in accordance with the wishes of those in power. There will be corrections in time and space as deemed by the time lords. Your earth Time has been as a man riding on horseback running beside a train trying to catch up with a airplane. Eventually one horsepower is going to slow. The locomotive represents the galactic perceptive of time. The man on horseback represents the human understanding of time. The plane represents possibility. Nothing in your galaxy runs in a straight line. Everything is curved to gain momentum. Curvatures in time and space are necessary for planetary shift to happen. At the time of the May 20^th eclipse, you will gain momentum in a time alignment.

"The time periods of your earth are limited. The 24-hour day, 60 minutes, 60 seconds and 12-month years were created to confuse and limit you. This time nuance that you are to enter will help you understand that Time as you know it is pliable, malleable, stretchable, and contract-able. Each person will create Time in accordance with their personal wants and needs, sculpting it to fit the situation.

"The energy that your world is based on is holographic of nature, like water that fills a container it fits your personal expectations. Your imagination sculpts the outcome of your life. Allow these nuances of time to escort you into probabilities that go beyond the calculation of what is deemed Pi. The symbol of Pi opens a doorway. This solar eclipse activates dormant light encodings and then you yourself will become as Pi. You will become as a portal, an entranceway for energies of a higher dialogue.  

"Until you actually experience the energies, you will not be able to decipher the language of light. Know that you are the doorway for the light, for the future, and that you are a white hole and a black hole. Know that you are as every sacred place that has ever existed through all time and space. The light shall walk through you and you shall be as a beacon, an airport of light for the higher octaves of the celestial beings and the divine beings to enter into. You escort this higher light to earth by your desire, by the light that is in your heart, and by the light that is in your intent. 

"The 'portal' that you all seek is who you have always been. The key that unlocks the doorway to gaining entrance to the heavenly sphere is you. You are the key in human form. You are the doorway in human form. You are the light of the divine that you seek.  Now it is time to prepare your bodies, your minds, your homes, by releasing what is not of a higher vibration. Whatever is not of the highest Light will scream and kick and bite you until you recognize it and set it free. On this night as you sleep give permission to release all that is not of the highest good. For behold – the Light Comes. Are you ready?"

How to Have a Happy Orange Life

I once heard a story of three monks who had only one orange between them. The first blessed it and passed it to his brother, who blessed it and passed it to his brother. The trio kept on like this for hours, until the orange was brilliant with light, and the three of them were sated well beyond any hunger of the stomach.

I recalled this parable yesterday after a series of mini transformations. In this incredible time of awakening, the smallest act can lift us up or plummet us — and this energy affects everyone.

I was at a gas station, and the squeegee didn't seem to be working very well; I had drips running down the windshield. Mumbling about worn-out tools that needed to be replaced, I got back in my car and was preparing to depart, when I noticed a man re-doing my windshield ministrations.

Astonished, I asked, "What are you doing? Do you work here?" I realized he was the driver of the truck at the pump in front of me. He replied, "You seemed a little upset, so I redid it for you. My dad taught me how to clean a windshield without streaks." I said, "You’re amazing, thank you so much!" My mood did a 180 and lifted towards heaven with this simple, selfless act. As I drove away, we both wished each other a wonderful afternoon.

It wasn't until later that I remembered I'd spied a disabled woman at the library just prior to getting gas, whose shirt label was sticking out, and asked if she'd like me to fix it. She responded as though I'd offered to buy her a house: "Oh, thank you so much, sweetheart!"

Tiny actions; huge returns.

Then I drove to the park, taking my travel soap along to wash my hands after pumping gas. Once on foot, I walked past the home of an elderly gentleman who often sits in his driveway on nice days, enjoying the view from his wheelchair. He hailed me, and I stopped to chat. Seeing the front door open, I asked if I might use the kitchen sink to wash my hands. He said, of course.

Inside, his caretaker emerged from the back of the house and said, "Do you just walk into people's houses and use their facilities?" My experience of her has been like this before; she is clearly a very unhappy person. I was feeling so good from the previous encounters I didn't want her sourness to steal my joy, so I politely responded that Harold had given permission for me to come inside, then quickly dried my hands and left.

Walking in the park, I stopped to stretch, and another walker smiled and remarked, "You have beautiful hair!" This comment prompted me to share the extraordinary series of encounters that had just taken place, and the incredible power we all have to shift energy. If we're having a down day (or a down life), we don't need to siphon off anyone else's light, I reminded him (and me!); we can simply "dial direct." There's plenty of Light to spare.

Wishing you a happy orange life…

Imbolc / Candlemas: The Light Returns!

February 2nd goes by many guises. In the U.S., it's popularly celebrated as Groundhog Day, when a small furry rodent supposedly either sees his shadow or doesn't, and the result determines whether we experience six more weeks of winter. The day has far deeper meanings than this — but yes, it is a potent moment to watch your shadow!

Celebrated cross-culturally, the day is both a Christian and Pagan holiday, known variously as Imbolc, St. Brigid's Day (Bride's Day), and Candlemas ("mass of the candles", which in the Catholic religion marks the end of the Yule season).

In Celtic and Earth-based traditions, Imbolc ("in the belly") is one of the most powerful portals on the Wheel of the Year: the exact midpoint between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox.

A harbinger of Spring, Imbolc celebrates the return of the Light in a profound sense. It's the first "cross-quarter day" on the Wheel, which honors the two Equinoxes and Solstices, as well as Beltane (May 1st), Lammas (August 1st), and Samhain (October 31st).

At Imbolc, the energies begin to pulse with renewed life and hope. Fire festivals are common. Vicki Noble, co-creator of the Motherpeace Tarot and author of Shakti Woman: Feeling Our Fire, Healing Our World, which affected me profoundly during my own awakening, writes, "Traditionally a time of transformation and initiation, Imbolc brings 'big dreams' and a raised vibration …

"With powerful Pluto in the physical sign of Capricorn (until 2024), we look forward to momentous planetary and personal change. As old structures crumble, inside and all around us, imagine yourself sitting safely inside of Kali's dance of liberation."

What most astonished me was discovering that St. Brigid (in the Irish tradition) is the Patroness of Midwives. Since my birthday is February 4th and I've long referred to myself as a midwife for our global rebirth, it was a clarifying reminder of "what we know, before we know that we know!"

You'll find a wealth of enlightening lore on Myth*ing Links, a wonderful site replete with information and inspiration concerning all aspects of mythology, which is the focus of this month's Live Your Light What Shines newsletter.

Excerpted from Mythi*ing Links:

"The three-aspected springtime fire of the Goddess Brighid, especially linked with the recent festival of Imbolg, is very much connected with healing. For the surge of fire, experienced in Northern Europe as slightly longer hours of daylight, restores us in three ways. First, it gives us a lift of physical and psychological energy. (It is well known that daylight deprivation inclines people to depression and lethargy.) Secondly, it pleases our souls, because it not only brings the presence of spring flowers but inclines our thoughts to love and romance. Thirdly, it can increase our creativity. As our spirits lift, we are more likely to be inspired with new plans and projects...

"It seems to me that these three aspects of the Goddess's fire are linked, in many ways. If a person's creativity is fully expressed, their health is likely to improve. Love and romance can incline us towards creativity — people often write poetry (however badly) when they're in love.

"Nature's springtime fire increases our personal fire — that power which the East calls 'Kundalini'. (This is an electrical force said to lie coiled like a snake at the base of our spines. It is awakened by sexual attraction and by certain kinds of magical and mystical experience.)

"I believe there is said to be a biological connection between daylight, the pineal gland and stimulation of sexual/creative energy. In ritual and intuitive ways, it seems to me that this is what we are celebrating, when we light lots of candles on February 2nd, in honour of the Goddess Brighid (the Lady of the first stirrings of the Light, however we name Her.) And that this was perceived by our Pagan ancestors, in the days before anyone knew anything at all about the endocrine system and light sensitivity."