Bathing in Beltane's Sacred Fire and Beyond

May 1st has long been an exuberant day of celebration, honoring the fertility of the land, people and animals. In Earth-based spirituality, it is one of the 8 holidays on the "Wheel of the Year", and is known as Beltane.

Mike Nichols, a Pagan-focused writer, offers a literate and expansive essay on the day, observing in part:

"May Day ushers in the fifth month of the modern calendar year, the month of May. This month is named in honor of the goddess Maia, originally a Greek mountain nymph, later identified as the most beautiful of the Seven Sisters, the Pleiades. By Zeus, she is also the mother of Hermes, god of magic. Maia's parents were Atlas and Pleione, a sea nymph.

"The old Celtic name for May Day is Beltane (in its most popular Anglicized form), which is derived from the Irish Gaelic 'Bealtaine' or the Scottish Gaelic 'Bealtuinn', meaning 'Bel-fire', the fire of the Celtic god of light (Bel, Beli or Belinus). He, in turn, may be traced to the Middle Eastern god Baal.

"...This date has long been considered a 'power point' of the Zodiac, and is symbolized by the Bull, one of the 'tetramorph' figures featured on the Tarot cards, the World and the Wheel of Fortune. (The other three symbols are the Lion, the Eagle, and the Spirit.) Astrologers know these four figures as the symbols of the four 'fixed' signs of the Zodiac (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius), and these naturally align with the four Great Sabbats of Witchcraft. Christians have adopted the same iconography to represent the four gospel-writers..."

The Beltane Society offers a succinct explanation of how the purifying "Need Fire" ceremony was held in Celtic celebrations.

And according to most of the visionary new thought leaders whose sites I frequent, May 2006 is destined to be a grand month of purification, resurrection and heart-expansion for all of us worldwide. Patricia Cota-Robles says, in part, that during this mystical month of May, "We will remember that we came to Earth during this Cosmic Moment with but one desire, to do God’s Will. We will understand that we volunteered to be powerful Instruments of God during this critical time and that we have been training for aeons of time for this mission. We will also remember that we promised to be the full manifestation of Divine Love while serving the Light in this embodiment.

"During the holy month of May, Mother Mary will assist our I AM Presence to expand the Chalice of our Immaculate Hearts, which cradle our Immortal Victorious Threefold Flames. The expansion of the Chalice of our Immaculate Hearts will allow our Heart Flames to finally be brought into perfect balance.

"As this occurs, our Heart Flames will blaze forth as a great Transfiguring force of Divinity within us. We will become aware of the Presence of God in every cell and atom of our Beings. This will pave the way for the integration of the perfection of our crystalline Solar Light Bodies into our physical, etheric, mental and emotional bodies.

"Functioning within the frequencies of our Solar Light Bodies, we will be able to consciously magnify the Divinity within ourselves and all Life until our up-reaching consciousness conducts the substance of Divine Love, Healing, Prosperity, Peace, Joy and Happiness into the world of form. All of this will further prepare Humanity and Beloved Mother Earth for the influx of Light that will fill the voids with the patterns of perfection and assist in transforming this blessed planet into the Garden of Eden she is destined to be."

Mystery School Moments at the New Moon

Visionary activist astrologer Caroline W. Casey hosts a rascally irreverent radio show Thursdays on listener-supported KPFA, which, thanks to streaming audio, you can now listen to even if you're not within live radio reception range. She's also launched a Compassionate Trickster Experimental Mystery School missive (henceforth available by paid subscription only). The April issue serves up Caroline's typically luscious observations, laced with wit, wisdom, humor and a certain je ne sais quoi that always tickles my synapses into new connections and ah-ha's!

Here are some excerpts for your visual dining pleasure:

"Eclipses are associated with the downfall of tyrants.

What do we want eclipsed and by what?

Let reverent collaborative ingenuity eclipse tyrannical dominance, for instance. May the beauty of Mystery eclipse the tyranny of certainty.

The Eclipse of March 29th occurred on the very day that Pluto was stationing, appearing to stand still from the earth’s perspective, symbolically beaming down its energetic intelligence. The Underworld opens. Pluto stations, then retrogrades, appears to move backwards in Sagittarius, catalyzing 're' endeavors: to retrieve, remember, reclaim the realm of story. We are to return (5,000 years ago is still in our blood), to excavate stories that have been held hostage.

In the myth of Inanna (representing the Venus cycle) the deal is cut whereby she can return from the Underworld, and sensual and cultural Spring with her, as long as she sends down a replacement. And she chooses Dumuzi, her consort, a man who’s been behaving badly.

As the Moon moved across the face of the Sun, she turned the Sun into a crescent, an image of herself, and suddenly Venus shone forth from the darkening daytime sky, as a 360 degree sunset of orange and gold framed the horizon. We saw Venus, when we wouldn’t normally see her. Pluto opens the doors of the Underworld, and out pops Venus-Inanna, ready to send down the replacement. Tyranny tumbles. And Dick Cheney, it turns out, is allergic to pomegranates (associated with rich luscious feminine Underworld-High Priestess, Persephone's fruit), as though his body was anticipating his symbolic role...

Pluto represents our understanding of power. Pluto is in Jupiter's sign of storytelling Sagittarius, while Jupiter is in Pluto's sign of deep-delving Scorpio. They are in what is called 'mutual reception,' i.e., cahoots. Jupiter strengthens the theme by also being retrograde, revealing the tales we need to know now if we are to have a democracy.

And Jupiter squares Neptune, the god of mystery, symbol and metaphor, further describing the dissolution of certainty while reminding us that all spiritual beliefs -- as well as scientific theories -- are fluctuating metaphors.

When a story no longer serves life or is supported by unfolding facts, it is to be shape-shifted into a more beautiful and useful formulation. Neptune says, since we can never directly perceive the truth, nor the Divine, we work with the most useful illusions. Illusion comes from 'in ludo,' meaning 'in the game,' as opposed to delusion, 'de ludo,' meaning 'out of the game.'

The eclipse is but one month in the past, yet mythologically potent for 5 more months. And, ah, the Eclipse at totality for those four precious-beyond-measure minutes is a powerful energetic beautiful pulsing alive mystery, that elicits tears and hooting and falling to knees from sheer awe, (of even the most reserved of 'scientists'), not to mention the emotional energetic eroticism of its symmetry – that the Sun and Moon are the exact same size in this sky as they conjoin, replenishes our cells. Dark weds light, at this time of year when the light and dark of our days and nights are equal. The Sun and the Moon, the Day and the Night, the Yang and Yin are not at war, but dancing.

All Mystery Schools begin by requiring the initiate to declare to themselves the next tangible desire (not vague like 'enlightenment') for something they want to be, have, do, that will allow them to cultivate, animate and contribute their unique gifts to the community in a manner that is replenishing.

Beginning on the New Moon of April 27th, every day, devote some time to visualizing the next desire (the eclipse of four life-changing minutes declares that even that amount of time is sufficient)."

And I remind you that the New Moon is in Taurus, along with the Sun, catalyzing sensual, Earthy, passionate celebration as we glide towards mystical May, Beltane, and Wesak. On her post-eclipse show, Caroline's guest was a very cool Damascus woman named Deborah, who reminded us that the Whirling Dervish dance (which illuminates the spiral, symbol of regeneration and love), like yogic breathing, are an amplification of the obvious so that we can see it. "Breathing in and breathing out is all there is to do." (See the May issue of my e-newsletter, What Shines, out early next week, for the origin of this quote!)

Beyond Level 42

I read once that the rock band, Level 42, took its name from a premise in one of my own well-loved novels, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, in which a computer named "Deep Thought" tells the people of Earth that the answer to "Life, the Universe, and Everything" is "42". I expand upon this theme in my essay, 42 Forever: The Ultimate Anti-Aging Tonic.

This excerpt from an untitled poem by Juan Antillon Montealegre, published in the Spring 2006 issue of Yes! magazine, takes us, like so much of the work we awakening ones are co-evolving now, beyond Level 42:


If all goes well
The police
out of total boredom
will go home

Borders will disappear
Even the toy factories
will stop making arms

If all goes well
there will be no Premier
President
Savior of Democracy
King
Emperor
Tyrant

If all goes well
they will stop
trying to convince us
with lies.

If all goes well
Ayatollahs
Great Lamas
Popes
will allow God
to once more be human
dolphin
extraterrestrial
cedar and seagull
herb and star

sea
mountain
insect
dog
and cat.

Every Day is "Earth Day"

Saturday, April 22nd, marks the 36th anniversary of Earth Day, an environmental event that, according to founder Senator Gaylord Nelson, was "self-organizing"--like the Earth, Herself. We've come a long way in consciousness since 1970. I'm sitting on the campus of Prescott College in Prescott, Arizona, where students come from all over the U.S. to study environmental issues. The Crossroads Cafe serves up healthier fare than the local health food store! And it's encouraging to talk with 18-year-olds who somehow sound far more mature than I remember being at their age, as they calmly share their awareness of wellness, environmental dangers such as EMFs, and desire for deep community. It's heartening to hear.

We're all awakening en masse in these creational times, when living the NOW places us in sync with the ineffable. As a beautiful newsletter I just discovered [thanks to What Shines reader Jasna Kamin from Slovenia] says, "The Kingdom of Heaven is your habitat." HeavenLetters reminds us, "Heaven is only a handclasp away. There is no path to Heaven, and there is no path from it. There is no entrance nor exit. There is your pondering, that’s all. There is you exploring the unexplorable. There is you searching for gold when you are the gold. Your search is ending. It is ending the only way it can, and that is with discovery. You are finding the end of the rainbow, and it’s you."

Be the Rainbow you are by loving your Home every day. If you need some ideas for how to begin, New American Dream offers them by the bushel. I know personally how daunting it can be to feel at home here when you know you're a Star Being who has chosen this Earth assignment to help midwife the planet's ascension. The vagaries of planetary initiation can challenge even those who know what's happening and why. So the more Love we can express for every aspect of Earthiness, the easier the transformation will become.

The Corridor Between the Worlds

The subject header is a phrase I use often in my work, about living in the void space between who you've been and who you're choosing to become. Now it applies to us all. Aluna Joy reminds us that we are unplugging from Fourth World consciousness but have not yet entered the Fifth, which is a new world we will create without the help of angels and guides, accessing our own creative power and wisdom that we've been collectively heightening for years.

The ancient ones say: "Your work is almost complete. You have set your ancestors free. You have also set yourselves free. You have readied the temples for new frequencies. You are now in that space between in which to create a new world for yourselves.

"The past will not and cannot offer you anything useful at this time. Don't look back and don't look outside yourself. The truth is not out there…it is in you. Look forward inside yourself for you are your own ancestors returned to set yourselves free of the limitations of the Fourth World.

"You are being unplugged from this world. This is a time between time; a time for you to prepare."

Aluna shared that while we are unplugging from the Fourth world and have yet to enter the Fifth world, "we might feel like we have lost our inner compass. We might feel like we are just going through the motions of life and not really being present or connecting anywhere. The things we feel, think, or want to do might not make practical sense.

"When you unplug, your body may begin to feel like it is not supported by the Fourth world. This is actually very true. The ancient council suggested that it is very important to talk to your body to let it know that it will not die. Remind your body that it is just transforming into something better that it does not understand at this time. If you don't talk to your body, it is possible to manifest issues that are related to lack of support. You might experience your knees and hips going out. Also you might see issues with lungs, like asthma or bronchitis. Tell your body not to fear."

Well, this all makes crystalline sense to me, as always. I've been sick since I traveled to Arizona, first with what felt like some weird flu lodging in my lungs and throat, now with total congestion that feels like allergies (which I've never had before!). I also collided with a cactus and its poisonous quills have wreaked havoc with my left knee. Amused? Slightly…

The Source Force gathering took place over Easter weekend, which coincided this year with the Jewish Passover, signaling significant release and resurrection, regardless of one's religious orientation. It's impossible to "summarize" the event as it was co-created by 20 of us from across the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia, functioning as a fluid, living organism, so each happening is imbued with multiple overlays of perceptual shifts. A few highlights from my personal perspective:

When people were speaking of feeling disconnected one morning, Soleira used the word alienation, and my mind heard, "alien nation": as though we were part of a collective of space beings connected through our Earth service. It actually felt very affirming to me: as though my Pleiadian oversoul had found a way to be more present in my human body. (When I heard Bruce Lipton, author of The Biology of Belief, speak last fall, he said, "You're an amoebic consciousness—you represent a community of cells. See yourself as a nation.")

And when Soleira and other healers in the group facilitated another woman and me to move deeper into releasing the pattern around environmental sensitivity, I had a vision of the egg I saw years ago, that I wept to recognize as the power of the Feminine Frequency residing in and guiding me. Only this time it was huge, and sort of crystalline, and growing as they held the energy with me.

The resonance with outer world energy didn't even occur to me until several days later, when I opened Toronto astrologer Tara Greene's message about Easter: "…an ancient fertility, re-birth and resurrection symbol of new life beyond the Christian symbols. It was sacred to the Goddess Eoster, and her sacred animal the rabbit, whose symbol still is associated with current Easter symbolism. The egg symbol is the great round of eternal life, birth, death, re-birth, Spring. Christ died during Passover so all the symbols and myths are interconnected." WOW! I did say to the group, at the conclusion of that particular ceremony, "All one, all one, all one!"

The main theme seemed to be how we're coming out of hiding as a collective. One participant shared a poem by Zen master Thich Nhat Hahn that really resonated with many of us:

I have arrived, and I am Home
In the here and in the now
I am solid and I am free
In the Ultimate, I dwell.

That's what I call understanding how to hold the both/and!

There was also humor: at one point, having created a symbolic "fire" in the workshop room with ornate walking sticks, a group of us went outside and spontaneously began a line dance that resembled a moving totem pole; we took turns leading and seeing what shapes our shadows reflected back to us. At one point I suggested, "Is this what's meant by integrating your shadow?"

Then there were the squirrels. They became quite bold, as we usually had bags of chips or other snacks with us in circle. Finally I decided to grab the Medicine Cards book from the kitchen and see what Squirrel energy had to offer us. The keynote is "gathering"! And furthering the play on words, the poem about Squirrel contained the line, "nuts by the score" (we were 20!) Alien nation, indeed.

So let go and allow, knowing that we are all in this strangeness together, and…we have all the wisdom and awareness we need to know our Selves and to co-create the new world we've been waiting for. We are the new alchemists.

Here's an affirmation that came to me en route to AZ:

The alchemists of old
Transmuted lead to gold
The alchemist of Now
Transmutes the dross to WOW!"

Blessings to you…

Kachina! The Wild West Offers a Challenging Welcome

After more than six soggy months in Sonoma County, California, I opted for the desert. I'd lived in Santa Fe for two years in the mid-90s and figured I knew the hot, dry drill. Except I didn't travel to Arizona last time, the driest, windiest place I've ever seen, or cross the Mohave while sick. Not exactly the premier combination for robust health.

So I've spent the last week living into a new meaning for "drying out": not from alcohol, but from lack of O2 and H2O! Whether I will remain in Prescott as intended remains to be seen. While I've long been an advocate of positive aging, my skin feels a decade older already! What a rant. I find it especially amusing that my April newsletter, What Shines, is all about amused surrender. My sense of humor evaporated along with my body moisture somewhere along Rte. 40E, but it's slowly rehydrating.

The impetus for my move at this juncture is the Source Force, a global gathering of lightbearers who'll meet in Payson (near the center of the state) April 13-16th. Facilitated by Soleira Green, whom I count among the handful of true planetary visionaries now, it promises to be "a breakthrough course for the evolution of collective consciousness," as she describes it. I'll recap the event afterwards, of course.

Despite my personal challenges in making this journey, celestially it couldn't be a better moment. Tomorrow heralds the Aries full moon. According to SouledOut.org:

"Aries is the beginning of the Spiritual New Year. The Light of Aries ~ The Light of Life Itself ~ is at the center of all beings. It opens us to new beginnings, to new cycles of emerging opportunities. This Light reveals how each of us may become a vessel for divine expression.

"The Aries full moon marks the Easter Festival, the first of the three major Planetary Spiritual Festivals. At the time of the Aries full moon, the moon is within the constellation Virgo, associated with the Holy Grail, the cup of communion. By tuning in and holding this energy, by being this vibration ~ we serve.

Meditation at the time of the Aries Full Moon

"We mentally link up with people of goodwill everywhere, as part of the united group channel through which the spiritual forces can become available. Affirming this channel, we stand poised united as one soul with our Spiritual Hierarchy. We hold the focus.

"Now we visualize a grid of light all over the earth that connects the light of every lightworker and each sacred energy vortex. This network serves as a conduit through which the heavenly blessings may flow through each of us and to the planet Earth."

Wonder By The Numbers

Saturn, planet of form and structure, turns direct after a lengthy retrograde phase on April 5th (I knew there was a reason my departure for Arizona was delayed until 4/4!).

Synchronistically, we'll have a numerical line-up on the 5th that's a twice-in-a-lifetime experience (once in the a.m., again in the p.m., for yin/yang balance):

On Wednesday, at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 in the morning, the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06.

That's 01 02 03 04 05 06
This won't ever happen again.

If you add them up numerologically, they reduce to 21, which to me has always signified graduation (on many levels) and finally to 3, the number that opens us up to possibilities beyond duality.

Pretty cool, even if you don't believe in playing by the numbers :-)