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

Aleph: Redeeming Your Soul

Novels often herald extraordinary transformation for me; more than two decades ago, a line in Slightly Like Strangers helped catalyze the launch of my own business: "Security isn't something you save up. It's what you find when you take risks."

Now Paulo Coehlo's latest, Aleph, takes us on a highly personal crisis-of-faith odyssey in which the author redeems himself from 500 years of purgatory by asking a young woman whom he condemned to death as a witch during the Inquisition to forgive him. Reading this as the 11:11 gateway opened, I suddenly flashed on a core conversation I've shared numerous times over the past 18 years, concerning a naturopathic doctor who helped me heal during my awakening journey, yet whose devout religious beliefs seemed at odds with her homemade, Nature-based herbal and homeopathic remedies.

In a moment of perfect clarity I realized our interaction was exactly what Coehlo describes: in merging devout faith with "paganism", my naturopath enabled me to question my own beliefs and learn to stand in my truth, to hold the "both/and" ~ God and Nature, God in Nature, God as Nature ~ and to truly embrace "no separation" as my embodied mantra. My personal credo became, "If it works for you — and harms none — it works for me."

The lines one of the "witches" speaks to Coehlo 500 years earlier seared my soul and brought tears of recognition to my eyes; veracity does that. Here is what one of the girls says as they are being led to the stake:

"The time for fear has passed; now there is only the time of hope. Are we guilty? One day, the world will judge us and we will not be the ones to feel ashamed. We will meet again in the future, when your life and work will be dedicated to those who are so sorely misunderstood today. Your voice will speak out loudly, and many will listen to you.

"Love will conquer hatred. When the time comes, those who are burned today will be exalted. Wizards and alchemists will return, the Goddess will be welcomed and witches celebrated. And all for the greatness of God. That is the blessing we place on your head now, until the end of time."

Power Play

It's US Election Day, and as people feverishly rush to the polls, bear signs and banners endorsing their cause or candidate, and generally enjoy the political frenzy that is November 6, 2012, I'm pondering the nature of true power. A week ago the East coast was decimated by what the media labeled a "Super Storm," a politically correct way of referring to a hurricane that flooded New York City, closing the NY Stock Exchange for two consecutive days — the first time this has occurred in 124 years! — and causing severe damage and massive power outages throughout the Eastern seaboard and beyond. My family in New Jersey was without power for five days.

Hm. I've long resonated to the number 5, the great transformer, which configures a star. 2012 is replete with "5" energy: (2+0+1+2 = 5). It's the numerical symbol for action and freedom, appearing in starfish and flowers with a regenerative geometry: the flower of every edible fruit is five-petaled. The Greeks called the fifth element quinta essentia, the pure and concentrated essence, or invisible connector that allows earth, fire, water and air to communicate.

Clearly, it's time to reconsider the nature of power. Nature's power trumps humans'; the election dwindled to less than insignificance when lives hung in the balance. I'd venture to say that in the hardest hit areas, who wins the White House is still not top-of-mind right now.

Yet we have the potential to embrace and embody true power as the ancients conceived it: not as offices and badges and bank accounts, but as the energy that can heal and unite. Consider (literally, "with the stars") the following:

Sound and light describe the Universe (Uni-verse: "One Song"). Everything vibrates at varying rates of speed. Based on more than two decades of research, engineer and craftsman Chris Dunn posits that the Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt was actually a gigantic acoustical device. The Egyptians, he believes, married music and science to create a natural power plant — the Pyramids — by attuning to Earth frequencies and utilizing these vibrations as their energy source. The ancients used their advanced knowledge of consciousness and harmonics to develop a source of energy that operated on both spiritual and material principles, transducing the Earth's natural vibration (via strategically placed quartz crystals, which are alchemical energy modifiers) into clean, plentiful energy.

Does this seem fantastic? Consider that we've all heard of opera singers who can shatter glass by hitting a certain pitch. Early in the 20th century, physicist Nikola Tesla almost destroyed a building in which he was working by turning up the amplification on his oscillation machine. The building began to vibrate as if an earthquake had hit, and it was only by smashing the machine that he averted reducing a granite edifice to rubble.

We feel this same sympathetic harmony inside ourselves when we "vibrate" to another's emotional state. Fear, anger and hate lower the rate of vibration; love, joy and laughter raise it.

Thus, the living Earth can be the source of our true power — if we're willing to channel the higher frequencies that support this advanced technology. It is possible; we're activating our potential more cleanly than ever before in this quantum moment, as all indigenous prophecies and global spiritual leaders affirm.

Considering our current state of energy depletion, individually and collectively, this awareness, and what it portends for us now, is, well — powerful! True power means "able to be," to exist in a state of pure harmony. It's less about being president than setting precedent, and being present, being the gift of who we are to and for one another. That's true power, an infinitely renewable resource.

Samhain, Spirit and Sacred Story

I'm not Irish (this incarnation), though I've long been fascinated by the culture ~ perhaps because, for me, Ireland defines myth and magic.

I've just read The Red-Haired Girl from the Bog by Patricia Monaghan, who was raised in Alaska and didn't begin exploring her Irish roots until adulthood. Her ineffable prose is tantamount to immersion in Celtic tradition. I traveled lustily with her through verdant valleys and over holy ground, inside the history and mystery of pagan celebrations once subjugated and now reclaimed.

Because Patricia paints a picture of an Ireland still steeped in "the old ways," where the Goddess in all her guises is a formidable presence, her story is a soul-nourishing gift for Samhain, one of the eight holy days that comprise the Wheel of the Year.

In the U.S., Samhain has been reduced to a children's holiday called Halloween, with a focus on costumes, candy and occasionally, mischief. But on the Celtic calendar, Samhain ushers in winter and the mysteries of the dark. October 31^st precedes Day of the Dead/All Soul's Day on November 1^st, a paean to the ancestors. The dark side — that which is hidden from view — calls us to remember our sacred heritage, as Monaghan so masterfully does in her incandescently rendered soulscape.

Mythologist Kathleen Jenks, an advisor to Monaghan's Black Earth Institute, explains on her own site, Myth*ing Links why this season is an excellent time to explore what is ending, or "dying", within us. What do you need to release in order to move forward in your life? Now, when the veils between worlds are thin, is a ripe moment for each of us to embrace personal and planetary transformation.

And the souls of those who have gone before can still share their wisdom with us, if we invite their collaboration. Astrologer Caroline Casey likes to say, "We cannot live through the dead, but we can invite the dead to live through us." What gifts are asking, aching to be brought forth through you in this quantum moment, when the entire world is awash in tremulous rebirth? How can you shine your brilliance and step fully into your aliveness, passion, purpose and service?

It's time to remove your mask, and step fully into who you came here to be.

Say What?

Does it feel as if we're living in "perpetual retro"? That is, life simulating Mercury in ongoing retrograde, which frequently scrambles communication? Mercury is NOT Rx now (that happens next on November 6) but/and, it can sure seem that way, as we navigate the dreamwalk towards galactic synchronization. Here are a few personal verbal snafus from this past week: 

• Called a health clinic to speak with a doctor referred by an acquaintance. Reception said he wasn't accepting new patients. I acknowledged that I knew this, and simply wanted a 3-5 minute phone consult to ask for an appropriate referral. I left my name, phone number and email. Later that day I received an email from the physician saying he had been told I wanted an appointment, and he wasn't taking new patients at this time.
• I scheduled a mobile locksmith (who WAS accepting new clients :-) to change my vehicle's door lock. On his initial visit he inspected the lock and key to determine the right lock to purchase, and made note of the year, make and model. When he arrived to install the new lock, he had purchased the wrong kind, and we needed to reschedule.
• A local bakery makes gluten-free, fermented breads that are for sale at natural foods stores. Since the bakery is local, I called and asked the owner/baker whether I could buy from him directly. Certainly, he replied. Which of the breads did I wish him to hold for me? I described the one I preferred. When I arrived that afternoon, my preferred bread had all been delivered to the health food stores
• To be fair, I did this, too: went to buy Kleenex and a writing tablet, and was frustrated to find the store out of the large size tissues I wanted for the second visit in a row. Picked up a packet of Post-it notes, paid for them and left. A few days later I realized, um, that it wasn't Post-it notes I'd meant to purchase ...

Clearly, walking this evolutionary road with one foot in 3D and the other wavering between dimensions can frazzle even those whose model equanimity. A handful of excellent resources for remaining grounded on Earth when our head's in the clouds:

• Mastering Alchemy with Jim Self;
• Barbara Hand Clow, whose books, especially The Mind Chronicles: A Visionary Guide Into Past Lives and The Mayan Code: Time Acceleration and Awakening the World Mind transfigured my consciousness;
• Starchild Global, whose creator, Celia Fenn, travels continuously from her home in South Africa, stewarding awakening rituals and events worldwide. If you're near New York City in December, her 12/12/12 and Winter Solstice events are highly recommended;
• Gillian Macbeth-Louthan's Quantum Awakening site and monthly newsletter, bringing through visionary guidance since 1986!
• The Reconnections through Daniel Jacob, always amusing, timely, penetrating in their insights.

And of course, my monthly enewsletter, What Shines, which quotes frequently from these and other superb sources, is your one-stop destination for practical inspiration and information.

Please let me know how else I may serve you! I'll have some warm bread waiting, right after I get off the phone with the doctor.

If It Ain't Necessarily Broke…

I always find it amusing how supposedly "inanimate" objects — notably my car — mirror what's happening in my life. We ARE all One, and that includes our machines, even if they don't appear sentient. The latest: I sprained my left ankle several weeks ago although I didn't recognize this at first, since I've never had a sprain before. I walked blithely around until I noticed it was swollen to the size of a baseball. Since then, I've been wrapping it in an Ace bandage each morning.

Last week I brought my trusty old Toyota (now 20!) in for an oil change. When I returned, the mechanic said, "Houston, we have a problem." It turns out the left front CV boot is leaking and needs to be replaced, something I've done several times before. The right boot is OK. It took me five days to connect the dots and smile. I suppose when I take my car in for the repair, the mechanic will "reboot" it? Too bad my own ankle can't mend quite so swiftly!

But what of symptoms that don't result from a hard fall (like my ankle) or old age and wear (like my car's CV boot)? If you're feeling unexplained and seemingly unexplainable symptoms, such as tingling or crawling sensations on your fingers, arms or legs (as I did in the early '90s), take heart: it may be part of the upgrade to 5D.

Daniel Jacob and The Reconnections say this is the nature of human transformation: "During these times of rapid change, more and more people find themselves dealing with neurological 'disease' states, such as pain, numbness, tingling, and the like. The Transformation of which we speak will often manifest itself as a series of small changes in nerve conduction and brain activity, which will seem (to some) like mishaps or mistakes of nature. 

"Whenever human progress is hindered, or physical limitation moves a person from one set of priorities to another, humanity feels driven to go and 'fix' the situation, as though something has gone wrong. There are no mistakes, in spite of how desperate conditions might appear in a given moment.

"The human body, as a vehicle, is programmed to FOCUS INTENTLY on a set number of persons, objects, and situations. Other sensory data, which generally flows all around you, is blocked from perception — filtered by what you think of as your 'five senses.' In order for you to allow in more data as it flows all around you, it is sometimes necessary to break apart some of your existing 'perceptual software,' so new software can be installed...

  

"What some might consider a trauma can also become a GRAND OPENING for parts of yourself which will guide you, and expand your Soul to new heights (and depths) as you begin to view things through new eyes and listen with new ears."

This is how it was for me. On one level, I was actually ill and needed to detoxify. Yet the detoxification process in 3D also served as a spiritual awakening, as I released crusty, toxic thoughts, beliefs and behavior patterns that no longer served who I was becoming. I discuss this unfolding in depth in my signature story, Learning to Live My Light.

These are the days of miracles and wonder, as Paul Simon sang so presciently years ago. I just finished reading a novel called WWW: Wonder about how the world is changed and blessed by a consciousness that spontaneously arises from the infrastructure of the World Wide Web. It may not be so farfetched … after all, the web itself would have seemed fantastic sci-fi just a few short years before it was created.

So if you're experiencing odd tingles or similar symptoms, consider transmuting this disturbance into "tingly with anticipation." And while contacting a health practitioner is always prudent, your healing prescription may involve singing, dancing, and opening your heart to the improbable more than ever before… Blessed Be!

Equinox: A Time for Tree-umphant Attunement

Years ago, during my Inannic awakening, I threw my arms around trees and sobbed out my grief, feeling their loving embrace. I began talking to crows, paying tribute to their visceral wisdom in a poem that concluded, "A coded conversation/In guttural cries/Opens my eyes/And lifts me higher." I fell in love with the Moon. With my brain on an extended vacation I began to access a more primitive part of my being, to participate organically in the instinctual world, not merely watch.

Trees are our allies, anchors in stillness keeping silent council with their frenetic human brethren. Even their to-do lists are rooted in an ancient rhythm. ("Monday: 1. Photosynthesize. 2. Send stored water to branches. 3. Bud 17 new leaves.") We can emulate them by standing tall in our truth, becoming quiet, listening with our whole being, and swaying with the winds of change so we bend rather than break.

In this equinoctial moment, I invite you to take the tree-mendous opportunity to tree-umphantly attune to inner and outer balance along with our beloved planet. Mythologist Kathleen Jenks offers some lovely lore and poetry to assist in this endeavor on Myth*ing Links. And in the spiral of life, a poem I crafted 30 years ago interweaving human and bucolic love is appropriate now as well:

Our early love

was rosewood, aged guitar grain

your fingers fretting,

latticework of love.

tune me:

I am your instrument.

We grew to oak

limbs intertwined, minds

like grosgrain

honed to hickory.

breathe me:

I am evergreen.

We stroke the night

cocooned in crimson,

nestled in a hollow

of feeling.

whittle me:

I am the virgin bark of dawn.

Dearer By Day © Amara Rose 1982-2012

Birthing a New World: As Above, So Below

I've been playing with the Mayan Calendar since it first engaged me on my awakening journey 15 years ago, yet I NEVER grasped the incredible cosmic connection Gregg Braden elucidates in his compelling new book, Deep Truth: Igniting the Memory of Our Origin, History, Destiny and Fate. Braden says the Mayan sacred cycle of 260 days, known as the Tzol'kin, approximates the length of a human pregnancy — this much I knew. But he then points out how this 260-day cycle is a fractal (a pattern that is the same at every scale) of the grander 26,000-year cycle that is now concluding: the precession of the equinoxes. 

This is the true value of Mayan calendrics: they provided a "map" of what to expect; it's only been our inability to correctly decode it that has led many people to believe the world is "ending." Cycles do not end; they simply repeat, albeit at a higher level along life's spiral. This is why our birth, and Earth's rebirth, are One.

Braden writes: "The Maya knew that for each birth, the conditions would shift to make way for the new life. In the case of world-age cycles, the shift is the breakdown of things that don't work in the face of the changes, in order to make way for the things that do. This is precisely the way our indigenous ancestors thought of our time in history: as a cosmic birth into a new cycle of life."

He goes on to explain how in light of this awareness, we can better understand that "the world of the mid-20^th century was a stepping-stone, a point inaugurating a learning curve, which has led us to another way of life. We can't stop the change, but we can guide it to a gentler landing.

"This is where Deep Truth comes in. We're all better equipped to make the choices that define our future when we understand the cycles, failures and successes of our past."

I highly recommend this book. Braden's scientifically supported findings will blow your circuits on many levels, such as: humans did not induce climate change — but we ARE responsible for creating a sustainable environment now! — and, perhaps even more astounding: we are not a product of evolution, but of an intelligent design (ID) put into place at once.

Never before has the aphorism, "We are the ones we've been waiting for" been so abundantly clear.

The Renewable Resource Called Y-O-U

Is your future sustainable? Do you take time and care daily to replenish your own wells — or is the renewable resource called Y-O-U running on empty?

I invite you to disembark the "Stress Express" for a train of thought that takes time not only to stop and smell the roses, but to cultivate them as well.

H.O.M.E. is an acronym for "Heart Of My Energy," with "om" as the calm center. We come "om" by creating a plateau of peace, a home within that can't be shaken no matter what's going on externally. Think of it this way: work is applied energy. Sustaining your own energy means working with yourself as a renewable resource.

Here are 9 realistic rituals you can adapt to come "om" to yourself: Read the rest!

Build Bridges, Not Malls

In the current issue of my newsletter, themed, "To Tell the Truth," I offer dance medicine in the form of ecstatic grooves for an awakening world by Om At Last, which includes powerful lyrics if you listen closely. I also rediscovered this wonderful world anthem, A House Divided, from 2006. Music, like art, is a cross-cultural bridge to unite us far beyond our superficial differences of age, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic level… If you think about it, these external challenges exist in order to allow us to go deeper, to cross the great divide into harmony.

I've just read a book that defies easy description as it demonstrates the shamanic essence of life, disguised as entertainment: The Death and Resurrection Show: From Shaman to Superstar. Our thirst for the paradigm-busting truth it contains is evidenced by the book's scarcity: it sells for a minimum of $122 on Amazon — and that's for a used copy. Clearly, we feel the call to Mystery, even as we seek to demystify daily life.

But too often, we get malled instead. That's not a typo, it's a sigh.

A month ago I blogged about the new shopping mall going up in a nearby town. Right now it's a swathe of dirt paralleling the highway, but the words that spring to mind are Dylan's "Blood on the Tracks." All the foliage has been desecrated in the name of profit.

Except they got the homonym wrong: it's prophet, as in augury, herald, divining a new world. We don't need more bling for the outside, but to let our radiance shine forth from the inside. This is how we build the bridge across forever, to the new human, the new world we're co-creating. The clarion call to awaken and step up to a higher Love is being answered around the planet; it's the most amazing time to be alive, to be witness and participant in the wonder of the shift.

While it's always fun to dress the part, express, not excess, is key. A new outfit to honor your Divine self? Sure! Another megamall to wander in soulless surrender while boosting the GNP? NOT!

How to Retrain Your Brain

In today's nanosecond business climate, thinking outside the box is too small. Instead, try thinking outside your brain. How's that again?

We use our left brain — the logical, linear, analytical mode — for business most of the time. Yet it's the right brain — the creative, intuitive, emotional side — that can actually help boost your business dramatically … if you allow it the freedom to guide your thoughts and actions when your left brain is saying, "but that's a waste of time!"

Here are some ways to retrain your brain so that you become more "whole-brained" rather than harebrained: (Read the rest)

Small Business Marketing: Eye of the Beholder

You've probably heard the maxim, "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." This is nowhere truer than in defining a small business. Everyone from chief catalyst to receptionist to clean-up crew needs to be concerned with company image, performance, response time, etc., because every action, no matter how seemingly insignificant, affects client perception.

This is the real definition of branding: how your clients see you. It doesn't matter how slick your website, how memorable your logo, how many Twitter followers or Facebook "Likes"  — or even how outstanding your product or service may be. If a customer's experience is being left on hold for three minutes while she silently fumes, that's your brand.

Think about the positioning that describes your core brand. For example:

• What we're known for: comprehensive marketing communications, with a specialty in social media marketing
• Our clients: emerging businesses in the health/wellness vertical
• How customers see us: solid experience, broad knowledge, end-to-end programs
• What sets us apart: fresh approach, industry expertise, creative and effective campaigns, measurable results.

Now the key is living up to this promise. Just as you wouldn't appear for a major presentation in shorts and a T-shirt (unless, perhaps, the prospect sells surfboards or beach apparel), you don't want to unintentionally sabotage client perception by ignoring a request for information or failing to resolve a complaint.

However, it's also human nature to be forgiving when a business acknowledges its error. Consider this story: a customer ordered a book and card set from a small online retailer and received an e-mail response saying the order would be shipped no later than July 31. When she hadn't received anything two weeks later, she e-mailed again, saying that unless the package had been sent via media mail, it ought to have arrived by now. She also left a telephone message a day later. Still no response.

Quite annoyed, the customer phoned a second time a day later and reached the company owner, who, it turned out, was a solopreneur. She explained the shipment had been held up due to a last-minute cover redesign and apologized profusely, saying, "It's entirely my fault. Forty lashes! I should have let you know…" The customer and business owner spoke for five minutes, and the owner promised to overnight the package at her expense.

The upshot? The customer enjoyed her encounter with the entrepreneur, received the product the next day, and now holds the company in positive regard. However, the entire scenario could have been averted had the business responded right away, and indicated when the customer could expect the order to be shipped.

So how can you create the brand you want to be?

• Return phone calls promptly. If you say you'll call back within 24 hours, aim to make it sooner. If it takes you two days, customer perception will be: you don't care. Same with email: respond with 24 hours — or hire a VA (Virtual Assistant) to help you.
• Treat callers with respect. Avoid transferring a call more than once, don't place people on hold unless absolutely necessary (and then, just for a few seconds), and NEVER disconnect them!
• Make the customer right. If someone purchased a defective product, apologize sincerely (send a follow-up email as well), replace it immediately, or refund the customer's money promptly if that's their choice.
• Have an easily navigable site with clear contact information. Include a toll-free number if possible — and do your best to staff it with a live voice, not voicemail.
• Know your clients. Greet them with a warm welcome when they enter your place of business, get to know their names, and make them feel glad to do business with you.

Emerson said, "What you are speaks so loudly I cannot hear what you say." He might have been describing the hidden dimension of branding. Your brand is you, so let it represent you and your business in the best possible light. Then you'll attract customers who are eager to help you shine.

Harmonic Convergence: Closing the Cycle

Where were you on August 16-17, 1987? That's when the seminal global event known as Harmonic Convergence took place. The brainchild of Mayan researcher and author José Argüelles (who is now on the other side of the veil), Harmonic Convergence was a call for 144,000 “sun dancers” to gather at sunrise on those dates at sacred sites around the planet in order to create a synchronized meditation for world peace. An untold number – perhaps millions – answered the call.

The point of the synchronization was two-fold: to establish a common unified field of mind and intention, and to create a type of mental network or field around the planet – a proto-noosphere, or worldmind.

This Thursday and Friday mark the 25^th anniversary of Harmonic Convergence, in essence the closing of the cycle, the end of history and the beginning of a new World Age. Synchronized global peace meditations are again taking place around the globe. Join the event on Facebook, and become part of the Rainbow Bridge to our collective future of peace and prosperity.

Synchronicity Rising vs. Shopping Away Your Soul

On Thursday, the cross-quarter gateway known as Lammas, with a full Aquarian moon lighting up the sky and the Olympic rings, I had an incredible encounter with a man ahead of me in line at the grocery store. We casually commented that the lines seemed to be moving slowly, and I said, "I think most of the checkers are new; it's not easy to master all those codes on the register. I had to use one at my very first job when I was 16 and (I imitated the hunt and peck motion)." I laughed and said, "Now, of course, we all have computers so we're fast on the keys."

Then I looked at him and said, "Are you old enough to remember what I'm talking about?" He said, "Oh, yes, I'm older than you." 

Naturally, I had to take the challenge so I asked, "How old are you?" He said, "55." I said, "Dude!" and high-fived him. Then I asked, "When's your birthday?" He replied without missing a beat, "2/4/57" ~ which is exactly the way I always say it! I got what I imagine was a look of incredulity on my face and asked, "What time?" Meanwhile he's still processing what's happening, and says, "Wait ~ you're an Aquarian too?" And then he says, "It was sometime early in the morning, like 1 am." I was born just after 1 am. I said, "We're twins!" It was the coolest connection, though I think it flipped him out a little. For me, it was simply "synchronicity rising!"

Contrast this with some construction that's been going on for quite awhile next to the community pool here. The pool is located not far from the freeway onramp, but a stand of trees afforded a measure of privacy and peace. I noticed the greenery was slowly morphing into bulldozers, but had no idea why. Over the weekend I happened to mention some other nearby construction to a young Whole Foods employee, and he referenced the swim site construction by saying, "I'm designing the benches for the mall!" I thought he was making a very dry joke.

But no: the construction by the freeway is a new shopping center underway. Incredulous in a far different manner than during Thursday's heart-sync'd encounter, I said sarcastically, "Oh, I'm sure we need another mall!" That was when he repeated the information about the bench design, and I realized he was serious. I congratulated him on landing the project ~ I always support art, in all its guises ~ but the desecration of nature for human consumption galls me.

In this kairos moment when reclaiming our soul connection is key to personal and planetary evolution, the trees are our allies and guides. We won't realize our life purpose by buying the leopard print tights, but by becoming our wildness ~ not as violence; as an abiding, sensuous connection with Nature and all our planetary kin.

Hey, I grew up in a town that had more shopping malls per square mile than any other; I thought the trees planted inside the mall grew there! And I enjoy a beautiful new outfit as much as the next woman (or guy). The difference is, I know materialism isn't the path to what we might term synchronicitree.

I invite and invoke your primal need to be in natural surroundings, so that the synchronicity I experienced in the market knows how to find you. When you're living in the flow, such encounters will tickle you into joy everywhere ~ and you won't rely on shopping as a way to remember your soul.

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.