Beltane: Dancing the Sacred Fire of reUnion

May 1st is Beltane: a time for celebrating the beauty and sanctity of all life. Today is a moment for reclaiming your power, balance, and inner strength.

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

In the West, we have an unfortunate tendency to water down our sacred days to become mere children's celebrations: Samhain, ushering in the dark half of the year, becomes a specter of itself as Halloween; Imbolc, heralding the return of the light on February 2^nd, morphs to Groundhog Day; Beltane becomes a day to dance around the Maypole. Yet the deeper meanings reflect our lost connection with natural rhythms, with the seasonal shifts we actually embody.

As Samhain honors the power of death, so Beltane honors the cycles of life and rebirth. Beltane takes place in Taurus, the zodiac's most earthy, 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 humans. It's a celebration of fertility in all its forms — and thus we dance in homage to Aphrodite, the Goddess Herself.

Although traditionally observed on May 1st, astronomical Beltane arrives about the 5th, a nice sync-up with Cinco de Mayo, giving us an entire week in which to renew, dance the fire back into our beings, and open once again to a sacred reUnion of our masculine and feminine selves. Mythologist Kathleen Jenks provides a page rich in Beltane lore from around the globe.

Ignite your Light!

Scared to Sacred: Falling in Love with 13

In high school English I learned a 64-carat word for a common ailment: triskaidekaphobia, "fear of the number thirteen." The elevator in my grandparents' apartment building omitted the thirteenth floor. Apparently the assumption was, nobody would have wanted to live on it. It was a fashionable New York City address; fear and loathing cross all perceived boundaries. I also recall a series of horror movies with "Friday the 13th" in the title.

A society steeped in superstition and a materialistic value system will find it easy to assign anxiety to anything that threatens the status quo. Thirteen is the number of movement, of change — a wild card — and that can be very scary. But it's our lost connection with the Divine in everyday life that gives rise to such distress. Divorced from our origins, terrified of our own power, we profane the sacred: thirteen becomes unlucky, evil, a curse; symbolic scapegoat of all we're afraid to embrace.

When we can take the thirteenth step, however, we're on the first step of the Stairway to Heaven. With the courage to look, we find thirteen stitched into the very fabric of our culture. Thirteen colonies gave birth to a nation. The first American flag bore thirteen stars and stripes. We were on the right track back then, grounded into the roots of our heritage.

Think about it: thirteen has traditionally been cause for celebration. The thirteenth year signifies a coming-of-age, also across all perceived boundaries. In the Jewish religion, boys make their Bar Mitzvah at thirteen. This ceremony, which involves reading from the holy Torah, marks a boy's entrance into manhood.

Girls generally begin to menstruate at thirteen. Cross-culturally, it's common to commemorate the first blood with an initiation rite; here in the West, this significant threshold is at last beginning to be recognized as a powerful, sacred passage. (My e-course, Loving Our Lunacy, is an embodied initiation for all women.)

In fact, there are even thirteen sun signs in the Real Solar Zodiac — which is not the one used in conventional astrology. Ophiucus, the serpent bearer, has been omitted from the oversimplified Tropical Zodiac used in the West. Yet the serpent denotes transformation — and on the Winter Solstice of 2012, Earth will be directly aligned with both Ophiucus and the center of the Milky Way galaxy.

Thirteen, then, is a fundamental Earth rhythm, manifested in our physical bodies as well as the heavenly ones. To reject thirteen is, perhaps, to reject or deny some core aspect of ourselves as human beings.

How can we reawaken to our true purpose and potential, beyond the fear and perception of separateness? By reclaiming our native knowing.


One way that resonates for me is following a 13 Moon Calendar. The 13 Moon Calendar shows us a path to walk to restore right relationship in our lives, to re-member (make membership again) our journey as one Earth family. Based on an annual solar cycle of 13 moons (months) of 28 days each (the female menstrual cycle), plus one "day out of time" in which to reflect and regenerate, the 13 Moon Calendar is synchronized with Earth rhythms and human biology. It's expansive, intuitive, juicy, flowing: life, in all its harmonious chaos.

The beauty of this apparent paradox lies in learning to honor the both/and: life is orderly and messy, pragmatic and unpredictable, spiritual and material. Living in tune with these innate contradictions, we breathe in our own magnificence, and feel nourished and held in the body of the Great Mother.

Our Gregorian calendar, by contrast, models scarcity, so we always subtly feel we're starving: if you get what you need, there might not be enough for me. Living a compressed, alienating, sterile existence, our spiritual lungs squeezed for air, we evince these invisible shackles in the way we treat each other and Gaia. Time-is-money, me-first, bigger-better-best, I want it yesterday, are the credos of mechanistic time. Pursued by the clock, separated from our humanity, we've forgotten that time is creativity, that women carry time in their bodies, and have come to accept the clock as king.

Another Earth-based analogy may also help: I've observed a fairly rampant homeowner disgust with the "lowly dandelion", scourge of suburbia's well-manicured lawns — when in fact, dandelion is one of the most healing herbs available to humanity, offering itself in abundance wherever we dwell. It's a supreme liver tonic, known to help detoxify the body's "processing plant." If you want to release that pent-up rage in a healthy way, the remedy is probably available, free and easy, right in your own backyard.

Dandelion is so plentiful that I find it also acts as de facto compost within me: surrounding and helping to decompose back into rich loam that which no longer serves. Yet we curse the weed and uproot it, spray poison to keep the green carpet unsullied. When we can stop "livin' for the lawn," focusing predominantly on the external, and make the subtle shift from ego mind to Universal Mind, we see with such great clarity the incredible gifts all around us.

In the 13 Moon Calendar, the number thirteen, like dandelion, grows everywhere; it's the key thread on which the harmony of the calendar is woven. And on a 13 Moon Calendar, there's always a Friday the 13th — in a 28-day month, every second Friday is Friday the thirteenth!

Astrologer Judith Goldberg offers an additional planet-positive note for this Friday the 13th: Mars, which has been retrograde since January 23rd, goes direct. Judy writes:

"Demonstrating an auspicious sense of timing, Mars entered the sign of Virgo, the healer, on 11/11/11. It began its bi-annual retrograde motion on January 23rd, 2012, the day of the Chinese New Year. Usually transiting in a sign for a few weeks, because of the lengthy retrograde, Mars residence in Virgo lasted 5 months until it turns direct on Friday, April 13th. Each of these movements of the red planet takes on an added significance because of these cultural, spiritual or energetic synchronicities. Now, as Mars turns direct, we are in a 5-day period between April 12th and 17th, that is a powerful energetic nexus, or core, which greatly enhances spiritual practices.

"This is the perfect time for daily meditation to open yourself to the highest possibilities that will take you into your best new direction. With Mars direct it is time to begin taking action again, to turn those possibilities into new realities. In fact, the remainder of the year between now and the Solstice is a fulcrum point, a time when we can gain the necessary leverage to do the heavy lifting that will facilitate new changes in our personal lives, in our collective reality and propel mankind and Planet Earth into the Age of Aquarius."

As our evolutionary readiness dissolves old superstition around the number thirteen — and all it represents — our collective mindfield makes a quantum leap from mindless fear to aware acceptance of thirteen as the sacred number of the spiral, the energy of kundalini awakening, the step to transformation and growth. Unified in time, living on purpose, a metamorphosis occurs as we attune to a higher frequency.

Metamorphosis means going above, beyond what existed before. The Sufi mystic Rumi said, "Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing there's a field; I'll meet you there." In this quantum field, we midwife moth into butterfly. Scared into sacred. Each of us into our true purpose and potential.

What is this time of profound transmutation helping you bring to birth? Whatever it is, may it be in beauty, for the greatest good of all.

Oh, Baby!

Out for a walk on Easter, I met a young woman holding a very cute baby. The mother seemed tired, and the baby wasn't that cheerful, either, although I surmised she (the baby) had perhaps recently awakened from a nap. The mom told me she also had an 8- and 5-year-old, though this child was more difficult for her, because she was raising her alone. The little girl was only four months old, so I thought, either her partner didn't plan on a kid, or, as seems to happen often in these extraordinary times, the couple came together just long enough to combine their DNA, because this little Light was needed on Earth.

As her mother and I were conversing, and after I mentioned the baby's subdued demeanor, she looked at me in the way babies do: staring, never breaking eye contact.

And then she began to laugh.

Huge, rollicking, endless laughter emanated from this tiny bundle. I stood transfixed, feeling my mouth curving irresistibly into a smile and then into my own laughter ~ it is contagious, after all!

Her mother said, "She likes your soul," and I appraised the mom as clearly a conscious being, equipped to raise a Light such as the one she held, and I said as much.

I felt blessed, renewed, in some way redeemed, by this infant's unquenchable laughter. I was in the rapt presence of a baby Buddha, and received her sustenance as manna. What an amazing gift on a day of rising: Yeaster, a rite of passage. It is a benediction I share with you through our cyber connection. May you receive the pure holy joy of laughter in your life when you least (or yeast) expect it, and may it renew you in every cell.

As I walked away, I offered the baby's mother, "May you have an easy raising." I didn't even realize the full significance until this morning.

Spring Clean Your Life Teleclass!

Step up to your greatness in this momentous year. Take the deep dive that says, "I'm alive!"

Join us on Monday, April 9, 2012 @ noon PDT, 3 pm EDT (find your local time here) for a complimentary telegathering (telephone class), Slouching Towards Enlightenment: Hold the Vision Until the Vision Holds You!

Come swim masterfully with the current of our sea change in consciousness. All the details are on the LiveYourLight website, here.

Can't make it then? The class will be recorded. But, you need to register in order to receive the recording — and there will be special offers for those on the live call.

Looking forward to co-creating a transformative adventure with you!

Lights Out! And More Power to You

I encourage people daily to Live Your Light — and we're all letting our light shine more brilliantly than ever before. As we reclaim our inner radiance, it's ever more crucial to reduce our man-made light to co-create a sustainable future. This Saturday is your chance: the 6th annual Earth Hour.

What began as a one-time event organized by World Wildlife Fund/Australia in 2007 rapidly rolled out to countries around the globe. In 2011, Earth Hour saw hundreds of millions of people across 135 countries switch off the power for an hour. But it also marked the start of going beyond the Hour to commit to lasting action on climate change.

There's now an awesome Earth Hour dare: an "I will if you will" YouTube channel that showcases the creative and amusing extent committed planetary citizens will go to for environmental action.

So set your clocks for "lights out" at 8:30 pm local time on March 31st — and let it be your inspiration to shrink your carbon footprint for good.

Blessings!

How to Defy Gravity

With Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life, Franciscan priest Richard Rohr has written an eloquent book about the journey to self-knowing that's decidedly non-religious; a refreshing loom of spiritual authenticity on which to weave your own awakening odyssey. He gives voice to that which doesn't translate easily into language, so powerfully and truly that from the Introduction alone, I was nodding with inward recognition. I wish I'd written it!

In the Coda, he quotes Thomas Merton with a poem written a decade after his fabled The Seven Storey Mountain, when Merton had moved into his own "second half." The piece encapsulates the essence of Rohr's offering with such spare significance that it will be a deep acknowledgment for those on the far side of the journey, who understand viscerally what it means to own "poverty" as success ~ and an inspired meditation/guide for those yet to travel and unravel:

When in the Soul of the Serene Disciple

When in the soul of the serene disciple
With no more Fathers to imitate
Poverty is a success,
It is a small thing to say the roof is gone:
He has not even a house.

Stars, as well as friends,
Are angry with the noble ruin.
Saints depart in several directions.

Be still:
There is no longer any need of comment.
It was a lucky wind
That blew away his halo with his cares.
A lucky sea that drowned his reputation.

Here you will find
Neither a proverb nor a memorandum.
There are no ways,
No methods to admire
Where poverty is no achievement.
His God lives in his emptiness like an affliction.

What choice remains?
Well, to be ordinary is not a choice:
It is the usual freedom
Of men without visions.

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…

Spring Equinox: Stoking the Fires of Transformation

Did you know that on Equinox, you can balance a raw egg on end, because everything (day and night, and thus, the world) is in balance? This is the lore, anyway; I've not yet tried it.

Spring Equinox 2012 (Autumn Equinox for our Southern Hemisphere allies) is an Equinox like no other: a time when the world is breaking open to a new age, when what breakthrough biologist Bruce Lipton calls "imaginal cells" (each of us as cells in the body of Gaia) reimagine ourselves/our cells into greater harmony, joy, and the regenerative power of possibility, beyond patriarchy and domination to limitless co-creative play, purpose and passion.

It is the time of the Ram, as transformation fans our inner flames into a bonfire of celebration. As you e/merge from your personal egg into the Light of the new, what will you bring to the Cosmic Egg as we dream a new world into BE-ing?

Should You "Beware The Ides of March"?

Five centuries after Shakespeare's astrologer counseled Julius Caesar, "Beware the Ides of March!" we still shudder at the thought that March 15th might harbor some hidden hazard.

But it's just another day, albeit one that was part of a convoluted calendar. In ancient Rome, each month had an "ides." In March, May, July and October, the ides fell on the 15th. In the other eight months, however, the ides fell on the 13th.

Maybe Julius meant to follow the advice, but got his months mixed up. Or maybe he just didn't place much store in prophecy.

In recent history, the rock group, The Ides of March had a hit with the upbeat tune, Vehicle. The lead singer went on to superstardom as the founder of Survivor. Yet the Ides continued to play and record. The group's now been together, with all the original band members, for 45 years.

Mythologically speaking, the ides of March can transport you where you most need to go. If you pay attention and pay your dues, you won't pay the Piper — and you may just hit pay dirt.

How to Save Time Forever

This month, approximately 75 countries worldwide will create an annual illusion: saving time. We move the hands of our clocks ahead, and think we've harnessed the sun. In the U.S., our participation begins at 2 am on Sunday, March 12th.

How time flies when we perceive it as linear. By contrast, cultures that live in tune with natural rhythms do not alter their clocks, because clocks do not define their time. The seasons and the stars do. I once heard thought leader Deepak Chopra share how he explained existence to his three-year-old granddaughter as they walked along the beach at sunset. Essentially, he told her she is made of starlight, and that the spirit of the stars is reflected in her eyes. Tara was silent while she digested this information. Then she said, "Nanna, look up!" When Chopra asked why, she replied, "The stars want to see themselves!"

Time is elastic. Athletes know this. When athletes move into the space known as "the zone," time slows down. They see every move or play with perfect clarity, and execute the correct maneuvers as if in a dream, sensing the favorable outcome. Something expands within them that translates into success.

How many people do you know who never seem to have "enough" time? We are each gifted with the same twenty-four hour cycle to use as we choose. People who are time-deprived are exhibiting one aspect of our pervasive scarcity consciousness.

Psychologist Maria Nemeth writes, in The Energy of Money, "Scarcity is a reality in the physical domain. As a minister friend of mine once told me, 'It's as though we got bored living without limits. We decided to incarnate — which means, literally, to turn into meat. We further chose to work with the limits of form, time and finite energy. This was to see how much of the divine we could bring into the mundane before it was time for us to leave.'"

As paradoxical as it may seem, says Nemeth, "We reach the infinite through living fully in the finite. The infinite is not reached by trying to ignore limits, as many of us try to do."

And in Eastern Body, Western Mind, chakra expert Anodea Judith observes, "Manifestation requires an acceptance of limitation. A boundary allows us to contain, and thus collect and build."

So holding the "both/and" is a prerequisite to freedom, whether from the constraints of the clock or the tyranny of the paycheck: "We must accept limitation in order to transcend it." This is what zone athletes do.

My articles, Embracing Paradox Can Help You Beat the Clock and 'Om' Is Where the Heart Is suggest ways to shift your beliefs about time and creativity.

I also include extensive information about using natural time to reclaim our feminine power, passion and purpose in my e-course, Loving Our Lunacy.

As we set our clocks ahead, on Saturday night or sometime soon, let's look out at the stars and remember what we're made of. Recognize the expansive possibilities that exist within the limits of form.

There is enough. It's all a question of consciousness. Choose to embrace the both/and, and you'll grow with the flow!

Leap Year: Why Our Calendar Is So Weird - And What You Can Do About It

You probably take it for granted: every four years, we add an extra day to the month of February. The month is day-deprived, after all; deserving of an additional 24 hours every now and then.

This may not strike you as peculiar; it's akin to the grade-school rhyme we memorized in a futile attempt to become better spellers: "'i' before 'e' except after 'c', or when sounded as 'a' as in 'neighbor' and 'weigh'." Heck, the English language is way more whacked than the Gregorian calendar!

But this anomaly is only because we adhere to an off-kilter solar cycle. Using the time-keeping system most of the world's been accustomed to since the Middle Ages, we need Leap Years to align the calendar with the Earth’s revolutions around the sun.

Why Leap Year?

It takes the Earth approximately 365.242199 days (a tropical year) to circle once around the Sun. Since a Gregorian calendar year consists of only 365 days, we'd lose nearly six hours every year if we didn't "course correct" every fourth year.

But it gets stranger, Horatio.

Qualifying to be a "Leap Year" is a bit like applying to get into Calendar College: three crucial criteria must be met:

• The year must be evenly divisible by 4;
• If the year can be evenly divided by 100, it is NOT a leap year, unless;
• The year is also evenly divisible by 400.

Yikes! Good thing we have built-in calculators now.

This means the years 2000 and 2400 are Leap Years, while 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200, 2300 and 2500 are NOT leap years.

Got that? There'll be a quiz next lifetime.

The year 2000 was also somewhat special, as it was the first instance when the third criterion was used in most parts of the world since the transition from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar.

Holy Roman Empire, Batman!

If only Julius had stuck to salad dressing. Still, he was more flexible about what constituted a Leap Year than today's criteria. When Caesar introduced Leap Years in the Roman Empire over 2000 years ago, the only rule was that any year evenly divisible by 4 would be a leap year. Evidently Julius' crowd didn't contain too many math wizards. This system has far too many Leap Years, though it wasn't corrected until the introduction of the Gregorian calendar more than 1500 years later.

There may not be a perfect calendar, though there have been other creative options used over the years, such as a 30-day February.

13 Moons of Synchrony

Personally, I've long lived by the 13-Moon, 28-day lunar calendar envisioned by José Argüelles, who proposed it as a way for humanity to leave mechanized time and enter harmonic, natural cycles — the path of synchronicity. In a 13-Moon calendar, every month has a harmonious 28-days (which also corresponds with the female menstrual cycle) — and 13x28 = 364. The additional day is celebrated between July 25th and 26th, which correlates with the heliacal rise of Sirius and is honored as a "Day Out of Time," of peace and celebration. And there's another bonus: on a 28-day monthly system, every Friday is Friday the 13th, a reclaiming of the number thirteen as a sacred symbol of transformation, not something to be feared and avoided.

So I invite you to experience the expansiveness of living in tune with all life. José used to say, "Whoever owns your time, owns your mind. Own your own time and you will know your own mind."

There's never been a better time to leap into this knowing than now, on Leap Day. Blessings!

~~~~~ Spiraling Home ~~~~~

It's time for:

Gliding, sliding
Coming out of hiding;
Purging, merging
Acknowledging the surging;
Knowing, flowing
Opening to growing;
Tuning, reuning
Oversoul's a-crooning:
Accelerate, celebrate
This is how we co-create;
Say "yes," pass the test
Get ready for the best!
Elation, initiation
Planetary transmutation;
This moment, the Light
Our collective in-Sight;
You are the I AM
Quickened in the cosmic plan;
Ancient mystery solved:
We evolved.

Copyright © July 2001 Amara Rose. All rights reserved.

The Zen of Plagiarism

I was sharing my indignation about someone plagiarizing my website content, and my friend's somewhat surprising response — about it all being "owned by God, anyway," and her lighthearted pointing out a magazine cover of someone dancing underwater, saying, "He's plagiarizing me, because I dance underwater!" caused me to begin questioning my reaction.

Why DO we get so upset when another copies "our" words or images? A respected speakers' newsletter just posed this precise question: would you use a colleague's idea (shared in casual conversation) in your own presentation without permission? How about without attribution?

I wrote:

"I've had my ideas appropriated without attribution many times, and had my content plagiarized. However, that said, I quote other people's words and ideas frequently, always with attribution, usually including a link to their website, blog, video, etc. I often email the individual to alert them to the reference so they can promote it to their own audience. Those featured appreciate both the promotion and the acknowledgment.

"In a world where six degrees of separation is now barely two, and we're Occupying Everything, sharing has become more of a gray area than ever. But as we all still take pride in our intellectual property — even if it's something uttered spontaneously in conversation with a colleague — it seems the least we can do is to honor one another by recognizing an original contribution, and passing it along with credit where it's due."

But now the trick cube is shifting. It's akin to a time I was in a brief relationship with someone who was also loving another. One morning, in the watery world between sleep and wakefulness, I sensed the entire situation and felt no pain. I understood in a flash that this was my true state, my high Self, observing, where emotional entanglement — or not — was a conscious decision.

And as I consider (literally, "with the stars") the concept that the ideas I bring forth are not my own, that I am but the vehicle to allow them manifestation, needing or wanting "credit" begins to seem humorous. I've written about how we carve up the planet, thinking we own it: "There are no actual map lines on Earth, delineating this country, this language, this religion, this culture from the next. We've created it all. It's our collective game. As we become technologically proficient, the playing field shrinks to a more agreeable size, and the game starts to seem superfluous."

From this perspective, "intellectual property" appears even more amusing. Do we own our thoughts? Especially now, when we're becoming more transparent and interconnected than ever before?

So … this feels good, right and true. And yet, if you were to paste this post onto your blog as your own, it might irk me. We're in process, opening from ownership and a sense of separation to unity consciousness. I'm aligned with the vision and values; my 3D self is shifting as rapidly as Love replaces fear.

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."

Year of the Water Dragon: Thunder EnLightening

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Motherboard of Invention, or "That's Not Logical, Captain!"

My laptop underwent a crucifixion and resurrection this past holiday season. Since technology often serves as metaphor and muse in my life, I knew this would be another fabulous learning opportunity…

On December 30th, my nearly 6-year-old machine (computers being like dog years, I know this is nearing old age), which had intermittent problems with the charging system as well as the screen suddenly going black, decided it was time for a long winter's rest.


Having worked perfectly the day before, it wouldn't hold a charge at all that Friday, and as my battery slowly drained to zero, I wondered how I would upload my January newsletter. I was on the phone with a friend who's a hardware engineer, describing the problem, and said with conviction, "I just need two more hours to get the newsletter uploaded!" This has been my most enduring commitment to the collective for the past decade; it was more distressing to me not to be able to get the newsletter out (especially for January 2012, the beginning of the year that's been the subject of so much prophecy and paranoia!) than not having a functioning laptop.

I showered, ate breakfast, and decided to go for a walk. December 31st was an absolutely stunning day, and I was housesitting out in the country. Before I left, I put my hand over the power cord's charge box from habit; it had been cool for over a day, despite the little orange charge light being on. Now the box was warm. I got tingles all over, and went out for a long walk.

When I returned 90 minutes later, the little light that signals charge completion was green. I opened the lid extremely cautiously so as not to activate whatever was causing the machine to suddenly turn itself off. Several techs I'd spoken with casually in recent months had said sagely, "It's the Motherboard!" (The principal circuit board that pilots the machine.) And when that goes, it's bye-bye laptop.

Sure enough, the battery charge read 100%. Joyfully, I left it plugged in and began feverishly uploading the newsletter. I sent it out, and started to check email. Just about two hours had gone by. Still plugged in, the charging light now turned orange and began to drop: 99%, 98%, 97%...

I received the two hours I asked for in order to complete my task. Whenever I've stepped out in high faith, I am answered. A wise man once taught that we are all capable of this kind of trust walk, and that when we live from here, manifestation is instantaneous. It's happened three or four times in my life, so I know the power. Consistency is the rub.

On January 2nd, I took the now non-functional laptop to a Mac tech who'd been recommended; he's been repairing Mac computers for a living for many years. The power jack issue was obvious. In terms of the intermittent shutdown, my machine obligingly did so as soon as he opened the case. Not worth repairing, he reported. It would be too expensive; buy a new one, or a refurb. Since even a refurbished Mac is quite a bit pricier than a PC, I despaired.

The first week of 2012 was not a joyous affair. I wondered if this portended what the year would be like.

But after the crucifixion comes the resurrection. Note that the first term is pronounced, cruci-FICTION.

I'd also discovered that the back-up hard drive I'd thought contained all my data, did not. That's when something approaching panic set in. I had the brainstorm to contact the Computer Recycling Center (CRC), which repairs donated machines, then sells them for an affordable price. I got my first laptop there in 2003, and it was still going strong when I upgraded to a new one three years later.


I wondered if I might borrow a compatible battery in order to give my machine enough juice to back-up my data to the external hard drive. Their Mac tech said, "Sure, come on in." When I arrived and explained the problem, he harrumphed, "I don't see any evidence of a Logicboard problem." (On Macs, Motherboards are known as Logicboards). To me, he sounded just like Spock: "It is not logical, Captain." I explained how the issue was intermittent, but he maintained that the burned out power jack was causing the electrical signal to "arc," creating the outage. It made sense, and was similar to what the professional I'd seen on Monday had told me. The difference was, Derrick didn't think the Logicboard was bad. I left the machine with him for diagnosis, since it wasn't useable until the power jack was replaced.

The next day my phone rang. "Your computer is ready," said the wise young voice at the other end. Derrick resurrected my laptop for a third of the cost I was originally quoted — just for the power jack, not the Logicboard — and I have been good to go ever since.

In this era of intuition, logic was neither the problem nor the solution — but it certainly was the Motherboard of Invention when it came to looking for the "second right answer" — or the third, or the 29th.

The gifts from this episode are many, and continue to unfold. Since all of my work is virtual, I have about 15 years of material on my hard drive; I've often said, of how precious my laptop is to me, "It's my life!" But that's not true; my life is in me; my laptop plays an important role in assisting my planetary service, but the stress I put myself through last week wasn't worth the cost to my body/mind/spirit. In fact, once I had the laptop back in fine fettle, I checked in and could hear Spirit laughing, "OK? Lighten up now!"

As Louise Hay, one of my great teachers, has often affirmed: "All is well. Everything is working out for my highest good. Out of this situation, only good will come. I am safe."

And as Bryan de Flores shared during his annual New Year's Eve telecall: when we have a challenge, say "God Blast!" and watch it dissolve.

God Blast! Yee-hah! All is well!

Happy Knew Year, Beloveds!

The Mother of All Releasings Ceremony, Winter Solstice 2011

Pixie Campbell has created a simple, sacred ceremony for December 22, 2011, the final Solstice before we enter the year that's been the subject of endless prophecy (and paranoia!). Since she asks this information be disseminated widely, I'm honored to share her elegant ritual offering:



Who: YOU, and if you wish, your circle, tribe, family, or village.

What: A fire ceremony, to release the old year and shift up into the new.

Where: In your backyard firepit, on a beach bonfire, around your fireplace, (even in your kitchen sink if you can make it scout-safe with a fireproof container).

When: Winter Solstice, December 22nd, 2011.

Why: We release what no longer serves us on the Winter Solstice, because it is the darkest day of the year. We let go so that we can step freely into what is waiting for us, as the light begins to grow brighter with each day. We're doing it as an extended community to raise the energy level of letting go, together!

How: Make a releasing bundle. Gather friends and family around a hearth (or do this in sacred solitary), set the bundle safely aflame, and let the alchemical element of fire transform the old, as it knows how to do so well. Feast on Solstice treats and celebrate the return of the light. View the video created around my tribe's ceremony:

Mother of All Releasings Ceremony: Winter Solstice, 2012 from Pixie Campbell on Vimeo.

2012 is a powerful year to let the old ways go and step fully into creative self-expression and abundant support for our dreams from All That Is. It is a time for visionaries to create reality.

Thank you, sisters. I'm so grateful that you and your energy is rippling out into the world!

Becoming A Leader

This book excerpt moved me so greatly that I featured NextCulture.org in my December newsletter. We need everyone to step up to their leadership potential now. Read Clinton Callahan's words, and be inspired:

Distinction: To be a leader does not mean to be the best, or to be perfect, or to know how, or to be in control.

Notes:
You have a unique destiny to fulfill for the evolution of humanity. Part of you thinks that you can fulfill that destiny alone. Sure you are very capable alone. Yes you can complete things alone. Clearly it can be easier alone. Of course you can take on unexpected challenges and succeed alone. Certainly you can be happy alone. That we already know. But if you have gotten this far in this book, working alone is no longer the way for you.

Look around with refocused eyes. There are people around you who are attracted to what you are doing. These people are hungrily waiting for you to lead them. These people cannot do it themselves. They want what you want, but something stops them from taking responsibility for going first. They need you to go first. If you do not responsibly lead them forward then the world that you both want to give birth to will die in the womb.

Sure, you have failed before. Sure, you have made mistakes. The decisions you took may have caused harm to those people who trusted you. Perhaps you vowed that you would never again put yourself into a position where others could suffer as a result of your mistakes. Please consider that that was then and this is now. The people around you now are alive and well. They are asking you to try again. These people are responsible for their decision to go with you. The universe needs you to go ahead and do the jobs placed on your bench. The universe begs for you to start again. Pick up where you left off. Bring people together. Keep encouraging the embers in their souls to catch fire and glow again. Do what you can even if you think it is not much.

You do not have to be the best to be a leader. Guaranteed there are other leaders more skilled and capable than you. If they were in your position they could turn your project into a major success with a tenth the effort you are putting in. But there is something you must come to realize: those other leaders are already busy! They are not available. Those leaders are somewhere else working full out on their own projects. In your present circumstances, you are it! There is nobody else but you here to do the job. You are the best leader to be had. Do not wait around for someone else to rescue you. They cannot help because they are busy somewhere else. You have a job to do. Just do it. Forget about being the best.

You do not have to be perfect to be a leader. One of the greatest paradoxes of the human mind is that we have the ability to conceive of perfection. For example, thinking of a mathematical sphere is simple. The paradox comes from the conflict between the conceptual and the actual. Spheres do not actually exist in reality. There are no perfect spheres. There are approximations of spheres, spheroids, things that look like perfect spheres. But they are not perfect. Nothing in the physical world is perfect. So how could a leader be perfect? We are human beings, not robots. Forget about being perfect.

You do not have to know how before you can be a leader. The idea that we must know how before we can lead died with the twentieth century. Change is happening way too fast now, in every arena of human endeavor. Nobody has the luxury of certainty anymore. The answers to the complexity of today’s problems lie encoded in group intelligence. In a rapidly evolving environment a leader succeeds by joining with his or her team and committing to an outcome first, before any of them know how. The team's commitment to produce results no matter what obstacles arise creates enough necessity for the knowing how to be discovered. Liberating and harnessing group intelligence is the core method of Possibility Management’s new meeting technologies. Forget about already knowing how.

You do not have to be in control to be a leader. Old style leadership pivots on control. New style leadership accepts and navigates chaos. Control is a desperate attempt to avoid fear. We describe control as desperate because the price of control is so dear. Control eliminates access to so many unexpected but useful nonlinear options. Nowadays, if fear is not your friend, you will not be responsive and flexible enough to navigate your team through unknown territory to effective results. Forget about having control.

Experiment: Upscale your commitment to leadership. Bring your people together this week. Have a new kind of meeting, one where the outcome is unknown. Announce that you wish to take more personal responsibility for leading and ask what people need. Ask for what they miss or would like to have from you as a leader. Ask where people are yearning to go. Do not interrupt the flow of the conversation. Do not mix critical thinking with creative thinking. Let the creative thinking flow ever bigger and fuller. Save critical thinking for another time. Your job is to keep the meeting safe by steering away from discussions or debates. Instruct people to say what they want rather than contradicting what someone else says. You take notes on a flip chart paper so that everyone can see the map of where you have been, and can deduce where you might be going. Do not edit what people say with clever questions or sideways comments. Do not be surprised if the project gets bigger than you expected.

Give your meeting a name. Have the meeting each week. Keep figuring out ways to empower your people to implement the ideas that they want to suggest to you. It takes time for them to step into their own bigness. Part of your job is to midwife your people into their next level of responsible creating in the world. You help them most by demonstrating that leadership is fun and possible, and that you do not have to be best, be perfect, know how, or be in control to be a leader!

All the best,
Clinton

Next Culture Research & Training Center

© World Copyright 2010 by Clinton Callahan. You are granted permission to copy and distribute this SPARK for personal or non-profit use as long as this author, website and copyright notice are included on each copy. All other rights are reserved.

SPARKs are excerpted from the Wild Thinking books. To get your own email subscription to SPARKs click on the PUBLICATIONS / NEWSLETTER button of www.nextculture.org. Thanks for experimenting!

Postpartum Fatigue: Planet Birthin' Blues 'n' Bliss

Did the Earth move for you on 11-11-11? Did you feel replete, complete — and absolutely knackered on Saturday, November 12th? I sure did.

At first I attributed my extreme weariness to the bad fall I took Thursday night, which left me barely able to walk on 11/11/11. Talk about being forced to slow down! Then, as I began checking in with others, I realized this was a system-wide energy outage: the exhaustive exhaustion of assimilating a higher frequency, crossing the threshold, midwifing Earth in rebirth! Gaia herself has been cleansing in preparation for becoming a star; it rained on Friday where I dwell.

By sunny Sunday, the exuberance of the new was shining through. Saturday felt like the First Day; it continues to seem like a world washed clean. And yes, we've got a ways to journey; no child graduates a few days after exiting the womb!

The days ahead will not follow any script; one illuminating resource I'm in the midst of digesting (slowly!) is Finite and Infinite Games by James P. Carse, a penetrating inquiry into regarding life as play and possibility.

We're paving the new road as we walk it, or better yet, clearing a trail. In Bringers of the Dawn, The Pleiadians (channeled by Barbara Marciniak) called this experience "bushwhacking through consciousness". It's never been more literally true than now, as we enter the time that has been foretold for millennia: the Golden Age, the Age of Aquarius, the Fifth World, Home.

"I'll Have the Scrambled Communication On Toast…"

In The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (with apologies to Douglas Adams), Scrambled Communication might well be on the menu along with eggs over easy. Our personal filters are in overdrive as planetary energies accelerate past Warp 9, fueling glitches that are cosmically comic (and Mercury doesn't even go retrograde until Thanksgiving Day!).

This week alone, I've had two clients hear something very different from what I actually said, and two other people interpret my words with an exact opposite meaning. By the time I'd experienced the second such encounter I was beginning to pay attention; unless I'm suddenly speaking Choctaw, this isn't a language issue.

What's happening? We're in the midst of a dimensional merge, which can render once-ordinary communication quirky in ways that are sometimes humorous, sometimes hurtful, occasionally bizarre. Even when we think we're being abundantly clear — or that our meaning is blatantly obvious — it now pays to spell everything out very carefully, whether in person, by email, by phone or text message. Social media posts can also be misconstrued with greater ease now, not from intent, but from disparate frequency. Think of it as a global Doppler effect.

The answer, as always, is Love. Coming from a heartspace, there is no misinterpretation because everything sounds like yes, like being bathed in warmth, like nourishment. Unfortunately, except for the saintly among us, most of us still drop into and out of this high place, as we endeavor to dwell here. Yet we are forging heretofore-unimagined pathways of community and connection, from Occupy Global, which became a worldwide happening virtually overnight in October, to the imminent 11-11-11 ceremonies and celebrations slated for this Friday and weekend.

We're ushering in a new era, stepping into "a vision of life as play and possibility," as the subtitle of James P. Carse's seminal work, Finite and Infinite Games (which I'm now savoring, sentence by sentence) proposes. There is nothing to win, because there is nothing to lose. It's all theatre, a grand design of our minds, which are slowly surrendering to our hearts. We just need to keep reminding one another to order the Inspiration Salad, an all-inclusive meal that keeps us well fed forever — and Scrambled Communication may soon disappear from the menu for lack of interest.

Blessings!

The Forty Rules of Love

This beautiful and timely post is excerpted from The Forty Rules of Love: A Novel of Rumi by Elif Shafak. Thanks to Jean Hudon for the information!

Every true love and friendship is a story
of unexpected transformations


Rule 1
How we see God is a direct reflection of how we see ourselves.
If God brings to mind mostly fear and blame,
it means there is too much fear and blame welled inside us.
If we see God as full of love and compassion, so are we.


Rule 2
The path to the Truth is a labor of the heart, not of the head.
Make your heart your primary guide! Not your mind.
Meet, challenge, and ultimately prevail over your nafs (false ego) with your heart.
Knowing your ego (higher self/soul) will lead you to the knowledge of God.


Rule 3
Each and every reader comprehends the Holy Qur'an on a different level
in tandem with the depth of his understanding.
There are four levels of insight.
The first level is the outer meaning and it is the one that the majority of the people are content with.
Next is the Batini - the inner level.
Third, there is the inner of the inner.
And the fourth level is so deep it cannot be put into words,
and is therefore bound to remain indescribable.


Rule 4
You can study God through everything and everyone in the universe,
because God is not confined in a mosque, synagogue, or church.
But if you are still in need of knowing where exactly His abode is,
there is only one place to look for Him:
in the heart of a true lover.


Rule 5
Intellect and love are made of different materials.
Intellect ties people in knots and risks nothing,
but love dissolves all tangles and risks everything.
Intellect is always cautious and advises, 'Beware too much ecstasy,'
whereas love says, 'Oh, never mind!
Take the plunge!
Intellect does not easily break down,
whereas love can effortlessly reduce itself to rubble.
But treasures are hidden among ruins.
A broken heart hides treasures.


Rule 6
Most of the problems of the world stem from linguistic mistakes and simple misunderstandings.
Don't ever take words at face value.
When you step into the zone of love, language as we know it becomes obsolete.
That which cannot be put into words can only be grasped through silence.


Rule 7
Loneliness and solitude are two different things.
When you are lonely, it is easy to delude yourself into believing that you are on the right path.
Solitude is better for us, as it means being alone without feeling lonely.
But eventually it is best to find a person, the person who will be your mirror.
Remember, only in another person's heart can you truly see yourself and the presence of God within you.


Rule 8
Whatever happens in your life, no matter how troubling things might seem,
do not enter the neighborhood of despair.
Even when all doors remain closed, God will open a new path only for you.
Be thankful! It is easy to be thankful when all is well.
A Sufi is thankful not only for what he has been given but also for all that he has been denied.


Rule 9
Patience does not mean to passively endure.
It means to be farsighted enough to trust the end result of a process.
What does patience mean?
It means to look at the thorn and see the rose, to look at the night and see the dawn.
Impatience means to be so shortsighted as to not be able to see the outcome.
The lovers of God never run out of patience,
for they know that time is needed for the crescent moon to become full.


Rule 10
East, west, south, or north makes little difference.
No matter what your destination, just be sure to make every journey a journey within.
If you travel within, you'll travel the whole wide world and beyond.


Rule 11
The midwife knows that when there is no pain,
the way for the baby cannot be opened and the mother cannot give birth.
Likewise for a new Self to be born, hardship is necessary.
Just as clay needs to go through intense heat to become strong,
Love can only be perfected in pain.


Rule 12
The quest for Love changes us.
There is no seeker among those who search for Love who has not matured on the way.
The moment you start looking for love, you start to change within and without.


Rule 13
There are more fake gurus and false teachers in this world than the number of stars in the visible universe.
Don't confuse power-driven, self-centered people with true mentors.
A genuine spiritual master will not direct your attention to himself or herself
and will not expect absolute obedience or utter admiration from you,
but instead will help you to appreciate and admire your inner self.
True mentors are as transparent as glass.
They let the light of God pass through them.


Rule 14
Try not to resist the changes that come your way.
Instead let life live through you.
And do not worry that your life is turning upside down.
How do you know that the side you are used to is better than the one to come?


Rule 15
God is busy with the completion of your work, both outwardly and inwardly.
He is fully occupied with you.
Every human being is a work in progress that is slowly but inexorably moving toward perfection.
We are each an unfinished work of art both waiting and striving to be completed.
God deals with each of us separately because humanity is a fine art of skilled penmanship
where every single dot is equally important for the entire picture.


Rule 16
It's easy to love a perfect God, unblemished and infallible that He is.
What is far more difficult is to love fellow human beings with all their imperfections and defects.
Remember, one can only know what one is capable of loving.
Unless we learn to love God's creation, we can neither truly love nor truly know God.


Rule 17
Real filth is the one inside.
The rest simply washes off.
There is only one type of dirt that cannot be cleansed with pure waters,
and that is the stain of hatred and bigotry contaminating the perfect soul.
You can purify your body through abstinence and fasting,
but only love will purify your heart.


Rule 18
The whole universe is contained within a single human being - you.
Everything that you see around, including the things you might not be fond of
and even the people you despise or abhor, is present within you in varying degreed.
Therefore, do not look for Sheitan outside yourself either.
The devil is not an extraordinary force that attacks from without.
It is an ordinary voice within.
If you get to know yourself fully,
facing with honesty and hardness both your dark and bright sides,
you will arrive at a supreme form of consciousness.
When a person knows himself or herself, he or she knows God.


Rule 19
If you want to change the way others treat you,
you should first change the way you treat yourself.
Unless you learn to love yourself, fully and sincerely,
there is no way you can be loved.
Once you achieve that stage, however, be thankful for every thorn that others might throw at you.
It is a sign that you soon will be showered with roses.


Rule 20
Fret not where the road will take you.
Instead concentrate on the first step.
That's the hardest part and that's what you are responsible for.
Once you take that step, let everything do what it naturally does and the rest will follow.
Do not go with the flow.
Be the flow.


Rule 21
We are all created in His image, and yet we were each created different and unique.
No two people are alike.
No two hearts beat to the same rhythm.
If God had wanted everyone to be the same, He would have made it so.
Therefore, disrespecting differences and imposing your thoughts on others
is tantamount to disrespecting God's holy scheme.


Rule 22
When a true lover of God goes into a tavern,
the tavern becomes his chamber of prayer,
but when a wine bibber goes into the same chamber, it becomes his tavern.
In everything we do, it is our hearts that make the difference, not our outer appearances.
Sufis do not judge other people on how they look or who they are.
When a Sufi stares at someone, he keeps both eyes closed
and instead opens a third eye - the eye that sees the inner realm.


Rule 23
Life is a temporary loan, and this world is nothing but a sketchy imitation of Reality.
Only children would mistake a toy for the real thing.
And yet human beings either become infatuated with the toy or disrespectfully break it and throw it aside.
In this life stay away from all kinds of extremities,
for they will destroy your inner balance.
Sufis do not go to extremes.
A Sufi always remains mild and moderate.


Rule 24
The human being has a unique place among God's creation.
"I breathed into him of My Spirit," God says.
Each and every one of us without exception is designed to be God's delegate on earth.
Ask yourself, just how often do you behave like a delegate, if you ever do so?
Remember, it falls upon each of us to discover the divine spirit inside and live by it.


Rule 25
Hell is in the here and now. So is heaven.
Quit worrying about hell or dreaming about heaven, as they are both present inside this very moment.
Every time we fall in love, we ascend to heaven.
Every time we hate, envy, or fight someone, we tumble straight into the fires of hell


Rule 26
The universe is one being.
Everything and everyone is interconnected through an invisible web of stories.
Whether we are aware of it or not, we are all in silent conversation.
Do no harm. Practice compassion.
And do not gossip behind anyone's back - not even a seemingly innocent remark!
The words that comes out of your mouth do not vanish but are perpetually stored in infinite space,
and they will come back to us in due time.
One man's pain will hurt us all.
One man's joy will make everyone smile.


Rule 27
This world is like a snowy mountain that echoes your voice.
Whatever you speak, good or evil, will somehow come back to you.
Therefore, if there is someone who harbors ill thoughts about you,
saying similarly bad things about him will only make matters worse.
You will be locked in a vicious circle of malevolent energy.
Instead for forty days and nights say and think nice things about that person.
Everything will be different at the end of forty days, because you will be different inside.


Rule 28
The past is an interpretation. The future is an illusion.
The world does not move through time as if it were a straight line,
proceeding from the past to the future.
Instead time moves through and within us, in endless spirals.
Eternity does not mean infinite time, but simply timelessness.
If you want to experience eternal illumination, put the past
and the future out of your mind and remain within the present moment.


Rule 29
Destiny doesn't mean that your life has been strictly predetermined.
Therefore, to leave everything to fate and to not actively contribute
to the music of the universe is a sign of sheer ignorance.
The music of the universe is all-pervading and it is composed on forty different levels.
Your destiny is the level where you will play your tune.
You might not change your instrument but how well to play is entirely in your hands.


Rule 30
The true Sufi is such that even when he is unjustly accused,
attacked, and condemned from all sides,
he patiently endures, uttering not a single bad word about any of his critics.
A Sufi never apportions blame.
How can there be opponents or rivals or even "others"
when there is no "self" in the first place.
How can there be anyone to blame when there is only One?


Rule 31
If you want to strengthen your faith, you will need to soften inside.
For your faith to be rock solid, your heart needs to be as soft as a feather.
Through an illness, accident, loss or fright, one way or another,
we all are faced with incidents that teach us how to become less selfish and judgmental,
to become milder, while some others end up becoming even harsher than before.
The only way to get closer to Truth is to expand your heart
so that it will encompass all humanity and still have room for more Love.


Rule 32
Nothing should stand between you and God. Not imams, priest, rabbis.
Or any other custodians of moral or religious leadership.
Not spiritual masters, not even your faith.
Believe in your values and your rules, but never lord them over others.
If you keep breaking other people's hearts, whatever religious duty you perform is no good.
Stay away from all sorts of idolatry, for they will blur your vision.
Let God and only God be your guide.
Learn the Truth, my friend, but be careful not to make a fetish out of your truths.


Rule 33
While everyone in this world strives to get somewhere and become someone,
only to leave it all behind after death, you aim for the supreme stage of nothingness.
Live this life as light and empty as the number zero.
We are no different from a pot.
It is not the decorations outside but the emptiness inside that holds us straight.
Just like that, it is not what we aspire to achieve but the consciousness of nothingness that keeps us going.


Rule 34
Submission does not mean being weak or passive.
It leads to neither fatalism nor capitulation. Just the opposite.
True power resides in submission - to a power that comes from within.
Those who submit to the divine essence of life will live in unperturbed tranquility and peace
even when the whole wide world goes through turbulence after turbulence.


Rule 35
In this world, it is not similarities or regularities that take us a step forward, but blunt opposites.
And all the opposites in the universe are present within each and very one of us.
Therefore the believer needs to meet the unbeliever residing within.
And the nonbeliever should get to know the silent faithful in him.
Until the day one reaches the stage of Insan-I Kamil, the perfect human being,
faith is a gradual process and one that necessitates its seeming opposite: disbelief.


Rule 36
The world is erected upon the principle or reciprocity.
Neither a drop of kindness nor a speck of evil will remain unreciprocated.
Fear not the plots, deceptions, or tricks of other people.
If someone is setting up a trap, remember, so is God.
He is the biggest plotter.
Not even a leaf stirs outside God's knowledge.
Simply and fully believe in that.
Whatever God does, He does beautifully.


Rule 37
God is a meticulous clockmaker.
So precise is His order that everything on earth happens in its own time.
Neither a minute late nor a minute early.
And for everyone without exception, the clock works accurately.
For each there is a time to love and a time to die.


Rule 38
It is never too late to ask yourself, "Am I ready to change the life I am living?
Am I ready to change within?"
Even if a single day in your life is the same as the day before, it surely is a pity.
At every moment and with each new breath, one should be renewed and renewed again.


Rule 39
While the parts change, the whole remains the same.
For every thief who departs this world, a new one is born.
And every decent person who passes away is replaced by a new one.
In this way not only does nothing remain the same but also nothing really changes.


Rule 40
A life without love is of no account.
Don't ask yourself what kind of love you should seek,
spiritual or material, divine or mundane, Eastern or Western
Divisions only lead to more divisions.
Love has no labels, no definitions.
It is what it is, pure and simple.
Love is the water of life. And a lover is a soul of fire.
The universe turns differently when fire loves water.

Approaching The 11:11:11 Gateway

Six years ago this month, I blogged about the upcoming 11:11 portal, which also equaled 11:11:11 numerologically: 11 + 11 + 2005 (7) = 2+2+7 = 11. (Of course, this year we won't want to add up the elevens, of we'll end up with 6!).

While I'll be covering the upcoming Stargate extensively in my November What Shines newsletter, this information from 2005 is extremely on-point:

Archangel Michael through Celia Fenn calls the 11:11:11 the Doorway to Absolute Integrity, an alignment of all aspects of our higher and lower selves. This balance is achieved through the Heart chakra, and will not be an easy passage, as everything that isn't aligned with your higher purpose will fall away — including work and relationships.

Michael says that "Energetic and Physical Symptoms of the 11:11:11 Stargate may include:

* Physical exhaustion and the need to sleep very long hours. This is because the physical and emotional bodies are aligning with the higher vibrations of the spiritual bodies to facilitate the complete alignment of higher and lower aspects.

* Emotional stress and the ending of relationships. Everything that is not in integrity will end. Some endings may include hostility as repressed angers come to the surface.

* Depression and sadness. A feeling of being unable to cope or of failing. Fear not: this is meant to be and your higher aspect is guiding the alignment process. It is not a test and there is nothing to pass or fail. If you are experiencing these symptoms of the alignment, then you have succeeded in this next step of the Ascension process.

* An increase in the apparent chaos of life. As you become more centered within the peace and stillness of your Soul and Divine Essence in the alignment process, the outer world will appear even more chaotic and frenetic. Do not allow this to pull you out of balance. Stay within your calm and peace.

* Feelings of emptiness and loneliness and becoming tearful. This is part of the complete surrender to the higher aspect. You have released the hold of the lower ego self and surrendered to the guidance of the higher. This process of alignment represents a 'no space' or 'void' in which the ego self may feel very alone and lost. Do not allow this to overwhelm you. Just know it will pass and you will move forward into the full realization of your potential as a human angel.

* Deep feelings of peace and gratitude as the alignment is completed and you move into the full experience of the 11:11:11 portal. As you wake up to the inner changes you will celebrate the intense power that you will feel as the higher and lower aspects lock together and the flow of crystal energy and higher awareness moves through your bodies and into the planet's crystal grid system. You will begin to feel a sense of complete harmony between yourself and the planet as your ninth dimensional energies activate fully into the crystal grid system. It is time to celebrate!"

This Is Your Brain on Earth's Magnetic Field: Another 2012 Perspective

Four years ago, I was riveted by Barbara Hand Clow's astonishing premise that a cataclysm circa 9500 BC plunged humanity from unity consciousness into duality and survival mode, which is still encoded in our limbic brains — even as this tectonic shift transmuted the planet herself into sacred geometry! I summarized her work in Back to the Future: Remembering How to Live As One with the All.

Now Aluna Joy Yax'kin ups the ante with this information about the Earth's magnetic field and our minds:

"Sri Kalki Bhagavan says: "As the Earth's molten core is rotating, the magnetic field is created. The thought sphere of the human mind is located in the Earth's magnetic field. This magnetic field has been weakening dramatically over the last ten years. Now, in physics there is a parameter called 'Schumann's Resonance'. Using that we can determine the strength of the Earth's magnetic field. While for many centuries it was constant around 7.8 cycles per second, during the last 7-8 years it has risen to 11 cycles per second and is continuing to increase dramatically. If you work it out mathematically, it appears that by the year 2012, the 'Schumann's Resonance' is likely to be 13 cycles per second. When this resonance is 13 cycles per second, the Earth’s core would stop rotating.

"With the magnetic field gone, your mind is gone. When I say 'your mind', what I mean is your 'samskaras'. The pressure of the past 11,000 years of samskaras will vanish."

This means we are literally starting with a clean slate, and can choose to source our future from the heart of wholeness.

Sri Kalki Bhagavan adds, "Your heart and the Earth’s heart are connected. The Earth’s heart can be influenced by your heart and vice versa. That is why it is essential that your heartbeat synchronize with the Earth’s resonance. This means your heart must flower. Your heart will flower when you discover love in your relationships."

What we've known intuitively is being actualized now in each human being and in our beloved Gaia. Heart synchronization creates the wave of love that carries us into the next stage of evolution!