10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace

Thanks to lightworker Harusami, I've just discovered WisdomFlash, which features a variety of inspirational flash presentations. This one is prolific author Wayne Dyer's 10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace.

Enjoy remembering, as I did!

Coming Home: The Weeping, The Sighing, The Gnashing Of Teeth

We reached critical mass in August--when 51% of the energy and consciousness on Earth was at last vibrating to Divine Love and Source Consciousness--and now that the veil has been lifted, you may feel just a little strange. It's a tremendous adjustment, a global course correction of sorts, and crying from joy is as natural as weeping from fear.

Karen Bishop, in her latest alert, The Loneliness, says feeling off balance and acutely lonely, wanting to jump out of your skin and feeling disconnected, are all normal manifestations of arriving in the higher realms. For many of us, it's truly being a "stranger in a strange land." I remember when my body felt exactly as described, when I was going through the wave of awakening that took place in 1993. I had no one to turn to at that time who could explain what was happening to me, and I did weep with abandon all of one day, with a compassionate friend holding me, bewildered. Yet for all my confusion, I sensed something wondrous was happening within me. And that was just the beginning.

Well, now "the gang's all here," as the saying goes. If you haven't entered this gateway yet, you will soon, because this is the Shift of the Ages, when, as another Lightbringer, Patricia Cota-Robles, says, "the whole of creation is breathed into a new level of Godhood."

Know that it's OK; all IS in Divine Right Order, and the loneliness you may be experiencing now will pass. In the higher realms there is no separation, and we are now going to be linking up with our soul families as never before. The joy of reconnecting, and re-membering (making membership again) will be unlike any connection we've ever known, because it's such a deep joining through the cosmic heart of All-That-Is.

Karen counsels, "If things seem chaotic and confusing, know that we have net yet read the driver's manual for the higher ways of being...As things may feel upside down and inside out, it is only because we are now finally in the vibrations of rightside up, and the old realities are merely trying to adjust and align."

Enjoy the flume ride of Now, remember to come from your heart and not your head, and take time to taste the wonder of this newness on both your spiritual and physical tongues. It's the nectar of the Gods, and it is now ours. Heaven on Earth has arrived, regardless of outward appearances. That's only the last of the darkness, burning away.

Blessed Be.

Opening the Heart to World Service Meditation: 10/8/05

Calling all Lightbearers! Help accelerate planetary awakening from the comfort of your own consciousness!

Please join a global meditation, "Opening the Heart to World Service," on Saturday, October 8th (Sunday a.m. in Australia and Japan). Full details, here: Worldwide Meditation, including a time zone calculator. The link-up begins at 10 pm GMT, which is 6 pm on the US East Coast and 3 pm on the West Coast.

Brits Revoke USA Independence

I just received the following hilarious e-mail from a teammate in South Africa, via Australia (we really are an amazing global network!) Given the current state of leadership in the US, revoking our independence until we grow up might not be such a bad idea (sort of like grounding a teenager who has exceeded parental boundaries).

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"In light of your failure to elect a competent President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately. Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Kansas, which she does not fancy).

Your new prime minister, Tony Blair, will appoint a governor for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire will be circulated next year to determine whether anyone noticed.

To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect: You should look up 'revocation' in the Oxford English Dictionary. Then look up 'aluminium', and check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it.

The letter 'u' will be reinstated in words such as 'favour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters. The suffix 'ize' will be replaced by the suffix 'ise'.

Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (Look up vocabulary). Using the same 27 words interspersed with filler noises such as 'like' and 'you know' is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication.

There is no such thing as US English. We will tell Microsoft on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter 'u' and the elimination of 'ize'.

You will relearn your original national anthem, 'God Save the Queen'.

July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.

You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not adult enough to be independent. Guns should be handled only by adults. If you're not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, then you're not grown up enough to own a gun. Therefore you will no longer be permitted to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. A permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

All American cars are hereby banned. They are rubbish, and this is for your own good - when we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.

All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

The Former USA will adopt UK petrol prices (petrol will no longer be referred to as gasoline) - roughly $6/US gallon.

You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed with vinegar, not catsup.

The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. American brands will be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.

Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie MacDowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.

You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play Rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies). Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game that is not played outside America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable.

You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.

An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).

Thank you for your co-operation."

Radical Trust

Karen Bishop says that after our latest ascension leap, the ensuing recalibration period may feel like prison energy, in which we feel trapped in a none-too-pleasant existence not of our choosing.

I'm an Aquarian, and we're known for being ahead of our time (or sometimes just ahead of ourselves), but--I've actually felt the joyous freedom of new forward momentum after 5 years in metaphoric chains! So whether you're feeling newly released or like a captured angel, it's wise to remember that if you're being denied what you dearly desire, it's probably because something more attuned to who and where you are now is waiting in the wings.

Karen counsels,

"If you have felt like ending it all, giving up, and throwing in the towel, know that we are simply at the threshold of a whole New way of being and a whole New reality. And know as well, that with the light seemingly gone for the moment, this is also just a time for the so-called 'darkness' to be allowed free reign to destroy itself, just in time for the adjustment to become complete for the New higher realms reality.
 
"The darkness may seem 'big', with attacks, inappropriate behavior resulting from a fear-based consciousness, and certainly much relating to MONEY. But this is only because our monetary system is being readied for an eventual fall. If you can, have radical trust that all is as it should be. Be in the moment and simply 'be'. Tend to a hobby or spend time in nature. And in this space of being, you will most likely experience the New heart connecting energy that has arrived with this latest shift, as we are connecting now more and more through our hearts instead of our minds."

Words of Wisdom from Chief Joseph

Thanks to Violette Ruffley for this morning's reminder: How the Universe Really Works, channeled from Chief Joseph:

"Friends, you live in a Universe that is exquisitely perfect in every way. We realize that may sound like a ridiculous thing to say, at least to many of you. Especially when you look at the world around you, including your latest huge human disaster, the hurricane called Katrina.

However, the Universe works in an entirely predictable manner. It is governed by the law of attraction. And everything that happens, happens according to the law of attraction. No exceptions.

And so, you might ask, 'What is this law of attraction that governs the Universe and all of our lives?'

Well, we've addressed that question many times over the years. But it keeps coming up. And probably will keep coming up. And so we will keep addressing it.

The very essence of the law of attraction is this: You live in a Universe of vibrations. Vibration is all that is. Similar vibrations resonate with each other. Dissimilar ones clash with each other. But our real point and focus here today are the similar vibrations.

To put it simply, you attract into your lives (as individuals and as groups, large or small) what you focus mostly on.

Your focus, your attention to anything, sets up a resonance, a vibration. And the Universe responds instantly to that vibration.

And instantly whatever matches that vibration, or resonates with it, is on its way to you.

So, as we've said often before, it behooves you to pay attention to what you're paying attention to.

Let's take some examples from John's experience.

As he was jogging, he started thinking about snakes. And lo and behold, a snake appeared almost instantly.

In another of his experiences that same morning, a particular toothpaste he’d been wanting a long time suddenly manifested.

We take these two examples because, among other things, they illustrate how irrelevant time is when it comes to manifesting your hearts' desires.

Time is, in fact, often the biggest block you face in creating what you want in your lives. Not because time matters -- it doesn't. The Universe couldn't care less about time. It's you who care about time.

So when you ask for something, or give your attention to something, no matter how fleeting that attention may be, it's instantly on its way to you.

And if you simply allow it to come, and if you really do not care when it comes, it will often come to you quickly, or even instantly. When that happens, you frequently call it a 'miracle.'

But, often, your focus, after you've asked for something, is on the fact that it's not there yet. Well, then you've set up a contradictory vibration. And you thereby slow down the manifestation.

You live in a perfect Universe. But it's a Universe governed by its own law of attraction. And so, by its own law, the Universe cannot deliver to you something you're not ready to receive.

In other words, you cannot receive something that does not match where you are vibrationally.

On the other hand, the Universe can, and often will, deliver to you instantly whatever matches where you are vibrationally.

That, of course, friends, can work for or against you -- for or against what you're wanting to create.

So, again, it behooves you to pay attention to what you're paying attention to. Your predominant focus determines your predominant vibration.

And that predominant vibration determines all of your life experiences. All of them -- no exceptions.

And that is how the Universe really works."

Striking At The Citadel

We asked for acceleration, and the winds of change are answering us with gale force. Lovely Rita is meting out justice at 150 mph, and some pundits say it may be the end of the US economy as we know it.

Michael Ruppert, author of Crossing The Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil, says between Hurricane Katrina and the imminent destruction from Rita, US oil and natural gas production will be decimated to catastrophic levels. He calls it our "crude awakening," and the end of the US as a superpower.

What's certain is that we won't be pouring oil on these troubled waters. Rita's just handed Mr. Bush a ticket he can't pay with the US deficit.

But this is a "lower" world view. Let's broaden our perspective...

On September 2nd, as the nation was reeling from the fury unleashed in Louisiana, Golden Elk channeled the following message from the Mother about what was to happen next, and why:

EARTH CHANGES PROPHECY
As received by Cody Golden Elk on 9/2/2005

Today at 11:34 am, Earth-mountain time, I was shown a vision, by the Spiritual Hierarchy of Light (SHL), of the next great hurricane to strike the U.S.

"This will be one of the most destructive storms ever seen, its effects felt around the world. It will approach Houston, Texas from the Southeast, and lay waste a large portion of the Texas coast, like a category 5+ hurricane.

When I asked the SHL when this would occur in linear Earth time, they only replied 'soon', emphasizing that these events are like a 'one, two' punch, with the recent hurricane, Katrina, which destroyed New Orleans being the 'jab', and the coming hurricane hitting Houston being the much more forceful 'knock-out' punch. There will be some loss of life, but a much greater property destruction of oil refinery output.

The SHL wants those few Earth humans who will listen, to know that this is a direct strike from the Universal Spirit upon the infrastructure of the fossil fuel paradigm (oil business). The refineries in Houston and New Orleans for decades have polluted the oceans with noxious chemicals. Also, they produced much gasoline, which through car emissions have caused severe pollution of the Earth's atmosphere, resulting in cascading environmental degradation. Much of the military fuels used for the evils of the U.S. government in launching its numerous attacks worldwide (like Vietnam and Iraq) were also made in these places.

This is the 'beginning of the end' wake up call for the demise of the fossil fuel paradigm, and all the associated environmental destruction it has spawned. It is time for the Secret Government to stop withholding energy technology and for greed to end. The loss of life and property will be sad, but NOT NEARLY AS IMPORTANT AS THE LESSON: GREEDY EARTH HUMANS - STOP DESTROYING YOUR ONLY HOME, THE EARTH."

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In a grander sense, this current crisis is only one manifestation of a nation (and a world) in the midst of massive transformation, feeling the pressure to awaken and to shift behaviors or experience the consequences of limited, self-serving agendas.

Two superb astrologers, Paula Peterson and Judith Goldberg, MFA, say the planet Saturn's entry into Leo, the fiery lion, this past July, will be affecting us more than we can imagine. Saturn's placement influences attitudes and priorities, both personally and collectively. Leo's top priorities are self-expression and leadership.

This new configuration will most prominently affect the Baby Boomers born between August, 1938 and August, 1957 (which includes me!), who all have Pluto natally in Leo. Pluto is the planet of transformation; its keywords are "sex, death, rebirth."

Goldberg says, "Saturn conjunct Pluto, in fire sign Leo, will be heating up the waters." I know, from painful personal experience, that Pluto will do a slow, deliberate dance on you when you hold too tightly to the old. The Transformer cannot effect change unless you feed the sacred fire; in order for something new to be birthed, something old must die. Our willing surrender of these attachments marks an ego-death. Remember that the essence of the Lion is pride; in this case, a sense of entitlement. And pride goeth before a fall...

Are we being asked to relinquish our oil-dependent existence in order to grow as a species? It's a huge shift; life as we know it will radically change. It's terrifying.

I know I can't yet see how to get along without my car. Given my itinerant, home-less lifestyle these past five years, it's a necessity. I feel like a turtle, with my aging auto as my shell. But perhaps that's part of the Saturn in Cancer cycle (wanting to crawl into our shells and hide out from the world) that's now concluded.

These disasters (a word which means, "against the stars") are a global call to start regenerating our essential energy stores, which can never be depleted and will serve our transport far beyond 3-D. Sun (fire) and Air (wind) are as elemental as Love, and as plentiful. Maybe that's what Katrina and Rita, the Winds of Change, have come to remind us: "Harness the wind, your spirit-breath, learn to work with the resources rather than dominate them, and you will all be blessed beyond imagining as you walk forward into a New Dawn."

Equinox: Balancing Light and Dark

From my friend and fellow coach, Helene van Manen in Colorado, this inspiring and timely reminder from Clarissa Pinkola Estes, author of Women Who Run With the Wolves:

"One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul on deck shines like gold in dark times. The light of the soul throws sparks, can send up flares, builds signal fires ... causes proper matters to catch fire.

"To display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like these - to be fierce and to show mercy toward others, both - are acts of immense bravery and greatest necessity. Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully lit and willing to show it. If you would help to calm the tumult, this is one of the strongest things you can do. Do not lose heart. We were made for these times."

Angels Over the Gulf Coast

Bryan de Flores creates "accelerators" in the universal Language of Light to facilitate human evolution. He and visionary artist Daniel Holeman cocreated Angels Over the Gulf Coast as a way for all of us to energetically assist the area affected by Hurricane Katrina. Bryan also offers spiritual insight into why this latest Earth upheaval occurred.

Fire and Water: Reflections on 9/11, Katrina, and the Deeper Meaning of What We Unleash

Years ago, deep into my own spiritual emergence, I had startlingly prescient dreams; in one, the words, "violent emergency" reverberated through my head, both asleep and awake. It was a violent emergence; birth is fierce. There is an ocean of difference, however, between Nature's ferocity and that which is deliberately inflicted by human beings with their own agendas.

On this fourth anniversary of 9-1-1, I awoke to a beautiful, imminent fall day, sending mental blessings to all and feeling optimistic, as I generally do, about our collective evolution. My faith in the eventual outcome cannot be shaken.

And perhaps the news I discovered when I logged on this morning, astounding though it is, in a grander sense accelerates this process. People the world over are already outraged at President Bush's lackadaisical response to Katrina, which recalls his initial behavior when the Twin Towers fell. Perhaps that's because, in both instances, he was at cause, not at effect.

Read this story:
Explosive Residue Found On Failed Levee Debris!

Yes, the man is a black belt in uncontrolled rage; a wildfire. I am clearly no Bush fan. And yet...isn't he, in a way, also a convenient scapegoat?

What do I mean?

We shudder at the idea that the leader of one of the world's Superpowers could knowingly wreak havoc on innocent people. Hm. What, then, is the definition of war? It is only in recent memory (Iraq, Vietnam) that strong antiwar sentiment has held sway. For much of our history, it's been an acceptable means of "protecting our interests," "keeping the world safe for democracy," or any number of other platitudes. And if thousands, perhaps millions, of innocents had to die in the process, well, they were war heroes. And the villagers in other countries, slaughtered in the name of whatever diety one invoked, deserved death because they were "the enemy."

Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to the US House of Representatives and the only member of Congress to vote against US entry into both World Wars, once declared, "You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake."

She makes an enduring point. Did anyone "win" the Indonesian 'quake and tsunami? Are we "winning" the war in Iraq? Could Bush and Co. "win" this hurricane, even by intentionally exploding the levees holding back the floodwaters?

What's really going on here? What is the higher purpose of our "explosive" potential, of the impulse towards violence we all carry within us to a greater or lesser degree?

Fire and water are complements; harmonized, they elevate consciousness and bring about healing. I sang these words aloud often during my "dark night of the soul" journey. To read my recent e-newsletter on this topic (What Shines issue #49), my article, "Why We Need the Numinous," which discusses how to bring the sacred into your everyday life, or my special broadcast from 9/11/01, please e-mail me with your specific request in the subject line.

We need to embrace the true fire within us, and discover the myriad ways to use this potent energy for good. Becoming a spiritual warrior is a profile in courage. Spirit asks, "Have you the conviction to come from your heart? Are you willing to transmute war in the alchemical fire?" The fire within is the perfect peace of God/Goddess/Creator/Innate Intelligence, which expresses outwardly as enthusiasm (from the Greek, "possessed by God"), inwardly as a calm awareness.

We've mastered communicating from our wounds. Now we're in a pivotal age, creating a context in which it's safe to share who we are in love, in truth, in well-being. Our collective task is to marry scared and scarred with sacred, density with destiny, jaded with jubilant; to become inclusive not exclusive. Because none of us is truly free until all of us are.

This is one of the great gifts of these disasters (which means, "against the stars"): they bring us face to face with The Other, in our psyches and out in the world, so we can see how we're one and the same. All anyone can do is introduce you to yourself. And then, looking in the mirror of your brother's or sister's face, you can start to be kind to your own confusion, criticism, sadness, or fear. Acknowledging our strand in the evolutionary web is, in itself, a giant step on the path to peace.

Indigenous peoples have always known this. The Mayans say, In Lakéch: I am another yourself.

It's time to create your own crucible: a safe container for your energies. Envision your inner chalice, and place this cup, brimming over with fiery potential and the waters of life, into your heart, where it will become an eternal wellspring of inspiration and renewal--and, in time, of unconditional love.

Blessed Be.

Birthing Our Mega Beings

Soleira Green calls it "megamorphing." The UK-based lightworker, one of a growing number of us who has her consciousness on the pulse of human evolution, says, "Everything has been both speeding up and slowing down all at the same time." She recalled to mind a phrase that has been weaving through my awareness for years: "Time seems both elongated and compressed." I don't always know at the time what I know means--but I know that I know it!

Fortunately, guides such as Soleira can articulate the "what" clearly. She observes, "We're changing so fast that you just think you've got your head around the latest shift and whoosh, the next one swirls into play."

Intriguingly, given Hurricane Katrina's arrival, Soleira states that, "In the past 2-3 weeks, there's been a sense of being in the eye of a storm, with swirling, high vibrational energies pouring in and yet feeling like you're in the quiet centre just before something even bigger moves fully into play. You may have been experiencing some of the symptoms of this evolutionary movement over the past weeks ...

... sleeping in the middle of the afternoons, unable to keep your eyes open and your mind alert
... an increased sensitivity to, and a need to stay quiet and away from, the hubbub of 3D life
... losing your sense of self as a gracious (and sometimes not so gracious) surrender into becoming something entirely brand new

"Our abilities to see, sense, know and create are enhancing by the day. Our understanding of a new omni-dimensional reality is enriching by the moment. And our integration of high vibrational energy is becoming slightly more comfortable as we find our way in a new evolutionary paradigm of reality.

"What is this new being that we're morphing into? One that is ...

... connected with a totality of self, with others and with Life
... wise and knowing, integrating an expansive and vibrant living intelligence with fresh new wisdoms and 'whopper' knowing
... willing to live totally present in the NOW, surrendering all that has been in every moment
... dancing with potential, always willing to bring the greatest possibilities into play.

"We are moving from small human beings with problems to solve to vast, amazing beings with the capacity to act creatively and wisely for an expanding reality. Humanity is megamorphing, evolving beyond our current understanding of what's possible in such a short period of time. Everyone is being touched by this shift as we move into a pulsing, vibrant, creational reality. This new reality is already here. These shifts we're experiencing are simply opening us up to this new world that already exists all around us, one which we ourselves have been co-creating on all the greatest levels of ourselves.

"The implications this has for human beings is phenomenal ...

... the ability to consciously and wondrously co-create our new reality
... the sense of being connected to something far vaster than our individual selves, yet still being wonderfully unique in everything we do
... a willingness to step into a new kind of visionary leaderfulness with stewardship and partnership for the Earth, the cosmos and Life itself.

"Creative living is powering into reality as so many are looking for the key to rich, fulfilling living and being. The answer ... the key ... is to playfully surrender who you think you are and dive with gleeful abandon into this wondrous new becoming. The more of us that are willing to embrace and live this sourceful, new, creational beingness now, the sooner everyone gets to dance within its magical reality."

Exciting, isn't it? I've written often "holding the both/and," dancing into Divine newness. If you'd like to read an issue of my e-newsletter, What Shines, that speaks to our evolving reality, please e-mail me, and request WS #49. Blessings!

Katrina: Chaos or Chalice?

Patricia Diane Cota-Robles has an intriguing higher view of the Gulf catastrophe: Katrina...The Bigger Picture. She says it's one more example of mass ego destruction, and will enable the United States to fulfill its Divine Destiny. Here's an excerpt:

"AMERICA is an anagram for the I AM RACE. This country, the New World, was destined to model to the world the true meaning of Freedom and the Oneness of the Family of Humanity. The I AM RACE was to be a body of souls comprised of all races, all religions, all nationalities, all creeds and all persuasions living together in freedom, harmony, equality and prosperity. The original plan was that we would respect and honor our differences, while reveling in the intricacies of our various cultures, clothes, food, customs, music, styles, talents, skills and other diversities. Needless to say, we have lost our way. But it is not to late to change our course of direction, and the entire Company of Heaven is standing in readiness to assist us.

"What if the purging of Hurricane Katrina is occurring in America to give all of us the opportunity to open our hearts and minds? What if this catastrophic event is the pain we needed to motivate us all to reach out to each other, to help us realize our Oneness and that we are all in this together? What if Katrina is designed to inspire us to heal the heartbreaking schisms, the separation and the polarization existing within the Family of Humanity abiding in this country?

"The destiny of America is to model for the world the I AM RACE, the Family of Humanity, living, loving, working, succeeding and prospering together with equality, respect, integrity, honesty, freedom and reverence for ALL Life. If we cannot demonstrate this in our own country, how can we possibly teach democracy to anyone else?

"The oppressive bonds of our human egos have been burst asunder, and that fear-based aspect of our fallen personality has been taken into the heart of our I AM Presence to be Loved free. Now it is going be infinitely easier for all of us to return to the path of Divine Love that reflects who we truly are, here and now.

"Natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina have a way of leveling the playing field in the Family of Humanity. The people who are being the most adversely affected at this moment as a result of Hurricane Katrina are the people in America who have often been the most oppressed, the most poverty stricken and the most disenfranchised. This is an overwhelming opportunity for every American to reach out and to help lift these people up. The Universal Law is...'As I AM lifted up, all Life is lifted up with me.' If we come together as the Family of Humanity and work to lift up the most downtrodden people in America, all Life in America will be lifted up. That statement is not just wishful thinking or a lofty platitude. It is a profound Truth that will change the course of direction for this blessed country.

"When we set aside our anger and our fears and come together with open hearts and minds, our I AM Presence and the Company of Heaven will guide us unerringly. Together we will cocreate viable solutions to the maladies existing on this planet, and we will create win-win situations in all facets of our lives, and the Divine Destiny of the I AM RACE and these United States of America will be fulfilled."

A Wealth of Wonder And Awakening

It's a new Moon in Virgo, with powerful energies streaming to Earth through the Sirius Stargate that opened in August. Archangel Michael says You are the Bridge, a thrilling acknowledgment that, at last, legions of Earth's inhabitants are awakening to who they (you) truly are.

Prepare for more of those "intense periods of emotional energy clearing that will manifest as depression, anger, physical illness and general feelings of exhaustion and malaise as your bodies once again detoxify and balance." Hm, not fun. But, part of the purge of the lower frequencies--just as Katrina and last December's earthquake/tsunami are.

Michael's counsel for the best ways to ride these galactic energy waves is the same wisdom that always applies for healing and clearing:

* Simplify your diet
* Drink lots of pure water to assist the detoxification process
* Exercise!
* Fresh air (this means actually going outside, away from your computer)
* Rest!
* Letting go.

Michael reminds us, "Many of you experience these energies as difficult, because you struggle to hold your balance. Many of you are also releasing lifetimes of negativity and fear, and you feel as if you may never move beyond the struggles and the discomfort and the loneliness of this process. We want you to know that the easiest way to integrate these energies and to hold your balance is to seek your joy in complete trust that it will be given to you."

Find and follow your bliss through creative expression, and through sharing love and intimacy and support with your Soul family. Remember, "ultimately, all on the planet are family. You are ascending as One Earth and One Family, and it is your Joy now to assist each other across that Bridge into the New Reality called New Earth."

Blessed Be!

Taking New Orleans By Storm

Although it's been decades since I've listened to Led Zeppelin, for the past several days the song "When the Levee Breaks" has been ringing in my head. Clearly, this year is about surrendering to the power of Nature, and especially, about honoring the water element. Water relates to emotion, to our inner life, and brings cleansing and renewal. We've entered the Age of Aquarius, the Water Bearer.

Yet most of us resist looking within until forced, either by external or internal circumstances, to let go of illusory control and make that crucial journey.

Gaia herself has been telling us, through our language, what we need to know now. Last December 26th, the Earth quaked. Now, the inimitable Gulf city where jazz reigned supreme has been engulfed. We can no longer expend energy focusing on the party (Democrat, Republican, or Bourbon Street). Like the Indonesian tsunami, this is a direct hit. We're being called to the core.

In the eye of a hurricane, all is still. Can we make room in our hearts, minds and Palm Pilots for this kind of exploration? There will be no rebirth until we do.

The London-based Guardian Unlimited writes, From the Ruins, An Opportunity for Rebirth. We've just entered the 8th month in the Chinese Year of the Phoenix, a legendary bird symbolic of transformation and regeneration. It's a global opportunity to rise from the alchemical ashes and birth something new. But we must choose it, choose it, choose it--or lose it...

In January, I discussed the spiritual causes and effects of the Asian earthquake and tsunami in my e-newsletter, What Shines. That article is online, here: Watershed. What an observer close to Ground Zero said then applies equally well to Katrina's devastation, because these messages are all pieces of the same planetary puzzle:

"Chennai is considered the spiritual and intellectual capital of India. Every moment of the day there are prayers going on in some place or other. Yet all the prayers failed to appease the fury of Nature. By striking at the very citadel of spirituality, the foundations of faith itself have been shaken. And it has to be a global effort to rebuild this faith--piece by piece. It is going to be an arduous task...but when we are through, the Spirit of the entire human race will have become INVINCIBLE. Not wet by water, nor burnt by fire; not pierced by sword, nor cast away by wind--as described in the Bhagavad Gita.

"Maybe we will never really understand the reason behind all this. But we need to pick up our pieces and rebuild our lives. And while rebuilding, we should make peace our foundation, strength our pillars, virtue our brick and mortar and love our doors to invite our fellow beings into our heart. The more peace and harmony we invite into our lives, the more joy and happiness we will see in our world."

Congressman Dennis Kucinich, who should be in the White House now, expresses with his usual insight and eloquence what the real weapons of mass destruction are: indifference, and prioritizing corporate interests over the common good. Read his call to action: Floor Statement of Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich: The Supplemental for Hurricane Katrina

The president's desultory attitude towards national emergencies seems to suggest that his soul has been co-opted by what novelist Philip Pullman calls "the Specters of Indifference." In the ingenious trilogy, His Dark Materials, Pullman's Specters devour people's souls as soon as they reach puberty--the age when passion (and compassion) become more important than self-centered child's play. After a Specter absorbs an adult's soul, the person becomes a walking zombie, observing even catastrophe with "perfect indifference."

Sound like anyone we know?

We're experts at taking a town (or a country) by storm. Domination and destruction breed more of the same, as Gaia is trying to show us. It's time to stop the madness, heal from the Dominator virus, and come home to ourselves, on every level. We do need to be engulfed--by unconditional love, which millions across the US and around the world have been demonstrating by opening their hearts, homes and wallets to Katrina survivors. As they did after the tsunami. As they did after 9-1-1.

The way out is always in, and through. Poet David Whyte, one of my favorite visionary voices for these times, has a potent piece applicable to now. As you assimilate it, ask yourself, "How can I begin to make the journey home to my true self?"

The Journey

Above the mountains
the great geese turn into
the light again

painting their
black silhouettes
on an open sky.

Sometimes everything
has to be
enscribed across
the heavens

So you can find
the one line
already written
inside you.

Sometimes it takes
a great sky
to find that

first, bright
and indescribable
wedge of freedom
in your own heart.

Sometimes with
the bones of the black
sticks left when the fire
has gone out

someone has written
something new
in the ashes
of your life.

You are not leaving
you are arriving.

The Wisdom of Eros: Antidote to War

If you're based in the UK (or will be there the weekend of Sept. 2-4th), I strongly urge you to take advantage of a sterling opportunity to link up with some of the most innovative minds of our time, at The Great Rethinking conference in Bath.

Part of an ongoing spectrum of events known as The Prophets Conference, this particular confluence of allies features a dozen exceptional thinkers culled from a variety of arenas, including:

° quantum physicist Fred Alan Wolf, PhD (who was one of the scientists interviewed in What the Bleep Do We Know!?),
° poet extraordinaire David Whyte (whose brilliant line, "The rest of creation is waiting, breathless, for you to take your place" defines my lifework),
° spiritual teacher Andrew Cohen, founder of What Is Enlightenment? magazine,
° and theologian Thomas Moore, PhD, the author of Care of the Soul, SoulMates, and an astonishing new article, The New Epicureans: Sex and Violence, Pleasure and Pain, Grace and Decadence, which recasts the truth of the '60s in a 3rd millennium sensibility: Make Love Not War becomes Venus taming Mars, leading the way into a new dawn.

Moore writes, "Hidden beneath the conflicts and divisions of modern culture is a profound fear of life. This anxiety finds expression in both exaggerated images of sex and in various kinds of repression. What is needed today is the restoration of a Venusian sensibility and an Epicurean delight in the deep joys and everyday relationships and experiences. We badly need grace, mutual appreciation, and humor. Spiritual movements often overlook the sensual layer of life, thinking that virtue somehow stands in austerity and self-denial."

Moore's presentation at The Great Rethinking will be a personal and global appeal for grace and beauty as antidotes to conflict and violence. For the complete article, e-mail me with "Thomas Moore article" in the subject line.

Humming In Tune With the Higher Vibrations

This month's heralded a humdinger of an energy shift, and even knowing we're in the midst of it, riding the waves can leave you exhausted. Spiritual chronicler Karen Bishop, always on the edge of the Now, offers a balancing perspective on the Ascension Leap of Mid-August, aptly describing our realignment process as "internal tsunamis."

One point really resonated with me. I've been housesitting in Berkeley since mid-July, and feel like I'm being driven insane by the noise, dirt, and chaos of the city after so many years in serene, rural environments. The "me" who lived happily in San Francisco in the 1980s and early '90s has undergone a radical shift, and is no longer harmonic with these denser energies. Karen writes:

"For sensitives, these mismatches can be challenging. Mismatched vibrations can leave one in a state of short circuitry, with great knots and gagging in your stomach, with a tenseness and tightness which does not support the natural flow of source energy, and with an acute feeling that you do not belong anywhere. The old lower vibrating energies and ways can really make one feel ill. And it can be difficult as well to say 'YES!' to anything, as it seems that all presented to you and in your environment requires a 'NO!.'"

Yes, Karen, it's how I've felt exactly!

However, she reminds us that in the higher realms, all is perfect and this is simply part of the evolutionary process; that even apparent polarity or darkness "only exists to support us in summoning something different." And I know how deeply true this is; how many, many times the people and situations that have seemed to be my greatest nemesis have turned out to be great gifts in disguise, facilitating my own growth.

So have faith, dear fellow travelers. Allow the cleansing process to continue, be very kind to yourself, and know that you've chosen to be part of this amazing journey into the New, now. In your deepest being, trust what you know, and flow with it to the best of your ability. Hum yourself into the higher vibrations, and know you're tuning up and tuning in to the Music of the Spheres.

Blessings!

8:8 Update -- How Ascension Affects Your Health

We're in the midst of the most powerful planetary upgrade since 2001, according to Archangel Michael through Celia Fenn. It's a highly creative time, when the "Solar Feminine" energy blends the fire of the sacral chakra with the love of the heart chakra.

But it is a major clearing. Here are the symptoms you may experience as you integrate these powerful energies:

* Dizziness and Spaciness, as your Higher Chakras are activated by the powerful Higher Energies. Also some shakiness as the energies move into the entire system and put pressure on the meridians as they integrate.

* The Symptoms of Detoxification as the vibration of your body increases and it throws off toxins. These include headaches, diarrhea, nausea, etc.

* Exhaustion, as your body works to integrate and balance the new energies. It will be energetically overloaded. This may also be experienced as short term memory loss, forgetfulness and problems with time seeming too short.

* Intense dreams at night, as your psyche sorts through your Akashic records and integrates the new energies and light codes. This is tied in with intense cleansing at the Sacral Chakra as humans prepare to once again use this chakra in sacred service.

* Deep sadness and Depression, especially concerning relationships. This is because as a Collective, humans are releasing old patterns and energies of abuse and negativity in the Sacral Chakra and making way for new positive relationship patterns. This personal clearing has been accompanied by a Collective or Planetary clearing of the destructive nuclear energy trauma of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at this time. Many Lightworkers have also assisted in clearing these energies from the Earth's Akasha at this time and paving the way for the intense Orange-Pink or Solar Creative energy.

Awaken Your Divinity! August 13-18th Is A Golden Moment

This August is truly the time to light the Fire in your Soul!

The 19th Annual World Congress On Illumination takes place in Tucson, AZ August 13-18th, when a "critical mass of transfiguring Divine Love" will be reached on Earth, according to Patricia Diane Cota-Robles.

Can't be there in person? Join with your sisters and brothers virtually via World Puja, an Internet site dedicated to creating free live global webcasts for the purpose of planetary healing. World Puja will be broadcasting during the entire six-day event, and archiving the webcasts on their site.

To help raise your vibration in preparation for this influx of Divine Light, Patricia recommends several simple breathing exercises that awaken your I AM presence and release more limiting frequencies. You can follow the complete instructions at Era of Peace.

Of Soul Mates, Sapphire Children and Royalty

August has always been a key month for me, a time of amazing possibility. Probably it's that fiery Leonine energy. In 2005, the Lion's Gate ushered in with the heliacal rise of Sirius (see July 13th entry, "R U Sirius?") brings astonishing gifts:

Archangel Michael, channeled through Celia Fenn, says the period from the New Moon on August 4th through the Full Moon on August 19th will be the most intense for opening to these new energies streaming in from the Galactic Center — and it will also be challenging to maintain our perspective as the frequency continues to accelerate. Focus. Focus. Focus. And remember to radiate the Love that you are.

I'm personally excited that this cycle also ushers in a two-year window to undergo an "Initiation of the Soulmate Union." Since I've been consciously calling my soul mate since 1998, I am elated to think we might at last connect on the 3-D plane! Michael warns it will not be an easy initiation, and...I am ready to step forward to help create the pattern and pathway for those who follow! If you're ready to reune as well, call your Beloved to you now!

We're welcoming in a new level of Star Kids, too. If you gave birth or are about to give birth in 2005, your child will likely carry the "Royal" Sapphire and Diamond energy, and be attuned to the highest level of Christ Consciousness.

Archangel Michael explains, "In ancient Egypt, this advanced auric configuration was held by the Pharaoh and his family, and its code names were 'the Blue Nile' and 'the White Nile'. These represented the Fifth Dimension (blue) and the Ninth Dimension (white). It was the function of the Royal family and especially the Pharaoh, to hold the balance between these two levels in order to ensure abundance, prosperity and peaceful balance in Egypt.

"The Sapphire children are the 'Royal' children of the Planet. They will be serving the same function as the Pharaohs of the past. But, they will be your children...and they will teach you that you are all Royalty. You are powerful and wonderful Beings of Light and Love. Each one of you has the ability to move to this level at this time!"

What Will You Harvest at 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 8 "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). Lammas is a celebration of abundance, the harvest time, and a potent moment to bring ourselves back into alignment with the natural world.

An evocative description of this turning comes from a comprehensive mythology site with the delightful double-entendre title, Myth*ing Links, an annotated and illustrated collection of worldwide links to mythologies, fairytales and folklore, sacred arts and sacred traditions, loving compiled and updated by Kathleen Jenks, PhD:

"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..."

Jenks quotes 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 death-bed, 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..."

What needs to "die" so that the new can be born in your life?

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? With Saturn in Leo, the personal and practical dream must be ruled by the heart not the ego. What is your Sacred Dream? The Sacred Dream is your Highest Spiritual Dream."

This August 1st, especially if you've never honored Lammas before, join with me in remembering your relationship with the Earth and her cycles. Give thanks for the abundance of beauty, harmony, peace, love, healing, grace and balance you are inviting into your life and into the collective, and imagine your Sacred Dream into reality.

The quintessential song for invoking Gaia's healing Sacred Dream came through John Lennon. I must admit that feeling deeply into these words now, there is a cellular resonance I've never been conscious of before, although I've heard the song hundreds of times:

Imagine

~ John Lennon

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religon too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one.

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will live as one.