Author Archives: marcia

Deepak Chopra on Spirituality in the World

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Author, ‘War of the Worldviews’; Founder, The Chopra Foundation

Possibly a New World (Part 2)

Posted: 1/11/12 08:45 AM ET

It’s a well-worn truth that the modern world is built upon science and technology. But this truth doesn’t dominate everyday life as much as one might think. Science is materialistic, and it explains the world through objective data. People lead their lives, at least partly, apart from materialism. The spiritual side of life exists and always has, which defies objective data. So does art, which isn’t mystical, not to mention emotions, intuition, morality and much else that makes life worth living.

Most of the time we are satisfied with this kind of catch-as-catch-can dualism. One of the easiest precepts from Jesus to follow is “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and render unto God what is God’s.” If you substitute “science” or “materialism” for Caesar, everyone does exactly that, compartmentalizing personal and spiritual experience in a separate box from iPads, microwaves and space shuttles.

The problem is that a compartmentalized life feels inadequate, which is why a public debate has been ongoing for 200 years about whether God or science is the ultimate master of reality. The answer matters. If you plump for God then miracles, mysticism, the soul and invisible forces have a chance to be real. If you plump for science instead, then physical existence can be completely trusted and the rational mind will in time solve all apparent mysteries. In either case, dualism no longer pinches; some kind of non-dualism wins the day.

In my posts, articles and books I’ve argued that science can expand to include miracles and mysticism. There is no need to deny the miraculous if everything is a miracle. There is no mystery surrounding mysticism if we look into the subtle essence of the human mind. More importantly, a non-dual world based on consciousness would be a better world. The fact is that science won’t reach answers to every riddle, so plumping for materialism is an empty gesture — even a hoax — when it comes to explaining a broad range of issues:

  • What is a thought? Who is thinking?
  • What connects body and mind?
  • Where does meaning come from?
  • Why and how does the body heal itself?

These questions seem so abstract, not to mention so huge, that everyday life seems content to pass the by, and materialists are content to call them metaphysics, putting them high on a shelf to gather philosophical dust. But I’d argue that no questions are more relevant to my life and yours, once we reduce them to the personal scale.

  • Why do I have the thoughts I have? Where are they taking me?
  • Can my mind change my body in positive ways when it comes to disease and aging?
  • What does my life really mean?
  • Can I make a difference in how my body heals?

One could add many other important issues to the list, but all would have one thing in common: until you understand the mind, you haven’t truly understood reality. Life comes to us as experience. This is true of driving a car, raising a child, catching a cold or building a super collider in order to detect subatomic particles. Experience is how we participate in the universe. The super collider isn’t set aside in some objective space, even though data tries to be objective. Every moment in every scientist’s life is a subjective experience. It consists of sensations, thoughts, feelings and images.

You can claim, as non-dual materialists do, that the subjective side taints the objective and should be considered an unreliable guide to truth. But to say this makes two mistakes, and they are whoppers. The first mistake is that the mind cannot be located in the material world. Primitive peoples, as we like to call them, believed that spirits inhabited physical objects, a perspective known as animism. Trees contained tree spirits, the sky was the home of rain gods, and little demons lurked all around. Yet when it says that mind exists in the brain, neuroscience is committing the same fallacy. The brain is made up of atoms and molecules. It is a thing, like a tree, and to say that the mind is only the brain means that you have attributed consciousness to atoms and molecules. No one has ever explained how mind suddenly arises in blood sugar when that sugar crosses the blood-brain barrier. It is simply assumed.

The second mistake, intimately connected to the first, is that observers can stand apart from what they observe. Instead of being a participatory universe, science asserts that outside reality is separate from us; we are like children with our noses pressed to a bake shop window, staring through the glass but never going inside. This view reduces experience to data and then goes further by saying that data is superior to experience. This cannot remotely be true. The data about your body, such as blood pressure, heart rate, hormone levels, etc., is essentially the same as the data from Buddha, Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci and Picasso. It seems obvious that when you throw out all the factors that make these individuals unique, you have thrown out something pretty essential — the very meaning and purpose of life.

I’ve argued that a new world is being born in which nothing needs to be thrown out, and such a world can only be based on experience. Experience covers billions of people leading different lives, but one element is always present: consciousness. Thoughts and actions occur in consciousness. This is so obvious that it feels a bit meaningless, like saying that all marine life occurs in the sea. But the world’s wisdom traditions exist to open our eyes, seeing beyond the obvious to something incredibly important: If you delve into consciousness, you will find the essence of existence, meaning it purpose, direction and goal. You will know deeply and fully who you are, and when that unfolds, you will know what reality is.

Non-dual consciousness doesn’t celebrate subjectivity over objectivity. To do that is simply to take the mistakes of materialism and turn them on their heads. Non-dual systems all make the same claim: “Everything is made of X.” Science says that everything is made of matter and energy. Non-dual consciousness says that everything is made of mind. An alien landing on Earth in a spaceship, lacking bias either way, could easily see why these two worldviews consider the other preposterous. To say that everything is matter and energy is preposterous when you are trying to get at the mind and subjective experience. Non-dual consciousness is preposterous when you are trying to figure out where stars and galaxies come from. In other words, the physical seems secure in making its claims on us, while the mental seems just as secure when telling the story of inner life.

The great challenge is to decide which preposterous claim is, believe it or not, actually true. For thousands of years human beings had no difficulty believing that Creation was happening in the mind of God; the spiritual origin of the universe was certain. Today, people have no trouble believing that tiny physical things called atoms and molecules will reveal why we fall in love, create art and have thoughts in our heads. I’m not defending an ancient bias as opposed to a modern one. Rather, there has been an evolution, bringing us to the point where we can go beyond crude animism, whether of the spiritual or materialistic kind, at last seeing how consciousness works in the whole scheme of reality.

We can explain the galaxies and personal experience at the same time by finding the same origin for each. If nature goes to the same place — an invisible workshop beyond time and space — to create a supernova, a rose, human love and our craving for God, then non-duality solves everything. My position is that non-duality must be based in consciousness, since it is inescapable that the only reality we know comes through experience. Without a doubt we live in a participatory universe, and the sooner we surrender the delusion that data is superior to experience, the closer we will come to transforming the world.

from:   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/consciousness_b_1193968.html?ref=mindful-living&ir=Mindful%20Living 

White House Nixes SOPA, PIPA

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White House Will Not Support SOPA, PIPA

White House Sopa

The Huffington Post    First Posted: 1/14/12 12:19 PM ET Updated: 1/14/12 01:58 PM ET

 Saturday marked a major victory for opponents of proposed anti-piracy legislation Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), which would target foreign-based websites violating U.S. copyrights.

House of Representatives bill SOPA and its Senate counterpart PIPA are designed to punish websites that make available, for example, free movies and music without the permission of the U.S. rights holders. Opponents of the bills, however, worry that the proposed laws would grant the Department of Justice too much regulatory power. Google Chairman Eric Schmidt has called the measures “draconian.” Other Internet giants who oppose the bill include Facebook, eBay, Mozilla, Twitter, and Huffington Post parent company AOL.

The White House on Saturday officially responded to two online petitions, “Stop the E-PARASITE Act” and “Veto the SOPA bill and any other future bills that threaten to diminish the free flow of information,” urging the President to reject SOPA and PIPA.

The statement was drawn up by Victoria Espinel, Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator at Office of Management and Budget, Aneesh Chopra, U.S. Chief Technology Officer, and Howard Schmidt, Special Assistant to the President and Cybersecurity Coordinator for National Security Staff. They made clear that the White House will not support legislation that disrupts the open standards of the Internet.

“While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet,” the statement read in part.

The White House statement went on to say, however, that the Obama Administration believes “online piracy is a real problem that harms the American economy” and that 2012 should see the passage of narrower legislation that targets the source of foreign copyright infringement.

The letter also highlighted the following four points:

Any effort to combat online piracy must guard against the risk of online censorship of lawful activity and must not inhibit innovation by our dynamic businesses large and small. […] We must avoid creating new cybersecurity risks or disrupting the underlying architecture of the Internet. […] That is why the Administration calls on all sides to work together to pass sound legislation this year that provides prosecutors and rights holders new legal tools to combat online piracy originating beyond U.S. borders […] We expect and encourage all private parties, including both content creators and Internet platform providers working together, to adopt voluntary measures and best practices to reduce online piracy.

This is not the end of the debate, the White House statement emphasized. “Moving forward, we will continue to work with Congress on a bipartisan basis on legislation that provides new tools needed in the global fight against piracy and counterfeiting, while vigorously defending an open Internet based on the values of free expression, privacy, security and innovation,” the letter also read.

Following the release of the White House’s statement, SOPA sponsor and House Judiciary Chairman (R-Texas) Lamar Smith issued a statement of his own.

“I welcome today’s announcement that the White House will support legislation to combat online piracy that protects free speech, the Internet and America’s intellectual property,” Smith said,according to The Hill. “That’s precisely what the Stop Online Piracy Act does.”

On Friday, CNET reported that Smith said he will remove from the bill one of the most hotly contested provisions, Domain Name System requirements. Previously, SOPA had called for DNS blocking of infringing websites.

On Thursday, PIPA author Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) said that “more study” was needed to asses the bill’s DNS-blocking provision.

The White House’s statement condemned DNS blocking in regulatory efforts and said that it “pose[s] a real risk to cybersecurity and yet leave contraband goods and services accessible online. We must avoid legislation that drives users to dangerous, unreliable DNS servers and puts next-generation security policies, such as the deployment of DNSSEC, at risk.”

A House Oversight Committee hearing on SOPA’s DNS-blocking provision had previously been scheduled for January 18. However, according to Tech Dirt, Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-California) said that the hearing will be postponed for the time being and that the focus now should be placed on the Senate’s PIPA bill, which Senate Majority leader Harry Reid has committed to moving forward in the next two weeks.

from:    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/14/white-house-sopa-pipa_n_1206347.html

Dean Ramsden on Lower Astral Energies

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The deeper meaning of the lower astral energies

By Dean Ramsden

There are astral forces at play in the manifest world that are almost invisible to the eye of the modern person. What hides from us is the role the Lower Astral spirit world has upon human activity, and personal development. Despite the desire of most humans to live a good and comfortable life there exist various forces in our world that thrive on destruction and the abuse or sacrifice innocent life force. In this article we will step out of the sanitized cultural worldview of the Western world and into the shamanic perspective.

In the shamanic reality commerce with spirits for the good of the community is their job description and one unenvied by normal people. It is only when we are impacted by the spirit world either directly through our own perception, or through actions that are visited upon us with a sinister agenda, that we may give attention to shamanic reality. Coming to terms with the deeper meaning of how the Lower Astral affects us is addressed in this chapter. So, what exactly is a Shaman? He or she is the go-between of the people in the manifest world and the varieties of spirit people.

Modern Western people live in a world where they are insulated from many of the spirit world forces this subject requires us to have experience and knowledge about: the true nature of suffering in the manifest world around us. Our chickens and cattle are slaughtered in factories far from our homes, and our food is wrapped in plastic and stamped with an expiration date. We don’t see the death of the animal ourselves, as native or pre-modern people were likely to experience on a daily basis. We don’t need to develop our personal strength or warrior skills because we are told our police and military will take care of the aggression of others towards us. As a substitute we get to watch the digital killing of others, from the comfort of our TV and movie houses, living vicariously thrilled through the fictional or foreign destruction, usually far away from our homes. The modern person lives in a bubble of sanitized life, able to pass judgment on the poorer living conditions of native or non-modern people but unaware that these very people possess something vital the modern person has lost. The Shaman and the non-modern person accepts and understands how the spirit world works. The modern dismisses the spirit world as an archaic superstition of uneducated people, best consigned to the past along with the theory of the flat earth, and creationism – and in that arrogance lies our vulnerability to the Lower Astral destructive energies running amok in our lives. When we don’t acknowledge an important part of reality we will find ourselves out of balance, and unable to construct an authentic sense of the real world; this struggle is tied into the way psychological denial works to keep us sane in a chaotic world.

To best open ourselves up to the natural world of lower spirit interactions we usually have to step outside of our modern culture and society. It is hard to find the real information we need in our concrete jungle cities and small towns, or by watching TV programming created by other moderns passing on to us their own social conditioning. We have to physically and emotionally relocate ourselves to places that, although impacted by the modern world, still remain in touch which the spirit world. One option that many choose is South America, as we find many modern people drawn to the Shamans of that huge continent. In concert with rituals that may involve the ingestion of psychotropics (such as Ayahuasca) moderns find themselves deepening into the spirit world of nature seeking spirit contact to inspire them. Shamanic knowledge usually steps outside of the modern prohibition on psychotropics, and uses it for purposes of awakening the mind and the heart. Other people will travel to Asia, and explore non-Western spiritual paths and transformational practices like yoga and Tibetan Buddhism.

Today we are focused not on the middle and higher spirit world of spirit beings that offer us support, but on the Lower Astral: those primal spirit forces that thrive on sacrifice and on physical suffering. For our journey into this reality I’d like you to come with me to the Northern part of Borneo, the Malaysian state of Sabah. This is where I have made my home for the last three years. And here is where the local Shamans, the Bobohizan, have ruled the villages of the Kadazan peoples that lived here for hundreds of years. The Bobohizan shamans are, sadly, dying out as North Borneo people are leaving their traditional homesteads and gravitating to the small cities in Sabah and the Malaysian peninsula. As with all South East Asians, Borneo people want modern conveniences, cell phones, and flat screen TVs. They want modern employment that will get them all these things. The Kampungs (village communities) are increasingly bereft of resources, and the Shamans have no one interested to take their place after they pass away. The traditional Shamanic ways may well die out soon, ending the power of the elder Bobohizan to serve their people.

But there are still small pockets of the old world being kept alive. Outside of my home town of Kota Kinabalu, here in Malaysian North Borneo, lies the cultural village of Monsopiad. An oasis of the Kadazan past, Monsopiad is striving to keep the Kadazan cultural vision alive. You can come there, and watch traditional dances, but Monsopiad is also an ideal place to encounter the spirit world of the Lower Astral. Here you will find a spirit stone transported from the nearby Gaya Island, and consecrated with gallons of animal blood. And you will find the Skull House of the warrior Monsopiad, who three hundred years ago took forty-two heads of his village’s enemies as proof of his prowess. The skulls of these victims lie tied together, now raised high against the roof line of the Monsopiad Skull House, to protect them against disrespectful tourists. But there is no need for protection against local people, who inherently respect the power of the spirit world. Hence the Skull House remains unlocked even at night, managed only by an aged Bobohizan and Monosopiad direct descendant. He is also the last Shaman to hold Monsopiad’s ancient sword used in rituals. “If you cut yourself with this sword”, he once said, “your wound will not heal. The sword of Monsopiad is still hungry for blood.” Thankfully, the demon weapon is not on display for careless tourists looking to test out his words.

The story of Monsopiad is of a Kadazan warrior who initially served his community as protector against attacks upon his village of Kuai. Vowing to hunt down and fight off these marauders against the villagers, Monsopiad soon gained the reputation as a master warrior. The taking of this enemies heads, which began as a way to advertise his power, soon became an ungovernable personal compulsion. But over the years Monsopiad’s attitude of service for his community turned into provoking other men just so he could have an excuse to kill and then behead them. The community began to fear their hero. Eventually a group of the community banded together one night, and killed him. Even so, he remained beloved for his warrior power, and the good he had done, and Kuai was renamed Monsopiad village.

The Ttradition of Monsopiad illustrates the power of the spirit world to thrive on the sacrifice of the good, and the use of suffering to feed the lower astral spirit beings. There are many other teaching stories throughout the world that mirror this shamanic insight, just like the Bobohizan of North Borneo. Blood sacrifices and the worship of stone icons are emblematic of many lower Astral rituals, from Western Europe though the Middle East, the African continent, and of course the Americas. The Shaman spills the blood of animals (or — as with some cultures — humans) to appease the lower Astral beings, and distract them from interfering in the community; left alone these spirits will tend towards inciting the spilling of human blood by proxy. The Shaman has to oppose the influence of the Lower Astral when necessary, but always remains vulnerable to having their good actions subverted by the same Lower Astral energy. Monsopiad slowly became the enemy he fought against — for the good of his community — over the years. I imagine that living with the accumulation of trophy skulls only deepened the grip of the Lower Astral realms in Monsopiad’s village. For in local Kadazan tradition, when you die your spirit goes to the sacred mountain, Mount Kinabalu, but if you are beheaded your spirit remains trapped in your skull.

As modern day people we are no longer are attuned to the life-and-death activities of our villages, and have little use for native wisdom that we casually dismiss as primitive superstition. As I wrote earlier, our food is delivered to our supermarkets, and our wars are displayed on TV screens, and we don’t get to wash away any blood — either of war or of a sacrificed animal — from off our hands. But someone, somewhere in the world, is either fighting or being sacrificed to maintain our modern life style. The Lower Astral has not left the modern human race; it has simply hidden itself away beneath the veneer of denial. Our Western military are now the warriors Monsopiad used to fight against. Or, in some cases, they have become Monsopiad himself. That which we fight we will become, and perhaps even more so. But these words are not an indictment against modern living but to invite us all to move closer to the realization of the ancient Shaman: to revitalize our connection with the manifest and the spirit worlds. If we open up to the nature of the Lower Astral we can, as do native peoples, work around the more destructive aspects of living out our lives.

The functioning of the Lower Astral is organized around the sacrifice of the good, or the vulnerable, and to spill blood: either emotionally or through acts of violence. Usually the one that is attacked is designated an “enemy”, and acts are assigned to this enemy that lead towards a counter (and violent) response. This is the influence of the Lower Astral: actively create an enemy, and then justify your destructive response (as well as hiding your selfish or narcissistic agenda that is the end result of your attack upon him or her). The energies of the Lower Astral are all around us, in our everyday lives, our challenging relationships, and can be seen in world events. But we moderns have lost our “canaries in the coal mine”. We are losing the Shaman wisdom, worldwide. Without these gatekeepers serving the community by both understanding the Lower Astral as well as helping normal people balance the forces of the spirit world, our world will be subject to much avoidable suffering. The psychotherapist cannot help us come to terms with this reality. The politician cannot help us by writing new laws or demanding additional taxes. Even the guru, or spiritual teacher, may not be able to help us break out of the enchantment of spiritual denial. Only the Shaman has the skill set that we need to awaken us; and there are increasingly few of them to help

So how does the modern person work with the Lower Astral, in this declining age of the Shaman? What can we do to protect ourselves, and our clients and communities? We must awaken to the realities of how the Lower Astral influences us: emotionally, mentally, and physically. The Lower Astral turbo charges our hidden agendas of anger, fear, and selfish agendas in our relationships, and in our self identity. It strives to create an “enemy”, a person that is different, or dangerous to me -and then justifies destroying that enemy (or driving it out), to serve narcissistic ends. It desires to spill virtual blood (as in emotional pain) or actual blood (as in acts of physical violence). As long as our conscious awareness can be manipulated in this way we will witness the sacrifice of the innocent, the suffering of the innocent, and the dark gaining of selfish power behind the scenes. Working with the Lower Astral may involve actively opposing their incursions, as did the heroic Monsopiad in his early days. But at some point we must go beyond all opposition, and learn to dissolve or mitigate the lower astral influences upon our lives. Denial of any problem must be replaced with resolve to deal with the problem. Again, the story of Monsopiad points the way towards the dangers of how we, inevitably, may become that which we have opposed. The final step may not be to imagine a manifest world free of all destructive aspects of the lower astral, or to unrealistically purge or remove all evil from the world, but one where we learn to clear and integrate these Lower Astral energies. If we can evolve the lower astral into higher forms of spiritual energy, we can all grow together, human being and spirit being.

Modern people are not going to embrace blood sacrifices in order to appease the Lower Astral beings, that much is certain. But suffering caused by the Lower Astral can be reduced by raising our own consciousness, and the consciousness of our clients and our community, so that spiritual wisdom comes to rule our lives, not our primal vulnerabilities. Once we are aware of the way the Lower Astral affects us, and others, we can move towards important changes in our relationships. The Lower Astral’s strength is in how it hides itself from view. Take away the camouflage of denial, and our lack of knowledge, and everything can be changed. Ask a Shaman, while you still can. Or, even better, become the Shaman yourself. Here’s how you start:

1. Build a relationship with the spirit world, using meditation or rituals to reach out from the manifest world to the bodyless voices of the Astral. Yes, you will need to over-ride the modern person’s assumption that all non-self inner voices are a symptom of schizophrenia, but that is only a belief system ploy to keep you away. The voices around you exist, if only you learn to listen. And you can and should be able to turn them off when needed.

2. Energetically relate with the spirit world via a go-between psychic’s method. This is why psychics use the Tarot deck, or cast runes, or take psychotropics like Ayahuasca: they are variations on methods that break the hold of the manifest brain on the astral realities around us. While I am personally against psychotropics (the negatives match the positives in number, when using spiritual drugs) I do recommend every working healer to learn a bridging method. It helps focus the inner mind towards the astral speakers, and makes their “words” and intention clearer to us.

3. Align your spirit communication around the middle and higher astral (“White” magic) rather than follow the seductive lure of the Lower Astral (“Black” magic) that promises personal power over others. Learn the differences between these two approaches, so you won’t fall into the Monsopiad trap, and self-destruct.

4. Cultivate a long-term relationship with one or more spirit people (spirit guide, or guardian “angels”) via communication with them, including question-and-answer dialogues. Like a good friendship, or a new romantic person in your life, it takes time to get to know someone.

5. Track the outcome of your spirit guide’s counsel over time. Do they truly support the higher spiritual aspects of living in the manifest world? Or, do they want to use your “channel” with them for other ends, like promotion, or attention?

6. Become aware of the impact of the Lower Astral in the world around you. Watch for it in national and international politics, in the operation of multinational corporations and banking cartels, and in military actions. Learn to see who is the designated “enemy” du jour, and keep your heart open towards the innocent victims. Don’t parrot the party line; think for yourself outside of boxes created for you by others.

7. Learn an energy healing skill that illuminates Lower Astral interactions, and which also can reduce or eliminate Lower Astral attachment to the energy body of your clients. There are healers and shamans who can pass this on to you, either using traditional spirit “extraction” methods, or by learning how to change the vibrational nature of the lower aspect via Etheric body and Astral body healing methods. Ridding the energy body of Lower Astral accumulation helps the client find themselves, and will help develop their spiritual and personal consciousness. The alternative is to allow the Lower Astral energies unimpeded access to a rich source of energetic food: the primal human nervous system and the endocrine system. This keeps the ancient game going, with human beings as the loser.

8. Know that you — as a modern Shaman — can make a difference in the life of your client, and the health of your community. Know your value, and become the warrior of the Light you know yourself to be.

This is an extract from the upcoming book “Astral Energetics”, by Dean Ramsden. Copyright 2012. All Rights Reserved.

Dean also offers Home Study Audio Classes in “Astral Energetics” that deepen your practical understanding of the Astral worlds for modern day healers and spiritual seekers. Go here for more information, or email Dean to be placed on the 2012 Astral Energetics Class email list.

Coming soon: accompanying articles on The Middle Astral and The Higher Astral.

To find out more about the Monosopiad Cultural Village in Sabah, North Borneo, including free downloads, please visit http://www.monsopiad.com

 

About Dean Ramsden

Dean Ramsden

 

Dean Ramsden is the creator of the field of Relational Energy Healing.

from:    http://www.spiritofmaat.com/jan12/deeper_meaning_of_astral_energies.html

Alfred Webre Interviews Drunvalo Melchizedek & Links

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Drunvalo Melchizedek: Mayan End Time prophecies of Earth changes, consciousness transformation and the divine feminine, 2007 – Jan. 1, 2016

 

ExopoliticsTV interview with Drunvalo Melchizedek

1-UxmalRuins2a
Uxmal pyramid of the Magician Soothsayer, Yucatan

By Alfred Lambremont Webre, JD, MEd

In an exclusive Dec. 20, 2011 ExopoliticsTV interview with Alfred Lambremont Webre, author and spiritual researcher Drunvalo Melchizedek reveals a number of the hidden components of the prophecies for the Mayan End Time (2007 – Jan. 1, 2016), including the discovery of Mayan codexes that had been thought destroyed during the Spanish conquest.  Drunvalo works directly with Mayan elders in the Yucatan and Guatemala.

WATCH INTERVIEW

Readers can watch the ExopoliticsTV interview with Drunvalo Melchizedek embedded in the article above or at the URL below:

 

A new cycle based on the divine feminine

These Mayan prophecies include possible Earth Changes and consciousness transformation during the period through January 1, 2016, when a new cycle based on the divine feminine begins.

Drunvalo shares the Mayan insight of the importance of our heart connection to our survival and thrival during these times.  Drunvalo states, “It is the heart that contains the original instructions of Life, and when the heart is again in control of a person’s life, Life responds with joy and power.  When the Mer-Ka-Ba [a dual torsion field of Light connecting mind and soul] is directly connected to the Sacred Space of the Heart, that person’s life becomes interconnected to all life everywhere and moves into higher consciousness naturally.”

Recommended reading

http://www.drunvalo.net/

2012 – 2025: A positive human future

1. Are you on a 2012-13 catastrophic or positive future timeline? Part 1

http://exopolitics.blogs.com/exopolitics/2011/12/are-you-on-a-2012-13-catastrophic-or-positive-future-timeline-part-i.html

 

2. Are you on a 2012-13 catastrophic or positive future timeline? Part 2

http://exopolitics.blogs.com/exopolitics/2011/12/are-you-on-a-2012-13-catastrophic-or-positive-future-timeline-part-ii.html

3. GOOD NEWS! Universe singularity now emanating pre-wave energy for ‘enlightened unity consciousness’

http://exopolitics.blogs.com/exopolitics/2011/12/good-news-universe-singularity-now-emanating-pre-wave-energy-for-enlightened-unity-consciousness.html

4. Laura Eisenhower: Unity consciousness will collapse military-industrial complex

http://exopolitics.blogs.com/exopolitics/2011/12/laura-eisenhower-unity-consciousness-will-collapse-military-industrial-complex.html

ExopoliticsTV interview: Laura Magdalene Eisenhower – Christ/Sophia consciousness and a positive future

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peep23d_coI

 

Copyright 2011-12

Alfred Lambremont Webre, all rights reserved   

from:    http://exopolitics.blogs.com/exopolitics/2011/12/uxmal-pyramid-yucatan-mayan-pyramid-by-alfred-lambremont-webre-jd-med-in-an-exclusive-dec-20-2011-exopoliticstv.html 

 

27 Feet of Snow Fall in Alaska

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27 Feet of snow for Alaskan community, Anchorage on the road to break record

Published on January 13, 2012 6:15 am PT
– By TWS Staff Reporter
– Edited by Staff Editor


Residents in Cordova are looking at another storm, according to meteorologists. 16 more inches on top of what has already fallen could come later tonight and in (TheWeatherSpace.com) – Cordova, an Alaskan Community centered in Southern Alaska, just east of Anchorage, is trying to fix what mother nature gave them and 27 feet of snow in one storm was what that gift was.

For the entire season, Cordova has received 172 inches of snowfall. However, the nearby area of Valdez has seen over 318 inches. Anchorage comes in topping at 81.3 inches.
Anchorage, Alaska has broken the record for the most snowfall in a year, being meteorologists use July1st as the start. However, for a winter season the city nears to break 132.8 inches of snowfall, a record set back in the 1954 to 1955 winter season

from:    http://www.theweatherspace.com/news/TWS-11312-27-feet-snow-alaska-storm-cordova.html

Russian Mars Probe to Fall to Earth

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Where Will Doomed Russian Mars Probe Fall?

Mike Wall, SPACE.com Senior Writer
Date: 13 January 2012 Time: 06:25 PM ET

 

phobos grunt roscosmos reentry chart
This graphic, published by the Russian space agency Roscosmos, shows where the failed Mars probe Phobos-Grunt could crash to Earth. The arrow points to a possible re-entry site on Sunday, Jan. 15.
CREDIT: Roscosmos

A huge hunk of Russian space junk is set to crash to Earth in the next few days, but nobody knows exactly when or where it’s going to come down.

The 14.5-ton Mars probe Phobos-Grunt, which got stuck in Earth orbit shortly after its Nov. 8 launch, may re-enter the atmosphere at 11:22 a.m. EST (1622 GMT) on Sunday (Jan. 15), according to the latest estimate published today (Jan. 13) by Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency.

If that projection is accurate, pieces of the failed spacecraft will splash into the Atlantic Ocean about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) south of Buenos Aires.

But that’s a big if.

Uncertain predictions

The predicted time and place of re-entry could change in the future, Roscosmos said. Indeed, the newest estimate is substantially different from two others the space agency issued earlier in the week, which had the probe coming down earlier on Sunday and falling into the Indian Ocean off the coast of Java or near Madagascar. [Photos of the Phobos-Grunt mission]

Further, other organizations and observers tracking Phobos-Grunt have their own estimates, some of which roughly agree with Roscosmos’ predictions and some of which have the probe crashing later, perhaps early Monday morning (Jan. 16).

So all we know for certain right now is that Phobos-Grunt will fall to Earth soon, somewhere between 51.4 degrees north latitude and 51.4 degrees south latitude — a stretch of the planet ranging from London in the north to the Falkland Islands in the south.

And the predictions won’t really start firming up until shortly before the probe’s fall, experts say.

“About two hours out, the U.S. military will publish their last re-entry prediction, and that will likely be the most accurate public prediction, as they have very accurate data on the object’s orbit that will not be available publicly,” said Brian Weeden, a technical adviser with the Secure World Foundation and a former orbital analyst with the Air Force.

“Up until then, I would take any prediction with a large grain of salt,” Weeden told SPACE.com in an email.

Most of probe should burn up

Most of Phobos-Grunt’s weight consists of toxic fuel, prompting some concern that its crash could spread dangerous chemicals over populated or environmentally sensitive areas. But Roscosmos officials have said that the fuel will burn up high in Earth’s atmosphere.

The vast majority of Phobos-Grunt should meet the same fate, according to Roscosmos. The space agency estimates that no more than 20 to 30 pieces of the probe, weighing a total of less than 440 pounds (200 kilograms), will reach the ground.

While it’s tough to vet these claims, they’re likely to be fairly accurate, Weeden said.

“Since they have the most data on its construction and design, I don’t think anyone else is in a position at this point to contradict them,” he said. “And their statement is reasonable and consistent with what normally happens.”

At this point, the world may be getting rather accustomed to giant pieces of metal falling from the sky. Phobos-Grunt’s crash will be the third uncontrolled re-entry of a big spacecraft in the last four months, following NASA’s defunct UARS satellite in September and the dead German ROSAT satellite in October.

Nobody on the ground was hurt by UARS or ROSAT debris. In fact, no one is known to have ever been injured by a chunk of man-made space junk.

The $165 million Phobos-Grunt spacecraft launched Nov. 8 on a mission to collect soil samples from the Mars moon Phobos and send them back to Earth (“grunt” means “soil” in Russian). Shortly after liftoff, however, the probe’s engines failed to fire as planned to send it on a path toward the Red Planet.

Russian officials still aren’t sure what caused the failure, though they recently raised the possibility that some sort of sabotage may be responsible.

This story was provided by SPACE.com, a sister site to LiveScience.

from:    http://www.livescience.com/17917-russia-spacecraft-phobos-grunt-crash-predictions.html

Herbal Drug for Alcoholism

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Herbal drug reduces the effects of alcohol

January 5, 2012 by Deborah Braconnier report

Hovenia dulcisEnlarge

A photo of the tree Hovenia dulcis. Image: Wikipedia.

(Medical Xpress) — Alcohol consumption can lead to those dreaded hangovers and even alcohol dependence. However, a new study published in the Journal of Neuroscience has found a natural ingredient in the Asian tree Hovenia dulcisthat seems to produce anti-alcohol effects.

Led by Jing Liang from the University of California, researchers began looking at different herbs that have natural anti-alcohol properties. They found descriptions of anti-alcohol properties of the Asian tree Hovenia dulcis that dated back to 659. These descriptions listed it as a prime hangover remedy.

The main ingredient in Hovenia dulcis is known as dihydromyricetin, or DHM. The team of researchers used rats to test out the effects. Rats react similar to humans when it comes to the  so they are a perfect candidate.

The rats were given the human equivalent of 15-20 beers in a time frame of under two hours. As expected, the rats passed out drunk and lost the ability to flip themselves over when placed on their back. Within an hour, the effects of the alcohol started to wear off and they were able to again control their bodies.

When the rats were given the same alcohol with a shot of the DHM, they still eventually lost the ability to flip over but it took a longer time period and they were able to recover from the effects in about 15 minutes.

The effects of the DHM went beyond that though. Two days after the , the rats that were given the DHM showed less signs of hangover symptoms such as anxiety and seizures.

The other noted result was the reduction in addiction. When the rats were allowed to drink freely, they would gradually start consuming more. However, those  that had received the DHM did not increase consumption.

While these results will not lead to a magic pill that will allow you to drink and not face consequences, the results do hold some promise when it comes to the treatment of .

Liang and her team of researchers plan to begin testing humans and their response to the DHM.

More information: Dihydromyricetin As a Novel Anti-Alcohol Intoxication Medication, The Journal of Neuroscience, 4 January 2012, 32(1): 390-401; doi: 10.1523/​JNEUROSCI.4639-11.2012

Abstract
Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) constitute the most common form of substance abuse. The development of AUDs involves repeated alcohol use leading to tolerance, alcohol withdrawal syndrome, and physical and psychological dependence, with loss of ability to control excessive drinking. Currently there is no effective therapeutic agent for AUDs without major side effects. Dihydromyricetin (DHM; 1 mg/kg, i.p. injection), a flavonoid component of herbal medicines, counteracted acute alcohol (EtOH) intoxication, and also withdrawal signs in rats including tolerance, increased anxiety, and seizure susceptibility; DHM greatly reduced EtOH consumption in an intermittent voluntary EtOH intake paradigm in rats. GABAA receptors (GABAARs) are major targets of acute and chronic EtOH actions on the brain. At the cellular levels, DHM (1 μM) antagonized both acute EtOH-induced potentiation of GABAARs and EtOH exposure/withdrawal-induced GABAAR plasticity, including alterations in responsiveness of extrasynaptic and postsynaptic GABAARs to acute EtOH and, most importantly, increases in GABAAR α4 subunit expression in hippocampus and cultured neurons. DHM anti-alcohol effects on both behavior and CNS neurons were antagonized by flumazenil (10 mg/kg in vivo; 10 μM in vitro), the benzodiazepine (BZ) antagonist. DHM competitively inhibited BZ-site [3H]flunitrazepam binding (IC50, 4.36 μM), suggesting DHM interaction with EtOH involves the BZ sites on GABAARs. In summary, we determined DHM anti-alcoholic effects on animal models and determined a major molecular target and cellular mechanism of DHM for counteracting alcohol intoxication and dependence. We demonstrated pharmacological properties of DHM consistent with those expected to underlie successful medical treatment of AUDs; therefore DHM is a therapeutic candidate.

© 2011 PhysOrg.com

from:   http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-herbal-drug-effects-alcohol.html

Wind & The Shape of Trees

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Leonardo da Vinci's tree rule may be explained by wind

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(Left) A model of tree branching. (Middle) A tree skeleton with all branches having the same thickness. (Right) The same tree with branch diameters calculated from a model accounting for wind-induced stress, which closely follows Leonardo’s rule. Image credit: Christophe Eloy. ©2011 American Physical Society

(PhysOrg.com) — More than 500 years ago, Leonardo da Vinci observed a particular relationship between the size of a tree’s trunk and the size of its branches. Specifically, the combined cross-sectional areas of a tree’s daughter branches are equal to the cross-sectional area of the mother branch. However, da Vinci didn’t know why tree branching followed this rule, and few explanations have been proposed since then. But now in a new study, physicist Christophe Eloy from Aix-Marseille University in Aix-en-Provence, France, has shown that this tree structure may be optimal for enabling trees to resist wind-induced stresses.

In his study, which is published in a recent issue of , Eloy explains that Leonardo’s rule is so natural to the eye that it is often used in computer-generated trees. Although researchers have previously proposed explanations for the rule based on hydraulics or structure, none of these explanations have been fully convincing. For instance, the hydraulic explanation called the “pipe model” proposes that the branching proportions have to do with the way that vascular vessels connect the tree’s roots to its leaves to provide water and nutrients. But since vascular vessels account for as little as 5% of the branch cross section (for large trunks in some tree species), it seems unlikely that they would govern the tree’s entire architecture.

“The usual textbook explanation for Leonardo’s rule (and, more generally, for the relation between branch diameters) involves hydraulic considerations,” Eloy said. “My study shows that an alternative explanation can be given by considering external loads, such as wind-induced forces.”

Eloy has proposed that Leonardo’s rule is a consequence of trees adapting their growth to optimally resist wind-induced stresses. It’s well-known that plants can alter their growth patterns in response to mechanical sensation, such as wind. The phenomenon, called “thigmomorphogenesis,” means that wind can influence the trunk and branch diameters of a tree as its growing. The underlying cellular mechanisms of this phenomenon are largely unknown.

Building on this line of thinking, Eloy used two models to predict the probability of a fracture at a certain point in a tree due to strong winds. He found that, when the probability of fracture is the same everywhere on the tree, so that each part bears the stress equally, Leonardo’s rule is recovered. He also showed that the diameters of each branch on a tree can be calculated by knowing the parameters of a simple tree skeleton.

Although some of the most common tree species, such as maples and oaks, seem to follow Leonardo’s rule, there are many species that don’t follow the rule, and many more that scientists have yet to analyze.

“Actually, Leonardo’s rule has not been assessed for that many species,” Eloy said. “So far, it seems to be hold for about 10 species. The problem is that it takes a lot of time to measure a single tree, which has thousands of branches, and the data are usually very scattered. Besides, some species clearly do not satisfy Leonardo’s rule, such as baobabs, koas, and most bushes.”

The finding that trees seem to follow Leonardo’s  when adapting their growth to tolerate wind-induced stresses could have applications both in nature and technology.

“It has obvious applications to the forestry industry to calculate the yields of tree stands and to evaluate the risks of breakage during storms,” Eloy said. “It could also be applied to manmade branching structures such as antennas.”

He added that there is still much more to understand about tree design, including the self-similarity shared by large trunks and smaller branches.

“I am still working on this subject, in particular to try to relate growth to external loads,” he said. “In other words, I would like to understand the dynamical growth mechanisms that lead to the intricate fractal structures of.”

More information: Christophe Eloy. “Leonardo’s Rule, Self-Similarity, and Wind-Induced Stresses in Trees.” Physical Review Letters 107, 258101 (2011). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.258101

Copyright 2012 PhysOrg.com.

from:    http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-01-leonardo-da-vinci-tree.html

Rio Grande Rift Earthquake Potential

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Some earthquakes expected along Rio Grande Rift in Colorado and New Mexico, new study says

January 12, 2012

Some earthquakes expected along Rio Grande Rift in Colorado and New Mexico, new study saysEnlarge

(PhysOrg.com) — The Rio Grande Rift, a thinning and stretching of Earth’s surface that extends from Colorado’s central Rocky Mountains to Mexico, is not dead but geologically alive and active, according to a new study involving scientists from the University of Colorado Boulder’s Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences. 

 

“We don’t expect to see a lot of earthquakes, or big ones, but we will have some earthquakes,” said CU-Boulder geological sciences Professor Anne Sheehan, also a fellow at CIRES. The study also involved collaborators from the University of New Mexico, New Mexico Tech, Utah State University and the Boulder-headquartered UNAVCO. The Rio Grande Rift follows the path of the Rio Grande River from central  roughly to El Paso before turning southeast toward the Gulf of Mexico.

Sheehan was not too surprised when a 5.3 magnitude  struck about 9 miles west of Trinidad, Colo., in the vicinity of the Rio Grande Rift on Aug. 23, 2011.  The quake was the largest in Colorado since 1967 and was felt from Fort Collins to Garden City, Kan.

Along the rift, spreading motion in the crust has led to the rise of magma — the molten rock material under ’s crust — to the surface, creating long, fault-bounded basins that are susceptible to earthquakes, said Sheehan, a study co-author and also associate director of the CIRES Solid Earth Sciences Division. The team studied the Rio Grande Rift region to assess the potential earthquake hazards.

Using Global Positioning System instruments at 25 sites in Colorado and New Mexico, the team tracked the rift’s miniscule movements from 2006 to 2011. “Questions we wanted to answer are whether the Rio Grande Rift is alive or dead, how is it deforming and whether it is opening or not,” said Sheehan.

Some earthquakes expected along Rio Grande Rift in Colorado and New Mexico, new study says
The high-precision instrumentation has provided unprecedented data about the volcanic activity in the region. Previously, geologists had estimated the rift had spread apart by up to 2 inches or 5 millimeters each year, although the errors introduced by the scientific instruments were known to be significant. “The GPS used in this study has reduced the uncertainty dramatically,” Sheehan said.

Using the latest high-tech instrumentation, the scientists found an average strain rate of 1.2 “nanostrain” each year across the experimental area, the equivalent of about one-twentieth of an inch, or 1.2 millimeters, over a length of about 600 miles.  “The rate is lower than we thought but it does exist,” Sheehan said.

The researchers also found the extensional deformation, or stretching, is not concentrated in a narrow zone centered on the Rio Grande Rift but is distributed broadly from the western edge of the Colorado Plateau well into the western Great Plains. “The surprising thing to come out of the study was that the strain was so spread out,” Sheehan said.

Results of the study are published in the January edition of the journalGeology.

The team plans to continue monitoring the Rio Grande Rift, probing whether the activity remains constant over time, said lead study author Henry Berglund of UNAVCO, who was a graduate student at CU-Boulder working at CIRES when he completed this portion of the research. Also, the team may attempt to determine vertical as well as horizontal activity in the region to tell whether the Rocky Mountains are still uplifting or not, Berglund said.

“Present-day measurements of deformation within continental interiors have been difficult to capture due to the typically slow rates of deformation within them,” Berglund said. “Now with the recent advances in space geodesy we are finding some very surprising results in these previously unresolved areas.”

As far as the potential for future earthquakes in the region, the study’s results are unequivocal, however. “The rift is still active,” Sheehan said.

The new study also is co-authored by CU-Boulder Associate Professor and CIRES Fellow Steven Nerem, Frederick Blume of UNAVCO, Anthony Lowry of Utah State University, Mousumi Roy of the University of New Mexico and Mark Murray of  Tech.

Provided by University of Colorado at Boulder

from:    http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-01-earthquakes-rio-grande-rift-colorado.html

Mt. Merapi Hazard Analysis & Volcano Status Report

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Hazard map assessment of Mount Merapi, Central Java, Indonesia using remote sensing

Last update: January 11, 2012 at 1:37 pm by By 

Author : David Harris, IGES department, Aberystwyth University, Wales

Abstract
As the global population is predicted to reach 7 billion people by 2012, land pressures and rapid population growth is resulting in many more communities living within danger zones of natural hazards, a pattern particularly seen around volcanoes. This thesis will emphasise the impact of volcanoes on populations using the example of Mount Merapi, Indonesia. Mount Merapi is the most active volcano in Java and has persistent minor eruptions, but according to volcanologists Mount Merapi is heavily overdue a large-scale eruption which could potentially put over 1.1 million people at risk. This thesis begins with a review of published papers and a description of Mount Merapi’s geological history, with a particular focus on its recent eruptions. To better assess Mount Merapi’s threat to the communities that are in close proximity to the summit the thesis uses GIS software to produce a risk map. The risk map is then used as a basis for further analysis on the potential impact in the event of a major eruption. The thesis specifically examines the risk on the basis of current population (e.g. Kemiren, a town with 103,777 people at a risk value site of 10.5) and social vulnerability (e.g. Ngablak, which has a Social Vulnerability Index value of 0.5 – 1.5 and a risk value varying between 7.5 and 28.5). Lastly, the thesis considers the impact of Merapi’s most recent eruptions in October and November 2010 and recommends some considerations for the future in terms of risk reduction by changes in response times and evacuation procedures.

for the complete analysis, including surveys of the location of volcanoes relative to large population areas, go to:    http://earthquake-report.com/2012/01/11/hazard-map-assessment-of-mount-merapi-central-java-indonesia-using-remote-sensing/