Category Archives: Body, Mind & Spirit

Fluoride and Vascular Calcification

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Does Fluoride Calcify Your Arteries?

16th January 2012

By SayerJi – Wake Up World

New research reveals a startling new finding: fluoride is likely contributing to the epidemic of cardiovascular disease by stimulating calcification of the vascular system, including the coronary arteries.

In a study published in the journal Nuclear Medicine Communications this month (Jan. 2012), researchers assessed fluoride uptake and calcification in the major arteries of 61 patients who were administered sodium fluoride, the active ingredient in most fluoridated toothpastes. The study revealed:

“The coronary fluoride uptake value in patients with cardiovascular events was significantly higher than in patients without cardiovascular events.”

 

They also found that there was a signification correlation between fluoride uptake and calcification observed in most of the arterial walls, indicating that the fluoride itself likely stimulates the precipitation of calcium within the arteries.

It is already well-known that vascular calcification is highly correlated with cardiovascular disease mortality. The hardening of the arteries associated with atherosclerosis is in part due to the calcification of plaque which subsequently becomes brittle and susceptible to breaking off into an artery-obstructing clot.

Even taking elemental calcium supplements (sourced from limestone, bone meal or oyster shell), at doses as low* as 500 mg a day, was shown in two meta-analyses last year to increase the risk of heart attack by up to 27%.

What is novel about this new study is that it indicates howcardiovascular calcification may be occurring. Beyond the excessive consumption of inorganic calcium, fluoride may be an essential factor in mediating calcium’s contribution to enhanced cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Fluoride exposure is now ubiquitous, thanks to the fluoridation of public drinking water, medications like Prozac (fluoxetine), non-stick cookware, to name but a few common routes of exposure.

Fluoride-induced calcification is not a new finding. Back in 2001, autopsies on cadavers revealed that fluoride accumulation in the pineal gland is associated with enhanced calcification of that endocrine organ.

GreenMedInfo.com contains research on natural substances which may attenuate Fluoride Toxicity and Ectopic Calcification.

*The National Osteoporosis Foundation, whose corporate sponsors include elemental calcium supplement manufacturers Oscal and Citracal, recommend 1200 mg a day for women over 40.

About the Author
Sayer Ji is the founder of GreenMedInfo.com, the world’s largest, evidence-based, open-source, natural medicine database

from:   http://wakeup-world.com/2012/01/16/does-fluoride-calcify-your-arteries/

Ann Naylor on Wealth and Blessings

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Anne Naylor

Personal motivation consultant and author

Wealth School: A Blessing of Wealth and Well-Being

Posted: 1/9/12 08:03 AM ET
 Wealth is a difficult word these days because it seems we have been witnessing an abuse of our financial resources. Nevertheless, ourexperience of wealth goes way beyond money alone.

What does wealth mean for you, deep down? What is your intention for wealth now? Yes, you have basic needs to cover, possibly fewer than you think.

Wealth speaks to me of expansion, and not just in financial terms. Does more money translate to greater happiness and fulfilment? Does security in life come from having a good pension entitlement? What is the more, the expansion that truly counts for you?

Psychologist Daniel Gilbert in his TED talk asks Why are we happy? and suggests we are often mistaken about what makes us happy, including financially.


What is your vision for wealth in 2012? What is your vision for expansion and fulfilment? Do you enjoy the wealth of friendship you would like? Are you following a vocation that is true to your heart? Are you in tune with your spiritual values? Do you enjoy inner peace and serenity, or do you suffer nagging doubts and anxiety? Do you wake up in the morning, refreshed from a good night’s sleep and greet the day with joy and enthusiasm?

A basic message of Christmas is that wherever we may find ourselves, in the equivalent of a lowly stable perhaps, we can start afresh. Each day offers the possibility of a new beginning, a new way of looking at what is in front of us, of seeing clearly the opportunity present.

This blessing I hope may help to awaken you to a new vision for today, a vision in which you count in the wealth and expansion of your life.

Spirit of Divine Love, we bring ourselves forward into the generous consciousness of your loving and Light with our gratitude for all of the many blessings that we enjoy and that enrich us.We offer ourselves for your guidance and infinite wisdom
to comfort, reassure and show us our best ways ahead.

We appreciate your gifts to us, our natural talents and qualities,
the skills and strengths we have developed so far
and those we have yet to master.

We know that as we give, so we also receive,
that we are One with all of your creation,
celebrating the contribution that comes from our own divine essence.

Please show us the way, your way
that we may more fully enrich the world around us
and in so doing,
expand the boundaries of our own wealth experience.

In each moment when we stop to take account
may we know your presence more fully
and know ourselves as one with your magnificence.

We accept and receive your blessings
as we share our blessings with others.

Baruch Bashan — The Blessings Already Are

 

If you are anything like me, you may be feeling some uncertainty about the coming year. Try these three steps to realize your greater wealth and well-being:

1. Forgive: Any time you are feeling out of balance or a sense of lack, forgive yourself for forgetting that you are Divine. Forgive yourself for the judgements you may be making that cause you to feel separate, alone or lonely. You are never alone.

2. Be grateful: Count your blessings, even and especially the small ones. The little things count. Remember then. In the evening, write down a minimum of 5 things you have appreciated during the day.

3. Bless: Bless your day, your night, the neighbor and those who would in some way offend you. Wish well whoever is around you, whoever you may pass in the street. Bless your work, your projects, your computer, the hands that type on its keyboard, those who read what you have written — including yourself. Bless your world with a smile — you never know who might benefit from such a simple gesture. Be creative with your blessings — there is no limit to the goodness you can extend as you expand your wealth and well-being in 2012.

You do not have to be a saint or a savior to extend blessings. You may wish to bless others silently with your thoughts of goodwill. Your actions of caring and thoughtfulness may communicate blessings. The skills and talents you express at work are an expression of your blessings. The touch of a warm hand, a comforting arm to hold, a gentle smile all speak of blessings.

Through your forgiving, gratitude and blessing you might find greater stability and contentment within the changes that are happening around us. What is more, you may find that the changes themselves produce greater blessings than you could ever have imagined.

May 2012 bless you with many opportunities to expand beyond your former limits of wealth and well-being and into the greater appreciation of who you truly are.

from:   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anne-naylor/new-year-2012_b_1179444.html?ref=mindful-living&ir=Mindful%20Living

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 

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 

 

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

Alan Cohen on Cycles

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Alan Cohen,
The Tide Always Comes Back In

A coaching client told me about a friend of hers who was freaking out because “the economy is never going to recover.” I suggested to her that her friend was suffering not from economic distress, but simple nearsightedness. Of course the economy is going to recover. Thinking that the economy will never return would be like standing on an ocean shore watching a wave break on the beach and anxiously exclaiming, “There will never be another wave!” There is always another wave, and the tide always comes back in.

Everything in the manifest universe functions in cycles. It’s all about frequency and vibration, crests and troughs. Economics is no exception. The economy goes up and it goes down. The stock market goes up and it goes down. Real estate goes up and it goes down. For every up there is a down and for every down there is an up. To believe that when it is up it will stay up and when it is down it will stay down is quite the short view.

People who recognize the wave nature of life are not disturbed when things change. Smart people do not resist or complain about change; they capitalize on it. In the 1970’s during the “gas shortage,” people were selling their big gas-guzzling cars and buying little economical ones. At that time I read a newspaper article about a fellow who was buying Cadillacs for ridiculously low prices because he expected that the time would come again when gas would be plentiful and there would be a demand for Cadillacs. Sure enough, the oil companies “found” more gas, the price of fuel plummeted, and the price of Cadillacs soared. The man was an entrepreneurial visionary.

(Translated to today’s market, we might say that a visionary would recognize there are other sources of energy besides oil, and place his or her chips on the tide of commerce flowing in that direction.)

In the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, lots of people were afraid to fly and travel, and the tourist industry suffered badly. Many tour agents threw up their hands and found other careers. In the spring of 2002 I read an article in a Hawaii newspaper about several tour agencies that were thriving. In the midst of the doldrums following September 11, they were planning trips for the following spring. They realized that at some point people would feel more confident and want to travel again, and these tour agents would be waiting for them and have trips for them. That’s exactly what happened. While the tide of tourism was out, they were preparing for its return. They were the only agencies thriving at that time.

One of my favorite models of vision in action is portrayed in the film, Tucker, the Man and His Dream, based on the true story of Preston Tucker. In 1947 Tucker developed an automobile many years ahead of its time, with a range of features that have since become standard equipment. Because his invention posed a threat to the auto manufacturers in power, Tucker was squashed and falsely accused of crimes. In the midst of his trial, Tucker doodled. When he was acquitted, Tucker showed his wife the sketches — schematic plans for a new kind of refrigerator with the potential to revolutionize the industry. Tucker wasted none of his precious time. Why bother with a trial when you can be creating things that will change the world?

I am also inspired by creative entertainers who see beyond appearances. Mel Torme, for example, wrote The Christmas Song (“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…”) in the month of June, when there was no Christmas, snow, fire, or chestnuts. Oscar Hammerstein, partner in the legendary musical team of Rogers and Hammerstein, composed his magnum opus, The Sound of Music, while he was dying. While his body was withering, his spirit was soaring. He was not distracted by the appearance of limitation. While one tide was going out, another was coming in.

An economic downturn, or recession, is an intrinsic piece of a greater progression. Abraham-Hicks notes that, “This economy is planting seeds of desire, intention, and invention that will make the economy stronger than it ever was.” Likewise, Native Americans would purposely burn down certain forests because the area needed cleansing, and the forest that grew back would be healthier. There is a wisdom in apparent destruction, which paves the way for ultimate construction. I once saw a sign posted at a road construction zone, “The inconvenience is temporary. The improvement is permanent.”

We are going through a period of temporary convenience. We can moan, complain, criticize, and blame, or we can take a breath and flow through it. Just keep watching the ocean, and you will find that the next wave is not far behind the last one.

Alan Cohen is the author of many popular inspirational books, including I Had it All the Time. 

from:   http://www.spiritsite.com/forums/columns/others/part64.shtml

Ram Dass on Saying Grace

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Ram Dass, The Only Dance There Is, Part 3

 

What I mean by the word consecration is bringing into consciousness the nature of the act in a cosmic plan. For example, in the old days people would say grace. Grace was a thing you waited for before you ate the turkey.

Norman Rockwell characterizes the kid reaching while everybody’s head’s bowed. It’s that time, “Let’s say grace.” “Grace.” Now, when I bless food, the statement I say, when I say grace, is an old Sanskrit one. It means “This offering of this little ritual I’m performing, this is part of it all, part of Brahma, part of that which is eternally all. He who is making the offering means, that which is being offered is part of it all. The hunger to which you are feeding . . . the fire which you are feeding, that’s all part of it all. Whoever you are offering it to is part of it all, too. He who realizes that all of it is interrelated, all of it is one, becomes one with it all.”

There is a very lovely short story by J. D. Salinger calledTeddy, in which Teddy is like an old lama who has taken a reincarnation in a kind of middle class western family by some quirk of cosmic design. He is about ten years old and on a ship with his sister and his mother and father.

He’s out on deck and he is meeting this man who has begun to see that this little boy isn’t quite like a little boy, and he says to him, “When did you first realize that you … how it was?” And Teddy says, “Well, I was 6 years old. I was in the kitchen and I was watching my little sister in her high-chair drink milk. I suddenly saw, that it was sort of like God pouring God into God, if you know what I mean.” Well, that’s exactly the same thing as that Sanskrit mantra.

from:    http://www.spiritsite.com/writing/ramdas/part6.shtml

Barbara Marx Hubbard on Conscious Evolution

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What is Conscious Evolution?

 

WHAT IS CONSCIOUS EVOLUTION? Due to the increased power given us through science and technology, we are learning how nature works – the gene, the atom, the brain. We are affecting our own evolution by everything we do. With these new powers we can destroy our life support systems …or we can move toward a hope-filled future of immeasurable possibilities.We are the generation of choice, and we do not have much time to choose!Conscious Evolution is the worldview that has arisen precisely at this moment in history to deal with the new human condition. It is a vision and a direction to help us navigate through this transitional period to the next stage of human evolution. As Einstein admonished, humankind cannot solve its problems from the same place of consciousness in which we created them. A new place of consciousness is required.In simple terms Conscious Evolution takes place when we intend to grow in consciousness and use our increasing awareness to guide our actions and achieve a positive future.Bela H. Banathy, author of Guided Evolution of Society, offers this additional understanding of Conscious Evolution:It is a process by which we can individually and collectively take responsibility for our future.It is a process of giving direction to the evolution of human systems by purposeful action.And most importantly, Conscious Evolution enables us, if we take responsibility for it, to use our creative power to guide our own lives and the evolution of the systems and the communities in which we live and work. It is a process by which individuals and groups, families, organizations, and societies can envision and create images of what should be, and bring those images to life by design.Conscious Evolution is at the core a spiritually-motivated endeavor. Its precepts reside at the heart of every great faith, affirming that humans have the potential of being cocreators with Spirit, with the deeper patterns of nature and universal design.The promise of Conscious Evolution is nothing less than the emergence of a universal humanity capable of guiding its own evolution into a future of unimaginable cocreativity

from:   http://www.barbaramarxhubbard.com/site/node/8