Neale Donald Walsch on Holy Experience

10 Tools Creating The Holy Experience

Neale Donald Walsch
a message from Neale Donald Walsch
Saturday, 22 September, 2012  (posted 8 March, 2013)

My dear friends…

As you know if you are a regular reader of The Weekly Bulletin, we have been exploring now for many months an encounter with Life that I have called The Holy Experience. Through the years many people have written to me asking about how they might have such an experience.

This week I want to share with you that I seem to have stumbled upon Ten Instruments or tools with which one might build a platform, or an environment, for the Holy Experience. That’s the best way I can answer the question, “How can I have the Holy Experience?” I’ve thought about this a lot, looking at my own journey and the journey of others with whom I am acquainted, and here is what I have come up with:

The Ten Instruments Of The Holy Experience

1. Yearning

2. Willing

3. Exploring

4. Embracing

5. Explaining

6. Resonance

7. Visualization

8. Movement

9. Ritual

10.
Service & Discipline

These instruments seem to me to be divided into two types: Physical Tools (1-5 above) and Spiritual Tools (6-10 above). I have called these The Five Tools of Awareness and The Five Tools of Non-Awareness of the world.

I believe that the combination of Complete Awareness-plus-Complete Non-Awareness equals Realization.

It seems to me that when one is Aware and Non-Aware at the same time (that is, when one is Physical and Spiritual simultaneously), one is Fully Realized. This is what I would call the Holy Experience.

Do not worry if you do not understand this. All of this will be explained here. For now, be willing to notice that you are “aware” that you are “not aware” of exactly what this means.

I have discovered that the Ten Instruments above may be taken sequentially or in any order that one chooses. And…the use of these Instruments may also be skipped altogether. The Holy Experience may be had without any of the tools being utilized.

The Instruments are just that. Merely tools. One can travel the terrain of enlightenment without using them, and many people have.

On the other hand, using the tools should in no way indicate a lack of spiritual clarity or power. There are many paths to awakening, and using the Ten Instruments is simply one that I have discovered through my lifelong search for a Way to Higher Consciousness, or Self-Realization. It is neither a superior path, nor an inferior one.

On the path described here, the Physical Tools (steps 1-5) can be used to build an experience or an Awareness of your individual life and all that is around you in the exterior world, while the Spiritual Tools produce the knowing of larger realities, resulting in Non-Awareness of—or detachment from—what is around you in the world. It’s almost as if, for you, the world around you is in many ways simply “not there.”

Used together, these Ten Instruments can produce a combined state that I would call Awareness/Non-Awareness. This is sometimes termed “higher consciousness” or “full self-realization.” You will remember that there is a statement in the Bible about being “in the world, but not of it.” This is what the statement means. It is when you realize Who You Really Are, and who you are choosing to experience your Self as during this particular incarnation.

All of the Ten Instruments of the Holy Experience build a path to this destination: the Ultimate Expression of Who You Really Are, demonstrated through the individualized identity you are living right now. This is the moving through you of you as you.

I really want to get into this deeply, and we will as we continue on our exploration of The Holy Experience in this space next week.

Hugs and love,

Neale

© 2012 ReCreation Foundation – http://www.cwg.org – Neale Donald Walsch is a modern day spiritual messenger whose words continue to touch the world in profound ways. His With God series of books has been translated into 27 languages, touching millions of lives and inspiring important changes in their day-to-day lives.

from:    http://spiritlibrary.com/neale-donald-walsch/10-tools-creating-the-holy-experience

Dr. Judih Orloff on Intuitive Healing

 5 Tips to Intuitive Healing
Dr. Judith Orloff
a message from Dr. Judith Orloff
Tuesday, 5 March, 2013  (posted 8 March, 2013)

I am a psychiatrist and intuitive. My passion is combining spirituality and intuition with mainstream medicine. When patients come to see me, I listen to them with my intellect as well my intuition, a potent form of inner wisdom not mediated by the rational mind. Accessible to all, it’s a still, small voice inside-an unflinching truth-teller committed to our well-being. Sometimes I experience it as a snap-shot-like flash, a gut feeling, a hunch, a physical sensation, a dream. Whatever the form, it is always a friend, keeping a steady eye on our bodies and spirits, letting us know if something is out of sync.

As a psychiatrist I see many people with everything material they can ever want, and still they feel lost. What’s missing is a palpable connection with their intuitive voice, one that will always guide them in a heartfelt direction. I believe that without this connection, it’s impossible to lead a truly passionate life, based on instinct and authentic inner knowledge. I’ve written my book, Dr. Judith Orloff’s Guide to Intuitive Healing: Five Steps to Physical, Emotional, and Sexual Wellness as a primer on how everyone can develop intuition and utilize it as a powerful tool for living. Intuition is not something I simply teach my patients. It has become a way of life for me. The magic of intuition is that it insists you live in the moment with no expectations, a continuing freshness. Intuition is our birthright, available to everyone. To access it, I’ve developed five steps that can be applied to any issue you’ll ever confront from healing your body, to riding a roller-coaster of emotions to sexual awakening. I live by these five steps; they continue to sustain me. I suggest you give them a try. My hope is that they will bring you the joy and clarity you’ve been searching for.

Step 1: Notice Your Beliefs (more)

Your beliefs set the stage for healing. Positive attitudes stimulate growth. Negative attitudes impede it. It’s important to rid yourself of counterproductive attitudes that you may not even realize you have. If you examine your beliefs, choose life-enhancing ones, you’ll create optimal wellness. No organ system stands apart from your thoughts. Your beliefs program your neurochemicals. I’m not suggesting that you be Pollyannish, but that you be completely true to yourself. This will free you from unconscious negative beliefs that can sabotage your healing.

Step 2: Be In Your Body (more)

Your body is a complex and sensitive intuitive receptor. You must make a commitment to be in it completely to heal. Most people in Western society are conditioned to live from the neck up, ignoring the rest of their body. This stance is counter-intuitive. I’d like you to shift that perspective-to enjoy your intellect but revel in your physicality as well. Being aware of the sensuousness of your body opens intuition. Then you’ll become more cognizant of early warning signs your body sends. This gives you a head-start on preventing illness, choosing healthy relationships, and avoiding detrimental situations.

Step 3: Sense Your Body’s Subtle Energy

We are composed of flesh and blood, but also of subtle energy. Chinese Medical Practitioners call it “chi,” a vital substance which penetrates the body and extends many feet beyond it. From an intuitive point of view, these vibrantly colored energy fields, whose centers are called chakras have a significant effect on our health. For that reason, it is important that we learn to sense this energy within us, recognize when it is off, and learn to correct the imbalance. Feeling energy can be very sensual, an extension of love. Learning to tap into your body’s energy is healing.

Step 4: Ask for Inner Guidance

We each possess an intuitive voice that contains answers about our healing. Because our intellect is often so loud, this voice often gets drowned out. It’s essential that we learn to access the stillness within–though meditation, quite contemplation, connecting with nature, prayer-in order to gain answers about our health. Spend a few minutes each day devoted to listening to this voice. It may appear as a gut feeling, a hunch, an image, a sound, a memory, an instant knowing-as if a light bulb suddenly switched on. Learn to trust the signals your inner wisdom sends.

Step 5: Listen To Your Dreams (more)

Intuition is the language of dreams. Every ninety minutes each night during the REM stage of sleep, we dream. Dreams provide answers about health, relationships, career choices, any new direction. The secret is to remember them. I suggest keeping a dream journal by your bed. Before you go to sleep, ask a dream a question. For instance, “Is this relationship healthy for me or should I move on?” The next morning, write down any dreams immediately before getting out of bed. Try repeating the question, every night for the next week until your answer comes. As you develop the habit of remembering dreams, you’ll be able to benefit from this form of healing. As a physician, I have a continual sense of awe for the relationship between body and spirit. As your heart opens, so does your intuition. Your intuition will teach you how to see and how to love. It will instill in you a renewed faith to face anything.

Judith Orloff MD is bestselling author of the new book Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself From Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life (Three Rivers Press, 2011) upon which these tips and article are based. Her insights in Emotional Freedom create a new convergence of healing paths for our stressed out world. An assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at UCLA, Dr. Orloff’s work has been featured on The Today Show, CNN, and in Oprah Magazine and USA Today.

from:    http://spiritlibrary.com/dr-judith-orloff/5-tips-to-intuitive-healing

Archangel Michael on Changes

Archangel Michael: Humanity is in the Midst of Dramatic Changes of Profound Proportions

MichaelArchangel Michael’s message through Ronna Herman (1) was so profound this month that I felt a strong desire to review some of what he says in it. It really is not to be missed.

He tells us that “the evolutionary process for humanity is in full-swing and moving forward at an astounding pace.” He reassures us that “humanity is ready to take a giant leap in consciousness.”

However, he reminds us, this is just one small part of the overall journey from God to God and we’ve experienced many levels of it prior to coming to Earth on this mission.

“Yes, humanity is in the midst of dramatic changes, an evolutionary process of profound proportions. However, remember, it is just a part of the never-ending spiral. All of you who are awakening to your God consciousness have experienced a great variety of momentous transitional processes throughout this universe.”

Moreover, we’re the dreamer dreaming and, having passed the halfway mark, we’re about to begin our journey back to the One.

“You are the dreamer as well as the dream. It is in this Sacred Space [of realization] that you will begin your journey back into the wholeness (holiness) as you strive to recreate yourself into a SUN CHILD of our Father/Mother God. This has been preordained; it is your Divine Heritage.”

Ascension is not a constantly-accelerating process; there has need to be pauses along the way.

“Be aware that there is an ebb and flow to the process of ascension. There are great pulsations of new higher Cosmic Ray vibrational patterns bombarding the Earth, with quiet times in-between so as not to create an overload situation.

“Ascension is not a steady, forward-motion process. It is an insurgence of energy and new information, and then a time of assimilation, integration and manifestation. Many of the sensations seem more pronounced to you at this time.

“You may feel as though you have taken a great leap into the unknown at times or taken a step backward into uncertainty. At other times you may feel an intensified sense of vulnerability. By now, you should be somewhat accustomed to the ebb and flow of magnified, accelerated frequencies; however, when you are pushed to the next level of awareness, it often sets off an alarm of varying degrees in your physical/mental/emotional bodies.”

We starseeds are here to help others make the transition.

“You are called Star Seed for a reason, for as you return to Self-Mastery, you will initiate the process of integrating highly-developed crystalline, Life-Code Seed Atoms; a new, advanced evolutionary process to be used in the next forthcoming Golden Age.”

We don’t need to fret or be concerned that our interdimensional faculties will not be returned to us.

“Your inner perspective will automatically broaden as you gradually change your way/mode of thinking and perceiving.”
We’ll be given the resources we need to see to our missions as wayshowers.

“We have said that many special dispensations are being given to those who bravely step to the fore and claim their heritage. As the masses awaken and cry out for assistance, solutions, information and encouragement, you will be needed more than ever, my brave ones.

“We are waiting to empower you, to gift you with wisdom, abilities and knowledge beyond your wildest imaginings.”

As it is, we’re being showered with nourishing energies and our “level of comprehension and awareness will increase with each download of higher frequency energy.” As we move farther along our journey, the inbuilt longing for liberation will kick in and pull us towards God. Archangel Michael describes it here:

“At some point in every person’s Soul journey throughout time and space, there is a yearning to return to the higher realms–a Divine discontent sets in that cannot be denied. First you must become aware of the voice of your conscience. The whispers of your Soul will grow louder and more distinctive as you begin to pay attention to the call of Spirit.

“A sensitivity grows within your feeling nature as you become attuned to higher vibrational patterns of people, places, thoughts and actions. Eventually you will learn to distinguish the Soul Song vibrations of your Soul family, and of the different masters and angelic Beings.”

All is soon to be flux and we won’t want to lag behind.

“Please take heed: no longer will you be allowed to stagnate or even stay at a certain level very long—time and the process of transformation are moving too rapidly.
“Your language is changing; your thought forms are different. The old areas of your brain which contain your past are gradually being refined or dissolved, so it is beginning to seem as though everything that happened before, even last year, is a vague dream.”

We’ll learn to think in new ways and find ourselves becoming impatient with the old.

“New areas of your brain are being activated and you must learn to think in a whole new way. Light packets of information, holographic pictures of great significance and sacred geometric patterns will begin to come into your consciousness, and you must learn how to decipher these.

“It may seem as if those whom you are moving beyond no longer understand you, or you cannot find words to carry on the old mundane patterns of conversation. You will also find that you do not need to verbalize every thought as you begin to telepathically pick up the energies and thoughts of those around you. Your intuitive abilities will increase, and you will not be easily deceived. You will speak your truth with spiritual integrity, and you will not be willing to engage in the negative games of the past.”

It’ll become increasingly important to remain detached.

“We implore you: do not become attached to any way of being, any one modality, any philosophy that is too narrow or structured, or buy into any agreement that gives power to someone outside yourself. Discernment, discernment, discernment—we cannot emphasize this enough, for as quickly as an apparent truth comes forth and you incorporate it into your belief system, it may be superseded by a higher truth or a new concept.

“In looking back, can you not see that much of the knowledge you now accept as your absolute truth was beyond your wildest imagining ten years ago, or even six months ago? Be aware that many of the things you are so certain about today will undoubtedly change tomorrow or in the near future.”

We’re being bombarded with the new and will tap into higher and higher dimensions.

“Mentally, new ideas and concepts are bombarding your consciousness. Nebulous at first, but gradually solidifying as you use your enhanced reasoning abilities to unfold and decode the formulas and inventions of the future.

“As you tap into the higher planes of the fifth dimension, you will begin to remember facets of the blueprint of Creation for this Sub-universe: how to hold a pure thought until it is brought to fruition and how you assisted in the creation of a great variety of wondrous things. Many of you will begin to see geometric shapes, sparkling crystals, and brilliant new colors as you move through and beyond time and space into realms of Light.”

There’s so much more Archangel Michael says that is relevant and important to us in Ronna’s monthly message. But the article would become too long if I reviewed all of it. He closes by inviting us to open fully to the wonders materializing before us.

“Open your minds and your hearts, beloveds, and embrace the infusion of Divine Love/Light that awaits you. Bask in the glory of reunion with us as we move forward together on this incredible journey into a new reality. We are with you always. You are loved most profoundly.”

As the months of 2013 rapidly pass by us, we can see one messenger after another affirming that the process of Ascension continues and rushes towards its culmination. By no means are we in a trough or has the process ended. Instead we are alternately being washed in profound energies and allowed to rest and assimilate as we move towards “dramatic changes … of profound proportions.”

Footnotes

(1) Archangel Michael, “Hold Steady, Beloveds,” transmitted through Ronna Herman, Feb. 28, 2013, at http://www.ronnastar.com/messages-aam/latest.html.

from:    http://goldenageofgaia.com/into-the-golden-age-of-gaia/the-midpoint-of-ascension/archangel-michael-humanity-is-in-the-midst-of-dramatic-changes-of-profound-proportions/

Solar Wind Source Discovered

Solar Wind Energy Source Discovered

March 8, 2013: Using data from an aging NASA spacecraft, researchers have found signs of an energy source in the solar wind that has caught the attention of fusion researchers. NASA will be able to test the theory later this decade when it sends a new probe into the sun for a closer look.

The discovery was made by a group of astronomers trying to solve a decades-old mystery: What heats and accelerates the solar wind?

Solar Wind Energy (speed, 200px)

Solar wind flows away from the sun at speeds up to and exceeding 500 km/s (a million mph). More

The solar wind is a hot and fast flow of magnetized gas that streams away from the sun’s upper atmosphere.  It is made of hydrogen and helium ions with a sprinkling of heavier elements.  Researchers liken it to the steam from a pot of water boiling on a stove; the sun is literally boiling itself away.

“But,” says Adam Szabo of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, “solar wind does something that steam in your kitchen never does.  As steam rises from a pot, it slows and cools.  As solar wind leaves the sun, it accelerates, tripling in speed as it passes through the corona. Furthermore, something inside the solar wind continues to add heat even as it blows into the cold of space.”

Finding that “something” has been a goal of researchers for decades.  In the 1970s and 80s, observations by two German/US Helios spacecraft set the stage for early theories, which usually included some mixture of plasma instabilities, magnetohydrodynamic waves, and turbulent heating.  Narrowing down the possibilities was a challenge. The answer, it turns out, has been hiding in a dataset from one of NASA’s oldest active spacecraft, a solar probe named Wind.

Launched in 1994, Wind is so old that it uses magnetic tapes similar to old-fashioned 8-track tapes to record and play back its data.  Equipped with heavy shielding and double-redundant systems to safeguard against failure, the spacecraft was built to last; at least one researcher at NASA calls it the “Battlestar Gallactica” of the heliophysics fleet. Wind has survived almost two complete solar cycles and innumerable solar flares.

“After all these years, Wind is still sending us excellent data,” says Szabo, the mission’s project scientist, “and it still has 60 years’ worth of fuel left in its tanks.”

Solar Wind Energy (splash)

An artist’s concept of the Wind spacecraft sampling the solar wind. Justin Kasper’s science result is inset.

Using Wind to unravel the mystery was, to Justin Kasper of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, a “no brainer.” He and his team processed the spacecraft’s entire 19-year record of solar wind temperatures, magnetic field and energy readings and …

“I think we found it,” he says.  “The source of the heating in the solar wind is ion cyclotron waves.”

Ion cyclotron waves are made of protons that circle in wavelike-rhythms around the sun’s magnetic field.  According to a theory developed by Phil Isenberg (University of New Hampshire) and expanded by Vitaly Galinsky and Valentin Shevchenko (UC San Diego), ion cyclotron waves emanate from the sun; coursing through the solar wind, they heat the gas to millions of degrees and accelerate its flow to millions of miles per hour. Kasper’s findings confirm that ion cyclotron waves are indeed active, at least in the vicinity of Earth where the Wind probe operates.

Ion cyclotron waves can do much more than heat and accelerate the solar wind, notes Kasper.  “They also account for some of the wind’s very strange properties.”

The solar wind is not like wind on Earth.  Here on Earth, atmospheric winds carry nitrogen, oxygen, water vapor along together; all species move with the same speed and they have the same temperature.  The solar wind, however, is much stranger.  Chemical elements of the solar wind such as hydrogen, helium, and heavier ions, blow at different speeds; they have different temperatures; and, strangest of all, the temperatures change with direction.

“We have long wondered why heavier elements in the solar wind move faster and have higher temperatures than the lighter elements,” says Kasper.  “This is completely counterintuitive.”

The ion cyclotron theory explains it: Heavy ions resonate well with ion cyclotron waves. Compared to their lighter counterparts, they gain more energy and heat as they surf.

Solar Wind Energy (spp, 200px)

An artist’s concept of Solar Probe Plus approaching the sun where it can test the ion cyclotron theory. More

The behavior of heavy ions in the solar wind is what intrigues fusion researchers. Kasper explains: “When you look at fusion reactors on Earth, one of the big challenges is contamination.  Heavy ions that sputter off the metal walls of the fusion chamber get into the plasma where the fusion takes place.  Heavy ions radiate heat. This can cool the plasma so much that it shuts down the fusion reaction.”

Ion cyclotron waves of the type Kasper has found in the solar wind might provide a way to reverse this process. Theoretically, they could be used to heat and/or remove the heavy ions, restoring thermal balance to the fusing plasma.

“I have been invited to several fusion conferences to talk about our work with the solar wind,” he says.

The next step, agree Kasper and Szabo, is to find out if ion cyclotron waves work the same way deep inside the sun’s atmosphere where the solar wind begins its journey.  To find out, NASA is planning to send a spacecraft into the sun itself.

Solar Probe Plus, scheduled for launch in 2018, will plunge so far into the sun’s atmosphere that the sun will appear as much as 23 times wider than it does in the skies of Earth. At closest approach, about 7 million km from the sun’s surface, Solar Probe Plus must withstand temperatures greater than 1400 deg. C and survive blasts of radiation at levels not experienced by any previous spacecraft.  The mission’s goal is to sample the sun’s plasma and magnetic field at the very source of the solar wind.

“With Solar Probe Plus we’ll be able to conduct specific tests of the ion cyclotron theory using sensors far more advanced than the ones on the Wind spacecraft,” says Kasper.  “This should give us a much deeper understanding of the solar wind’s energy source.”

The research described in this story was published in the Physical Review Letters on February 28, 2013: “Sensitive Test for Ion-Cyclotron Resonant Heating in the Solar Wind” by Justin Kasper et al. 

from:    http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/08mar_solarwind/

Taiwan Earthquake

Strong earthquake near Nanhu Mountain (Xiulin), Taiwan on March 7, 2013

Last update: March 8, 2013 at 12:15 am by By

Most important Earthquake Data:

Magnitude : 5.5

Local Time (conversion only below land) : 2013-03-07 11:36:46

GMT/UTC Time : 2013-03-07 03:36:46

Depth (Hypocenter)  : 15 km

Update 08:41 UTC : 16 M3+ aftershocks since the mainshock. Strongest aftershock so far : 4.5 (4 above M4). No evidence of damage so far. If we would track even some minor damage, we will report it here.

Update 05:52 UTC : NO reports of damage yet (more than 3 hours after the mainshock). This is a good sign as the earthquake has occurred during daylight, earthquake response and assessment is generally much faster during daylight than during the night.

Update 05:45 UTC : Taiwan is generally well prepared for earthquakes. After many cruel earthquakes in the past, building code has been improved a lot and earthquake drills are a common issue in education. To prove their building skills, Taiwan had during relatively long time the highest building in the world, the 509 meter high Taipei 101 Tower.

Update 05:37 UTC : Below the list of aftershocks of M3 or more as reported by CWB Taiwan, the strongest one being a M4.1. Epicenters are located in the same area as the mainshock.

Screen Shot 2013-03-07 at 06.36.18

Update 05:13 UTC : Today’s earthquake was mainly normal faulting (see beachball below). Taiwan has very complicated tectonics with all kind of focal mechanisms. The Philippine Sea plate is sliding 82 mm/year from the East to the West, which is an impressive speed and which explains at the same time the many earthquakes Taiwan has.
A good tectonic overview of Taiwan can be read here  (also the University who did publish the map below).

Taiwan tectonics - image courtesy Ludwig Maximilians University Munchen Germany

Taiwan tectonics – image courtesy Ludwig Maximilians University Munchen Germany

Update 05:13 UTC : The picture below gives an impression of the earthquake’s epicenter area, the Central Mountain Range.

Taiwan earthquake March 7 2013 - epicenter area

Image courtesy Tai2

Update 04:58 UTC : We are currently scanning our many sources but have luckily not found any trace of damage as yet. Let’s hope it remains like this.

Update 04:48 UTC : Based on the reports from our readers we do not think that serious shaking damage will be inflicted, secondary impact from for example landslides are a real possibility however. The picture below shows a landslide in April 2010 after a M6.5 earthquake struck the island.

Image courtesy Central News Agency, Taiwan - landslide after a M6.5 earthquake in 2010

Image courtesy Central News Agency, Taiwan – landslide after a M6.5 earthquake in 2010

Update 04:45 UTC : Taiwan has often damaging landslides during similar earthquakes. People in this area are somewhat used to earthquakes but strong ones like this do not happen very common. The area is well known for strong earthquakes however (see map below which shows the earthquakes near todays epicenter since early 2012 only).

Update 04:36 UTC : CWB Taiwan reports somewhat better numbers with the same Magnitude of M5.6 but with a deeper hypocenter of 15.6 km. The shaking intensity was max. 5 CWB in Yilan County and Taichung City. Other intensities : see below.
An intensity CWB 5 should be read as : Strong     Indoors : Most people are considerably frightened. Walls crack; heavy furniture may overturn. Outdoors : Noticeably felt by drivers; some chimneys and large archways topple over.
A CWB 5 can be compared with an MMI VII – The JMA (Japan) and CWB (Taiwan) intensity scales are rather similar.

Screen Shot 2013-03-07 at 05.37.36

Update 04:34 UTC : The epicenter is also close to Nanhu mountain. Nanhu Mountain is a mountain in Taiwan with an elevation of 3,740 m (12,270 ft). It is one of the highest mountains in Taiwan.

Update 04:27 UTC : ER calls this earthquake moderately dangerous mainly because the epicenter is below a wilderness area, otherwise we would call it very dangerous. The earthquake was felt in a wide radius and based on the reports from our readers below, objects fell from shelves in Taipei which illustrates the strength of the shaking.

Taiwan March 7 2013 earthquake

from:    http://earthquake-report.com/2013/03/07/strong-earthquake-taiwan-on-march-7-2013/

if you can, please donate to this site, http://earthquake-report.com/, they do an incredible job!!!!

Ancient Sunstone Said to be Found

Researchers May Have Found Fabled Sunstone

By: Raphael Satter | Associated Press
Published: March 8, 2013
Britain sunstoneAP Photo/Guy Ropars

This photo shows the Alderney Crystal, a piece of calcite. Researchers say the rough, whitish crystal recovered from the wreckage of 16th century English warship may be a sunstone, a special kind of mineral believed by some to have helped medieval seafarers navigate the high seas.

LONDON  — A rough, whitish block recovered from an Elizabethan shipwreck may be a sunstone, the fabled crystal believed by some to have helped Vikings and other medieval seafarers navigate the high seas, researchers say.

In a paper published earlier this week, a Franco-British group argued that the Alderney Crystal – a chunk of Icelandic calcite found amid a 16th century wreck at the bottom of the English Channel – worked as a kind of solar compass, allowing sailors to determine the position of the sun even when it was hidden by heavy cloud, masked by fog, or below the horizon.

That’s because of a property known as birefringence, which splits light beams in a way that can reveal the direction of their source with a high degree of accuracy. Vikings may not have grasped the physics behind the phenomenon, but that wouldn’t present a problem.

“You don’t have to understand how it works,” said Albert Le Floch, of the University in Rennes in western France. “Using it is basically easy.”

Vikings were expert navigators – using the sun, stars, mountains and even migratory whales to help guide them across the sea – but some have wondered at their ability to travel the long stretches of open water between Greenland, Iceland, and Newfoundland in modern-day Canada.

Le Floch is one of several who’ve suggested that calcite crystals were used as navigational aids for long summer days in which the sun might be hidden behind the clouds. He said the use of such crystals may have persisted into the 16th century, by which time magnetic compasses were widely used but often malfunctioned.

Le Floch noted that one Icelandic legend – the Saga of St. Olaf – appears to refer to such a crystal when it says that Olaf used a “sunstone” to verify the position of the sun on a snowy day.

But that’s it. Few other medieval references to sunstones have been found, and no such crystals have ever been recovered from Viking tombs or ships. Until the Alderney Crystal was recovered in 2002, there had been little if any hard evidence to back the theory.

Many specialists are still skeptical. Donna Heddle, the director of the Center for Nordic Studies at Scotland’s University of the Highlands and Islands, described the solar compass hypothesis as speculative.

“There’s no solid evidence that that device was used by Norse navigators,” she said Friday. “There’s never been one found in a Viking boat. One cannot help but feel that if there were such things they would be found in graves.”

She acknowledged that the crystal came from Iceland and was found near a navigation tool, but said it might just as easily have been used as a magnifying device as a solar compass.

Le Floch argued that one of the reasons why no stones have been found before is that calcite degrades quickly – it’s vulnerable to acid, sea salts, and to heat. The Alderney Crystal was originally transparent, but the sea water had turned it a milky white.

Le Floch’s paper – written with Guy Ropars, Jacques Lucas, and a group of Britons from the Alderney Maritime Trust – appeared Wednesday in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A.

from:    Associated Press Published: March 8, 2013 Britain sunstone /www.wunderground.com/

Anti-Facial Recognition Invention

Privacy Visor Confuses Face Recognition Camera

Jan 23, 2013 03:09 PM ET // by Jesse Emspak

“Hiding behind your glasses” just took on a whole new meaning.

At Tokyo’s National Institute of Informatics, Isao Echizen, an associate professor in the Digital Content and Media Sciences Research Division, unveiled a privacy visor — a set of glasses that prevents cameras with face-recognition software from recognizing you.

Echizen designed the glasses with near-infrared LEDs placed around the eyes and the bridge of the nose, two areas that computers use to pick out faces. Near-infrared is invisible to people, but many cameras can pick it up. The lights add digital “noise” to the image and when the computer tries to match the image with ones in a database, it gets confused and is unable to complete a match

Echizen told BBC News that the purpose is to protect people from being tagged and identified in photographs without their knowledge. The EyeSee mannequins, for example, use face recognition software to log when shoppers come in and build a database of people’s age, gender or race.

At the same time, he didn’t want to run into the problem of wearing a mask, which protects privacy but outside of 18th century Venetian masquerade balls, is considered a bit unusual.

Makeup could also fool face recognition software, as demonstrated with the CV Dazzle project, but that too could be problematic, since the designs are a bit outré.

Along with artist Adam Harvey’s stealth hoodie, these glasses are yet another indication that people are thinking more carefully about privacy – or the lack thereof – in a connected world.

Credit: National Institute of Informatics

from:     http://news.discovery.com/tech/gear-and-gadgets/glasses-foil-face-recognition-software-130123.htm

CC Treadway on Love and Money

A Love Letter From Money

A Love Letter From Money

Story by: CC Treadway

Dear Spiritual Community,

Soooooo, here we are in the new Baktun. It’s a beautiful morning. The sun is shining and I just finished eating breakfast and paying my bills. Yes my friends, I don’t know if you got the memo, but Money didn’t disappear into the ethers on the solstice.  Credit cards, banks, currency and the stock market are still doing their dance.

But don’t be sad, because it’s time to take it to the next level. Everyone found out that Money isn’t based on gold a few years ago, so the jig is up! They are printing Money like newspapers and yet inflation is not rising…because who cares right? It’s not based on anything material, so it’s a free for all! This is what the “money people” have known for years.

Whether we like it or not, all of us are still in relationship with Money. And in the year of the water snake, it’s ON.

That’s right spiritual people with big hearts, it’s time for you to be rich. So say goodbye to every negative story you have about Money, because your time has come.

The spiritual community is well known for its disdain of the material, and doomsday predictions, but from everything I am seeing and hearing, in the year of the snake, we are gonna rock it financially.

But there’s only one way that can happen. We need to make Money the most loving experience of our lives. We need to stop telling every negative story and just go ahead and fall in love with Money.

Eeeeeeeww, I hear you saying, but yes, Money needs our love. Money is tired of doing bad things, it told me.

We have a real opportunity to bring the vibration of Money into love. Think of the possibilities. If the consciousness of Money were based in love, the ENTIRE WORLD would transform. Money would be a force of peace and balance. Behind our backs it would thinking of all the ways it could be loving and adoring of us, it would bend over backwards for our benefit, because that’s what love does. It can’t help itself!

If you want an irrigation system for your perma-perfect backyard or extra cash flow to help empower those in true poverty, then a love drunk Money is just what you need.

I can say that one miracle after another has happened this year with my beloved Money, and that came after a lot of praying, questioning, clearing, working and learning. I went deep to the core of the earth, the heart of the sky and the depth of my being. And then I fell in love, and we (Money and I) started this delicious love affair…but there’s more.

I’ve been in this scene long enough to know that true devotees will not touch anything that is not love. An open hearted awake person will leave money in the dust, will chastise it, throw it away and punish it if it doesn’t feel good. But the spiritual community has too many great visions, ideas and love for the world for them not to flourish. It drives me crazy that all that heart and creativity gets stopped short due to lack of funds.  That just won’t do in the new world.

With money on our sides, there’s nothing we can’t do.

So, it’s time to love money until it becomes a passionate relationship, one you are proud of, and one you hold sacred. You may have to face deep darkness to open to this relationship, or just simply throw in the towel and give into Love.

My friends, there are laws to wealth and love, do you want to play a bigger game? Do you want your heart and money to be as One, in Love, and in community for a better world?

I do. For so many reasons, I really, really do.

Here’s a small exercise. Take this moment to feel deep gratitude for money, feel into the heart of life and how it wants to give to you, and let money go right into that feeling. Shake off any negative feelings or reactions and re-commit to loving. Believe that you are ready and deserve it all.

from:    http://spiritofmaat.com/magazine/march-2013-spring-equinox-edition/a-love-letter-from-money/

Drunvalo Melchizedek on March Energies

Drunvalo’s Corner

Story by: Drunvalo Melchizedek

“The Window Of Great Change” –  an important message from Drunvalo

There are so many changes taking place in our outer reality, anyone who knows how to keep up with it all understands that we are at a tipping point. Within the swirl of events that according to some, could turn the next few months, and the world, upside down, there are some simple things that need to be kept in mind. We are here to hold space for an incredible moment in time – and Drunvalo is here with a message that will help all of us know how, and where, to direct our energy in a realm of possibilities that is due to heat up between now and the end of June.

Dear Ones,
We are about to enter into a window of the time that has no name, but is inside of the Mayan END OF TIME window that was connected to December 21, 2012 and will end in about three years.

This window begins on February 18th, 2013 and continues for about three and a half months until June 2nd, 2013. However, it could last for as long as the end of August if the circumstances change.

I feel it is important to be aware of this significant period of time and what it could mean for you.

There are three reasons why this window was created. Let me explain.

First, the Mayans long ago predicted that if they had to choose the moment when the shift from male consciousness to female consciousness would begin, they would choose the dates of February 18/19, 2013. I wrote about this long ago. They see it like a sunrise that gets brighter and brighter each day.

At the same time, they said that they don’t really know for certain as it is Mother Earth that will decide exactly when the Mayan Prophecy will begin.

What the Mayans have told me about the 18th of February, 2013 is that it is the moment when the energy within Mother Earth begins to flow in a new pattern. I doubt if you will feel this in your daily life, but the Mayans say it is an important time in human history.

Second, NASA gave a public warning about a year and a half to two years ago concerning the solar flares. It was a dire prediction. It will take a moment to explain.

In 2000, we had the Y2K scare, around the realization that if the calendars within the computers of the world were not repaired so they would read “2000”, the world’s computers would stop working on the moment the year 2000 rolled around. I am sure most of you remember those events well.

This caused governments of the world to more or less freak out. The predictions were wild, but accurate. If the computers of the world were to shut down, most of our material needs would not be met and life on Earth would be challenged, at the least.

Then a French man saved the world by creating a software program that corrected the computers and allowed them to continue working into the 21st century.

As time went on, the world continued its dependency on computer systems and today all aspects of our lives are controlled by it. The way everything comes to us; such as food, water, electricity, gasoline, parts, medicine, and on, is controlled by computers.

If the computers were to stop functioning today, the ramifications of the experience would be many times greater that it would have been in 2000.

It’s been analyzed that if the internet went down permanently, hundreds of millions of people would die within months simply because there is no food or water.

NASA predicted that during the height of the Solar Cycle 24, which we are entering very soon, all computer memories could be erased. Exception to that would be hard drives, DVDs, and etc that are in Faraday Cages, which shields its interior from external electro-magnetic fields and radiation. If these memory drives were to be wiped clean, our entire electric grid around the world would fail. The world would be in the black. From there everything else would come to a stop. NASA has calculated that this may happen sometime toward the peak of the solar cycle from about February to August of 2013 and could last between one and nine months.

This would be a major human disaster.

England didn’t believe NASA’s reports and researched their own data; they shortly replied by saying that they agreed with NASA.  Red flags went up around the world for the governments who now are preparing for this possibility.

Russia then came back with even a more dire scenario that extended beyond what NASA was forecasting.  You can read about this in the newest book, The Mayan Ouroboros.

We didn’t learn from our past mistakes with Y2K. We should have slowed down our dependency on computerized systems until we knew it was safe, but we didn’t even look back.  Instead, we expanded our use of computer technology globally as rapidly as possible. The world quickly forgot how vulnerable we are with computers and solar flares.

And then there is a third concern that matures during this same time period; the Earth’s geomagnetic field which is about to shift it’s polarity from North to South, and the effects of that on humankind. I also wrote about this in The Mayan Ouroboros. Both of these scenarios are definitely necessary to understand, and both of them are inside the window we are entering in a few days on February 18th.

This geomagnetic field reversal is of greater concern for human life than anything that has ever happened in our memory including all the wars since WWI.

But why would I suggest ending the window on June 2nd, 2013 and not later in August? In the government’s remote viewing program back in the 1990’s, a team of expert psychics using their extra-sensory perceptions reported to the US military that something huge was coming to the Earth. They began to search into the future for when it happens.  When they viewed June 1st, 2013, the Earth was already damaged.  So whatever occurred has happened BEFORE June 2nd, 2013.  If this information is not accurate, then we have to continue to be cautious until the end of Solar Cycle 24. In any case, 2013 definitely looks like a year of dramatic change.

I am not here to create fear. That is not my purpose. I am here to bring your awareness to events that are occurring now by scientific standards. As citizens of the Earth, we need to be aware of these global transition events so that we can be prepared and not be surprised by them.

From a Mayan point of view, we must be ready to move into ascension at any moment over the next three years or so. This means staying in meditation, keeping your heart light as a feather and interconnected to your brain.

Now the question is, what can we do to prepare for both a rapid global change and ascension at the same time?  In my meditations it has become clear that I am to give you instructions so that you can make this change within yourself and ascend into the higher levels of Earth’s consciousness. I will do everything I can for you.

Very soon, hopefully before the end of this month, we will release  special instructions for those who know the Mer-Ka-Ba, either synthetic (Flower of Life) or natural (Awakening the Illuminated Heart™), on exactly how you can move from the 3rd dimension of Earth to the 4th dimension of the Earth. At this time, this piece of knowledge will only be useful for those who have been practicing either form of the meditation. It is the missing piece of knowledge that millions of you have been waiting for for years.

For the rest of you, you need to catch up as quickly as you can. In order to assist new people learning this meditation, we will be creating a series of lessons available to you over the internet.  And if you wish to really accelerate your understanding and practice, you can go to The School of Remembering™. There you will have full access to a global school with certified teachers in a vast number of countries and in many languages ready to serve you.

Trust yourself. You will know what to do.

Our filming studio, One Lotus Studios, is nearly completed; but until it is, we will share information with you in whatever manner we can.

Dear people, we are about to enter a time where you seriously need to be awake and prepare for inner and outer transformations that will change your life forever.

But please remember, if we successfully pass beyond the window of The Great Change, we are still in the timeline of the Mayan prophesy until we enter the year of 2016. The critical period of rapid changes will be over when we see a Red Star in our sky. Then we will enter into the change of order and harmony.

With great love for you, I promise, God willing, to help you.

From my heart,

Drunvalo

rom:    http://spiritofmaat.com/magazine/march-2013-spring-equinox-edition/drunvalos-corner/

Dangerous earthquake – Yunnan, China

At least 30 injured (3 seriously) and more than 17,000 households with damaged houses in Yunnan, China earthquake

Last update: March 3, 2013 at 7:30 pm by By

Update 19:28 UTC : In addition to the 1405 collapsed rooms and 83434 damaged rooms, this has combined with other infrastructure losses to cause at least 350 million CNY damage (around 55 million USD). 12000 people have been relocated and at least 130000 people have been affected. The injury total remains at 3 severely injured and 27 slightly injured.

Update 17:47 UTC : The earthquake did affected six townships in three counties : Eryuan, Yangbi, and Yunlong (9.2 million people). The houses of 17,594 households has damage in various degrees and 83,434 rooms have been reported damaged so far.

Update 13:33 UTC : A far from final report states that 3 people were seriously injured and 27 slightly injured. The material damage is however far reaching. A lot of infrastructure like government buildings, schools, roads, water distribution, electricity have been damaged in various degrees.
At least 2500 houses were damaged and 700 collapsed.  This is only an intermediate report as the assessment is still going on.
No fatalities reported (which will probably will be final).
The most affected county (and city) is Eryuan, a county with a population of 330,000.

Image courtesy and copyright chinanews.com

Image courtesy and copyright chinanews.com

UPDATE 06:47 UTC:- There have been at least 20 injured, 700 rooms collapsed and 1800 rooms damaged so far in Yunnan. More damage is expected to be counted given the dense population of the area.

UPDATE:- The CENC has stated that it had a magnitude of 5.5 and was 9km in depth. The Yunnan Province Seismological Bureau has started grade IV emergency response which means they are expecting major damage.

This earthquake has likely caused some damage in Dali and Shimen in Yunnan Province of China.

Screen Shot 2013-03-03 at 9.41.16 AM

29km (18mi) E of Shimen, China
51km (32mi) WNW of Dali, China
116km (72mi) SSW of Dayan, China
209km (130mi) WSW of Dadukou, China

 

Most important Earthquake Data:

Magnitude : 5.4

Local Time (conversion only below land) : 2013-03-03 13:41:19

GMT/UTC Time : 2013-03-03 05:41:19

Depth (Hypocenter)  : 9 km

– See more at: http://earthquake-report.com/2013/03/03/moderate-earthquake-yunnan-china-on-march-3-2013/#sthash.BX17BhRq.dpuf