Feb 28, 2011

Black Swans Overtake the Middle East



Last night Natalie Portman took home the Oscar for her performance in The Black Swan. The excitement around this film has been building since it hit the screens to great critical acclaim and then won the Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Awards for Portman. I haven't seen The Black Swan yet but the buzz has been hard to escape. As with any phenomenon that captures headlines and imaginations, recognizable archetypes emerge. Even in the worst of pop culture, there are insights into the collective psyche and shared vision.

Several years before the Portman vehicle began making the news, a bestselling book by the same name created a different sort of buzz. Nassim Nicholas Taleb makes the convincing argument that events that create the greatest impact are unexpected and unpredictable based on past patterns. He uses the black swan as a metaphor for these unexpected events. Before the discovery and colonization of Australia, the black swan was a metaphor for something non-existent and, therefore, inconceivable. It was common knowledge throughout Europe and its colonies that all swans were white. But in 1697 the great birds were discovered by Willem de Vlaming's expedition along Australia's Swan River. With the discovery, a fundamental assumption about the world collapsed and a colloquialism was turned on its head.

So the black swan emerges as an archetype for radical shifts that fly in the face of our assumptions about our reality and have the greatest potential to create change in the world. And, it is against the backdrop of a rapidly changing world that Natalie Portman has been picking up her awards and accolades. Which, of course, brings me back to the Time Monks tipping point prediction.

Feb 11, 2011

Persecuting Witches in Romania



Here's another reason to be glad I don't live in Romania. Leaving aside for the moment how they're defining witchcraft and how on earth a religion can be a profession, the latest wrinkle in the ongoing saga of Romanian witches is just, plain dumb. Apparently, they're equating the fortune-telling with being a witch (???). Obviously, there is a whole cultural context here about which I'm woefully ignorant. But making anyone who does psychic readings legally responsible for their accuracy is ludicrous. I don't mean that people shouldn't be held responsible for the quality of their work, I just mean that accuracy of predictions is a poor measure of the quality of a reading. I know this sets me apart from a lot of people in my field, many of whom are very invested in "accuracy." But -- and I truly tire of pointing out this various obvious fact -- if the future were unchangeable what would be the point of having a psychic reading? So you could know what was coming, good or bad, and sit passively and powerlessly until it occurs? The whole point of getting any prediction is to get a heads up on your direction and make whatever changes are necessary to avoid or minimize potential problems. In the case of positive outcomes, it is the very unusual case where all that's required of a person is that they sit on their hands and wait. There is usually some action required to manifest any potential outcome.

Tarot expert Rachel Pollack makes the point in one of her books, I can never remember which one, that from the moment a tarot spread is laid out, it's already at least a little wrong. That's because the observer of those cards now has information they didn't have before. As a result their actions will invariably change at least slightly. This is the entire point of getting any form of psychic reading. Apparently, Romanian politicians don't understand this... not that this puts them in the minority. Under Soviet rule, it was illegal to practice witchcraft or any other religion. Now to practice the craft of psychic divination means witches could go to jail for simply doing their jobs.

Witches in Romania could receive a spell in jail or a fine if they make incorrect fortune telling predictions.

Politicians are debating a draft bill which will require witches to apply for a permit and be judged on their accuracy.

They will also be required to provide receipts for their customers and will be prevented from carrying out their work near churches and schools.


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Feb 9, 2011

Egypt Then and Now



I have been watching the unfolding events in Egypt with horrified fascination. Of course, I've watched much of it from my sick bed. I'm not sure these things are unconnected.

The past few months have sure been interesting and I think we can safely say that the Time Monks were onto something with that tipping point prediction: apocalyptic bird and fish deaths, an assassination attempt resulting in multiple deaths (this occurred within 12 hours of the webbot prediction of when release language would "go vertical"), and the revelation of several secrets, some of which triggered revolutions. These are just the most attention grabbing of the bizarro events of that have transpired amidst a steady cascade of "release language." But this thing in Egypt has knocked me over... almost literally.

I have feelings about Egypt -- and the Giza pyramids -- that are indescribably intense. I know this is true of many people in my field. But my feelings were not always so clear or straight-forward. For a long time I felt a kind revulsion at ancient Egyptian imagery. I just did not feel drawn, which I thought odd. Obviously, Egyptian myth and imagery figures heavily into the lives of modern psychics. It's hard to escape if you spend any time in New Age bookstores and I spent a lot of my time in such stores throughout the late 80s and 90s.

My feelings began to shift when a friend gave me a book. It was published by the house she worked for and she figured it was new agey so I might enjoy it. The book was The Search for Omm Sety. I accepted it graciously, though I did not think I'd like it because, you know, Egyptian stuff. I was wrong. The book completely absorbed me. It did not send me on a mad search for all things Egyptian but I began a process of being slowly reoriented. Like Dorothy Eady (Omm Sety) I would have to confront my past life memories of Egypt. Unlike Eady, I did not find the process particularly enjoyable.

It began as snippets of memory. Some were unbelievably vivid. Many were traumatic. In one instance, I was so shaken by what I saw I had to abruptly stop my walk in the park, go home, and have a lie down. Many involved death, sometimes brutal, and the conscious awareness of being prepared for mummification. I began to understand why I had been so turned off to ancient Egyptian material. It was associated with so much past life trauma and memories my twentieth century mindset could not make sense of that I had completely shut down around it.

Some of my most vivid memories of Egypt, though, did not take place during what we know as dynastic Egypt. They took place in prehistory. The context of these memories is sketchy. But these are the memories I have been directed by spirit to turn over now.

The first of these memories emerged during a crystal therapy class. In the course of the class I had become so tired I could barely function. We had been passing around a ruby recordkeeper but I had found myself unable to let it go and pass it to the next person. It just wouldn't leave my hand. Then I had begun to fall into a trance and couldn't keep my eyes open. So the class put me on the mat and placed more crystals on and around me.

I began to see images of myself deep underground in a crystal cave. I seemed to be impossibly tall. I was aware that there was a war going on. The war was not confined to the earth. In the cave was some sort of portal or stargate. In addition to all the naturally formed quartz crystal that made up the walls of the cave, were carved crystal pyramid shapes of various heights and widths. I was aware that the energy of those crystals could be directed in various ways. One of those possibilities was to direct the energy at the stargate and close it. I had a great deal of ambivalence about this. It seemed like the least objectionable of many horrible possibilities. It was unclear to me if I was trying to close something out, keep something in, or both, but I knew at that moment that it was the only way to contain the war and minimize the damage. I was also aware of other consequences related to closing it but it was not clear what those were. I just know that I was deeply ambivalent. I did not want to close the stargate but I could not see another alternative. So I placed my hands behind the elongated crystal pyramids and directed the vibration at the portal. My memory of this brought up feelings of horrible regret. I feel like I have been carrying guilt about this forever.

When I came out of this experience I related it to my crystal therapy teacher. I told her that I was quite certain that it took place in the time of Atlantis but in what is historically, and currently, Egypt. Her opinion was that I was seeing the battle between Osiris and Set. I honestly don't know what that means. I know several versions of the myth but what they could represent in terms of actual events is beyond me. I only know that what was happening was a war that was fought on earth and in space and involved other civilizations on other planets. I know the war was long and devastating and was far from over. In fact, it was just heating up. There were no good options. This is not to say that my choice was the best one; only the best I could think of in that moment.

This memory came up one other time in vivid detail when I was reading a crystal that had been given to me by a client; again bringing up feelings of deep sorrow and regret.

I had another memory which I think is related while doing a vision quest. In that case I just saw raging war and chaos. I just kept muttering over and over "My Egypt. My Egypt," with tears streaming down my face.

The feelings of sadness and loss associated with these memories make me not want to talk or write about them but I have been directed that it's time. So I really have no choice. My sense is that what is happening there now marks some major energy shift in the region and in the world. How it relates to these memories I can't say, except to say that a revolution is taking place in one of the most important sacred spots on the planet. That can't help but have an impact on our collective psyche. And I know that I'm completely knocked out. So I'll stop there.


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