Ushering In the New Year
Dear Friends,
Welcome to the January 22, 2007 edition of the Satya Center newsletter. Warm greetings from your Editors, Curtis Lang and Jane Sherry.
We want to extend our heartfelt gratitude to all of the talented writers, poets, historians, scientists & spiritual activists, artists, farmers and healers who have so generously allowed us to reprint and publish their stories, articles, poems, recipes and insights since our launch in November 2004.
We have discovered that “it takes a village” to create a resource-rich website! Without the generosity of our contributors, Satya Center could not become such a vital and vibrant tapestry. They all help us to collaborate on this wonderful cloth that we weave from the warp and woof of our collective dreams and visions. We are also delighted to present deep, thoughtful analysis of current events along with scientific observation and analysis of crucial global issues thanks to our contributors. We look forward to 2007 and we will continue to bring these multi-colored writings and imagery to you.
We also want to thank each and every one of our viewers, readers and crystal customers for helping us to create and sustain our Satya Center web portal. Satya Center is your virtual community resource, a digital village dedicated to healing -- healing for ourselves, our families, our communities and our garden planet. We are thrilled in the ways our community keeps growing and evolving, continuing to challenge and delight us in a myriad of ways.
Remember that we have an excellent search engine on our site, on every page, upper left which can be used to find the articles, poetry & more on our site by subject or author.
If you find these newsletters and our website to be a useful resource, please send an email to your friends and colleagues with our web address or a copy of the newsletter.
2007 Begins
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” wrote Charles Dickens in the opening sentence of his famous novel “A Tale of Two Cities”. The year is 1775. In Dickens’ story the French revolution provides a backdrop for an epic tale of aristocratic arrogance and painful self-recognition, followed by a bloody struggle for redemption which reveals the horrors of life in London and Paris, where undemocratic cultures based upon Darwinian struggle and egocentric worldviews distort the souls and lives of those at every level of the highly stratified social structure.
We also live in revolutionary times. A tidal wave of change is on the horizon.
2006 was the year the mainstream media discovered the concept of “peak oil”, and we began to realize that we are in the early stages of a permanent oil shortage which will transform every aspect of our Western oil based consumer culture.
In the West, ossified and out-of-touch political and economic elites continue to preach the old-time religion of Darwinian survival of the fittest and winner-take-all, viewing the spiritual horror of a war of all against all as the highest form of social organization possible to humankind.
In the East and South, emerging economic giants like India and China, Venezuela and Brazil, are waking up and demanding their fair share of the global economic and resource pie for themselves.
Meanwhile, the Great Powers of the East and West are jockeying for strategic advantage in a fluid and dynamic global chess game for control of dwindling hydrocarbon resources. This global chess game has the potential for engulfing the entire world in flames.
A rolling series of wars rocks the Middle East, threatening every government in the region with overthrow by either dissatisfied and disenfranchised Islamic fundamentalists or American proxies.
America’s war president and his colossal death machine are preparing to fight a series of global battles against the poor and the downtrodden in every area of the Third World, extending for decades into the future.
Journalists from many countries are reporting on preparations by Israel and America to unleash atomic weapons against Iran, a war crime that would place the lives of tens of millions in jeopardy throughout the Middle East and South Asia, thanks to the propensity for radioactive fallout to ride the winds.
2006 was the year the American mainstream media and politicians in Washington finally realized that global warming is a reality, and that we have only a few decades to implement a complete revolution in every aspect of our lives to avoid global catastrophe. Yet the American aristocracy retains a firm belief in the “magic of the marketplace”, and contends that co-operation and community are not the solutions to the problem. Instead high prices for oil, gas, food, water and other scarce resources will automatically create a new society in which the most deserving have the most resources and the least deserving will, regrettably but unavoidably, suffer agonies without end. Unsurprisingly, in this scenario the American aristocracy of corporate and political elites will enjoy continued privilege as a result of this free market, globalized revolution. At the point of a gun if need be.
On a cosmic level, it appears that nations, peoples and the entire human race are beginning to realize that nothing less than a total soul-deep transformation of our way of thinking, of our worldview, and of our approach to problem solving, community and conflict resolution can begin to address the crisis of our times.
Welcome to the 21st Century! And welcome to 2007.
The year began for us with a view of Comet McNaught, which was visible from our front lawn during the week of Curtis’ birthday, January 14, shining brightly in the West, low in the sky, near sunset. We thought it was an airplane at first, but it didn’t seem to move!
This dramatic sighting revealed the first major comet since Hale Bopp in 1997 – a comet that was later said to portend the death of Princess Diana. Historically, astrologers East and West have said that comets predict the downfall of the rich and famous, and especially of those who hold the reins of state in their manicured hands.
Thus comets often foretell times of revolution, times of turmoil, times when the existing order will be upended. For the rest of us, astrologers say that comets bring many blessings in the form of positive transformations, openings in ossified social structures that bring much needed fresh air and new faces into the corridors of power. Comets herald the advent of“people power”, as all of us suddenly find our voices and realize that we are not alone in our deep dissatisfaction with our society and with those who rule our political system and our corporations. Innovations in science, technology, the arts and sciences are also often seen in the wake of major comets.
For every individual working to achieve self-actualization, comets are said to coincide with doorways leading to accelerated soul growth and personal transformation. Comet McNaught appeared in the Western sign of Capricorn, so all of us born under that Zodiacal sign can expect unprecedented opportunities to achieve our highest spiritual goals this coming year, despite, and possibly as a result of, the vast upheavals in the world around us.
The theme of global revolution, cultural combustion and self-transformation in 2007 is dramatically reinforced by another cosmic energy signature, perhaps even more unusual than any comet in recent history.
This year, Pluto will pass across that point in the Zodiac known as the GalacticCenter, and by year’s end, Pluto will be joined at this area of deep space around which our entire solar system slowly revolves by the planet of Kings, Jupiter. As 2007 unfolds, Venus, the Sun, Mercury and the Moon will also pass across the conjunction of Pluto and the GalacticCenter.
The GalacticCenter is located some 27,000 light years away from Planet Earth, right at the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way.
The Earth and the rest of our solar system revolves around the Sun. The Sun and 100 billion other stars in our galaxy revolve around this
GalacticCenter.
Scientists are still investigating the extremely powerful gamma ray, hard X-ray, infrared, sub-millimeter and radio emissions from the GalacticCenter, which appears now to be a Black Hole the size of our sun but with a mass of 4 million times larger.
Some mystics believe the Galactic Center to be the “womb of the Universe”, the location of the Cosmic Architect. The extremely strong energy signatures propagating from this Source are thought by some to be the templates for the transforming structures of space and time that shape the evolution of our physical Universe, and for the ultra-high-frequency signals that promote the ascension of devoted individual souls to ever more elevated spiritual states of being.
In past cycles, the conjunction of Pluto with the Galactic Center has happened at times we can now see were germinal moments in history, when the seeds of remarkable social transformation were sown. These conjunctions occur approximately every 248 years, the period of Pluto’s long orbit around the Sun.
In 1759-60, the British enjoyed a series of remarkable victories over the French, who were threatening to invade their island kingdom, and dubbed the year “annus mirabilis”, the miracle year. This marked the rise of the British Empire to global supremacy.
In 1513-14 Columbus had just finished his last voyage to the new world. After Pope Leo X proclaimed the sale of indulgences in 1513 Martin Luther, a professor of at Wittenberg, began questioning the direction that the church was taking. About the year 1515 Luther experienced a spiritual awakening that led him to promulgate the doctrine that it is faith alone, “sola fides”, that brings salvation. This was in contradiction to the Papal doctrine of good works and faith, which Martin felt opened the door to abusive practices by the clergy, who were involved in performing rituals and offering indulgences to the faithful for money.
In 1267-68 Turkish power was on the rise, and would soon eject the Crusaders from the Holy Land.
Astrologers predict that the seeds of future political, economic, religious and cultural transformations of epochal magnitude are being sown now across the globe. On an individual level, those who engage in spiritual practices designed to elevate their minds to engage with Higher Mind, those who work to unite spiritual worlds with this material domain, those who desire fervently and work diligently to ground the Kingdom of Heaven on this earthly plane, will find doorways to higher worlds, higher mind, and higher self suddenly flung open for them. Lightworkers can expect a floodtide of high-frequency energy to accelerate their practice, and support their healing work.
Now is the time to expect miracles! Now is the time to create new worlds and new ways of relating to one another in the world. Now is the time to join with our brothers and sisters around the world and in higher realms to enjoy enhanced unity and community.
Fear not the revolution taking place around us. For it is an essential transformation, and we can be an essential part of it, working to insure that the coming years will eventually bring a harvest of change that will be for the best and highest good of all humankind and the entire web of life on planet Earth.
May 2007 bring you and yours the grace and guidance you need to achieve your highest spiritual goals!
TopSatyaCenter Stories of the Week
We are deeply saddened to report that world-renowned astrologer and Satya Center contributor Maya del Mar passed away suddenly on November 26, 2006, however her daughters, Susan and Crystal Pomeroy, continue to operate Maya's Daykeeper Journal [http://www.daykeeperjournal.com/] website in partnership with some very talented astrologers who are carrying on Maya's work. Crystal has generously offered to share her articles with SatyaCenter readers, and we are grateful for that!
In Crystal’s first article for Satya Center,“2007: Alchemical Portal” [http://www.satyacenter.com/crystal-pomeroy-2007-astrologica], Crystal provides an overview of celestial currents for the year ahead.
“We are before a window of opportunity for developing sublime aspirations, as we simultaneously charge our personal auras and that of the planet with light,” Crystal predicts.
For those of us who are bewildered by the motives and machinations of the major players in the grand chess game being played out in the Middle East, International Peacemaker and Lightworker Palden Jenkins has penned a new article, “Understanding the Iran Crisis” [http://www.satyacenter.com/palden-jenkins--iran-crisis], which offers a look at the deep-seated motivations of the main national players in Washington, Baghdad, Tehran and Tel Aviv whose geo-strategic moves are shaping our headline news.
“George Bush's plan to send a 'temporary surge' of extra troops to Iraq is a wheeze,” Palden reports. “Under the guise of sorting out Iraq before eventual withdrawal, it's equally likely that the troops are being sent there to hold Iraq down while Israel attacks Iran.”
Former Assistant U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Paul Craig Roberts, a Reaganite who has broken decisively with the failed policies of the current Bush administration, forecasts dismal failure for America’s bellicose MidEast foreign policy in his new article, “A Regional MidEast War? Catastrophe Awaits America” [http://www.satyacenter.com/mideast-war-paul-craig-roberts].
Roberts argues that American politicians and elite opinion-makers are hypnotized by their own arrogance into believing they can win a wider war in the MidEast. It may seem counter-intuitive but Roberts believes that a less bellicose American foreign policy depends upon political change -- in Israel.
This month, Dr. Mae Wan-Ho, internationally renowned biophysicist and activist on behalf of sustainable agriculture, presents a multi-part series of articles about the environmental damage done to Earth’s oceans, oceanic wildlife, and the role oceans play in global warming.
[We published the first two parts of this series in October.]
In the introduction to this series, “Oceans in Distress” (http://www.satyacenter.com/oceans-in-distress), Dr. Ho presents an overview of the current dire situation. Pollution, destructive overfishing and increasing commercial exploitation are threatening the planet’s cradle of life. Learn how you can become an Ocean Defender in this article. Being informed is half the battle, and Dr. Ho offers links to websites that empower you to take action now!
In “Save our Seas Part 1: Oceans and Global Warming” (http://www.satyacenter.com/oceans-and-global-warming)
Dr. Ho explains how global warming disrupts the oceanic web of life, and could result in die-off of the phytoplankton that sustain all oceanic wildlife, releasing huge amounts of carbon and accelerating global warming even more.
For more in-depth analysis, see:
“Save Our Seas Part 2: Oceans – Carbon Sink or Source?” [http://www.satyacenter.com/mae-wan-ho-oceans-in-distress-2]
“Save Our Seas Part 3: Acid Oceans” [http://www.satyacenter.com/mae-wan-ho-oceans-in-distress-3]
“Save Our Seas Part 4: Plankton in Peril” [http://www.satyacenter.com/mae-wan-ho-oceans-in-distress-4]
“Save Our Seas Part 5: Global Warming Destroying Plankton Habitat” [http://www.satyacenter.com/mae-wan-ho-oceans-in-distress-5]
Also this month,
SatyaCenter contributor Jann Garrity, a staff member of the Flower Essence Society, reports on the results of “Flower Essences Aid in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina” [http://www.satyacenter.com/katrina-flower-essences].
According to Jann’s report, people reported things like, “I would have never believed that this stuff would make a difference, but I can't tell you how much it has. I don't get as depressed as I did before. I don't have the very blue, ‘sit in the corner’ feeling, or the same level of heartache. When I started using it, it made a total, complete difference. I almost panicked when I realized my bottle was almost empty. I need a quart of this stuff."
Jann also has written another article about the use of flower essences at the celebrated Common Ground Health Clinic in New Orleans --“The Role of Flower Essences in Rebuilding a Healthy Community” [http://www.satyacenter.com/rebuilding-a-healthy-community].
In the cultural context of the clinic, herbal medicine was easy to introduce, including the use of flower essences. The language of plants provides an effective way of communicating; it is a great modality to help people name what is going on without the practitioner intruding on patients’ limits and privacy. It allows the practitioner to be respectful while at the same time addressing what is occurring on a deep level. Whatever “language” a patient spoke, volunteer flower essence practitioners could find a way to relate it to plants and then could match what was needed to the situation.
We are also pleased to introduce our readers to Soo-Mi Hwang, a licensed acupuncturist and Chinese herbal medicine practitioner with a private practice in New York City. Soo-Mi is also the Director of Integrative Medicine at the Greyston Foundation’s Maitri Clinic for people living with HIV/AIDS in Yonkers, New York.
Soo-Mi's work in the Oriental medical field focuses on acupuncture & covers various techniques of needling and different types of treatment methods, including moxibustion, cupping, gua sha, tuina, etc. Soo-Mi concentrates on an integrated approach to illness by offering several different forms of acupuncture which do not always use standard needles. She also incorporates aromatherapy, lifestyle & food counseling along with Chinese Herbal Medicine. Soo-Mi’s contact info [http://www.satyacenter.com/soo-mi-hwang] can be found in the SatyaCenter alt.healer directory.
Special Notice: Two of our Satya Center healers have sent us the following information about a unique opportunity to purchase a large ongoing botanical business:
Unique Herbal Products Business for sale: Dreaming Earth Botanicals is a 10-year old Essential Oil / Aromatherapy business grossing around $350k. Located in 3600 sq. ft. rustic lodge on 5+ beautiful mountain acres near Asheville, NC. Owners are retiring. Business and lodge $695k or separately for $350k each (business is internet based and can be relocated). Website: www.dreamingearth.com. Call or email Ivan 828-628-5299 / ivan@dreamingearth.com
Top Spiritual Stories From Around the Web
The Shambala Sun
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=2235&Itemid=247
The Red Coat and the Teaching of Impermanence
By Reginald A. Ray, Ph.D.
“Only when I realized that our time together was limited was the veil stripped away,” says Reginald A. Ray. “In that moment, I discovered a love for her that had nothing to do with my own preconceptions.”
The Buddhist teachings on impermanence are usually considered primarily as an antidote to our attachment to samsara. But, as the following story suggests, when impermanence is deeply experienced it can give rise to genuine love for others and a sense of sacredness in our human existence.
Many years ago I knew a young woman who loved beauty. She was a quiet and shy person, perhaps because of much suffering in her childhood. But as a result, she had a tender regard for all those in pain and exceptional awareness, so that she could see exactly what was going on in other people, even if buried under layers of conditioning and pretense. She was so simple and unpretentious that most people who met her had no idea of the depth of her inner life.
Flower of Life Research, LLC
http://www.floweroflife.org/art-priceoffreedom.htm
The Price of Freedom
by 'Yogi E' - Eric Walrabenstein
…"I guess I feel like I'm being pulled in a lot of different directions."
"How so?"
"Competing priorities I guess. You know, work, practice, fun, family…"
"You know, a great yogi from the Zen tradition once said, 'The most important thing is to know what is the most important thing.'"
"Yeah, that makes a lot of sense." Alex nods in acknowledgement, although indifferently as if I just told him that the white zone was for loading and unloading passengers only. He keeps nodding, pensively.
"So?" I ask.
"So what?"
"So what is the most important thing?" I prod.
"How would I know? You're the teacher." He says and then sits back for me to cast down the pearls of wisdom that will set him free.
"No, no, Alex, you've got it all wrong. I'm not asking you for 'the' answer, I'm asking you for 'your' answer." I smile. "Let's try this: what's the most important thing for you?"
"You mean right now?"
"Is there anything other than right now?" I say. Damned yoga teachers always have a snippy comeback for everything.
"I guess its enlightenment, God-realization, you know awakening to my True nature."
"You guess?"
Alex stammers for a moment and then stops to collect his thoughts. A few minutes pass as I sip some tea and turn my gaze out the window to give him some space to ponder.
"No, I'm sure. That's it: enlightenment." He comes back.
"Okay, so for you, the most important thing is liberation."
"Yeah."
"And what are you willing to pay for this most precious of jewels?" I ask.
"Pay?" A look of surprise comes over him.
"Yes pay. What are you willing to part with in exchange for everlasting joy and freedom?" I ask.
I can see Alex calculating his net worth in his head; then a flash of realization:
"Why do I have to part with anything? The scriptures say that money doesn't matter, in fact in the Bible, Jesus said that it's easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle, than it is for a rich man to enter the gates of heaven." He sits back with a look of satisfaction on his face: checkmate yoga teacher.
"That may be true, but he also says 'Thy will be done', not 'my will be done.'"
"Yeah, but what does that have to do with payment?"
"That's the price."
"What is?"
"Your will, your will is the price."
"That's it?"
"Yup, but remember that it's not just your will that is at stake, it's everything you use your will for. The sacrifice includes all of the ways you use your will in service of your small, separate false self: performing your actions, achieving your desires, and enforcing all of your personal agendas, preferences, and opinions."
"Oh." From the look on Alex's face, I'm guessing sticker shock is setting in.
Information Clearing House
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article16183.htm
Martin Luther King Jr.: "Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam"
Sermon at the Ebenezer Baptist Church on April 30, 1967
. . . Oh, my friends, if there is any one thing that we must see today is that these are revolutionary times. All over the globe men are revolting against old systems of exploitation and oppression, and out of the wounds of a frail world, new systems of justice and equality are being born. The shirtless and barefoot people of the land are rising up as never before. The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. They are saying, unconsciously, as we say in one of our freedom songs, "Ain't gonna let nobody turn me around!" . . .Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism. With this powerful commitment we shall boldly challenge the status quo, we shall boldly challenge unjust mores, and thereby speed up the day when "every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the rough places shall be made plain, and the crooked places straight. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together."
A genuine revolution of values means in the final analysis that our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies. This call for a worldwide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond one's tribe, race, class, and nation is in reality a call for an all-embracing, unconditional love for all men. This oft misunderstood and misinterpreted concept, so readily dismissed by the Nietzsches of the world as a weak and cowardly force, has now become an absolute necessity for the survival of mankind. And when I speak of love I'm not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. This Hindu-Muslim-Christian-Jewish-Buddhist belief about ultimate reality is beautifully summed up in the first epistle of John: "Let us love one another, for God is love. And every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us.
. . . I call on the young men of America who must make a choice today to take a stand on this issue. Tomorrow may be too late. The book may close. And don't let anybody make you think that God chose America as his divine, messianic force to be a sort of policeman of the whole world. God has a way of standing before the nations with judgment, and it seems that I can hear God saying to America, "You're too arrogant! And if you don't change your ways, I will rise up and break the backbone of your power, and I'll place it in the hands of a nation that doesn't even know my name. Be still and know that I'm God."
[Editor’s Note: If Martin Luther King Jr. had not been assassinated he would be 78 years young this year.]
Breaking News Headlines 24/7 at Satya Center
Read breaking news stories updated 24/7 from Pacific News Service . Tune in to Satya Center’s 24/7 environmental news headlines and listen to environmental news radio from Environmental News Network at ENN EarthNews .
Top News Stories From Around the Web
Common Dreams
Published on Friday, December 22, 2006 by TomPaine.com
A Parable For Our Times
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1222-24.htm
by Bill Moyers
The Christian story begins simply: A child is given, a son. He grows up to be a teacher, sage, healer and prophet. He gains a large following. To many he is a divine savior; to the rich and powerful he is an enemy. They put him to death in brutal fashion, befitting his humble beginnings in peasant Galilee and his birth in a stall thick with the raw odor of animals.
Toward the end of his life, Jesus preached in the Temple to large crowds, reaching the height of his power. There he told the parable that likely sealed his fate. He said there was a man who created a prosperous vineyard and then rented it to some tenants while he went away on a journey. At harvest time, the owner of vineyard sent a servant to collect a portion from the tenants, but they beat the servant and sent him away empty-handed. Another servant came, and they struck him on the head. Another they killed. Finally, the owner sent his own son to collect the back payments. “They will respect my son,” he thought. But when the tenants saw the son, and knew him to be the heir, they saw their chance to take full possession of the harvest. And so they killed the son, thinking now they would owe nothing from the vineyard to anyone.
The listeners understood the symbolism: God, of course, is the owner of the vineyard, and the vineyard is Israel or the covenant, or, more broadly, the whole creation. It is all that God entrusts to the leaders of his people. And what is in question is their stewardship of this bounty.
In the parable, the “tenants” are the leaders of Israel. They hoard the fruits of the vineyard for themselves, instead of sharing the fruits as the covenant teaches, according to God’s holy purposes. And the holiest of God’s purposes, ancient tradition taught, is helping the poor, and the fatherless, and the widow, and the stranger—all who do not have the resources to live in a manner befitting their dignity as creatures made in God’s image, as children of God.
When he finished the story, Jesus asked the people what the owner of the vineyard will do when he comes back. “He will kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others,” Jesus tells them. In the Gospel of Matthew, the people themselves answered: “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”
Political dynasties fall from negligent stewardship. One thinks of the upward redistribution called “tax relief”; of the Iraq invasion sold as critical to the “War on Terror"; of rising poverty, inequality, crime, debt, and foreclosure as America spews its bounty on war and a military so muscle-bound it is like Gulliver. It would be hard to imagine a more catastrophic failure of stewardship, certainly in the biblical sense of helping the poor and allocating resources for the health of society. Once