By Judith Gayle | Political Waves
“We are the mirror as well as the face in it.”
— Rumi, 13th century
It’s Winter Solstice, the season on this side of the world finally matching our tempestuous weather. Our internal biological clock is urging us to slow down, to gestate, to sleep. But it’s also the holiday season, so there’s a flurry of social occasions to fit into our busy schedules, not to mention planning, shopping, wrapping, cooking, all the trappings of Christmas tradition to attend. Year end will quickly follow, with its laundry list of last minute chores for 2013, and then comes the inevitable let-down that follows our holiday fa-la-la’s.
If we follow pattern, we’ll be exhausted and disheartened by January 1 of the new year. Creatures of habit, we do the same thing each year and wonder why nothing changes.
Because the holidays always bring our emotions into play, this is a big month for culture war. As usual, rhetoric about the faux war on Christmas has continued to amp with Fox News backing Megyn Kelly’s white Santa proclamation as necessary “for the children watching,” although one has to wonder how many little kids find political roundtables must-see evening entertainment.
Huffington polled its readers to see if they cared what color Santa is, and it appears the majority of citizens believe the mythical entity responsible for Christmas cheer is welcome in any color, although half of the Republicans surveyed still insist that he’s white. Straight too, for a jolly old elf, but nobody asked; they’re too busy picking sides on the Duck Dynasty debacle.
In case you missed that flap, proud redneck and born again reality TV patriarch, Phil Robertson, made some comments about gay folk and black folk in a Gentleman’s Quarterly interview that caused the dust to fly. Duck Dynasty is a 21st century version of The Beverly Hillbillies, reality-style, and stalwart fans are aware that Phil’s oldest son is a fundamentalist pastor and that Phil had an early drinking problem which was tamed when he became a fundamentalist Christian. Seems to me that anybody watching the episodes, which routinely end with a prayer in Jesus’s name, can’t be surprised by his traditional views. Appears as though, riding the wave of break-out consciousness change regarding LGBT folks, this particle of grit from ancient days and anachronistic religious thought is sticking in our collective craw.
This is a free speech issue, a loaded topic that needs careful sorting, and I’ll have more to say on this at a later date, but not today. Finding a reason to separate ourselves from each other during the week that we traditionally set aside for “peace on earth, good will to men” IS a kind of war on Christmas that I’d rather not attend. Still, it seems to me that Robertson is entitled to his point of view, one that he did not put forth in any A&E Duck Dynasty episode, even if it’s ignorant and stilted. When we step on people’s right to speak their truth — whether we approve it or not — the soles of our shoes are not keeping a respectful distance from our Bill of Rights. Essentially, the patriarch of the Robertson clan’s belief system is well within spitting distance of the fading, old paradigm religious values of the Honorable Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of America, Antonin Scalia. We haven’t hung HIM (so far), and he still has his day job. In my opinion, so should Phil.
Each holiday season we see Congress doing stupid human tricks as important pieces of legislation, long ignored, are pushed onto the table in a last minute frenzy. Most never see the light of day, but occasionally something gets through before the bell rings and the kids get to go home for Christmas vacation. Rather remarkably, last week we got an actual budget, and this week a somewhat pared-down defense authorization bill was passed, which includes a number of military sexual assault reforms. Although the bill does not include the chain of command issues that Kirsten Gillibrand and Claire McCaskill fought hard to enact, Obama has issued a stern warning that the military has one year to eradicate this problem or face further action. As we assess all the sea changes that have occurred this year — and there are many — we should also be mindful that the nation longer promotes the testosterone-loaded “old west” attitude that preceded the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Hubris of that sort has soured in the consciousness of America. We no longer want war.
Well, let’s not get carried away. We no longer want war, but if we look around at our personal infighting and political schisms, it’s obvious that we’re not all that interested in peace, either. Peace is rarely ever mentioned as something we’re interested in achieving except in some nebulous future that is always far from reality. Because we don’t even factor that option into the conversation, we are not educated to desire peace. We don’t know much about how to prepare for peace or even why it would be in our best interests to do so. Peace — and the elemental reverence for life that promotes it — seems too distant an option to even consider. We don’t understand what it is, since we know so little about it. When I was a tot, I told my startled Mum that I wasn’t interested in going to heaven: milk and honey sounded boring. Peace has that same kind of uninspiring PR.
I read an interesting article on the Science page this week over at Huffy: “Is the Universe a Hologram? Physicists Say It’s Possible.” According to the article, there are new findings regarding quantum gravity that make the (yet unproven) string theory even more probable. When I think of holograms, I think of metaphysical author and science wonk, Greg Braden, whose work The Divine Matrix speaks to the net of quantum particles that make up all matter, and that behaves as a multidimensional field of creative energy, connecting us all. And when I think of Matrix, I think of Neo. Like the Wachowski brothers, Braden is one of those brave souls who believes science and spirituality can speak the same language, and he’s made it his mission to prove it.
If we consider that our human bodies are also made from those quantum particles vibrating within the Matrix, then according to quantum physics, the rules that apply to those particles are foreign to our mundane way of thinking, and, rather, are actually free of the laws of physics and capable of doing the miraculous. Much like the Wachowskis’ Matrix, Braden tells us that if we consider the Divine Matrix — of which we are a part — a supercomputer, then acts of creation are within the “software” that achieves what we seek and we have that software within us to select. Rather than something foisted upon us by bad guys, however, the Divine Matrix is our medium of creation, even able to transcend time and space. Based on his research into quantum physics and spiritual traditions, Braden suggests that the software we’re looking for to make this divine computer kick out desired results has to do with the quality of emotion we can bring to our focus, essential as our programming language of the heart. Here’s a very brief explanation by Braden to give you a sense of this material. Some people like him, others don’t think his science holds up, but I can only judge on how he inspires, on how the information makes me FEEL — once again, the familiar face in the mirror that comes with a rush of expansive emotion.
In order to better our ability at creation, we must re-learn the language of the heart. In twilight sleep, recently, I found myself developing the rules for a video game called Galactic Conquest, but it was not about warring — you earned points and won the game by confronting the “enemy” and convincing them that mutual prosperity and gain could be accomplished by working in collaboration, that acts of aggression lost you points while promoting activity to lift populations out of poverty won you bonus points and assured prosperous partnerships down the line. Each new rule carried the seeds for win/win within it. I woke up amazed at the clarity of the dream, wondering not “Where did that come from?” but rather, “Who TALKS like that?” Sadly, not enough of us.
We NEED to talk like that, we NEED to keep the bright vision of brother(sister)hood and planetary healing forefront in our minds and on our tongues. We NEED to keep our intention for a functional, inclusive future first and foremost in our thoughts. It’s too easy to get caught up in controversy, get distracted by mundane and often petty events that capture our attention and distance us from larger goals. It’s too easy to give our power away to irrelevancies and miss the potential of the moment. The challenges ahead of us are going to require us to keep a higher vision in mind if we are to create a mutually beneficial future for one another. We need to love one another that much, our neighbor as our self.
During this holy week, those of us who value the Christmas story as an example of the divine reaching down to deliver to us a realized human as template for our growth and awareness have much to celebrate. It’s a very sweet story, perhaps reality mixed with mythology, perhaps more or perhaps less, but it comes to us wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. The energy of possibility is presented with the innocence of a newborn, in the humble simplicity of a stable, surrounded by stars and astrologers and angels. Pretty good story, don’t you think? Makes my heart feel all warm and fuzzy. Makes me want to hug all those billions of significant others out there in the world who are part of me, of you — of us. Makes me aware of how ancient the compassion that pointed us toward love for one another, and remember that striving toward that realization of Christ consciousness makes me happy down to my toes. Of all the mirrors reflecting humankind back to itself, that one shines the brightest!
My wish for you this season, is that you have that quiet, significant and moving moment when the mirror shows you nothing looking back at you but the eyes of love. Everything goes down easier after that. From me to you, dear reader — Good Solstice, Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas.
I’m caught in that aforementioned Stupid Human Tricks web today, kiddo’s — getting the house ready for Christmas eve guests amid a nasty ice storm, and keeping my wings crossed for continuing electricity. So, quickly:
Thank you Patty, same to you, dearheart; all the joys of the season.
LOVEly note-taking, suria — you have the “knack” for marrying words and emotion, and we appreciate your sharing with us.
Good tiding’s back atcha, GaryB. Thanks for your good humor and willing heart. May prosperity inhabit your corner of the world as well!
Bless you, Miss be, for the talent and insight you so faithfully share with me (us) and for the ability to discover heart and hope in the dark places; that IS seeing through the eyes of love, and while it blesses us, I know it will bless you as well this season and into the new year. We cannot give out good on a regular basis and not see it reflected back in our mirrors and lives!
Thanks for the comments, yeti. I celebrate, with you, the defeat of Mr. Angst. His decline in your consciousness assists the whole of the planet, and each of us riding her, to discover the miraculous experience that peace represents. You contribute to the Matrix and to the Hundredth Monkey.
And I heartily agree re: the “second coming” that is — rather than a return from the sky, a’la Disney– a dawning of the spirit of Christedness within the human heart, which I see as the whole POINT of the process as explained in the New Testament (although I’ve rarely heard it spoken of, more’s the pity.) We’d rather have somebody ELSE save us than do the work.
And the work of tempering ego tantrums and choosing wisdom over selfishness brings us, inevitably, to a clear picture of what the love vibration is able to accomplish. Once we see how it can change our enemy to our friend and our disasters to challenges offering us wisdom and growth, the path seems obvious. What each of us accomplishes enters the common field, where we are all connected. Thank you for your work toward healing us all.
And hugs to you, Diva. If Matrix connects us all and there are really no space/time considerations, then the see-saw between Divine Feminine and Sacred Masculine is really just an exercise in sensitizing humankind to all their various aspects. (I try to keep aware that if I’m getting some experience of abuse or instruction on sensitivity, this time around, it’s probably because I’ve either abused in the past and am trying to balance out now, or have judged against it and magnitized it to me to forgive.)
And I don’t think what Robertson had to say is the essential Masculine energy, either — perhaps a twisted version. I can’t believe that, even as inherently aggressive, the Masculine is as threatened and hateful as the message Phil has accepted as Biblical “truth.” In essence, that’s not even what HE believes, as he professes that, “We are all created by the Almighty and like Him, I love all of humanity. We would all be better off if we loved God and loved each other.” I’ll give him an Amen!
If we consider the early Biblical period the beginning of the Patriarchy, and the Christ message as the Piscean “new deal” of love and compassion that begins to soften the paradigm, then perhaps the NATURAL balance is found in that which ushers in the Feminine desire of nurture with the Masculine desire to protect from harm, i.e., love AND compassion. Perhaps we have to empty out “the old wineskin” before we can put in the new wine, and this is just one more drop on the ground?
Blessing on you, sweet aword, and continued prayers for smooth transitions this coming year. Thanks for the link, very interesting state of affairs, alright! And speaking of the sib’s, I ADORE Cloud Atlas, being the mutable I am. It’s about the only movie this year I want to own. Here’s the quote that sez it all: “My life extends far beyond the limitations of me.” Once we grok that in fullness, it puts everything right.
Thank you for the comments, links and good wishes, Salamander. Yes, there is good news out there — we would impact the whole of humanity if we made MORE out of that than less, focused MORE on what we want than what we don’t, so thank you for calling our attention to it. I wish you, as you have chosen, good fun this season and encouragement for your dreams.
Thanks for playing this weekend, dearheats — may your personal traditions comfort and sustain you this season, and bring you peace.
To All A Good Night!
There is a lot of good news to celebrate in the political world these days. Gay marriage is now possible in Utah ( http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/21/us/utahs-gay-marriage-ban-is-ruled-unconstitutional.html?_r=0 ), and towns in Pennsylvania have the right to protect the environmental health of their citizens and say no to fracking.
http://www.heraldstandard.com/ap/state/pa-court-strikes-down-zoning-limits-on-drilling/article_87d3d993-2679-54d7-9082-06a4d501d92c.html
Merry Christmas Judith!
I work part-time at a video store. Once, one of my colleagues played Duck Dynasty at the store, and it was one of the most disgusting shows I have ever seen. The show depicted a family with gender-segregated activities, and a psychotic approach to pest control (against beavers). The show was particularly awful because it gave rural areas a really bad image, worse than other reality shows out there. Thankfully, I have been to rural areas before the existence of that show, and it is possible to be a person with progressive values (I’ve known people from Western Maryland and Upstate New York).
According to the Golden Rule, Phil Robertson shouldn’t be making derogatory statements about blacks and homosexuals because he wouldn’t want other people to make derogatory statements about Southerners, religious people, or people from rural Louisiana. Karma matters…
Phil Robertson became a religious zealot during his Saturn return, so it’s a lasting decision that is being called into question right now.
Also, considering that I have Saturn, Uranus and the Moon in Sagittarius, I have to think a lot about diversity. I have also been exposed to various workplaces where diversity exists. While diversity is interesting, diversity has little substance without inclusion. In the university I attended, there was diversity, but most of the ethnic and racial groups were hanging out in their own groups (diversity with little inclusion). In contrast, at the video store, in my martial arts class, or in government work, diverse people work together towards a common goal (diversity with inclusion).
Diversity matters because it’s important to learn about people living different realities, and people with various circumstances who still have something to contribute.
Also, diversity and inclusion do not mean that issues get swept under the rug. It is possible to talk about issues affecting regional areas, urban areas, rural areas, ethnic groups, tall people, short people, religious groups, political groups, socio-economic classes, people of various sexual orientations, people with disabilities, people with different dietary preferences, people with military experience…without resorting to prejudice, discrimination, teasing etc.
In my case, I am a young woman who is short. While being short helps me balance my limbs while carrying equipment and measuring devices in uneven terrain, it takes me a bit more effort to find equipment that is my size in a society of tall people, it is possible to find equipment my size. Also, sometimes, video shelves are too tall for me, and I need a stool to reach the DVDs. Overall, I perform my duties just like anyone else with motivation and enthusiasm.
Harnessing strength isn’t obvious for a short person in a society that emphasizes shoulder and arm power. Thankfully, traditional martial arts from East Asian countries are replete with strategies for small people to find ways to gain a physical edge by activating parts of the body such as the hips and the lats. This is how I was able to gradually unlock my strength.
I am glad that a budget deal took place. That way, I can continue my internship and apply for jobs.
I am also glad that there is pressure to put an end to the rape culture in the military. Considering how much influence the military has in communities, it is important that men working in the military have respect for women. That way, more veteran men can treat women with respect in the civilian world. The Navy did make progress in reducing sexual assault incidents in recent years.
As more women enter politics, women need to have as much access to the military as men so that they can have the assertiveness to speak to politicians such as Darrell Issa or John McCain. Without military experience, it is harder for people to speak up, I think.
The way Fox News makes political hot air out of Christmas is ridiculous. Where I live, people have been shopping for Christmas, families have been visiting for Christmas, workplaces have been hosting holiday parties…
I’m not Christian, but I see Christmas as a time to have fun, and it should be that way.
Thank you for the Gregg Braden link, Jude that’s a good one and good timing.
Thank you for You, too! and all you do for me/us here at PW.
Happy Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas, Blessed New Year for us All.
xo
P.S. Because we humans are making strides forward in sexuality department,and The Matrix is such a popular film (and splendid discussion of it here thanks Jude) – if anyone wasn’t aware, the former “brothers” transformed into the Wachowski siblings: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wachowskis
Love your dream/vision, Jude, I’ll enjoy reviewing Braden. It’s been a while. Your game reminds me of Starhawk’s fifth sacred thing novel soon to be movie. And she’s writing a sequel. it’s an amazingly small critical mass that tips the shift. So they say.
Serious question, cause you make me think, this concept seems to be Divine Feminine. And I wonder, is talking about Her that way devisive, dogmatic? Is it the flip side of Phil Robertson and his ilk?
Merry Soltice and all the other celebratory holidays!
Thanks for your testimonial and thoughts wandering yeti, esp. the part about the second coming being an internal event. I’m back here for a 2nd time only to note that confusing one’s dates, days and time has been associated with the ascension process, as well as getting old. Maybe both notions are why I wrote what I wrote below. . . about Pluto’s location at the time Uranus and Neptune were conjunct. . . that they were conjunct a decade ago, when it was actually 2 decades ago. Whatever.
Although, among other things going on at that time, was the signing of the U.S. and the Soviet Union’s Start II agreement to reduce nuclear warheads, the Brady Bill was signed into law, and Pres. Bill Clinton signed NAFTA into law. Perhaps Jude’s dream of confronting your enemy and “convincing them that mutual prosperity and gain could be accomplished by working in collaboration, that acts of aggression lost you points, while promoting activity to lift populations out of poverty won you bonus points and assured prosperous partnerships down the line” are but fresh seeds from those well-meant attempts which will now take root in a more conscious way. (Thank you Neptune/Pluto) It’s that “energy of the possibility” fueling the hope.
be
Science can only comment on what has already happened. What Greg Braden talked about resonates with my experience. It is a simple fact that emotions correspond to different chemicals and the ones that go with fear and hate wear us down, burn us up, and send the vibrations of our actions rippling through the universe. The ones that go with gratitude open the senses and expand intelligence to allow us to use it to cooperate instead of always competing. A phrase bouncing around in my head lately is the second coming is an internal event. If the peaceful space siblings were already here we’d never know it while calling on them from inside eggs of hate energy. The Chinese models say that the emotional body extends out beyond the visible stars.
Yep, Mr. Angst, my ancient frenemy: your time is up. You’ve proven ineffective at manifesting the new Aeon you keep talking about but never embody. Protest all you want, the monster is fed by your anguish. He snaps and crackles as he melts, what a world.
It’s a simple fact that when I’m cooler I fail to invoke the war and I have a lot less anger blowing in my face from others. By holding the cool current the aggressor has nothing to hit. Standing up to him to take him down and occupy his seat is excellent practice for becoming a new aggressor. We bring into the Matrix what we vibrate into existence.
Practicing love is the only way to give Science cooperative culture to study.
Good symbolism goes a long way with me Jude, and your “dream” video game rules sounded like a collaboration between Venus and Mercury. Both are prominent now, and with Venus going retrograde in Cap today and Mercury conjunct the Galactic Core tomorrow, together they must have been inspiring you to write about (and dream) those rules.
You say that the challenges ahead require us to keep a higher vision and this makes me think of the higher octaves of Venus and Mercury – Neptune and Uranus. My stomach did a flip when the ephemeris showed that Uranus and Neptune made their last conjunctions in the early 90’s in Capricorn; the same degrees that Venus will re-visit during her retrograde. Adding amazement, the ephemeris showed Pluto to be in the degrees of Scorpio that transiting Saturn is about to enter! You were picking up some potent vibes when you dreamed that dream Jude. 🙂
In 2014 transiting Neptune and Uranus will be forming a minor aspect called a novile (or nonagon or nonagile) which separates the planets by 40 degrees. It is 1/3’d of a trine and a third harmonic of a trine. This means that when Neptune and Uranus form this aspect it will be a subtler (and higher version) of a trine; a very harmonizing influence. It looks to me like this aspect will first be “exact” (partile) late July through most of August and September. Both planets will be retrograde. This aspect will be within orb at the June summer solstice when transiting retrograde Mercury is in his own sign of Gemini and semi-sextile transiting Venus in her own sign of Taurus. Transiting Mars will be conjunct the U.S. Sibly Saturn in Libra, transiting Jupiter will be conjunct the U.S. Mercury in Cancer, transiting Saturn will trine transiting Chiron and quincunx trans. Uranus within arc minutes but the exact aspect was back on October 5, 2013. Trans. Pluto will be moving away from its opposition to the U.S. Sibly Sun at the 2014 summer solstice, exact from late February through early June 2014.
These symbolic aspects/planets represent some of the challenges that will “require us to keep a higher vision in mind”, and yet there are symbolic aspects/planets that also support us through these difficult times. Without your dream this minor aspect between Uranus and Neptune, as well as some of the meanings of Venus’ retrograde, Mercury’s conjunction to the GC and Saturn following the Scorpio path (that Pluto made when Uranus and Neptune were conjunct a decade ago), might have gone unnoticed by us astrology lovers. It goes without saying but Neptune and even Uranus can play subtle at times, and their effects are often missed when minds and hearts are not tuned in to higher frequencies as yours is. Thanks so much for always sharing your mind and heart’s messages Jude. Especially on this solstice day. Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones.
be
Good tidings to you as well Judith. Best wishes for a prosperous New Year in ye old Pea Patch.
Season’s greetings, Judith
Lots of late degrees and Sun and Moon having a long conversation while I watched last night. My response is still ‘Oh!’ (short for, Oh, that again, still…plus a long stream of unhelpful dialogue with expletives). And my sacred song is 24+ (wish I had a natal chart for it!) and i’m still on the first line (sigh). still managing to take notes though! All best wishes.
Inhale
you could be my oracle.
you could be the blood without stain
that mine own vessel would not waste.
take the flower from my hair. no regrets.
you could be the melody,
the rhythm to the bass;
breathe in,
the light of light
the love of love
breathe in
the scent of petals falling in the garden
through time and space
each ending a beginning of falling into place
again. no regrets.
rain shall wash us down.
breathing in. breathing out.
the weight disappears.
Merry Christmas Jude!