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I am the Morning Star. Within this context, a Venus retrograde happens on Sunday, December 19. When Venus as the evening star disappears from the night and appears forty days later in the morning as the morning star.

The morning star was seen as “God’s eye,” positioned between darkness (ignorance) and light (knowledge) but always the way-shower to understanding and wisdom. The great Lakota Black Elk spoke of the importance of the morning star as follows:

“Morning Star, there at the place where the sun comes up, you, who have the wisdom which we seek, help us in cleansing ourselves and all the people, that our generations to come will have light as they walk the sacred path. You lead the dawn as it walks forth, and also the day which follows with its light, which is knowledge. This you do for us and for all the people of the world that they may see clearly in walking the holy path, that they may know all that is holy, and that they may increase in a sacred manner.”

Besides visually passing from evening star, through the underworld, and into her morning star phase, Venus’ retrograde establishes a new “seed moment,” where the foundation or wellspring of Venusian energies for the next 19 months is established. Appropriately, Venus is the planet of love. Venus, the brightest object in our sky outside of the sun and moon, is still visible in the dawn sky as the sun rises. It is the herald of the light out of the dark of the night. Venus and the sun are intertwined in an immortal dance of rebirth. As the morning star, or the light coming out of the dark of the night, Venus announces the arrival of the sun. It is the harbinger of the day to come. It stands at the breaking of dawn as the last star to disappear into the glory of the sun. And in the darkest of times, hope will light the way—this is Venus as the morning star, the star of hope.

The Venus retrograde lasts for 40 days and 40 nights, an epic length of time that we find in myths like the Great Flood of Noah or Inanna’s descent into the Underworld.

In Sumerian myth, Inanna is the Queen of Heaven, both Lady of the Morning and Lady of the Evening. Likewise, Venus also appears in the sky in the morning and the evening, depending on where she is in her cycle. Venus retrograde cycles have long been linked to the myth of this Sumerian goddess and her journey into the underworld.

But to enter the underworld, she must give up her earthly powers. As she descends through each of the 7 gates, she is stripped of her talismans and identities that grant her strength, power and desirability in the above-world.

As Inanna sheds earthly things, what do you need to shed to improve your spirit, family and other relationships?

As the planet of love and values, Venus retrograde periods are times when we reassess what—and who—we value. Retrograde periods are a time for pause, revision, and reflection. This is a time to reconsider your relationship to wealth. This is not money – material wealth but the wealth that is most important, the wealth of knowledge, the wealth of wisdom, the wealth of spirit, the wealth of family and friends to name a few.

Venus retrograde is the most strongly felt of all retrograde planets. Use Venus retrogrades to improve how you feel about yourself, to love yourself more. Think about what really brings you pleasure.

All humans want love, but how much of yourself are you willing to sacrifice to get it? And how long are you willing to stay in a relationship where you’re not loved in the ways that matter to you?

“A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking because her trust is not on the branch, but on her own wings.”

 

 

One of the stories that didn’t make it in our memoirs:

There are times when an object is possessed not with a spirit from the Otherworld but haunted with the evil actions, intentions and mental projections of humans. Thoughts have power and influence our subconscious—if you can’t image it, it’s difficult to manifest it. One such item was a bone-handled sword. And the bone was human bone with human hair attached to it! The sword belonged to one of our apprentices.

In the early 1990’s he brought it to one of our meetings to get our opinion and our thoughts about it. Soon as we saw it, we knew it was corrupted. But when we held it, the energetic vibration of evilness coursing throughout its handle and blade left no doubt in our minds. There is no external evil, such as the Devil, just the depraved, evil actions of humans. And this bone-slaying sword held many of them.

Both Sher and I spiritually worked on it to transmute the intrinsic vibrational evil contained within the sword and the memories it held of brutal slayings. Shamanic extraction would not work on this sword. There was no evil entity attached to it. Since bones hold memories, the sword was tainted due to its use, the deaths incurred, and the intention of its user. Whoever the person was, he or she was one “sick puppy.”

The next step was to bury it in the Great Mother. Possibly the earth would help remove some of the defilement. We left it in the earth for months. When I dug it up—it was still oozing evilness. The next step: I wrapped it in an old blanket and put it in the back of an old shed that we seldom used.

At the next apprentice meeting I handed it still wrapped in the blanket back to the apprentice who owned it. “It is still evil,” I said. “Sher and I both worked on it, buried in the earth, but it is still defiled.” Continuing on I said, “Don’t touch it, keep it wrapped in the blanket, and take up into the mountains where no one can find it and bury it deep beneath the earth near an evergreen tree.”

Not just today but everyday be thankful for what you have… Not what you don’t have. Let go of the desire for “things.”

Stop focusing and working so much to increase your wealth to buy “things.” Focus on family. Make Black Friday, Red Friday.

Fridays are the days of Venus, the goddess of love, beauty, and all kinds of wealth — physical, mental and spiritual. Venus represents spiritual wealth, wisdom, energy, and mental health. In the material world, wealth is considered as the biggest asset. Wall Street would like you to think so, but it is not your greatest asset. Wealth is much more than just physical wealth. More importantly is the wealth of (1) knowledge, (2) wisdom, (3) courage and strength, (4) victory or success in endeavors, (5) happiness and bliss, (6) intelligence, (7) beauty and charm, (8) higher aims in life, (9) high-thinking and broad-mindedness, (10) meditative mind, (11) understanding of morality and ethics, (12) good health and longevity, (13) and most importantly, family. Additionally, there is the wealth of our inner will power to overcome obstacles.

So Red Friday, focus on spiritual wealth. And how are you going to “grow” the other forms of wealth. Tomorrow, instead of buying things, think of a selfless gift — that does not want anything in return. Possibly a good action particularly for a selfless gift for the welfare of others.

The Huntington Beach oil spill; Facebook’s profit over people especially teenage girls… I put the following warning at the end of my 2015 book: Do You Like Jesus – Not the Church? Jesus: his True Message – Not the Lie of Christianity; Exposing the Lie Crumbles the Foundation of Christianity:

“When machines and computers, profits and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered.

“The choice is ours. And though we might prefer it otherwise, we must choose at this crucial moment of human history.”

“Data-driven insights, experts say, will fuel a shift in decision making. Decisions of all kinds, they say, will increasingly be made on the basis of data and analysis rather than experience and intuition—more science and less gut feel.”

Scientific and technological advances combined with the capitalist mind-set without subsequent spiritual awakening and transparency may lead to loss of freedom, catastrophe, and disaster facing the human race sometime in the future; whether that is the distant or near future is up for debate. To these challenges are added climate change, extreme weather, and lack of drinkable water.

What can be done? As I write at the ending to the Introduction of my first book in 2004: I Am A Sun Of God And So Are You:

“In closing, I hope that you agree in principle with the opinions in this book. I also realize that very often there is a vast chasm between abstract opinion and effective action. I hope this is not the case with you. If this truth becomes your truth I ask you to bridge the gulf between belief and action—and walk your talk. One person does make a difference for each of us, for the heavens and the earth and for our children and their children. I leave you with a quote from Margaret Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

 

That beautiful bright white light in the darkness of the night sky, not alone but surrounded by the twinkling jewels of heaven, has mesmerized humans since the dawn of time. In its fullness it provides us with comfort in the dark of the night but then again in the newness of its darkness it may bring a disconcerting feeling within the depths of our heart. But on the other hand, this feeling may soon be followed by a lifting up of our spirits as we realize that the moon in its darkness will be reborn—just as we will be reborn. The moon has this feeling of timelessness as its voyages through the night sky. It is a fleeting but eternal guardian of nature.

The moon is just not in the night sky. Within ourselves, we have the light of our own moon. The moon symbolizes our mind while the sun stands for our heart. Symbolically stupidity leading to ignorance, arrogance and fear may be likened to dark clouds obscuring the light of our moon or as dust on the mirror of our minds. Our dark clouds surrounded by dust breeds fragmented thinking leading to tribalism modes of acting and being and selfish and self-centered behaviors.

As we all know the moon has no intrinsic light of its own, its light reflects the sun’s light. But a blackened/greedy/fearful heart shines no light on our minds only projects black clouds of dysfunctional being. This is the breeding ground of the fertilized growth of misinformation and lies—small and Big. And here lies the truth of the chaos we are facing in the 21^st century.

A clean pure mirror reflects a true image, no matter the composite of the image. A dusty mirror (of our mind) obstructs the clarity of our mind leading to the growth of lies and distortions. Common sense would indicate that a smoky/blackened or dusty mirror can only reflect a distorted image—an image possibly leading to conflict, wars, and authoritarianism.

We need to each clean our mirrors while opening our hearts to love. And then gather together in communities far-and-wide as One to change the present course of humanity and prevent authoritarianism around the globe and eliminate inequality, poverty, homelessness, and second-class citizenship of women and provide a culture and society of equality for all, and reverse climate/biosphere destruction.

Add to this the elimination of physical wealth disparities while embracing a new concept of wealth such as the wealth of health and longevity, courage and strength, knowledge, wisdom, happiness and bliss, understanding of morality and ethics, and high-thinking and broad-mindedness.

Sad to say, this is just a small list of changes that need to occur and transform humanity and the earth into the “Eden” that it has always been… But it can be done… we can do it… as One.

The Science and Metaphysics of Divine Humanity

“God doesn’t play dice with the universe.” –Albert Einstein, David Bohm

“Whose mind is enslaved to their bestial instincts is philosophically not superior to the brute, whose rational faculties ponder human affairs is a man/woman; and he/she whose intellect is elevated to the consideration of divine realities is already a demigod, for their being partakes of the luminosity with which their reason has brought them into proximity.”

Divine Humanity is based on knowledge, my knowing, and the wisdom of radical nonduality[i] where the divine consciousness blends or interpenetrates all things, all matter, of the unseen Otherworld and our seen world/universe. All things are aware and conscious.

Let me stress again the importance that all things in creation have consciousness. For example, trees have consciousness. This consciousness is of a oneness of existence; there is no separation.^[ii] Thus, there is no need for awakening. However, human beings have a consciousness that views things dualistically with an egocentric self (unhealthy ego)^[iii] that only sees separatism. Add to this that many peoples reality is solely based on fragmented thinking.

The divine spark represents the consciousness of unity or oneness. Thus, there is the need in humans to awaken it. This then awakens us out of our “sleep walking” state of separateness into an awakened state of oneness. And as in all other things of creation, the awakening in humans is a gradual process that may eventually result in enlightenment even though one will still have human imperfections (unhealthy ego). As I have said: we are perfect in our imperfections which makes us perfect.

***

This is radical creative thinking in the mold of Einstein’s belief that “we have to learn to think in a new way.” My conclusion that consciousness permeates all matter comes from my firsthand experiences[iv] and logical thought. As most know, the usual physical understanding in science is that the universe consists of matter and energy, with Einstein’s equation of the two with E = mc2. If consciousness interpenetrates all matter, could there be a third factor?  There is: meaning. The nature of reality is the interpenetration of matter, energy, and meaning. And you cannot come to this conclusion with fragmented thinking. We must view the whole not pieces of reality as science does today. This is the paradigm of separation thinking that underlies all the sciences and religious institutions that are bastions of fear (separation) not love (oneness/unity).

Moreover, fragmented thinking is one of the root causes of stupidity. Stupidity breeds ignorance, arrogance, false views, anger, and fear.

In stark contrast to Western ways of thinking about the nature of reality being external and mechanistic, Divine Humanity considers our separateness an illusion, a necessary illusion, and signifies that there is a deeper level of reality, we, as well as all the particles that make up all matter, are one and indivisible.

***

I am not alone in stating these principles. One of the greatest minds and the first to state these principles was physicist David Bohm (1917 – 1992), a colleague of Albert Einstein. I have a knowing of the truth of his principles based on my firsthand experiences of the Otherworld or transcendent world beyond space and time, which Bohm terms the “implicate order.”

The Otherworld, the transcendent unseen realm, is Bohm’s implicate order, the source of all the visible explicate matter of our time-space universe. The implicate order has infinite depth. The world we live in is multidimensional. The most obvious and superficial level is the three-dimensional world of objects, space and time, which he calls the “explicate order.” And this, he says, is the level at which most of physics operates today, presenting its findings in equations whose meaning is unclear. A clearer understanding becomes possible only by moving to a deeper level, the implicate order. The implicate order is the enfolded order, which unfolds into reality as we perceive it and in which things are separate.

In Bohm’s view, the implicate order is infinite – there could be a super-implicate order, even a super-super-implicate order and so on – each level being more subtle than the last. The source of everything is enfolded in the whole. More about this latter (Seven Universes of the Transcendent Otherworld).

***

The implicate order is the realm of pure information, meaning, from which the physical, observable phenomena unfold. Unlike classical physics where reality is viewed as particles of separate, independent elements, Bohm proposed that the fundamental reality is the continuous enfoldment (into the implicate order) and unfoldment (of the explicate order) from the subtle realms. In this flow, matter and space are each part of the whole.

For example, in my attempt to shine light on the issue of abortion, I have expressed my theory and belief that the fetus is not an ensouled human being until it is birthed. At birth, the soul from the Otherworld or implicate order, enters into the baby with her/his first breath and cry. We are born with a consciousness of radical nonduality. But within a period of time, possibly short, it is over shadowed by a dualistic consciousness.

According to Bohm, the movement and flow of the implicate order are hard-wired into human brains, (radical nonduality) in the same way that Chomsky (American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist) asserts that grammar is hard- wired into the human brain, but that by way of contrast, the classical space and time of the explicate order are something that has to be learnt by experience (duality).

Furthermore, Bohm relates movement to the implicate order; for movement, we can also read change or flow or the coherence of our perception of a piece of music over a short period of time. Evidence for this is claimed to derive from studies of infants (30. Piaget, 1956), who have to learn about space and time (duality), which are seen as part of the explicate order, but appear to have a hard-wired understanding of movement that is implicate (radical nonduality).

***

One of my original manuscripts from 1998 was titled: Holy Blood Holy Heart – A Book of Love:

“The rich source of creation and the mysteries of life are encoded in the pulse beat of each moment of our lives. As I write this, I can feel the holy blood streaming throughout my body bringing the breath of life to each and every part of my soul.

Stop for a moment and allow yourself to feel each of your senses: feel the air that brushes your skin, feel it as it enters your body and nourishes your blood. How does this air taste? Look around and focus your eyes on the colors surrounding you, open your ears to the music of the world that is available to your hearing. Now close your eyes and with each breath experience a moment of Divinity, the gift of life.

Life is precious and not to be wasted in a wasteland of our own doing. Each one of us can transform our wasteland into a paradise on earth. In this coming Age of Aquarius, we can achieve peace on Earth and a Oneness of Humanity where we all share equally in all things and view each other as brother and sister. And we will discover that the world is truly an enchanted place where nature speaks to us, and we can truly know our own individual role in the symphony of life.”

Holy Blood

Bohm suggests that within the implicate order, consciousness is the primary awareness as contrasted with human mental cognition, a derivative in the explicate order (space–time). It is into these centers of the implicate order that information from space–time flows, and within which this information is eternally (non-temporally) stored.

It seems that consciousness is looking out from the implicate order center, everywhere, while simultaneously projecting form into the explicate order, space–time universe. Research has shown that our bodies are the receptors of consciousness from the implicate order (Otherworld).

Physiological candidates discussed as carriers of consciousness processing and information storage (storehouse memory) include infrared radiation among red blood cells[v] in the blood stream (Holy Blood).

Infrared radiation is the heat that we feel from sunlight and a fire. This points us to the fact that sunlight and fire are messengers of divine consciousness. A supposition would state that the indigenous fire ceremonies such as “burnings” (feeding the ancestors/spirits) and the Peruvian transformational fire ceremony are an external direct connection to the consciousness of the unseen cosmos, the Otherworld (implicate order).

***

I pose a question; does our blood type render to us greater or lesser aspects of consciousness? About 10 to 15 percent of the world’s population has the Rh-negative distinction. Could this be an indication. Here is a short list of Rh-negative blood types: U.S. presidents include Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Reagan, George W. Bush, Clinton and Obama. British royals Queen Elizabeth, Princes Charles, William and Harry are also part of the club. As was Princess Diana. That’s quite a list.

Could there also be another factor concerning our blood and consciousness?

Since the nineteenth century, “important concepts of life were brought to the field of physiology such as homeostasis by Walter Cannon… Dr. Canon realized the importance of balance between acid and alkaline in the body fluids, especially in the blood… An acidic condition inhibits nerve action, and an alkaline condition stimulates nerve action. One who has an alkaline blood condition can think and act (decide) well. On the other hand, one who has an acidic blood condition cannot think well or act quickly, clearly, or decisively… For a long time, I searched for a quick way to change an acidic to an alkaline condition. Finally, I found one through religious rituals. Japanese Shinto religion strongly recommends performing the misogi ritual, in which one takes a cold water bath or shower in a river, waterfall, or the ocean.”[vi]

It would seem that Fire and Water are key factors in awakening to a divine consciousness.

An ancient Vedic belief: water contained fire within itself, fire appearing to “enter into” water when quenched by it. Similarly, associations with Savitr (sun deity) could be understood as deriving from an image of the setting sun sinking into the ocean. Another theory explains the connection between fire and water through lightning, “the flash of fire born from the rain bearing clouds.”

Keep in mind radical nonduality uses the imagery and symbolism of fire blending with water. And what are the hidden teachings within this concept of fire hiding in water:  Fire hiding in water = heart (fire) hiding within our bodies (water) and with awakening the fire that has been hiding within our body is felt as an icy fire coursing through our watery body

Seven Universes of the Transcendent Otherworld (the unseen cosmos – the implicate order)

I hesitate to refer to Bohn’s orders as universes, which might give the indication that each universe or order is separate or parallel (a supposition of a few scientists), but I will utilize the term with the understanding that they are not independent or separate universes but are blended together. They may be viewed as the layers of an onion. As in an onion, when you peel one layer off, another one appears, and below that, another, and another, until the very core of the onion is reached. As Bohm stated that “there could be a super-implicate order, even a super-super-implicate order and so on – each level being more subtle than the last.”

You may ask, why seven universes? Seven is sanctified and Universal Love—the reason for the title of my most recent book: Seven Steps to Spiritual Awakening – A Book of Love in the Time of COVID-19.

Seven was Apollo’s prime number. And then there were the Seven Wise Men of Ancient Greece. The number seven was central to the symbolism of the ancients; possibly connected to heavens—the seven large stars of Ursa Major (the Great bear). Could the Great Bear’s stars have been the reasoning for the prevalence of the number seven reflected in ancient concept of the seven pillars of wisdom: “Wisdom has built her house; she has set up her seven pillars.”^[vii]

The ancients viewed the number Seven, the heptad, as “not born of any mother and is a virgin.” The Seven sacred rivers mentioned in the Rig-Veda. Surya, the Vedic sun god rides on a chariot yoked by seven horses. “Seven Stars” the familiar name of the Pleiades; Seven symbolized life for the Egyptians. Seven great Archangels. Seven Wonders of the World. Seven main musical notes.

There are seven chakras (seven lights or wheels of fire and memory) and Seven DNA Polymerase Families. Seven is the number of spiritual realization. Seven is emphatically accentuated in the Book of Revelation i.e., seven visions, seven angels, seven seals, seven thunders, and so forth. There are seven heavens, which refer to seven levels or divisions of Heaven. The seventh Jewish letter is Zayin – Victory in all worlds and endurance. Zayin means sword. It is also associated with the tongue. The tongue is a sword—a two-edged sword.

Pythagoras called seven a perfect number, making it the basis for “Music of the Spheres.” He attached great importance to the numbers seven and ten. Seven, the compound of three and four, signifies the union of man and divinity. It is the figure of the adepts, of the great initiates, and, since it expresses the complete realization in all things through seven degrees, it represents the law of evolution.”^[viii]

However, the primary reason I content that there are Seven Orders of the unseen cosmos (implicate order) comes from the knowledge that there is meaning behind our physical, observable phenomena world, which unfolds from the implicate order, the realm of pure information and meaning. A primary and essential physical and observable phenomena occurring on earth is the precession (shifting of the pole-star) of the seven pole stars.

The Seven Pole Stars

The Polar Star or Pole Star (North Star) is a star that does not set. In the course of a great year (26,000 years) there are seven of these stars that never set: known as the seven who are the lords of eternity. A North Star is a guidepost. A point of stillness in the ever-changing night sky that allows us to navigate back home. In almost every civilization, people have relied on North Stars to bring them back to their loved ones.

The amount of time each star is a pole-star is known as its “station.” The seven stations of the pole were likewise marked as seven mounds or seven mountains, each of which in turn was a type of the birthplace on high and an image of the Great Mother who brought forth her child upon the mount as the hippopotamus, the crocodile, the serpent, the vulture, the water-bird, or other type that was astronomical in heaven and totemic on the earth. One title of the Great Mother was “mistress of the mountain” when the mountain was the pole, and this celestial mountain was repeated seven times in the circle of precession; hence there are seven summits in one form or other, as mountains, mounds, altars, stones, pillars, or pyramids, answering to the seven stations of the pole.

There is a ceremony of “the seven stations of the cross,” which is supposed to commemorate the seven resting-places of the cross on the way to Calvary. But the same, or a similar procession, was celebrated at Abydos or Memphis when the tat-cross was carried round the seven resting-places that marked and memorized the seven stations of the pole.

In later times the seven planets have been mistaken for the seven stars. But these ancient pole-stars we consider to be “the seven stars” of which it is related in the tradition reproduced by Plato that after many ages they would return and meet together again in their old places as in the beginning, and apparently at the time of the last deluge of all, or, as we read it, at the end of the great year. We are now at the end of a great year of 26,000 years.

It was these and not the seven planets that could ever return to an original station at the starting point. The planets were but five in number and not seven in the most ancient astronomy. The sun, moon, and seven stars were not the seven planets of modern science. The seven, called the first of the stars, which in the beginning were in heaven, are connected with the great year according to the book of Enoch, as is shown by their being cast out until the day of the “great consummation” in “the secret year,” also called the “period of the great judgment.”

The “seven rulers of the world” manifested one by one at great intervals of time, and were a means of keeping the reckonings on a colossal scale. The age of each, as representatives of the successive pole-stars, would be from three to four thousand years, or one-seventh part of 25,868 years.

In one aspect, the seven stars were regarded as watchers watching solemnly aloof. A non-setting star was imaged as a never-closing eye. Robert Jordan in his Wheel of Time series has the Wheel of Time as a seven-spoked wheel and the Eye of the World – hidden object of Power (divine knowledge) guarded only by the Green Man.

As the tree was planted anew or re-erected seven times over, it follows that there is a typical group of seven trees, as well as the one tree with seven branches, to be met with in the mythological legends. Also, as the law was given at the pole or the tree, there would be seven trees of the law established in the course of Precession. The seven trees that stood around the mount of the pole are met with in a Chinese legend. Tradition says they grew upon the slopes of the Kun-Lin mountains; and one of them, which conferred the fruit of immortality, was a tree of jade, the imperishable stone that was a type of the eternal (Babylonian and Oriental Record, June 1888).

Seven would be the number in precession which were afterwards unified in the tree of seven branches. Other circles, other numbers. Seven trees would form the sacred grove or Asherah-tree (Nerthus Grove) which is surmounted by the seven serpent hoods conventionalized on the Chaldean cylinders as co-type of the seven branches.

There is an allusion to the seven stellar summits or mountains in one of the Assyrian hymns. Ishtar exalts her glory in several phases of phenomena. Hers was the glory from the beginning. She was the goddess of the double horizon, imaged in the glory of the morning and evening stars. As queen of heaven in the moon, her glory is said to “glow in the clouds of heaven” and to “sweep away (or efface) the mountains altogether,” as the flood of moonlight might put out the stars. These mountains, therefore, were celestial; only as such could mountains be obliterated by the glory of the goddess imaging the moon.

Thrice Seven

This is a key number in understanding “awakening.” Thrice seven is twenty-one (multiplying the prime numbers 3 and 7)   and symbolizes our three-dimensional universe times the seven-dimensional transcendent universe. Twenty-one symbolizes perfection, integrity and all powerful unity. It is the eighth number in the Fibonacci sequence, where each number is the sum of the two preceding ones. In the Bible, the number 21 is associated with resurrection – death and rebirth. It is the end of one cycle and the beginning of a new mission. Also, it is a symbol of perfection and maturity. It symbolizes the divine wisdom: “mirror of eternal light, which pierces and penetrates all in its purity.”

Lastly, we look to the Tarot, referred to as philosophical medicine. The twenty-first card is the Divine Human card known as the Fool card. It represents the person’s journey through the Tarot, which reflects their spiritual journey through life. The Major Arcane of the Tarot begins with the Magician’s card number one and completes with the World card number twenty-two. The Major Arcane, with arcane meaning secret or mysterious knowledge, may be viewed as a visual and symbolic guide to a spiritual journey. We begin the spiritual journey through our own innocence and naiveté as a fool in other people’s eyes, but after the twists and turns of life and our various experiences, we eventually arrive through perseverance at the awakening card—the twenty-first.

The twenty-first card is the card of radical nonduality[ix] represented by the Hebrew letter Shin (300) with the keyword of the attainment of perfection for humanity. Shin is divine consciousness; fire of the spirit/divine spark. It symbolizes the fire of life or the inner spark, which is the awakened divine human being that now sees the world as the divine perfection of creation. The Fool card (21^st) as an awakened divine human is symbolized by the Crown of the Magi, the Lotus Wreath, and the Harp of God (constellation Lyra).

Vega, the fifth brightest star in the sky, means “He shall be exalted.” Vega is located in the constellation Lyra (the harp), which is pictured as a harp with wings of an eagle. It represents God’s Holy Spirit.

The Lyra constellation is deeply connected to the legend of Orpheus in Greek mythology. Lyra’s pattern is believed to be cast from the shape of Orpheus’s famous magical lyre, with Vega representing its handle. Orpheus was a gifted musician whose music charmed both the living and inanimate. He is known for subduing the singing of the Sirens, as they attempted to lure Jason and the Argonauts to destruction in their search for the golden fleece.

In 12,000 B.C. E. Vega was directly aligned with the north celestial pole for a period of time. As the Earth’s axis shifts, Vega is set to become the pole star of the North yet again in roughly 12,000-13,000 years.

[i] Radical Nonduality states that Principle (Heart) and Knowledge (Mind) are nondual. Macrocosmically, Principle is the entire cosmos – Knowledge is the Divine Consciousness that permeates and interpenetrates the entire cosmos. The unseen world and the seen world are not opposed or separated but are two aspects of a single reality.

[ii] However, we must understand that a tree et. All. at birth was, in human terms, awakened with a consciousness of radical nonduality (oneness) and a dualistic consciousness understanding itself and its connection to all other things including humans.

[iii] The paradigms that seek the elimination of the ego are based on a philosophy of nonduality where enlightenment cannot occur on earth considering we have corruptible bodies and minds. Divine Humanity deems the ego that needs to be “tamed” and then transformed by awakening as the unhealthy ego. Once awakened we have both a healthy ego and an unhealthy one. I like myself; I would not want to strive to not be me with no ego, no concept of self.

[iv] Descending Spirit Exorcism, Vision and Voice, Spirit Man of Teotihuacán, and the Visitation. These experiences are to be found within our memoirs: Tequila and Chocolate, The Adventures of the Morning Star and Soulmate.

[v] The main job of red blood cells, or erythrocytes, is to carry oxygen from the lungs to the body tissues and carbon dioxide as a waste product, away from the tissues and back to the lungs.

[vi] Herman Aihara, Acid and Alkaline, 1, 109.

[vii] Proverbs. 9:1.

[ix] The interpenetration of the three-dimensional universe and seven-dimensional transcendent universe.

The following story didn’t make the cut for our memoirs: Tequila and Chocolate, The Adventures of the Morning Star and Soulmate:

One definition of suspicious behavior is “causing one to have the idea or impression that something or someone is of questionable, dishonest, or dangerous character or condition.” Seems like an apt description for Trump and cronies.

And in my wildest imagination, I never thought that one day, it would apply to me.

Fear is pure separation while love is pure unity. One of the consequences of a dualistic consciousness and thought process is pure and simple, fear.  But our fear is not just in our mind. It’s in our body and affects our immune system as it does our other thought processes. The mind and body are not separate but blended.

It is important to understand that fear is normal. It may increase our “juices flowing” from the adrenals; but on the other hand, it may freeze us in non-action or to embrace a state of compliance. This fear-based behavior of “falling in line” may be used to control an individual or a group or even a population of people.

Another insidious effect, of needing to feel safe and secure within a fear-based consciousness, is the lack of trust of others and something so seemly simple in life—joy.

Before the events of 9/11, I was intrigued by a ninety year-old Bermudian—Johnny Barnes. For over thirty years he had devoted a few hours a day greeting commuters at Crow Lane Circle in the capital city of Hamilton. He cheered and wished commuters – “Good Morning!”, “I love you!”, “God bless you” … In his own way, he continued to spread joy and goodwill to all till ten in the morning—every day. And to the commuters, a day’s hard work had begun with an exchange of love and blessings. With his words still ringing within their mind, a stressful day may have turned out to be—not so stressful.

Johnny’s spirit and love leads us back to my title: Good Morning – How are You… Suspicious Behavior on the Streets of New York.

September the 11^th, 2001 is still surreal and a tragedy etched within my mind. The morning of 9/11, I was watching the news when the first plane hit the tower. A daily morning activity as I was recovering from my first hip replacement.

It’s hard to explain the emotions of that day.

Ironically, one month later Sherry and I were in Lower Manhattan. We were presenting at a conference and our hotel was a few blocks from “ground zero.” As a joy of life, I enjoy the blissful feelings of early morning, especially with a perfect cup of coffee. Even though I could feel the heaviness within the air and people’s fear and anxiety, “waiting for the other shoe to drop,” I decided to spread some joy and love. My method: with coffee in hand, I stood on the nearest street corner to our hotel and attempted to look people in the eyes as they passed by me while smiling and saying: “good morning – how are you…”

Well, it was like I had the plague and was a leper. No eye contact; but how could they with their down-casted eyes. No response from anyone. I did notice people crossing against traffic to get to the other side of the street to avoid and get away from the “crazy man”—who was definitely demonstrating suspicious behavior.

A few more minutes passed and then… I felt him before I saw him. As I turned to face the other street corner, there he was walking in my direction. Johnny Law, with his hand near his gun, he hesitated then cautiously approached me. With a non-smiling stern face, now with hand on gun, he said:

“We’ve had reports of a person acting suspiciously… And that person is you! People are scared.”

“I’m sorry,” I replied, now concerned that I might be arrested, I made sure my hands were in clear sight, holding only a coffee cup. Continuing I said, “I was just smiling and saying, ‘good morning to people as they passed by me.’”

Still no smile, he replied, “under normal circumstances that’s suspicious behavior here in New York. More so now with 9/11.”

With a severe look, he declared, “I can’t legally order you to move and stop…”

Before he could continue, I interrupted his speech, “Not a problem, I’ll leave. I was only attempting to help people not scare them…”

As has been said, “The best–laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft agley.” (Robert Burns)

 

 

 

“There is nothing as universal as stupidity.” Cicero

Stupidity is a mental and spiritual dullness that separates the heart from the mind. It generates fear and arrogance and creates incompetence and a lack of understanding about the true nature of things.

True nature of things = knowledge/experience/wisdom… Life is breath. Would a COVID patient in the ICU on a ventilator agree that breath is life? Of course, breath is the true nature of things.

Breath is Life.

During and after graduate school, I was a lifeguard and saved three people from drowning. I felt their terror when they could not breathe and that sweet moment when they took their first breath. I was at the birth of my daughter and held her as she took her first breath and screamed her announcement of arrival to the whole world.

I hope you realize where I’m going with this.

I know by experience the fact and truth that breath is life. Inversely, the lack of breath is death. In all cultures breath was accorded a special place within their spiritual and philosophical traditions, such as in the Hebrew Tanaka where the word ruach is translated as “divine wind, breath, or spirit.” To native Hawaiians, the living human being as a fetus is not considered a “live” person until birth when the body breathes the air of God. Abortion of the nonbreathing fetus is thus not considered deprivation of life inasmuch as life is a condition of the spirit and requires the ability to breathe in God’s breath.

Continuing on, the Christian hypocrites love to quote the Bible. But they can’t quote anything about abortion due to the fact that there are no specific prohibitions of abortion in the Bible. Ah, but there are quotes on when soulful life begins: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7, King James Version).  Although the man was fully formed by God in all respects, he was not a living being until after taking his first breath. In Job 33:4, it states: “The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”

There is nothing in the bible to indicate that a fetus is considered to be anything other than living tissue and, according to scripture, it does not become a living being until after it has taken a breath. Even though the fetus has the potential of becoming a human being, one cannot kill something that has not been born and taken a breath.

I would hope that the majority of people are opposed to killing (even though under certain circumstances it may be necessary). In other words, being pro-life. This means all life, even down to the smallest ant, does not mean that we are not pro-choice. In fact, the reality is that being pro-life makes us pro-choice. Believing that all things are alive, responsive, and intrinsically important and precious, we determine our actions and behaviors, words, and thoughts totally based on this most basic, but important, paradigm of life.

The following is excerpted from Do You Like Jesus–Not the Church? Jesus: His True Message – Not the Lie of Christianity:

The Meaning of Pro-Life in America

Abortion was legal when America was founded.

Abortion was legal when America was founded.[i] Pro-life as it is used today is, in reality, selective life. The male-dominated church and institutions are focused not on life—that is, all life—but on con[1]trolling women’s bodies through fear, dogma, rules, and regulations. The illusion presented is the concern about life, but not all life, just the life of the fetus. For pro-lifers there is no choice for a woman to abort after becoming pregnant through rape, as it is “something God intended.”[ii] An example of pro-life being selective life is that it is God sanctioned and OK to kill an abortion doctor or nurse, but aborting a fetus is murder.

Pro-life is totally focused on the fetus, not the welfare and life of the child after he or she is born—another form of hypocrisy. As I stated in the intro[1]duction, today, if you evoke the name of Jesus, then you better believe in and promote social justice and a culture and society of unity, freedom, equality, choice, and an egalitarian way of life. If you do not, then you are a hypocrite.

What was Jesus’s view on this issue? Even though he was a religious revolutionary whose radical ideas threatened the male-dominated society, religious and secular, Jesus was still Jewish, and Jewish law states that life begins at birth. Additionally, there are no specific prohibitions of abortion in the Bible. Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is within us. It is then up to us to perfect our kingdom. This perfection does not come from an institution’s rules and regulations, religious or secular, but from our own conscious choices in life. We can awaken to our kingdom or follow others as blind, fearful sheep. It is our choice to be compassionate and help others less fortunate or to be controlling and dominating, enforcing rules and regulations that many times only serve a select few, mainly the ruling elite—secular and religious.

Jesus, on the other hand, followed the natural law of God, not laws or rules that dominated others and forced circumstances on them that they did not choose or would choose. Finally, pro-life versus pro-choice is dualistic thinking. Jesus brought a message of radical nondualism—in Jesus’s mind pro-life is pro-choice.

Pro-Life Is Pro-Choice

Being pro-life, and this means all life, even down to the smallest ant, does not mean that we are not pro-choice. In fact, the reality is that being pro-life makes us pro-choice. Believing that all things are alive, responsive, and intrinsically important and precious, we determine our actions and behaviors, words, and thoughts totally based on this most basic, but important, paradigm of life. This is a paradigm of life that encompasses choice and power.

Yes, power—empowerment. Self-power based on our belief in the divineness that is within us as well as within all other things of creation. This is true faith, not the hollow faith of the church. If we have the power within, we do not need religious or secular institutions telling us what to think and what choices to make—especially if it concerns our bodies.

For women, pro-life as pro-choice presents a different view of abortion, one based on common sense and love, not fear and guilt. We know that the question of when soulful human life begins is the source of the conflict between pro-choice and pro-life. It is also one of the greatest human spiritual and religious mysteries. And because it is a mystery, it cannot be proven one way or the other. On the other hand, even a mystery such as this may still have some light shed on it. However, the church would rather keep you ignorant and in the dark.

Christianity’s dogma states that the soul enters at conception, while Judaism believes that ensoulment occurs at birth.

Jewish law not only permits, but in some circumstances requires abortion. Where the mother’s life is in jeopardy because of the unborn child, abortion is mandatory.

An unborn child has the status of “potential human life” until the majority of the body has emerged from the mother. Potential human life is valuable, and may not be terminated casually, but it does not have as much value as a life in existence. The Talmud makes no bones about this: it says quite bluntly that if the fetus threatens the life of the mother, you cut it up within her body and remove it limb by limb if necessary, because its life is not as valuable as hers. But once the greater part of the body has emerged, you cannot take its life to save the mother’s, because you cannot choose between one human life and another.[iii]

Since ensoulment is a spiritual and religious mystery, where can we turn to discover some truth? It seems that common sense, as well as biblical teachings, may provide us with the key to the contentious issue of when soulful human life begins. The key is breath.

Have you ever seen or felt a baby’s first breath of life? Have you ever heard a baby’s initial cry—the soul’s cry of life? Have you ever looked into the eyes of a newborn baby and seen that spark of life? And have you ever viewed a per[1]son that has died—passed over—and recognized the absence or lack of breath and that spark? At the moment of our first breath, the divine spark, pure and untainted (no sin, no metaphoric dirt), entered us from the heavens. ­

Have you ever experienced near drowning? Have you ever choked on a piece of roast beef or a pretzel? As a child have you ever competed with a friend to see who could hold his or her breath the longest? And when you could finally breathe again, no matter what the circumstances, that initial gasp of air, that precious handhold of life, was the sweetest moment you could experience. I know this to be true, as I have choked on a piece of roast beef and a pretzel and was unable to breathe until my dear wife dislodged both. During and after graduate school, I was also a lifeguard and saved three people from drowning. I know and felt their terror when they could not breathe and that sweet moment when they took their first breath. I was at the birth of my daughter and held her as she took her first breath and screamed her announcement of arrival to the whole world

I know by experience the fact and truth that breath is life. Inversely, the lack of breath is death. In all cultures breath was accorded a special place within their spiritual and philosophical traditions. In the Hebrew Tanaka, the word ruach is translated as “divine wind, breath, or spirit.” “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”[iv] In other words, it is a striking image of “an apparently lifeless body being slowly revived by artificial respiration. God himself breathes the breath of life into the first human being. For all his earthy substance, man has something divine about him.”[v]

To native Hawaiians, “the living human being as a fetus is not considered a ‘live’ person until birth when the kino (corporeal body) breathes (hanu) the ‘air’ (ea) of the god(s), so that the material body quicken with the ‘spirit’ (ea) of the universe in the ‘breath’ (ha) of the human being as it ingests the atmosphere (ea) of ‘god.’ Abortion of the nonbreathing foetus is thus not considered deprivation of life inasmuch as ‘life’ (ea) is a condition of the ‘spirit’ (ea) and requires the ability to breathe (ha) in the god’s breath. To be a full, living personality there must be corporeal life (ola), spiritual life (‘uhane), the soul personality (kino wailua) and breath (ha).”371 And finally, the first line of the Lord’s Prayer in Jesus’s original tongue of Aramaic is “Avvon d-bish-maiya”—“thou art, from whom the breath of life comes.”

Ironically, but still a glimmer of light within some who consider themselves Christians, the following is excerpted from the website TheChristianLeft.org in support of ensoulment at birth, not at conception:

According to the bible, a fetus is not a living person with a soul until after drawing its first breath.

After God formed man in Genesis 2:7, He “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and it was then that the man became a living being.” Although the man was fully formed by God in all respects, he was not a living being until after taking his first breath.

In Job 33:4, it states: “The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”

Again, to quote Ezekiel 37:5&6, “Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

According to the bible, destroying a living fetus does not equate to killing a living human being even though the fetus has the potential of becoming a human being. One cannot kill something that has not been born and taken a breath.

There is nothing in the bible to indicate that a fetus is considered to be anything other than living tissue and, according to scripture, it does not become a living being until after it has taken a breath.

[i] Jonathan Dudley, “How the Bible Began Saying Life Begins at Conception,” November 19,2012, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-dudley/ how-the-bible-began-saying-life-begins-at-conception_b_2132951.html.

[ii] Julie Pace and Steve Peoples, Seattle Times, October 26, 2012, A4.

[iii] http://www.jewfaq.org/divorce.htm.

[iv] Genesis 2:7 (King James Version).

[v] John Ashton and Tom Whyte, The Quest for Paradise, 58.

Divine Humanity reminds us about our Divine roots, which we all share. This is our divine humanism which reminds us about the universal spiritual essence, which continues to live and travel through the universe even after the death of the body, from life to life. Through this Divine spark, and through those Divine roots we are all connected – and with this realization comes acknowledgement of our responsibility and duties towards this material world. Because in this very present moment, through each of our thoughts, actions and words, we contribute to shaping our future and our world’s future.

Having said this, detach from any religion that sanctions murder and the killing of innocents.

And speaking of murder and killing, such as the excruciating events unfolding in Afghanistan, we have the killing/murder of nonhuman divine beasts—lions. But there is no greater killer/murderer than humans letting their beasts within loose with free reign to cause mayhem, havoc, and death.

As you might have guessed from my posts/videos of lions, they hold a special place within my heart. Not only was I named at Machu Picchu in 1988, the Big Cat That Flies, but my Vedic astrology sun sign is Leo, and our current cats Loki and Bella. Included in my heart is my jaguar spirit. Both big and small cats are precious to Sher and me.

The killing/murdering of lions.

The rational of murdering wolves was greed/money. Lions are not just for money, but just for the sheer wicked hell of so-called hunters looking for trophies to hang on the wall.

“To satisfy high demand, African lions are killed for their claws, teeth, and bones. When a poacher looks at these noble creatures, all they see are parts for jewelry, fake medicine, and even wine. In a horrific March incident in Uganda, poachers poisoned and dismembered six lions in Queen Elizabeth National Park.”

O.K.…. they want to kill/murder lions, let them do what the Maasai do. The Maasai are renowned for their warrior spirit, and in the past young Maasai warriors had to kill a male lion with a spear to become a man—a rite of passage.

So, if you want to kill/murder a lion for a trophy or for its body parts, no problem as long as you hunt the lion with a spear.