Air Force Greenlights Pagan Temple

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

A couple of years ago, I was able to report major strides in the acknowledgment of Wiccan service members, when the Veterans Administration finally authorized the use of pentacles on tombstones. It is with no small degree of glee that I am able, now, to report a major development in religious freedom in the armed services. The Air Force is providing a ritual space for Wiccans, and other Pagans, at its Colorado Springs base.

The U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado will set aside a worship space for followers of "Earth-centered" religions such as Wicca and Druidism, according to an Air Force news release.

A stone circle atop a hill on the base in Colorado Springs will likely be dedicated in a ceremony March 10, according to the release, and be available to cadets and other service members who live in the area. The base already has worship spaces for Protestants, Catholics, Muslims and Buddhist, the release said.

China Reconsidering Tibet Problem

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

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According to Newsweek, the Chinese government has realized how badly it bungled Tibet. Pouring billions of dollars into urban development has not won over the indigenous population they have mercilessly repressed. Does that ever work?

After the mass riots there in March 2008, Tibet faded once again into relative obscurity—the province of foreign-affairs wonks, adventure tourists, and a few well-organized protest groups who object to China's rule there. But during that time, Beijing has come slowly to two painful realizations. First, the restive plateau it had treated for decades as a colony is central to its national plan: development and stability are "vital to ethnic unity, social stability, and national security," President Hu Jintao recently told his Politburo. And second, a corollary realization: China's government has been mishandling the issue of Tibet all along.

. . .

Suddenly, then, the Dalai Lama is not the problem but rather a pivotal part of the solution. As Tibet expert and author Robert Thurman says, the Dalai Lama is the key to giving China legitimate sovereignty over Tibet as an autonomous region within China because he would inspire his people to stay inside China in case of a referendum on independence. His growing following within mainland China (the number of Chinese Buddhists attending the Dalai Lama's teaching sessions in Dharamsala is growing quickly) can also help calm the simmering discontent among the Chinese who have been left untouched by the benefits of China's impressive economic growth, which has created a hunger for spiritual growth.

The Dalai Lama will be 75 in July. He is revered by the Tibetans and admired around the world. Any deal with him will have the unquestioned legitimacy and support that is so vital to China's aspirations. And his absence will spell uncertainty and a lack of moral authority over Tibetans—which can only hinder China's aim of becoming a global superpower.

Rapprochement between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama? Dare we hope?

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

How to Thrive in Challenging Times with Sandra Ingerman

In her latest work, How to Thrive in Changing Times: Simple Tools to Create True Health, Wealth, Peace and Joy for Yourself and the Earth, therapist and author, Sandra Ingerman provides many valuable insights into unlocking our creativity to deal with our challenging and turbulent times. With her usual clarity and open heart, she offers a fresh perspective on transforming your own inner pollution for outer benefit. Join us as we explore how Ingerman's new book points us toward a new way of being in the world and offers the practices needed to support that change. This is book is a call to action! Ingerman believes that the work begins by learning how to shift our daily thoughts and words. She encourages people to think of themselves as members of a growing global community of conscious change agents, who together, can shift the challenges on the planet today. Working as a global community we can bring forth the invisible energies and manifest a world we truly wish to live in.

This week's guest:
Sandra Ingerman

Sandra Ingerman, MA, is a licensed therapist and the author of numerous books including How to Heal Toxic Thoughts, Soul Retrieval, and Medicine for the Earth: How to Transform Personal and Environmental Toxins. She is also the author of several lecture programs produced by Sounds True. Sandra lives in New Mexico and can be found online at www.sandraingerman.com.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 2PM Pacific

http://www.modavox.com/7thWaveNetwork

All episodes are now available in the iTunes Podcast Library.

Mr. Deity's Crazy Logic

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

Some very biting satire from the folks at Mr. Deity, addressing the violence and total absurdity of the Old Testament God. Watching this episode, I can't help but think of John Lash's correlation of Jehovah with the deluded, psychotic Demiurge Yaldabaoth described by the Gnostics. Look at it through that lens and the whole thing starts make a crazy sort of sense.

James Arthur Ray on Sweat Lodge Deaths

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

James Arthur Ray has broken his silence and granted an exclusive interview to New York magazine. Ray's legal team has conducted its own investigation and exonerated him of all wrong-doing. The white paper testifying to his innocence appears on his web site. The long and the short of it: Move along folks. Nothin' to see here.

John Lash on the Gnostic Mysteries

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

Some really good interviews with Gnostic scholar John Lamb Lash recently popped up on YouTube. Both allow him to explain pretty thoroughly his unique take on the Nag Hammadi Codices. I've posted a few things on Lash and his Metahistory site, previously, although I should caveat that whatever links I've posted are probably dead. The site seems to be constantly undergoing reorganization, and becomes more confusing with every innovation.

Lash's take on the Gnostics is unusual in its rejection of the idea that what is written in the Nag Hammadi texts is associated with Christianity. His book Not in His Image explores a Gnosticism that is entirely pagan, and a Judeo-Christian movement that is adversarial to these ancient teachings and cultures.

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New WINGS Update from Karen Bishop

New and Different Outcomes...Believing Again

From the onset of the earthquake in Haiti until it completed its core purpose (but there will still be more beautiful tendrils to come) on January 22, the energies were crying “distress!” or “SOS!,” or “911!” , or “I need help right now!” or even simply “I feel empty and drained” and “where am I anyway?” These energies were felt by all of us, no matter if we were aware of the situation in Haiti or not.

Many souls were sending out a distress signal because of the insecurity they were feeling. And this insecurity could feel downright uncomfortable, unstable, and for many, excruciatingly fearful with a powerless slant as we may not have been sure how and where to move forward or what to hold onto. Add to this the lower level interpretations of the Haiti earthquake, and it is no wonder that many souls were experiencing a new insecurity, instability, and exhaustion from all the surrounding energies.

This is an unprecedented time for us for several reasons, of which I will describe below. It is also a very precarious one, as things are indeed still a bit unstable now, even though we are making great progress in embracing the new shifts and allowing them to set the tone for our very new reality. We could still very well go into a time of a new unpleasant and dark reality if we are not careful, and if we are not mindful of what is now occurring. Even so, I personally trust that things will unfold quite nicely if we remember who we are and remain at the helm as the powerful creators that we were intended to be, as we turn the tide from the old reality experience to the new.

Mr. Deity Takes On NBC Fracas

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

And deals with the devil.

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Listening to Voices

We all listen to voices in our heads. Some voices offer wise counsel or gut knowing while others are just an inner critic or frightened child. How do you learn which voices to listen to and which ones to ignore? How do you sort the voices after a spiritual awakening? For many the voice of spirit help is lost in the cacophony of voices in the head. The most essential gift shamanism offers each of us is direct revelation, which comes as visions, voices or experiences with our own helping spirits. While the shaman is a specialist in working with these spirits, everyone has spirit help and everyone can learn to communicate effectively with that help. How do you know you are listening to your helping spirits and not just making it up? What if you can't hear anything at all and feel stuck or lost and alone. What if you have the opposite problem? You hear too many voices and don't know who to listen to. The answer is simple. It comes from the heart and begins with our willingness to feel.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010 at 2PM Pacific

http://www.modavox.com/7thWaveNetwork

All episodes are now available in the iTunes Podcast Library.

Graham Hancock Discovers the Ancient Teachers

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

Graham Hancock Discovers the Ancient Teachers Video

Really fun interview with Graham Hancock exploring his body of work. Hancock makes the most of rather surface questions asked and manages to cover significant features of very diverse areas of his research and experience. He retraces his journalistic progression from East Africa correspondent for The Economist to his quest for the Ark of the Covenant in The Sign and the Seal, and how this opened the door to his incredible research into ancient mysteries and the possibilities of a great, lost civilization. He also goes into a fair bit of depth on Supernatural, his exploration of psychotropes in shamanic practice, and discusses the theories surrounding the correlation between UFO experiences and legends of the Fae. The lucidity with which he explains these very challenging concepts, and even distills the information down to soundbites, is quite astonishing. Like all of his work, very worthwhile.

Graham Hancock's books and other media can be found in the bookstore.

Mercury Direct

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Mercury turned direct this past Friday and the final reverberations that usually occur for a day or two after a planet turns direct should be subsiding. We still have a retrograde Mars in the fixed fire sign of Leo and retrograde Saturn in the cardinal air sign of Libra, so all does not feel as clear or move as freely as we might have hoped. World focus is on Haiti right now and the aftermath of a devastating earthquake. The new moon and eclipse energy in the sign of Capricorn on the 15th amplified the square between Saturn and the Pluto/Mercury conjunction, and the moon drew in energy from the retrograde Mars at the time of the eclipse. Whenever I see a Mercury and Mars retrograde happen at the same time, I think of sudden death because my father passed suddenly during a time when both those planets were retrograde. Perhaps retrograde Mars and Mercury open a door for leaving the planet suddenly. At the time, I had been planning a vacation and was unable to get a flight for the day I wanted to travel (Mercury retrograde, of course), but despite being able to scope the ephemeris and know it was not the “best” day for me to travel, I took the only day available. That day, while driving to the airport with my family, my father died of a heart attack on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway. Despite my astrological knowledge and my own reservations about traveling during difficult planetary energy, I was not able to foresee my father’s death; however, upon looking more closely at the planets and our respective charts after the event, the writing was on the wall, as the expression goes. We tend to see something only when we are looking for it.