Andrew Cort's Blog, page 37

MAHAMANTRA YOGA: CHANTING TO ANCHOR THE MIND AND ACCESS THE DIVINE

by Richard Whitehurst (Today's PRIZE GIVEAWAY is a Copy of Mahamantra Yoga. Simply leave a COMMENT to enter. See details below)

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Andrew Cort's Mini-Review


"From time immemorial," notes Huston Smith, "religions have used singing and the chanting of sacred syllables, mantras, to lift their spirits to the divine."
Mahamantra Yoga , a rich ancient tradition revived 500 years ago by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, involves repeated chanting of a sacred phrase (such as the name of a deity), to still the mind and attain higher states of consciousness, ecstasy, and an experience of the Divine presence. Part of the Bhakti devotional tradition, the practice is considered by some to be the best path to self-realization for our current age.
In this book, Richard Whitehurst explains the methods of Mahamantra Yoga, in the context of the ancient Vedic texts and his own personal experience over more than twenty years of practice. The book (and the accompanying CD) is a wonderful addition to spiritual literature and mysticism in general, and a valuable resource for everyone interested in meditation and chanting.
***
from Chapter 4:  IDENTIFICATION

Devotional service is the eternal characteristic of all living beings. As sugar always gives sweetness, so the soul always gives service. Service cannot be separated from the self, and it does not stop. When this characteristic is purified and brought into relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then it is known by the name bhakti-yoga. A candid and unbiased comparison of bhakti with various other paths will show the fruits of many of these other paths to be wonderful, though perhaps not final. The mahamantra yogis suggest that the fruits of all spiritual paths are eventually revealed to be tributaries leading to the vast raging river of bhakti.
It is not the purpose of this book to go into detail about the nature of bhakti and its relation to the various paths available to the human species. The reader may refer to the devotional books listed in the bibliography to get a detailed account of the path of bhakti-yoga. Here we should simply note that on the path of bhakti, the essential ingredient for advancement in this current age, Kali Yuga, is contact with the transcendental sound of Sri Nama Avatara through the mercy of His pure devotees.


Nevertheless, within the teachings of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu we are brought to a perspective where we may consider the possibilities that bhakti just might take the astanga-yogis beyond the various levels of samadhi, that it could perhaps transport the jnanis far past the non-differentiated oneness of the eternality of the brahmic splendor, and that the various perfections of divine emptiness as found in schools of eastern and western Gnosticism might be conceived and perceived by the perfected mahamantra-yogis as but different perspective views of the brahmic splendor and thus are considered to be like way stations on the astounding journey toward the super-excellent realization of the Lord's abode, Goloka Vrindavana. And hazy conceptions of "heaven" or  "paradise" of theistic traditions such as Christianity, Islam, or Judaism could perhaps be brought into a focus of crystal clarity through the science of bhakti-yoga. In the bhakti tradition, one realizes the extensive and astounding details.
Much of humanity's documented mystical experience concerns the realization of sat, the Godhead's aspect of eternity. But simple eternality is not all in all, just as waking up in a dark room is not the complete expression of wakefulness. There is more, much more. Might we not then seek the Godhead's aspect of ananda or infinite blissfulness through loving reciprocation with Him in devotional service—our eternal function?


The need we feel to transform our ordinary consciousness to a higher state is evident from countless current and historical examples. Human beings are seldom content with the limited scope of everyday consciousness. Those with restraining or destructive tendencies (tamaguna) and with activating or chaotic tendencies (raja-guna) may pursue this felt need to transform ordinary consciousness through such practices as drug taking, ghost worship, and occultism.


Those of a more introspective, illuminating or godly nature sattvaguna will seek other methods of consciousness expansion that elevate, that reawaken the soul's loving relationship with the supreme Soul. The oldest and most comprehensive written expression of this science of primordial consciousness appears in India's Vedic literature. Therein it is often stated that for this age, the recommended way to transform profane consciousness to God consciousness is to hear and chant the mahamantra.
*****


Richard Whitehurst (Sridhara Das) is an initiated disciple of Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He began his practice of mahamantra yoga in 1970 while a student of psychology at the University of Florida. For 10 years he lived as a wandering monk and traveled extensively throughout the Indian subcontinent. He has lectured about the tradition of bhakti yoga and mahamantra yoga at colleges and universities in India, England, the United States, and Australia and has appeared on radio and TV. An accomplished facilitator of kirtan and bhajan, he lives in New Farm, Queensland, Australia.

TODAY'S PRIZE CONTEST!Richard is offering a Free Copy of Mahamantra Yoga to today's lucky winner.Today's Prize Giveaway has the same rules as the other giveaways:


1.To enter to win, simply COMMENT ON THIS BLOG, leaving an email address so we can contact you if you win. All names of commenters go into the 'hat'.

2.The giveaway period runs for ONE WEEK from posting. The winner will then be chosen by random drawing and contacted.


3. Only one entry per giveaway. (But you can enter as many different Daily Giveaway Contests as you want!)
If you don't win this one, be sure to order a copy of Mahamantra Yoga from Amazon:

JANET MCKINSTRY DESIGNS

SPIRITUALLY INSPIRED ARTS & CRAFTS by JANET MCKINSTRY (Today's PRIZE GIVEAWAY is a Purse Tissue Duvet. Leave a  COMMENT  to enter. See details below.)

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                                                 "Gepetto"

Janet McKinstry is a Designer of Bags, Quilts, Pillows, and other Fiber Arts.

She also Sculpts these magnificent Marionettes, which are inspired by her meditations. (See more of her Marionettes below) 
                    









FIBER ART:

East meets West in Janet's unique fiber art creations. She salvages end pieces of fine upholstery textiles with beautiful textures and patterns that would have been discarded, chooses findings from around the world, and combines them in unusual ways to create one of a kind extraordinary designs. Here are two of her bags and a pillow. You can see more of her designs at www.JMcKDesigns.blogspot.com. As you can see, Janet gives as much attention to the inside as to the outside. Limited quantities are available, though similar items can always be made. You can contact Janet at janet@janetmckinstry.com to discuss your wishes. Please allow 2 weeks for delivery.


   



This Tote Bag is 16" wide by 13" high. Straps are 10" long



$120









         







  This Classic Bag is 14" wide by 11"high. Straps are 9"



$110







    The Angel Pillow is 14" Wide by 10" High
                 The Back is Red Velvet



$60




SCULPTURE:


Here are some more of Janet's Marionettes! Each one is hand-sculpted, costumes are individually designed, and each is hand-strung and fully workable. Each is approximately 2 feet tall. The cost of a marionette runs from $1500 - $2000. You can contact Janet with the name of your favorite Mythological, Scriptural, Literary, or Archetypal character. She will meditate on it and go to work creating a one of a kind Marionette you will treasure forever. Contact her at janet@janetmckinstry.com.
  

 

 


*****


Janet's interesting background is in both spirituality and art. She studied fashion at the Fashion Institute of Technology and then got a Master's of Divinity with an emphasis on Theology and the Arts from Andover Newton Theological Seminary. Janet is the Pastor of Tyringham Union Church and is currently the Artist in Residence at Lee Congregational Church. In addition to all of this, she is the author (and illustrator) of the bestselling children's book Rosie and Friends. Be sure to visit her at www.jmckdesigns.blogspot.com and www.janetmckinstry.com. 

TODAY'S PRIZE CONTEST!Janet is offering a Free of Tissue Duvet to today's lucky winner.

Today's Prize Giveaway has the same rules as the other giveaways:
1.To enter to win, simply COMMENT ON THIS BLOG, leaving an email address so we can contact you if you win. All names of commenters go into the 'hat'.
2.The giveaway period runs for ONE WEEK from posting. The winner will then be chosen by random drawing and contacted.
3. Only one entry per giveaway. (But you can enter as many different Daily Giveaway Contests as you want!)

DILOGGUN TALES OF THE NATURAL WORLD: How the Moon Fooled the Sun and other Santeria Stories

by Ocha'ni Lele (Today's PRIZE GIVEAWAY is a Copy of Diloggun Tales of the Natural World. Simply leave a COMMENT to enter. See details below)

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The Diloggún, among other meanings, is a 'library' of holy oral literature, preserved from the African diaspora. It consists of sacred stories, myths, history and proverbs that brought some sense to the horrors and chaos of life. Just as the Jews of the ancient diaspora collected their oral teachings into the Talmud, so Ocha'ni Lele is a proponent of preserving the oral teachings of the African diaspora. This collection of stories, Diloggún Tales of the Natural World: How the Moon Fooled the Sun and Other Santería Stories is part of that effort.These are dramatic stories, akin to the familiar stories of ancient Greece and Rome, and like them filled with literary beauty as well as relevant psychological and spiritual meaning. The book is a wonderful and long-overdue addition to the world's mythology and cultural history.
*** The Separation of Heaven and Earth   Death is but a journey into life
and life a journey into death —
but this was not always so. 

Standing between the spiritual and the material worlds is a gate known as death; we die in heaven to be reborn on earth, and we die on earth to return to heaven. The gate is thin, tenuous, yet crossing it is fatal to material beings.  As with most things in our world, it was not always like this.  There was a time when the gates between the worlds were open wide, and we crossed as easily as passing from room to room in our own homes. When the earth was new and the first generation walked on her face, no great chasm divided heaven and earth.  The first creations lived in both worlds freely, and the path between the two was unguarded. Heaven was home and the earth was the marketplace, and those with time to travel could walk between the two freely. Of course only humans and orishas had this privilege. Animals and plants were stuck in one realm or the other; and between the two, for them, was the gate known as life and death. Animals and plants, however, had one power that humans did not — the power of procreation. Before dying they reproduced, and this replenished their numbers on the earth. It was for this reason, the fact that they created life from their own forms that they could not cross the great divide — creatures born of the spiritual world were perfect, and creatures born of the material realm were less so.  In time two people noticed this: a man and a woman. They thought, "How powerful are the plants and animals — they can create life from their bodies and we cannot." They wanted to be powerful like the animals so they went into heaven to petition Olófin for this ashé.   Olófin looked at them sadly, "My children — it is true that animals do recreate their own kind from their bodies, as do the plants, but have you not noticed that in the end they die? You do not die. You are eternal in this world."  The man spoke up first, "Yes, Olófin, we are eternal. Why would our children die like animals?"
"You are not born of earthly parents. Obatalá molded your bodies from the clay of the earth, and Olódumare gave you the breath of life. You are creatures of the perfect earth, created by Obatalá's own hands, imbued with God's very breath, the ashé of heaven. You are not bound to one world or the other."  

"But I want to have a child," said the woman. Her head was bowed before Olófin, and a single tear slid from her eye. "When I see the animals tending their young, I get a longing here," and she touched her womb, "and a pain here," and she folded her hands over her heart. "Surely, this is a sign?"Olófin sighed. He was concerned, but he understood. "So be it. You will have a single child. But remember that this child is not born as you were, and as such, is not a perfect being. Instead of being molded from the sacred earth's clay by Obatalá's hands, or imbued with the breath of God, it will grow inside your belly, nourished by your own body, and when it is born it will breathe the air of this world and not the next. As such, you must never show it the gate between heaven and earth; in its earthly form, it cannot be allowed to cross as you do. It would defile and change the ashé of both worlds."  The man and woman agreed. Before the year turned the woman was with child like an animal. Neither understood the mystery, and neither knew how the child was placed in the womb. But it was there and her belly grew.  The first generation of humans marveled at the mystery of birth. They watched as the woman's belly swelled; they were afraid when her waters broke, and amid tears and pain, a new life slid from between her legs. Day by day they watched the child grow, and everyone was involved in his upbringing and education. How strange, they thought, that they were created knowing all things, but the young boy had no knowledge of anything, not even language. But learn he did. And they raised him on the stories of the orishas, and the knowledge of God and heaven, but having seen neither heaven nor an orisha the young man thought the stories to be fable and fiction. 
When he was grown and able to fend for himself he told his parents, "I do not believe in the stories you raised me on. I believe in neither the orishas nor the heaven of which you speak." 
His parents smiled at each other knowingly. "Son," said the mother, "You were not born as we were. Obatalá created our bodies from clay, and Olódumare himself gave us the breath of life. We know both worlds. You, however, were born from my womb. You are a child from earth and not heaven, the only one of your kind. That is why you can't cross and see heaven for yourself."  "I cannot believe in what I cannot see!" he said. "If this heaven is real, I will find it!"  The world grew dark that day; everyone tried to talk the young man out of his quest. He was unwavering. When night came and the world slept, he left the village of his birth and sought the gate between heaven and earth.  It did not take long.  He found the gate as it was in the stories of his childhood; it was beautiful and serene. He saw the path that led from this world into the next. Still he was not convinced. "I will see this heaven for myself, if it is real, and see the orishas with my own eyes." He took but a single step on the path.Before him a great figure appeared. It was Olófin. "Child of earth!" he roared, "You were forbidden to cross this gate by your own parents. You are a creature born of earthly parents, not a human molded by Obatalá's hands and given breath by Olódumare's lips. You have defiled the ashé of this sacred place!" With those words, Olófin brought down his cane on the earth, hard; it cracked and rumbled like thunder, and the path between heaven and earth was forever broken.  That young man became an outcast that day, and the earth was forever cut off from heaven. With the gate closed free passage was no more. As Olófin warned, the ashé of both worlds was changed when earth's only child attempted the crossing — for flesh born of flesh cannot travel into the spiritual world.*** Ócha'ni Lele has been immersed in the underground culture of orisha worship since 1989. He made Ocha in 2000 and was crowned a priest of Oya. His other books include Teachings of the Santería Gods, The Secrets of Afro-Cuban Divination, Obí: Oracle of Cuban Santería, and The Diloggún: The Orishas, Proverbs, Sacrifices, and Prohibitions of Cuban Santería. He lives in Winter Park, Florida.



TODAY'S PRIZE CONTEST!Ocha'ni is offering a Free Copy of DILOGGUN TALES to today's lucky winner.Today's Prize Giveaway has the same rules as the other giveaways:


   1.To enter to win, simply COMMENT ON THIS BLOG, leaving an email address so we can contact you if you win. All names of commenters go into the 'hat'.

2.The giveaway period runs for ONE WEEK from posting. The winner will then be chosen by random drawing and contacted.


3. Only one entry per giveaway. (But you can enter as many different Daily Giveaway Contests as you want!)
If you don't win this one, be sure to order a copy of Ocha'ni's book from Amazon;  

ISLAM: A RELIGION OF PEACE?

by Saleem Ahmed (Today's PRIZE GIVEAWAY is a Copy of Saleem's Book. Leave a COMMENT to enter. See details below)


Tweet Andrew Cort's Mini-Review:    "Who among us belongs to a wrong religion?" asked Saleem Ahmed at the beginning of a speech in Hawaii in 2006. No hands went up. "Interesting!" he went on. "We may have followers of 4-6 religions among us. No one thinks they belong to a wrong religion. If we belong to the right religion, do others belong to a wrong one? Or shall we think outside the box and suggest ALL belong to RIGHT religions, with unique landscapes and different paths to the same Goal."  Later in the speech he said, "Let all peace-loving people proclaim we are all creatures of the same Ultimate Reality, a Reality which, while called by different names in different religions, conveys the same message of righteousness, peace, and love through all Prophets. Thus, rather than creating divisions among us based on our respective messengers, let us unite on the basis of their common Message."   This, of course, is precisely the message I've hoped to promote throughout this "Celebration of Spiritual and Religious Unity, Wisdom and Friendship." And it is not at all surprising to hear it from an Islamic voice. I saw a Tweet the other day noting that "Not all Jews are Zionists, not all Christians are Crusaders, and not all Muslims are Terrorists." A good reminder. It's sad that anyone needs this reminder, but clearly many of us do. Indeed, as I've mentioned in my writings, Islam is not a religion of violence. Islam is the religion of harmony, a harmony that is brought about by Faith in God's Oneness, Surrender to God's Will, and Virtue through the constant remembrance of God.   The Qur'an says clearly, "God does not change men's condition unless they change their inner selves." All religions teach this: unless we change on the inside, nothing in the world will ever change, for we will remain forever exactly as we are. It is time to change on the inside – it is time to end the arrogance, the pettiness, the negativity and the hatred, and it all begins inside with each one of us.    I've posted this section of the Preface from Saleem's book before, but it bears repeating. This is from Islam: A Religion of Peace?  ***  PREFACE  People ask, "How can Islam be a religion of peace?", when the Qur'an requires Muslims to kill "unbelievers" and promises paradise to Muslims who die "killing unbelievers"; when suicide bombers go about killing innocent people indiscriminately; and when it seems we rarely hear moderate Muslim speaking out against their extremist fellow-religionists.But how can Islam be a religion of war, when the Qur'an also says, "invite all to the Way of Your Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching and discuss with them in manners most gracious", and it affirms that Muslims can eat with and intermarry with "People of the Book" (Jews, Christians and others believing in the Eternal Being). In fact, the Qur'an affirms that God sent messengers all over the world, all of whom are to be respected equally, with reformers to come every century.   
Let's be frank, both peace verses and war verses exist in the Qur'an, the Muslim sacred text. The former echo the book's proactive ethos; the latter, temporary shifts in guidance when Prophet Muhammad was under attack. It is also to be noted that the message on spirituality remained unchanged throughout Muhammad's 23-year ministry; the message on temporal matters shifted as his status changed from "fugitive" seeking followers to "statesman and warrior" leading a nation.   The Qur'an is not arranged chronologically; context of revelation of many verses also remains unclear. For example, prohibition against trusting Jews and Christians (revealed around 622 CE) and permission to eat with and intermarry with them (632 CE) occur 46 verses apart in the same surah (chapter), and in reverse chronological order. Some Muslims believe Muhammad had instructed his followers on the arrangement of verses; others believe this was done later. Perhaps both occurred to varying degrees.
With each side painstakingly presenting Qur'anic guidance supporting its position but ignoring the "other," objective readers find it difficult to understand the Qur'an's "bottom line."   While Muslims generally follow the Qur'an's peace path, a minority, including the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, follow its war path, to "fight unbelievers, rectify injustices, and gain martyrdom" via their "jihad (holy wars)."


THE SOLUTION  The Qur'an affirms it was revealed "in stages," with later guidance on any subject superseding earlier guidance. Since the last guidance Muhammad received (632 CE) "perfected" the religion, gave it the name Islam (which means "Peace") and permitted Muslims to eat with and intermarry with the "People of the Book," this is the true Muslim paradigm.  THE FUTURE  The Qur'an's declaration that God sent messengers to all nations of the world (124,000 according to Muhammad), requires Muslims to consider followers of all spiritual paths as "People of the Book."
***  Saleem Ahmed was born in India, raised in Pakistan, and now lives in Hawaii. He considers all three his home. He earned his doctorate in Soil Science from the University of Hawaii in 1965. Currently he works as a financial specialist. Dismayed by how some Muslims were maligning Islam, Saleem started studying the Qur'an and hadeeh during the Iranian hostage crisis (1979-80). His findings led to the publication of his first book on Islam, Beyond Veil and Holy War: Islamic Teachings and Muslim Practices with Biblical Comparisons (2002). Encouraged by the positive response he received from moderate Muslims and non-Muslims – and simultaneously dismayed by the more recent extremist Muslim actions via suicide bombings and disruption of life in Pakistan, Afghanistan and elsewhere, Saleem was prompted write his second book, Islam: A Religion of Peace?


TODAY'S PRIZE CONTEST!Saleem is offering a Free Copy of ISLAM: A RELIGION OF PEACE? to today's lucky winner.Today's Prize Giveaway has the same rules as the other giveaways:
1.To enter to win, simply COMMENT ON THIS BLOG, leaving an email address so we can contact you if you win. All names of commenters go into the 'hat'.

2.The giveaway period runs for ONE WEEK from posting. The winner will then be chosen by random drawing and contacted.


3. Only one entry per giveaway. (But you can enter as many different Daily Giveaway Contests as you want!)
If you don't win this one, be sure to order a copy of Saleem's book from Amazon:

PLACATE THE JAWS

by Elizabeth Elliott (Today's PRIZE GIVEAWAY is a Copy of Elizabeth's Book. Leave a COMMENT to enter. See details below)

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Andrew Cort's Mini-Review
Elizabeth Elliott writes poetry about real life – love, family, sexuality, aging, politics, nature, death.  Her words are stark, to the point, and clear. The poem I'm featuring today, in which Elizabeth pays homage to all the simple wondrousness of life, is from her book Placate the Jaws. 



***


Before You Close the Lid


Before you close the lid
say thank you for me to my feet,
always cheerful for a tramp,
confused by dancing orders from above.

Say thanks to knees that yanked me in the way that I must go,
their complexity but sign of high ambition,
knees now gone to pasture they deserve,
I linger but their work's complete.


My hips, replaced so long ago,
I always thanked for arts of love,
but reckless passions are so few
cracked hips with others lie clean in bony piles.

Pelvis and all that waits to throb,
I beg you, open the windows of my mind,
visit me once more to wilder scenes,
those feral loves, the children who came slipping through.




Before you close the lid,
remark as on you pass,
how time alone now seals the passage
to all I thought and all I did.
• • •

You must, for I no longer can,
thank the pleasure of my nose and mouth,
the scrupulosity of words,
the way my wrist and mouth knew poems,

the joining and rejoining of sense and sound,
of all that's past and might still come,
the details and the thought today,
unique and apt to all my solitary hours.

Oh yes, before the lid is closed,
say thank you for the time I had,
though time itself took all I did,
though time itself takes all I have.



Behind what hair, within what skull,
upon what rumpled pillowcase,
is not where I'll be found.
Don't look for me I'll not be found.
• • •
All giving and all taking once so intense
with glorious or with fatal speed,
connectors working between hand and neck,
now lie inert below my face.

Only belly brought pleasure to the last,
scornful of dangerous swell to vein,
mind surrendered to one last pretense,
to curried lamb, risotto and to crème brulee.

My hands have gone before me,
as in a sense they've been my eyes,
holding, releasing, protecting shape,
translating heart for each surprise.

Before you close the lid,
remark as on you pass,
how time alone has put a stamp
on all I thought and all I did.
• • •
Thank you to all these forever,
(though pumping heart and fading mind,
today reject the peace "they" counsel me to know,
instead construe and urge the very words

to yet betray my leaving ——
I'd milk away to racing silks and jockeys still unknown,
yes! to beat against the wind,
race north beneath all lifting bars.)

But no, I myself laid that to rest,
so let it be, another day may come,
(whoever says it won't
has really not one clue of what there Is.)

To my self, whatever 's left of such a wondrous thing as "self",
I thank, honor, and ever bid its soul
to pure acceptance,
and to you God's blessing, as you close the lid
***  Elizabeth Elliott has taught the craft of poetry in the Gallatin School of New York University where she devised a system of fourteen ideograms for the understanding and comparing of English-language rhythms, whether of prose or poetry in any time period. With composer Seth Cooper, she co-founded, and for a decade directed, Spectra, a non-profit, inter-disciplinary and cross-cultural performing arts organization. Some of Spectra's venues were Hudson, New York, Merkin Hall in New York City, and The Asia Society. In 1987 Elliott's ¡Cordoba!, was produced by Spectra in Hudson, New York. Utilizing several nationalities of musicians, singers, dancers and actors from New York City, the music-theater piece, ¡Cordoba! was an historical condensation of the world's first high civilization. Enduring for many centuries, this was the first time, but hopefully not the last, in which Jews, Muslims and Christians lived and worked together as creative equals. Placate The Jaws is Elizabeth's fourth book of published poetry. You'll find more of her poems, and you can hear her readings, on her website at www.eelliottpoetry.com. TODAY'S PRIZE CONTEST!Elizabeth is offering a Free Copy of PLACATE THE JAWS to today's lucky winner.Today's Prize Giveaway has the same rules as the other giveaways:


1.To enter to win, simply COMMENT ON THIS BLOG, leaving an email address so we can contact you if you win. All names of commenters go into the 'hat'.

2.The giveaway period runs for ONE WEEK from posting. The winner will then be chosen by random drawing and contacted.


3. Only one entry per giveaway. (But you can enter as many different Daily Giveaway Contests as you want!)
If you don't win this one, be sure to order a copy of Elizabeth's book from

AWAKENING THE PLANETARY MIND: BEYOND THE TRAUMA OF THE PAST TO A NEW ERA OF CREATIVITY

by Barbara Hand Clow (Today's PRIZE GIVEAWAY is a copy of Awakening the Planetary Mind. Simply leave a COMMENT to enter. See details below)

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Will 2012 be the End of the World?
Hardly.

As I've written in The Purpose of Religion, "seven" symbolizes complete accomplishment: hence, the world was created at the beginning of the Hebrew Bible in seven days, and at the end of the story, when Joshua and the Israelites are at last returning 'home', God destroys His Creation (i.e., 'Jericho') in a reciprocal seven days. But this allegory of Destruction only relates to the personal 'world' that is being left behind by a newly enlightened soul. If we succeed in coming 'home' and reuniting with the Divine, our usual experience of the world 'disappears' and everything merges into the One. This is the esoteric (and only actual) meaning of the oft-awaited 'End of the World'.

In Awakening the Planetary Mind, Barbara Hand Clow explains the source of our collective fear of catastrophe – ancient archetypal memories of cataclysms like Atlantis and the Biblical Flood (and she discusses the evidence that these legends are based on actual geologic events of the remote past).

But she then goes on to show that these memories are not precursors of yet another coming apocalypse. Rather, we are on the cusp of an era of extraordinarily positive spiritual evolution and growth. The great change that is coming has to do with our growing recollection of what we were before the ancient cataclysms. Humanity's collective consciousness has been badly scarred, but this is a time of healing: as we recall what we truly are, our minds will awaken and we will reach a new age of harmony and peace.

Clow's book is mind-expanding, provocative, hopeful, hard-to-put-down, and pertinent as we confront the many crises of today.  
***
Hamlet's Mill and the Precession of the Equinoxes




The precession of the equinoxes is an astronomical cycle that shapes the timing and qualities of cultural patterns by symbols, as introduced in chapter 1. This chapter investigates how this subtle symbolic force influences human cultures and how the great cataclysm fits into this process. Each Great Age is represented by a symbol that is derived from a constellation located on the ecliptic. For example, the symbol for the Piscean Age, when Christianity was founded, was the fish, and the Pisces constellation is drawn as two interweaving fishes. These symbols go far back into prehistory and still leave their traces today.







How might this symbolic weaving still influence us and even direct our lives? Even today, indigenous people are usually members of clans that have animal totems, which is intriguing, since the zodiac is a circle of animals plus a few human images in the sky. The zodiac consists of the constellations on the ecliptic—twelve out of eighty-eight constellations—and all eighty-eight star systems were thought of as spiritual influences. I am sure that the animal totems are vestiges of precessional knowledge, just as modern bullfights are lingering vestiges of the Age of Taurus, the bull. Besides the wonderful creative potential in these connections, does this subtle factor still direct the collective unconscious? If so, did the ancient people use these powers intentionally, and can we? Judging by the amount of work they put into building and maintaining their temples to showcase these symbols, we would be foolish not to consider whether the precessional factor actually affects us now. At the very least, we can understand the past better by understanding what these symbols meant to people in the past. Then it would be apparent whether precessional cycles now influence human cultures, even if they are not consciously aware of the moving circle in the sky. What if secret societies, such as the Masons, know all about these influences and noninitiated modern people are ignorant of them?




Traces of precessional influence are found in sacred scripture and mythology, which were passed down in the oral tradition for thousands of years and then were eventually written down. Hamlet's Mill: An Essay on Myth and the Frame of Time by famed scholars Hertha Von Dechend and Giorgio de Santillana is the consumate study of mythology by precession. The authors determine that archaic mythology and art cannot be fathomed without understanding its underlying complex celestial basis—precession of the equinoxes—and I agree. Hamlet's Mill was initially labeled as a wild and radical tome that few could understand. However, it was widely read and discussed during the early 1970s because it was written by two otherwise highly esteemed scholars. It is now the foundational source for researchers who are investigating how archaic cultures understood precession. It explores how the core myths contain elements from earlier times layered over by later times. Like a household of family antiquities mixed with new furniture, the archaic fragments are mixed in with more recent stories. The bards rescued them, even if they didn't know what they meant, just like treasured family heirlooms. Bards are keepers of the oral tradition, and the bardic tradition reveals that time is the essential structural format of myth.


Von Dechend and Santillana decoded these factors by investigating the linguistic variations and archaic elements in the myths that reflect various periods of time, discovering that mythology is a veritable mathematics of consciousness . Their book examines the ancient sagas, stories, epics, and dramas and deciphers them by means of precessional cycles and symbolism. These stories often begin with phrases such as "Once upon a time," or "Once in the days long ago . . ." The core myths are filled with stories of origin that span extremely long cycles of time in specific places. Often without even realizing it, we perceive events by time. Try telling a story to somebody without using time and place.



Mythology is an archaic time-coded system, a treasure hunt back into prehistory through thousands of years. We can use it to figure out how people remembered and dealt with what happened to them over the Great Ages. The most noticeable thing is that extremely similar myths of the great cataclysms exist in all ancient cultures . The universal desire to comprehend and remember the days of disaster inspired the postcatastrophic storytellers and astronomer-priests as long as 10,000 years ago; very early on they told stories of startling changes in the sky. The alteration in the cosmic order probably caused by axial tilt would have been very disturbing to them. They probably did not understand why precession began, but they came up with some very accurate mythic images, such as Atlas holding the globe or the goddess Nut holding up the sky. They would have immediately noticed the new seasons, and soon they would have seen that the star positions were moving on the horizons and around the poles. Naturally, they also feared more disasters, and there were follow-up adjustments as Earth settled down. So archaic people offered sacrifices to the gods from earliest times, hoping that the sky would not fall again.



The possibility that precession began only 11,500 years ago is a radical hypothesis, which could only be proven by a very detailed analysis and synthesis of geological and paleontological records, as well as complex astrophysical calculations. I've provided some of this data in appendices B, C, and D. Astrophysicists would need to study the current orbits of bodies in the solar system to determine if a new pattern began 11,500 years ago. Certainly, this is what the cross-cultural legends describe, which Allan and Delair catalog in Cataclysm! Regardless of exactly when precession began, humans have been obsessed with cyclic time for the past 10,000 years. There must be a reason, since tracking precession requires advanced astronomy and lots of leisure time. Many excellent technical books establish that people tracked precession at least 8,000 years ago, such as The Dawn of Astronomy by J. Norman Lockyer, The Secret of the Incas by William Sullivan, and Stonehenge by John North. Later, I will present evidence from Çatal Hüyük in Turkey that archaic people were contemplating the precessional influence as long as 9,000 years ago during the Age of Gemini—6640 to 4480 BC. Considering how far back this way of viewing reality may go, core myths and archaeological sites can be used as time tunnels that open our eyes to the brilliance and exquisite creativity of the preliterate cultures that haunt and fascinate many people.

The great cataclysm occurred in the middle of what became the first Great Age—Leo—so the current shift into Aquarius is an entry into the sign that is opposite Leo. According to astrological principles, an oppositional phase is like the full moon, which brings things to fruition. Therefore, the Aquarian Age will bring to completion all the things we've created since the Age of Leo and the cataclysm. This is happening as we observe waves of barbaric warfare and personal psychosis breaking out, as if someone has opened Pandora's Box. In this book, I am focusing on the final event in 9500 BC, but there were disturbances in our solar system for a few thousand years before the most destructive event. The physicist Paul A. LaViolette published Earth Under Fire in 1997, right after the English edition of Allen and Delair's Cataclysm! LaViolette describes a series of explosions in the galactic core (superwaves) that unleashed a barrage of destructive cosmic rays. He calculates that the superwave front passed Earth around 14,200 years ago, which triggered a series of great changes, such as the Gothenburg Flip and the Younger Dryas. To recover our true past, we must remember these cataclysms. Who were we then? What happened to us?








Barbara Hand Clow is an internationally acclaimed ceremonial teacher, Mayan Calendar researcher, and the author of The Mayan Code, The Pleiadian Agenda, Alchemy of Nine Dimensions, and Liquid Light of Sex. A regular presenter of international talks, she has taught at sacred sites throughout the world. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.





TODAY'S PRIZE CONTEST!Barbara is offering a Free Copy of Awakening the Planetary Mind to today's lucky winner.Today's Prize Giveaway has the same rules as the other giveaways:


1.To enter to win, simply COMMENT ON THIS BLOG, leaving an email address so we can contact you if you win. All names of commenters go into the 'hat'.

2.The giveaway period runs for ONE WEEK from posting. The winner will then be chosen by random drawing and contacted.


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If you don't win this one, be sure to order a copy of Awakening the Planetary Mind from Amazon:

THE LESSER MYSTERIES, THE PRODIGAL SON, & THE GARDEN

by Andrew Cort

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Demeter was away, and her daughter Persephone was playing with the other young goddesses in a meadow, filling baskets with beautiful flowers. She had no way of knowing that grim Hades, who had been walking on the surface to inspect the damage from an earthquake, had seen her, had been struck by an arrow of Eros (which Aphrodite had urged him to loose), and had fallen in love with her. Hades had then gone to his brother Zeus, Persephone's father, and obtained permission to take the girl for his wife. 

Now Persephone had wandered away from her companions, enticed by an extremely large and radiant narcissus plant with a hundred blooms, which Zeus had caused to grow as a snare for the girl. As she reached out her hands to touch the beautiful flower, the ground shook and opened wide beneath her feet, and Hades, charging forth in his chariot, sprang upon her and grabbed her and bore her down into the earth, despite all her screams. No one heard her cries, except for Helios, the Sun, who hears and sees everything, and his sister Hecate, the Moon, the goddess of darkness and the night. But her cries were echoed off the mountains, and Demeter heard them from far away. Yet she could see her beloved daughter nowhere.

In his subterranean palace, Hades forced Persephone to become his queen.
 

The human soul, the Eleusinian Initiates learned, like Persephone, has its real home in the spiritual realm, free of the bondage of matter. Only there is it truly alive. The Lesser Mysteries represented the agony of the soul as it 'dies' to its real nature, and descends into the illusions and limitations of 'life' within a human body. Entranced by the transient beauty of the world (the narcissus and other flowers), and longing for experience in the world of the senses, the soul is trapped and it descends. The words and images of 'descent', however, are only figurative: we have no better language to describe the transition from 'Heaven' to 'Earth', which is not a change of location but only a change of condition.


The critical teaching of the Lesser Mysteries was that we will only be worse off after death, unless we take steps during this life to turn our longing for the illusions of the senses into a longing for the truths of the spirit – for this is Hades, the descent has already taken place, and if our soul sleeps through our physical life, it may continue to sleep through all eternity, passing back and forth from dream to dream. To drive this home, the Mysteries testified gloomily to the recurring descent into hell, and the endless aimless wanderings of unawakened and unperfected souls. At last, when the ceremonies ended, the participants were given the honorary title of Mystes, which means 'one whose vision has been unclouded', implying that one begins to perceive reality and sees what he or she must do.
 

In the Biblical Eden, one has to wonder: is it possible that an all-knowing and all-powerful God did not know the soul had been inverted, did not know that the illusory world of sense had mesmerized the heart's desire, did not know that the mind had fallen asleep? Was it all just an unfortunate and unexpected accident?
In the Greek story of Hades, the answers are clear. Demeter wanders off passively and loses sight of her daughter, which means, within our soul, that the Mind disconnects and loses sight of the Heart, just as the emotions, i.e., Persephone (or Eve), are being abducted (beguiled) by the world of the senses, i.e., Hades (or the Serpent). But this was no accident! The descent of the soul is an act of choice, a deliberate act of Free Will: Zeus, the Spirit, is fully aware (just as he was when he deliberately gave Pandora her curiosity), he is part of the conspiracy, and he gives his assent that his own child, his own substance, shall 'Fall' into the world of matter and illusion.

But why? How does it serve the purpose of creation that we should view reality upside-down? Perhaps the best and clearest explanation is one that was given much later, in Christ's parable of the prodigal son:

 A father, we are told, had two sons. The elder of these remained always at home, never disobedient or unruly, faithfully working in his father's fields and vineyards. The younger son, however, took his inheritance early and went far away from his father's home, where he squandered all he had and wasted his life with riotous living.  


Eventually he hit bottom, and awoke to find himself penniless, hungry, a hired hand who fed another man's pigs for a living. He saw that he had sinned against his father and against heaven, and he immediately determined to return home, admit his failures and shortcomings, and beg his father to take him on as a lowly servant, rather than remaining where he was and perishing of hunger.

So he headed home. But while still far off his father saw him, was filled with joy and compassion, and ran to him and kissed him. When the young son admitted his unworthiness, his father ordered servants to bring him the finest robes and to prepare a great feast, "For this my son was dead, and is alive again! He was lost, and is found" But when the elder son returned home from the fields and saw what was happening, he was very angry and complained bitterly to his father, "This boy, who now returns, wasted everything you gave him on harlots and debauchery. But all these years I have worked for you faithfully, never transgressing, and you have never celebrated with a feast for me!"

The 'father' in this story represents God. The elder son represents a child of God who never ventures out into material life. As a result, he has never experienced struggle, failure or sorrow, and he has never experienced triumph, passion or joy. He is 'good', he is innocent, but he can never change or learn or evolve. He has no future, he has no potential, his soul was finished as soon as it began, and as such he is of limited interest and limited use to his father. The younger son goes off into life and falls asleep to his father's world. He is 'bad' and he quickly loses his innocence, he squanders everything and cavorts with harlots, he drinks in all the diverse experiences of earthly life, he feels and laughs and suffers and cries. But when he awakens he possesses an inner strength, wisdom, and maturity that can only be acquired through one's own conscious efforts and one's own voluntary suffering. He now contains evolutionary possibilities that his innocent brother will never know, qualities that are highly treasured by his father. This son was 'dead': his soul had descended into the world of illusion. But now, grown strong with the wisdom of experience, his soul has returned home to God and is 'alive' again. There is far greater joy in heaven for this accomplishment than for the bland, static existence of his older brother.
 


Refusing the full experience of this world of sense, pain, and pleasure, is to reject the plan of God! Spiritual evolution cannot take place until involution is complete, and every bit of life has been experienced. For this reason, God created the situation in the Garden of Eden (with the help of His ally, the Serpent). He knew all along that Adam and Eve (and all the rest of us) would have to leave the Garden and could only return when they had drunk their fill of life, hit bottom, and seen the truth for themselves.

DHVANI - KIRTAN

by Dhvani (Today's PRIZE GIVEAWAY is a free Dhvani CD. Leave a COMMENT to enter. See details below)


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Kirtan (sanskrit for "repeat"), is call-and-response chanting, in praise of the glory of the Divine, from India's devotional traditions. It involves chanting hymns or mantras to the accompaniment of musical instruments.




Yogananda was an early proponent of kirtan in the west, chanting Hey Hari Sundara, "Oh God Beautiful", with 3,000 people at Carnegie Hall in 1923. Kirtan is currently growing in popularity in the West.)   


The word Dhvani (from the root 'dhvan') means "sound", "tune", "resonance". And that's the name of a musical group from Atlanta who are helping to popularize Kirtan. Dhvani "fuses ancient mantras with a fresh, funky, soul-full musical experience." They invite you to immerse yourself in the music, to chant along with them "as a means of finding our way back to the core of our Being, to our Heart, to our connection with the Divine and with each other. Kirtan is non-denominational, requires no experience, and is open to everyone!" 




Today we have an audio excerpt from their new CD. You can listen to the beautiful voice of their lead singer, Jocelyn Rose, chanting Om Mane Padme Hum (loosely translated as "Om and Consciousness to the Divine Jewel Within"), and you can chant along with her allowing your consciousness to connect with your own lotus Heart.     [Note: Ah, how I wish I was tech savvy enough to fully understand how to post an audio here in a way that you could just click a 'Play Button' and the music would be there. But alas, I've spent days trying to figure this out and have only semi-succeeded. So here's what you do – it's only slightly more complex, really!    (1)   Click HERE . You'll get to a "Download" page with a site called "divshare.com". (2)   Click their 'Download' button.
(3)   Then click 'Open' (or 'Save', up to you), and in about 60 seconds you'll be listening to Jocelyn's glorious voice, and you can start chanting Om Mane Padme Hum along with her.]





Dhvani:   Jocelyn Rose - vocals, harmonium, band managerJoe Palese - guitarColin Agnew - percussionMatt Stallard - bass
Jocelyn began her musical journey at a young age in rural Massachusetts. She, as well as her twin sister, Amy, were known as the town's singing duo. Jocelyn continued her musical studies after high school by earning her Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from Ithaca College and her Master of Music degree in Opera Performance from Georgia State University. Years of disciplined vocal study led her to discovering Yoga and its many spiritual, mental and physical benefits

TODAY'S PRIZE CONTEST!Dhvani is offering a Free Copy of their CD to today's lucky winner.Today's Prize Giveaway has the same rules as the other giveaways:


1.To enter to win, simply COMMENT ON THIS BLOG, leaving an email address so we can contact you if you win. All names of commenters go into the 'hat'.

2.The giveaway period runs for ONE WEEK from posting. The winner will then be chosen by random drawing and contacted.


3. Only one entry per giveaway. (But you can enter as many different Daily Giveaway Contests as you want!)
If you don't win this one, be sure to order a copy of DHVANI. 

NEW CONSCIOUSNESS FOR A NEW WORLD: How to Thrive in Transitional Times and Participate in the Coming Spiritual Renaissance

by Kingsley L Dennis (Today's PRIZE GIVEAWAY is a Copy of New Consciousness for a New World. Simply leave a COMMENT to enter. See details below)


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 "It can be stated," says Kingsley L. Dennis, "that, for the most part, humanity unknowingly participates within a cultural hypnosis. From early childhood, our experiences are established to conform to our specific cultural norm -- any anomalies are usually corrected, and the corrections then reinforced through various socializing processes, such as family, school, friends and such. Thus, our 'world' is often given to us through the medium of particular cultural filters, and so each of us is literally hypnotized from infancy to perceive the world in the same way that people in our culture perceive it." Now we stand at a crossroads in humanity's evolutionary journey, a time of profound and unprecedented change, and we are going to have to de-hypnotize ourselves and look more deeply at our actual reality. 
In New Consciousness for a New World, Dennis looks at the potential for a new civilization grounded in a new level of consciousness – a genuine and necessary paradigm shift in thinking and perception that will renew our life on Earth in this moment of great danger and transition, a radical evolutionary leap that will take us beyond the many threats of our era and onward to a time of spiritual renaissance. And he shows us how each of us can (and really must) participate in this planetary transformation.

Excerpt from New Consciousness for a New World:



Instead of viewing consciousness as a by-product of biochemical processes in the brain, consciousness needs to be reevaluated in terms of our cultural norms and perceptual paradigms. We need to accept that consciousness is a creative and natural force that infuses the cosmos and interpenetrates the various realms: material, biological, and spiritual. For example, the human nervous system is not the producer of consciousness, as many erroneously believe, but acts more like an antenna that receives consciousness from living energetic fields. It's like the tale of the young fish that goes on a watery pilgrimage to visit the old wise fish of the sea. When the young fish arrives to ask his burning inner question, he says, "What's this thing called water?" It is harder to perceive that in which we are immersed, and thus the secret hides itself through its transparency. We breathe it, yet recognize it not.

As the familiar world around us begins to shake, appearing to come apart at the seams, and generally cause us concern, we need to take this rush of rapid air as a time for cleansing. Many of us, for far too long, have lived unbalanced lives, neglecting the self for the substitution of quick gratifications and commercial painkillers. It is necessary to restore the balance between the inner world and the outer world; we need a respiritualization of society that goes beyond the need for social forms toward a new understanding of our integral relationships within a cosmic context. In other words, we need to establish a healthy and vibrant cosmological unity between our inner and outer environments.  

Renowned historian Arnold Toynbee once said, "The ultimate work of civilisation is the unfolding of ever-deeper spiritual understanding." For Toynbee, the suffering of civilized man was a reaction to the separation of sentient beings from their timeless reality. Many societies have lagged behind in providing the means for personal and collective self-actualization and self-transcendence. Perhaps what our industrial cultures have denied us for too long is a way of experiencing the world that will open us up to ourselves and to our transcendental truths. We are anchored on Earth, which we must not forget, yet we simultaneously fail to connect our threads with the universal. Thus, we are all too often denied the awareness that we do not exist alone, but are an integral part of a vast, mysterious order. By submitting to the authority of the universal, we can renew our partnership with the human, earthly, and creative spirit. Václav Havel famously said in a 1991 speech to a joint session of the U.S. Congress, "Without a global revolution in the sphere of human consciousness, nothing will change for the better." Such a revolution is imperative if we are to be worthy of keeping our role as participants within a creative cosmos. More important, each individual needs to become aware that he or she is a part of a grand evolutionary process, a process that informs the very basis of our living, benevolent, and turbulent environment.
                                     
***  Kingsley L. Dennis, PhD, is a sociologist and writer. He worked as a lecturer in English & American Literature for several years at a university in Istanbul, Turkey. More recently he lectured in Social Theory at Lancaster University and was a Research Associate within the Centre for Mobilities Research. Kingsley's earlier research examined general evolutionary theory in relation to socio-cultural development. He has published articles on complexity theory, social and military technologies, civil society, and new media communications. His research interests include complex systems; media & communication networks; social technologies; alternative futures & future forecasting. He also has a deep interest in consciousness studies, the new sciences and how to bridge these areas of research. Kingsley currently lives in Andalusia (Southern Spain). He is a co-initiator of the Worldshift Movement that works towards a positive transformation in our world. Visit his website at www.kingsleydennis.com .






TODAY'S PRIZE CONTEST!Kingsley is offering a Free Copy of New Consciousness for a New World to today's lucky winner.Today's Prize Giveaway has the same rules as the other giveaways:


1.To enter to win, simply COMMENT ON THIS BLOG, leaving an email address so we can contact you if you win. All names of commenters go into the 'hat'.

2.The giveaway period runs for ONE WEEK from posting. The winner will then be chosen by random drawing and contacted.


3. Only one entry per giveaway. (But you can enter as many different Daily Giveaway Contests as you want!)
If you don't win this one, be sure to order a copy of New Consciousness for a New World from Amazon:

THE SOPHIA SUTRAS: INTRODUCING MOTHER WISDOM

by Carrol Parrish-Harra (Today's PRIZE GIVEAWAY is a Copy of Carol's Book. Leave a COMMENT to enter. See details below)


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Andrew Cort's Mini-Review:  
Carol Parrish-Harra's book, The Sophia Sutras, is about the presence in our lives of the Sacred Feminine, 'Sophia', Divine Wisdom. Some would have us replace the masculine version of God with a feminine version of God, replacing the patriarchal God with a matriarchal Goddess. But the author knows that this is not a solution to the difficulties of sexist-deluded religion. The tradition says that we are made in the image of God (not that God is made in our image). We, God's image, are Male and Female – just as God is. Nothing in the scriptures actually says (despite millennia of provocative and childish misinterpretation) that one gender is superior to the other: we are different but equal, we are equally necessary, miraculous, and complementary. The Feminine aspect of Divinity includes esoteric Wisdom, includes the power of Healing, includes Intuition, includes the power of releasing fully prepared souls into bliss.
Dr. Parrish-Harra draws upon a wealth of spiritual and esoteric knowledge, as well as her own understanding and intuition, to weave together the Logos, the Masculine, and Sophia, the Feminine, in this very accessible, interesting, and well-written book about personal and planetary transformation.
*****IMAGELESS
In Gnostic writings "Divine Word" was paired with "Wisdom." Later in Greek, "Word" became "Logos" and "Wisdom" became "Sophia." A line of tension resulted as masculine power grew, Sophia then became increasingly linked with guardianship of the planet as Mother Earth, of the Hebrews as Shekinah, and later, of the Christians as the Holy Spirit. The Logos, or Christ, remains in the non-physical as the Holy Consciousness known as the Son—the SON (reflection of the divine) behind the SUN—while Sophia, the Holy Spirit, indwells and evolves each level of creation gradually back toward the Oneness.
 In the densest of matter she organizes cells and dwells therein. Hers is the sensitivity that expands and contracts in gems and rocks, the hidden vitality of the soil, and the crystalline design we now know exists in pure water. Thus she indwells all the matter of the dense world around us. Here, perhaps under duress, Mother Matter produces experiences through which she quickens the journey—both hers and ours—from the denser to the more subtle realms. She rides in the waves and churns in the wind. Her wisdom, innate and powerful, is there to prompt events that can propel us to higher awareness. Just as she can threaten, she likewise can create the beauty that uplifts.
Diverse is her work, for varied are the avenues of divine potential­ities. "Sophia gives the world qualities—she paints the Earth with color; sweetens it with aroma, and comes to us in the intimacy of touch." As the spark of consciousness in each inert particle, she is perpetually pushing to express, expand, reorganize, and unfold a higher form. The qualities of a dual active-passive creation have been long set into place. As his equal, she interprets his thought, shaping the rich design of each willed impulse. The ripple of Creator's force activates order as the masculine principle wills and feminine principle gathers quantities of responsive matter in every plane. Within these she organizes the fire of spirit into forms and shapes through which flow light, color, and vibration.

In every plane exist points of consciousness to be cloaked in a vari­ety of forms. Many new life-forms await discovery as other dimensions open before us. Similar to the rhythm of a poem seeking its poet or a celes­tial sound needing a vibrating instrument in order to be heard, she shapes matter in response to potentials desiring expression and lives within each form as the encoded patterns of nature, fulfilling the role of each until sur­vival is threatened. Often external threats activate the will-to-live, Mother Nature's 911 code, overriding the status quo. Eternally receptive, new crises within creation automatically invoke her to adapt old embedded codes to meet current challenges, stimulating evolution.
 In our own species, Homo sapiens, Sophia's innate wisdom can be classified several ways. Mentally, we have levels of intelligence classified as instinctual, unconscious, conscious, and inspired. Within the folds of each level are dimensions easily overlooked and unrecognized in regard to wisdom.         
To those who ponder, Sophia becomes an illusive awareness at the edge of mind. Not fully amenable to conscious expression, we have not known how to relate to that which lives at the edge of mind, but intuitively we acknowledge "knowings'' the instinctual nature provides.

Childbirth is a great example. Our head may not know how to produce that which is developing within but at the appropriate time, inner systems shift as needed to bring forth the child. The libido that hides in the body has served the species by bringing forth new life. Not to be belittled, libido is one of the avenues of sensory perception placed in the human psyche by Sophia herself. "When we turn away or neglect the sensory realm, we turn our backs on Sophia. Without depth of sensing there can be no possi­bility of experiencing soul or being receptive to spirit."'
 Powerful senses with which to explore the environment also exist in the subconscious realms in which innate Wisdom finds herself. Unconscious responses to subliminal organic molecules of smell, or pheromones, for instance, are an example of Wisdom's cellular intelligence acting directly upon us. We often are not consciously aware of the reason we sometimes react to those about us with seemingly arbitrary and some­times puzzling likes and dislikes. The perfume industry capitalizes on this, and advertising agencies address their messages to this subliminal level of mind to influence, affect, and sell.

Becoming more conscious is most often called "awakening" because the process is like waking from dreamless sleep. To become mind­ful of emerging opportunities for choice or expansion, our conscious self must become aware of the restrictive programming it has received subcon­sciously. As we evaluate this ongoing unconscious conditioning and understand its impact, we can make conscious decisions as to what we will keep or delete. It is no wonder we have been described as computers.
 We have long given great regard to I.Q., the intelligence quotient. Measurement is determined by how effectively the mind can analyze, rationalize, and/or strategize. The term I.Q. recognizes the ability to retain information and process it in rational ways acceptable to certain systems. This level of mind is particularly useful to our outer activities.
More recently we have learned the importance of E.Q., emotion­al intelligence. One indication of the presence of this highly valuable form of intelligence is an ability to "feel" with another, or have empathy. The skill of building rapport with others through developing genuine feel­ing requires it. Those adept at this are known as "people persons."
Yet a third type of intelligence is now emerging into public aware­ness. Identified by some as S.Q., spiritual intelligence acknowledges that Earth and her kingdoms form an interactive system, affecting and being affected by one another. S.Q. works for the betterment of the whole, seek­ing to move the human kingdom into proper alignment of its members with each other, and with the other kingdoms of Earth to the benefit of planetary life. I would dub S.Q. as the Sophia Quotient. Working for the benefit of all is Mother Wisdom's role.
Sophia the Holy Spirit, as teacher and guide, leads us from believ­ing we are a body to knowing we are an incarnated soul—a spiritual being experiencing a set of physical, emotional, and mental sensations in the dense physical world through life in a body. Additionally, we come to real­ize our individuated spiritual and physical selves are also components in even larger collective units, all part of humanity who is part of creation and Life, the One, the All—however we would saw it.

The collective mind, like the personal mind, or psyche, consists of seemingly polarized characteristics in constant debate with each other. Not understanding the evolutionary role of such polarity-driven conflict, individuals and societies often believe balance is the ultimate achievement; however, the progress (evolution) of the whole is the most important goal.
 Balance, in this sense, is actually a place of stasis, an inert point of reconciliation between two opposites. Since it is motionless, it can exist only briefly until the guiding consciousness of the moment tips the scale, allowing the innate urge toward maturity to resume its course. We pause at an eddy of life to catch our breath and rest, but to attempt to live in any resting place permanently is to atrophy and die. To live, we must sooner or later resume our journey.

The descended female element always abides within matter (mother is the form builder), while the incarnated masculine element's role is to initiate action. Another way to express this relationship is: per­sonality recognizes a choice and makes a decision: this action ignites a chain of events through which personality learns lessons about cause and effect. In this manner personality draws upon the masculine principle to evaluate the choices and to make decisions, thus activating the "cause" to which the feminine principle innate within the material realm responds. Thus in each dimension we see Wisdom driving awareness (evolution) through her response to action.

*****
Ordained in 1971, Carol Parrish left a promising business career to devote herself to her ministry and lecturing in the human potential movement. Having directed the Villa Serena community of Sarasota, Florida, for several years, she was led by spiritual guidance in 1981 to establish the community of Sparrow Hawk Village in the foothills of the Ozarks near Tahlequah, Oklahoma. There she served as president of Light of Christ Community Church until 2009 and academic dean of Sancta Sophia Seminary until June 1, 2010. Long recognized as an inspired spiritual leader, Carol has stimulated many people to rejoice in the oneness with God. Her presentation of the esoteric aspects of early Christianity, free of doctrine and adornment, reinforces our acceptance of the Christ. Visit her website at www.carolparrish.com


TODAY'S PRIZE CONTEST!Steve is offering a Free Copy of THE SOPHIA SUTRAS to today's lucky winner.Today's Prize Giveaway has the same rules as the other giveaways:


    1.To enter to win, simply COMMENT ON THIS BLOG, leaving an email address so we can contact you if you win. All names of commenters go into the 'hat'.

2.The giveaway period runs for ONE WEEK from posting. The winner will then be chosen by random drawing and contacted.


3. Only one entry per giveaway. (But you can enter as many different Daily Giveaway Contests as you want!)
If you don't win this one, be sure to order a copy of Carol's book from Sophia's Nest (the Sancta Sophia Seminary Bookstore) or Amazon.