The Lego Movie...So Much More than Meets the Eye

What may seem to most moviegoers as an entertaining flick with an unexpected and heart-warming ending is so very much more than meets the eye.  Notwithstanding the father and son dynamic that many would consider the understory, what I saw was a third layer,  a deeper and more universal theme about consciousness, revolution and evolution here on earth.

Through clever use of humor, the beginning of the film, set in Lego City, turns out to be a commentary on how media and advertising controls our habits and behaviors. We learn, for example, that the main character, Emmet, is willing to pay over $30 for a cup of coffee.  The villain, named cleverly, “President Business,” is an amalgam of “the powers that be” that control the world behind the scenes and without the awareness of the pleasantly ignorant public.  That government and business are linked in the name of this one character is probably closer to the truth of the matter than we’d like to admit.  Is there really a separation between these two bastions of power in our world?  Unlikely.    

In one of the most astonishing scenes, we see that in plain site, city blocks are blown up in order to be reconstructed all over again exactly as they were, and all seemingly with no alarm from the public whatsoever. Such scenes cause one to take on a birds-eye view of our own society and the ways that behaviors, buying habits, fashions, entertainment and fads take up much of our conscious lives, robbing us of original thought and more importantly, of the ability to think critically and perceive honestly.  It could be said that the hero’s journey is his journey to regain the use of his creative and original mind, and to trust his intuition.   We, like those in Lego Land, seem oblivious to repetitive meta patterns such as war and the economic system which repeatedly cause the problems they then rush in to solve, all keeping humanity on a hamster wheel of problem, solution, problem, solution.  Meanwhile, we make no progress in really addressing root cause of our most dire and rampant problems – environmental devastation, starvation, violence and the like. Can we see that the powers that be are distracting us from concentrating on these real problems?  

But if the movie were to stop there, it would be quite depressing.  Thankfully, it instead presents a blueprint for getting out of the current malaise and brain drain imposed on the people.  There are some very simple, but essential elements I will break down.  But first, how is it I noticed the story behind the story and why am I so convinced that there is one?  Just a month ago I completed the a draft for a book about the topic of enough. What I saw unfolding on-screen gave me the chills.  It was practically a chapter by chapter demonstration of what I had laid out in the manuscript,  only mine is to be a serious book about the imminent shift of consciousness in our world. Those watching the movie will wonder how it could be about the rise of the feminine as the main character wasn’t a woman at all, but a man.  However, the qualities Emmett  drew upon to complete the hero’s journey were not the usual masculinized ones  of  cleverness, brawn or bravery.  Quite the opposite.  It was instead his humility, his willingness to listen to spiritual or intuitive messages, and his ability to see connections between vastly different things that propel him on his way.  So, not to get hung up on masculine and feminine, hopefully we can agree that this is no ordinary screen hero.

What we realize is that Emmet, if anything, is positive.  When he learns about President Business’s evil plot, he does not go negative, cower or run away.   For a very brief time, he considers the traditional hero’s path, believing the prophecy that he is special because he found the Special Piece.  But quite quickly, he is discouraged from taking the egoic path of the lone wolf, and admits his insecurities to an assembly hall of Master Builders (experts.)  It is this moment which actually propels him to a level of worthiness of a leader, on a path more like that of Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King, or Nelson Mandela. His authenticity and humility become  the powerful magnet for bringing together those who have until then operated as independent egos.  He gives an inspiring speech to these experts about what it is they are missing, essentially saying, “If we would bring together your creativity and genius with my ability to work as a team, we’ve got what we need to change the world.“ Only when we acknowledge and appreciate our unique enoughness can we give up the competitive game and trust that together we are stronger and wiser than we are apart.  We essentially find how our piece fits with that of others to create a bigger whole.  Humanity’s evolutionary step is to marry the heart and the brain, so we can remember how to share leadership that benefits the greater good. Before Emmett came along, the Master Builders were hanging out in a cloud land, being creative independently, but missing how relevant they could be as a united and more cohesive force.
  

Much like the main character in the Lego Movie, I was unprepared to stumble upon “the special piece” and had to figure it out after the fact.  For me “the special piece”  was a simple word, ENOUGH.  And the more I examined it, we realized that our society had only examined half of the enough story, the NEVER ENOUGH half.  Never Enough has been the underlying “instruction book”  which keeps recreating the same old problems over and over again for the past 5000 years. Daring to build beyond the instruction book is the daring step Emmet and his allies take.  For humanity, this means moving from the tight adherence to Never Enough thinking and perceiving to explore Enough thinking and perceiving.  Without giving away the ending of the Lego movie, I will at least say that another thing “the special piece” and Enough have in common is that they both invite heartfelt connectedness to replace ego-driven, fear-based rigidity. It is about feminine qualities such as nurturing and acknowledging another’s value.  It is about flexibility and creativity, collaboration and the thrill of transformative discoveries embarked upon as a community. It is what we are seeing blossoming all around us as “the sharing economy.”

I hope as many people as possible see the Lego Movie, and I hope that for every one it plants the seeds of what is truly and realistically possible.  And I hope that for more than just a few, it becomes much more than that, an invitation to become the bringer of the New Story here on earth right now.   

More at www.weareenough.com

Laurie McCammon is a planetary change agent, blogger, facilitator and author of Enough!How to Liberate Yourself and Remake the World with Just One Word, published  by Conari Press, out  April 1, 2016.  You can contact Laurie with comments at lauriemccammon@gmail.com, Like LaurieMcCammon on Facebook or follow her on Twitter at @EnoughMessage

United Nations Meditation a Success!

Reporting Back from the 57^th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women 

by Laurie McCammon

I begin my three part report from the 57^th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women with a hearty thank you to those who participated remotely in the grassroots effort to bring light and love to the center of the United Nations on March 5th.  I am so happy to report that together we were hugely successful!  Other of my colleagues reached out to their constituencies and hundreds of thousands of people were invited to join us in spirit for the synchronized meditation within the belly of the United Nations.

I was present in the cavernous hall which was high on the 21^st floor of the Nigerian Mission, a multi-story space with three walls of windows looking up to the skies, one of the few quiet and peaceful spaces I encountered during my entire week at the United Nations.  How appropriate, instead of at the belly, we were positioned high, at the heart chakra level of the United Nations sprawling complex of buildings. Three candles were lit, set atop multicolored scarves with special meaning from across the world.  Three nested circles of chairs surrounded this central altar of the otherwise empty room where approximately 50 people (mostly women) sat silently with eyes closed in communion with one another for over an hour.    

I have asked for others present to send me their stories, but for now I can only share mine.  From approximately 4:05 to 4:10, I felt an influx of energy that was so strong I had to breathe deeply in order to ensure it kept flowing through my body and into the ground.   I could absolutely feel the prayers of people from around the world who had chosen to join us at that time from wherever they were.  The energy was deeply, deeply loving and intentional, and brought me to tears it was so beautiful and powerful.  No one spoke for the hour.  At the end, we were invited to speak aloud the names of those we wanted to bring into the circle.  Many named loved ones, and others named world leaders, Gaia, all living beings, even perpetrators of violence that they be healed of their desire to harm. 

Steve Beckow, Founder of the Golden Age of Gaia blog site recently wrote of a powerful dream in which he attended a conference but then realized that the “real” conference was something else entirely.  I want to thank you, Steve, because  I believe your vision arose at a time to help us to notice that this is exactly what was occurring at the United Nations this year (and I would suggest at conferences all over the planet right now.)   We were attending a conference within a conference.  Quietly, those with eyes to see realized that the “official” conference had gradually been reduced to a formality.  In speaking to veteran attendees of the conference, there has been an ever so gradual erosion of effectiveness and welcome.  Spaces for informal gathering have been systematically removed, venues have gradually spread out over as much as 50 blocks (a real challenge for women wandering in the biting winds in sandals and saris and with very little English language skills), food and water were no longer provided at all-day sessions, programs were given out not at registration, but at one single event which less than a quarter of attendees could attend.  Workshops which challenged the status quo were cancelled or moved at the last minute with no vehicle for communicating the change.  Caucuses which were designed to gather input from grassroots women instead have become tightly controlled report-to-the-people sessions.  This is the old system in decline trying hard to slow the progress of the new story.

Why am I not discouraged?  Because the “real” conference happened anyway.  We do not need to fight for a platform or demand that we be heard.  We are engaged in something far more powerful, lasting, and practical than those embedded in the old structure can possibly imagine.  This is heart-connected activism, and it is heart-centered activism that is alive and well and growing by leaps and bounds in ways and places too numerous to count or control.  One cannot look to the headlines to know what is really arising in the global women’s movement.  It will only report the paltry results of the “official” conference or try to fan the flame of the old “mommy wars”(as is happening with the launch of Sandra Sandberg’s book, Lean-In.)     The stories that guide our better future are passed heart to heart, person to person, and move well beyond the gridlock of the service-to-self paradigm.  In these moments of connection, our hearts melt and our stories begin to merge.  All busy work and positioning subside and we enter a timeless realm where truth shines through and where basic human values become the sustenance that feeds us.

My sense in being at the United Nations last week is that the old machinery is gradually grinding to a standstill.  All the “oil” and “grease” which facilitates freedom of movement is not available in the old brittle structures any longer.  Many refer to it as the collapse of the old grid. It is palpable.   All the light, excitement and flow had moved to heart-connected activism, and to what connects us as whole human beings cross class, culture, age, and gender.   It is not of the mind or of the ego or in the old patriarchy.  Fear and political correctness cannot contain it.  It is motivated by love and authentic connection between people who come in a spirit of service-to-others and service to future generations and the earth.  It is deeply dedicated to solutions, and to moving beyond the victim-perpetrator-hero trap and into mutual empowerment and shared leadership as fully present solutionaries for our world.   It hears of suffering and responds without hesitation or delay.

We came to the United Nations  to speak our urgent desire for a global women’s conference (the first in 17 years), but we found ourselves modeling a new reality together which made the old paradigm of lobbying and influencing feel very old and slow and surprisingly irrelevant.   “Speaking truth to power” is only important if you believe the power to change the world is in the hands of the “other.”  When we combine our own inner truths with our own inner power, we reclaim the ability to begin living the new story now.  Not tomorrow, not when the structures change, not when we are given permission or resources by someone else, but now.   We don’t need permission to do this from anyone, least of all the “powers that be.”  If anything,  the “powers that be” are already the “powers that once were.”  They become exceedingly irrelevant when you reclaim your own power and heart-connectedness with other people.  Perhaps this was the true gift of going to the United Nations.  We need not look beyond ourselves to live as united nations with our sisters and brothers from around the world right now.  Waiting for the old structure to change has kept us in a state of confusion, separation, and disempowerment for far too long.    It is not necessary to feel help back any longer.  Our hearts are ready to lead the way to connection and healing right now.  The new conference is here. You’ve already been living it.

In part II I will introduce Ambassador Chowdury,  an angel of the New Story at the United Nations and a proven  heart-led champion for women, and Dr. Jean Shinoda Bolen, who has been encouraging us towards a grassroots tipping point of heart-connected activism known as “the millionth circle. “  

You can watch videos of his VERY IMPORTANT speech at

   

and

Grassroots Women Weigh in on "Lean In"

A Response to the New York Times February 21, 2013 article:  “A Titan’s How-To on Breaking the GlassCeiling” and Maureen Dowd’s “Pompom Girl for Feminism” February 24, 2013

A February 21 New York Times article profiled Facebook COO, Sheryl Sandberg's “Lean In” initiative and book which she is strategically launching in tandem with the 50^th anniversary of Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique next month. Sandberg has openly put herself forward as the possible next leader of the “new women’s movement.”   I reviewed the Lean In materials with interest and was left utterly stunned, with some very sobering questions and concerns to say the least.  As a woman involved in the global grassroots women’s movement and whose career has primarily been spent in the nonprofit sector focusing on women and girls, I wonder, is Lean In even close to what women really want?  To give you an idea of the gravity of my concerns, I quote from the Lean In materials themselves: “These publicity programs will be translated into social media campaigns to drive people into our activation funnel.“  and “Lean In will drive community members though partnerships with corporate influencers” and “We will target individuals with large followings.”  Do we really want to be funneled in, driven (like cars or cattle), targeted, and seen as someone’s “acquisition”? (Which is also a term used in Lean In materials to refer to women.)  Aren’t we absolutely tired with being seen as objects?  As Maureen Dowd states, “People come to a social movement from the bottom up, not the top down. Sandberg has co-opted the vocabulary and romance of a social movement not to sell a cause, but herself.”  And I could not help but notice the standout piece of advice in the Lean In material, "Don't invite flakes.”  It leaves me wondering, how did we go from consciousness raising circles in the 1960’s to being targeted, driven, then funneled to corporate influencers fifty years later? Seems more like consciousness-contracting to me.   The focus of the global grassroots women’s movement has long since moved away from self-interest to include our sisters in and beyond US shores who have not yet benefitted from the first or second  wave of the feminist movement.  It is a global grassroots women’s movement that is about working collectively and cooperatively to serve the greater good and to care for each other and planet earth. Many women are not looking for a leader-driven movement at all, but see themselves as collective midwives of a New Story – a world that works for everyone.   

Quite possibly the most unsettling thing about the Lean In is co-opting the term "circle."  Why am I so triggered?  Because there has been a long standing sector of the women's movement that believes circle leadership could very well be the very key to solving most of the world's problems. And the numbers who believe this are exponentially growing.  This despite a concerted effort on the part of some enterprising people and companies like Ms. Sandberg and Google to try to brand this word, which many, many women in the global circle movement consider a serious and unfortunate turn of events.  Circle is fast becoming a homogenized buzz word. In contexts such as Lean In, it has been stripped of all its rich and relevant meaning and context. This in contrast to my colleagues in the global women's movement who have used circle principles in peace-building efforts at the United Nations and to help empower oppressed women in third world countries for over 28 years.  Yes, we take circle leadership very, very seriously. And this is because in a world rife with war, injustice, and acrimony, circles offer one of the few real and practical alternatives.  

Circles go back to ancient times. Our best teachers of circle technology are the many indigenous tribes who have never abandoned circle leadership for the top-down hierarchical model.   Egalitarian circles are the first and purest form of democracy. They ensure outcomes that are best for all, not those which arise from individual self-interest or win:lose intentions. Lean In’s interpretation of a circle is watered down and distorted.  It is not possible to pick and choose elements of circle principles and to mix and match them with top-down hierarchical methods.  For example, contrary to Lean In’s approach, there is no place in a true circle for the sole expert from outside who lectures to the group.  This is the absolute antithesis of a circle. In a circle all are leaders, and all share wisdom and experience.  The core learning comes from women sharing their insights and experiences to arrive at a higher order of collective wisdom.  No doubt, Lean In will respond by saying this is their intention, for women to share stories and learn from one another.  But I must ask who among us will feel comfortable sharing our most intimate, confidential stories in venues where corporate interests are pulling the strings behind the scenes?  It seems to me that Lean In Circles are in the end not any different from old style workplace training and development, just with a few bells and whistles borrowed from the circle movement thrown in to make them seem new and woman-friendly.   But at its core it is just more of the top-down, service-to-self, act-like-a-man to succeed-like-a-man prescription that devalues what is uniquely brilliant about a woman's natural or preferred way of doing, seeing, and relating. Do we really want to pass on to our daughters and nieces the “never enough” triggers we women have had to bear in the “do it all” world?  Do we really want to send the signal that they aren’t doing enough or are not successful enough unless they rise to the top of the corporate ladder?  And where is corporate responsibility for damaging the environment and exploiting people the world over, most particularly women? Is there a Lean In curriculum for this?   

In my brand of feminism, grassroots women taking compassionate action are the answer. Women are  not inadequate and in need of coaching and re-training to be better received in a man’s world. This kind of top-down prescriptive approach of “leader knows best” is moving against the forward momentum and positive gains of consciousness-raising grassroots feminism, not with it.       

I do not join others in attacking Ms. Sandberg's personal choices, deservingness of success or right to speak her views on feminism or anything else.  To me, these personal attacks are divisive without serving a constructive purpose.  My aim is to call attention to a worthy and timely issue.   Ms. Sandberg’s is asserting that she is a" or "the" rising leader of the women's movement.  Her platform, connections and wealth are being leveraged to create what is supposedly a “women’s circle movement" but which has very thinly veiled profit-based undertones (adding users and advertising dollars to Facebook). In a recent NY Times article about Sandberg, columnist Maureen Dowd said, “she doesn’t understand the difference between a social movement and a social network marketing campaign…She says she’s using marketing for the purpose of social idealism. But she’s actually using social idealism for the purpose of marketing.”  It seems to me the corporation is the last place women will look for the new leadership of the women’s movement.   I fear Lean In is an expression of the old patriarchal establishment who hold skewed, arrogant and myopic views of feminine leadership which ultimately serve corporate ends. Sadly, Lean In’s first curriculum module tells women how to sit and how to speak to be taken more seriously.  It's the old story all over again, imposing definition on women rather than listening for what they’ve been vehemently asking for and offering by way of solutions.   How is this "new" or even "feminist"?   Where are the feminine qualities such as compassion, deep listening, and flexibility in this plan? Where is the concern for our planet and for the less fortunate?  Lean In seems to miss the point.  Where is the courage to challenge the definition of success as being principally corporate or moneyed?  Who says the only kind of power that can change the world is power in the work place?  No, Ms. Sandberg’s vision for the women's movement is not nearly wide enough or inclusive enough for me.  Call it what it is, a corporate-driven workplace development plan for women, but it is disingenuous to refer to it as a new global woman’s movement. 

The real danger of a Sandberg-led movement is taking the focus away from the grassroots global women’s movement which already exists and lacks needed funding and deserved media attention.  It is another case of bringing attention and resources to those who already possess it.  Lean In arises from an elite, resource-rich class of women, mostly white and mostly in the west whose primary interest is career self-interest.  But I wonder, have we even begun to fully tap the vast power global women wield as consumers, as shapers of the next generation, as community-builders? These are all roles in which women already lead.  No  re-training required.  Just ask Nicholas Kristof, Sheryl WuDunn, Pawl Hawken,  Nina Simons, Frances Moore Lappé and Jean Shinoda Bolen, to name a few who have documented the mounting accomplishments of grassroots women. 

As a grassroots woman, I’d like to issue an invitation.  What if wealthy and influential women and corporations invest their millions into existing grassroots women’s programs and help us to do what we do best – enlist grassroots community towards social change? I believe our best hope for achieving shared leadership between the sexes is for women to go out and build businesses, groups, and organizations for which they make up their own, more humane, socially-responsible rules and standards. This is why we do what we do, and many of us for no pay whatsoever. Because we care.  We see very little social value in wealth-building for its own sake if it does not lead to advancing the greater good.   Women have a choice.  There is room for all kinds of feminism, certainly, but to me, the grassroots circle movement is a feminism that satisfies, that’s accomplishing great things with very little, and brings us somewhere new, connected and above all real.  I’m quite sure this is the kind of feminism that would make Betty Friedan proud.

Want to join real grassroots circle leadership in action?  The first week of March thousands of grassroots women from all over the world will be gathered near the United Nations headquarters in New York City for the 57^th annual Commission on the Status of Women NGO Parallel Forum.  You can attend one of the thousands of workshops being presented by grassroots women and NGO’s. Recommended are  particularly those with “circle” in the title.  Many are free and open to the public. 

Laurie McCammon, MSAEd, is part of a collaborative of circle-based women's organizations, several which have consultative status with the United Nations.  Laurie is the co-author with Anne Smith of Enough: The Rise of the Feminine and the Birth of the New Story and is Co-Founder of wearenough.org, a global and free grassroots wome

Time to Uncloak?

Do you know where you are?  How can it be you are in the same old room yet not at all “in the room”  the same way you once were?  Could it be you are experiencing being here yet not here in some way,  a new detachment, an out of synch feeling, a lack of desire to participate in activities, relationships, or tasks which once brought enjoyment and satisfaction?  Are you somehow not drawn into the drama like you used to be, more an outside observer?  Are you feeling peaceful for no apparent reason?   You are not crazy.  You are not disappearing. You are becoming a quantum human being. 

I encourage you to begin interpreting your reality through the lens of vibration because it is far more able to guide your understanding of what is going on than the vastly outdated mechanistic “black and white” way you have been taught.    Enter the quantum age.  It is long overdue, for its inventions and conveniences  have been all around you for almost 100 years, and the people controlling these powerful technologies have not been eager to share their mechanics with you.  Technology has completely outpaced humanity’s spiritual and ethical capacity to wield this technological power.  The gap has widened exponentially, dangerously, needlessly.   It is time to grow up and not be as a child kept from learning the secrets of the magician.  You are the magician.  We all are.  You may have no interest in knowing how a cell phone works, but you should have every interest in knowing  yourself as a quantum being.  Why?  Because this understanding is where  your power and freedom are.    

Whether a cell phone, microwave, wi-fi, ultrasound, sonar, remote control, radio, or satellite, all are quantum,  in other words, work by operating both in the unseen and seen world – particle and wave.  Do you need proof the signals are real?  Of course not, because you possess devices which turn the unseen (wave) form into something observable (particle).   Did you know that YOU are a device which turns vibration to matter?  You possess a decoding ability that enables you to sense directly that which arrives vibrationally, let’s say as intuition, hunches, dreams, premonitions, visions, knowings, and thoughts.  And through your intellect, will, and  body, you turn these into actions or creations, do you not?  So could it be that you can only do this because you, too, exist as a quantum entity, as both here and not here, as particle and wave?   As you acknowledge the quantum aspect of absolutely everything around you, you will come to accept that you, too, are beyond the physical – both local and non-local, both separate and connected to everyone and everything.  When you realize this, you come to understand that you are never alone and that you are far more powerful and supported than you had ever imagined.   

And you will start to understand that your vibratory signature – or the unique frequency amalgam which identifies who you are as a unique entity is not a constant, but is changing in wonderful ways.   And it is changing because the universe is changing.  We call it evolution, growth, life, maturing, learning.   We and the universe are dynamic, not static.  We are on a deliberate journey.  Your vibratory signature  is changing because the Shuman resonance of Earth is rising, and you are part of the earth.  The magnetics of the earth are weakening, and you are part of the earth.  Every cell in your body responds and attunes to electromagnetic energy, and your consciousness, your vibratory signature does, too.   What does it mean when magnetism drops?  More spaciousness is introduced between particles, density is diluted, freedom of movement increases, less energy is needed to animate matter.  What happens when Shuman resonance rises?  Frequency rises, particles are energized, move faster, travel farther, and sometimes their form changes, such as from solid to liquid, or liquid to gas.   As above, so below, as particle, so wave.  So do you see that you are being freed up – both physically and spiritually for your own expansion and freedom? No wonder the powers that be didn’t want you to be aware of your own quantum potential.  Who you really are is virtually if not literally limitless.  

What does this mean, to step into a quantum awareness of yourself?  It means  that you realize that nothing can ever harm you, not really. I would like to tell you a story to illustrate this point, though it is of a real time and of real persons who lived in the time of the darkness when the divine feminine was persecuted, and the penalty in some places for practicing  earth-based spirituality and healing  was torture or rape, then death.    

In a temple in what is now known as France lived a community of priestesses practicing the way of the Mother(earth).  They had done so for as long as recorded history in peaceful service to the villages of the area, healing the sick and tending lovingly to the spiritual needs of the people.  Word came of a growing and violent movement that was sweeping across Europe to eradicate all goddess earth-based religions.  The call was to destroy all sacred texts, icons, and symbols and to kill all the priestesses in order to destroy the knowledge forever.  

The High Priestess, alerted in a dream that this darkness was to come to her village ten years hence, had secretly been training a handmaiden in all the ancient ways of the priestess.  No one knew about this, not even the other priestesses in the temple, as the teachings took place privately in the High Priestess’s chambers every night.  One night, receiving the word that the men had arrived from away to kill all the priestesses and to destroy all their scrolls and relics, the High Priestess sent her handmaiden out into the night, knowing the men would follow her.  She gave the handmaiden  the most ostentatious object of the temple, a scepter encrusted with jewels including a giant ruby and instructed her to hide it in the hills.  As expected, the men followed the handmaiden, noticing her clutching to her chest a large object wrapped in woven rag cloth.   They waited for her to bury the object and did not kill her, not wanting to alert the priestesses that they had arrived to plunder the temple, and surely a lowly servant woman dressed in a drab tunic would be of no threat to their plans. They took the scepter, feeling smug and triumphant.  

When the handmaiden returned to the temple, the priestesses were waiting. Quickly, they offered her a man’s cloak and disguise, money and food, and she was sent on a journey to the shore to board a boat that was sailing to the New World.  The priestesses knew that their time had ended, and that if they were to flee or hide, it would only mean the men would punish the villagers and burn their fields which were soon to be harvested.  When the men arrived, the priestesses were waiting, sitting quietly in the candlelight in a circle, each with a small vile of poison to speed their deaths.   As the men broke in with great violence, the women in unison drank from their viles and passed from this world speedily and peacefully, the men none the wiser that their deeds hadn’t been the cause. 

Meanwhile, the handmaiden was successful in her journey.  None on the ship, who were all gruff and hearty men, had noticed she was a woman.  She seemed to fade into the background, and none could really recall having known or interacted with her.  The High Priestess had assured her this would happen, that to those of a different vibration, it would be as if she was not there.   It is not that she would be literally invisible, just unnotable and irrelevant to their own ambitions and interests.  When the handmaiden arrived in the New World, as instructed, she sought out her ancient kin, the Hopi.  I say ancient kin as both of their clans had descended from the Priest and Priestess lines of Atlantis, and had fled to all corners of the earth during the big flood.  Not only could the Hopi ”see” her, but the union of their wisdom brought affirmation and strength to what they each knew and remembered.  The true knowledge was saved and strengthened by the reunion. The ancient way was kept safe.  

I tell this story because the wisdom that was embraced at that time was that of vibration, although the people saw it more as natural rhythms and a respect for the sacredness and wisdom of nature.  The High Priestess knew that the men coming to kill her would be looking for “things” and for “people of power.”  They would not recognize or be able to see the truth that resides within, only the outer priestess robes, the trappings and symbols.  Therefore, one person of true wisdom, protected by the cloak of humility and anonymity, could pass completely unnoticed.  

I believe we in 2012 are connected quite intimately to that time, the time when the meek was forced to go underground, saved by hiding the magic of our natural quantum identity.  This is the time of fruition – the time of fulfilling the promise “the meek shall inherit the earth.”  The meek are those in touch with the lightness of being – the quantum “wave” aspect of spaciousness, spirit, freedom, and expansion.  We are “She Who Knows,” she who has kept the knowledge safe until this time of rebalancing.  It is the divine feminine and the indigenous wisdom speaking freely and openly again, the part of us connected with the flow of the natural world able to breathe fully again.  But because the majority still slumber under the delusion of particle identity, we are departing from societal norms of competition and lack,  tapping into an alternate reality  that not everyone can understand.  Because of this, we may be “invisible” for a while longer, but this should not be our concern.  We have bought our own freedom and soon others will notice, trust, and follow.  From our place of freedom and expanded identity,  the game of greed, lack, ego, lust, competition, and control feel out of place and small, no longer befitting the connected, whole, peaceful beings we are finding ourselves to be.  When in our “wave” awareness, nothing can touch us or harm us, for we are literally part of the One that embraces and accesses the all.  We cannot be offended and we cannot fail.  Everything in our journey takes on a sacred purpose, even the experiences our particle awareness would have formerly labeled as challenging or unwelcome.   We have what we need, we are connected to the all, we are at peace with the cosmos and feel no need to convince anyone that we are right.  We know we are enough and that we have enough.   We move swiftly and bring our potent presence, our inward “I Am that I Am” authority, and our great loving awareness that we are all one, to change the harmonics of any situation.  We need not rely on outer trappings and titles to do so.  People feel our groundedness, our purity, our love, our light. In comparison to these, any trappings are mere child’s play.

Just last weekend, on an obscure cable news show came the announcement that an invisibility cloak  like that in the Harry Potter story has been perfected by researchers at Duke University.  There were several photos of people holding the cloaks in front of them.  I was astounded.  With further research,  I found that not only had this technology been around for some time, yet not quite perfected, it had been made public to the science community the month before, but that no major news outlets had picked it up.   How interesting, I thought, to leak it out now and so quietly.  Why now?  I believe it is part of the controlled leak towards shifting the paradigm to the quantum perspective.  I believe it is done begrudgingly and as a last resort because we are soon to realize so many advances in a very short time that it could truly be a shock.  For some reason, we seem to need affirmation of what we already know spiritually by “proving” it through science.  But why wait? We can access this directly, NOW.   As for cloaking, it reminded me that we already know how to do this vibrationally, and have been doing it for thousands of years.  Ironically, just as we learn publically that invisibility cloaks are real, we find we no longer have a need for them.  

What the Feminine Knows about a Time of Contraction

By all outward appearances, our world is in a time of profound contraction, a growing suspicion that the very social, economic and political foundations on which our society was built are crumbling around us.    We all are touched in some way by this  - by stalled access to credit, layoffs and furlows, trade deficits, growing debt,  and shrinking housing values, incomes,  and 401K’s, threats of austerity measures and cutbacks in public services.  When humanity is faced with a time of contraction, much of the good work we engage in to uplift the world is put on the back burner – it, too, contracts at the very time we seem to need it the most.  What takes center stage instead are activities such as self-protectionism, violent uprisings, hoarding, medicating and distracting ourselves with addictions of all kinds.  There has been a perceptible and deliberate ratcheting up of angst and contention in the media, something which makes us forget that we are all in reality in this mess together.  We are hearing a rising call for arming ourselves, for closing our borders, for distrusting anyone who doesn’t look like us or share our point of view.  In other words, we are being taught, told, and coerced to fear and hate.   

Learning Organization guru Peter Senge tells a parable about frogs placed in a pot of water on a stove.  When the temperature is raised slowly enough, the frogs will fail to notice the change and will not  leap out of the pot or notice that the pot is about to boil.  When we find ourselves in hot water, we tend to have an expectation that our leaders will save us or that the economic ebb and flow will eventually return us to more prosperous times.  Rarely do we take matters into our own hands and “leap out of the pot.”   Usually things do eventually turn around.  Somehow we know this time is different, that the system itself is deeply broken and that on many other fronts we have hit a profound crossroads for which there will be no simple answers or quick fixes. If ever there was a time to link hands and jump out of the pot, this is it.

Whether we look to ancient wisdom teachings, science, our own intuition, or modern metaphysics, we are learning that that what we are experiencing is part of a larger epoch, necessary contractions on the way to birthing a new humanity.  Breakdown of the old paradigm  is the ticket price to transformation.  To those who can see the true opportunity at hand, the question becomes how do we move as smoothly and rapidly as possible to transformation?  Nature’s iterative design offers many clues.  One of the most obvious is to look at the human birth process itself.  How do we cope with it, how do we hasten the process?  What works and what doesn’t?   

The Feminine comes onto center stage during the time of pregnancy and birth, taking the lead role in bringing to fruition a new life.  Qualities of nurturance, receptivity, selflessness, compassion, and flexibility become essential.  There is no direct use at this time for the masculine qualities of competition, assertiveness, productivity, aggression, and directiveness.  The masculine stands for a time in the background while the feminine carefully brings forth the new creation.  New parenthood is a time of transformation from adolescence where one’s skills are used in service to self, to adulthood where one discovers how he may be of service to others.  As products of 6000 years of being stuck in what is essentially an adolescent culture, it is quite a leap for our world culture to place the masculine in the background for a time, allowing the feminine to lead the first giant steps towards our collective maturity.  However, if we are interested in moving as painlessly as possible toward a new world, there is no better or more direct way.     

So what does the feminine deeply know about coping with pregnancy and birth, and how can she advise us as we experience the monumental contractions of the emergence of a new age?

When a contraction comes, try to relax.

In Lamaze class we are told to focus inward on our breath rather than to resist contractions by bearing sown or screaming.   Rhythmic breathing helps us to focus our attention on a quiet still point within, relaxing our body and mind and hastening the opening of the birth canal.  Deep breathing provides more oxygen, feeding our bodies and  giving us vitality and strength.  Meditation, deep breathing, prayer, and stillness all help us to relieve stress and pain. When all in our world seems chaotic and negative, one of the best things we can do for ourselves is to have a daily mindfulness practice to keep us centered, peaceful, and positive.  In addition, mindfuless  practice leads to a growing awareness that we are neither our egos nor our bodies.  We become aware that who we truly are cannot be threatened or harmed by anything exterior to ourselves.  As we come more in touch with our essence selves, we learn to trust the wisdom of all that is happening in our lives, and how it is ultimately here it to propel our growth and expand our consciousness.

Lashing out helps no one.

How many times do we hear stories of women in labor suddenly swearing like sailors?  While it is understandable why someone would lash out at others when they’re in pain, it is obvious to see how pointless it ultimately is, and how it could cause further damage to the relationships we count on to keep us safe and secure.  The rise in outrage, blame, and racism we are witnessing in the news is just that, a from-the-hip response to the growing sense of insecurity we are unconsciously feeling.  Blaming or labeling others as “the problem” may temporarily provide a sense of distance and control over the problems at hand,  but ultimately, the hatred we project will come back at us, perhaps in the form of increased terrorism, backlash,  and violence.  We make a bad situation worse when we accept none of the responsibility and take no action to improve things. 

When our lives feel out of control, instead of letting our anger leak out unimpeded, we must discipline ourselves to do the exact opposite – to give to others what we wish to receive.  Perhaps this is kindness, gentleness, respect, compassion, cooperation, security, peace, and trust.  We can only attract what we have fostered within ourselves, and we can only give away what we have to give.  So it is only someone with a peaceful, loving heart who can attract to themselves peace and love from others.  Hatred is a poison which ultimately pollutes the one who is doing the hating, souring for them anything that could otherwise be pleasurable or nourishing.  Times like these give us plenty of negative things to focus on.  Yet there is always something good in our lives worthy of gratitude.  Every moment is an opportunity to choose between constricting our hearts with hatred and blame, or expanding our hearts through forgiveness  and  gratitude.            

Gather loving support around you.

Since ancient times, women instinctually gather around when a woman goes into labor.  They offer comfort, nurturance, and support.  They bring food to her family and do her chores.  They watch the baby so the woman can rest and recover her strength.   A time of birth is not a time to go off on your own, but a time to rest within a circle of support.  We are in such times, a time to partner with others who possess complimentary abilities and needs.  If our economic system were to completely collapse, it would not be the person who hoards food and guards it with a gun who will thrive, but the person who has gathered with others to combine strengths and skills to form a cooperative community.  We each cannot do it all or know it all, but in community, we can increase the chances that our creativity and efforts will combine to help us to thrive.    

Now is a good time to identify your support system and to engage in conversations about  how you could work together as a cooperative community.  If you don’t have a good support system, consider inviting others to start one with you.  In addition, you could join a cooperative,  time bank or Transition Town group  where you can trade services with a broad community. 

Know that this too shall pass.

Most moms gather strength from the fact that as excruciating as labor may be, they know that it will eventually be over and the result will be a much anticipated new life.  The promise of the future gives us strength and resolve.  It is difficult for us to imagine that the labor pains we are going through as a society will have an end, even more difficult to imagine that they will result in a wildly improved future.  But we become powerful creators when instead of complaining, we spend our time gaining a clear picture of what it is we really want.  When we gather with others to create a shared vision, this effect is multiplied.  Whatever we focus on expands, so if we focus upon all that is wrong with our world,   we will continue to get more of it. (Thus the saying, “You cannot simultaneously prepare for and prevent war.”)    When we focus instead on what we truly want, we are well on our way to creating it. 

Do not resist or try to hold back the inevitable

If you have ever been in labor, you know how difficult it is to resist the urge to push.  Conversely, you know how automatic it is to tighten up with fear and angst when a contraction comes.  The birth process has a natural flow to it – a time for letting go and a time for active participation.  Our job is to sense the flow and to align with it rather than to work against it.   We mustn’t forget that the ultimate purpose of a contraction is not to close up but to hasten expansion.  This is true now for us. Economic contraction then is not ultimately about creating scarcity, but about hastening abundance.  Our economic system is truly a vehicle which limits the common man, designed to benefit a few at the expense of the many.  Who do you know who does not worry on a daily basis about how to pay for current expenses while saving for the future goals?  How many people do you know who are working at a job they hate only because they feel they cannot afford to explore a career doing what they really love?    So much human potential is wasted in service to the bottom line.  More and more the American Dream seems like a carrot dangled before us only to distract us from the dismal treadmill we are on.    

So much unnecessary human suffering is generated by an economic system which allows pockets of poverty alongside obscene wealth.  It steals our sense of security and optimism and the masses  find themselves spending more and more time trying to stave off the economic tide.   If any of us were to design an ideal world, would any of us choose the economic framework we now have?  If this system is facing imminent collapse, perhaps we should be celebrating its demise, just let it go.  We could instead be investing our creativity in a new kind of economy which supports and uplifts humanity.  As long as the old economic system is functional, it is difficult to anchor something better.  Soon the time will be here to push, a time to throw our efforts into birthing the new world and the new economics, a void clearing the way for movement.   

What do you really want?  What would truly support human wellbeing, expansion, and happiness?  Will you stand for that?  Will you push for that when the time comes?