Adjustment

*This post was originally written 5/6/2011 and never posted as I was still contemplating and playing with it. I found it recently and it syncs with life both outwardly and inwardly right now so I thought it was time to put it out there! Here we go...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Let's explore some words, looking at their etymology and meanings we've derived from symbols in previous posts.

Maat = the creative divine feminine order

Weighed = moved, lifted, carried, a vessel/carriage

Heart = center, middle

Against = opposite, toward

Feather = wings (breath, scent, sense, faculty of perception, to travel, know, feel, journey, to go), rush, fly, drive back or down, petition, seek, go forward, pray, request or require, desire, wish


under- = beneath, between or among

-world = mankind, human existence

law = layer, measure, to put down (lay)

judgement = discern, separate, divide, perceive

I've had judgment and the underworld on the brain. I'm attempting to dive deeper into the meaning of Maat weighing the heart against her feather. I think this is commonly interpreted as a comparison of the purity (lightness) of the heart with that of a feather, but this has me imagine the scenario similar to facing judgement before the pearly gates of heaven. This traditional image is just unsatisfactory to me. I find myself wondering, "Why? and What for? What purpose does this serve in the natural order of things?" So I've started breaking down the meaning of the words to get a bigger picture that can be interpreted in more ways, as for some reason having more questions, and having more options of paths to run down is what brings me peace and understanding. So here is one such scenario I have come up with so far:

The feminine divine ordering principle of the universe (Maat) : carried (weighed) the wish (feather) toward and from (against) one's center (heart).

To me, using these alternate words brings new meaning to the symbol. A symbol of the law of creation, that what we dwell on we also dwell in. That what we see, think, feel, and do is informing an inner part of us on what to make manifest.

"When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you

If your heart is in your dream
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do

Fate is kind
She brings to those to love
The sweet fulfillment of
Their secret longing

Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true"

*Interesting that the above song is from Disney's Pinocchio, about a wooden boy who longs to be REAL and his nose grows when he tells a lie/untruth.

By the way, I'm not saying that the above IS the meaning, or is THE meaning, but as usual I am just exploring meanings and possibilities surrounding Maat, the goddess of Truth.

What we deem as "true" is what we perceive as real, something that appears well formed, accurately shaped, and as steadfast and true as a tree. Truth is an exchange of faithfulness. Because the truth has proven to be faithful/constant we believe and trust in the truth, which perpetuates the truth, and the cycle continues. In fact, the FACTs that we believe are true, are really actions, events, occurrences, doings, experiences, and even "evil" deeds that have taken place. Evil is bad and wicked. But BAD is just being inferior in quality. When we look at the hierarchy in the process of creation: inspired from the all pervading mindstuff, to feeling, to thought and finally to the physical/material (as expressed by the Tetragrammaton), the material is actually just the lowest, most inferior piece of the puzzle. Below the superior inspiration and design. Wicked is a word derived from wizard. A magician uses the divine principles of creation to bring wishes into form. We are all wizards, witches and magicians, most of us are just casting our spells unconsciously. So a fact is a magical act.

The universe was created when god spoke. So what god had to say was really important to what was to be formed.  What are you saying in your own life? It's interesting that the word "addiction" means devotion, tendencies, habits. You could call it ritual. Even more revealing is that it comes from "ad- "to" + dicere "say, declare". This is important, because it shows that anything that you devote yourself to is an "addiction", it is what you continually, habitually perform, think, hold dear and thus becomes what you are saying because it yields results in the formation of your life.

We create our universe, and yet what we have created is simultaneously creating us.  I was looking at trees (trues?) the other day, thinking about how the direction they grow is based upon their environment - the way the wind blows, what is blockading them from growth in a certain place - such as a structure of some sort, dependent on the quality of the soil where they are located, how much sunlight and rain they take in, etc. But trees influence their environment too, their growth changes the landscape, their life creates oxygen which is crucial to the life of all other things.  We are the same way, we grow where the energy flows, if there is a blockage of some sort, our growth is stunted in that area and we will grow in another. Growth doesn't always imply a "betterment" either, it's just a building upon wherever the most energy is placed. Yet we are creating and shaping our environment all of the time too. There you have it, you are as divine as a tree. That's the truth.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Food for thought. It's 2017 and I'm contemplating this all once more. Questions I'm facing are - Where have my "facts" that inform my life come from? What is my source? Have I learned from experience, by action and work? Or have I only listened and read the experience of others and attempted to create based not on my own physical, first hand, inner knowing but on the truth of others?
To be continued...

birth announcement

I am so grateful to be a part of this collaboration with such amazing, beautiful, insightful individuals. It has been churning and crystallizing, and is finally here!

"26 bloggers/writers/artists share their experiences and perspectives on the strange and beautiful universe in which we live."

Featuring writers from: The Sync Whole, Reality Sandwich, Etemenanki, The Mask of God, Labyrinth of the Psychonaut, The Stygian Port, Live From The Logosphere, Star Theory, The Patternist, Gosporn, All The Happy Creatures, Kosmos Idikos, Radio8Ball, Constellation Contemplation, Kozmikon, Accidental Alchemist, Libyan Sibyl, A Few Shots To Shaman, Mercury's Messenger, Synchromysticism Forum

Alan Abbadessa-Green + Goro Adachi + Jason Barrera + Douglas Bolles + Peg Carter + Tommy Fulks + Kevin Halcott + Kyle Hunt + Sibyl Hunter + Stefan Jablonski + Jeremy + Andras Jones + Crystal Kanarr + Jon Kidd + Jake Kotze + Neil Kramer + Rammer Martínez Sánchez + Justin Gray Morgan + Will Morgan + Christopher "C" Myers + Eunus Noe + Jennifer Palmer + Jim Sanders+ Michael Schacht + Toure + Steve Willner

Edited by Alan Abbadessa-Green
Cover Art by Justin Gray Morgan

Since we entered the sign of Virgo in late August, the High Priestess archetype has been all around us. The High Priestess in the Tarot is associated with the Moon (which is the esoteric ruling planet of Virgo).

"The moon reflected on the surface of the water symbolizes the idea that is reflected in the form." ~ The Crowley Tarot

It is all too appropriate that The Sync Book would come to fruition during the Full Harvest Moon (in Pisces), but even more special is that today I realized that the book was conceived on the exact day of  the New Moon in Pisces back in March. The new moon corresponds to the time of seeding new ideas, putting our hopes and dreams into the womb of the mother, so that we may start the process of nourishing that which we wish to manifest. The full moon corresponds to the part of the cycle in which the fruit of our hard work has fully formed and ready to be harvested. The sign that the moon is traveling in at these potent parts of the cycle, shows the energetic expression of that which is manifesting. The cycle is always happening, whether we are consciously working with it or not. This book is the perfect example of what inspiration, vision, intention, love and effort can bring!

Pisces is a mystical, intuitive, water sign, resonating with the collective unity of all things, which the subject of the book, synchronicity, continually expresses.

"Pisces, last of the water signs and the completion of the zodiacal cycle, embodies all that is most compassionate, most universal and most deeply connected with that deeper reality which underpins the whole of existence." ~Liz Greene, Mythic Astrology

 La Lune/The Moon - the tarot card associated with the sign of PISCES, and the Hebrew letter Qoph

The Sync Book definitely embodies this energy through and through, I have no doubt that you will be inspired and embraced by the words of all of the individuals who put their hearts and minds into its pages. 

You can now exchange your energy for your own copy at createspace or amazon.com

I'm feeling such gratitude to the universe, to the co-authors, to all the lovelies that are supporting this book, thank you.

www.thesyncbook.com

https://www.facebook.com/TheSyncBook

http://twitter.com/#!/SyncBook

for what it's worth

I wrote the following over a year ago and wasn’t quite ready to share it with anyone, it was just a spontaneous outpouring of thoughts and feelings about the state of the world. My thoughts and feelings have continued to develop surrounding this topic since writing this, but for whatever reason, (well I suppose it is all this attention to the collective debt) I am finally ready to share it...although maybe still a little apprehensive, as these issues are hypersensitive. This is basically about humanity’s issue of self worth and the collective need to realize our own inner power and resources. I hope you will find something of value to you here, but please don't mistake me for trying to force my own thoughts or values on anyone else, mainly it was written as an exploration of my own values. I wholeheartedly admit that much of this could seem hypocritical as I obviously still participate in much of the current system. But these are the questions I'm asking, mainly of myself, and I think that is the first step. These days I am trying really hard to stay away from putting all my eggs in one basket and 'believing' in any one thing, but I don't think you can go wrong with questioning everything, arriving at your own conclusions (for that moment) based on the truth within your heart, and attempting to live by that. Anyhow, here it is:

EVERYTHING is Energy. That is an indisputable, scientifically provable fact.  In this society, we use money as a symbol for our energy. We trade our energy for money through some form of effort. Then we trade the money for energy, such as food/calories. Whatever we give our money to grows.  It is like feeding a plant; fueling, giving energy to an idea, a business, etc.  This is basically the same thing as "voting with your money". So shouldn’t we be giving our energy (spending our money) on what we want to grow? We should be doing our research, paying attention to what practices go into the production of what we are energizing.  Because the truth of the matter is, if we disagree with how people/animals/the earth/our own bodies are being treated and affected by the production of some material, it WILL shrivel up and die if we don’t give our energy (money) to it. If we don’t water the plant, it dies, and the energy is released and goes elsewhere. On the same note, what we do think is honest, healthy and uplifting WILL flourish with the flow of our energy and intention. 

Of course, this should be examined even further. Why do we choose money to represent our energy? When you research the system of money, it really does appear to be close to the root of some very disparaging and horrific things in this world. It makes room for the greedy middle man. If you note the flow of the energy: 

Effort, that is, physical and/or mental work (energy) --> money (energy) -->sustenance (energy)-->repeat.

What happened, why can’t it just be: effort (energy) -->sustenance (energy) -->repeat ?

Things are clearly out of balance here. A very small minority is getting large amounts of energy (money) by literally having the idea to produce and allocate said money. And the rest of us are doing a whole lot of work for that money so that we can attempt to gain the energy back that it took to gain that money. No wonder we are so tired, we are working  our butts off for that money, and yet the money is decreasing in value, so our self worth is going down along with it.  How much do we value ourselves? Why are we letting someone else, whom we deem an authority on us, decide how much our time and energy is worth? Furthermore, why do we deem anyone outside of ourselves an authority?  Hey, I’m just asking questions here… If we were working for our own sustenance directly, rather than to sustain a system that rewards a minority, wouldn’t we feel a lot more fulfilled, inspired and energized? And when I’m speaking of sustenance I don’t just mean food, clothing and shelter, but what feeds our soul as well, whether that is music, art, science, philosophy, sport, whatever it is. Most of us don’t even have the time or strength to put energy into what makes us happy. What is the point of that? Why are we working so hard just to barely make enough money to give us the basic energy sustenance that we need? And not to mention the people who don’t have the opportunity or resources to even gain enough money to acquire the most basic material sustenance of food and thus don’t have the energy to put forth.

Additionally, look at our addictions:  to food, to alcohol, prescription drugs, illegal drugs, shopping, watching television, sex, etc. It is all to try to FILL us up. We feel void, we feel like we aren’t getting what we need. We feel empty, hungry, tired, uninspired. All symptoms that we aren’t getting enough what? Yes…ENERGY! It is inevitable that we need to expend energy to gain energy, but when we are expending our energy for a symbol or an energy replacement that has an arbitrary value, we aren’t getting what we are giving, some will get more, and most will get far far less.  

But we are not just giving away our energy for a return of a faux energy, we actually also give up our freedom of choice as well – because we must show up when someone else tells us to, no matter what our needs may be. Once again, whoever it is that has traded us our time and energy in turn for money is getting the real form of our energy, and what did they have to give in order to get the good stuff from us? Did they give us real energy in return? No they gave us energy replacement (money), which can change in value on a whim. That hardly seems fair. And you might argue that not everything in life is fair. But ask yourself, who decided that?

So the real issue is not actually money, the real underlying issue is our beliefs, which are symptomatically shown through our relationship to money and the people we give power to, that we allow to control the money/energy and thus, control us. It all starts with an honest look at ourselves and what we value. And as I’m sure you have noticed, I have A LOT of questions. Why do we need money? Who ‘owns’ the resources on this planet? What and who are we really working for? Who is the authority? Why are they the authority? And why do we want them to be the authority? Honestly, it appears that most of us don’t want to be an authority, because that would entail personal responsibility, so we place the power outside of ourselves and thus don’t have to look inward when things aren't going smoothly. We’re afraid of the decisions and we’re afraid of the really hard work. It is harder to choose to stop working for something you don’t believe in, and to work toward building something new, than to go along with a system that is already in place, (no matter if that system is working or not).

“Fear of fate is a very understandable phenomenon, for it is incalculable, immeasurable, full of unknown dangers. The perpetual hesitation of the neurotic to launch out into life is readily explained by this desire to stand aside so as not to get involved in the dangerous struggle for existence. But anyone who refuses to experience life must stifle his desire to live – in other words, he must commit partial suicide.” – Carl Jung

"The soft-minded man always fears change. He feels security in the status quo, and he has an almost morbid fear of the new. For him, the greatest pain is the pain of a new idea." - Martin Luther King

However, the real secret is that the hardest work brings the greatest achievements. We’ve always known the real secret, but we forget because it’s so simple that we take it for granted.  We squirm at the thought of facing our fears and going through pain, but if we could just muster up the courage to go through it, something really beautiful WILL happen. Transformation. Fulfillment.

“The greater the tension, the greater is the potential. Great energy springs from a correspondingly great tension between opposites.” – Carl Jung

How can we balance the energy? The first step is looking inward, at the "good" and the "bad", the positive and negative, being honest with yourself about your fears. 'Face your fears.' We have heard this so many times that it has almost become cliche. But it is a core truth. The way that we can grow stronger is by digging deep into the nitty-gritty. We can treat ourselves and our community just as we would a garden. Little by little we can grow what we believe in, and starve what we don’t support.   It’s all about you. It's all about me. It’s all about us. It’s about what we choose. With the direction of our personal energy, we create what we want to see. It doesn’t always happen immediately in this world, and it definitely doesn’t always happen easily, but effort will ALWAYS bear fruit eventually. All things require effort of some degree. It’s up to you, me, us to decide what kind of fruit we want to create…

 I’m dreaming of a world, where everyone is recognized for their talents, where everyone puts their energy and time into what inspires them, and we do it well. How beautiful would it be, to live in a place where everything was created to the full potential?  How nice for us all to live harmoniously together, exchanging our energy with each other honestly? Why do so many of us believe that a world like that is an impossibility? Where did we get that idea? Where do we get any of our ideas?

 “…people’s beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing.” – Mark Twain

"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense." Buddha

And then there is the most important question of all...If all the world is symbolic, ("as within, so without") what does the disharmony and energy squandering in the physical world around you represent within yourself? And by 'yourself', I mean 'myself'.

While I was working on this post, I discovered that my husband was leaving this comment at the very same time in a Reddit thread:

"...I give you this oft quoted, AND taken for granted, nugget from Einstein. 'We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.' Albert Einstein

I'm of the Carl Jung influenced persuasion that everything that happens in the outer reality is a direct result of our inner realities. (btw The idea holds up pretty well, when looking through the lens of quantum physics!) You don't have to look far (probably yourself) to find inner dischord among the populace. Until this is emphasized, all the voting, and politicking, and pointing fingers at others will be the equivalent of trying to wash a dirty window with an oily rag. Until WE ALL turn the attention within, THIS is what we are stuck with. The "State" is just a state of mind. A box that we need to start thinking outside of. Because, not only is this system not viable long term, it is spiraling into oblivion exponentially! ......Getting back to quantum physics, it has been widely demonstrated that, essentially, we are all intrinsically interconnected on an energetic level. If you really think about it, every time you help someone, you help yourself. But most importantly, every time you help yourself, you help the rest of us! From there, you could get into conversation on the collective sub-consciousness , and so on, and yadda yadda yadda. So as a step of change in the right direction (nothing is gonna get better over night) we need to shift our value system from one that is only of material wealth to one that recognizes more subtle forms of value. Subtle values which have shown to be absolutely vital to the harmony and order of the universe. Values like learning that the whole is greater than just the sum of its parts, how to learn, to share, to contribute, to love others, but most importantly to love yourself, and to learn to, AND how to, develop yourself (It will be different for each individual). For until each one of us realize that the only genuine sovereign authority is ourselves, there will always be problems with authority. And as long as we keep placing that authority outside ourselves, somebody will be there to usurp the role for us, and we will have nobody to blame but ourselves.." - MK

Guess it's the theme of the household :) 

Now I'm pondering: If TIME is MONEY, and MONEY is ENERGY, than TIME is ENERGY...? 

It goes even deeper when we realize that no one is truly 'outside' of our Self 

the element of water: a reflection

"...Water shows us through science that our thoughts have an effect on our external reality. Imagine the possibilities when people realize their own potential for creativity..." Deepak Chopra

We are all, at the very least, partially aware of the pollution and destruction of our most precious resource. And most of us have heard that our body's water content mimics the Earth's own composition. I think most of us learned in elementary school that there is a certain amount of water on our planet and it follows a certain cycle. And we know that all living things on the Earth need some amount of water for survival. These are the basics of water, of which we take for granted most of the time, but there are many other qualities of water that most of us are not conscious of. The documentary Water: The Great Mystery probes the common element further, with insights from researchers and scientists from all over the world who are finding and showing many facets of water that we did not see before. Most intriguing to me is that water has memory, contains information, and it is something that we all share.

Dr. Gabriel Cousens touches on the work of a number of scientific researchers that support the statements of the above mentioned documentary in his book Spiritual Nutrition. In summary he states that "water: (1) can carry both positive and negative information; (2) has a memory; (3) has a memory that can be erased; and (4) can transfer that vibrational information." Dr. Cousens goes on to write about the "Cosmic Meaning of Water":
  "In essence, water is like the Divine Presence in living creatures. It vibrates within all life as the blood of Nature that takes on many forms: a glass of water, the vast oceans, turbulent mountain streams, or even the blood in our bodies. Water and life are synonymous. Yet playing different roles, it remains one essence - moving as the play of consciousness. Symbolically, water may be considered the movement of consciousness on the planet. It is the foundation of life on the Earth and resonates in constant harmony with the universe, holding the solar energy of the sun and stars, the lunar energies, and the energies of the Earth. In that process, water changes its properties. Depending on what energies it absorbs and carries, water can be either a benifit or a harm to people, making them well or ill. It can give off positive or negative energy, healing or disease-producing energy."

So what are we doing to the water? It seems to me that the corruption of our water is the most direct attack on ourselves, for if the water is polluted than so are we. What we drink and what we bathe in no doubt has an effect on the health and well being of our body, mind and soul. But now we are seeing that what we think, feel and do has an effect on the water that permeates almost everything in our lives. Which can make one think, what came first, the pollution of our water or the pollution of our mind/heart/soul/desire/intentions?

My previous posts listen to your heart and the heart of the matter also relate here, for as we know, water is related to the Moon, and those posts describe the connections of the Moon to the heart as well. Through the gravitational interaction between the Moon and the Earth we see the tides of the oceans fluctuate, rise and fall. We can see further connections in looking at symbolism as well. In the Tarot, the suit of Cups is associated with the element of water. The cards of this suit describe emotional and intuitive experience, and our unconscious, private self. In astrology, the 12 signs of the zodiac fall under the ruling of one of the four elements, with Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces being the water signs. Each sign also has a ruling planet; Cancer is ruled by the Moon, Scorpio is ruled by Pluto, and Pisces is ruled by Neptune. All of these planets associated with the water signs share some astrological associations such as intuition, emotions, and sort of the hidden undercurrent of everything (pun intended). There are also 12 houses in the astrological natal chart that represent the different realms of experience in life. The houses also have elemental qualities, with the 4th, 8th, and 12th houses being the water houses and thus ruled by Cancer/Moon (4th house), Scorpio/ Pluto (8th house), and Pisces/Neptune (12th house). For more in-depth explanation, Stephen Arroyo's books Chart Interpretation Handbook and Astrology, Psychology and the Four Elements, both serve as great sources  for understanding the connections to the elements in astrology. It could take a very long time to explore each of the signs, planets and houses, so let's just take a surface look at the Moon, Cancer, and 4th house in connection to water for now. The Moon represents our past, memories, predisposition, the experiences that have shaped us and imprinted us (a quality we share with water as mentioned above). The sign that we find the Moon in at the time of our birth shows how we express our instincts, and what makes us feel secure - based on our previous experience. The Moon represents the subconscious part of ourselves, the way that we instinctively operate and act without consciously thinking. In connection to the Moon and the sign of Cancer, the 4th house represents the realm of experience in our lives that has to do with our home base, where we are coming from. In our personal birth chart, any planet in this house would show subconscious energies, possibly things that we have formed an attachment to and need to assimilate and let go of. Looking at symbolism helps us to see a direct connection between water, our emotions and our subconscious. Our own tears show us this connection very well. Even if we cannot wrap our minds around the meaning of the connections, we can see that they are definitely there.

If you watched any of the videos or listened to the interviews with Dr. Bruce Lipton in my last post, he talks about how our beliefs create health or disease, not only within us, but everything around us as well. He also speaks of learning to be more conscious, rather than living out of our subconscious. Living out of the subconscious continuously, without thinking, creates more of the same. However we can live with the conscious intention to change ourselves and our environment and eventually, through living out those actions, it will become second nature, creating a whole new reality. It has been scientifically proven that the observer affects the experiment, it seems it is just taking a little while for everyone to accept this as truth, just as it took hundreds of years for people to acknowledge that the Earth wasn't flat. We like to feel secure, so we think and act based on what we "know", but one of the fundamental "laws" of nature is that it is always changing, so what we "know" is not permanent. We need to become more flexible and mutable, to flow harmoniously with nature. However we can only do this through intention and effort, to continuously make conscious choices, balancing and creating. Water is reflecting more than our mere physical image when we gaze into it. The quality of the Earth's water is our subconscious staring back at us, showing us what we are doing to ourselves. The deterioration is a direct result of our patterns of destruction. But the beauty of water is that it has a built in balancing process, and if we can make the conscious effort to change our patterns of behavior, to treat water with respect and love - with the return to the natural state of water, we return to our natural, healthy state as well. And that is empowering. Of course this is something that requires so much more exploration, but it is truly exciting and inspiring.