Meditation

Ron Mangravite: Modern Meditation Master (A Tribute)

The publicly available information about metaphysical teacher and healer Ron Managravite barely rise above the surface facts of his life:

Ronald Vincent Mangravite was born in New York City, New York, on August 15, 1933 to Carmine and Ellen Joy Glenfield Mangravite.
He died in Leicester, North Carolina on October 1, 1998. There are currently no flowers on his FindAGrave entry.
Proud of his Italian heritage, Ron was a son, brother, husband, and father.

But to a relatively small group of people, Ron Managravite was a modern meditation master.

And given that it’s been more than twenty years since his passing from this dimension, I feel Ron and his work are highly overdue for an online tribute.

Ron Mangravite

About Ron

As I said, there is precious little online about Ron’s life and teachings.

Jan T. Adams, MD interviewed Ron in this article from the September 1, 1993 edition of The Edge magazine. The interview starts with a brief synopsis of the facts of his life and especially how he came to teach meditation:

Sometime during his 30s, Ron Mangravite attended a party where the conversation centered around a topic called bioenergetics. As he listened, he felt a familiarity with the concept, though he’d not heard it before, and found himself saying, “I can do that.” So they all formed a circle, holding hands. To everyone’s surprise, some people began to fall over when he did, ‘that.’
Though he’d had an unusual childhood, marked with serious illness, Ron had, up to that point, lived a fairly conventional life. After completing collegiate studies in chemistry, he held positions in industry as a chemist, and has operated his own chemical consulting firm since 1973. But it was his “taste for the infinite” which began to play a larger role for him after that pivotal party. He became active in parapsychology, investigating phenomena of all types, and was the consulting parapyschic for The Amityville Horror, as well as many other hauntings.
He has been featured on TV shows, magazine articles (New York Magazine, Fate, Psychology Today,) and in the book, The Joy of Touch, by Dr. Russ Rueger (Simon and Schuster, 1981.) In that book in a chapter on psychic healing, Dr. Russ Rueger discusses his own experience with Ron in an energy circle again with one participant vomiting, another shuddering and weeping uncontrollably.
As his understanding evolved and deepened, he widened his circle as teacher/mystic/healer to include workshops and meditation groups all over the country, and week-long intensives with Foundation, his group for consciousness and spiritual growth. Among his many gifts, however, the ability to concentrate, generate, and transmit energy for transformational and healing purposes remains a standout.

My Connection

In 1993 I was fired from my job as a shoe store manager in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and moved back into my old blue bedroom upstairs in my parents home on Gratiot Road in rural Hemlock, Michigan.

One of my colleagues from the shoe store had moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, and I plotted a visit to escape the miserable Michigan winter. Secretly, though, I was hoping to move to Athens, Georgia – the home of the rock band R.E.M.

I did visit my colleague in North Carolina, then went down to Savannah and stayed on nearby Tybee Island.

I arrived in Athens and settled into a furnished one-bedroom apartment on Olgethorpe Avenue by the now defunct Navy Supply Corps school.

One day I walked into a store downtown, looked around, and left thinking to myself, “This is not the right store.” A few months later I walked into same space.

It was now rented by Cynthia Gayle Clayton the proprietor of new age metaphysical store called Pathfinder. I’d found my meditation teacher, but didn’t know it; she seemed like an ordinary person to me.

I left the store that day with a book about pole shifts, and returned over and over again for many classes, workshops, and meditations.

Transformation of the Self & the Universe

In March 1995 I attended a two day weekend workshop called “Transformation of the Self and the Universe” led by Ron Mangravite.

Ron reminded me of Sean Connery in the roll of Ramierz in the move The Highlander. He had sparkling blue eyes and a mischievous smirk.

And, unlike the brash swaggering of Ramierez pictured below, Ron on first glance was kind of quiet and unassuming.

But then he started to teach or do energy work, and he commanded the room with startling authority.

In some ways the workshop was boring because Ron lectured a LOT about a host of convoluted subjects. He could talk for hours slowly tying themes together.

Sometimes he didn’t tie things together, but instead dropped a hint that there was more he could talk about regarding…well, whatever.

Long hours of lecture were broken up with energy work and potluck lunches. And as you may have guessed, the big attraction to these workshops was the energy.

The Energy

The sad thing is that, if you have no experience with someone who transmits energy, you may have a hard time understanding what I’m talking about.

Maybe the closest equivalent is the feelings of love or fear. Once you experience those energies, you know them.

Here’s another example: Ron could cause energy to move up, down, clockwise, or counter clockwise. Standing in a circle holding hands with other workshop participants, you could literally feel that movement.

But Ron did a whole lot more than move energy in these simple ways.

He transmitted lightning hot energy (clear/focused) into this lower (dense/cloudy) dimension. And that energy moved through that standing circle.

Words start to fail when you try to describe these things.

Anyway, I was in several workshops taught by Ron in 1995-1998 in Athens, Georgia.

My time in Athens was magical and extraordinary; there were a lot of friends, good food, and great poetry (I wrote a lot of poems in my book The WordStorm while in Athens.)

Ron and his teachings were a large part of those phenomenal years.

Timeline

This is a list of known dates for workshops, retreats, lectures, etc., and I’ll update this list as I learn more. These are listed by year, title or topic, and location if known.

Disclaimer: Some of these have recordings; however, the recordings are held privately and are not available for purchase or download or anything. As far as I know, it’s not possible to buy Ron’s work anywhere. I do not retain copyright control for any of Ron’s metaphysical work.

1976 Orgone Energy, QSP Seminar
1977 Parapyschology
1977 Paranormal Modes of Healing
1977 An Alternate Reality
1977 Haunted Houses, Pennsauken, New Jersey
1981 Transparent Psychology and Chakras
1981 Foundation
1982 Tampa, Florida
1982 {William} Reich 25 Years Later at LSP
1983 Aspects of Sexuality at Mensa Snowball
1984 Seacliff LT2
1985 Earth Meditation, Guildford-Greensboro, North Carolina
1985 Esoteric Psycholgy, Tupelo, MS
1986 Lambertville
1986 Bonclarken I
1986 New Teaching in Tampa, FL
1987 New York City Group
1987 PSI in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
1987 New Overview Workshop, Denver, Colorado
1987 Cosmology at SE SFF
1987 Bonclarken IV
1987 Concepts of Harmonic Convergence at UUPSI
1988 Bonclarken V
1988 Holy Blood, Holy Grail at NE SFF
1988 Bonclarken VI
1989 Foundation
1989 Stargate – Treatise on the Death Process
1989 The Mysteries and their Origins, Atlanta, Georgia
1989 Myths of Extraterrestrials
1989 Psychosis, Olivette SFF
1989 Great Space Meditation
1989 Creation in Minneapolis, Minnesota
1989 Foundation II
1989 Mystery Schools and Extraterrestrials
1990 Foundation
1990 Conscious Dying at SFF NE
1990 Meditation Weekend, New Jersey
1990 Foundation IV
1990 Karma, Consciousness, and Healing Workshop
1991 My Death Experience
1991 Myth and Psyche
1991 Foundation V
1991 Summer Intensive
1991 Speech at Ananda Center, Tampa, Florida
1991 (December 4) Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship
1992 Religion & Science: Is the Conflict Over, SFF Great Lakes Retreat
1992 Kundalini/Chi, Windham, Portland, Maine
1992 Teaching the Close
1992 Foundation VII
1993 Foundation IX
1993 Foundation X
1994 What Is Our Future Path? SFF Midwest Retreat
1994 Foundation XI
1994 Energy System, Minneapolis, Minnesota
1994 Spiritual Growth: Promise and Paradox, Poconos, Pennsylvania
1994 Universal Mysteries, Sacred Marriage, SFF Midwest
1994 Foundation XII
1995 Brain Mapping Technique
1995 Transformation of the Self and the Universe Part I, Athens, Georgia
1995 Foundation XIII
1995 Transformation of the Self and the Universe Part II, Athens, Georgia
1995 Foundation XIV
1996 Opening Into A Higher Reality, Athens, Georgia
1996 Myth and Consciousness, Chapel Hills, North Carolina
1996 Foundation XV: A View From The Bridge
1996 Sacred Geometry and the Mystical State, Minneapolis, Minnesota
1996 Space, Time, and Spirit, Athens, Georgia
1996 Ego, Ritual and The Twelve, Poconos, Pennsylvania
1996 Attributes of the Higher Realms, Athens, Georgia
1997 The Initiate Teaching, Minneapolis, Minnesota
1997 Greater Mysteries, Poconos, Pennsylvania
1997 Ritual and Consciousness, Diviana, New Jersey
1997 Tantra of the Body, Denville, New Jersey
1997 Tantra of the Body, Georgia
1998 Meditation Intensive, Asheville, North Carolina
1998 Bonclarken XXII
Unknown date, Earth Meditation at Awareness Motivation Institute

Notes

Bonclarken is a private conference center in Western North Carolina. Ron rented space there for week-long intensives.
Retreats were also held at the Montreat conference center near Black Rock, North Carolina. The Reynold’s Lodge was often rented; it has two communal bathrooms, housing for up to 32 guests, a working stone fireplace, a fully equipped kitchen, and a rocking chair porch.

Quotes

A small collection of quotes pulled from those 1994-1998 lectures. I won’t include the bad dad-style puns and jokes that broke up the long hours of lectures.

To learn to play the role of a conscious being, you are a part of the highest being you consider to be your ideal: Jesus, Buddha, or magician. To fully pass that level, you must become all of them.

You must be in the system. You cannot affect the system and be out of the system. You can affect the system by being above it. You cannot affect the system and be below it. How do you get out of the system? By being conscious, you cause things to happen to other people.

The world is full of dead people. People who formed a functional ego and then refused to allow it to change. They are rigid, strong, solid, and will not change. They cannot conceive of their fundamental nature changing… Rearranging your outer behavior does not accomplish the inner work. Rearranging your inner self gets the work done How? By re-scripting.

Personal power is a high level substitute for functional ego. A person with true power has no need to put people down.

The nature of true spiritual growth and enlightenment depends upon slowly changing your underlying premise. You never lose anything that is real.

In terms of ghosts, the average person on dying has a certain amount of conscious essence which lasts anywhere from a few minutes if they are highly evolved and they are attempting to translate themselves rapidly into some other dimension, or it can last for weeks or months. In the average individual, it lasts anywhere from a day to three days… What tends to last long is what’s been called a shell, a…record of whatever compulsions that ran through the person’s mind. These shells last longer if they attach themselves to something that is physically dense… {Haunts tend to be} an afterimage of the strong emotional patterns of someone who lived in the home.

Every conscious being is in total control of the universe. Why doesn’t one conscious being go to war with another conscious being? They can’t. If they are truly conscious, what is is, and you have no wish to change what is. You simply look around yourself and try to sort out illusion from what is. If you’re really conscious, no two conscious beings will disagree on what is illusion and what is because they recognize that they are each other.

Legacy

Ron Managravite lectured and taught around the United States in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. Many times these were small, intimate gatherings in student’s homes; sometimes they were larger venues with more people. But the people who attended these workshops and lectures are still out there today – are you one of them?

Gayle Clayton taught extensively in Athens, Georgia, and at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in Rhinebeck, New York. She has written several books including Transformative Meditation and Mystery School: An Insider’s Perspective.
There is a course based on Gayle’s Transformative Meditation taught at the Awareness Institute in Sydney, Australia. One of these days, Australia, I’d really like to come and visit!
Claire Lewis Evans, student of both Gayle Clayton and Ron Mangravite filmed Masks during a week-long retreat in 1997. The 30-minute documentary “follows a group of seekers in an intimate day of mask making as an exercise in delving beneath the everyday persona and exploring the archetypal essences of self.” The video was filmed at the Reynolds Lodge mentioned above at the Montreat Conference Center.

How About You?

Did you ever attend a workshop taught by Ron Mangravite? Do you have a favorite quote or memory? Tell me about it in the comments.

Writing & Mindfulness

Not long ago I told someone that I was interested in the intersection of writing and mindfulness. The phrase just rolled off my tongue and – to be honest – I wasn’t quite sure what I meant.

A female hand holding a pen and writing. The words "writing and mindfulness."

Full disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click on a link and buy something (even if it’s not the particular book,) I receive a little compensation.

At first glance, mindfulness and writing have zero commonality. But a closer look reveals the “intersection” – that place where the two meet.

The easiest way to experience this intersection is by writing by hand. There comes a very obvious transition from complaining and list making to what feels like taking notes from god – spirit – source – whatever. And it’s clearly not you thinking, because words flow freely and are deftly organized.

For me, this “space” of not thinking is where my best writing comes from.

This transition between everyday consciousness to something else is nothing new for writers. Natalie Goldberg’s beloved Writing Down The Bones touches this space, as do Julia Cameron’s “Morning Pages” exercise. Both help you move from everyday and into this other type of writing. Here’s how to recognize that space:

Everyday Writing

Complains
Makes to do lists
Acts like “The Editor” and criticizes
Intellect talking to itself
Feels like you’re working at writing
Your handwriting is practiced and perfect

ExtraOrdinary Writing

I’m not writing, I’m taking notes from god.
Flow and lack of effort
The words move through me
It writes itself
Handwriting is loose and playful

When you enter into the stillness of not thinking, your writing changes. For me, if I do nothing for long periods of time, this “ExtraOrdinary” writing comes naturally. It becomes -if you will – the new every day. The question is how to get these extraordinary states to come into your life more often.

I daydream. I stay quiet and let cats sit on my lap for a long time. I don’t run off and get busy with a to-do list. This doing nothing keeps the connection between rigid consensual reality and source/spirit/no time firm. And the more you move back and forth between these two ways of being, the easier it becomes to adapt to the timelessness of not thinking.

The “lack” of structured time is a terrifying thought for anyone caught in 9-5, appointments, and to do lists. By daydreaming and not doing on a regular basis, you acclimatize yourself to this sinuous approach to life. I believe it is the natural way to be in the body.

Abandon Thought

We love thinking and linear thought. But there are other ways of being in the world that are utterly devoid of thought and that are profoundly natural and transformative.

On page 12 of Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond, Ajahn Brahm gets straight to the heart of the matter of this problem of thinking and commenting on everything. He calls it “inner speech.”

…inner speech does not know the world at all. It is the inner speech that spins the delusions that cause suffering. Inner speech causes us to be angry with our enemies and to form dangerous attachments to our loved ones. Inner speech causes all of life’s problems. It constructs fear and guilt, anxiety, and depression. It builds these illusions as deftly as the skilled actor manipulates the audience to create terrors or fears. So if you seek truth, you should value silent awareness and, when meditating, consider it more important than any thought.

Inner speech gets in the way of good writing. Learn to abandon inner speech, so your writing moves into that ‘other’ extraordinary space.

Writing morning pages – aka stream of consciousness or writing whatever comes into your head – helps you make the leap between here and there.

Meditation takes you the rest of the way.

But that’s another story.

Writing the Sly Silence Within

Working on a mindfulness certification, the one practice that pulls me forward is following the word.

That is, following the words that appear in my head as I’m meditating. I follow, realize I’m following, and return to breathing. I do the same thing when writing.

This practice developed by reading Julia Cameron and Natalie Goldberg years ago. Cameron talks about morning pages – three pages off the top of your head written by hand first thing in the morning, no interruption, no stopping to correct errors. Goldberg combined Zen meditation training with “stream of consciousness” writing and often wrote through a small notebook each month.

Both techniques help me find that sly silence within.

Being a Star Trek fan, I think that sly silence is the most interesting place ever. And you don’t have to get on a starship or airplane or cruise ship or any vehicle other than your own to get there. You just have to be quiet, really quiet, like this poem about writing a poem.

How to you reach that sly silence within?

Despair and the Bright Shining Light of Just Maybe

We like to think that one person can’t change the world. I don’t believe that’s true.

As one person, you have significant impact on your world. The energy produced by your feelings resounds everywhere. Your energy touches all of the people and buildings and cars and plants and animals that you meet every day.

Your energy can be enough to change the world. Or, at least your little part of the world.

But here’s the thing.

That little ripple of your energy goes out into the world and bumps into other ripples. And on and on it goes, a whole universe of ripples, with you at the center, causing motion to begin.

What kind of ripples do you set in motion?

Watch Your Ripples

With fast-paced chaotic lifestyles, it’s hard to be hell bent on peace, love, and understanding.

(Nick Lowe version here because there’s a sincerity here that is undeniable. He really means it. He also wrote the song, FYI.)

Maintaining a positive outlook and hope for the future of the world is a challenge.

In fact, it’s much easier to be negative. Complaining is easy.

No doubt at some point in your life, you’ve been the one talking up the latest tragedy, bitching about work, or bemoaning your latest aches and pains. Once you start complaining, it cycles on and on..

But caught on the wheel of negativity, despair meets you on the way down. Despair leads you to think that there is no reason to bother to hope that things might change because they never have and never, ever will.

Despair-Be-Gone

Therefore, do your best to make the signals you send to the world be filled with joy and happiness, peace and love.

It’s easy to write that.

But boy, is it hard to put into practice. I fail miserably.

I fail every time I get angry at work, and every time I’m angry at that slow driver in front of me. I fail every time I cuss out my cat for bothering me, and every time I complain.

But I do not despair. I keep reminding myself of joy and love and happiness.

Frankly, even in the depths of depression, I didn’t despair. I didn’t give up hope that somehow, someday, things would change.

What I didn’t understand then, was that I had to change.

What I really didn’t understand was, that as I changed, my whole world changed.

It’s as if I turned on a little light bulb inside myself and started to shine, just a little bit.

Shine On

So for today, do what you can to shine.

Your little light may be the only ray of hope for someone today.

And that sense of hope ripples around the world. Even if your world is just right here, right now.

Shine on, shine as bright as you can.

Remember the Loosh and the Love!

Not long ago I was blazing through my Twitter feed and read something like this: “I would be happy to fight in the streets over the memo.”

The memo, meaning the Nunes memo that appeared and disappeared from mainstream media quickly. The memo that mainstream media passed off as no big deal, and a whole lot of other media and people read as clear evidence of treason.

And it’s not an exact quote, mind you, but the message and sentiment was clear to me:

This person is willing to stand up for their beliefs – yeah!
This person is also suggesting skirmishes, battles, chaos, and uh oh – the taint of and desire for war.

And to that, all the molecules in my body screamed no, no NO!

Fair Warning

This is not a typical “I’m a life coach so let’s all say Namaste and set S.M.A.R.T. goals” post. Instead, this is a weird-o, kinda political, way out there post.

I’m going to lead you on a journey into the weird.

If any of this is challenging for you, try to open your heart and mind – just a little bit. I work at keeping mine open. I fail miserably, but you know, I’m only human just like you.

And by all means, if at any point you don’t want to continue this journey, simply move along. I’m OK with that.

This is weird stuff. And I LIKE weird stuff.

So, let’s start with a baseline: I don’t want war.

But with a country portrayed by the mainstream media (MSM) as deeply divided, I often wonder what we can do to avoid an inevitable and violent clash between right and left, republicans and democrats, strict constitutionalists and progressives.

For years I’ve read psychics, channelers, conspiracy theories, and such. It’s been my secret delight to read the stuff that’s ‘way out there.’ And reading it helps me learn how to form my own opinions.

Not that I often voice those opinions, but rather, that I keep them very close.

So here, I’m stripping naked – kind of. At the least I’m letting my freak flag fly a little higher.

Uber Liberal Reads Ultra Conservative Tweets

I’m uber liberal. As in save the Earth, “why can’t we all just stand in a circle holding hands chanting Kumbaya,” hug-a-tree, supporting legalization of all drugs, free access to healthcare, and free access to higher education for all.

I’m THAT progressive, liberal, and whatever the label is these days.

But I’ve learned that it’s a good practice to strive to read voices that are different than mine: it broadens my view, and allows a little light of understanding to shine into my consciousness.

In that spirit, I set out to read conservative voices on Twitter.

I was surprised to find parallels between conservative Tweets and ‘weird-o’ words of psychics, channelers, and conspiracy theories. And we’ll get back to that bit, I promise.

Spirituality, My Short Story

Spirituality also helped me come to the ability to write this challenging post.

I was raised in the United Methodist Church. One year I went to summer church camp and experienced a ‘feeling’ that went beyond anything else. Call it what you want, but -in retrospect- it was a mysterious, mystical occurrence.

It it was loving, kind, all pervasive, and happened in nothing more than the blink of an eye. It changed me. And then life went back to normal.

Over many years I avoided church. I couldn’t explain why, not even to myself, but knew that my answers….

(That’s an important concept. These are my answers, and they probably won’t be the same as your answers. Suffice to say that I was willing to keep questioning every step of the way – and still do to this day.)

…my answers came after participating in sweat lodges, wiccan circles, mystical rituals of powerful energy with no words. I read countless books. I meditated an awful, awful lot. I read online until my eyes dropped out of my head and rolled around on the keyboard.

I was hungry for something that I couldn’t put my finger on. I was for a secret that encompassed nearly anything and everything you could possibly name.

That answer, however, came softly. It was a dawning awareness, a sly smile. And it’s nearly impossible to explain except with words which sound religious.

It’s funny how life loops like that. Time loops. Chaos theory. Refraction. The time continuum is not a straight line, but rather a loopy rope with turns and corners and hills and straightaways made from our own designs and desires coupled with those of all others on Earth at this time.

Time is an illusion. Words are an illusion. Everything is energy.

My Guides

Like any good new age girl in the 90s, I was looking for spirit guides. Eventually, I found/met what I perceive of as a group of guides.

Now most people tend to report that their guides have names. Some of the guides are from specific planets or they hold important-sounding designations. Just imagine this:

My guide is Rajactastana from the distant planet Blogonsia and he/she is a 9th dimension entity talking to me about love and love and more love.

But not me.

I’d ask for a name or names. There would be a flurry of energy that felt like panic. I imagined iridescent robes flowing as my guides turned to one another.

“She’s asking for a name – what do we tell her?”

That question was followed by passionate debate telepathically in a language made only of light that moves so quickly you and I couldn’t perceive it. I could only tell there was something going on.

And to this day, the only answer I ever get back regarding my desire for names:

Energy is more important than any name we might give you.

Got that? The energy is more important.

Energy – how it FEELS – matters more than what it’s called. No matter what “it” happens to be. It can be a book, a group of ‘guides,’ a person I just met, or a politician. Energy can refer to how an object feels in my hands, or how a certain shirt just ‘calls my name’ in the store.

What Is Energy?

Energy is a hunch. It’s a tickle. It’s feeling and beyond feeling. It’s material instinct, gut instinct, just knowing.

Energy is that which informs you to trust or not trust the person you just met. To know if a situation is safe or not.

You respond to the world constantly because of energy, instincts, plus prior knowledge and experiences.

And in our plastic, love-the-celebrity world, we desperately need new definitions. We need new ways of thinking, feeling, sensing, and relating to one another.

Learning about energy is one step in that direction.

But Back To Conspiracy Theories or “Let’s Talk About Aliens”

Let’s pretend, shall we, that aliens exist.

Actually, we don’t need to pretend, or stretch our imaginations too far: We have plenty of popular culture sci-fi space-themed books and movies and tv shows to help us along. Like Mork, the silly and thoughtful alien created by Robin Williams who checks in with his boss, Orson, on the planet Ork.

Let’s Pretend

Let’s pretend there’s an alien culture that you and I can’t see, but we *might* be able to feel.

These aliens come to Earth centuries ago and, unlike you and me who eat food, these aliens in our imaginations eat energy.

But like junk food junkies consuming massive quantities of Cheetos and Coke, these imaginary aliens prefer – nay crave – strong negative emotions.

If you’re despondent, argumentative, or in pain in any way, they’re giddy with delight.

Imagine these pretend aliens around their alien table, gobbling up mountains of mirth, avalanches of anger, and tippling torture on the side. Yum!

In conspiracy theory land, these negative emotions are called loosh.

Our imaginary aliens crave loosh the way you and I crave double stuff Oreos.

Or maybe that’s just me…

Anyway, imagine the pure delight of our pretend aliens if the human things are contemplating war, or thinking about hurting someone or themselves:

Snack time!
Alien Thanksgiving!
Buffet!
All you can eat!

Perhaps Some Examples Would Help

Still having a hard time picturing aliens eating negativity? Think again. The idea / concept / reality has been around for quite awhile…

Star Trek The Next Generation’s encounter with the entity Nagilum in Where Silence Has No Lease (Season 2 Episode 2.) Nagilum is fascinated by the various ways humans might die.

There’s the classic scene from The Matrix where Neo ‘wakes up’ only to learn that his energy is being harvested:

Carlos Castenada writes about “flyers” that hover in fleeting shadows. This website has a more full transcript and description. Here’s an excerpt from Castenada’s Art of Dreaming novel.

We have a predator that came from the depths of the cosmos, and took over the rule of our lives. Human beings are its prisoners. The predator is our lord and master. It has rendered us docile; helpless. If we want to protest, it suppresses our protest. If we want to act independently, it demands that we don’t do so…If you look out of the corner of your eye, you will still see fleeting shadows jumping all around you…They took over because we are food for them, and they squeeze us mercilessly because we are their sustenance. Just as we rear chickens in chicken coops, gallineros, the predators rear us in human coops, humaneros. Therefore, their food is always available to them.

Naturally there are various war deities who chomp on all matter of ugliness. In fact, that Wikipedia page lists more than 30 nations who have war deities – far too many!

Then there’s this intense and lengthy article from Bernard Guenther that explores the concept of aliens – and a whole lot more.

And if you start digging, you’ll find even more examples.

Two Wolves

Perhaps it’s all too much for you. Try this tender Cherokee parable instead. It’s about a white wolf and a black wolf, and which wolf we choose to feed. You might have seen this one making the social media rounds.

Back To Reality (Such That It Is) And Those Parallels

I mentioned seeing parallels between woo-woo conspiracy theories and conservative tweets. Like these:

a belief that a cabal runs the world
a belief that the cabal is evil
a belief that the cabal loves war
a belief that the cabal loves anything that causes polar opposites – therefore fighting.
a belief that the cabal will do anything to maintain the opposite viewpoint of peace, love, and understanding.

Deep State Dive

Of course, you could also spend a lot of time digging into deep state, secret space programs, hidden technology like Tesla’s free energy, or the mysterious messages from Q alluding the imminent actions. Naturally, few of the actions are reported by the main stream media because MSM is controlled by our dark overlords.

(Or so the thinking in conspiracy theory land goes, which I’m inclined to agree with.)

If you want more information on any of this stuff, start googling or maybe read this PDF copy of William Cooper’s Behold A Pale Horse. The mysterious Q shared the link not long ago.

Fair warning: I read through the first two chapters and had to stop: there’s so much information that turns our current world upside-down that I could only sip a little from the fire hose. Cognitive dissonance to the max, baby. But it will lead you into the rabbit hole…and you’ll keep going.

Polarization

Dana Mrkich’s 2018 Energy report talked about how so much is happening so fast:

What we are seeing online now is a mass awakening to all sorts of truths, coming at us from all sorts of angles. What we’re also seeing is an extreme polarization of energies. Divide and conquer is a strategy that keeps us fighting among ourselves. It blinds us to unacceptable situations. Boxing something as a left or right issue keeps half the population from confronting so many things that need to be acknowledged and addressed….

We have people who are awake in one way, but remain asleep in other ways. So it can seem frustrating at times, but the overall volume of awakened energy on this planet has shifted upward in a big way over the last 18 months. Also keep in mind that just because someone holds a different view or perspective regarding something doesn’t mean they are asleep or wrong on that particular issue. They may be highlighting a really important aspect of it that you hadn’t seen before.

All fascinating, but not the point.

There are people and beings in our world who knowingly and willingly seek to keep us fighting forever.

Think about that: never-ending fighting. What a delicious dinner of loosh!

Suggestions

While you’re dealing with your own cognitive dissonance now, here are some tips for mental digestion:

1. Remember the Loosh!

Negativity feeds the demons – your own inner demons and our pretend alien friends. And as an empath who suddenly finds herself feeling extra-cranky for no particular reason, I know that negativity also feeds the negativity inherent in those around you, so your black cloud storm tantrum can spread to others. Remember the loosh, and feed the white wolf of your soul.

2. Come from the Heart

This is natural, and it’s not advertising. This is how we are naturally, with those we love, with babies, with pets. Do your best to come from the heart at all times. When you slip up, take a breathe, try again.

3. Listen More Than You Talk

Practice listening deeply. Listen with your heart and mind wide open. Listen without thinking about what you’ll say next.

4. Talking Council

In groups and meetings where topics of a sensitive nature are being discussed and passions are quickly heating, resolve to use a talking stick. This is a Native American practice of using a literal stick (or other object) to pass from one speaker to the next. It gives each person a chance to speak, and invites each to listen deeply.

A New Way Forward

Ultimately humanity must find a new way forward. We must find a way to communicate that discourages negative or violent action. We must seek a middle way of understanding, empathy, love, and respect.

Our world cannot make this kind of ascension transformation overnight that is not only about returning the US to constitutional rule, but also about a deep, internal spiritual change inside of each and everyone of us.

There will be some ugly parts (there always are.) Let’s hope it doesn’t come to fighting in the streets.

In closing, I doubt I’ll live to see the full result of this transformation. I’m in my mid-50s, and this change will take at least another fifty years. But I am here now at the start of this -whatever it is.

And part of my job as a human is to a hold space in my heart and mind for the future of humanity as a peaceful people.

What other ways can we find new ways forward?

Embracing Adventure

Embracing Adventure and Enchantment

Let’s face it. In the middle of winter in Michigan, with the temperature below zero, the last thing on my mind is embracing adventure.

Fortunately, the palm trees and signpost remind me that there are other places in the world where it is warm and toasty.

I remember winter will be over, and soon enough I’ll be working out in my garden instead of huddled under blankets.

The signpost speaks to me of travel adventures still calling my name: Toronto? Rio de Janeiro? Prague?

The signpost reminds me that, with a last name like Wallace, it’s a shame I still haven’t been to Scotland. And that maybe a trip to see friends in North Carolina or Arizona would be a lot of fun.

But then I stop and sink into these thoughts further. I pause and sense what the deeper reason why this is the perfect photo to start a new year.

This photo invites me to embrace the spirit of adventure in the every day.

An adventure doesn’t have to be a big undertaking. You don’t have to climb a mountain or swim a sea to be adventurous.

Last year, I took a weekend trip to Mackinaw Island and stayed at the world reknown Grand Hotel. For me it was an adventure because it was a spur-of-the-moment decision.

It’s something I’m not likely to repeat anytime soon, but boy, was it an adventure!

A few years ago I “glamped” in an old camper for adventure. I reveled in the silence on the private lake and loved watching the full moon rise through the trees. The crackle of a warm fire as the night became cold was nothing short of enchanting.

And even though the camper was on land owned by a friend, it was an adventure for me. It forced me to step out of my day-to-day routine, and see things in a slightly different way.

Even commonplace activities can be adventures. For me, going to the local thrift store is fun. It’s a little different every time, and I never know what I’ll find.

What little adventures do you have in your everyday life?

How can pull yourself out of the mundane to experience enchantment?

What steps can you take to honor the spirit of adventure this year?