ISAAC GEORGE

by Isaac George

June 20th 2014

"There is some kiss we want with our whole lives, the touch
of Spirit on the body." - Rumi


I am feeling Love’s touch upon my heart…a nudging, a longing, a call to follow without question or concern…what it is that I yearn for, dream about…ache for.  There is no cure…only bland prescriptions that offer temporary relief of the symptoms.  Love melts away all that is unlike itself. It is a hard teacher sometimes, demanding that the absolute best in our souls stands revealed and utterly alive. To be this alive will require much…will demand much.

Love will ask us to sacrifice knowledge in order to acquire wisdom. It will tease us and say “You can only know me if you let go of your arrogance, your preconceptions!”  If we are stubborn or afraid, Love, like an underground river, will erode away that resistance without our even being aware of it. One day, our faulty foundations will collapse into the torrent below, and we will fall into it, thinking at the time it may be the end of our hopes and aspirations…or even the end of our lives. Actually, it will be only the end of our false dreams and projections.

Love…how do you find it? You don’t...it finds you!

When you least expect it, and usually after you’ve resigned yourself to what has become routine and familiar in your lifestyle, there will be a surprise, or a shock…and that’s it, the transformation begins.  When you are looking for love, you may only be following your projections. For a time, you will believe in your projections, and only experience a taste of Love. These projections are accumulated experiences of when you never felt loved, or were denied love, or lost love in some traumatic or horrid experience.  Love is innocence, and when our innocence has been violated by another, the scars that form are hardened against Love, even though they were created to be a shield against further pain and loss.

Love doesn’t knock on your front door, come in for tea, and then escape out the bathroom window in the middle of the night. Love is inherently the same thing we have come to call Life. Life comes from Love, Love permeates Life. It doesn’t come and go. What it does seem to do within the human experience is to flow and ebb according to its own needs, and the deepest needs of Her Children…which is, of course, every life in the Cosmos. Those needs are only hinted at within our limited perception of “I need this”, or “I need that” in order to be fulfilled and happy. Those needs point to the deepest parts of our heart space, where the secrets of our Soul reside. It is in that place the Love arises to stir the longings, and through passion and desire, it destroys what no longer serves and creates something unique and new. We are called to sit with our needs, and follow them inward so that we can glimpse the yearning in our Soul, which comes from Love.

The redemptive power of Love is often seen as something to be achieved and once it has been formalized by ritual and promises, it is hoped that it will stay tame, behave well, and meet one’s needs and expectations. Even Love can become a goal - revealed through meditation, prayer, ritual, Tantra or deep relationship negotiations, i.e., “working on our relationship”.  All of these forms are useful tools or skills for uncovering our hidden patterns and wounds, but they are but offerings to be laid on the altar of Love, to eventually be laid aside in the fire of direct knowing of who we are.

What Love will always do is to provide you with a way to open to that which is unexplored and unexpected within you. It will never conform to my idea or your idea of what it is, how it will behave, or what its deeper purpose is for us. From a purely spiritual or metaphysical perspective, I could describe the archetype of Love as God, or Goddess, or Spirit, or Universal Oneness, or some such label. Those who have approached Love via the mental or abstract spiritual paths and disciplines have named Her “Presence” or “Consciousness” – the All That Is. The philosophies that espouse this approach touch certain parts of the face of Love, while avoiding the more chaotic or passionate aspects. Too much of that is not welcome, for it disturbs the hard-won tranquillity of the mind. However, Love is Eros, and will not be limited by human perception.

Love is about bliss, tranquility, intimacy, closeness, nurturing, patience, telepathic communication and synchronicity. It is also about passion, creative potential, wildness, fierceness, and dissolution. What Love is not trying to do is to keep things safe and predictable. If we truly believe that Love is the inherent “stuff” of Life, then there is no constant except change itself, or evolution if you will.

Looking for Love in the arena of human relationships is one of the most promising and confounding things about the times we currently live in. No matter what is happening on the world stage, all one has to do to take the pulse of humanity is to look around and see how many books, magazine articles, blogs, websites, workshops and counseling services are devoted to the realm of relationship and sexuality. Tantra and sacred sexuality practices and seminars strive to restore our faith in human relationships and the bonding between couples via an ever more desperate search for more bliss, intimacy, ecstasy or novelty. Open relationships, polyamory and other paths are being offered to guarantee our experience of Love as a constant in our lives, while the crisis of trying to find Love continues to elude many who strive to grow beyond their conditioned understanding of human relationships.

We are at a crossroads…and we now need to understand something that Love has been trying to teach us for a long time. We won’t find and keep Love in a box.  It’s time to throw away the box.

What do I mean by this? Well, have you ever “fallen in love” with someone? If you could put that moment into a projector, and slow it way down, what is your first and most powerful memory of this experience?  How did it feel?  What went through your body, and specifically, your chest area? When the experience of “being in love” progressed, what stages did you notice? Did you think about “the Other” a whole lot of the time? Did you feel invincible? Did you feel happy? Did you suddenly notice how colours were brighter, how food tasted different, how beautiful and extraordinary the ordinary had become?  

Did you feel utterly ALIVE?

Well, if you said yes to any of these questions, you have been touched by Love.  Love unhinges us from the familiar, and we become obsessed with feeling deeply again.

Love also contains the following ingredients:  infatuation, pheromones, subconscious projection, and energy merging via the subtle bodies (etheric, psychic, etc.). These are the fractal aspects of the kaleidoscope of Love. We need to be aware of these ingredients for they form a complex set of variables that will differ from one person to the next. However, it is not helpful to condemn them or marginalize their importance to the overall purpose that Love has.  We are capable of using these phenomena to grow beyond our conditioning and experience more freedom and love.

Love will also destabilize situations that have become unresolvable, so that any crystalized patterns in each person are upended, and the individual soul can reconnect to its Core principle and begin to evolve again. It is essential that the Soul be included in any form of cognitive therapy, Tantric practices, or relationship negotiations. To exclude the Soul is to again avoid the origins of our deepest dreams and purposes.

Love is The Mirror. When the projections have burned away, and we are confronted with our true nature, and the reality of the other human being in front of us, we have a mirror that is two-way and very clear. We enter into exalted states that may be buffeted by the harshness of daily life, but then, in just a few moments of being with the other, we may return to our true selves. There is a gaze that is soul-to-soul, which communicates without words. Two human beings who are in this state of resonance see their own soul through the eyes of the other soul, and understand and accept each other without effort. Work turns into play, conflict becomes play, differences are harmonized…because Love is ever-present, and ever welcome.  The illusion of a separate ‘self’ that needs to control, be totally sovereign and ruggedly individualistic gives way to a new type of relationship. One that is completely interdependent and allowing.  Each is complete, and yet more complete when symbiotically aligned. Dreams dreamt by these dreamers become real through a natural cooperation that escapes articulation.

The box dissolves…and is forgotten, because in finding Love, and being found by Love, there is nothing left to look for. Love always finds itself.


Next Issue: “Finding Love Part 2: The Nature and Purpose of Attraction”


 Copyright © 1999-2014 Isaac George 

All Rights Reserved. Interested parties may freely distribute via the Internet for private use only. Permission for any other use (reprints and publications) is henceforth automatically granted, provided all appropriate credits with contact information are provided. Thank you for your consideration.

The Cardinal Grand Cross - April 23rd 2014
by Isaac George

“In the beginning was the thing.  And one thing led to another” - Tom Robbins ("Half Asleep In Frog Pajamas")

This may or may not be one of those dates in our times that we look back upon, point to and say, “Well, that was something else!”  After the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 was over and done, one British journalist called it “That Was the Week That Was.”  Perhaps these eight days could be dubbed “The Pressure Cooker” as it contains so many powerful aspects that it is easy to miss the details with so much steam boiling around the senses.

In order to interpret the energies of this extended week, I must ask the reader to be patient with the chronology, as well as the analysis.  As best as possible, I will describe the potent potentialities from a completely human and planetary feeling, rather than under the glare of cold intellect.  There is nothing either fluffy nor intellectual about this alignment and the contrast of the celestial Archetypes.  I’d advise all who read this to conduct a thorough gut check.  Regardless of the date of this publication, many of us have been quite aware, psychically, of the energy that’s been building since late February.   

A Grand What?

In astrological parlance, a Grand Cross is created when there are four planets each positioned 90° (called a Square aspect) apart from each other and at the same degree across the four astrological elements (Fire, Earth, Air, and Water).   This also creates a pair of Oppositions of two planets 180° apart.   Visualize a circle with a cross inscribed in the center and connect the points along the outer rim of the circle.

Focus, Focus

Even though the complete development of this configuration occurs over a period of eight days, there are three primary days on which it is most potent.  Although all life forms on Earth are affected by the electromagnetics of planetary and celestial movements, each individual will invariably interpret the experience through their own unique filters and perceptions.  Therefore, I will speak in general terms regarding the possible effects or manifestations of this configuration.  It’s like doing a reading for the entire Planet, as if it were the client and we are just the mites on her clothes…which, admittedly, is a bad analogy. 

So, the focus will be on a planetary scale, then the possible impacts in our personal universes and, lastly, the big deal of how this Grand Cross may affect the most powerful nation on Earth…the United States of America. For surely, whatever will affect America will affect the rest of the world.

The Astrological Cast of Characters:

Uranus at 13 degrees plus of Aries (Cardinal Fire)
Jupiter at 13 degrees plus of Cancer (Cardinal Water)
Mars at 13 degrees plus of Libra – Retrograde (Cardinal Air)
Pluto at 13 degrees plus of Capricorn – Retrograde (Cardinal Earth)

Cardinal Signs – means to lead, to show the way, to initiate something. 
Keywords – starting anew, creation, change, to aim or turn in new directions.

Day 1 – April 15th

This is a real laugher…but only if you’re an American citizen and still feel you must fill out a tax return.  This is Tax Filing Day in the USA, but is also the day of a powerful Lunar Eclipse with the Moon in Libra and the Sun in Aries, which may just spark off some revolutionary fervour in the subterranean landscape of the American psyche.   

The scales (Libra) are way out of balance between the haves and have nots, as the highest percentage of tax burden in the U.S. falls upon the middle class, while the lowest contribution comes from the top 1% income bracket.  Social Services are under increasing strain to provide for a record number of people on various forms of government support, which in turn are funded from taxpayer contributions or heavy Federal borrowing.  On top of that, corporate tax contributions have dwindled as more and more multinational corporations shelter their wealth offshore. 

With fiery trouble-maker Uranus parked in the sign of Aries, this may become a lit fuse in the months and years ahead, and take the form of tax protests or even non-compliance and challenges in the courts.  Something’s got to give!

Note: April 28-29th is another point to be aware of, as there will be a Solar Eclipse at 6:13am UT. The Sun and Moon will station at 8 degrees of Taurus. I’ll speak to this in a future blog if I feel it warrants further exploration.

Day 2 – April 21st

Jupiter, like all astrological Planets (with the exception of the Sun and Moon), undergoes a period of “retrograde” motion during which it seems to stop and retrace its steps across the sky and then return to its direct motion. April 21st is the day that Jupiter arrives at 13° 39” minutes of Cancer for the final time, exactly conjoining and activating the USA Sun. 

Uranus, at 13° 34” Aries and Mars at 13° 31” Libra form almost exact Squares (90° angle) with that same USA Natal Sun position, while Pluto completes the pattern at 13° 34” Capricorn opposing that very same American Sun position…but with one important difference – Pluto is now retrograde.  This occurrs the day before the eclipse on April 14th. Remember, retrogrades mean a turning inward - self-examination.

The challenge from Uranus is that “…change not chosen from within, will be imposed from without.”  Revolution or calamity from unexpected quarters is the result of hegemony, hubris and pride.  Jupiter just expands this tension and Mars urges action while issuing this “in your face” very Plutonic challenge: “Power is illusory and fleeting.  Nurturing and true compassion must replace the tendency to smother your children...all in the name of security (fear).”

Day 3 - April 23rd, 2014                                                                                                                        
Okay, this is the main event for 2014.  Everything else unfolds from this point (and the ringing leftover from the Lunar Eclipse eight days prior).   

The chart shown here is calculated for London under Universal Time (UT). Click on image to enlarge.

Regardless of your perception or understanding of astrology, my experience with major transits that encompass the global situation is that something always happens before, during or after a major alignment such as this one.   Many astrologers (including yours truly) have painstakingly examined major historical events or long-term cycles and have seen how they are both instigated and mirrored by the energies in astrology.  In recent times, the Saturn-Pluto opposition that occurred just prior to the event we know as 9/11 (September 11th, 2001) and the economic meltdown of 2007-2008 (Pluto ingresses into the sign of Capricorn), and the Japanese earthquake, tsunami and subsequent nuclear disaster at Fukushima in 2011 (Uranus ingresses into Aries – March 11th, 2011) are all excellent examples of these processes.  (Click here to read an example I blogged about a while back.)

What is most personal about this chart is that it will be like a gun going off at the beginning of a horserace.  If you have the Sun or any planets or angles (Ascendant, Descendent, MidHeaven, or I.C.) within 3-6 degrees of the position of each of our cast of characters (see above), then you are like a thoroughbred chafing at the bit to get going with whatever is in direct alignment for your Soul and your life purpose.  This will involve a letting go or falling away of whatever it is that no longer works or that you want for you in your experience, but the primary energy is one of new directions and new beginnings.  The pressure cooker of the past three to six months will start to ease off after this point. 

Since Uranus pulls the trigger on the whole Grand Cross, it is nigh impossible to predict every contingency or permutation. Remaining in a state of openness, or expectancy, will be a more sensible response to the pressures involved than trying to screw yourself up as if you’re trying to avoid a blow.  Lightning strikes when you’re not looking for it, and with Uranus in Aries, activated and expanded by Jupiter in Cancer, expect lightning to strike the waters and churn up lots of steam and thunderheads! Decisions will have to be made, and striking out in new directions will be initiated. Trying to maintain the status quo will only increase the tension, and the pain. Don’t resist, and there will be fewer dramas and traumas!

The main personal themes will include your personal relationships and relationship dynamics, finances, home and security, and the level or quality of individual freedom.   There will be an edgy knowing that it is time to be living your destiny, or allowing your destiny to live through you!  This requires imagination, a sense of adventure (even when the butterflies are buzzing in your belly) and a willingness to chart your own course.  And, anyone who tries to stand in your way may have a rough time of it.

However, the humbling caution here is to remember that these astrological archetypes, as represented by various Greek or Roman names, are bigger than all of us, and operate like living entities via the collective or shared consciousness of humanity. Therefore, what is yours to be and do, is both a self-selective process that invites you to participate with the planetary consciousness, with Mother Gaia.   So in one respect, the celestial ‘characters’ in our human journey are expressing their attributes through the human experience, which then influences our individual and collective choices, and also contributes to the totality of the vision of this world as a sentient Being…which connects us to everything that is.

On a collective and global level, this Cardinal Grand Cross is just 1/7th of a process that began in 2011-12 which started a cycle of seven squares between Pluto and Uranus.  One of the Plutonian aspects is that of the Lord of Death, so many things we have either cherished or invested in, no matter what culture or country we reside in, will be falling away to make room for Uranian re-evolution and innovation.  This journey began when Pluto entered Capricorn in 2008, precipitating the financial meltdowns that occurred over the next three years.  Perhaps the seven squares represent the activation and cleansing of the seven collective chakras in the shared unconscious.  That may be stretching things a bit far symbolically, no matter how much one wants to connect dots.

It will be necessary to remain open to the truth that there is only one constant we may rely upon…the constant of change.  Lightning will strike, wherever and whenever our divine design deems it necessary to awaken us from our slumbers or delusions.  Uranus in Aries is this species clarion call for the collective kundalini awakening, which heralds the return of the Divine Feminine in equanimity and balance with the Sacred Masculine. Shakti rises to activate and meet Shiva. The Earth awakens to shake the foundations of the powers of patriarchy and confound and dissolve the structures of oppression that have enslaved humankind for almost 10,000 years.

To complete this analysis, I must conclude with a more comprehensive analysis on how this alignment may affect the USA.  It is a geopolitical, cultural and economic fact of our era that whatever occurs to, or with, the United States of America affects the entire global experience…for good or ill.  The Cardinal Grand Cross of April 23rd will alter the course of America, but in exactly what way I cannot predict. 

I have used the commonly accepted natal chart for the U.S. which is July 4th, 1776 at 5:10pm in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The exactness of the main planetary characters of this Grand Cross to the USA Natal Sun is quite remarkable.


Having personally experienced transiting Pluto opposing my natal Sun in Cancer for the last two years, it is apparent that the very national identity of the America is in the crosshairs.  Jupiter exactly conjoins the USA Sun degree, while Pluto exactly opposes it.  This identity crisis is expanded by the effect of Jupiter to expand or exaggerate, and since the U.S.Sun is in Cancer, Pluto will rightly be asking “who do you think you are?” 

Is America supposed to be the world’s policeman, demanding compliance to its wishes and whims, all the while maintaining the attitude of superiority and smothering any culture or people it deems to threaten her national interests? This is the shadow persona of America’s Cancer Sun, the patriarch Saturn ruling Capricorn, Cancer’s opposite. Perhaps there will be an epic shift in the principles on which America was founded, a shift that returns it to the best in its roots, but also a shift in which that which is archaic and outmoded is finally done away with. The USA's Cancer Sun archetype seeks to invite, embrace and nurture those who've been oppressed. This is the core identity of America, before it became co-opted.

Meanwhile, Uranus in Aries opposed by Mars in Libra (retrograde) will be demanding a major course correction of the direction of this nation. If no action is initiated by either the citizens of the U.S., or by its governmental structures and those hidden behind the scenes that pull the strings, then there may be consequences not foreseen by anyone. With Mars in the U.S. house of career/profession, and Uranus in the 4th House of familial identity, tradition and history, the tension will be focusing on how economic resources are distributed for the mutual benefit of all. Continuing the current economic model will be unwise. The response to the continuation of ‘business as usual’, the way Wall Street and the banksters want to keep it, may be a popular movement similar to Occupy Wall Street. But with Mars and Pluto both retrograde, and Uranus and Jupiter dominant, the reaction may become chaotic or even violent at times. This depends on the strength of the mask of Plutonian authority, and how far those in power are willing to go to preserve their game.  As in the game of golf, someone on the team may be playing with a handicap.  In this case it is Pluto and Mars who are paired up, both with -10 handicaps.  Uranus and Jupiter will be busy trashing the greens and tearing up the fairways…IF, there is no meaningful change of direction. If America is to survive in some form it must alter its entrenched perceptions, and move towards an Earth-friendly and egalitarian consciousness of mutual cooperation with the other nations and peoples of this world. 

This is the challenge to America…grow up or diminish.  If it does diminish, its fall may be more spectacular than that of the Roman Empire. But that may still take a hundred years…or more.

Now, I must admit that this is all being said through my interpretive filters, and none of the above may happen, or some unforeseen lightning strike, perhaps another 9/11 style event, may cause the correction to occur, or at least begin.  Whichever way it plays out, something WILL happen…and it will probably be quite a surprise or even a shock.  With Saturn retrograding in Scorpio, the potential for a whole pot of scandals to come to the boil and blow the lid off may be a distinct possibility…a wild card in the hand of the Fates.

Don’t Panic! (A Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On…)

The good news is that the dolphins are still here (a nod to Douglas Adams).  I wish there was a "Hitchhikers Guide to the Earth" though and that for each and every situation we could quickly look up a solution or meaning to some event and feel more okay about it all. 

As I am finishing this blog, I have been noticing the recent increase in geological disturbances around the fabled Ring of Fire (please click here, here and here for recaps of most recent activity). This region covers the entire Pacific Rim, and of late, the west coasts of the Americas have been heating up. Yellowstone, Los Angeles, Chile and now Panama have been rocked in a very short time span. Volcanic activity started picking up a few weeks ago, and the theory of traveling volcanism as a harbinger of earthquake activity has always seemed to have been born out…at least in my experience. Could some major geological event be the trigger that galvanizes the United States, or the world?  It happened in Indonesia in 2004 and in Japan in 2011. Lightning striking…again? Only time will tell. With the power in the Lunar Eclipse on April 15th centered in this Grand Cross, anything is possible.

Regarding the possible rumblings or eruptions in your own body or personal world, I recommend that self-care will be essential, as well as being available to those in your periphery who are perhaps facing difficult challenges or decisions at this time.  If you are a counsellor or body-worker, then you might be experiencing an increase of clients who are 'in crises' over the past three months. This will continue to peak over the next two weeks and on into May.

For yourself: Take a little time apart from others. Go for a walk in nature, or have a sea salt or Epsom salt baths with essential oils like lavender, frankincense or geranium. Take a walk in nature daily, or earth yourself by placing your bare feet in contact with the grass, sandy beaches or even a cement sidewalk. A friend of mine recently shared that she found it incredibly nurturing to roll herself up in a duvet, like a bug in a rug, and just self-cuddle. I haven't tried this yet, but it sounds good!

For others: When others are stressing out, remember to breathe and ground into your own center. Then attempt to be present for them. Just the art of listening to what someone else is going through, without trying to fix them or offer advice, can be healing for the other person in and of itself. If there is a serious emotional or psychological issue, encourage the individual towards counselling (I recommend more holistic forms, like transpersonal psychotherapy or psychosynthesis.) or perhaps somatic (body) work that addresses emotional stresses. Sometimes, just sharing a hug or holding someone in pain will do the trick.

Our bodies are constantly processing not only our individual stresses, but those in the collective experience. Some folks are also sensitive enough to mirror the tectonic and geological stresses on a planetary level. In varying ways, we are each other’s 'keeper', and although the Uranus in Aries archetype exalts the concept of individuation, it doesn't not reduce or supplant the real need we have for companionship and community. Libra is the complementary opposite, and asks that we embrace our uniqueness and also the uniqueness in the 'other'. See them for who they are, and what they reflect back to will be their inherent beauty, and not your idea of who they are.

When the Earth moves, let us embrace each other.

“Breaking Up is Hard to Do”

I have been getting a longer range sense of what this energy of April 2013 may be defining for us as a species. We may be starting to go through a split...a split that is a foundation shift from the old patriarchal order to be sure, and that will also include a spiritual/psychic split of some kind.

The human race can begin a return to the higher wisdom of Nature, which the Gnostic philosophers identified as the “Sophianic Vision” (Sophia is the Wisdom Goddess). This is a vision of how we may experience ourselves as thriving, cooperating and co-creating together, or the current direction may well continue to fragment human beings into isolation via technology and environmental degradation. In one way, our technology has shown us our collective mind, but in so doing, we have lost sight of the fact that it is merely an externalized example of the connection we possess with each other already, and with the planet we all reside upon. The Internet is the outward manifestation of our natural telepathic and empathic connection that is inherent to us as a species...our neural network made visible. This differs from 'hive mind', or artificial intelligence, because that is an inorganic model that demands conformity based on forms of hierarchy.

Therefore, I feel that we are at a significant crossroads at this time, and that this celestial event has something to say to all of us about our conditioned beliefs and our bad habits, individually and as a species.  Some of us will choose the former road, choosing to reunite with our humanity, Nature and Mother Earth, which is naturally loving, generous and presents us with an immense potential to thrive and live harmoniously within the biosphere and with all of Life, including the wider Cosmos.  Some may continue in the other direction, into cyberspace, trans-humanism and further disconnection from the human soul – the 'nous' that is our divine gift. This is an evolutionary dead-end.

If we gain the necessary wisdom soon, we will be able to place our technologies into a higher order of service to our humanity and in harmony with our planet.  In my heart, I feel that the majority of us are responding to the call of our roots, which are sourced in the divine and also very, very human.  This is where a heaven on Earth may be created…this is where we are now, with this spark of divine intelligence and with these bodies, on this planet. We cannot escape to somewhere more magical or more magnificent.  It is here that we belong.  And yes, through our bodies and our souls, and through this living planet, we are eternally connected to everything.

It’s here, all inside of us AND outside of us.  Embrace both perspectives as already one, and the illusion of separation vanishes like smoke.

The spiritual warrior archetype, so exemplified in Uranus in Aries, now challenges us to take our next steps courageously, and with a warrior's sense of adventure. However, this time, we are all spiritual warriors who are watching out for each other’s welfare. We are in this thing together...and wherever that thing leads to next, will depend on the breadth of our imagination, and how we act to embody our vision. May we choose wisely.

Peace,
Isaac George

For those of you are interested in a full animated visual of the astronomical relationships that astrology is based on, then click on this link to view this fascinating animated feature showing the Earth, the other planets in our Solar System, and the constellations of the Zodiac. http://www.solarsystemscope.com

Free download of charts below.

by Isaac George

November 26th, 2013

I travelled to London earlier this month to attend the Gateways of the Mind Conference* on consciousness, lucid dreaming, shamanism and out-of-body experiences.  The line-up of presenters was impressive, and the venue was quite impressive as well. Up until mid-October I had actually not committed to going, and only some arm-twisting by the organizers at the 11th hour convinced me to actually attend. And boy, I am ever glad I did.

The whole adventure was transformed into a pilgrimage based on intuitive trust and timing. Once I had committed to going, everything I sought to employ for my needs fell into place almost without effort.  From being offered place to stay in a private home near the venue, and acquiring very inexpensive airline and ground transportation, I watched as everything else unfolded in a ‘just as needed’ fashion, I was treated to one of the most extraordinary shamanic – style sojourns of my life.  My very first experience of London was in 1973, and although I’ve visited there since that time, none of the ones previous to this one equalled the first time…and this one was quite magical.

Lest I turn this into some kind of shamanic travelogue, I’ll get to the main point. I found something even more profoundly touching than the mere symbols in the environment that I was in alignment with my soul’s deepest desire.  I experienced a rebirth, a reconnection to that part of my being that is the most lucid, and the most loving.  This experience reconnected me with the amazing and miraculous stuff from my kundalini awakening nineteen years ago. I experienced the extraordinary “wow” of becoming a channel, even as I was going through an intense healing process. I rediscovered what is was like to dance with it all which led me to a few moments of total lucidity that I can only be describe as ‘unity’ awareness…union with God while still remaining completely human.

I also reclaimed the childlike part of me that lived very close to Nature while growing up on a farm in my youth, and those times when as an adult in which I sought the solace I needed by hugging a tree, or watching the ocean’s waves, until the heart pains were washed away in the absolute wonder of it all. I began to understand the purpose of the wilderness that I’d been wandering in for the past 10 years, exploring and questioning many of the experiences I'd been through, acquiring and weighing new information, and trying to understand what direction my work and life needed to go in.  In other words…I’d been waiting for a sign of some kind…a moment of perception and clarity that would be completely compelling and unmistakable. I wanted another ‘calling’ to my soul, beckoning me into the next adventure.  And, even though I might fear letting go of the known, it is definitely the desire for freedom and authenticity that is giving me the courage to step into who I have always been.  I was totally Isaac and also 'the everything.’  As Ariel kept saying over and over again through me for years, “…it’s a ‘both/and’ scenario, not and ‘either/or’ one!”  You don’t get it until you GET IT!  I get it now.

Since returning home last week, I am experiencing some essential deprogramming.  Many control programs, self-judgments, spiritual rules (and human ones!), acquired or force-fed beliefs and conditioned patterns are falling away.  Yes, this is painful at times, but when one of these layers is spotted, and the tears begin to flow, the ecstasy comes in to validate and heal on an ‘as needed and just in time’ basis, just like my London journey.  Other physical symptoms like dizziness and shaking happen, and then are replaced by a new sense of solidity. The most pronounced sensation is that of an open and curious heart…eager to love and to also just plain ‘be’.  Ariel called it "effortless efforting." I like that…and it is a good reminder to approach the most challenging tasks with an attitude of playfulness, or at least complete attentiveness. The trick is to be deeply aware as much as possible without becoming transpersonal or detached from the moment.

So many of those I encounter, whether they be clients, fellow seekers, or just regular folks in my daily life, are looking for something unique, something that can lift the tension, anxiety, fear or sense of loneliness that seems to be their constant companion.  Sometimes it is lovely to read the accounts of some people who are seemingly so plugged into the flow of magic, and  that their lives are working so well. Unfortunately, we compare our experience with theirs, and think we’ve somehow not studied enough, cleared enough karma, gotten rid of enough ego, prayed enough, meditated enough, done enough yoga, altered our diet enough, or not attended the right workshops or read the right books, or found the right spiritual teacher, shaman or guru…yet. Endless, this self-improvement gig, isn't it?  When does the striving stop? When we become finders instead of seekers?

Actually, this entire perspective of comparing our consciousness with others is just another adopted system that is controlling our minds, and preventing authentic experience from entering in naturally. It’s just that it seems so damn hard to not compare ourselves to someone else, or to a particular philosophy, spiritual or metaphysical system.  We want the Big Juice, the feel-good formula that all these things promise, but they only seem to deliver in short bursts or not at all.  I used to believe in “ascension or bust”, but not any longer. I can’t afford the cost, the toll it takes on my humanity and my soul.

Our thoughts are not a problem. We have been told our thoughts or the process of thinking is a spiritual problem which keeps us separate from God. Without our minds we would be unable to function in this world, and many of the skills we take for granted would be unavailable to us. Our minds are part of us.

Our bodies are not a problem. We’ve accepted how religions have demonized our bodies, creating shame, guilt and self-hatred and an impediment to spiritual growth. A house divided against itself cannot stand.

Our passions and feelings are not the problem.  Repression, sublimation or detaching from our deep feelings, desires and passion is a bigger problem that leads to distorted perceptions and behaviours.

Our ego is not our enemy. It is the vehicle through which Life discovers and expresses unique individuation as you, me, and everything else too.

Even certain negative emotions can bring us into awareness and action. Anger, frustration, lust, or even hatred, when experienced while remaining aware and grounded, may actually create solutions. For example, when your boundaries have been violated, anger can be the means to defend yourself. This doesn’t have to supersede your ability to love, or the perception of Love. By establishing healthy boundaries, you may actually call that an act of love…towards self and towards the one pushing your buttons.  None of these emotions can make you a hateful person, unless you become totally lost in it. Exploring our shadow side and loving it can integrate and empower you towards wholeness and appropriate action.

Even pleasure is not a problem. It is our yearning for touch that connects us to the manifested spiritual energy all around us…especially the miracle of our own bodies. There is infinite healing and tenderness when we caress the face of a lover, or stroke a beloved pet, or receive a foot rub, enjoy a favourite food, or indulge in sex without shame or reserve. Nature doesn’t blush. But our species has learned to do that through eons of hurt and shame... usually from religious or spiritual ‘authorities’. It is through touch that our hearts realize the reality of love, comfort and belonging in the manifest world.

Even as my heart and soul revel in this experience of opening and expansion, I am still aware that all is not harmonious or healthy on our planet, our Mother.  All that I’ve been exploring during the past ten years has not been made redundant in the light of my deeper knowing. If anything, now it is balanced and complementary. As Isaac, I am both/and a human and part of the great ocean of Spirit/Consciousness/God.  I am part of this Mother Earth, the Sun, the core of our Galaxy, while at the same time I am the Great Mystery. We are all that…and probably more. To not lose our sense of awe about the nature of existence while staying completely human is what Life is. We can either stay unconscious in our human experience, or we can awaken to our deeper nature without trying to isolate ourselves from our humanity.  Remember: Both/And. Not Either/Or.

There are people and forces in this world who are actively striving to prevent the mass awakening of Consciousness, this reconnection to the original human being, or as the Gnostics identified it - Anthropos. No matter how you might try to rationalize it, since the beginnings of the New Age movement and what I will term dis-identification with the world of human feelings and realities, the situation has grown progressively precarious and dangerous.  Anyone who looks around at what is happening today, right now, and calls it okay is in serious denial, or worse.  We cannot escape our responsibility to actually stand up for justice, fairness, and the rights of all living beings here, and to stand against the predatory and psychopathic behaviours that have manifested in our political, corporate, religious and social institutions. If we are to accept the challenge of these times, then we are all going to have to redefine our spiritual perceptions. Our survival, the survival of many species, and even the survival of Gaia(Earth) is hanging in the balance. That is exactly why we are here and in this Now.  Gaia has awakened, and we as Her children are awakening with her. This awakening is happening from the Galactic Core outward into the spiral arms, where we are.

One thing’s for sure, there isn’t going to be any rescue from space or from other dimensions. Recently the astrologer Tom Lescher made a quip worth sharing; “We’re descended masters!”  Turns the whole paradigm on its head, but I wouldn’t get too carried away with the idea. As one of my favourite authors, Tom Robbins, once wrote, “be your own UFO, rescue yourself.”  We demonstrate our true mastery by loving our wholeness.

What will the best that is in us do? What will become of us? What’s going to happen next? Frankly, even though I study astrology and prophecy, I just don’t know. That’s the best part…I don’t have a clue. If we really knew, would there even be an effort to get out of bed tomorrow morning?  That is also part of the awe I feel at this moment…it’s like approaching the first hill on a roller coaster. "Yikes" and "Yippee" all rolled into One!

What do you or I want next? Will this or that happen…or not happen? I…don’t…have…any…idea.  Maybe that’s okay. I can certainly desire and intend and will for my desires to become reality. This does work, but there’s also a better way that allows for the magic and miracles to flow into us and through us. It’s called trust. Desire to your heart’s content, then let go and see what happens with it. Another way to use will and intention without trying to bend material reality to your bidding is to play with lucid dreaming. I’m no expert on this, but there’s a wealth of knowledge already available to discover more about how this technique can strongly influence your daily experience in a positive way.

The bottom line is that the best in us is our humanity and what it connects us to. We’re warm and loving, a bit crazy and neurotic. We’re scared and we’re capable of amazing and courageous things. We are a pile of paradoxes…which is just as it should be, because that’s the way it is. We’d do well to stop resisting ourselves!

When we embrace all of ourselves, we begin to touch the most profound secrets of our deep Nature…the intangible thing that connects us all. We realize it when we love another for no other reason other than because we do...and there's no explanation for it. We realize it when we spontaneously love our pets or children, Nature, or even our food and creature comforts. We enter into love whenever we cross the line and demand our freedom, or defend the right of another soul to be free. We are Love when we embrace and express the best in us.

That best is everything that you are, here and now.  For me, perhaps that’s just perfect.

With gratitude,
Isaac

*For more information about Gateways of the Mind, click here.

Isaac offers spiritual coaching and astrological consultations via internationally.  He is also an authorized representative for Phi Harmonics EnergyDOTs, effective and provenprotection from EMF radiation and geopathic stress.

Email: archariel@hotmail.com
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By Isaac George

October 26th, 2013

Autumn is arriving in the Northern Hemisphere. Wet leaves are falling here in Ireland, and the smell of decaying vegetation and the wan light that filters through the clouds all confirm it. Halloween is just around the corner, also known as Hallowmas, and if you live in certain Latin countries, it is time for the three day celebration of the ‘Day of the Dead’.  Time to dig the woolly jumpers and Wellington boots out of the trunks or closets, and make sure our heating systems and chimney flues are ready. After all, to quote a now popular meme, “…winter is coming.”

Another response to the cool and damper conditions is the sense of needing to feel cosy and warm, so if we are in a relationship, the desire for closeness is accentuated.  Besides the obvious thermal advantages, it is the feeling of connection and protection that we crave. When we’re drawn closer to others of our own kind, whether it is one person or an extended family, everything can feel brighter and better. Even the growing number of people who prefer the single life and do not have a live-in companion will also feel this, and I am sure that they will seek to engage in more social activities, and take advantage of any opportunity to snuggle up with someone. Cuddle parties are becoming more popular. Not surprising…and no matter which hemisphere on Mother Earth you reside in, there’s more than just a change of the seasons behind it.

Human beings are highly social creatures, and even though the sense of being an individual has been part of the development of the human experience for thousands of years, in our pre-conscious state that existed long before the invention of agriculture, economies, city states, countries and nations, we were pretty much living symbiotically with the natural surroundings and within the context of a clan or tribal community.  Our sense of ‘self’ was inexorably connected to the sense of ‘us’, and we shared a mutual concern for food, shelter, health, companionship and safety in uncertain conditions. Since the advent of our brief sojourn into an industrial-technological society, the rise of individualism has given way to an artificial tribal identity via the global communications network. Corporate identities carry more weight in our consciousness than thinking that we are related to flesh and blood counterparts. This artificial sense of ‘us’ is replicated continually in social media, sports and entertainment archetypes (reality television shows, major sports teams, serialized dramas, etc.), and is constantly spun by politicians to reinforce and intellectual and emotional dominance nationally, regionally and even globally (i.e. ‘…a coalition of civilized nations’)

However we view our virtual interconnectedness, we still are denied one thing through our electronic mediums. The innate human need to give and receive touch remains an elusive factor in cyberspace, and in fact, it will never be simulated there successfully.  Even if it is technologically feasible to create the simulation of kinetic contact, there is no circuit or programming that can replicate the consciousness that is behind the touch. This power of tactile communication is something our species is now yearning for, and indeed, if we are to survive as a species, we must satisfy in some way. We’ve been starving for it, while wondering through the digital desert landscape.

The growing popularity of tantric workshops, massage and somatic therapies, and the relative newcomer on the scene – the cuddle party, is evidence of how many are seeking to re-establish the neural connections that respond to touch. I first experienced non-demanding touch while attending a weekend workshop called ‘Naka Ima’, which translated from Japanese means “inside the now.”  All of the support staff cuddled with the attendees almost all weekend.  It was incredibly supportive when we were going through our rough bits.

There are many kinds of touch, and many kinds of physical manipulation, that can offer us a sense of connection or even provide healing from mental, emotional or physical traumas. Some may feel that touch cannot do what it’s being advertised to do, that is, replace traditional therapies or reinforce the standard societal bonding systems. Touch is discouraged in the clinical environment to avoid the possibility of transference of affections from a client to the therapist. Incidental touch, touch that is not part of a typical routine in the course of a therapeutic massage is routinely discouraged, for much the same reasons, though I feel it is more a part of the social taboos we’ve erected to respect boundaries. After I moved to Scotland, I discovered the ‘towel dance’ in which the massage practitioner was constantly readjusting and repositioning the towels covering parts of the body not being massaged.  Not wanting to see too much flesh, and be tempted by it, was probably the rationale. This kind of massage was, as you can imagine, not as enjoyable as what I was used to in the more laid-back environs of Eugene, Oregon.

Out of our five physical senses, the sense of touch possesses some unique characteristics. The many reported and purported cases of spontaneous healing conferred from human being to another usually happened through the medium of touch. Religious and spiritual ceremonies and initiations almost always involve touch at some point in the process. This includes Reiki initiations, baptisms, the gifting of Shaktipat, and other forms of activating an aspirant’s inner spiritual awakening.  Touch combined with an understanding of energy and sensitivity, and administered with love, can literally erase many traumas, especially those traumas that remain from sexual abuse.

In the realm of sacred (conscious) sexuality, of which Tantra is but a part, the power of touch to open and heal a human being from the main conditioned responses that have been learned through shame, guilt and judgment. Some of the forms that have come forward for dealing with these deeply held patterns are designed to heal people of ‘genital armoring’, which prevents someone from freely expressing and enjoying their natural sexuality. Most of these forms focus on finding the resistance or pain, and working with that to help the individual release the blockages. However, my own personal experience has shown me that nurturing touch, touch that goes slowly, gently and lovingly, not only removes the physical and emotional blockages, but also dissolves the charge on the original wound. The power of touch is discovered in how much heart and presence you can express through it. The ability to heal is inherently in the individual seeking healing…the touch of grace signals the person seeking wholeness to allow themselves to let go…to trust in Life once again.

It will be risky, and it will take some measure of courage, but to reacquaint ourselves with the depth of our being – and everyone else’s beingness, we must become more attuned to touch as a vehicle of awakening and transformation.  Body-centered therapies and practices usually encourage the individual to focus on what one does and experiences within our own body and space, or as something you only ‘get’ from another. To feel interactive touch, it is necessary to fully receive with the need to give, and to fully give without the need to receive. We are probably more habitually comfortable with giving than receiving, so I will recommend focusing on the receiving first, until you don’t feel resistance or the compulsion to ‘give something in return.’ It’s not easy!

If you are wondering how going for touch in a more proactive and intimate way will begin to have positive effects on your life, and possibly everyone else’s life, then all I can say to that is “what do we have to lose?” If you’re afraid you might lose your sense of individuality, well, that can’t really happen. Besides, how most Westerners have been conducting themselves for a few millennia hasn’t really contributed much to engendering more trust towards each other, so it may be time to add loving and graceful touch so that we may actually recreate the experience of egalitarian interdependence that our primordial ancestors enjoyed. 

We aren’t really individuals, for we haven’t fully individuated yet. That is to say, we are not yet fully knowing who we are and expressing it without censorship or judgment. To be fully individual is to be one with all of Life…naturally. This is true enlightenment, for it doesn’t make value judgments about the body or the consciousness that creates and maintains it. It sees that they are completely the same thing. This is what we learn through the magic of touch, for it ends our false perception of separation and isolation, of being an ‘I’ in the midst of ‘they’.

The grace of touch can create bonding without bondage, unity without destroying the experience of the Self, and cooperation instead of competition.  Sharing becomes innately more natural and sensible when we lose the idea that we might lose something of our integrity through when we feel drawn to wanting to touch someone who is in pain, or someone who longs to know that they are loved and not cast adrift and alone in the world.  Touch heals. Touch helps us regain our humanity, which in turn opens us to the touch of something invisible in our hearts.  

Sexuality is an inherent part of our spiritual homecoming, and I don’t mean nicey-nicey, hearts and flowers romance.  Connecting with our earthiness, with the Earth herself, will transform our biology and bring it back in harmony with Nature and the Cosmos.  In the last issue, in my essay “The Longest War on Earth”, I encouraged readers to get the book “Sex at Dawn” by Christopher Ryan Ph.D. and Cacilda Jethá, MD.  The title is a play on words, but the content, and our understanding and embracing of it, may just be essential to our survival as a species. Sharing, egalitarianism, and non-possessive intimate relationships existed in the primordial utopia that came before the Earth cataclysms of 12,000 years ago, which propelled us out of foraging societies, and into the invention or agriculture, hoarding, scarcity, competition, patriarchy, war, disease and death.  Such is progress.

The roots of this are much, much older, but suffice it to say that there was one thing that these cultures understood:  the chances for surviving and thriving were enhanced because of mutual sharing and cooperation. This also included touch and sexuality.  After finishing the book, I now recognize why I had such a difficult time acclimating back into human society in 2003 after spending  three weeks of deep communion with the dolphins (and the wild environment ) of the Big Island of Hawaii. The abrasiveness of that contact after living ‘in the raw’ during that time was illuminating…and extremely difficult.

Humanity will not solve all of its problems and challenges just by going to a cuddle party. But for those brief moments that you and the person you are cuddling with experience, you will cease feeling alone, separate, isolated.  As you focus on the pleasure of being embraced and embracing, just imagine yourself as this Earth. The Earth holds us all in her embrace in each moment we are drawing breath, and shares everything it offers without hesitation. If we are the children of a loving Earth and a Benevolent Source Consciousness, then we cannot lose anything by opening to touch, except our fear and loneliness.

As we travel through this era of an ever-changing and uncertain world, the encouragement to ‘love one another’ will take on a deeper significance. Perhaps the sheer desire for connection, companionship, and touch will transcend the realm of a need born out of fear, to a fulfilment born out of compassion and the sure knowing that we are all that we have.  Then, the touch of grace may just inspire us to see the truth of our predicament, and open to channel something through that propels back into the Garden…back to innocence. It won’t happen without work, but sure as heck won’t happen without play and trust.

Enough with the sad stories…let’s create a new script. Go gracefully…and touch with love.

Peace,
Isaac