"Each of you is his own universe, and your inner and outer realities regularly form your very own Hall of Mirrors." ~The Reconnections
August-September, 2005
NEW ORLEANS:
THE FRENCH QUARTER LIVES!
Enclosed is a copy of a letter that I received in e-mail yesterday. It follows an affirmation that I sent forth as Hurricane Katrina was nearing the City of New Orleans! I said: "Not New Orleans! I haven't seen it yet!" Of course, I didn't hold strong on that, and stay with it..........so I'll be exploring the city in scuba gear, at some future date. (I do feel that this part of the South will definitely RISE AGAIN, Cher................
Anyway, here's the Letter:
For those of you with thoughts about the French Quarter, we took this off of an Internet site set up by the local New Orleans paper, the Times Picayune. The web site: www.NOLA.com
1342. Good news from Josh @ A Gallery on Chartres!
by MrSazerac, 9/3/05 18:45 ET My friend Mary Herczog (author of Frommer's New Orleans) and I emailed Joshua Mann Pailet of A Gallery for Fine Photography on Chartres in the Quarter. Here's his reply, with tons of good news and rumor-debunking:THANKS - Too much to say right now.I got a few things out and have them in Baton Rouge.Just got out last night. I could have stayed, my supplies would have lasted for seven more days.But, the fires have started.The reports of looting downtown are exaggerated. Yes, they broke into the grocery stores, drugstores, gas stations, for food, etc. Canal Street had a few hours of thugs doing sports shops, but all other shops and the ENTIRE French Quarter is safe and untouched. The storm did glass and roof damage and trees UPTOWN. Just needs to be swept. Looks LESS dirty than a typical Mardi Gras day.THE FLOOD did NOT get into the French Quarter, and along the river to AUDUBON PARK.I stayed and helped and photographed and bicycled these areas every day.NO shooters, some idiots, but everyone doing the best to get along and survive. Other flooded areas, it is very desperate and there are some battles going on, but very isolated.From Monday to late yesterday there were NO military, Red Cross, FEMA, or anyone with supplies DOWNTOWN.Even the N.O. Police and Fire Dept were largely absent.I stayed in the Qtr at A Gallery. The building and contents is presently fine. I will be going back soon to help the other people.The amazing people of New Orleans will survive and rebuild.The media stayed on Canal Street and are missing the real story.Unfortunately, the "looting" story is all they had downtown and its repetitous playing of that footage has setback recovery. IT FALSELY scared off the rescuers, I guess.Too many rumors reported without eyewitness verification.Bad business, needs to change.Please spread the word. Every hour matters to the remaining people.The surrrounding region is overwhelmed with recovery. Baton Rouge has 200,000 people to help,LSU is a triage center.EVERYONE is pitching in.The entire situation is complex and difficult for everyone. Many shortages, gasoline especially.By the way, since early Tuesday, access into New Orleans via the downtown Miss. River Bridge has been clear to Baton Rouge. Everyone else got in that way, why not the military? Four hours away by CAR is Fort Polk, one of the largest bases around.Bring the boys home, especially the National Guard.New Orleans needs your love and positive thoughts.Email and spread the word. Contact your leadership in Washington and keep the pressure on.Especially today and tomorrow.Remember that these people are the heart and soul of the New Orleans everyone loves.
Hello Friends! My blog time has been scarce of late. So many shifts and changes in my physical universe (events and travel) have prevented me from giving voice to the myriad of internal processes and experiences that are unfolding in the Danielverse.
TROPICAL STORMS!!
Stormy Weather is frequently a sign of emotional turbulence being felt on the Inner Planes of Consciousness. Humanity doesn't always recognize or acknowledge what we're feeling, so our planetary weather patterns have to wear those feelings for us. This new storm, Katrina, comes along just when Venus and Mars energies are in the process of finding their balance. In other words, war-like (action) aspects are mixing and blending with the love (opening and receiving) aspects.
There are many who are suffering from headaches at this time. One primary cause for these headaches, the Guides tell us, is the inability of our brains to move back and forth, between active and passive states of consciousness. We are either stuck in one side, or the other. This condition that is known as "Bi-Polar Disorder".........I am told......is simply an exaggerated and out-of-proportion version of a new consciousness that is coming upon all who partake of the Reconnection Experience.
The energy of a Neo-Shaman is an energy that integrates both sides of every polarity within the same one being. It is our primary means of releasing our attachment to one universe and becoming able to travel elsewhere in space or time. In much of the literature, this conscious state has been referred to as being "two-spirited." We have spoken about this in our material on Shamanic Androgyny. In an excerpt from that piece, I wrote this:
"The indigenous thought about the Other World, the realm of the Gods, is that it is a realm of ONENESS. The Gods or spirits are both masculine and feminine in one. Though a certain spirit might manifest before a human in either a masculine or feminine character, it is---at it's core---BOTH genders.
The Berdache are special in the fact that they carry this androgynous energy---the energy of the Gods. It is what makes them able to exist both in physical form and also "journey" into the other realms as well. Hermes Trismegastrus and the Egyptian God THOTH were both examples of this propensity for androgyny. In fact, the term "hermaphrodite" (Hermes+ Aphrodite) refers to the marriage of the archetypal male and female (these two were the children of Zeus)."Humanity's movement from 3D to 4D is mandating that our energy patterns will shift. This doesn't mean that we will be forced to do anything different. But the feelings and awareness of diversity will begin to appear in our consciousness. There are many who are resisting this change. The current upsurge of Moralistic Conservatism, particularly in regards to "family values" and fear/persecution of homosexuals is a direct result of these internal shifts. That which excites or sickens us is a direct reflection of some internal feeling or attribute which is trying to move from the subconscious mind to the conscious mind. It is a mirroring of some part of self that is in motion within us, or longs to be integrated.
At the beginning of the Spirituality and Sex Series, the guides had this to say, about weather patterns and earth changes:
"As the vibrations of earthquakes and tsunamis resonate all around your world, we must now take some time to share with you certain insights concerning the emotional core of your Planetary Oneself. It is these issues, being suppressed on the Inner Planes of Consciousness, that are causing most of the trembling down below.
The topic of Sexuality has always been a stormy one--particularly in cultures whose religious traditions gather themselves around a Masculine Deity. Ever since the Temples of the Goddess were toppled, way back when-- a wedge has been placed between your spiritual nature and various core levels of innate sexuality that dwell within each of you."
As I think of the turmoil that is present in our Mass Subconscious today, my mind drifts back to an excellent movie called "American Beauty," in which actor Chris Cooper plays a tortured Ex-Marine who is actively fighting off his inner urges (in this case, attraction to other men), and eventually walking through them--feeling murderous rage against himself (and those who witness his turmoil). I see this as a direct reflection of the "military mindset" that the U.S. is in right now.
Though the whole nature of our collective turmoil does not revolve around sexual identity, there are some big pieces of it which do. As the economy teeters, and children starve, and old people continue to go without health care and other support services---we're pouring billions into a military-industrial complex that is (supposedly) protecting us from terrorists. What we're really trying to suppress is the TERROR we feel about many of these feelings and changes that are cropping up within. Sex is just part of it. There is much, much more in there besides!
Chris Cooper as Col. Frank Fitts in "American Beauty"
In the article "War or Anti-War," I share the following concepts that were given to me around this subject:
"What we are upset about is NOT what is bothering us! And it is only a mere shadow of what is going on. I am not suggesting this in order to deny reality, per se. What I am denying is this tiny "shell" of reality, stuffed with a lie , that is being served to us as the cause for what we all feel.
Our planet teeters on the brink of a major paradigm shift. We're not just talking about a crumbling of the American Dream, or the collapse of financial markets, or even the start of World War III. It's much bigger than even that. It borders on a shift so profound, that we just might find Isaac Newton dropping his famous apple, only to find that it "falls" UP this time!
Such an "adjustment" to our reality is so unthinkable, so unnerving, that most folks wish not to even address it. Therefore.........perhaps subconsciously, perhaps intuitively.......to let off steam..........the "controlling factors" of this planet, have begun orchestrating a huge RUCKUS, a diversion of sorts..............something that is fearsome and which seems futile..........but which still resembles a category of experience that we can comprehend and get fired up about."
And that, friends, is a major factor behind the WEATHER TURBULENCE that is happening in the Southern U.S. at this time. The "winds of change" are blowing. Hang on, because these next seven years will most likely resemble that "Shamanic Illness" that is mentioned in the Androgyny article--wherein an awakening Shaman is overtaken by many divergent and dissonance forces (which resemble an illness) as he or she adapts to this newly blossoming Hermetic Nature.
Do Something BRAVE today! (And then run like hell!)
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