Conference hydra::dejavu

One of the most promising "revisionist" movements within the 
Craft is the grafting of Shamanic techniques onto the tradition.  
In the Boston area there is a group that has been doing this kind 
of work (publicly, I might add) for several years.  In Wisconsin 
the national networking group (called "Circle") is based on what 
they call Wiccan Shamanism.

Many people who have been involved in Gardnerian or Alexandrian 
Wicca eventually become disenchanted ;-) with those groups 
because they're very hierarchical and the rituals are more boring 
than high Episcopal services.  (I've probably started a psychic 
war with that last sentence, so I'd better throw in a disclaimer 
that there are many groups who are an exception.)

The significance of combining Shamanism and Witchcraft (I'm going 
to refer to it as "SW" for Shamanic Wicca, henceforth) is that 
the Shamanic element provides the techiques for breaking down and 
rebuilding the personality while the tradition and rituals of 
Wicca provides the grounding necessary to "find your way back" 
(ie., stay grounded) while doing this work.

Techniques derived from Shamanism are directed toward finding 
power spots, becoming aware of the universe as a living, 
intelligent source of insight and personal teachings, creating an 
alternate personality (referred to as the Magickal Self in SW)  
and developing the ability to Shape Shift.

Combined with the techniques of Wicca that symbolize the powers 
of the earth as the four elements, the transitions of the year, 
and the power of a small group of fellow travelers, SW can be an 
amazing experience in combining self-exploration with a psychic 
community.  I've been to hundreds of groups who are doing 
different kinds of psychic development work, but by far and away 
there is nothing that comes close to a group of people who come 
together in sacred space (the Wiccan Circle) and have developed the 
ability to Shape Shift (which is not easy even by oneself), and 
then build on that energy and for astral journeying, healing, 
past lives regression, charging crystals, divination, what have 
you.

The work usually provokes enough anxiety in people that a great 
deal of the preliminary work in SW is working with confronting 
one's fear of the unknown...the terror that is the core of our 
beings.

/chuck

I went through my library this morning to see what was lying
around on this subject.  A Briton who lives in Austrialia named
Nevill Drury has an interesting set of books out, the two most
recent of which discuss many similiar themes to Shamanism and
magic.  They are "The Shaman and the Magician:  Journeys Between
the Worlds," 1982 Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd. (in Europe: 39
Store Street, London WC1E 7DD, England; in the US: 9 Park St,
Boston MA 02108) and "Vision Quest:  A Personal Journey Through
Magic and Shamanism," 1984 PRISM Press (published in England by
Purnell & Sons, Paulton, Bristol). 

Appendix B of "Vision Quest" lists several resources, none of 
which I can vouch for, but here they are:
  For Magic
   The D.O.M.E. Foundation: 217 W. San Francisco, Sante Fe, 
                            NM, 87501
   Servants of the Light (SOL): PO Box 215, St Helier, Jersey,
                                The Channel Islands
   The Source: PO Box 367, Lane Cove, Sydney, Austrial 2066

  For Shamanism
   The Center for Shamanic Studies: Bos 673, Belden Station,
                                    Norwalk, CT 06852
   Human Dimensions West Institute: PO Box 5037, Ojai CA
   The Australian Shamanic Centre: PO Box 193, Lidcombe,
                                   New South Wales, Australia
                                   2141

Both these books discuss his experimentation with shamanism.  He 
comes from an interesting family: both his father and grandmother 
were very involved in Theosophy.  Imagine being raised by 
theosophists!  Awesome.

Another person who is doing a lot of work with popularizing 
Shamanism is Michael Harner whose book "The Way of the Shaman," 
Harper & Row, gives several techniques on shamanism.  He also 
does numerous workshops all over the country, which people seem 
to get a lot out of (I've been told).

/chuck

I get a kick out of the general population who  keep using the w`ords
  "MAJIC" and " PSYCHIC" like it is something only a few possess.
   It is only another sense which, I grant, many are afraid of,
  but often use without knowing about it!  It's just another ability
  which needs to be developed and people are finding that out slowly
  but surely.
  
  In ref to the new "majic" it is the wave of today and just part
  of the evolutionary process of becoming more aware.  Healers
  have been involved in this kind of work for a while.  I can give
  anyone names of some fine healers in the area who work with the
  subtle energies and get very good results.  The more cleansing
  the healer does on him/herself the more they are able to help
  others and there are some folks moving at an accelerated rate.
  Therefore you're begining to see people integrate all the forms
  of healing - as they are based on the same universal laws, the
  difference is in how people can relate to them so an eclectic
 becomes preferred.                                                                  
  
  
  
  

Re: .3

>I get a kick out of the general population who  keep using the w`ords
>"MAJIC" and " PSYCHIC" like it is something only a few possess.
>It is only another sense which, I grant, many are afraid of,
>but often use without knowing about it!  It's just another ability
>which needs to be developed and people are finding that out slowly
>but surely.

I agree with the general flavor of your point, namely that this 
is "stuff" we (us humans) have access to--and use--as a matter of 
course.  But what is the difference between magic and psychic 
[ability]?  You may be interested in the discussion specifically 
on magic in note 129.

I've often wondered why people are afraid of their psychic 
ability.  I know that when I've experienced my own psychic 
abilities it does have the tendency to freak me out a bit, but I 
haven't really understood why.  Culteral conditioning?

And is your spelling of magic as "majic" representative of a 
specific use of the word or just a misspelling on your part?  

>In ref to the new "majic" it is the wave of today and just part
>of the evolutionary process of becoming more aware.

I've been wondering if there really is any evolutionary process 
to the human race.  It seems to me the metaphor of evolution has 
been applied to just about everything.  In fact, I don't think it 
would be too difficult to make an argument that when it comes to 
psychic development, the human race is DE-evolving.  Has anyone 
ever adequetly explained how the pyramids were built?  What 
about the genius of the ancient Vedic literature?  If we're 
evolving, then why hasn't there been anything surpassing that?  The 
late Mircea Eliade, who was well acquinted with the occult, 
believed that our psychic talent is fairly fixed as a race.

>Healers have been involved in this kind of work for a while.  I
>can give anyone names of some fine healers in the area who work
>with the subtle energies and get very good results. 

Please feel free to add you references to note 117.

/Chuck

    re .4:
    
    The construction of the pyramids has been explained "adequately"
    by Egyptologists.  A problem in discussing mildly abstruse things
    is that often people _want_ to look for the mysterious.  Case in
    point:
    
    There have been reams of articles and not a few books written on
    the "mystery" of the statues of Rapa Nui [aka Easter Island].  These
    statues of long-eared people were considered particularly mysterious
    because "no known means" was available for the natives to carve
    them in the numbers they did nor to erect them without power tools
    beyond their available technology.  This "mystery" was explained
    from everything from spacemen to native magical or psychokinetic
    powers to levitate the statues into place.
    
    Then, the amateur anthropologist/archeologist Thor Heyerdahl visited
    Rapa Nui.  He checked with the natives, who showed him both the
    carving technique and the methodology by which the statues were
    erected.  Both were surprisingly simple in execution (the carving
    was a sophisticated technique but was achievable with simple tools),
    and he documented both methods photographically.  When he commented
    that until he was shown these things, the processes were unknown.
    The native leader shrugged and said, "Nobody asked us." [Anyone
    who wants to read of these, I suggest you read Heyerdahl's book,
    _Aku-Aku_, where he details the techniques.  It's a pleasant read
    anyway.]
    
    Regarding "evolution" and its reverse, it's early to say what's
    happening in the parapsychological arena.  I suspect that the advance
    of medicine is doing strange things to the gene pool (more types
    survive than before), so it'll take even longer than "natural" to
    find out.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
    
    P.S,.: If memory serves, a fairly good description of pyramid
    construction is in L. Sprague Decamp's book _The Ancient Engineers_.
    
    -S
    

  The comments about the evolutionary developement in regard to
  the paranormal is interesting and a topic for a lenghty discussion.
  
  As you're well aware of, the "secrets" have long been available
  to those who have dedicated their lives to it - the Veda chants
  are a good example however, it's my impression (and it may not
  be correct) that this is the first time in our history, excluding
  the isolated cases of Atlantis and MOO when the energies have
  presented themselvesto the general populace - ie the deva world is
  again presentingitself to help us raise the general vibration of the total
  environment -internal and external.   
  
  Of course, another way of looking at it may be the coming of the New
  Age (and I realize that's a loaded term) may have something to it as
  it professes to ushers in the higher vibrations - therefore
  affecting all who are willing and capable at this point to
  participate.
  
  Awareness is a funny phenomenon and may have a lot to do with
  how we judge ourselves and others - who can really say who's
  more aware than another, I wouldn't want to have to call it!
  However, to clear up any misconceptions, I'd like to qualify
  my use of "evolution" as it pertains to the gradual spreading within a species
  of something different. 
  
    -Lora
                  

Re: .6
Your last comment sparked something that was in the back of my 
mind in my earlier reply, but I forgot to mention.

I've been doing (I'd have to say, "a little") reading on the 
concept of morphogenic fields, which is the concept that learning 
or awareness is not bound by space and time.

Apparently there was an experiment done with teaching rats 
something (on the order of pressing a lever for something), with 
the experimental group in the US and the control group (the group 
of rats that weren't being taught anything) in the UK.  The 
results were that the UK rats picked up the same trait!  (I don't 
know what kinds of controls there were, such as double blind or 
whatever).

But to your reply specifically, I actually *do* hold this weird 
belief that because there definitely is an increase in paranormal 
development throughout the world (many instances have been 
mentioned in this notes file) that perhaps the other energies 
that share the planet are beginning to respond to the increased 
intention in this form of communication.

One thing that I know for sure (I've mentioned elsewhere) is that 
belief mediates our perceptions of reality, and the more one lets 
go of disbelief,[*] the more one's natural tendency to accept the 
world as a matrix of interrelated energies tends to emerge.

At least, I *think* that's how it works!

Chuck

* I guess I would elaborate on that to say the it's the belief 
that we have no psychic rapport with our environment that's so 
constricting.

Physical evolution is still proceeding and will never stop. It is a
relatively simple process and cannot help but do things. The human
race is interfering by keeping alive gene traits that are destructive.
So physical evolution is being "subverted" in this regard. But it still
does operate. But it is a slow process so don't expect humans to mutate
(baring Chernoybl) quickly into something else!

Cultral evolution works in the Lamarckian (sp?) mode, namely the elders
(and others) pass solutions to problems they have discovered IN THEIR
LIFETIME onto their offspring. The media and communication in general is
passing HUGH amounts of information to us daily so it doesn't suprise me
that interest in and inquiry into psychic phenomenon. There is more
information available about EVERYTHING and more people who are investigating
anything.

If there is a gene combination that allows psychic abilities, there is a
fairly good chance it will get expressed today, even if it has negative
side-effects (as long as it isn't lethal). People aren't killing witches
anymore (at least not usually). Research is taking paranormal abilities
far more seriously, despite the fakes. If there is a physical basis for
paranormal abilites, it will probably be found.

DDA

Re: .8
Actually, the way I see it is that your comment represents one 
side of what's happening; which is to say it's no incorrect, but 
consider this:

The other side is a world-wide trend to force the structures of 
societies and cultures into a rigid mode.  Most obvious case in 
point is the global shift towards fundamentalism.  Both in the 
political scheme as well as the religious (Islam is probably 
better at this than Christianity is in many ways).

This other side is the reactionary side.  Why is this happening 
along side the more expressive, expansive, intuitive, "I'm 
responsible for my own reality" [Ugh!] type thinking, as 
represented by interest in Shamanism, "Acting locally, thinking 
globally" expressions?

Well, I think there's a polarization occuring in the world 
centered on a fundamental belief:  Do we believe we live in an 
abundant universe that will always take care of us? Or do we 
believe in a limited universe in which I'd better get mine now 
before it runs out?

Abundance vs. Limitation.  What do you think?

/chuck

	Forces rising in opposition to one another:
    
    	Expansive				Contractive
    	---------				-----------
    	Youth					Elders
    	Shamanism 				Fundamentalism
    	Communication and Cooperation		Domination and Seperation
    	Incorporation of all cultures		Ethnocentrism
    	Act Locally, Think Globally		Act Globally, Think Locally
	Freedom from the past			Preserve the past
    	Learn from the children			Indoctrinate the children    	
    	All things are connected		All things are seperate
    	I grow in the growing of any		I grow at the expense of all
	------					----    
    	Female					Male
                                                    
    		This is getting a little beyond the usual realm of this
    conference, but it is important to understand that the mechanisms
    behind things like politics are consistant with a subtle and simple
    yet powerful law of the universe. The many mystical traditions agree
    to an amazing degree because through hundreds of generations, a
    body of data was collected, understood, incorporated, and passed
    down that would make the scientific research of the last 100 years
    look like a drop in the bucket. 
    
    	Now I forget, how did we get on this subject? Maybe we could
    use another note...
    
    	Ed

    re .9, .10:
    
    I think it's a little more complicated than the classic Yin-Yang
    construct.
    
    .9:
    
    There are concentrations rather than polarizations, since
    "polarization" implies a dualism.  The CSICOP type who is as adamantly
    opposed to serious investigation of the paranormal is just as bad
    as the religious fundamentalist who is adamantly opposed to the
    investigation of paranormal phenomena, but for entirely different
    reasons (the average CSICOP is likely to be opposed to the religious
    fundamentalist's view in other areas).  A perusal of other areas
    will show similar complexities.
    
    .10:
    
    Your model is a little too simplistic, for some of the reasons
    mentioned above.  How about "evasive" and "confrontational" forces,
    or whatever?
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
    
    

  re .7
  
  Awareness is and isn't a subjective experience. Awareness become thoughts
  and are energy forms directed by our intent and beliefs, pushed
  into manifestation by desire and emotion - if the environment can
  sustain them while they form(we could get into a whole discusion on
  clearing the neg energies etc...but later for that). 
 
  When blocks or letting go of limiting beliefs break it breaks the
  energy for the person.  It also frees up the cumulative
  environmental energy*.  I believe the momentum is becoming stronger
  because there is literally more room for folks to let go and expand.
  When we were in the Picean Age the energy was so constricted that folk
  s could hardly breath (certainly not psychically) - this was
  also witnessed in the Pilgram times when folks were burned as
  witches....they almost had to go     nuts to break thru the
  denseness!  
  
  Fear and anger are low vibrations and functions of the
  lower chakras.  They become disruptive and interfere with the
  functioning of the higher side of the charkras unless here is balance.
  
  
  For every being who becomes more realized there are others who
  are vibrating at the same frequencey who aslo have a release
  and therefore can make personal choice at that time to clear
  and "purify" if you will at that junction - or not!
  
  You may be interested in some of Seth material such as Seth Speaks
  and the Nature of Personal Reality.  His main theme is that we
  create our own reality and are responsibile for it.  He aslo
  speaks to multiple dimentions/realities coexisting.  It has been
  my experience that this is true.  We tend to believe in linear
  time and space because everyone else does - it kinds of holds
  our world together.I suggest it is only a belief and a limitation  
  The miracles which are happening in healing and other realms    
  with the subtle energies can attest to that- at least for me
  personally and others I know.
  
                                                                
  
    - Lora
  
  * there is a documented (I believe) story called the 100th Monkey
  where (and I take license here) an island of rare monkeys somewhere
  in the So Pacific began eating a certain fruit or food
  not normally consumed.  The same behavior, at the same time was
  exibited in the same kind of monkeys in Australia. I have also
  experiencesd this phenomenon myself.

  re: < Do we believe in an abundant universe that will always
  take care of us or.....
                                  
  
  My vote: most of the human species believes the world (most directly
  our particular form) and maybe the universe is a hostile place
  (reference also the principal of being seperate i.e apart from
  the whole) and to be feared.  We have done a fine job of what's so
  fondly referred to as the "self-full-filling prophesy"
                   
  

  
  
  
           principal should be principle - but you already knew
                              that!

    The impact on the "100 monkey" experiment is that it is being used
    by people, who by agreeing to join with others at the same time
    across the world to meditate at a certain time on issues like world
    peace, hope by the same mechanism to transform everyone to
    peacefulness. 
    
    Kathleen

    re .10 model:
    
    	I wasn't really trying to build a comprehensive theory, just
    note the forces of opposition. Just as with Yin and Yang, nothing
    exists as a pure form of one or the other, everything is a subtle
    mix of the two. The problem is the imbalances that arise. What I
    was trying to show were tendencies...when a strong contractive
    political force exerts itself, the expansive force needs to rise
    to counter it, or else the balance is lost.
    
    	In Chinese diagnosis (for example) more than the simple dualism
    of Yin and Yang are used. I've seen the use of the Five Elements
    in terms of foods (Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Metal), where each
    of these categories is again broken into the fudamental dialectic
    of Yin and Yang. I'm sure there are literally hundreds or thousands
    of further subdivisions, given the Chinese obsession with detail.
    Still, any Taoist or Buddhist analysis needs to begin at the simple
    fundamental tendencies of Yin and Yang, Male and Female, dark and
    light, Earth and Heaven.
    
    	 The West's "Scientific Method" has a lot to learn from the
    approriateness of detail used in the East. The dialectic is also
    something which has been used in the West many times, discovered
    independently, but never well understood by anyone except the
    discoverer, and without ever reaching the mainstream of accepted public
    knowledge. For example, Hegel, Maxwell, and Dirac each used a very
    Yin-Yang like metaphor which lead to some immense leaps in
    understanding the universe.   

        Ed               

I think every analysis is an artificial snapshot of fluid reality 
regardless of whether you're talking about political, social, 
economic or spiritual movements.  Even the terms we use--the 
words--are representations of perceptions.  So, I agree with the 
previous few comments.

Re: .11
>    There are concentrations rather than polarizations, since
>    "polarization" implies a dualism.

I think the concentrations are the manifestation of 
polarizations, and that it implies a dialectical movement of 
opposites forming new alliances and being changed in itself.  
Hegal was very influenced by Schopenhauer who based a great deal 
of his stuff on the Vedanta and Upanishads.

Working with the movement of energy and learning how to channel 
it according to one's will is the heart of the Craft and Shamanism.

/chuck

    RE: the last few
    
    The problems being faced by the human race today - nuclear 
    holocaust, war, massive famine, starvation and disease, economic 
    collapse - all abound because the individual has failed in his 
    responsibility to claim his own connection to the shift in 
    consciousness. Instead, each tentatively waits for some other 
    person to correct the imbalance, some politician, scientist or 
    religious leader.
    
    The responsibility for living harmoniously rests with each 
    individual. As each person spiritually and cosmically comes of 
    age, claiming his/her attunement and therefore his involvement in 
    the business of mankind, a beautiful new energy will be released 
    which will gradually swing the Earth into alignment with the 
    universal forces of harmony and peace. This period of awareness 
    will happen, but only when each man and woman looks beyond the 
    exterior to the interior of their being to discover their own 
    personal power through their connection to the Ultimate of All 
    Energies. Realization of ones own connection is a gift to all 
    others, for it signifies one's own readiness to participate in and 
    use one's own energies for a world where love and awareness are 
    the core.
    
    Now the Earth exists as a place of unrealized and unaligned 
    energy. Because it is struggling does not mean people have chosen 
    a wrong path; for there is no wrong path. They simply have yet to 
    choose a path that aligns with the higher forces. The result of 
    this is that Earth is in "neutral." Too many citizens of the 
    planet wait hesitatingly for something or someone to claim their 
    allegiance. Most have inadvertently frozen their dynamic choices 
    and allowed neutrality to win the day.
    
    But "neutral" can be a very dangerous space, as people are 
    discovering. For "neutral", by it's very definition, means 
    assuming a non-choice or refraining from making a choice, and in 
    this case no choice is a choice. It is a choice for the status 
    quo. Unfortunately there is no status quo. Nothing remains the 
    same for even two consecutive seconds. Change is a dynamic which 
    must be recognized and embraced. Acceptance of change will be 
    crucial as the Earth shifts into forward gear.
    
    Earth is embroiled in an intense power struggle. This conflict 
    exists between countries, states, cities and individuals, as well 
    as between the spiritual and physical aspects of each individual. 
    The basis is always the same: to be recognized, even honored, for 
    possessing the most power. More and more countries are vying with 
    each other for the world's resources and prestige, both through 
    political and physical manipulation. It is a time of strict 
    demarcation of boundaries as each separate group of peoples 
    struggles unsuccessfully to bolster changing economic and national 
    value systems. The people of the world are being pulled this way 
    and that, with governments scrambling to prove that the prosperity 
    of the past is just ahead in the form of a new economic package or 
    a new war against a supposed aggressor.
    
    There have always been a few farsighted people speaking out on the 
    issues involving humanity. But now, more and more will listen and 
    learn, question and decide that they too wish to opt for the 
    presence of a harmonious world community; the emergence of a 
    balanced planet. These voices, while at first considered strange, 
    will be gradually integrated into the mainstream of everyday life. 
    Herein lies the basis for the great conflict.
    
    There will be strong elements of the world's societies which will 
    tenaciously cling to the old, remaining with the inhumane and 
    unsupportable economic and social policies of the past. These 
    groups will violently oppose the new voices raised in love, 
    calling for world peace and a change in the repression, violence 
    and non-productive leanings of the past. The struggle will be 
    creative against static, vision against rhetoric.
    
    The world as a group can remain a poorly integrated and 
    ineffective body or it can become a viable unified group. The 
    world group has options. It possesses the power to manifest 
    mammoth planetary devastation, destroying much of Earth's life in 
    its wake. The world group also holds the power to creatively 
    manifest a different reality, a reality of spiritual awareness, 
    each according to his own vision. The sooner the individual 
    becomes aware of his responsibility to himself and his world 
    group, the sooner the wars and aggression-oriented thinking will 
    stop. Personal power is the issue at the very heart of the 
    disaster crisis. For without personal power, the individual will 
    remain frozen and inactive too long, and all will gradually slide 
    beyond recognition into depression. With personal power, the 
    individual and world group will invite planetary awareness into 
    their lives and openly live a broader view of their spiritual 
    beliefs. The people of this planet must become cognizant of their 
    God-given right and responsibility to challenge the course of 
    human evolution, making course-corrections to change the destiny 
    of man.
    
    This is the ultimate challenge of survival. Either we discover who 
    we really are, or we perish from ignorance of our true connection. 
    The choice is each person's, to use personal and group power as it 
    can be used for the advancement of mankind or to use one's 
    God-given potential for the destruciton of mankind and the 
    disruption of the Earth. It is the responsibility of all who are 
    aware to make this tenuous balance known, that none may later say 
    they did not understand that all was being held in the balance. As 
    each person moves through each day, he must realize he is choosing 
    not only his own course but also the course of his planet. Every 
    voice is heard and counts in this rush to understand and explain 
    the direction in which Earth moves. The choices that are made this 
    day will determine the planet's future or lack thereof. As man 
    recognizes his physical limitations, he effectively opens himself 
    to the vision of the future, and this vision becomes the course by 
    which he sets his standards. Let us all hope that enough make the 
    choice soon.
    

Re: .19
Wow!

    re .19:
    
    I can agree partially with this, but it overlooks factors.  the
    occultist, Gareth Knight, posits in various writings a model of
    humanity starting with mythopoetic "Atlanteans," who were "civilized"
    but who lacked individuality (i.e., were a sort of homogeneous gestalt
    race).  "Modern man," he suggests, was created by a level of
    consciousness raising so that people developed individuality (a
    form of increased awareness).
    
    This evolution hasn't ceased.  Despite the seeming diversities and
    lapses, the _overall_ human consciousness has been raised immensely
    through the centuries, and has been accelerated via communication.
    The droughts in Africa would be of no copncern to the majority of
    people in the world as little as 100 years ago; now many care.
    
    This process continues.  If it appears that we're still as insensitive
    and uncaring as we used to be, recall that in the Old West of the
    U.S. a century ago, a public hanging was a festive occasion, where
    people would come for miles to watch men dance on the end of a rope.
    
    In short, there is evolution where there may seem to be none: what
    looks like circular travel really is a helix.
    
    The Light to you all.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
    

  
        re .19
  
                  BRAVO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  
                  YOU SAID IT ALL - NICE WORK BILL

  
              
  PS You might want to consider publishing this, it's too important
     not to be shared with others outside DEC.
  

    re .19:   
    
        How about posting it in MLOKAI::PROSE? That's a place to collect
    notes that stand out as text (as well as a place to post stories,
    articles, and other prosey things).
    
    	I liked it too.
    
    	Ed 

    Re:  .19
    
    A conversation about this evolved at the Gathering and some people
    asked if a shift in consciousness was indeed indicated astrologically
    and how and when this type of thing happened.  What is the Age of
    Aquarius, anyway?
    
    The Ages are tied to the astrological Great Years, which are tied
    astronomically to what is called the precession of the equinoxes.
    The sign the Sun is in when it crosses the equator for its journey
    north (in spring) and south (in fall) changes slowly since the Earth's
    axis rotates, much like a top spinning on a table.  (It always interes-
    ted me as a child to find out that we'd have a different Pole Star
    in a few zillion years; another result of the spinning top phenomenon.)
    Going back into history, both recorded and prehistoric, we find
    that the equinoxes have precessed through the signs Cancer, Gemini,
    Taurus, Aries, and our current Age of Pisces.
    
    Psychologically, springtime (and the equinox) has the feeling of
    beginnings and initiations.  Thus, whatever sign the Sun is _really_
    in when it crosses the equator tends to be the starting point for
    the dominant ethos and character of the cultures of the world. 
    To be sure, there are holdovers from other Ages throughout the world
    but the world "soul" itself tends to take on the feeling of the
    sign the Sun is really in when the equinox occurs.  Thus, the
    archetypes of the Mother Goddess and the start of agrarian work
    was part of the Stone Age cultures in the Age of Cancer (which has
    to do with the Mother and food, among other things).  The initial
    rise of civilasations that organized and recorded their culture
    was charactistic of the Geminian Age (Gemini has to do with the
    mental faculties and communication).  The woman-powered civilisations
    were at their peak during the Taurean Age (Taurus is a power sign
    and also "female" or yin in nature).  The Arian Age began the patri-
    archal cultures, and also seems to be when the astrological principles
    that we still use and know today were codified (I find this interesting
    because with the equinox _truly_ in the sign Aries, the springtime
    sign, it would seem that those principles could have been most easily
    perceived.)  The Age of Pisces saw a change in ethos from the joys
    of war to the ideal of peace (Pisces is a compassionate and ethereal
    sign).  The most powerful exemplar of the Piscean Age was Jesus,
    who refused to lead his disciples to war, indeed suggested that
    the struggles the Jews were then involved in were not the real issue;
    He worked for a beautiful vision of a spiritually united world.
    
    His death was also a good example of what happens when the Great
    Years are in transition.  There are the people who perceive the
    future and run forth to meet it, and the reactionary factions who
    desparately wish to cling to the safety of the old consciousness.
    This could be what is happening today, that the New Age is indeed
    dawning.  The "official" beginning of the Age of Aquarius won't
    happen for another 325 years.  The equinox precesses at the rate
    of approximate one minute of celestial longitude per year, so it's
    slow.  But maybe by then we'll be more truly ready for it.
    
    Because the Age is indeed on the horizon; it is dawn.  Just as daylight
    appears long before the Sun actually rises, so the light of a new
    Age appears long before it actually begins.  When interpreting transits
    for people, astrologers often give an approaching transit a wide
    orb of influence, which means that the person will feel the first
    stirrings of the change before the transit is exact.  An orb of
    as much as 5 degrees is sometimes used for approaching transits,
    and the equinox is at approximately 5 degrees of Pisces.  The stirrings
    of change in the psyche often bring about uneasiness with the old
    order, a sense that change is due, and a desire to cling to the
    old, especially if it is greatly loved.  This seems to be what is
    happening today.
    
    An interesting detail to note is the sign on the other side of the
    zodiac from the sign the spring equinox has precessed into.  It
    often provides the complement to the chief energy of the age.  So
    what can be said about the Age we are passing out of and the one
    we are passing into?  The two energies of the Piscean Age were faith
    and sacrifice (Pisces) and reason and logic (Virgo).  The vicious
    arguments of the people who wholly espouse only one side of this
    coin are well known to us.  It is more of a challenge to make the
    two serve each other, as we who are interested in psychic phenomena
    know.  The ethos of the Aquarian Age will be humanitarian detachment
    (Aquarius) and empowerment (Leo).  Already I hear the same type
    of arguments rising between people who believe that societal/world
    concerns for the good of all are incompatible with having personal
    power.  You can see it in the governments of countries after a
    "liberating" revolution, wherein the new government decides that
    the collective should be more powerful than any individual and ends
    up with a regime at least as restricting as the old.
    
    We are also hearing passionate arguments between proponents of the
    ethos of both ages.  The people who claim that spiritual faith (Pisces)
    must not be corrupted by a shred of intellectual perception (Aquarius),
    the people who claim that you cannot be yourself (Leo) if you also
    serve (Virgo).  I don't believe the actual world events themselves
    are any more or less terrible than at the dawning of other Great
    Years.  But what we _do_ have, I believe, is more awareness of them,
    as was so eloquently pointed out in another reply to this note.
    This awareness is, in itself, very Aquarian.  The notion of one
    world and the idea that what one does personally (Leo) affects us
    all (Aquarius) is part of the feeling of the new age also.  "We
    are the world (Aquarius), we are the children (Leo)" says the song.
    The poignant impact of that song and the effort that drove it speak
    to how strongly many feel the new energy.
    
    This is indeed a dangerous time, for the ones who would see the
    new age enter with the human race intact must exert all their
    intelligence and craft and patience to attain that end.
    
    I believe we are the midwives, folks.
    
    Marcia

Re: .24
Thanks for that analysis, as I was one of the people who had 
asked for your explanation.  There's a lot to digest, but one 
comment you made toward the end is open for debate, namely,

>I don't believe the actual world events themselves
>are any more or less terrible than at the dawning of other Great
>Years.

It seems to me that the *capacity* to annihilate the world
several times over, to the point where it can not sustain life in
any form forever after, is fundamentally different than at any
other time in history.  True, the "actual world events
themselves" are probably still about the same on the
pleasure/pain continuum, but the ability to completely wipe out
life on our planet is having a major impact on how we view
ourselves and our relations. 

In light of your analysis, especially regarding how the
influences of the dawning age are starting to influence this
current age, I'm curious how you see this.

/chuck

    re .25:
    
    The capacity to destrioy life on Earth several times over was first
    realized by the close of World War I when various types of poison
    gas were developed.
    
    That they never were used on as large scale during or after World
    War I is a good sign.
    
    Maybe there _is_ some sort of dawning consciousness.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
    

    Re: .25 & .26
    
    That is, indeed, a good point about humanity's capacity to destroy
    itself.  I think that the power has been given us, in a way, in
    order to make us realise, at last, that we hold our destiny in our
    own hands.  To shock us into the necessary Aquarian awareness. 
    It is this awareness, I feel that is fundamentally different.
    
    To speak of atomic energy:  that type of energy is said to be ruled
    by the planet Pluto (plutonium?).  Historically oriented astrologers
    like to make much of the fact that Pluto was discovered at the same
    time that atomic energy research was really getting underway before
    the 2nd World War.  The discovery of how to manipulate this energy
    has given us the means to destroy ourselves, but the energy, (like
    the planet) has been there all along.
    
    Which brings up an interesting question:  given that Pluto can
    represent tremendous power with destructive capacity, how _did_
    it manifest in older, less aware times?  Were whole populations
    ever destroyed by Plutonian means?  You bet they were--by the Great
    Plagues.  Pluto, you see, is said to rule the tiniest seeds (atoms,
    microbes, the human gametes) that can either create or destroy.
    Microorganisms which cause life, but also disease, are Plutonian
    in nature.  It is sobering to realise that countries could be almost
    completely depopulated by disease, a nasty historical fact of life
    that we are usually (in the US anyhow) well protected from.  Half
    the population of Midaeval (sp?) Europe perished from Bubonic Plague.
    The terror people experience around AIDS today used to be commonplace.
    My own mother remembers being quarantined because of scarlet fever.
    
    Before Pluto was discovered, people experienced disease as something
    that "happened to" them.  Many considered that sickness was either
    God's punishment for sin or part of God's testing (a la Job) plan.
    It wasn't really til the mid 20th century that people really began
    to get a handle on controlling disease on a mass scale.  Not long
    after the discovery of Pluto, come to think.  Then, with atomic
    research, it almost seems like The Great Designer was saying, "okay,
    you've learned how to master _that_ Plutonian manifestation, let's
    see how you do with _this_ one.  Maybe this one will make you realise
    that control of this energy is the key to your survival.  If this
    doesn't wake you up, nothing will."
    
    Well, as you allude, it seems control of nuclear power really is the
    key to our survival.  We still have to see how well we midwife this
    one.  But the other events, the droughts, famines, natural disasters,
    et al have been going on for a good, long time.  The positive thing
    I find is that our (admittedly flawed) efforts to control the Plutonian
    energy have resulted in a global awareness that makes us increaslingly
    and poignantly aware of the state of our fellows elsewhere.  The
    real heartbreaking question is not "Why is this all happening now?"
    but instead "S___!  You mean these things have been going on all
    along and we never knew it?"  It almost seems as if the atomic crisis
    was a necessary spur to the development of real humanitarian
    consciousness.
    
    These are definitely my own thoughts and views.  I have tremendous
    hope along with the fear and so I am encouraged to keep trying instead
    of folding up.
    
    Marcia

    I would like to add very quickly that we cannot destroy the world...
    We can only destroy ourselves and other living things.  100,000
    years later new life forms would have appeared on Gaia.  So when
    we speak of destroying or changing something lets please be specific
    about what we are talking about.
    
    My fear here is that if we change our enviroment so that it will
    not support the usual life forms then we will have to go through
    many evolutions before being reborn again into this world.  It's
    not a question of what kinda' world your children will be born into...
    Its a question of what kinda' world will you be born into again.
    
                                (*)

    Re .28:
    
    >I would like to add very quickly that we cannot destroy the world...
    
    Unless we _really_ put our mind to it.  I imagine if we were
    sufficiently serious about it, we could come up with a technological
    widgit that could vaporize the planet.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr
    (who has a few ideas how is might be done, but who's unwilling to
    share them)
    

                                                            
    To everyone - it might be a good time to go back and read .19 in
    this particular note topic.  Thanks, Bill, for pointing it out to
    me, being a relative newcomer to the conference.
    
    It all fits.  
    
    M.Scott Peck writes this exact same message in "The Different Drum",
    and in addition, offers some possible alternatives and solutions
    to the problem (within the framework of the U.S. Government and
    the Christian Church in the US).
                                             
    The message is the same, it is just the method/medium of delivery
    which is different....coupled with the timing, of course.
    
    Cindy

Thanks Cindy, Thank you Bill.
Jay

	...doesnt' mean they're not out to get you. B^)
 
 Associated Press, April 15th
   LONDON (AP) -- Witchcraft is sweeping Britain and must be 
outlawed so British children don't fall into the "sordid, sexual 
and diabolical grasp" of those who practice it, a lawmaker told 
the House of Commons. 
   Geoffrey Dickens, of the governing Conservative Party, 
asserted Thursday that many people convicted of child abuse had 
been involved in witchcraft initiation ceremonies. 
   "People laughed when I spoke nine years ago about child abuse.
Most people are listening now," said Dickens, asking for a debate
on the subject. "I now warn the House -- witchcraft is sweeping 
the country." 
   His comments were met with laughter from other lawmakers. 
House leader John Wakeham rejected the call for a debate but 
urged Dickens to pursue the subjects he thought important. 
   Later, Dickens said he would urge the introduction of 
legislation banning witchcraft, with prison sentences for 
offenders. 
   "These are extremely devious, evil people," he said. "If we 
are to protect children from their sordid, sexual and diabolical 
grasp we must bring in new laws to wipe witches off the face of 
the earth." 
   He said he had evidence that a vicar in northern England had 
surveyed 300 14-year-old pupils, and 87 percent had said they had
dabbled in the occult. 
   "I have not gone mad," he said. "This is a serious and growing
problem which must be exorcised." [sic]

    Reply to .32,
    
    Sounds like the Wolf is crying "Sheep! Sheep!"