The Prayer of St. Francis

"St. Francis in the Canyon" by Ginny Moss Rothwell***

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

***“ST. FRANCIS IN THE CANYON”

mosaic 35” x 25”

St. Francis lived his life with joy and appreciation for all things created. I had an artistic vision of St. Francis surrounded by the animals and birds of the desert Southwest. I wanted to show the calm and peace the animals might feel while in the presence of Francis. The beautiful Sabino Canyon and the blue Arizona sky are the background of my mosaic. The tiles have the texture of rock and vegetation.

I painted the tiles of my birds and my lizard “Marco” using my photographs. They are frequent visitors to my garden. My inspiration for the Bobcats and the Coyote were from amazing wildlife photos by Sam Angevine, www.samangevine.com. He has allowed me to use his images for my models. The roadrunners in the foreground, “Bella” and “Edward”, are feathered friends of artist Geri Niedermiller, http://gekkosworkshop.5thelement.com .

                                                                                              Ginny Moss Rothwell

                                                                                              www.mossrothwellfineart.com                                    

An Important Letter on Violence in America

Gabrielle Giffords vigil, 2011

It's not even 6 months since the "Dark Knight" massacre in Colorado, or the massacre of 12 people at a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin, and now 28 people are dead in Connecticut, 20 of them children, at the hand of another young man with an assault rifle.   And it's not quite 2 years since  the shooting of much loved Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the death of 6 people, when the President gave a beautiful speech right here in Tucson.  But nothing has changed.  This is also what the "return of the Goddess" is about.

I felt like re-publishing Bill Moyers  article from this summer,  which he wrote after the deaths in Colorado.  But I also was forwarded today an important letter by Henry Lowendorf of the Greater New Haven Peace Council.  I feel like posting them both.

Jared Loughner

Wade Michael Page

James Holmes

From: "Henry Lowendorf" ;grnhpeacecouncil@gmail.com
2012 December 15 

There is no pain like the loss of a child. 

The tragedy that overtook Newtown yesterday suddenly dropped that pain on too many to count and left heartsickness in its wake. The children and the adults who tried to protect them have become waves of memories crashing inside of us. Our thoughts and prayers go to those so closely devastated with grief, a grief even shared around the world. 

As we, collectively, try to bear the unbearable, as we pick ourselves up to live on, to cope, and to look for means to prevent such future tragedies we must not be nearsighted in investigating the causes. 

This is not the first case of a mass killing in our schools. It is not the sole case of mass killing of children, for in nearby New Haven and Hartford that many children are shot and killed on the streets throughout every year. Because their lives are not taken in a short span of time, public attention is limited, directed elsewhere, and the shock and sorrow do not circle very far. Because they are mostly children of color, for many in the majority white population they are someone else’s children. 

Do we pause even for a moment when we read - do we even read? - stories of Afghan children, Iraqi children, Palestinian children, Congolese children, thousands of whose lives are brutally taken in lands battered by war? They are so far away. Why are these other children deserving less of our concern? Are they really unrelated to our current tragedy? What we witness at this moment are the effects of a brief war zone, one regrettably close to home.

Let us remember a similarly painful tragedy in 2001 on September 11. Inexcusably, it did not lead to introspection about the cause and thoughtful efforts aimed at addressing and removing it. Rather what ensued was a violent reaction named “shock and awe” whose erroneous goals led to the deaths of tens of thousands of Afghans, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, mostly noncombatants, little children whose lives were totally disconnected with 9/11 and thousands of our own precious children in avoidable wars. Those lucky enough to survive have been traumatized for life. 

It is not enough to question the availability of guns and gun ownership policies in the United States. For we live in an economy of violence that goes far beyond handguns. Our nation spends over a trillion dollars a year on building killing machines and actively using them, more than all other countries combined. Our nation maintains an arsenal of nuclear weapons that can instantaneously end the lives of all children and all civilization. Our nation recruits our youth, whom we parents have taught to cherish life, and teaches them to kill. Our nation buys billions of dollars of weaponry and sells millions worth of armaments at home and abroad, sales that fill the coffers of the manufacturers of killing machines, sales that bind us to the unnecessary, premature deaths of our global brothers and sisters. 

We live in a culture of violence. On Independence Day 1852, Frederick Douglass called out the great “shocking and bloody” violence of our nation. Martin Luther King, Jr., 45 years ago, a year before being assassinated spoke, “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”

We must address the “shocking and bloody” tragedy in Newtown, and so many other tragedies like it, as the result of “spiritual death.” We must aim a keen eye to reach spiritual uplift. For only if we accept the responsibility to look beyond the heart of a grieving nation and seek out a fundamental flaw, only as we are willing to seek a higher truth and root out the culture of violence and an economy that feeds on it will we have reason to expect to see all of our children, here and there and there, live long and happy lives. As it should be. Only then. 

In Sorrow, Peace and Justice

Henry Lowendorf, Greater New Haven Peace Council

 

 

The NRA's Dark Gun Culture
By Bill Moyers
Al-Jazeerah, CCUN, July 23, 2012

The United States has emerged to become the most violent nation on earth where millions are equipped with lethal weapons to massacre brutally as many people as they wish. In spite of its military might, the US government cannot do anything about it since it functions under the ruthless thumb of the National Rifle Association (NRA) whose sole objective is to boost by all means the business of the weapons’ industry.

You might think Wayne LaPierre, Executive Vice President of and spokesman for the mighty American gun lobby, The National Rifle Association, has an almost cosmic sense of timing. In 2007, at the NRA’s annual convention in St. Louis, he warned the crowd that, "Today, there is not one firearm owner whose freedom is secure."Two days later, a young man opened fire on the campus of Virginia Tech, killing 32 students, staff and teachers. Just last week LaPierre showed up at the United Nations Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty here in New York and spoke out against what he called "Anti-freedom policies that disregard American citizens' right to self-defense." Now at least 12 are dead in Aurora, Colorado, gunned down by a mad man at a showing of the new Batman movie filled with make-believe violence. One of the guns the shooter used was an AK-47-type assault weapon that was banned in 1994. The National Rifle Association saw to it that the ban expired in 2004. The NRA is the best friend a killer's instinct ever had.

Obviously, LaPierre's timing isn’t cosmic, just coincidental; as Shakespeare famously wrote, "The fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves." In other words, people. People with guns. There are an estimated 300 million guns in the United States, one in four adult Americans owns at least one and most of them are men. The British newspaper The Guardian, reminds us that over the last 30 years, "The number of states with a law that automatically approves licenses to carry concealed weapons provided an applicant clears a criminal background check has risen from eight to 38."
Every year there are 30,000 gun deaths and 300,000 gun-related assaults in the U.S. Firearm violence may cost our country as much as $100 billion a year.

Toys are regulated with greater care and safety concerns. So why do we always act so surprised? Violence is alter ego, wired into our Stone Age brains, so intrinsic its toxic eruptions no longer shock, except momentarily when we hear of a mass shooting like this latest in Colorado. But this, too, will pass and the nation of the short attention span quickly finds the next thing to divert us from the hard realities of America in 2012.

Reliance on Arms Leads to Self-Annihilation
 
We are after all a country which began with the forced subjugation into slavery of millions of Africans and the reliance on arms against Native Americans for its Westward expansion. In truth, more settlers traveling the Oregon Trail died from accidental, self-inflicted gunshots wounds than Indian attacks - we were not only bloodthirsty but also inept.

Nonetheless, we have become so gun loving, so blasé about home-grown violence that in my lifetime alone, far more Americans have been casualties of domestic gunfire than have died in all our wars combined. In Arizona last year, just days after the Gabby Giffords shooting, sales of the weapon used in the slaughter - a 9 millimeter Glock semi-automatic pistol - doubled.

We are fooling ourselves. That the law could allow even an inflamed lunatic to easily acquire murderous weapons and not expect murderous consequences. Fooling ourselves that the second amendment’s guarantee of a "well-regulated militia" be construed as a God-given right to purchase and own just about any weapon of destruction you like. That's a license for murder and mayhem and it's a great fraud that has entered our history.

There's a video of which I'd like to remind you. You can see it on YouTube. In it, Adam Gadahn, an American born member of al Qaeda, the first U.S. citizen charged with treason since 1952, urges terrorists to carry out attacks on the United States. Right before your eyes he says: "America is absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms. You can go down to a gun show at the local convention center and come away with a fully automatic assault rifle, without a background check, and most likely, without having to show an identification card. So what are you waiting for?"

The killer in Colorado waited only for an opportunity, and there you have it - the arsenal of democracy transformed into the arsenal of death and the NRA - the NRA is the enabler of death - paranoid, delusional, and as venomous as a scorpion. With the weak-kneed acquiescence of our politicians, the National Rifle Association has turned the Second Amendment of the Constitution into a cruel hoax, a cruel and deadly hoax.

Memorial for Gabrielle Giffords, Tucson, 2011

2012 Prophecy: The Hopi

Hopi "Prophecy rock"

"The Emergence to the future Fifth World has begun. It is being made by the humble people of little nations, tribes, and racial minorities. 'You can read this in the earth itself. Plant forms from previous worlds are beginning to spring up as seeds. This could start a new study of botany if people were wise enough to read them. The same kinds of seeds are being planted in the sky as stars. The same kinds of seeds are being planted in our hearts. All these are the same, depending how you look at them."

 from The Book of the Hopi, by Frank Waters (1963)

Since we approach the Solstice, I felt like writing about the Hopi prophecy, as they believe the "4th World" is ending, and the 5th World is to begin.  In Hopi cosmology, there were three previous Worlds, all of which were destroyed as the New Age began. We are entering the Fifth Age.  Grandmother Spider Woman is, in most of the stories, the one who leads the people into the next age, in most stories (although not all)  through the Sipapu, the  Kiva, which can be seen as a symbolic womb and birth canal.

Hopi cosmology, as are all Pueblo culture cosmologies, is complex and has many variations.  There is no doubt that there was trade and exchange between the Pueblo peoples and the Maya, and indeed Hopi language shares much with the Aztec language, so it is not surprising that the Hopi and Mayan calendars coincide in some ways, and also that mythological figures are shared in common.  But I am far from an expert, and I can only speak of what I know in the most general sense. 

 

The Hopi have been an oral culture, which means that the prophecies, myths, and ceremonies have been passed on from generation to generation, changing and being influenced by external events.    It's also important, in reading the many accounts of the Hopi prophecies on the Web, to realize  that 1) the Hopi are traditionally very secretive about their sacred traditions and do not share them with outsiders; conversely, they may intentionally mislead informants, as a means of protecting their traditional wisdom from exploitation.  Two, none of the Prophecies that have been circulating, including the well known work of Frank Waters who wrote "The Book of the Hopi" in the 1950's, as far as I can determine,  were written by Hopi people.  And 3),  there is so much hype, co-option, disrespect, and fantasizing of the Hopi prophesies, and Native Americans in general, on the part of popular culture, that it's hard to wade through and find what the truth is.

Having said all that, I'd like to share here a great article by  Daniel Pinchbeck about the Hopi Apocalypse (see below after this post).  

The  "Nine Signs" of the Hopi, written by Frank Waters in his book, is very famous and circulating widely.  He lived on the reservation for three years and interviewed over 30 elders.  Still, there is much that is questionable about his famous book.  The "Nine Signs", he wrote, were given to a white minister, who happened to give a ride to a Hopi elder.  The Minister conveniently died in the 70's, and the Elder, who told him his name was "White Feather of the Bear Clan", has never been traced.  As many have pointed out, the Hopi usually have an Anglo first name, and then their last name is in their own native language.  It may also be pointed out that everything in the "prophecies" could have been observed in the 50's, from the widespread terror of nuclear war to "the sea turning black and living things dying" (oil spills).  The West has had, under Christianity, a very long fascination with the Apocalypse, and many groups for a thousand years  have awaited the "Rapture",  when Christ would return and the sinful world would be destroyed.   While I believe the Hopi have prophecy (and great wisdom) I  do not believe these "prophecies" supposedly given by a mysterious dying  "White Feather" are authentic.

One of the most interesting aspects of Hopi prophecy Waters wrote  of  is the "Blue Star Katchina":

^"The end of all Hopi ceremonialism will come when  the Blue Star Kachina  removes his mask during a dance in the plaza before uninitiated children [ which has been interpreted to mean the naive or  general public]. For a while there will be no more ceremonies, no more faith. Then Oraibi will be rejuvenated with its faith and ceremonies, marking the start of a new cycle of Hopi life."......"You will hear of a dwelling-place in the heavens, above the earth, that shall fall with a great crash. It will appear as a blue star."

This has been interpreted to mean the comet Hale Bopp, the destruction of the space station Challenger, even UFO's.  I have to note that there were manned satellites  in the late '50's that could have influenced this.  However,  the Blue Star Kachina removing his mask is very interesting, and I would like to learn more about that at a later time.......what the meaning of the masks are is complex. 

There is a later commentary (1998) about the Blue Star Kachina given by Robert Ghost Wolf  (aka  Robert Franzone, aka Robert Parry) that is very eloquent.  The author claims to have received them from Hopi elders, yet it turns out that Ghost Wolf  has been discredited by many  sources as a fraud, and in researching him, it seems, indeed, very difficult to believe anything he may say. 

Perhaps the closest we can get to truth is reading Dan Evehema, a Hopi  traditional leader (he died in 1999) , who was one of four Hopis (including Thomas Banyacya, David Monongye, and Dan Katchongva) who decided or were appointed to reveal Hopi traditional wisdom and teachings, including the Hopi prophecies for the future, to the general public in 1946, after the use of nuclear weapons against Japan. Evehema was co-author, with Thomas Mails, of "The Hopi Survival Kit"^.   The "Hopi Survival Kit" includes a signed affidavit from Dan Evehema approving the book, and is the only written account of the complete Hopi prophecies. Evehema was a member of the Greasewood/Roadrunner Clan.

Hopi prophecy also contains the return of Pahena, the white brother.  The legend of the Pahana seems connected with the Aztec story of Quetzalcoatl, and other legends of Central America.  In the early 16th century, both the Hopis and the Aztecs believed that the coming of the Spanish conquistadors was the return of this lost white prophet.  Daniel Pinchbeck has written in “The Fifth World and the Hopi Apocalypse” (which I take the liberty of excerpting below) that “The Hopi prophecies also tell of the return of Pahana, the elder white brother, in a real exchange of knowledge and a true communion, as the Fourth World comes to an end.”   

Which is hopeful.............

 

"The Fifth World and the Hopi Apocalypse" by Daniel Pinchbeck
Originally published in Arthur No. 14 (Jan. 2005)

Last summer, I visited the Hopi on their tribal lands in Arizona. The Hopi are thought to be the original inhabitants of the North American continent–this is what their own legends tell us, and archaeologists agree. My initial interest in the Hopi came from reading about their oral prophecies and their “Emergence Myth.” According to the Hopi, we are currently living in the Fourth World, on the verge of transitioning, or emerging, into the Fifth World. In each of the three previous worlds, humanity eventually went berserk, tearing apart the fabric of the world through destructive practices, wars, and ruinous technologies. As the end of one world approaches a small tunnel or inter-dimensional passage —the sipapu—appears, leading the Hopi and other decent people into the next phase, or incarnation, of the Earth.

Of course, most modern people would consider this story to be an interesting folktale or fantasy with no particular relevance to our current lives. Even five years ago, I probably would have agreed with them. However, my personal experiences with indigenous cultures and shamanism convinced me, in the interim, that there is more to traditional wisdom than our modern mindset can easily accept. The Hopi themselves say that almost all of the signs have been fulfilled that precede our transition to the Fifth World. These include a “gourd of ashes falling from the sky,” destroying a city, enacted in the atomic blasts obliterating Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and a spider web across the Earth, which they associate with our power grid and telephone lines. According to Frank Waters, who compiled accounts from 30 Hopi elders in his Book of the Hopi (1963), the current Fourth World will end in a war that will be “a spiritual conflict” fought with material means, leading to the destruction of the United States through radiation. Those who survive this conflict will institute a new united world without racial or ideological divisions “under one power, that of the Creator.”

The 12,000 Hopi live in a dry and dramatic landscape strewn with enormous boulders, resembling the surface of an alien planet. Their towns are clustered on three mesas—high, flat cliffs overlooking vast swathes of desert. Traditionally, the Hopi are subsistence farmers; they work with ancient strains of corn and beans that are, almost miraculously, able to grow in that arid environment. For obvious reasons, water is sacred to their culture—many of their rituals are aimed at bringing rain. Each spring, each well, is precious to the Hopi. While I was visiting Hopiland I attended a rain dance in the town of Walpi, on First Mesa. Perhaps 50 men of the town—wearing masks and costumes and feathered headdresses —participated in the dance, which was held in the town’s center. The dancers are dressed as katsinas, the spiritual beings that are thought to control elemental forces. The ceremony is a form of possession trance—the goal is to summon the katsinas to temporarily inhabit the bodies of the dancers. The Hopi believe that their culture can only prosper if they maintain direct contact with the supernatural powers that manifest directly through the natural world.

In his book Rethinking Hopi Anthropology, the Cambridge anthropologist Peter Whitely recalls, with an almost embarrassed reluctance, that during his time with the Hopi in the 1980s, he witnessed repeated demonstrations of their precognitive abilities and their ability to influence natural forces through ritual.*** He was transfixed by his first visit to a Snake Dance in 1980: “This was no commodified spectacle of the exotic … its profound religiosity was tangible, sensible. Within half an hour of the dance (which lasts about 45 minutes), a soft rain began to fall from a sky that had been burningly cloudless throughout the day.” When he went to see one of his informants, Harry Kewanimptewa, a septuagenarian member of the Spider clan, he would often find that the elder would answer the questions he had intended to ask before he could vocalize them: “I have no desire to fetishize or exoticize here, but this was something about him and some other, particularly older, Hopis that I have experienced repeatedly and am unable to explain rationally.”

I can sympathize with Whiteley’s plight. Since I started exploring shamanism almost a decade ago, I have found myself living in two worlds simultaneously—the world of Western rationalist discourse with its empirical and materialist emphasis, and the shamanic realm of magical correspondences, supernatural forces, dream messages, and synchronicities. The shamanic realm is one in which human consciousness is not an epiphenomenon or dualistic byproduct of a purely physical evolution, but an inseparable aspect of the world, intertwined with reality at every level. It seems that quantum physics has attained a perspective that is similar to the shamanic view, acknowledging a direct relation between the observer and observed.

I went to the Hopi as part of my research for the book I am writing on prophecies, studying the Mayan and Toltec obsession with the year 2012, the Apocalypse described in the Biblical Book of Revelation, the Hopi foretellings, and various modern Western philosophers and visionaries whose ideas offer a context or system for understanding these predictions. Before I visited the Hopi or even read much about them, I had a few powerful dream experiences that seemed to indicate, to me, the importance of my imminent encounter with this ancient tribe. After seeing the film Naqoyqatsi (“Life as War”)—the last in the trilogy of films beginning with Koyaanisqatsi (“Life out of Balance”), by Godfrey Reggio (appropriating Hopi concepts with no input from the tribe) — I had a dream of fiery demons at computer workstations, and awoke with the sense of a visceral supernatural presence flying through my house. The night before I left for the Southwest, I had an even more specific and frightening nightmare. In this dream, I was killed and dismembered by a disgusting-looking demon—who was simultaneously, in typical dream dislogic, the famous conceptual artist Bruce Naumann. In the dream, I returned to Naumann’s studio or the demon’s home and said, “Great—now that you have killed me, I control you.” I went to a bookcase and picked up a huge leather-bound volume titled “Grimoire” (a Medieval catalogue of imaginary beasts and supernatural creatures) and melted it down over a fire. As I did this, I heard incredibly loud Native American chanting and maniacal laughter. I awoke, once again, with the sense of a powerful presence, a kind of unhinged or wild diabolical force, looming overhead and then soaring away.

While traveling to Hopiland I scanned several books of Hopi anthropology and folktales and found that the being who had haunted my dreams closely matched descriptions of Maasaw, the complex creator-deity of the Hopi. According to Hopi legend, when the Hopi first emerged from the Third World to the Fourth, they met Maasaw, who gave them the rules of conduct for life on this new land and introduced them to the rudiments of their agricultural system. Maasaw brought the sun into the Fourth World; but once he had accomplished this, he left the daylight world forever to haunt the realm of night and darkness. The name Maasaw literally means “corpse demon” or “death spirit” in the Hopi language, and he is considered to be the ruler of the land of the dead. Maasaw resembles the ambiguous deities found in Hinduism and Tibetan Tantra, who have wrathful and benevolent manifestations. Since his disappearance from the earth, Maasaw often appears to the Hopi in dreams as a terrifying presence, wearing a ghoulish mask. According to some accounts, Maasaw’s deviation began long ago in the Third World, where he became arrogant and defiant. His assignment to rule over the underworld was a kind of demotion. I wondered why—as seemed to be the case—this spirit had introduced himself to me, in my dreams, even before I arrived in Hopiland.

I thought that I needed to learn more about the Hopi prophecies—and indeed, I did manage to visit an elder in that extraordinary desert landscape. Martin Gasheseoma took time off from working on his field of corn and beans, to tell me that the “purification,” as foretold, would soon come to pass, that there was no way to prevent it. “It goes like a movie now,” he said. However, even before I had found my way to this meeting, my perspective had shifted. I had realized that the essence of the prophecy—the solution to the riddle—was not in some transcendent or otherworldly event, but in the very immanent and real world around us.

The Hopi way of life is threatened with imminent extinction. In the 1960s, the Peabody Coal Company was given a concession to mine coal on their land. They were also awarded the right to use water from the aquifer under Black Mesa to slurry the coal down a pipeline, built by the Enron Corporation. This operation wastes 1.3 billion gallons of pure drinking water annually. Of course, there are other ways to transport coal, but this is the cheapest for Peabody, and the company has continually fought against and effectively delayed all efforts to change their destructive practices.

In the 1980s, it was discovered that the lawyer who negotiated the original deal for the Hopi was, at the same time, on the payroll of the Peabody Corporation—and the Hopi have received a tiny fraction of the revenue they deserve, while forfeiting control of their own destiny. According to US Government Geological Surveys, by the year 2011, the aquifer will be finished—already the Hopi are finding that the local springs on which they rely are drying up.

In the middle-class New Age culture and “New Edge” festivals such as Burning Man, much lip service is paid to Native American traditions. Perhaps millions of white people hang dream catchers over their beds and put kachina dolls on their shelves. Despite this sentimental interest in indigenous culture and spirituality, precious little, or nothing, is done by us—those of us with the leisure for yoga and raw food and sweat lodges, who often sanctimoniously consider ourselves to be especially “conscious” or “spiritual” beings—to help the Native Americans on this continent. The indigenous people are resettled next to toxic waste dumps, abandoned to the least arable lands, ignored when the fish in their rivers are poisoned, when their resources are robbed from them. In every way, they continue to be treated with condescension and contempt.

This is also what I intuited from Maasaw’s mocking laughter and deviant presence in my dreams: Some deep schism of the soul remains to be recognized; the wound can only be healed if we work to forge a real relationship with the indigenous world, to expiate our dominator culture’s guilt and denial through pragmatic action in this reality, as it is now. If this is the case, then the Hopi situation represents the perfect place to begin the reversal: They are probably the oldest and perhaps most well-known indigenous group in the US, zealously studied by ethnographers for over a century, while repeatedly and blatantly betrayed by the US government and private corporations.

As climate change accelerates along with the global depletion of resources, we are being forced to recognize that our current system is unsustainable, even in the short term. The Hopi situation provides a microcosm of the global crisis—a cruelly ironic situation considering the essential meaning of their culture. As Whiteley notes, “The phrase ‘Hopi environmentalism’ is practically a redundancy. So much of Hopi culture and thought, both religious and secular, revolves around an attention to balance and harmony in the forces of nature that environmental ethics are in many ways critical to the very meaning of the word ‘Hopi.’” Visiting the Hopi, it occurred to me that indigenous prophecy, in itself, arises out of a deep level of attunement to the natural world, rather than anything “spiritual” or immaterial.

According to Vernon Masayesva, of the Black Mesa Trust (www.blackmesatrust.org): “It is our water ethic that has allowed us to survive and thrive in one of the most arid areas on planet Earth. It is the knowledge and teachings of our elders that have sustained us. This water ethic that has been handed down to us by our ancestors we are eager to share with everyone who will be facing water shortages—and according to some studies, water wars—in the next few decades. When the water is gone from Black Mesa, so will be the traditional cultures that could have taught the world so much about living successfully with less.” The Hopi prophecies also tell of the return of Pahana, the elder white brother, in a real exchange of knowledge and a true communion, as the Fourth World comes to an end.

Like so many manifestations of our neurotic and alienated culture, the Koyaanasqatsi films create a mood of inescapable doom and approaching cataclysm. Personally, I reject this attitude. We still have time to save the Hopi and other indigenous groups — perhaps, by extension, ourselves—if we are willing to learn from them and fight for them, rather then appropriating their spirituality while ignoring the destruction we keep inflicting upon their world.

http://arthurmag.com/2011/03/04/the-fifth-world-and-the-hopi-apocalypse-by-daniel-pinchbeck-arthur-no-14jan-2005/

*** This is of great interest to me, as a person who has attempted, with the communities I've worked with, to study about,  and create,  a Sacred Mask collection  (The Masks of the Goddess, 1998-2008).  The intention of the performers was to invoke, and bring the energies, of the Goddesses to the performers and the participants/audience.   And so it often was.


I also think, when I read this, about the work that has been done at Findhorn, Perelandra, and the Sirius Community with the Devas, the elemental beings that help the plant world to manifest.  Katchinas.  Numina.   How sad to think that we have mostly lost this understanding.

Holle Shakes Her Feather Bed

 I've been having a mythological ramble through Yule traditions, and thought I'd jot a bit of it down here. As Joseph Campbell pointed out, to understand the evolution of myth is to understand many things, including the evolution of language and religion.  One of my images that I keep creating lately is "dual" masks, masks that are half black and half white, or half "underground" and half "above ground vegetation".  I think this reflects my sense of how very important holistic consciousness is, personally and collectively, whether we speak of shadow work, coming to terms with the ebbs and flows of self, or the cycles of our Mother Earth, the ebbs and flows of the seasons and the creation/death/rebirth cycle.  To try to live within the Whole.  Or at least, come to terms with it!

One of the  Goddesses that reflects this time, and the idea of the flux of cycles, is the Nordic Goddess Frau Holle. Holle has very ancient origins indeed, and is a Weaver Goddess, a Spinner of fate.   Mother  Holle is very much associated with Yule, and with the hearth and home, especially in the winter.  But she is known throughout northern Europe, an ancient goddess that predates the advent of Christianity. ** Also known as Holda or Hulda, she is a  triple goddess,  embodying the passages of life. In some myths, she is "the ash girl", her face half black with soot and half white.  This comes from a story of how in order to marry the God of Winter she had to come to him neither naked nor clothed, and neither in light or darkness (the White Goddess and the Dark Goddess).   As the Mother goddess, she protected the forest and was often shown among trees.  Holle (interesting to see the relationship in the name - "Holy", "wholly", "whole")  in old age  is Winter's Queen, and Mother Holda is the source of  "Mother Goose"  legends, because the snow flies when the she shakes the feathers from her down bed.  In Holland, they still say that 'Dame Holle is shaking her bed'.

"Frau Holle, as she is known in Germany, was called The Queen of the Witches. The brothers Grimm tell a story of step-sisters who both go to visit Frau Holle in the 'nether realms'. They begin their journey to her by falling in a well............Holle's name is linguistically related to the word Halja, which means "covering", and is the ancient Teutonic name for Hel, the Norse land of the dead. Holle is sometimes called the Queen of the Dead, and resides in the 'nether' regions. She possibly lent her name to the country Holland, 'the land of Holle', which is also called the Netherlands because many parts of the country are below sea-level."   

Sandra Kleinschmitt

Holle/Hel  is thus  both light and dark, young and old, illumination and shadow. Whole.

And who is Hel, the ashy side of Holle's face, from whose name we get "Hell"?   Besides being the origin of the word people use daily as a swear word, and millions of Christians have a mighty fear of going to (without knowing anything about where the concept originated from).  People no longer remember that once "go to Hell" meant to die.

"Hel (Hell)  has been used by the early  church as a scare tactic to frighten the masses into “righteous” acts. To get the real story, we have to go back to the early Nordic people and look this death Goddess in the face. 

Hel" by Susan Seddon Boulet

Hel is cast into the netherworld and becomes the ruler of that underworld to which souls who have not died in battle will depart. As thanks for making Her ruler of the netherworld, Hel makes a gift to Odin. She gives him two ravens, Huginn and Muninn (Thought and Memory). Ravens are messengers between this realm and the next, opening pathways to death’s realm.

Her realm is named for her, Hel or Helheim. Because She accepts all to Helheim, she also becomes the judge to determine the fate of each soul in the afterlife. The evil dead are banished to a realm of icy cold (a fate that the Nordic people found much worse in telling than a lake of fire). Unlike the Judeo-Christian concept, Helheim also served as the shelter and gathering place of souls to be reincarnated. Hel watches over those who died peacefully of old age or illness. She cares for children and women who die in childbirth. She guides those souls who do not choose the path of war through the circle of death to rebirth."............

 Rowen Saille of the Order of the White Moon,

Like Persephone, who is both the Queen of Spring and the Queen of Hades, Hel as the dark side of Holle governs the world beyond that of the living, the underworld or invisible realm. In magic, she makes thin the veil between worlds.

"Magic is the art of changing consciousness

 at will."............ Starhawk

 Seidhr [SAY-theer] or Nordic shamans called upon Hel's protection and wore  "the helkappe", a magic mask, to render them invisible and enable them to pass through the gateway into the realm of death and spirit.  The Helkappe, a mask, was thus understood as a liminal tool that enabled transit between the seeming dualities of life, and was infused with shamanic power.  To take this metaphor further, to wear a mask consciously, and as a psychic/sacred tool, is to engage consciously with the continual flux of personae - young/old, dark/light, good/bad.  This is the realm of the soul, beyond duality.  Wearing that kind of mask,  and taking it off at will, enables one to enter both realms.
 
For anyone who may wonder where the "flying broomsticks" of witches (or Harry Potter) comes from, Dame Holda is probably  the source.  Because of her association with the hearth and home, the Broom was both symbol and magical tool.  Folk traditions of "sweeping away evil from the hearth" are very ancient throughout Europe.  As a symbol of the Hearth, it is interesting to see this also transformed into the "vehicle of witches".  In later folktales, Frau Holle becomes a fearsome hag, riding her broom and bringing the storms of winter.


A wonderful commentary on Holle/Hel come from the   Goddess Inspired  Blog 
and again I quote, as she writes so beautifully of the non-duality of this myth.  



"Mother Holle  started off Her existence as the Goddess of Death and Regeneration. During the Neolithic in what Marija Gimbutas termed Old Europe people believed in the cyclical nature of all existence. Every ending was understood to be the beginning of a new chapter. Death, rather than being the final end, was seen as a resting stage prior to new life. Just as seeds rest deep undergound during the cold winter months waiting to sprit up as a seedling in spring, so were the dead seen as having returned to the Goddess’ dark womb to await renewal and rebirth.

The Goddess of Death and Regeneration was associated with winter and the colour white. Small stiff white Goddess figurines with small breasts and exaggerated pubic triangles were placed alongside the dead in order for Her to accompany the person on her or his journey of renewal. The Goddess of Death and Regeneration was not feared or seen as being evil, but instead was considered to be benevolent and generous.

Mandorla of the Spinning Goddess by Judith Anderson

“She holds dominion over death, the cold darkness of winter, caves, graves and tombs in the earth….but also receives the fertile seed, the light of midwinter, the fertilized egg, which transforms the tomb into a womb for the gestation of new life.”..... Marija Gimbutas

Old white-haired Mother Holle and Her underground realm are one interpretation of this aspect of the Goddess. In the fairy tale Mother Holle is described as being kind and generous and very just. She lives at the bottom of a well. The well itself can be interpreted as being the birth canal leading to Her dark underground womb...........Mother Holle is described as having ugly big teeth, a big nose and a flat foot. The latter shows her love for weaving or spinning, another sacred act associated with the Goddess: She is the Life Weaver, the Spinner of Destiny and Fate.

Mother Holle was known all across the Germanic world. She was called Holle in Germany, Hel or Hella in Scandinavia and Holde on the British Isles. She is the origin for the word hell and its German variant Hölle, as well as words such as holy and holding in English and Höhle (= cave) in German.

The Scandinavian Goddess Hel is probably the most widely known version of Mother Holle as Goddess, although by the time the Indo-European Norse wrote down their religious beliefs, Hel was no longer the benevolent Regeneratrix of the Neolithic. She had become the dreaded Queen of the Dead.

As was the case during the Neolithic, Hel’s realm Nifhelheim also lies below the earth at the root of the World Tree. Incidentally the bottom of the World Tree is also home to the three Norns, Weavers of Destiny. While, as said above, originally the Goddess of Death and Regeneration was also the Weaver of Fate and Fortune, later beliefs separate Her more and more into Her various aspects. 


 Despite being feared by the Norse as the dreaded Hag of Death, Hel has Her benevolent roots hidden in plane sight. Being linked to the earth, She is one of the old Vanir Earth Goddesses, Vanir meaning “the Giving One”.

In Central Europe Mother Holle also evolved over time. Instead of becoming the Goddess of the Underworld, though, She became the Queen of Elves and the Mistress of Witches. Her character was actually very similar to that of Greek Hekate, the old Crone who roams the world with Her fearsome dogs.   Around 900CE Frau Holle had become an old weather hag who was said to ride in on Her broom stick bringing with Her whirlwinds and snowfall. Her life-giving generous nature was retained more in Germany than in Scandinavia, as even during Christian times She was seen as bringing life to the land causing growth, abundance and good fortune."

 http://goddessinspired.wordpress.com/2012/04/09/mother-holle-the-germanic-goddess-of-death-and-renewal-weaver-of-fate-and-fortune

 

The Spiritual Significance of 2012

 A friend passed this article  on to me, and I thought it worth sharing here - very insightful.  (This article is from a collection of material gathered from authors of “Transforming Through 2012, A Multimedia eBook about the coming shift.” http://transformingthrough2012.com - republished with permission from Science Of Mind Magazine, November 2011 Issue)

The end of the Hopi calendar, and entry into the "5th World", is thus also about the "Return of Spider Woman", the cosmic weaver who is also, in the Pueblo mythological universe, the midwife who guides the "new people" through the Sipapu in the sacred kiva, (or birth canal) into each next world, offering a thread (or a ladder) to rise up into the New World...... I reflect that in the Circles I've participated in, there are 5 directions: North, South, East, West, and Center. The Center is that which unites everything, the breathe, the dark space, ecological interdependency, the Web.  Integral."

 Nassim Haramein  comments eloquently:  "Every atom of your body is connected to every other atom in the universe, as it exchanges energy and information with the vacuum.".  

The Spiritual Significance of 2012 
by Mead Rose  

Spider Gorget with Cross/Circle

So why all the hubbub around 2012? The answer is that a number of seemingly significant changes appear to center around that date.

• In astronomical terms, 12/21/2012 is the winter solstice occurring simultaneously with crossing over the galactic midline.
• Astrologically, we are also transitioning from the Piscean to the Aquarian Age.
• In addition, it has been put forth as the end date of the Mayan calendar and as the fulfillment date of several other indigenous prophecies.
• Terence McKenna also turned up a pattern of events when he superimposed numerical values associated with the King Wen sequence of the I Ching onto human history, which he referred to as Timewave Zero and which appears to converge on that date as well.

There is both disagreement about and speculation beyond the basic points shown above. While the astronomical and astrological facts remain indisputable, the significance of them is open to interpretation. Additionally, when one examines the prophecies of the Maya and other indigenous peoples one discovers that they refer to a process and are not tied to a particular date.
Regardless of debates about target dates, it seems clear that change is upon us simply as a consequence of living on a planet with a burgeoning population and dwindling resources. It is becoming clear that we need to evolve past obsolete, consumption-heavy economies and competitive social strategies and transition into more resource-friendly, cooperative ways of living.

One fairly consistent theme in all the talk about 2012 is the idea that we are moving into a time when all our ancient notions are challenged. To quote songwriter Emily Kaitz: 

"Uncharted waters, Empty skies, Everything you’ve learned up to this point, No longer applies."

Long cherished notions of “the way it is” are beginning to come under scrutiny. These assumptions include:

• The fundamental nature of time and space
• The notion that we are alone in the universe
• The faith that our elected officials will act in our best interests
• The belief that intercession between individuals and divinity is necessary

For many, this scrutiny is a challenge to their religious faith and points to discrepancies between religion and spirit. One of the difficulties in responding to questions about the spiritual significance of 2012 is that that what defines spirit is changing. In the past, the borderlines between spirit, science, thought and physical existence were quite clear and now those separations are falling away in the light of new understandings.

One way to shed light on the whole question is to examine the ancient prophecies in the regard that spirit is eternal and human beings are fairly constant regardless of external changes. It is noteworthy that prophesies from diverse tribes show thematic congruence, even among tribes who are highly isolated and rarely exchange information with other tribes. For example, we find that when we compare Mayan and Hopi prophecies, the underlying themes are similar:

Scientifically recognized Mayan Calendar expert Carl Johan Calleman reveals that according to understandings gained via conversations with Mayan elders, the December 21, 2012 target date is erroneous and that the Mayan Calendar end date is actually October 28, 2011. Dr. Calleman elaborates on his interpretation of Mayan prophecies explaining that the “descent of the nine gods” refers not to anthropomorphic deities but instead to levels of cosmic consciousness impacting humanity at specific times. He has painstakingly documented historical events correlated to previous impacts to test the validity of his interpretation. He predicted March 9, 2011 as the commencement date of the 9^th Wave, just two days before the Fukushima earthquake, an eerie precursor.

Dr. Calleman offered commentary on the coming spiritual shifts saying, “We’re going into something where there will be no middle man or middle women between ourselves and God; and the Divine. We will be the only authorities in regarding our relationship to God. That’s where it’s going. No intermediate so to speak.” He explained that it was the ‘filters’ upon consciousness that necessitated the need for somebody to convey the experience from spiritual reality. “I believe that this wave is about developing resonance with the cosmos and it is a large thing. In order to do so, in true resonance with the cosmos, it also means that you must do that yourself directly, without any intermediates…It’s all about becoming a citizen of the cosmos, a child of God with out any having to intervene, so to speak.”

This idea of a transformation of consciousness is echoed in the Hopi prophecies.
Author Kymberlee Ruff tells of the Hopi Prophecy Rock, and whether humanity would choose to depart from the “Two-hearted Path” leading to nuclear annihilation: “Up until very recently, many of the Hopi Elders were not certain that we would choose the ‘Path of the One-Hearted.’ Fortunately, I have been told that in the last few years, we have turned a corner. Many Holy and Noble people have performed the sacred rituals and ceremonies, asking Mother Earth to give us another chance. An evolution of consciousness has occurred just in time to save our planet. I have been told to share with you that, in the last few years, we have passed over into ‘The Fifth World.’

With 2012 approaching, there are so many doomsday stories circulating, describing an impending time of catastrophe and destruction. This is why I was asked to tell the story of the ‘Two Paths of the Hopi Prophecy Rock,’ to tell you that the day after December 21, 2012 is actually going to herald a time of great peace…So as chaotic as the world may appear right now, it is an illusion. Something wonderful is happening.”

Or is it? One thing that is becoming increasingly clear is that we as human beings create our own reality. But this creation process goes far beyond the subjective limits of individuated consciousness. With individual transformation comes the realization that all beings are in need of liberation, that to acquire and appreciate the finer things in life also means doing so without subjecting others to undue hardship.

Like it or not, the world we live in is the product of an ongoing collaborative experiment in consciousness. While enlightened personages such as the Dalai Lama exemplify living the simple spiritual life, they are exiled from their homeland by governmental decisions of a totalitarian regime made to accommodate an ever-growing population.

In the midst of our search for new, cooperative solutions to problems for which we have no previous experience, the brute force expedients learned throughout humanity’s history of war and strife contend for dominance. Based in scarcity and fear, old paradigm you-or-me thinking tends to spread by turning otherwise enlightened minds into sharks or shark bait. Deep spiritual conviction is required to avoid falling prey to the fear-based thought patterns.

Furthermore, avoidance is not an answer. Withdrawing from the difficulties of the modern world is to withdraw one’s self as a needed community resource. Past models allowed people to entrust others to take care of difficult problems. Recent economic problems have shown us that this is not a wise strategy. All too often, turning one’s gaze away from complex problems, amounts to letting the fox guard the hen house.

The approaching changes require a new sort of moral courage. Already we are seeing the start of planetary changes from earthquakes to solar flares to floods. People are waking up to corruption and misbehavior on the part of our elected leaders. As spiritual beings, we must be willing to open our eyes and hearts to see and feel the wounds of humanity and mother earth to witness the extent of the healing that must take place. It is then incumbent upon us to put aside fear and hold fast to a vision of universal peace, cooperation and personal responsibility for emancipating people and the planet from the bondage of history.

West Kennet Long Barrow Crop Circle 2009

This moral courage must extend from our innermost hearts into our families, neighbors, organizations, institutions and planet. Beyond that, there are many who believe that extraterrestrial intelligences are waiting for us to complete this key step in our development before admitting us into their galactic associations. Dr Steven Greer of The Disclosure Project and others have revealed that very real economic forces are at work sowing fear and deception to prevent the equally real technologies of abundant energy, telepathic interfaces and gravitational propulsion from being made available. Imagine a Galactic Federation just like Star Trek (complete with a Prime Directive of non-interference). Imagine the Starship Enterprise encountering a planet which attempts to control its citizenry by withholding key technology and making movies about alien invasions. Even if you don’t accept the part about the aliens, consider that there are economic interests with an investment in the status quo of selling fossil fuels and nuclear energy when other technologies are available.

The 2012 experts and indigenous elders indicate that each individual must choose to respond to fear with love and when others are fearful, to do what it takes to bring them into the light of love, peace and understanding. Doing so will eventually cause us to reach a “tipping point” which will shift humanity’s matrix into the new reality so many of us desire.

One of the key abilities we all need to cultivate is the ability to meet new and sometimes bizarre information not with horror or disbelief but instead with the recognition that as with any process of healing or growth, there may be pain and a need to let go of the past. As humanity emerges from millennia of strife, the future may occur as, “being dragged kicking and screaming into heaven.”
Perhaps some of the best spiritual advice for coping with the radical shifts around 2012 comes from mathematician and physicist Nassim Haramein. Dr. Haramein recently won an award for his paper on ”The Schwarzschild Proton,” where he demonstrated the viability of considering the proton to be a quantum black hole containing the entire mass of the known universe. In one stroke, the paper solves discrepancies between Einstein’s Theory of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics. At first glance, this seems to carry no spiritual significance, but upon closer examination reveals that the separation between science and spirit is arbitrary. Ever since childhood he had difficulty with Euclidean dimensional concepts and arrived at his unique theories through attempting to understand the structure of the vacuum. Some label his work “sacred geometry” and indeed he has been able to integrate the Kabalistic “Tree of life” and “Flower of life” into his mathematical understanding of the geometry of space.

“I urge you to spend some time in contemplation, realizing your infinite nature, realizing your connectivity to the structure of space, to the vacuum as a whole, realizing your connectivity to all things through the inner self. All the masters who have walked the earth have encouraged us to learn to turn our senses inward because within the atomic level, within the singularity that centers our existence is the infinite potential of creation. This is what connects us to all things.
I believe that spending more time turning your senses inward and connecting with your fundamental nature, and then applying that to the external world in your day-to-day life might be one of the most crucial, the most important, things you can do. When you align with your fundamental nature, with your singularity, with the infinite potential inside yourself, you are fundamentally aligned with your dharma, your mission, your deepest possible recognition of self. Such an exploration can lead to great things in your life.

Every atom of your body is connected to every other atom in the universe, as it exchanges energy and information with the vacuum. This infinite energy and knowledge can infuse your consciousness, and change your life beginning today. Do not be apprehensive about the changes clustering around 2012, for they will force us to make the evolutionary leap into a world of abundance and wonder.”

It is clear we are in a time of transition. The message coming from the 2012 experts is a message to respond to the coming changes with love instead of fear. This requires the moral courage to see things as they are and then to make the choice towards love and responsibility and to help others to do so for themselves.