Merkabah

[Skarekrow]

Just thought I would throw this up there since I suffer from this syndrome from time to time...

A Scary-Sounding Sleep Disorder: Exploding Head Syndrome


Exploding head syndrome may sound like something out of a science fiction movie, but in fact it's a very real sleep disorder. People with this sleep phenomenon are prone to experiencing loud and sudden noises as they transition in and out of sleep.
Researchers at Washington State University recently published a review of existing literature on exploding head syndrome, a first step toward raising awareness and better understanding this little-known sleep phenomenon. Their analysis of the syndrome reveals a range of symptoms reported by patients:
- Noises are loud and jarring, resembling the popping sounds of firecrackers or gunshots, the slamming sound of a door closing violently, or the boom of an explosion.
- These sounds may be perceived in one or both ears.
- Sometimes the sounds of explosive head syndrome are accompanied by flashes of light.
- In some cases, people will experience mild pain in addition to the noise disruption.
- Women appear to be more likely than men to suffer from this sleep disorder.
Exploding head syndrome appears not to be linked to any serious health consequences. But that doesn't mean it's not disruptive to sleep and well-being. These episodes can be highly disconcerting and frightening, creating anxiety about going to sleep that itself may become an obstacle to a regular routine of healthy rest.
This sleep disorder has received scant attention from the scientific community, but it's not a new phenomenon. Mention in scientific literature of the distinctive symptoms of what's now known as exploding head syndrome date back roughly 150 years.
The scientists who conducted the recent review speculate that this sleep phenomenon occurs when the body's process of transitioning to sleep fails to unfold in proper sequence. Rather than slowing down, certain areas of the brain may actually become more active during the movement from wakefulness to sleep, leading to the perception of loud noise. Other sleep disorders may contribute to an increased likelihood for this phenomenon, as may stress, fatigue, and psychological conditions.
Treatments for exploding head syndrome often include relaxation and exercise to relieve stress, avoiding alcohol, as well as treating other possible sleep issues.
Have you ever experienced this sleep phenomenon? If so, rest assured that the problem is not all in your head. Seek out the advice of a sleep specialist to help you find relief for this very real disorder.
Sweet Dreams,
Michael J. Breus, PhD.

 

[Skarekrow]

Psychedelic mushrooms put your brain in a “waking dream,” study finds

Psychedelic mushrooms can do more than make you see the world in kaleidoscope. Research suggests they may have permanent, positive effects on the human brain.

In fact, a mind-altering compound found in some 200 species of mushroom is already being explored as a potential treatment for depression and anxiety. People who consume these mushrooms, after “trips” that can be a bit scary and unpleasant, report feeling more optimistic, less self-centered, and even happier for months after the fact.

But why do these trips change the way people see the world? According to a study published today in Human Brain Mapping, the mushroom compounds could be unlocking brain states usually only experienced when we dream, changes in activity that could help unlock permanent shifts in perspective.

The study examined brain activity in those who’d received injections ofpsilocybin, which gives “shrooms” their psychedelic punch. Despite a long history of mushroom use in spiritual practice, scientists have only recently begun to examine the brain activity of those using the compound, and this is the first study to attempt to relate the behavioral effects to biological changes.

After injections, the 15 participants were found to have increased brain function in areas associated with emotion and memory. The effect was strikingly similar to a brain in dream sleep, according to Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris, a post-doctoral researcher in neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London and co-author of the study.


“You’re seeing these areas getting louder, and more active,” he said. “It’s like someone’s turned up the volume there, in these regions that are considered part of an emotional system in the brain. When you look at a brain during dream sleep, you see the same hyperactive emotion centers.”

In fact, administration of the drug just before or during sleep seemed to promote higher activity levels during Rapid Eye Movement sleep, when dreams occur. An intriguing finding, Carhart-Harris says, given that people tend to describe their experience on psychedelic drugs as being like “a waking dream.” It seems that the brain may literally be slipping into unconscious patterns while the user is awake.

Conversely, the subjects of the study had decreased activity in other parts of the brain–areas associated with high level cognition. “These are the most recent parts of our brain, in an evolutionary sense,” Carhart-Harris said. “And we see them getting quieter and less organized.”

This dampening of one area and amplification of another could explain the “mind-broadening” sensation of psychedelic drugs, he said. Unlike most recreational drugs, psychotropic mushrooms and LSD don’t provide a pleasant, hedonistic reward when they’re consumed. Instead, users take them very occasionally, chasing the strange neurological effects instead of any sort of high.

“Except for some naïve users who go looking for a good time…which, by the way, is not how it plays out,” Carhart-Harris said, “you see people taking them to experience some kind of mental exploration, and to try to understand themselves.”


Our firm sense of self–the habits and experiences that we find integral to our personality–is quieted by these trips. Carhart-Harris believes that the drugs may unlock emotion while “basically killing the ego,” allowing users to be less narrow-minded and let go of negative outlooks.

It’s still not clear why such effects can have more profound long-term effects on the brain than our nightly dreams. But Carhart-Harris hopes to see more of these compounds in modern medicine. “The way we treat psychological illnesses now is to dampen things,” he said. “We dampen anxiety, dampen ones emotional range in the hope of curing depression, taking the sting out of what one feels.”

But some patients seem to benefit from having their emotions “unlocked” instead. “It would really suit the style of psychotherapy where we engage in a patient’s history and hang-ups,” Carhart-Harris said. “Instead of putting a bandage over theexposed wound, we’d be essentially loosening their minds–promoting a permanent change in outlook.”

 

[sprinkles]

Just thought I would throw this up there since I suffer from this syndrome from time to time...

A Scary-Sounding Sleep Disorder: Exploding Head Syndrome


Exploding head syndrome may sound like something out of a science fiction movie, but in fact it's a very real sleep disorder. People with this sleep phenomenon are prone to experiencing loud and sudden noises as they transition in and out of sleep.
Researchers at Washington State University recently published a review of existing literature on exploding head syndrome, a first step toward raising awareness and better understanding this little-known sleep phenomenon. Their analysis of the syndrome reveals a range of symptoms reported by patients:
• Noises are loud and jarring, resembling the popping sounds of firecrackers or gunshots, the slamming sound of a door closing violently, or the boom of an explosion.
• These sounds may be perceived in one or both ears.
• Sometimes the sounds of explosive head syndrome are accompanied by flashes of light.
• In some cases, people will experience mild pain in addition to the noise disruption.
• Women appear to be more likely than men to suffer from this sleep disorder.
Exploding head syndrome appears not to be linked to any serious health consequences. But that doesn't mean it's not disruptive to sleep and well-being. These episodes can be highly disconcerting and frightening, creating anxiety about going to sleep that itself may become an obstacle to a regular routine of healthy rest.
This sleep disorder has received scant attention from the scientific community, but it's not a new phenomenon. Mention in scientific literature of the distinctive symptoms of what's now known as exploding head syndrome date back roughly 150 years.
The scientists who conducted the recent review speculate that this sleep phenomenon occurs when the body's process of transitioning to sleep fails to unfold in proper sequence. Rather than slowing down, certain areas of the brain may actually become more active during the movement from wakefulness to sleep, leading to the perception of loud noise. Other sleep disorders may contribute to an increased likelihood for this phenomenon, as may stress, fatigue, and psychological conditions.
Treatments for exploding head syndrome often include relaxation and exercise to relieve stress, avoiding alcohol, as well as treating other possible sleep issues.
Have you ever experienced this sleep phenomenon? If so, rest assured that the problem is not all in your head. Seek out the advice of a sleep specialist to help you find relief for this very real disorder.
Sweet Dreams,
Michael J. Breus, PhD.

I actually have this. Never knew there was a name for it.

 

[Skarekrow]

Quantum state may be a real thing

Physicists summon up their courage and go after the nature of reality.

At the very heart of quantum mechanics lies a monster waiting to consume unwary minds. This monster goes by the name The Nature of Reality™. The greatest of physicists have taken one look into its mouth, saw the size of its teeth, and were consumed. Niels Bohr denied the existence of the monster after he nonchalantly (and very quietly) exited the monster's lair muttering "shut up and calculate." Einstein caught a glimpse of the teeth and fainted. He was reportedly rescued by Erwin Schrödinger at great personal risk, but neither really recovered from their encounter with the beast.

The upshot is that we had a group of physicists and philosophers who didn't believe that quantum mechanics represents reality but that it was all we could see of some deeper, more fundamental theory. A subclass of these scientists believed that the randomness of quantum mechanics would eventually be explained by some non-random, deterministic property that we simply couldn't directly observe (otherwise known as a hidden variable). Another group ended up believing that quantum mechanics did represent reality, and that, yes, reality was non-local, and possibly not very real either.

To one extent or another, these two groups are still around and still generate a fair amount of heat when they are in proximity to each other. Over the years, you would have to say that the scales have been slowly tipping in favor of the latter group. Experiments and theory have largely eliminated hidden variables. Bohm's pilot wave, a type of hidden variable, has to be pretty extraordinary to be real.
This has left us with more refined arguments to settle. One of these is about whether the wave function represents reality or just an observer's view of reality.

Waiving a function

For example, say I shoot a single photon at a single atom, which may or may not absorb the photon. According to quantum mechanics, the atom enters a superposition state where it's both in its ground state and its excited state. We describe this superposition state with a wave function. One view of quantum mechanics states that the wave function really represents the atom. But an alternative interpretation is that the wave function represents what I, the observer, know about the atom–reality may be something else entirely.

The difference is subtle, but we only need to return to an atom and a photon to see it. Imagine that a photon can excite the atom into one of two possible states, but I only know about one of them. When I make my measurement, I can't ask "what state are you in?" I can only ask "are you in state two?"–that's the nature of quantum measurements. In my previous example, where I only have two possibilities, this doesn't matter. If it's not in the excited state, I know the atom is in the ground state.

But now I have three possibilities: the atom is in its ground state or in one of the two excited states–one of which i don't know about. In a measurement of my atom, I am still limited to a yes or no answer. There is no way for me to use that to distinguish between a superposition of two states and a superposition of three states. That's because the wave functions that represent these two possibilities overlap; they both include the chance of being in the ground state and state two.

In the original example, the wave function that I know is the same as the wave function of the atom: it represents reality. In the second example, the wave function is only my knowledge of the atom, not the atom itself. This difference can be resolved by making multiple measurements. I'd see that my measured probability distribution differs from that predicted by the wave function. That is, given enough measurements, the two wave functions are distinguishable.

In this case, figuring out what's going on is trivial. But the question applies to other, more complicated cases. Can these two perspectives on the wave function always be distinguished from each other, even when the wave functions involved generate the same probability distribution function?

Are you for real?

Now, a group of researchers has extended previous work to show that, yes, under a wide range of conditions, these two points of view do differ. They show that the wave function must in some sense represent the observed system rather than what the observer knows about the system.

Their work essentially boils down to creating a measure of how much two probability distribution functions overlap. They use this latest research to argue that no matter what wave function is used and what it represents, the measurement results must remain the same. That is, over multiple measurements, we should obtain the same probability distribution function. So even if the wave functions are indistinguishable, do they all reproduce the measurement results?

The answer is not very simple. The proof that the answer is correct is only understandable to other theoretical physicists, and it only applies to wave functions with three or more dimensions (these are very common). Nevertheless, let me take a shot at explaining it anyway.If you take the view that the wave function only produces a probability distribution and then take all the wave functions that produce the same probability distribution–in other words, the observer's possible choices of wave functions, based on his or her knowledge of the system–and try to reproduce measurement results, you'll fail. Consequently, there is a single wave function that must represent reality.

So which wave function represents reality? Many different wave functions could be right, because they produce the same probability distribution function, but we can't tell them apart. That's the consequence of this finding: one wave function represents reality, but our ability to tell which one is reduced.

This paper is one of a series that is starting to reveal that our world is actually a quantum mechanical world at its very heart. Some aspects of it are non-local, some aspects of it are not real, and some aspects of it allow you to perform counterfactual operations.These have been our observations in a variety of experiments. But it seems that the observations are a close reflection of how the Universe operates.

I have a love-hate relationship with one of the comments my writing sometimes receives: "I have no idea what you just said, but I love it." That means that somewhere along the line, I obviously failed because you don't know what you just claimed to like. Well, now I find myself in the situation of saying to the new paper's authors, "I have no idea what you've just done, but I love it."

Physical Review Letters, 2014, DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.250403

 

[Skarekrow]

I actually have this. Never knew there was a name for it.

Me too…it is a very disconcerting experience to say the least…lol.

 

[sprinkles]

Me too…it is a very disconcerting experience to say the least…lol.

[video=youtube;mrb2Oc6naDI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrb2Oc6naDI[/video]

 

[Kgal]

Just thought I would throw this up there since I suffer from this syndrome from time to time...

A Scary-Sounding Sleep Disorder: Exploding Head Syndrome


Exploding head syndrome may sound like something out of a science fiction movie, but in fact it's a very real sleep disorder. People with this sleep phenomenon are prone to experiencing loud and sudden noises as they transition in and out of sleep.
Researchers at Washington State University recently published a review of existing literature on exploding head syndrome, a first step toward raising awareness and better understanding this little-known sleep phenomenon. Their analysis of the syndrome reveals a range of symptoms reported by patients:
- Noises are loud and jarring, resembling the popping sounds of firecrackers or gunshots, the slamming sound of a door closing violently, or the boom of an explosion.
- These sounds may be perceived in one or both ears.
- Sometimes the sounds of explosive head syndrome are accompanied by flashes of light.
- In some cases, people will experience mild pain in addition to the noise disruption.
- Women appear to be more likely than men to suffer from this sleep disorder.
Exploding head syndrome appears not to be linked to any serious health consequences. But that doesn't mean it's not disruptive to sleep and well-being. These episodes can be highly disconcerting and frightening, creating anxiety about going to sleep that itself may become an obstacle to a regular routine of healthy rest.
This sleep disorder has received scant attention from the scientific community, but it's not a new phenomenon. Mention in scientific literature of the distinctive symptoms of what's now known as exploding head syndrome date back roughly 150 years.
The scientists who conducted the recent review speculate that this sleep phenomenon occurs when the body's process of transitioning to sleep fails to unfold in proper sequence. Rather than slowing down, certain areas of the brain may actually become more active during the movement from wakefulness to sleep, leading to the perception of loud noise. Other sleep disorders may contribute to an increased likelihood for this phenomenon, as may stress, fatigue, and psychological conditions.
Treatments for exploding head syndrome often include relaxation and exercise to relieve stress, avoiding alcohol, as well as treating other possible sleep issues.
Have you ever experienced this sleep phenomenon? If so, rest assured that the problem is not all in your head. Seek out the advice of a sleep specialist to help you find relief for this very real disorder.
Sweet Dreams,
Michael J. Breus, PhD.

I experience something similar to this "syndrome" and never thought it odd enough to seek medical attention. I just assumed it was normal.

Speaking of hearing weird noises - have you already posted something about the HUM people are hearing all over the globe? I find it interesting these noises seem to be associated with high energy portal locations I've heard of in the last year or so. Even the main stream news covered this phenomenon.

From Jennifer Hoffman's facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10152614164773140&id=96402508139

"Someone wrote to me and asked whether I have been hearing a loud humming noise or vibration outside lately. I have heard this ever since I have lived here, mostly at night, and it's so loud to me that I wondered why my neighbors never mentioned it. I have been hearing it more often now, day and night, and I think it's, for the lack of a better expression, a sort of white noise that acts as a filter, blocking out vibrations and energy that we have not been aware of until now.

TV shows like The Dome and Person of Interest address with this issue in ways that seem very other worldly but I believe are true. I have always said that the reason we don't see ships and other life forms is because of our 3D filters which are now gone, so it's all out there, waiting for us to be aware of it.

An image that has been coming to me since April is one from the bible, where the temple curtain is torn in two. This is the veil between worlds and I believe it is an appropriate message for what we are experiencing now. There is much more to the universe than we are aware and even Jesus said there were 'many mansions', meaning many worlds beyond what we know. Our inability to be aware of them doesn't mean that they aren't there, we just haven't been able to see them.

Have you been hearing a hum or vibration where you live and do you hear it at night or during the day, or both? I'm curious because I have my own theories about what it is and would like to know who else has been hearing it."

She received 54 comments of people talking about these weird noises they hear and someone posted a few links I include here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CpOmzk_Zgs

http://globalskywatch.com/stories/m...l-information/the-haarp-hum.html#.U7l6CUBBmk9

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/scie...driving-people-crazy-around-world-f6C10760872

 

[Skarekrow]

I experience something similar to this "syndrome" and never thought it odd enough to seek medical attention. I just assumed it was normal.

Speaking of hearing weird noises - have you already posted something about the HUM people are hearing all over the globe? I find it interesting these noises seem to be associated with high energy portal locations I've heard of in the last year or so. Even the main stream news covered this phenomenon.

From Jennifer Hoffman's facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10152614164773140&id=96402508139

"Someone wrote to me and asked whether I have been hearing a loud humming noise or vibration outside lately. I have heard this ever since I have lived here, mostly at night, and it's so loud to me that I wondered why my neighbors never mentioned it. I have been hearing it more often now, day and night, and I think it's, for the lack of a better expression, a sort of white noise that acts as a filter, blocking out vibrations and energy that we have not been aware of until now.

TV shows like The Dome and Person of Interest address with this issue in ways that seem very other worldly but I believe are true. I have always said that the reason we don't see ships and other life forms is because of our 3D filters which are now gone, so it's all out there, waiting for us to be aware of it.

An image that has been coming to me since April is one from the bible, where the temple curtain is torn in two. This is the veil between worlds and I believe it is an appropriate message for what we are experiencing now. There is much more to the universe than we are aware and even Jesus said there were 'many mansions', meaning many worlds beyond what we know. Our inability to be aware of them doesn't mean that they aren't there, we just haven't been able to see them.

Have you been hearing a hum or vibration where you live and do you hear it at night or during the day, or both? I'm curious because I have my own theories about what it is and would like to know who else has been hearing it."

She received 54 comments of people talking about these weird noises they hear and someone posted a few links I include here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CpOmzk_Zgs

http://globalskywatch.com/stories/m...l-information/the-haarp-hum.html#.U7l6CUBBmk9

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/scie...driving-people-crazy-around-world-f6C10760872

I personally have not heard the “hum” thank god…it sounds quite annoying and I think I would go insane…lol.

I have been feeling really strange though for the past couple of months…like something is way off base, but I can’t really explain why…I just know something is wrong.
Could just be in my head, I don’t know…what is your theory about it?

 

[Skarekrow]

The Persecution of Witches, 21st-Century Style

Most people believe that the persecution of “witches” reached its height in the early 1690s with the trials in Salem, Mass., but it is a grim paradox of 21st-century life that violence against people accused of sorcery is very much still with us. Far from fading away, thanks to digital interconnectedness and economic development, witch hunting has become a growing, global problem.

In recent years, there has been a spate of attacks against people accused of witchcraft in Africa, the Pacific and Latin America, and even among immigrant communities in the United States and Western Europe.
Researchers with United Nations refugee and human rights agencies have estimated the murders of supposed witches as numbering in the thousands each year, while beatings and banishments could run into the millions.

“This is becoming an international problem – it is a form of persecution and violence that is spreading around the globe,” Jeff Crisp, an official with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, told a panel in 2009, the last year in which an international body studied the full dimensions of the problem.

A report that year from the same agency and a Unicef study in 2010 both found a rise, especially in Africa, of violence and child abuse linked to witchcraft accusations.
More recent media reports suggest a disturbing pattern of mutilation and murder. Last year, a mob in Papua New Guinea burned alive a young mother, Kepari Leniata, 20, who was suspected of sorcery. This highly publicized case followed a series of instances over recent years of lethal group violence against women and men accused of witchcraft.

“These are becoming all too common in certain parts of the country,” saidthe prime minister, Peter O’Neill. Last year, Papua New Guinea finallyrepealed a 1971 law that permitted attackers to cite intent to combat witchcraft as a legal defense. But progress is slow. Although the police charged a man and woman in connection with the 2013 killing of Ms. Leniata, no one has faced trial, a fact that drew protest from Amnesty International in February.

One of the ugliest aspects of these crimes is their brutality. Victims are often burned alive, as in Ms. Leniata’s case and a 2012 case in Nepal; or accused women are sometimes beaten to death, as occurred in the Colombian town of Santa Barbara in 2012; or the victims may be stoned or beheaded, as has been reported in Indonesia and sub-Saharan Africa.

It is tempting to point to poverty in the developing world, as well as scapegoating, as the chief causes of anti-witch attacks – and such forces are undoubtedly at work. But while Africa and the southwestern Pacific have a long history of economic misery, much of this violence, especially against children, has worsened since 2000. The surge suggests forces other than economic resentment or ancient superstition.

In some communities, it is chiefly young men who take on the role of witch hunters, suggesting that they may see it as a way to earn prestige by cleansing undesirables and enforcing social mores. That many of the self-appointed witch hunters are men highlights another baleful aspect of the phenomenon: The majority of victims are women. The Rev. Jack Urame of the Melanesian Institute, a Papua New Guinean human rights agency,estimates that witchcraft-related violence there is directed 5 to 1 against women, suggesting that witchcraft accusations are used to cloak gender-based violence.

Another factor, particularly in Central Africa and its diaspora communities, is the advent of revivalist churches, in which self-styled pastor-prophets rail against witchery and demon possession. They often claim to specialize in the casting out of evil spirits, sometimes charging for the service. Many of those congregations have emerged from Western evangelizing efforts.

One of Nigeria’s most popular Pentecostal preachers, Helen Ukpabio, wrote that “if a child under the age of 2 screams in the night, cries and is always feverish with deteriorating health, he or she is a servant of Satan.” As that implies, children in those communities are especially likely to be identified as possessed.

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights reported that most of the 25,000 to 50,000 children who live on the streets of Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, were abandoned by family members who accused them of witchcraft or demonic possession.

The etiology of this epidemic is complex, but human rights observers point to overpopulation, rapid urbanization and the hardship of parents forced to relocate to seek work, as well as the sheer stresses of raising children amid dire poverty. Superstitions are stoked by local “healers,” who charge parents to exorcise evil spirits.

Witch hunting is far from limited, however, to acts of sadistic vigilantism or profiteering. Some legal systems even sanction the killing of accused witches.
In 2011, courts in Saudi Arabia sentenced a man and a woman, in separate cases, to beheading after convictions for sorcery. In 2013, Saudi courtssentenced two Asian housemaids to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison on charges of casting spells against their employers.

A Lebanese television psychic, Ali Hussain Sibat, was arrested in 2008, while on pilgrimage to Medina, by the Saudi religious police for hosting a television show in his native Lebanon, “The Hidden,” where he would make predictions and prescribe love potions and spells. After an outcry by Amnesty International and others, the Saudi courts stayed Mr. Sibat’s execution by beheading, but sentenced him in 2010 to a 15-year prison term.

As in Africa, the wave of anti-witch activity in Saudi Arabia is fairly new. The Saudi religious police devised an Anti-Witchcraft Unit in 2009, resulting in the arrests of 215 alleged “conjurers” in 2012. Some observers attribute this sudden interest in witchery to the royal family’s attempts to appease its religious inquisitors by keeping them busy targeting a handful of vulnerable individuals.

A final motive driving modern witch hunting may be more venal than spiritual: The police in Indonesia, where there were about 100 suspected witch killings in 2000, point to fraud and graft directed against vulnerable women, who, lacking family or community protection, fall prey to banishment or murder on slim pretexts, while their homes and property are seized by their accusers.

Globalization means that paranoia over black magic and spirit possession are no longer confined to developing nations. Mass migration has made this a pervasive problem. In January, a Queens, N.Y., man was arrested for beating to death with a hammer his girlfriend, Estrella Castaneda, 56, and her daughter, Lina Castaneda, 25; Carlos Alberto Amarillo told the police that the women were “witches,” who had been “performing voodoo and casting spells” on him.

(Voodoo, more properly known as Vodou, is an authentic Afro-Caribbean faith based in deity worship and ritual, practiced in New York and many American cities. Other belief systems that retain or reinvent ancient nature worship and spell practices sometimes go under the names of Wicca or neo-paganism.)

It has not been confirmed whether the Queens victims had ties to Vodou (neither they nor the suspect were Afro-Caribbean). Accusations like those made by Mr. Amarillo, who is under psychiatric evaluation, often prove unreliable or are misreported in a sensationalist way. But the theme has nonetheless become alarmingly familiar in Western news coverage.

In 2012, The Guardian reported that London police had during the last decade investigated 81 cases of “ritual abuse” of children accused of possession or witchcraft, a phenomenon that British social agencies fear is on the rise, particularly within African immigrant communities.

In 2010, a 15-year-old boy, Kristy Bamu, was tortured and killed in East London by his older sister and her boyfriend, both Congolese, who had accused him of sorcery after he wet his bed. In the wake of that case, the British police started to receive special training on witchcraft-related abuse.

Because anti-witch violence is rooted in the belief systems of traditional societies, it would be easy to slip into the fatalistic view that this crisis is a tragic repetition of ancient aggressions. But where local superstitions explode into violence or migrate across a wide range of settings and societies, we can and must act.

Western branches of Pentecostal and charismatic Christian congregations must work closely with the more fervent ministries of their denominations among African and immigrant communities to foster an understanding of how “exorcisms” can spiral into deadly abuse. No African congregation wants to feel dictated to by the West, but there is a place for exchange and cultural pressure. Western ecclesiastical bodies can specifically enact prohibitions against for-profit exorcisms.

Laws should be enacted against accusing children of witchcraft throughout the countries of Africa and the southwestern Pacific, as one Nigerian statehas already done. And countries like the Solomon Islands that still criminalize witchcraft should strike down those statutes.

Police indifference to crimes of witch hunting must also be tackled, especially in societies where police officers themselves may share in traditional beliefs about “black magic.” A 2012 British government reporton combating faith-based violence against children provides a valuable guide to instructing the police on signs of abuse, asking religious leaders to condemn violence and protecting vulnerable witnesses.

Legal efforts must be paired with increased social awareness. In a promising model, a 2010 Oxfam International report noted that some Catholic parishes in Papua New Guinea have been teaching congregants about the natural causes of death and illness (common triggers for anti-witch paranoia), providing shelter to accused witches and denying the sacraments to those who accuse others of sorcery.

Crucial, too, is that the United Nations and international human rights organizations start compiling yearly statistics on these crimes. We’re severely hampered in understanding the scale of this crisis when our most recent global data are already five years out of date.

Most important, witchcraft-related violence should be branded as hate crimes by international courts and by all jurisdictions where anti-hate statutes exist. This is vital to gaining wider recognition of this criminality and preventing it.

In too many places, the accusation of witchcraft has become an incitement to mob violence. It is time to lay the ghosts of Salem to rest.

Mitch Horowitz is the author of “Occult America” and“One Simple Idea: How Positive Thinking Reshaped Modern Life.”

 

[Kgal]

I personally have not heard the “hum” thank god…it sounds quite annoying and I think I would go insane…lol.

I have been feeling really strange though for the past couple of months…like something is way off base, but I can’t really explain why…I just know something is wrong.
Could just be in my head, I don’t know…what is your theory about it?

My theory is nothing is wrong with feeling very strange these days. I think it's logical considering the changes happening in and all around us. Many people are reporting feeling very weird indeed.

It has been said that many people will not make it through this Shift. Just yesterday I received 2 notices via a particular facebook group I was active with years ago where 2 of us had either died suddenly or had severe strokes/heart attacks and was not expected to make it through. Those 2 people were young - one 45 - one 35 - lived joyful lives - including service to others - and these incidents were totally unexpected. My sister told me she read of 2 incidences where a friend of friend had posted they had a barrel in their mouth and later they were discovered dead. Again totally unexpected. No signs of depression. No pleas for help. Nothing. These are incidents relatively "close" to me. There are many other accounts coming in from people who energetically work with people long distances etc about the people in their lives dying.

Have you noticed an increase in stress and people acting out of character?
I've received hugs from the most unlikely people. Friends are beginning to tell me they love me. In my generation one did not do that except only with certain family and spouses. To me this is amazing....

It has been said vertigo is on the increase and headaches are on the rise. Last night while visiting with my Mom and Sister I watched in fascination as they both struggled to remember familiar words while they were talking to me. This is a very common act and complaint now with all people I'm engaging with and an expected(predicted) side effect of the ongoing changes we're going through.

Something IS way off base. WE are. The Earth is.

For the first time in 25K years the Earth is moving in line with the Galactic Core where the Source Energy is being streamed out to the entire galaxy. We are now moving into position as to receive that energy full throttle.
Open to it.

 

[Tin Man]

The Persecution of Witches, 21st-Century Style

Most people believe that the persecution of “witches” reached its height in the early 1690s with the trials in Salem, Mass., but it is a grim paradox of 21st-century life that violence against people accused of sorcery is very much still with us. Far from fading away, thanks to digital interconnectedness and economic development, witch hunting has become a growing, global problem.

In recent years, there has been a spate of attacks against people accused of witchcraft in Africa, the Pacific and Latin America, and even among immigrant communities in the United States and Western Europe.
Researchers with United Nations refugee and human rights agencies have estimated the murders of supposed witches as numbering in the thousands each year, while beatings and banishments could run into the millions.

“This is becoming an international problem — it is a form of persecution and violence that is spreading around the globe,” Jeff Crisp, an official with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, told a panel in 2009, the last year in which an international body studied the full dimensions of the problem.

A report that year from the same agency and a Unicef study in 2010 both found a rise, especially in Africa, of violence and child abuse linked to witchcraft accusations.
More recent media reports suggest a disturbing pattern of mutilation and murder. Last year, a mob in Papua New Guinea burned alive a young mother, Kepari Leniata, 20, who was suspected of sorcery. This highly publicized case followed a series of instances over recent years of lethal group violence against women and men accused of witchcraft.

“These are becoming all too common in certain parts of the country,” saidthe prime minister, Peter O’Neill. Last year, Papua New Guinea finallyrepealed a 1971 law that permitted attackers to cite intent to combat witchcraft as a legal defense. But progress is slow. Although the police charged a man and woman in connection with the 2013 killing of Ms. Leniata, no one has faced trial, a fact that drew protest from Amnesty International in February.

One of the ugliest aspects of these crimes is their brutality. Victims are often burned alive, as in Ms. Leniata’s case and a 2012 case in Nepal; or accused women are sometimes beaten to death, as occurred in the Colombian town of Santa Barbara in 2012; or the victims may be stoned or beheaded, as has been reported in Indonesia and sub-Saharan Africa.

It is tempting to point to poverty in the developing world, as well as scapegoating, as the chief causes of anti-witch attacks — and such forces are undoubtedly at work. But while Africa and the southwestern Pacific have a long history of economic misery, much of this violence, especially against children, has worsened since 2000. The surge suggests forces other than economic resentment or ancient superstition.

In some communities, it is chiefly young men who take on the role of witch hunters, suggesting that they may see it as a way to earn prestige by cleansing undesirables and enforcing social mores. That many of the self-appointed witch hunters are men highlights another baleful aspect of the phenomenon: The majority of victims are women. The Rev. Jack Urame of the Melanesian Institute, a Papua New Guinean human rights agency,estimates that witchcraft-related violence there is directed 5 to 1 against women, suggesting that witchcraft accusations are used to cloak gender-based violence.

Another factor, particularly in Central Africa and its diaspora communities, is the advent of revivalist churches, in which self-styled pastor-prophets rail against witchery and demon possession. They often claim to specialize in the casting out of evil spirits, sometimes charging for the service. Many of those congregations have emerged from Western evangelizing efforts.

One of Nigeria’s most popular Pentecostal preachers, Helen Ukpabio, wrote that “if a child under the age of 2 screams in the night, cries and is always feverish with deteriorating health, he or she is a servant of Satan.” As that implies, children in those communities are especially likely to be identified as possessed.

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights reported that most of the 25,000 to 50,000 children who live on the streets of Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, were abandoned by family members who accused them of witchcraft or demonic possession.

The etiology of this epidemic is complex, but human rights observers point to overpopulation, rapid urbanization and the hardship of parents forced to relocate to seek work, as well as the sheer stresses of raising children amid dire poverty. Superstitions are stoked by local “healers,” who charge parents to exorcise evil spirits.

Witch hunting is far from limited, however, to acts of sadistic vigilantism or profiteering. Some legal systems even sanction the killing of accused witches.
In 2011, courts in Saudi Arabia sentenced a man and a woman, in separate cases, to beheading after convictions for sorcery. In 2013, Saudi courtssentenced two Asian housemaids to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison on charges of casting spells against their employers.

A Lebanese television psychic, Ali Hussain Sibat, was arrested in 2008, while on pilgrimage to Medina, by the Saudi religious police for hosting a television show in his native Lebanon, “The Hidden,” where he would make predictions and prescribe love potions and spells. After an outcry by Amnesty International and others, the Saudi courts stayed Mr. Sibat’s execution by beheading, but sentenced him in 2010 to a 15-year prison term.

As in Africa, the wave of anti-witch activity in Saudi Arabia is fairly new. The Saudi religious police devised an Anti-Witchcraft Unit in 2009, resulting in the arrests of 215 alleged “conjurers” in 2012. Some observers attribute this sudden interest in witchery to the royal family’s attempts to appease its religious inquisitors by keeping them busy targeting a handful of vulnerable individuals.

A final motive driving modern witch hunting may be more venal than spiritual: The police in Indonesia, where there were about 100 suspected witch killings in 2000, point to fraud and graft directed against vulnerable women, who, lacking family or community protection, fall prey to banishment or murder on slim pretexts, while their homes and property are seized by their accusers.

Globalization means that paranoia over black magic and spirit possession are no longer confined to developing nations. Mass migration has made this a pervasive problem. In January, a Queens, N.Y., man was arrested for beating to death with a hammer his girlfriend, Estrella Castaneda, 56, and her daughter, Lina Castaneda, 25; Carlos Alberto Amarillo told the police that the women were “witches,” who had been “performing voodoo and casting spells” on him.

(Voodoo, more properly known as Vodou, is an authentic Afro-Caribbean faith based in deity worship and ritual, practiced in New York and many American cities. Other belief systems that retain or reinvent ancient nature worship and spell practices sometimes go under the names of Wicca or neo-paganism.)

It has not been confirmed whether the Queens victims had ties to Vodou (neither they nor the suspect were Afro-Caribbean). Accusations like those made by Mr. Amarillo, who is under psychiatric evaluation, often prove unreliable or are misreported in a sensationalist way. But the theme has nonetheless become alarmingly familiar in Western news coverage.

In 2012, The Guardian reported that London police had during the last decade investigated 81 cases of “ritual abuse” of children accused of possession or witchcraft, a phenomenon that British social agencies fear is on the rise, particularly within African immigrant communities.

In 2010, a 15-year-old boy, Kristy Bamu, was tortured and killed in East London by his older sister and her boyfriend, both Congolese, who had accused him of sorcery after he wet his bed. In the wake of that case, the British police started to receive special training on witchcraft-related abuse.

Because anti-witch violence is rooted in the belief systems of traditional societies, it would be easy to slip into the fatalistic view that this crisis is a tragic repetition of ancient aggressions. But where local superstitions explode into violence or migrate across a wide range of settings and societies, we can and must act.

Western branches of Pentecostal and charismatic Christian congregations must work closely with the more fervent ministries of their denominations among African and immigrant communities to foster an understanding of how “exorcisms” can spiral into deadly abuse. No African congregation wants to feel dictated to by the West, but there is a place for exchange and cultural pressure. Western ecclesiastical bodies can specifically enact prohibitions against for-profit exorcisms.

Laws should be enacted against accusing children of witchcraft throughout the countries of Africa and the southwestern Pacific, as one Nigerian statehas already done. And countries like the Solomon Islands that still criminalize witchcraft should strike down those statutes.

Police indifference to crimes of witch hunting must also be tackled, especially in societies where police officers themselves may share in traditional beliefs about “black magic.” A 2012 British government reporton combating faith-based violence against children provides a valuable guide to instructing the police on signs of abuse, asking religious leaders to condemn violence and protecting vulnerable witnesses.

Legal efforts must be paired with increased social awareness. In a promising model, a 2010 Oxfam International report noted that some Catholic parishes in Papua New Guinea have been teaching congregants about the natural causes of death and illness (common triggers for anti-witch paranoia), providing shelter to accused witches and denying the sacraments to those who accuse others of sorcery.

Crucial, too, is that the United Nations and international human rights organizations start compiling yearly statistics on these crimes. We’re severely hampered in understanding the scale of this crisis when our most recent global data are already five years out of date.

Most important, witchcraft-related violence should be branded as hate crimes by international courts and by all jurisdictions where anti-hate statutes exist. This is vital to gaining wider recognition of this criminality and preventing it.

In too many places, the accusation of witchcraft has become an incitement to mob violence. It is time to lay the ghosts of Salem to rest.

Mitch Horowitz is the author of “Occult America” and “One Simple Idea: How Positive Thinking Reshaped Modern Life.”

Yes, this is what ignorance brings. Not bliss, put pain.

 

[sprinkles]

The Persecution of Witches, 21st-Century Style

If I lived in the wrong place I would surely be killed. This has bothered me a bit for some time.

It's kind of weird knowing that there's a large number of people in the world who would want to kill you. And some wonder why I can get so snappish when offended.

 

[Kgal]

I am coming to the realization many of us introverts were the spiritual leaders - healers - wise ones - herb women in our past lives.
As we reincarnate lifetime to lifetime there is much trauma we carry forward with us we're born from being persecuted for our knowledge and intuition skills.

For years and years my best friend and I called ourselves witches because we loved nature and were very protective of it. We identified with the Moon, Sun, and Stars and intuitively knew there was something far larger than the religious god.

When I found Lee Harris back in 2012 this video resonated deeply with me.

Have a listen... this may help you come to an understanding of yourself and many of us walking on this planet.

[video=youtube;tzqzs5uRaho]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzqzs5uRaho[/video]

 

[Skarekrow]

Found this article…it’s kind of a summary of the book she wrote…very nice message contained within. I think I’ll have to find her book!


8 Things My “Bad-Boy” Brother Taught Me About Death

By Annie Kagan, OmTimes

When my brother Billy woke me three weeks after he died, describing what was happening to him in the afterlife, I thought maybe I had gone a little crazy. How could my bad-boy brother, who died a tragic death, who had problems with addiction all his life, who didn’t live what most people would call a successful life, how could he be sharing secrets about life’s greatest mystery from another dimension? But as time passed, my skepticism turned to wonder as Billy taught me all about death.

The List

1. The First Thing that Happens is Bliss. As soon as you die, you’re sucked out of your body into a Healing Chamber. The lights in that Chamber erase all the harm you suffered during your entire lifetime, physical, mental and emotional. So, in less than a nanosecond, all your pain is gone.

2. You Still Feel Like Yourself. Even though you don’t have your body anymore, you still feel like an individual. Actually, you feel more like yourself than you did when you were alive. There’s so much influence from others while you’re on earth that in a way you don’t get to be you.

3. Light Has a Personality. In the afterlife the light rays have qualities like wisdom, kindness, compassion and intelligence. This light makes visible what is invisible on earth, the Divine nature of all things.

4. Sin and Punishment is a Human Concept. There’s a lot of mumbo jumbo on earth about what might be waiting for you after you die. Making mistakes while you’re alive is part of the earth deal. If we had to be perfect to get to so-called Heaven, no- one would make it there.

5. Your Life On Earth Isn’t a Punishment Either. Sure, there’s pain in life, but not because you’ve done anything to deserve it. Pain is part of the human experience, as natural as breath or eyesight or blood moving through your veins.

6. After You Die, Instead of Judgment Day There’s No-Judgment Day. When you review your life, you see the paths you took and the ones you didn’t. You see where your genius was and where you might have done better, but you don’t feel judgmental about it. And even though it might not make sense to you now, after you die you understand that you had a great life, even the hard parts.

7. You’re Happy You Look Like Yourself. You’re not concerned with the way you look. There are no pretensions or efforts to appear any which way. You just radiate, which is effortless.

8. Love Is Not the Same As Earth Love. You’re not loved because of what you do, how you look, how famous you are, or how much money you make. It’s not like yesterday I loved you, but today I don’t anymore. Love is truly unconditional. Most controversial of all is that in the afterlife there’s perfect compassion and no matter how you lived you are loved.


About the Author

When she was sixteen, Annie Kagan was signed by a producer from Columbia Records. After 10 years of performing her songs in New York City clubs, Annie returned to college and became a chiropractor with a private practice in Manhattan.
Following a chance meeting with a spiritual teacher from the East, she began an intense meditation practice that eventually led her to leave her career as a doctor and her hectic city life in search of serenity.
She moved to a small house by the bay on the tip of Long Island and returned to songwriting, collaborating with Grammy and Emmy award-winning producer Brian Keane.
When her brother Billy died unexpectedly and began speaking to her from the afterlife, her future took a surprising turn. She recorded her conversations with Billy from the other side and published them in her debut book The Afterlife of Billy Fingers. www.afterlifeofbillyfingers.com

 

[Skarekrow]

Here is part two to the Ascend Academy series….the first part was posted here: http://www.infjs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27025&page=65&p=755590&viewfull=1#post755590 for your consideration.
Enjoy!

ASCEND ACADEMY: GEOMETRY


​

Welcome to the second issue of Ascend Academy.
Today we will begin our ascent up the spiraling staircase that is the 7 Phases of Mastery. This spiritual framework is designed to unlock the potential within every human being by applying an understanding of self that is not limited by any particular belief structure and by providing hands on techniques and practices that raise your awareness of internal as well as external energies.

Unlike our last article, each new issue will be focusing on a new phase so that we can glean a complete understanding of each set of concepts presented. This is the phase of Geometry, in which we learn of how Consciousness moves and interacts with itself through it’s various manifestations and conceptual archetypes. Find yourself a pen and paper, as you will be drawing and directly experiencing them.

“In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” – Genesis Chapter 1 Verse 1, The Holy Bible


​

Before the universe came into being, there were only two things; existence, and non existence. In actuality, there was only one thing, as non existence cannot be a thing, things inherently imply existence.

Thus is the void, a vast nothingness, of, well, nothing. No movement, no sound, no light, no space, no time, NO THING. But the paradox lies within this definition; if there is no thing, we must first have the notion of THING for there to be an observation of this “lack” of existence.

We are here now, and we are things, thus there MUST have been some THING that existed alongside NoThing, and it must have had the qualities within it that set it apart from non existence. This Thing, as you’ve guessed, is God, Source, Singularity, Consciousness. It is EVERYTHING contained in One THING.

The Monad

​

Draw the point, meditate on it’s simplicity, breathe in it’s essence.
You have always been this beyond time and space. Before your consciousness decided to expand outwards into new manifestations for the purpose of self discovery, you have resided with all that is in an infinitely small (as well as infinitely large) space, as there was nothing else in reality to measure it relative to at this point.

This is the state of perfect stillness and rest in the universe. You are All and ONE. Sit with this notion for awhile, don’t think about it, just be with it, try to visualize being it. That shouldn’t be too hard, as you already are.

The Dyad


​

From the point of singularity, imagine yourself splitting into two opposing poles. Draw a line extending from the point and end it off with another point. You are now vibrating between these two points, occupying both and neither.

You are In and out, heat and cold, positive and negative, active and passive, eternal giving and eternal receiving. This is the first emanation of Masculine and Feminine energy.

Circle
​

With the intent to expand, the concept of boundary begins to form, so that there is something relative to expand from. As the active point in consciousness holds steadfast as the center, while the passive spirals out and rotates around it as a fulcrum point with unfathomable speed and grace, the first circle and two dimensional plane are brought into existence.


The universe at this state is an endless and flawless exchange of love between self and non self (or rather the illusion of non self). The circle comes about as a natural consequence of the phi ratio(1.618), which is the angular momentum of both the male and female energies, otherwise known as expansion and contraction, in complete equilibrium with one another.

Use a compass or a circular stencil while using the active point as the center to draw this. Feel free to erase the line segment if it bothers you.

Sphere
​

The intent to expand is still present, and thus Consciousness causes the boundary to expand with thought; not outwards, but into a new dimension. The circle begins to rotate itself, thus creating the awareness of three dimensions and simultaneously bringing about the first sphere.

This extremely stable structure will be the template for all other forms of consciousness, as it represents completeness and oneness while still holding all the qualities of the masculine and feminine energies.


The sphere is usually considered a feminine shape as it works with an infinite curve, but there are also straight lines emerging in all three dimensional directions from the center point in equal radius, which represents the masculine consciousness.

The sphere geometrically distinguishes a particular state of vibration, a WAY OF BEING. This particular way of being is that of Source. Whenever you hear of Source, this first sphere is what is being described, the thing which all other things came from. Bask in its glory!

Vesica Pisces

​

The expansion will now formally begin as the awareness of Consciousness moves to the edge of the sphere’s boundary to project a second sphere, interlocking with the first through their center points and boundary perimeters.

This brings awareness to the concept of light and dark through the proportion presented within the Vesica Pisces. Draw another circle in this same fashion by making the edge of the first circle your center point for this one.

Seed of Life

​

Consciousness, being perfect and flawless, moves towards the boundaries of the first sphere in equal measurement in 6 different areas across a 2 dimensional plane, projecting 5 more spheres to complete a sacred pattern.

This is known as the seed of life, the archetype through which the rest of the manifestations of reality unfold through concentric spherical expansion. These proportions bring about the geometric possibilities of the hexagon, the equilateral triangle, the yin yang and what is commonly referred to as the star of David or star tetrahedron.

Look deeply into this symbol, breathe in and feel it’s harmony throughout your being. After drawing this, let it sit in your mind for awhile and allow it to help you subconsciously remember that it resides in the heart of every space, mental or physical.

Cuboctahedron

​

After another set of 12 spheres are projected onto the seed of life, 6 overlapping with the ones already present while only touching the circumference of the center sphere, as well as introducing 3 above and 3 below this pattern (forming two superimposed triangles in front of and behind the array), a conceptual structure known as the Cuboctahedron or Vector Equilibrium (coined by Buckminster Fuller) is manifest.

This has been deemed THE most stable structure as all of its vectors have equal length and angular relationship, which is 60 degrees not accounting for the squares.

​

It is comprised of 8 tetrahedrons pointing towards the center. Do not add this to your drawing as the 6 spheres imposed above and below the pattern are not apart of the 2D cross section. As you continue, just imagine the pattern emerging in 3D in the same general shape as the cuboctahedron. This is considered to be the preliminary structure of the space-time void(not the nothingness) and of the toroidal field(doughnut).

“The vector equilibrium is the zero starting point for happenings or non happenings: it is the empty theater and empty circus and empty Universe ready to accommodate any act and any audience.” – Buckminster Fuller
​

Flower of Life


​

Being the third concentric sphere extension of the same pattern manifested in the Seed of Life(which is the second concentric sphere), this ultimately creates even more complex proportions, giving rise to a plethora of concepts and frequencies of vibration. This pattern now fractals out into infinity to set the environment for all forms of experience for the purpose of Source’s self awareness.

The Flower of Life Image is just a shadow of it’s three dimensional counterpart, which is much more complex and beautiful. Nassim Haramein, the physicist responsible for the Unified Field Theory, has called it the Isotropic Vector Metric. I suggest you check out his documentary Black Whole here.

​

This pattern repeated infinitely is essentially the structure of the vacuum or void as previously stated, creating an environment for all other forms to exist. The reason this is the case is because Consciousness can use any point to act as the center of awareness and there will always be perfect concentric circles going on for infinity, allowing for a subjective experience to have infinite growth and expansion as well as contraction; hence the FLOWER of life.

Continue plotting out the circles on the edges of the other circles in this fashion.

Fruit of Life/ Metatron’s Cube

​

The fruit of life is the fourth concentric sphere of this pattern, representing the completed creation, giving rise to concepts present in physical reality. 13 spheres are arranged in harmony with the center sphere, allowing for a particularly meaningful archetype for the experience of our reality to come into existence.

​

Taking the 13 sphere cross section and connecting all the center points, we create what is called Metatron’s cube. This archetype holds within it all blueprints for the various planes and dimensions that are present within the universe.

It carries the proportions for what are called the Platonic solids, which all represent a particular form of expression of Source known as the Elements. Elements are essentially all the different vibrational qualities consciousness can hold and express(even though there really is no limit to how it can be expressed). They take on a plethora of forms in all dimensions. These elements and their corresponding polyhedrons will be discussed in detail in Phase 5.

​

At this moment I would like you to stare directly into Metatron’s Cube and take deep, natural breaths. Make this a regular practice, as just by looking at it, you’ll subconsciously learn spiritual knowledge and begin to have revelations at an alarming rate.

Do not use this image above, as the added shapes are just to show the different platonic solids. Look it up on Google and use one of those instead, or simply draw your own. Draw it as many times as you can so you can see it as it unfolds in real time, you will notice much more of it’s beauty this way.

Belief Structures
​

Belief structures are conceptual geometries that exist on higher planes. They are lenses our souls use to have a subjective perspective of our reality in order to collapse the quantum waveform into one experience.

We create them with every thought we have. If we can learn how to consciously create certain belief structures, and even be conscious of the geometry that causes the collapse, we can then change our realities and manifest anything we wish into existence. We will be exploring how to do this with what I have coined:

Lightwebs

​

These are the manual creation of belief structures in order to manifest any sort of desired affect on the physical, astral, or mental planes. All our thoughts and beliefs take this form on the causal and archetypal planes of reality which we will later discuss.

They vibrate through cymatic structures (sound expressed through geometry) into the lower octaves to bring about certain physical changes which resonate with that of the belief structure. This is something I’m still working with, and maybe we can all experiment with it together(safely of course).

​

What I have come to understand is that these lightwebs have to be composed of geometric shapes and symbols which our minds associate with certain states, vibrations, thoughts, or feelings, and as long as we strongly hold those associations we can create a thought form structure and project them into the higher planes through different meditative means.

The 7 phases of Mastery are designed to create a uniform set of symbolic associations that are also resonant with the natural structure of the universe so that precise and efficient light webs can be ‘weaved’ into the fabric of reality. If we collectively agree on these associations, it makes them that much stronger in the collective mental environment. You have been told you create your own reality, now it is time that you learn how.

Mandalas
​

Mandalas are essentially the precursor to lightwebs. They are geometrically integrated structures organized around a unifying center expressing different aspects, frequencies, perspectives, and gateways of diverse dimensions of truth. They are meant for teaching, contemplation, meditation, mental healing, and self discovery.

They are microcosmic and macrocosmic maps of consciousness, leading us deeper into ourselves and in turn, the universal mind. Study them and you will find yourself easily slipping into meditation and different states of awareness. This concept is present within all life, as all of sacred geometry in its varying parts as well as the whole universe are considered to be mandalas to some degree.

Practice drawing, visualizing, and understanding all of the geometries presented here as this will greatly improve your abilities later in the series.
Be ready in two weeks for the second Phase of Mastery, Creative Energy.

We will learn how to be aware of the life energy present within and around all of us as well as begin to move it into different states with our thoughts and visualizations.​

 

[Kgal]

.......

They are aware that something is going on and i think they're trying to push back against it

Of course they are....they think they're gods walking amongst us.

It isn't working though...and the ones at the top know that too. They'll be going through the phases of grief including denial, anger, negotiation, sadness, and acceptance, etc. Or not.
So far it looks like most of them are still in denial.

There is another perspective I hold when it comes to people committing these seemingly randomly atrocious acts. Clearing of the negative dense energies is happening throughout the planet. This means all of our hidden stuff is bubbling up and trying to make it's way to the surface. Anger. Frustration. Sadness. Hatred. Fear. All of these are being triggered.

It's interesting to me you have one potentially valid perspective and I have another potentially valid perspective. Neither of us can prove it....yet we can see it happening.

I'm hearing dates being projected out into the new age communities. Most of us are completely surprised by these announcements....

By the fall of 2015 the first wave will be fully initiated.
By fall of 2016 every thing will change.

We've been told we have 2.5 years to align with who we wish to be...and then every thing changes. I'm not paying much attention to the speculations as to what will change...only that change is expected. The timelines are shifting....

So if it's true what we focus upon manifests who we wish to be - then who do you wish to be?

 

[Kgal]

Found this article…it’s kind of a summary of the book she wrote…very nice message contained within. I think I’ll have to find her book!


8 Things My “Bad-Boy” Brother Taught Me About Death

By Annie Kagan, OmTimes

When my brother Billy woke me three weeks after he died, describing what was happening to him in the afterlife, I thought maybe I had gone a little crazy. How could my bad-boy brother, who died a tragic death, who had problems with addiction all his life, who didn’t live what most people would call a successful life, how could he be sharing secrets about life’s greatest mystery from another dimension? But as time passed, my skepticism turned to wonder as Billy taught me all about death.

The List



1. The First Thing that Happens is Bliss. As soon as you die, you’re sucked out of your body into a Healing Chamber. The lights in that Chamber erase all the harm you suffered during your entire lifetime, physical, mental and emotional. So, in less than a nanosecond, all your pain is gone.

2. You Still Feel Like Yourself. Even though you don’t have your body anymore, you still feel like an individual. Actually, you feel more like yourself than you did when you were alive. There’s so much influence from others while you’re on earth that in a way you don’t get to be you.

3. Light Has a Personality. In the afterlife the light rays have qualities like wisdom, kindness, compassion and intelligence. This light makes visible what is invisible on earth, the Divine nature of all things.

4. Sin and Punishment is a Human Concept. There’s a lot of mumbo jumbo on earth about what might be waiting for you after you die. Making mistakes while you’re alive is part of the earth deal. If we had to be perfect to get to so-called Heaven, no- one would make it there.

5. Your Life On Earth Isn’t a Punishment Either. Sure, there’s pain in life, but not because you’ve done anything to deserve it. Pain is part of the human experience, as natural as breath or eyesight or blood moving through your veins.

6. After You Die, Instead of Judgment Day There’s No-Judgment Day. When you review your life, you see the paths you took and the ones you didn’t. You see where your genius was and where you might have done better, but you don’t feel judgmental about it. And even though it might not make sense to you now, after you die you understand that you had a great life, even the hard parts.

7. You’re Happy You Look Like Yourself. You’re not concerned with the way you look. There are no pretensions or efforts to appear any which way. You just radiate, which is effortless.

8. Love Is Not the Same As Earth Love. You’re not loved because of what you do, how you look, how famous you are, or how much money you make. It’s not like yesterday I loved you, but today I don’t anymore. Love is truly unconditional. Most controversial of all is that in the afterlife there’s perfect compassion and no matter how you lived you are loved.


About the Author

When she was sixteen, Annie Kagan was signed by a producer from Columbia Records. After 10 years of performing her songs in New York City clubs, Annie returned to college and became a chiropractor with a private practice in Manhattan.
Following a chance meeting with a spiritual teacher from the East, she began an intense meditation practice that eventually led her to leave her career as a doctor and her hectic city life in search of serenity.
She moved to a small house by the bay on the tip of Long Island and returned to songwriting, collaborating with Grammy and Emmy award-winning producer Brian Keane.
When her brother Billy died unexpectedly and began speaking to her from the afterlife, her future took a surprising turn. She recorded her conversations with Billy from the other side and published them in her debut book The Afterlife of Billy Fingers. www.afterlifeofbillyfingers.com

Amazingly one of my new friends on facebook has been posting memes with quotes from this book. She just purchased this book and has begun reading it. I think I'll print this out and give it to my dying friend.

 

[Kgal]

Here is part two to the Ascend Academy series….the first part was posted here: http://www.infjs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27025&page=65&p=755590&viewfull=1#post755590 for your consideration.
Enjoy!

ASCEND ACADEMY: GEOMETRY


​

Welcome to the second issue of Ascend Academy.
Today we will begin our ascent up the spiraling staircase that is the 7 Phases of Mastery. This spiritual framework is designed to unlock the potential within every human being by applying an understanding of self that is not limited by any particular belief structure and by providing hands on techniques and practices that raise your awareness of internal as well as external energies.

Unlike our last article, each new issue will be focusing on a new phase so that we can glean a complete understanding of each set of concepts presented. This is the phase of Geometry, in which we learn of how Consciousness moves and interacts with itself through it’s various manifestations and conceptual archetypes. Find yourself a pen and paper, as you will be drawing and directly experiencing them.

Vesica Pisces

​

The expansion will now formally begin as the awareness of Consciousness moves to the edge of the sphere’s boundary to project a second sphere, interlocking with the first through their center points and boundary perimeters.

This brings awareness to the concept of light and dark through the proportion presented within the Vesica Pisces. Draw another circle in this same fashion by making the edge of the first circle your center point for this one.

​

.

We will learn how to be aware of the life energy present within and around all of us as well as begin to move it into different states with our thoughts and visualizations.
​

This - along with the infinity symbol - is the vision I've been seeing. Your post is the first time I've seen this on the internet. I got sooooo excited when my eyes saw this and I heard Synergy....Synergy.... creating Synergy in the back of my mind. When two or more people are synced with one another more is created than when one is alone. To me it explains why I always felt much better when meditating with a group of experienced meditators.

Can you imagine what might be accomplished if we could get thousands meditating together? Tens of thousands all focused on the feeling energy of unconditional love? Mannn....I can.

Isn't there a line in the bible that goes something like ..."...when two or more are gathered in my name...?"

 

[Skarekrow]

This - along with the infinity symbol - is the vision I've been seeing. Your post is the first time I've seen this on the internet. I got sooooo excited when my eyes saw this and I heard Synergy....Synergy.... creating Synergy in the back of my mind. When two or more people are synced with one another more is created than when one is alone. To me it explains why I always felt much better when meditating with a group of experienced meditators.

Can you imagine what might be accomplished if we could get thousands meditating together? Tens of thousands all focused on the feeling energy of unconditional love? Mannn....I can.

Isn't there a line in the bible that goes something like ..."...when two or more are gathered in my name...?"

I keep hoping that things will change for the better…I keep hoping but still feel like I’m fooling myself when I think this can be done without great suffering.
I can imagine what it would be like…and I think we will see more things like this more often.
I keep believing that this world isn’t a lost cause…but there are for sure those who are sociopathic scumbags who could care less about other people, our environment and resources…they care about profits and grabbing as much as possible as fast as possible, with no thought for consequences…I’m not sure if that mindset is going to get better or worse with the instant gratification culture within our society?

 

[Kgal]

I keep hoping that things will change for the better…I keep hoping but still feel like I’m fooling myself when I think this can be done without great suffering.
I can imagine what it would be like…and I think we will see more things like this more often.
I keep believing that this world isn’t a lost cause…but there are for sure those who are sociopathic scumbags who could care less about other people, our environment and resources…they care about profits and grabbing as much as possible as fast as possible, with no thought for consequences…I’m not sure if that mindset is going to get better or worse with the instant gratification culture within our society?

Forget about the segment of society who have their heads up their asses - instant gratification or otherwise.

The more important question is - what do you feel inside you? Don't you think the majority are all insane - one way or the other?

Don't you feel it (your intuition) in your very bones there is another way.....?
When have you ever tested your intuition - didn't follow it - and got royally fucked because you didn't?

Oh ...and for the great suffering thing? Yes. There will be - and already is - much suffering going on. The majority will suffer because the old ways are falling apart and they are trying to hang on tooth and nail. That which we resist makes it harder to accept and the change takes longer to come.

It's time for the pendulum to swing in the new direction. I believe the only appropriate action that will push the energies of Fear away is give the energy of Love a huge push to get the momentum going.

Love your self sweetheart. :love: