Respect

In Defense of Astrology and the 2012 Predictions That Didn't Happen

Photo credit: Ryan McGuire

I am by no means an astrologer, and have no opinion when it comes to most things people say about the zodiac. There's just too much information to process to make any sense out of it for me. I did get my chart done once by a qualified professional (hi there Liane), and it was quite staggering: every major surgery, injury, and major life change I had experienced up to that point (none of which I had mentioned to her) had been clearly indicated. She was right about the few years that followed as well.

This was enough to get my attention, so I've become a fan of a YouTube channel called Suspicious0bservers that shows daily footage of solar weather. As it turns out, our sun has a very active weather system that rotates past us fairly quickly every day. It's made up of things like sun spots (the dark patches), coronal filaments (arches of plasma), and coronal mass ejections (bits of the sun shot out into space). All of this directly affects two things here on Earth: major storms, and earthquake activity. There is an undeniable correlation - one predicts the other consistently.

What's interesting is how planetary alignment changes everything. Get two or more planets lined up, and some serious stuff happens on the sun. Here's a video mentioning an alignment that happened in 2015 that caused a huge blast of plasma to eject from the sun that, had it been facing us, would have killed us all in an instant:

If you watched this you might have caught his mention of another kill shot back in 2012.

Think about that for a second. If planetary alignments cause solar weather phenomena, and solar weather has a direct affect on what happens here on Earth, then maybe all of those 2012 predictions were true to a degree and the shot just happened to miss us. Maybe we're luckier than we know.

Of course, maybe it's not luck either. There's been something astronomers have noticed about solar weather called "the Earth-facing quiet". Whenever a major solar weather system rolls around to face the Earth, it calms down a bit until pointing away. It's like it knows we're here, and the energy gets focused elsewhere.

Now, I'm not going to tell you what it is that's doing that. It's important that you decide for yourself if that's God, or aliens, or Gaia, or the sun itself, or just crazy dumb luck that keeps protecting us here on Earth. I'm an existentialist - I'm in the camp that it's unknowable, and that it's better that way.

But one thing that can't be denied is that the alignment of planets really does have something to do with life on Earth, and that's something the Mayans could have predicted. It's possible. It's also possible that somehow we as humans have internal rhythms beyond the detection of science that control what we call "fate", and we're just catching a glimpse now of how that might work.

You know what I love so much about not knowing for sure? That there's so much more to discover!

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7 Predictions For 2016

A part of me really resists making lists like this. I feel like maybe I'm ruining the surprise, somehow.

But hey, people seem very interested, and I am after all here to serve. So, here are my predictions for 2016:

1. Expect a much darker winter than usual here in Niagara. Go out and get a sun lamp for your home - it will do you a world of good.
2. We're going to see at least one plane disaster in North America due to poor maintenance. This will prompt a shift towards more stringent safety standards, which is unfortunate as the current standards were adequate and what was actually needed was an increased frequency of independent inspections. The budget for this will never be allocated.
3. Electric-powered cars will begin to rise in affordability and accessibility. They'll become a realistic option both practically and financially for the average consumer. People will still be heavily biased towards the familiar combustion engine, however, so expect only a minor shift in the market.
4. Here in the Niagara Region the summer heat is going to start earlier in the spring than usual, and we're in for a very humid and sweltering season. Worldwide, expect new weather records to be set for both heat and wind speeds.
5. A serious decrease in the amount of profit pulled out from the oil sands in western Canada will mark the beginning of an economic slow down in that area. The cost of oil will be too low, the cost of transportation will be too high, and more flooding this year will cause ecological disasters that nobody will want to put up with.
6. The next President of the United States will be Hillary Clinton. Bernie Sanders will be her Vice President, which he leverages to his advantage but prevents him from employing his more radical ideas. None of Clinton's policies will be of particular note compared to anyone else who might have been in the same position, but her fans will blow her victories out of proportion and her detractors will attack her with rabid vehemence. Expect her opponents to come up with some contrived and tedious fireworks in her second or third year.
7. The world economy continues its slow march forward as we struggle to return the world into one where we're not all broke all the time. Independent contractors, consultants, and entrepreneurs become a rapidly growing body and make up a significant portion of the new middle class, which is both liberating and isolating for those involved.

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Fall predictions for the St Catharines area

F

all predictions for the St Catharines area

• Several new spiritual communities will start to form focused on specific needs and ways to grow.
• There will be three UFO sightings above St Catharines, although one will be dismissed and the other only shared with friends. Keep your ears open for the third.
• There will be a few days where the warm weather returns, but this will be followed by much colder weather.
• Downtown will experience a Renaissance of sorts with people from all over travelling there for a wide range of work and entertainment.
• New controversies at the city hall level as certain officials try to skirt the rules for personal gain.
• Expect a brief storm one night capable of doing a lot of damage to your garden. The vineyards will be fine, but a sudden cold snap and ice/frost will be a problem if you don't cover your vegetables.
• Layoffs will be offset by new employment opportunities.

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Channeled Thoughts

Aquick summary of stuff that's been coming up lately with some frequency:

1.  Pay attention to the underground highways across the United States. This will matter to you soon. No, no reason to fear, but do prepare with some foreknowledge. It will be handy and entertaining at the very least. 
2. Question comforting "truths" from spiritualists. Challenge yourself. 
3. Learn cold therapy. (See Wim Hof, cold shower benefits) 
4. Remember that all thought, memory, habit, personality, and experience are consequences of a brain and body you'll completely abandon someday. Put "yourself", your "mission" and your "purpose" in their proper places in the grand scheme of things at all times. 
5. Don't worry about accomplishing anything in this life. Try of course, but like any game, don't worry too much about the consequences of success or failure. Progress of any real significance isn't made in a single lifetime. 
6. Laugh. For goodness sakes, please, just laugh quite a bit more than you have been. If you aren't laughing, you're missing something incredibly important and crucial to your getting better and the world getting better. Evolution and salvation will come only with this tool firmly under your belt. Laugh without bitterness, freely and with tremendous relief. Because everything is okay, and it always has been, and it's quite funny that you ever worried, isn't it?
7. You can either fight, or you can construct. We recommend construction. Specifically: do not fight fear. Rather, build courage. Encourage. Spread courage. Inspire it. Celebrate it. Revel in it, eyes wide open staring into the abyss, laughing at the thrill of every facet of danger and adventure this life has brought. 

There's more but most of the rest was directed at me personally. Feel free to share this with anyone you like anywhere you like if you feel so inspired.

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Spiritual Egotists

I had an interesting conversation with a Kung Fu master last week. In his school they work very hard to keep a lid on people's egos. This has two purposes: to make sure everyone is open to learning, and to cut down on the number of meat-heads that just want to bash some skulls.

When he found out that I give psychic readings he started to ask a lot of questions that had to do with why I do what I do. I told him plainly: I just want to give people the tools they need to move things forward in a positive direction.

He probed further: what did I hope for in the future? Did I hope for success?

I told him what I tell everyone: I would love to spend all day every day doing this work, but I've learned the hard way that I'm not to pursue it to excess. I get too caught up in the results, and end up tripping myself up. If it's supposed to happen, it will happen. I'm just trying to stay out of the way of what fate has in store.

For some reason this made him happy, but he had one more question: was I any good?

What Is This Here To Teach Me?

When hard times come, we're often told to focus on gratitude and positive thoughts. Unfortunately, we're not often told how to do that. As a result people tend to avoid thinking about things that bother them entirely, or try to chase those problems away and beat them down with a variety of spiritual practices. They suppress the negative in favour of the positive. Essentially: they enter denial.

Oddly, this doesn't make their problems go away. Why not? If you're filling your vision with wonderful things, shouldn't more wonderful things come?

That is usually the case, but if something is bothering you, then it's too late: that thing exists. It will continue to exist and continue to affect you whether you pay it any mind or not. In fact, if something is truly aggravating, denial only puts it in charge of all of the subconscious resources that govern your life. Denial empowers your problems.

The key is to not deny your hard times, but transcend them.

Transcendence comes from acceptance. One must accept, whole-heartedly, the difficulty one is enduring. That's the first step.

The easiest and most effective way I've found to do this is to ask: "what is this here to teach me?" I don't always expect an answer, although sometimes I get lucky and the answer is self-evident.

The key, though, is in the asking. By doing this you send love to the issue by acknowledging it for the gift it is. You are being taught something you couldn't learn any other way, and you're going to stay in this class until you've learned your lesson.

Knowing what that lesson is, specifically, doesn't really matter. Trust that some day in retrospect you'll understand the positive changes that occurred inside of you as a result. For now though, just accept that this is something necessary to help you grow. Be grateful for the pain as one might be grateful for a surgical procedure or a splint being set for a broken bone. You don't have to enjoy it, mind you, but do ensure that you acknowledge that you are being healed and strengthened by it.

You'll find you stop pushing your problem away now. Rather, you simply wait for it to pass, knowing that it won't leave until the lesson has been integrated into your being.

At this point something interesting starts happening: by reflex, you allow healing that you were interfering with before. This hard time has wanted to pass for a long time, but it needed to do its work first. Now that you're allowing it to improve you, the healing process is naturally accelerated and things can start moving again.

We can call this moment "transcendence". From this place you'll find it easy to put the suffering in context, without feeling like a victim or a helpless sufferer. These things are happening. They are making you better in a way you really aren't supposed to understand yet. That's okay.

Now, while I'm waiting, what else is there to do today?

And here we are; we've arrived. It is safe to search for positive and loving things to occupy yourself with while the hard time works itself out. The attention you would give your difficulty now can rest on the level of waiting at a bus stop. Keep your eyes open for the bus (the final solution, the problem passing, the moment of healing), but meanwhile trust that it is definitely coming eventually. The problem will pass, it is inevitable.

While you wait, occupy yourself with something good. This is your moment of transcendence; you fully acknowledge and accept the things that you don't like, understand that it is temporary, a part of your learning process, and a tiny part of existence, and then spend your time exploring things that you do like. Soon, the things you do like will be the only things your life is filled with any more, and you can look back with gratitude for the lessons you were gifted with over time.

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