Sunday, April 5, 2020

Question Reality


The outer world is intense, no doubt. For those of us who are sensitives, the energy feels like a thick, chaotic soup, but when I migrate inward the landscape is completely different, its fertile, like Spring but quiet and nourishing.

Questioning reality and the information we humans consume requires much diligence, cognitive bias and critical thinking.

"The take-home lesson here is to set your hypothesis 
and look for instances to prove that you are wrong. 
This is perhaps a true definition of self-confidence: 
the ability to look at the world without the need to look 
for instances that please your ego."
~ Psychology Today

So, here we are, in what we are told is a world wide pandemic caused by a virus titled Coronavirus originating from China and subsequently spreading throughout the planet and causing complete lockdowns of our cities. Many questions and theories have arisen:

Has this situation been created with a bigger, One World Order agenda?
Is it to sway the election in the US?
Is the virus the pin prick that will result in the collapse of the economic bubble?
Is 5g and the launching of satellites related?

And then there are the connections between the World Health Organization and Bill Gates, more on that below. I don’t know where the truth is in all this I am looking for patterns and relationships.

I do know that the lungs of the earth, our forests, continue to burn each year. Those forests are our lungs, they produce huge amounts of oxygen. The alchemical motto "As above, so below" is vividly expressed through the image of trees as their roots reach down into the earth, forming the same pattern below ground as they do above. The leaves of trees mirror our lungs and many medicinals that come from leaves are good for our lungs. This is just one symbol of how we are connected to nature and the plants. For more about this watch the Tree of Life video, a lecture I presented at Bastyr University for an aromatherapy conference.

Many of us feel like the ongoing environmental challenges, and now this new situation, are beyond us as one individual, which emphasis the importance of unity as well as getting in touch with a sense of empowerment. Here is a quote from Galadriel in Lord of the Rings and a fun trailer for Free Guy, along the same theme.

"Even the smallest person can change the course of history."

The start to "feeling" empowered begins with knowing thyself and stepping out of fear and look at a few thing constructively. Remember in the words of the author of Dune, Frank Herbert "Fear is a mind killer".

"I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear. 
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain."



Fear itself is a virus, a mode of operation located in the oldest part of the brain, the limbic system.
This image from alchemical texts is titled “The Rebis” depicting the end product of the great work, being the divine hermaphrodite, the reconciliation of opposites.

Having gone through putrefaction and purification, the pair is now one, standing upon a dragon, symbolic of our primordial brain, similar concept with St. Michael taming the dragon.

The moral here is to stay calm, breath clean air, drink fresh water and tame your inner dragon.

Remember it was the plant perfumers from ancient times who survived the plagues. Why? Because they were working outdoors in the garden as well as distilling, macerating, and infusing plant material on a daily basis.

The World Health Organization

Does anyone remember the 1974 report and a scandal titled The Baby Killer1, about how multinational milk companies like Nestle were causing infant illness and death in poor communities by promoting bottle feeding and discouraging breast feeding.1 Well, guess what, now we have the World Health Organization doing the same thing.2,3 Even worse they mention the baby Killer Report on their site, promoting breast feeding with one hand, while distributing formula from companies who they are partnered with.

Let's dig deeper, in 1950 DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) was developed and commonly used pesticide designed to combat mosquitoes. Perhaps you remember being a child and looking forward to heading outside so you could ride your bike behind the "smoke machine" trucks? This toxin was eventually banned in 1972, because of links liver, reproductive, nervous system damage. Take one guess who manufactured this pesticide. Bingo, Monsanto!

What other gems has Monsanto unleashed on the world? Here is a complete list of the dirty dozen4:
  • Saccharin
  • PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls)
  • Polystyrene
  • Nuclear Weapons
  • DDT
  • Dioxin
  • Agent Orange
  • Petroleum-Based Fertilizers
  • Round UP
  • Aspartame
  • Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH)
  • GMOs.
Meanwhile our rights continue to get chipped away by the powerful greedy humans while the masses decide to glue themselves to TV's, obey orders to stop working and go into a mesmer type trance.


Staying Sane and Healthy

Greg and I regularly go forest bathing here in Santa Fe. Last week, while breathing deeply and enjoying the complex beauty and textures of the forest I ate some pine needles, which happen to be rich in vitamin C and "pinene", one of the most common terpenes in our natural world. A few of the health attributes associated with pinene are:

Anti-inflammatory
Bronchodilator
Anti-anxiety
Analgesic -> Pain relief

Although we have been forced to close our retail businesses and advised to stay inside, the forest, with her complex microbiome, is there for us, brimming with fresh air, sunshine and unseen benefits.

PLEASE don't put that stinky hand sanitizer on, especially while being out in nature. An easy way to make your own, that meets the acceptable criteria, is to combine a high proof alcohol, ideally 70%, with herbs, spices and essential oils such as lemon, eucalyptus and lavender. I am working on some formulas and a tutorial for you as well as a few different hand and room sanitizers.

Enlightening & Uplifting

A terrific documentary showing us the history of how corporations began is the 1995 film The Corporation. Here is a presentation by Douglas Rushkoff, a brilliant mind I had the opportunity to get introduced to back in 2008, whose message continues to be so very timely and important.

Two more gems from our younger sector are: a podcast with Zach Bush, MD titled A Pandemic of Possibility & Michael Garfield of Future Fossils, I suggest starting here.

One of my new hero's is Dr. Mark Hyman, author of Food Fix, he has a very helpful and informative podcast, this is a good one to start with A Functional Medicine Approach to COVID-19.

Have you seen the footage of Patti Smith singing the song Choir!Choir!Choir! in NYC? It's like a big dose of vitamin C.

And, one of my favorite gifs, that brings me so much joy.


Those links are a great place to start tuning our radar to higher knowledge. Please avoid the news (including Democracy Now, Amy Goodman appears to have gone over the edge), also avoid individuals who drain you. Activities that can keep us in that happy place of peace & calm like meditation, nature, exercise, sleep, and eating veggies. The Artist Way is a good process to do during this lockdown period, as it will help define who you are and what is important. Greg is putting together a online course titled "Know Thyself, Wisdom From the Temple of Delphi: Intended to bring clarity to your true nature, and your talents.


Greg and I have a lifestyle where all of those are part of our regular lifestyle, practicing all of them right now with extra helpings of good smells, like the lemon zest and eucalyptus salt scrub above. We've been doing lots of mineralized H2O, ginger, lemon, hydrosol spritzes, baths, supplements including: vitamin C & D3 and huge amounts of green leafy vegetables. After hearing Dr. Kessler, author of Fast Carbs, Slow Carbs, interviewed on The Doctors Farmacy pod cast, we have made an even bigger commitment to removing as many fast carbs from our diet as possible.

It appears that the question of who is susceptible to this virus is a bit of a lottery. The elderly and those with asthma,  weak immune systems and other medical conditions such as diabetes, and heart or lung disease are more at risk. Given that my immune system is weak and have asthma, I'm a bit concerned. We moved to Santa Fe to get out of the air pollution of LA and now this.

We have been told that 85% of individuals who contract the infection will develop a mild case manifesting as cold and/or flu symptoms. Our friend David Joyce in LA, is one of those individuals, read his story here.

And keep checking into that happy space within. Some of the things that work for me are yoga and nature, although right now I am avoiding landscapes with pollinating junipers, thus heading up to the our local forest. Luckily the forest is only a fifteen minute drive.

Tune your radar and action/inaction to what and who supports you and that yummy calm feeling. I'm typing this for you as well as a reminder for myself.

References:
The Baby Killer
2  BMC, Sustainability of WHO
3 The BMJ, Time to debate WHO's understanding of conflict of interest
Monsantos Dirty Dozen

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