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INSIGHTS - Thought provoking contributions

Harmonizing the Old and New Ages
Archangel Michael through Ronna Herman

SEDONA Journal of EMERGENCE ~ January 2007 Issue
http://www.sedonajournal.com

Beloved masters, many of you are wondering why you are having so much
difficulty remembering the mundane, everyday facts of life, and why it
seems to take so much effort to stay grounded in the physical reality
you have created throughout your many past lifetimes. As you draw
forth and integrate more and more Creator Light in the process of
returning to a multi-dimensional state of being, many changes are
taking place within your inner reality as well as in your physical world.

You are releasing many old, outmoded concepts and replacing them with
higher, more expansive and empowering thought forms. You are healing
and transmuting painful memories or "cells of consciousness" from your
many past lifetimes that were stored within your DNA and throughout
your multiple-body system-physical, mental, emotional and etheric. You
are endeavoring to return to your center of power, which we call your
"sacred heart center," and you are also struggling to release from the
old age all that no longer serves the highest purpose and greater
good, as you move into the grand design and refined frequencies of the
new age. Your old world of existence is overlapping with the new
reality of the future as you tap into higher and more complex
dimensional fields of knowledge and awareness.

Many of you are feeling vulnerable or are experiencing a sense of loss
for no apparent reason, and are having difficulty focusing on
day-to-day situations. You now have a fairly good understanding of how
the universal laws work and what you must do to accelerate the process
of creating a desirable world of peace, plenty and harmony for
yourselves and those around you. You feel that you have been taking
all the necessary steps and have a clear idea of what you wish to
accomplish, and yet, it seems there are obstacles constantly blocking
your progress. Know this: You all are in a state of vulnerability in
which many of you may be inclined to stray from the path, for you feel
you are being misguided, or you may think that something is wrong with
you and that you are not worthy, or that "it just isn't working the
way we have been told that it is supposed to."

YOUR TRANSFORMATIONAL PROCESS IS COMPLEX

We tell you, beloveds, this is not a time for the faint of heart, and
we implore you to be steadfast in your determination as you traverse
the waves and cycles of change. We will endeavor to explain some of
the phenomena that are taking place within each of you personally and
within the psyche of humanity as a whole. We have told you that all
that is not in harmony with your evolving state of consciousness is
rising to the surface to be transmuted and healed. However, you still
do not have a clear understanding of the complex transformational
process that is occurring at every level of your being. There are many
levels of multidimensional existence and awareness throughout the
universe, and there are also many levels of consciousness within your
own brain structure.

As we have explained, in the past most humans were influenced
primarily by the energies and consciousness of the three lower
chakras, with only a minor influence from the heart and higher centers
of awareness. You also have multidimensional levels of consciousness
within your brain structure. Since the "fall in consciousness"
occurred thousands of years ago, the average human has been dominated
by the three lower levels of consciousness. The first dimension or
foundational center focuses on scarcity/survival and self-preservation
via the instinctual nature. The second dimension, or "sensation center
of consciousness" focuses on the desires of the ego, sexual/passionate
love and earthbound emotions. The third dimensional level of
manifestation or personal power level of expression is that which each
person must perfect in order to become an effective cocreator on the
physical plane. Each person on Earth is a cocreator at some level.
Some create scarcity, pain, suffering and the illusion of being tossed
about by the whims of fate or controlled by an angry god. Some have
learned to claim their divine birthright and know how to use the
universal laws of manifestation to joyously create beauty, bounty,
loving relationships and harmony within and around themselves.

As we have often told you, the universal laws have no favorites and
make no exceptions-they are immutable and apply to all from the lowest
to the highest. As you lift and refine your vibrational patterns, you
gain the ability to access and integrate the light packets of wisdom
stored within the higher-dimensional levels of your brain structure.
However, you may not fully understand the rest of this complicated
process of evolution. What is occurring at every level of your
existence is this: As you refine and attune to the higher-dimensional
frequencies of light, you also are eliminating the negative,
imbalanced and lower frequency patterns from the past throughout your
physical, emotional and etheric bodies, and especially within your
mental body and brain structure.

Many of the lower levels of consciousness, which were readily
accessible to you in the past, are being cleared and even shut down,
for they no longer serve your highest good. Painful memories of the
past are like bad dreams for many of you, and you no longer have a
desire or a need to recall them. When this happens, rejoice, for you
know you have healed that phase of your past. Trivia and
inconsequential data that many of you focused on in the past may not
be as readily accessible to you as you learn to tap into and store
important, new, more complex information.

LUCID DREAMING AND YOUR GENIUS POTENTIAL

As you access and integrate the knowledge gained from the light
packets of wisdom stored within the higher levels of your brain, you
may develop almost instant total recall of complex data and concepts,
for you are learning how to tap into your "genius potential."

Another puzzling phenomenon that is occurring worldwide is the fact
that the average person no longer sleeps the night through without
interruption. Many evolving souls report waking up several times a
night, sometimes feeling as if they have been jolted back into their
physical body. This is often the case, for you are very active in your
sleep as you learn to soar in spirit and visit many realms and
dimensions during your nightly rest periods. As you evolve in
consciousness, you earn the ability to access the higher dimensions of
awareness (in the ancient esoteric teachings often called, the causal
and higher mental realms). You are no longer making these journeys in
your physical astral body, which was created by your past thought
forms and those thoughts of others that you have claimed as your own.

One of the miracles that happens to an initiate on the path is that
when he or she attains a certain level of balanced cognizance, his
astral body consciousness is reabsorbed into his golden etheric body
of light, and his vehicle of travel into the higher realms is via soul
travel or in his refined higher self. To accomplish this, the initiate
must first experience a soul merge, whereby the ego personality
becomes the servant of the soul once more, instead of the ego desire
body being the director of physical experiences. The next step is that
your soul merges with your higher self, which prepares the way for
greater and more expansive oversoul merges, whereby you are
continually incorporating more and more of your fragmented God-self,
which you left scattered throughout this universe as you wove your way
deeper and deeper into the lower-dimensional creations and a vast
array of experiences, positive and negative.

When you were functioning within a third/fourthdimensional reality and
you were predominately influenced by the three lower-chakra mind
centers, your nightly sojourns were usually made in your astral body,
whereby you were constantly bombarded by the mass-consciousness
frequency patterns from many ages past. These were confusing,
distorted, disturbing and disruptive thought forms which you
have named "nightmares" or "bad dreams." These dreams are sometimes
based on fearful or very painful past life experiences through which
your higher self is attempting to help you purge the negative thought
forms from your consciousness. Or, if you are in the midst of an
important challenge or initiation, your higher self might be
endeavoring to give you some insight by showing you the origin of the
karmic imbalance and, through your own personal symbolic language,
attempting to give you the solution. At this level, you usually
remember the episode for a very brief time upon awakening and while
still in an alpha state of awareness. As you return to full
consciousness, the dream usually fades away unless it was very vivid
and made a strong impact on your conscious mind, and then you may
remember only a portion of the events that occurred in the dream.

Many of you are now experiencing lucid dreaming, whereby you are aware
that you are in a dream state, and often can even change the dream in
order to create a satisfactory outcome. As you progress, you will also
have more visions and interactions with the masters and beings of
light; however, we will address this topic at a later time.

CREATING A BENEFICIAL SLEEP STATE

We have told you that it is most important that you monitor your
thoughts before going to sleep. Your state of mind determines the
quality of your rest and whether it is beneficial, or turbulent and
disturbing. The sleep state was not only designed to give your body
and mind a rest to replenish and refresh you, but to allow you an
opportunity to soar freely in the higher realms of consciousness. When
you state, "I ask for my greatest good," or "Thy will be done," you
give us permission to take you to halls of healing and temples of
learning, and to infuse you with knowledge and vibrational patterns
that are compatible with your current state of being. We have stressed
over and over how beneficial it is to project your etheric self into
your pyramid of light in the fifth dimension before falling asleep.
See yourself lying on the crystal table and envision the electrifying
elixir of life radiating forth from the city of light nearest you,
bathing, permeating and healing as it fills you to overflowing with
divine light of new creation. As you awaken refreshed and energized,
breathe deeply and envision this healing life light radiating deep
within the Earth's core, and then breathe it out into the world around
you from your solar heart center. This is a magnificent way to share
your light and begin your day.

SETTING THE PACE OF YOUR ADVANCEMENT

My valiant warriors of light, as you become more aware and
hypersensitive to the frequency patterns of change within and around
you, and as your heightened awareness increases, it is crucial that
you learn to be an observer and not become caught up in the maelstrom
of drama and chaos that is rampant in the world. It requires
discipline and great wisdom to stay the course and to remain centered
and empowered when it seems as though the world around you is sinking
further and further into chaos and destruction. We know how eager you
are to attain full self-mastery; however, as we have often stated,
faster or more is not necessarily better. You must be willing to allow
your higher self and your angelic helpers to set the pace of your
advancement, for we have the advantage of observing what is taking
place around the world and within each of you from a higher vantage
point. This enables us to interpret the outcome of forthcoming events
via the strongest probable future and, occasionally, we are allowed to
intervene through specific mandates from our Father/Mother God and the
Lords of Light.

Beloveds, if obstacles are continually put before you as you attempt
to move forward or create something new in your life, know that it may
not be quite time for your vision to become reality. Be willing to go
into sanctuary (spend time in contemplation) so that your higher self
can either inform you of what you must do to proceed, or what must be
put into place that you are not aware of before your aspirations can
be fulfilled and made manifest. Be willing to stay in the moment, and
know that you are exactly where you are supposed to be at the present
time. Affirm often: "This is a perfect moment and I am centered in the
power of the present."

Beloveds, we know that your challenges are great and you feel that the
future is uncertain. Please know this: You have never been better
equipped to succeed, and never before have you had such a wondrous
band of enlightened beings to support and assist you. Also know that
the rewards awaiting you are beyond your comprehension. Remain
steadfast, brave hearts. It has been decreed, "You cannot and will not
fail." I enfold you in my auric field of love and protection. I am
Archangel Michael.

THE DRAGONFLY STORY

Did you know the dragonfly starts out by living in water for anywhere from 1-5yrs:? Twelve or more times it sheds it's skin. Each time it remains water bound. The sight of this is incredible to see, as it writhes hr: after hr: to rid itself of skin. The dragonfly continues on.... crawling from the muddy water to the top of a reed or upon a rock. At last after the final shedding what it has to be comes forth. Emerging from this state comes a long slender body.... gauzelike, iridescent wings.., a beautiful dragonfly. One wonders in all of the twisting, puling,wrenching & turning the wings don't tear. This graceful flyer comes from the ugliest of bugs. Repeatedly it shuffles off the outer layer that is no longer appropriate. It needs to pull itself out of the mud, and water to new life, unless it does it cannot use the power within. Had it tried to cling to the old, it had refused to grow & change if it had waited for someone else to free it, it never would have emerged to fulfil the promise of its birth. Scientist over time have tried with lazers & various devices to speed what appears to be a very painful process, each time the dragonfly has been stunted in its growth, and has not gone on to survive! how very much like many of us that have to remove ourselves from inappropriate past programming that kept us waterlogged & mud bound.We know that if we want to fly free, we will need to do it on our own.

My friend Viera L. sent this.

THE WORLD WILL NOT END
By Carlos Barrios

CARLOS BARRIOS was born into a Spanish family on El
Altiplano, the highlands of Guatemala. His home was in
Huehuetenango, also the dwelling place of the Maya Mam
tribe. With other Maya and other indigenous tradition
keepers, the Mam carry part of the old ways on Turtle
Island (North America). They are keepers of time,
authorities on remarkable calendars that are ancient,
elegant and relevant.

Mr. Barrios is a historian, an anthropologist and
investigator. After studying with traditional elders
for 25 years since the age of 19, he has also became a
Mayan Ajq'ij, a ceremonial priest and spiritual guide,
Eagle Clan.

Years ago, along with his brother, Gerardo, Carlos
initiated an investigation into the different Mayan
calendars. He studied with many teachers. He says his
brother Gerardo interviewed nearly 600 traditional
Mayan elders to widen their scope of knowledge.

"Anthropologists visit the temple sites," Mr. Barrios
says, "and read the inscriptions and make up stories
about the Maya, but they do not read the signs
correctly. It's just their imagination... Other people
write about prophecy in the name of the Maya. They say
that the world will end in December 2012. The Mayan
elders are angry with this. The world will not end. It
will be transformed. The indigenous have the
calendars, and know how to accurately interpret it,
not others."

The Mayan Calendars comprehension of time, seasons,
and cycles has proven itself to be vast and
sophisticated. The Maya understand 17 different
calendars, some of them charting time accurately over
a span of more than ten million years. The calendar
that has steadily drawn global attention since 1987 is
called the Tzolk'in or Cholq'ij. Devised ages ago and
based on the cycle of the Pleiades, it is still held
as sacred. With the indigenous calendars, native
people have kept track of important turning points in
history. For example, the day keepers who study the
calendars identified an important day in the year One
Reed, Ce Acatal, as it was called by the Mexicans.
That was the day when an important ancestor was
prophesied to return, "coming like a butterfly." In
the western calendar, the One Reed date correlates to
Easter Sunday, April 21, 1519 the day that Hernando
Cortez and his fleet of 11 Spanish galleons arrived
from the East at what is today called Vera Cruz,
Mexico.

When the Spanish ships came toward shore, native
people were waiting and watching to see how it would
go. The billowing sails of the ships did indeed remind
the scouts of butterflies skimming the ocean surface.

In this manner was a new era initiated, an era they
had anticipated through their calendars. The Maya
termed the new era the Nine Bolomtikus, or nine Hells
of 52 years each. As the nine cycles unfolded, land
and freedom were taken from the native people. Disease
and disrespect dominated. What began with the arrival
of Cortez, lasted until August 16, 1987 - a date many
people recall as Harmonic Convergence. Millions of
people took advantage of that date to make ceremony in
sacred sites, praying for a smooth transition to a new
era, the World of the Fifth Sun.

From that 1987 date until now, Mr. Barrios says, we
have been in a time when the right arm of the
materialistic world is disappearing, slowly but
inexorably. We are at the cusp of the era when peace
begins, and people live in harmony with Mother Earth.
We are no longer in the World of the Fourth Sun, but
we are not yet in the World of the Fifth Sun. This is
the time in-between, the time of transition.

As we pass through transition there is a colossal,
global convergence of environmental destruction,
social chaos, war, and ongoing Earth changes.

All this, Mr. Barrios says, was foreseen via the
simple, spiral mathematics of the Mayan calendars. "It
will change," Mr. Barrios observes. "Everything will
change." He said Mayan Daykeepers view the Dec. 21,
2012 date as a rebirth, the start of the World of the
Fifth Sun. It will be the start of a new era resulting
from and signified by the solar meridian crossing the
galactic equator, and the earth aligning itself with
the center of the galaxy.

At sunrise on December 21, 2012 for the first time in
26,000 years the Sun rises to conjunct the
intersection of the Milky Way and the plane of the
ecliptic. This cosmic cross is considered to be an
embodiment of the Sacred Tree, The Tree of Life, a
tree remembered in all the world's spiritual
traditions. Some observers say this alignment with the
heart of the galaxy in 2012 will open a channel for
cosmic energy to flow through the earth, cleansing it
and all that dwells upon it, raising all to a higher
level of vibration.

This process has already begun, Mr. Barrios suggested.

"Change is accelerating now, and it will continue to
accelerate." If the people of the earth can get to
this 2012 date in good shape, without having destroyed
too much of the Earth, Mr. Barrios said, we will rise
to a new, higher level.

But to get there we must transform enormously powerful
forces that seek to block the way.

A Picture of the Road Ahead

From his understanding of the Mayan tradition and the
calendars, Mr. Barrios offered a picture of where we
are at and what may lie on the road ahead: The date
specified in the calendar Winter Solstice in the year
2012 does not mark the end of the world. Many outside
people writing about the Mayan calendar sensationalize
this date, but they do not know. The ones who know are
the indigenous elders who are entrusted with keeping
the tradition.

"Humanity will continue," he contends, "but in a
different way. Material structures will change. From
this we will have the opportunity to be more human."

We are living in the most important era of the Mayan
calendars and prophecies. All the prophecies of the
world, all the traditions, are converging now. There
is no time for games. The spiritual ideal of this era
is action. Many powerful souls have reincarnated in
this era, with a lot of power. This is true on both
sides, the light and the dark. High magic is at work
on both sides.

Things will change, but it is up to the people how
difficult or easy it is for the changes to come about.
The economy now is a fiction. The first five-year
stretch of transition from August 1987 to August 1992
was the beginning of the destruction of the material
world. We have progressed ten years deeper into the
transition phase by now, and many of the so-called
sources of financial stability are in fact hollow.

The banks are weak. This is a delicate moment for
them. They could crash globally if we don't pay
attention. If the banks crash ... then we will be
forced to rely on the land and our skills. The
monetary systems will be in chaos, and we must then
rely on our direct relationship with the Earth for our
food and shelter. The North and South Poles are both
breaking up. The level of the water in the oceans is
going to rise. But at the same time land in the ocean,
especially near Cuba, is also going to rise.

A Call for Fusion

As he met with audiences in Santa Fe , Mr. Barrios told
a story about the most recent Mayan New Year
ceremonies in Guatemala . He said that one respected
Mam elder, who lives all year in a solitary mountain
cave, journeyed to Chichicastenango to speak with the
people at the ceremony. The elder delivered a simple,
direct message. He called for human beings to come
together in support of life and light. Right now each
person and group is going his or her own way. The
elder of the mountains said there is hope if the
people of the light can come together and unite in
some way.

Reflecting on this, Mr. Barrios explained: "We live in
a world of polarity: day and night, man and woman,
positive and negative. Light and darkness need each
other. They are a balance. Just now the dark side is
very strong, and very clear about what they want. They
have their vision and their priorities clearly held,
and also their hierarchy. They are working in many
ways so that we will be unable to connect with the
spiral Fifth World in 2012."

"On the light side everyone thinks they are the most
important, that their own understandings, or their
group's understandings, are the key. There's a
diversity of cultures and opinions, so there is
competition, diffusion, and no single focus."

As Mr. Barrios sees it, the dark side works to block
fusion through denial and materialism. It also works
to destroy those who are working with the light to get
the Earth to a higher level. They like the energy of
the old, declining Fourth World , the materialism. They
do not want it to change.

They do not want fusion. They want to stay at this
level, and are afraid of the next level.

The dark power of the declining Fourth World cannot be
destroyed or overpowered. It's too strong and clear
for that, and that is the wrong strategy. The dark can
only be transformed when confronted with simplicity
and open-heartedness. This is what leads to fusion, a
key concept for the World of the Fifth Sun.

Mr. Barrios said the emerging era of the Fifth Sun
will call attention to a much-overlooked element.
Whereas the four traditional elements of earth, air,
fire and water have dominated various epochs in the
past, there will be a fifth element to reckon with in
the time of the Fifth Sun: ether. The dictionary
defines ether as the rarefied element of the Heavens.
Ether is a medium. It permeates all space and
transmits waves of energy in a wide range of
frequencies, from cell phones to human auras. What is
"ethereal" is related to the regions beyond earth: the
heavens.

Ether the element of the Fifth Sun is celestial and
lacking in material substance, but is no less real
than wood, stone or flesh. "Within the context of
ether there can be a fusion of the polarities," Mr.
Barrios said. "No more darkness or light in the
people, but an uplifted fusion. But right now the
realm of darkness is not interested in this. They are
organized to block it. They seek to unbalance the
Earth and its environment so we will be unready for
the alignment in 2012. We need to work together for
peace, and balance with the other side. We need to
take care of the Earth that feeds and shelters us. We
need to put our entire mind and heart into pursuing
unity and fusion now, to confront the other side and
preserve life."

To be Ready for this Moment in History

Mr. Barrios told his audiences in Santa Fe that we are
at a critical moment of world history. "We are
disturbed," he said. "We can't play anymore. Our
planet can be renewed or ravaged. Now is the time to
awaken and take action."

"Everyone is needed. You are not here for no reason.
Everyone who is here now has an important purpose.
This is a hard, but a special time. We have the
opportunity for growth, but we must be ready for this
moment in history."

Mr. Barrios offered a number of suggestions to help
people walk in balance through the years ahead. "The
prophesied changes are going to happen," he said "but
our attitude and actions determine how harsh or mild
they are."

We need to act, to make changes, and to elect people
to represent us who understand and who will take
political action to respect the earth.

Meditation and spiritual practice are good, but also
action. It's very important to be clear about who you
are, and also about your relation to the Earth.

Develop yourself according to your own tradition and
the call of your heart. But remember to respect
differences, and strive for unity. Eat wisely. A lot
of food is corrupt in either subtle or gross ways. Pay
attention to what you are taking into your body. Learn
to preserve food, and to conserve energy. Learn some
good breathing techniques, so you have mastery of your
breath.

Be clear. Follow a tradition with great roots. It is
not important what tradition, your heart will tell
you, but it must have great roots. We live in a world
of energy. An important task at this time is to learn
to sense or see the energy of everyone and everything:
people, plants, animals. This becomes increasingly
important as we draw close to the World of the Fifth
Sun, for it is associated with the element ether - the
realm where energy lives and weaves.

Go to the sacred places of the earth to pray for
peace, and have respect for the Earth which gives us
our food, clothing, and shelter. We need to reactivate
the energy of these sacred places. That is our work.

One simple but effective prayer technique is to light
a white or baby-blue colored candle. Think a moment in
peace. Speak your intention to the flame and send the
light of it on to the leaders who have the power to
make war or peace.

We Have Work to Do

According to Mr. Barrios this is a crucially important
moment for humanity, and for earth. Each person is
important. If you have incarnated into this era, you
have spiritual work to do balancing the planet. He
said the elders have opened the doors so that other
races can come to the Mayan world to receive the
tradition. The Maya have long appreciated and
respected that there are other colors, other races,
and other spiritual systems. "They know," he said,
"that the destiny of the Mayan world is related to the
destiny of the whole world."

"The greatest wisdom is in simplicity," Mr. Barrios
advised before leaving Santa Fe. "Love, respect,
tolerance, sharing, gratitude, forgiveness. It's not
complex or elaborate. The real knowledge is free. It's
encoded in your DNA. All you need is within you. Great
teachers have said that from the beginning. Find your
heart, and you will find your way."