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January/February 2011 Featured Stories
2011: The Year of the Emerging Divine Feminine

The divine feminine is emerging from the universal womb in 2011, creating new possibilities of growth and change for humanity. What is the divine feminine? She is strong and ruthless, and yet calm and caring. She is the destroyer as well as the creator. And she is back. Get ready for your life to change in challenging and yet delightful ways this year.

The Revolution of the Divine Mother

Andrew Harvey

At the end of his life, the great Indian mystic Aurobindo said, “If there is to be a future, it will wear the crown of feminine design.”

Unless we awaken to the mystery of the sacred feminine, of the feminine as sacred, and allow it to glow into, irradiate, illumine and penetrate every area of our activity and to create in them all harmony, justice, peace, love, ecstasy and balance, we will die out and take nature, or a large part of it, with us.

Unless we come to know what the sacred feminine really is — its subtlety and flexibility, but also its extraordinarily ruthless, radical power of dissolving all structures and dogmas, all prisons in which we have sought so passionately to imprison ourselves — we will be taken in by patriarchal projections of it. The Divine Mother, the fullness of the revolution that she is preparing, will be lost to us. We must understand that comprehending the sacred feminine is a crucial part of surviving the next terrible stage of humanity.

If we don’t make major decisions — economic, political and environmental — we will simply create an uninhabitable world and go on feeding those powers of destruction that are already threatening to ravage nature. The facts of our global crisis, a crisis at once political and economic, psychological and environmental, show us clearly that the human race has no hope of survival unless it chooses to undergo a total transformation, a total change of heart.

What is required is a massive and quite unprecedented spiritual transformation. There is no precedent for what we are being asked to do. Only the leap into a new consciousness can engender the vision, the moral passion, the joy and energy necessary to effect change on the scale and with the self-sacrifice that is essential to save the planet in the time we have left.

The message we are being sent by history can be summed up in four words: Transform or die out. Teilhard de Chardin wrote, “Humanity is being taken to the point where it will have to choose between suicide or adoration.” I have no doubt that we are now at that point.

Human survival depends on whether we are brave enough to face the full desolation of what we have done to our psyches and the planet, and wise and humble enough to turn to the divine insight inside us to learn what we need to go forward.

Catastrophe can become grace, and disaster possibility, only if we transform their energy by accepting what they have to teach us and acting with complete sincerity to transform ourselves.

Andrew Harvey is a distinguished mystical scholar, Rumi translator and explicator, poet, novelist, spiritual teacher and writer, and architect of Sacred Activism. Visit www.andrewharvey.net.

Are You a Visionary or a Space Cadet?

Mark Dodich

Welcome to the new year, one that begins with a solar eclipse in down-to-earth Capricorn on January 4. This pragmatic new moon gives you a grounded push to start your year off in the right direction.

In a sense, it is a bit of a backward year. Normally, people begin a new year by doing a vision quest, and then they get to work on bringing that vision into reality. This year begins on a more practical tone, where you must take care of the core foundation issues before moving on to lofty goals.

In numerology, 2+0+1+1 = 4. A four year is characterized by dependability, reliability, material ambitions and good common sense. Even the Chinese Year of the Rabbit, beginning on February 3, suggests a more easygoing year than last year’s aggressive tiger energy.

As the year progresses, a more intuitive, feminine and visionary energy increasingly takes hold. In 2011, the divine feminine helps you in manifesting your dreams. Before you get too comfortable in anticipation of a gentle year, keep in mind that raw and assertive planetary activations started last summer will be running alongside these softer energies. If you were born or have natal planets placed in Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn, you will feel the push on an elevated level.

The real action begins February through April when three world-changing planets move into new signs. When energies that have not been on Mother Earth for 50, 84 and 165 years collide within weeks of each other, global and personal changes come on a deep and all-encompassing level.

The most aggressive, rebellious change is explosive Uranus moving into Aries on March 11. Associated with earthquakes and inventions, Uranus has not been in Aries for 84 years, and will travel through the pioneering sign through 2018. There was a preview of this fiery energy last year with large fires in Russia, and the speedy inventions of new technology to cap the Gulf oil spill.

You inner motivations drive you to try something new under this impatient energy. Many people will relocate, and this includes both individuals and mass migration. Not everyone will physically move, but everyone is pushed to develop new ways to live. Uranus provides the loud, and oftentimes, rude wake-up call telling you to cut your losses and leave your comfort zone — and it gives no guarantees of what you will find on the other end of your journey.

Previous manifestations of this 84-year energy include the beginnings of the revolutions brought by Mahatma Gandhi in India and Mao Tse Tung in China. Uranus in Aries brought massive earthquakes to New Zealand, numerous political assassinations, and even the violent St. Valentine’s Day massacre. It is common to see innovative inventions and great destruction when “we need change now” Aries is activated.

Do not get sucked into the vortex of fear that comes during destructive events. Fear comes up to the surface to be healed, not to be expanded. Uranus destroys outdated ideas to bring forth innovative ideals. Make a Post-It note that says, “Change is good.”

There is help to soften this erratic energy. Two gentle, feminine planetary shifts take place on February 9 as wounded-healer Chiron and on April 4 when spiritual Neptune enter mystical Pisces. Pisces helps you open to manifest your dreams or you stumble through the fog lost in illusions.

On the high side, you bring forth a higher feminine receptiveness and learn to act upon clear, intuitive messages. Or you can escape into fantasy, fooling yourself into thinking the next relationship or lottery ticket will solve all your problems. Pisces is the energy of both the visionary and the space cadet.

As a famous healer in ancient Greece, half-human, half-horse Chiron represents the need to get on with your life regardless of how you have been wounded. Rather than getting lost in self-pity, the centaur helps you take half-steps toward your visionary goal.

In previous Chiron in Pisces cycles (1961 to 1968 and 1910 to 1918), the world saw changes in immigration laws, oil drilling licenses in the North Sea, advances in the film industry, the women’s suffrage movement and Martin Luther King winning the Nobel Peace prize. Similar issues such as new regulations for deep-sea drilling and new television technology are coming now.

There is a second Pisces influence that is more powerful due to the fact that it only comes around every 165 years. Neptune temporarily teases you with Pisces energy starting April 4 through early August, tempting you with prophetic insights into new possibilities.

The integration of spirituality and spiritual healing into the mainstream world will take place while Neptune travels through Pisces fully from 2012 through 2026. Healing with music or toning will become more popular. Dream therapists and hypnotherapists are highlighted in the years to come.

Visionary art and healing the oceans will be popular topics. Meditation and intuitive enhancement receive more publicity in the years ahead. In short, a softer and more feminine balance will come into existence in the world.

For now, you have a choice to make. Will you open to a new vision for your life and for the collective energy of the world, or will you walk through the world as if you are a dazed and confused space cadet?

You must trust the mystic within you to come out. Put away those fears that you will be burned at the stake. Although that still may happen, it is time to assert this more feminine power in your life. Practice trusting your inner knowing, because the external will become more confusing.

Remember not to judge the world based upon the melodrama you see in the media. A wonderful vision is being birthed — it’s just that softer energies come forth in a more subtle way.

Mark Dodich has been a professional astrologer and intuitive consultant since 1980. Join him and like-minded friends on a trip to Greece this spring. Receive his free Astromark newsletter and download a free Basic Astrology Primer at www.astromark.us.

A Year of Inclusion

Jan Engels-Smith

We can have heaven on Earth. Heaven is created through love. Love is expressed with inclusion, random acts of kindness, sharing, impeccability of spoken words and things that draw people together in a conscious way. In others words, compassionate action. This is a year of inclusion, and making the effort to be welcoming and thoughtful.

Heaven is a place of grace, togetherness and radiance. Yes, we can have heaven on Earth. We can rise above the density of third-dimensional reality and the lower frequency energies of hopelessness, doubt, fear, anger, isolation, gossip, betrayal and hardship. These lower frequency energies are broadcast from outside sources such as the media. We also contribute to this broadcast from our inner personal environment, which are our thoughts. This broadcast weakens us and feeds a false reality about our divinity.

No matter what is happening to us inside or outside, we can create heaven on Earth by choosing differently. So 2011 is going to be a year of great choice, a year of finding joy in the difficulties and a year of deciding to choose happiness.

This year will require very conscious decisions because 2011 also will be a year of great challenges. These difficulties have the power to split you off from your true self or from your spiritual self. Conversely, your decisions and choices of response could encourage you to embrace your spiritual self even more strongly. The tower card in the tarot shows us that there needs to be a crumbling of systems, belief systems and structure in order to rebuild from a completely different place that doesn’t look anything like the old.

Also 2011 will be a year of blending the divine feminine and the divine masculine energies together to find balance. The exclusion of one over the other needs to stop. A blend is needed: Blending the divine feminine, which is unconditional love, understanding, inclusion, sharing, allowing and compassion with the divine masculine, which is action, inner confidence, inner courage and holding true to your light. This blend, this balance allows us to stay grounded, and ready to take action that is loving, open, compassionate and positive. Show these qualities to the world and act on them daily.

Make the choice to create heaven on Earth. Some of the greatest things that we have on Earth have come from the contrast or the difficulties that we have endured. The spirits recommend the following: Keep things near you that will remind you that a new structure is needed. Let go of the old ways and trust that the universe supports you. There is only love, you are loved and there are many non-physical beings that only want to help you. Don’t resist — embrace the process. Get in the habit of saying I can and I say yes to the positives.

Jan Engels-Smith, founder of the LightSong School of Shamanic Studies, is a shamanic author, teacher and practitioner. Visit www.janengelssmith.com.

Message from the Runes

Ingrid Kincaid

The runes are more than an ancient, magical system of writing. They are alive and sentient and open up a connection with the gods and goddesses as well as the spirits of nature and the elements.

As a rune shaman, I journey to the roots of the World Tree Yggdrasil and seek wisdom from the Well of Memory. The runes are guarded in this dwelling place of the triple goddess Nornir and these are her words for the upcoming year.

“Remember that my New Year has already begun with the turning of the Great Wheel and the going into the dark. It is the half-way point between the equal nights of autumn and the returning of the sun at winter solstice. In order for you to have balance, you must seek not only the wisdom from the sky and that which is above. You must also go down into the dark places, into the roots and the wells so that you can connect with my wisdom. You must go to the place where life begins and where life ends. You are too focused and concerned about small things. You are arrogant in thinking you are the cause of the great things which are happening on earth. You must trust the wisdom of your Mother.

“The ice must melt at this time. It is necessary. The great aquifers have been emptied and I am replenishing them with the melting of the ice. I have filled them many times before with glacial waters. My waters are held within a closed system so I must constantly redistribute. Isa, the Rune of Ice, is a storehouse of ancient wisdom, frozen there in time. You seek wisdom in the stone crystals but you have forgotten that there is also great wisdom and knowledge stored in the ice. I am releasing to you much needed wisdom and your worry about the melting is keeping you distracted. There are many things which I have held hidden in the ice.

“There will continue to be great turmoil on earth. There always has been. There always will be. Volcanic eruptions, storms, great earthquakes and upheavals will continue to cause destruction as well as creation. Did you not just witness my great creation as the volcano erupted beneath the glacier in Iceland? This is life.

“Seek out the Rune Berkana for it is she who will tell you that which you must never forget: She who gives birth and nurtures is also she who pushes away and destroys. The Great Mother knows when to push things out of the litter or out of the nest. She knows she must eat her young when they are defective or sickly. Have you forgotten this? I am showing you my great wisdom at this very time in the tumultuous changes that are bringing destruction of that which no longer serves the whole and preservation of that which needs to remain. You have not lived long enough to remember that I have passed through many cycles of change and I will continue to do so. Global warming and ice ages, floods and droughts.

“You must return to my wisdom which is deeply rooted in the Earth and find balance again in your bodies. Cease to be tossed about by your minds which are filled with worry and fear. Stand in awe and amazement of my great power and wisdom.”

Ingrid Kincaid speaks in the voice of the old gods and goddesses through storytelling and intuition. She offers rune readings and classes at New Renaissance Bookshop in Portland as well as readings by phone. Visit www.ingridkincaid.com.