I am in Ithaca, New York, analyzing the Oracle’s answer to the charge I placed before it several hours ago. It is the evening of the Summer Solstice, 2012, and the Mayan Calendar will turn over for the first time in 5,125 years in just 185 days from now on the Winter Solstice. It is with a growing sense of wonder that I realize I may actually be alive to experience this momentous turning point in history.
The clearing in front of me is alight with hundreds of fireflies, shifting constantly into half-remembered constellations of fallen stars. I fall back into the dusk of childhood, when we would collect dozens of fireflies in a glass bottle and carry them over our shoulders like Japanese lanterns. I leap forward into the dusk of the present, when the Oracle answered me between fireflies and fireflies.
Here is the question, the charge, I place before the Oracle—
How are awakened persons adding to the momentum of the 2012 Transformation?
SUMMARY
Awakened individuals are building alliances, drawing those of like heart-mind together in communities both physical and spiritual. This embodies an evolving kind of self-sufficiency, one that links people in ever more complex levels of relationships that ensure the self-sufficiency of the world as a whole: the ancient vision of a united humanity living in harmonious balance with the rest of nature is within reach. The momentum is towards the creation of a single alliance of Life and the breaking down of barriers that separate people from one another and wild nature.
The reading indicates, however, that obstacles remain. It speaks of a crisis that causes general distress—but likewise awakens people to their true commonality, setting in motion a constructive backlash that ushers in a new era of peace and prospering for all.
The 2012 date of the ending-and-new-beginning of the Mayan Calendar marks the length of the Age of Darkness now coming to a close, just as it marks the length of the emerging Age of Light that will last for the next 5,000 years.
READING
1. Immediate Dynamics—
The masculine and feminine halves of human nature, through their inspired intent and inspired action, attract allies to their endeavor from far and wide. Their work speaks for itself. Its influence spreads through the power of its vision. Those with resources and goodwill find those with projects that ennoble the individual, the community and the environment. Help comes from a distance. Allies of like heart-mind form webs of transformation aimed solely at the betterment of all. Work-in-isolation gives way to cooperative ventures that, in turn, are part of a larger collective effort to provoke positive change.
The hexagram Attracting Allies changes into Embracing Noninterference, signifying the purity of intent required if one’s efforts are to prove ultimately successful. A strict mental and emotional discipline of consciously avoiding influencing others is the only way to prevent backlashes to one’s work from arising. No matter how positive one’s vision is, if it is perceived as striving to influence the heart-mind of others, then it will eventually be distrusted and discarded. First-hand experience of the real is necessary for people to commit to a fuller transformation of their lives—long-lasting enterprises, therefore, simply provide working methods by which individuals can achieve their own destiny instead of trying to convince them of what that destiny is.
2. Forces Driving Change—
It is an extraordinary time, one in which change is building momentum by being held in check. While there are times for public display of unanimity, there are also times for private consolidation of an emerging consensus. Frustration, anger, resentment, and all the other justified reactions to past injustices must not be allowed to surface now. This is the time to hold back knee-jerk reactions and keep focused on what is really valuable. Protect core values and relationships, ignoring the lure of obvious enticements of quick profit or easy gain. Wait for the real prize. The energy accumulated in this way reaches fullness and spills out into others’ lives at the right time for all. The tendency here is toward simplifying thought, word and deed.
3. Forces Preserving The Status Quo—
There remain positive self-images of nationhood and exclusionary religious institutions that hold people in thrall to an artificial sense of community and tradition. Social conditioning continues to produce large numbers of adherents who have not yet awakened to the negative backlash their leaders are creating in their name. Criticism and reasoned argument merely draw such people closer together. Time, and time alone, can awaken sleepwalkers from their nightmare and usher them into the waiting paradise of a world in which there exists peace and prospering for all.
4. Forces Generating Future Opportunities—
Creative individuals ought to familiarize themselves with the changing needs and mandates of both governmental and non-governmental organizations, with an eye toward entrepreneurial undertakings. Personal knowledge of the shifting direction of institutions is the basis of an intuitive grasp of how to fill unmet needs and act as a coordinating agent within a complex compartmentalized system. There is a growing trend toward reducing polarization and zealotry in the air, so look to methods of reconciliation, mediation and conflict resolution as entryways. Recovery of the whole is being given precedence over profit for the privileged, so look to grassroots community-based projects that are inclusionary and accentuate the release of pent-up creative energies when barriers of distrust and animosity are broken through.
5. Forces Repairing The Past—
All sides must shed their obsolete sense of self-righteousness in the name of regaining political and cultural momentum that will benefit all. The old animosities can only be shed when the differences with which people identified is cast off. While it is always preferable for such a sloughing to be undertaken voluntarily, the process here is quickened on the widest scale due to the release of information previously held secret. This disclosure reveals the artificial nature of the contrived differences between people and proves a motivating force in the healing of old wounds.
6. Forces Adding To Your Momentum—
The movement away from authoritarianism and intolerance is establishing a new atmosphere of universal regard and benefit. Forward-looking individuals position themselves ahead of time at those junctures where their skills intersect with the emerging vision of recovery. Not every endeavor will succeed but, if initiated in the spirit of advancing the common good, each will materially contribute to the transition from this time of darkness to the coming time of light. Work to feel incipient movements and step in to nurture them even before they break the surface.
7. Forces At Cross-Purposes To Yours—
Much of what passes for education is actually conditioning aimed at facilitating social control. Even at higher levels, learning is directed toward abstractions and artificial problems that pull otherwise competent persons away from the real world and encapsulate them in a world of concepts and categories. The materialistic worldview engendered by the Western European experience is soul-numbing and life-negating, presenting a picture of the world that justifies the suffering of so many peers and the desecration of the natural environment. Recognize the symptoms of this worldview whenever it rears its head and consciously reaffirm your adoption by the ancient lifeway of your spiritual ancestors. Reject out of hand the conventional wisdom that seeks to domesticate the wild creative spirit of human nature.
8. Tipping Point Of The Emerging Equilibrium—
A new and more dynamic balance of underlying forces emerges with the growing shift of values toward the altruistic end of the spectrum. Out of the common hardships people share at this time there emerges a widespread attitude of placing the needs of the whole ahead of individual needs. People increasingly face the crisis with a diminished sense of self-interest and a greater sense of responsibility for the common good. The uncertainty and insecurity that faces everyone is a test that must of necessity be passed without falling into fear, hatred and violence. New solutions that follow a healing-way replace the old failed solutions that continue to perpetuate conflict, greed and poverty. People everywhere begin taking note again of the true, the beautiful and the good as the fever breaks and the time of distress gives way to a long period of peace and prospering for all.
9. Transmuting Knowledge Into Action—
There are many false starts and dead ends on the path forward, so individuals who are afraid of making mistakes become paralyzed by indecision. Take a trial-and-error approach, seeking first-hand knowledge and then discovering the best ways to set those new understandings into concrete actions. In the present case, this points to the need to free the passions from the constraints of puritanical repression and channel them into acts—both individual and collective—of constructive creativity. It indicates a time of flowering in the arts and public works. Likewise, it marks a time of increased scientific research, especially that attempting to create technologies making human interaction with the natural environment harmonious. The lifeways of indigenous peoples—both ancient and contemporary—take on greater significance as the emerging world culture seeks to consolidate the highest practices of humaneness and justice from all of history into a living vision of universal benefit. Forging a Grand Alliance of all peoples, the last generation of war gives birth to the first generation of peace and prospering for all.
Predictive Hexagram
Attracting Allies
Image: A corn stalk stands against the sky. In place of ears of corn there grow conch shells, whose song can be heard far and wide. Feminine and masculine spirits use earthen jars to pour water onto the plant from above.
Interpretation: This hexagram depicts sustained and conscientious effort being rewarded with success. Corn symbolizes the food that sustains life. The corn stalk is a symbol of the plowing, sowing, and cultivating that it takes to produce that sustenance. The conch symbolizes hidden power because it is a secretive animal that creates a home of perfect strength and beauty and symmetry, whereas the conch shell, which carries within itself the song of the sea and has since time immemorial been used as a ceremonial trumpet, is a symbol of that which calls people and spirits to gather. Taken together, these symbols mean that your endeavor is laborious but, because it holds the promise of bringing benefit to others, does attract the attention of unseen benefactors. The feminine and masculine spirits coming from above symbolize the helping spirits who answer your call. Whereas the earthen jar symbolizes the land’s fertility, water coming from above symbolizes rain and the sky’s fertility. Taken together, these symbols mean that your masculine half and feminine half are harmoniously balanced, uniting the spirit of purposeful action and the spirit of loving nourishment in a concerted effort to produce benefit in harmony with the creative spirits themselves.
Action: The masculine and feminine halves of the spirit warrior work together to achieve a goal that ennobles and enriches all. Now is the time to set aside all hope and fear, bearing down on the work itself: if you persist, patiently plowing row after row after row, never looking to the end of the field, setting aside all thoughts of progress, then you will truly master the situation and receive assistance from an unforeseen quarter. By working for the sake of the work rather than your own need, you create a history of sincerity and selflessness as significant as any history of your accomplishments, since those who have the power to help you are as interested in your character as they are in your abilities. Yet even thinking about the thoughts of those who might help you is a distraction that can lead you off your path and into the mire of ambition and self-interest. Simply view your endeavor as the daily discharge of a sacred trust, your part in a work that has no foreseeable end: work hard, perfect your craft, develop your potential, and the reason for taking this path will make itself known. Trust that the unseen forces have taken note of the purity of your intent and, even now, are judging how they might assist in the realization of your vision.
Intent: When we realize we need help in accomplishing a difficult task, our first impulse is to turn to those who we believe share in our responsibilities. Such reasoning, no matter how justifiable, does not work at present. On the contrary, it creates conflict with those who are unable or unwilling to respond: on the one hand, those who are already weakened themselves respond defensively to your request because they are in no position to lend support and, on the other hand, those with the capacity to help respond hostilely because their motives cannot stand up to scrutiny. This is not, therefore, a time to act naively, seeking assistance from those who would have already offered help if they had the will or means to do so. This is, rather, a time to let our own work call out to those of similar spirit, thought, feelings, and vision. It is a time to let our work speak for itself. The best way to find support at this time is not to go looking for it—let others find us through our works. This is especially true if we wish to attract helping spirits or spiritual ancestors to guide and teach us. The best way to persuade others to come to our aid at this time is to persuade them of our sincerity. If you can push through this time with good intentions toward all, you will be joined by collaborators of the utmost worth.
Summary: Avoid the temptation to seek out those who might help you in your endeavor, striving instead to produce something both beneficial and of the highest caliber. Likewise, avoid the temptation to seek the approval of others, striving instead for self-respect. Take joy in producing something you believe in and others will come to believe in your goal. Success falls to the patient at this time. Find joy in the daily repetition of the endeavor you have undertaken.
The Line Changes
3° Among peers, there are negative leaders and positive leaders—while most people prefer to do good, it is more difficult to lead them that way in a group. Work in private, establishing bonds that will hold in public. Little by little you will sway them away from the negative leader.
4° Do not merely avoid impropriety—avoid the appearance of impropriety. If you are not intensely aware of the importance of this at this time, you will create great ill for yourself. Everything must be aboveboard and above reproach—make no utterance or action without thinking it through twice.
5° You are able to relax here, for you have found a place where your character and responsibilities are in accord. You are able to act ethically in all matters and you have others around you doing the same. Enact reforms now in order to prevent unscrupulous people from gaining power later.
Derived Hexagram
Embracing Noninterference
Image: Many different kinds of animals gather peacefully to drink from the river of life.
Interpretation: This hexagram depicts the single source of life, from which every life receives its rightful share. The different kinds of animals symbolize the various needs, wants, and interests of those involved. The river of life symbolizes the resources to sustain all. That the animals gather peacefully to drink from the river means that all concerned have enough and do not need to compete with one another to ensure their well-being. Taken together, these symbols mean that you help create a time of peace and prosperity for all concerned.
Action: Just as the river is a material blessing bringing water to everything equally, the feminine creative force is an invisible presence bringing benefit to all equally. It is a time for trusting that need is being met even if you cannot see how: in practice, this means that it is essential that people and events be allowed to develop naturally, without any outside interference. In this sense, it is important that you resist interfering with others as diligently as you resist the efforts of others to interfere with you. It is a delicate time and one that is easily misinterpreted: it does not call for isolationism or callous disregard of others’ suffering but, rather, for impartial benevolence. Nature does not show its impartiality by ceasing to provide air, water, and food to all. Nor does it show its benevolence by giving air, water, and food to some and not to others. Because you mimic nature you give to each all that you can according to the season—and you do so without using your gifts as leverage by which to influence the actions of others. Likewise, you are most careful when accepting gifts or assistance at this time: sensing there are conditions placed on your acceptance, you look elsewhere for assistance because accepting the wrong type of favor in this climate is particularly ill-timed. In all your interactions with others, be on guard against your own ulterior motives as vigilantly as you guard against the ulterior motives of others. Because you are attuned to the positive value of impartial benevolence, you become a well of benefit nurturing the right of others to make their own decisions and determine their own destiny.
Intent: When people interfere in the rightful destiny of others, they create a backlash of resentment and retribution that inevitably surfaces to strike them back. For this reason, self-interest is best served by not intervening in the decisions or development of others. When relationships reflect the mutual respect of warriors who are able to exercise self-control, then alliances thrive, creating harmony, contentment, and well-being for all its members. When we bring benefit as impartially as the river waters all it touches, then we are welcomed into the invisible presence of the feminine creative force as lovingly as we have embraced all we have touched.
Summary: Things are going as they should. Refrain from trying to change them at this time. Let matters take their natural course. Intervening now will create greater problems for all concerned. Demonstrating trust and respect now will create greater opportunities for all concerned. Where you are unsure, investigate matters more deeply, seeking greater understanding rather than initiating action.
Nuclear Hexagram
Awakening Self-Sufficiency
Image: A great feathered serpent hatches out of the earth as if from an egg. Its feathers are adorned with conch shells and it senses its surroundings with its bifurcated tongue.
Interpretation: This hexagram represents the great forces released by the accumulated efforts of spirit warriors over the ages. The feathered serpent symbolizes the collective intent and vision shared by spirit warriors in every time and every place. That it hatches from the earth as if from an egg means that the community of spirit incubating within the material world emerges as a living, dynamic force of creation. The conches adorning its feathers symbolize the call for all to join the community of spirit. Its bifurcated tongue symbolizes the duality that is one. That it uses its bifurcated tongue to sense its surroundings means that you are attuned to the universal presence of the masculine and feminine creative forces. Taken together, these symbols mean that you align yourself with those whose only need is to bring benefit to their surroundings.
Action: The spirit warrior reverses the flow of power, channeling it inside instead of outside: by storing up power internally rather than expending it externally, we are able to both free ourselves of habits and gain control over our actions. This inner autonomy also extricates us from social influences that strive to mold us into obedient marionettes even as it allows us to be more tolerant of the deeper motives of those social influences. From the spirit warrior’s perspective, the original intent of religion is to awaken the higher soul to its potential freedom while purifying the lower soul of fear, greed, envy, and hate—just as the original intent of government is to awaken the higher soul to its responsibility to others while instilling in the lower soul the capacity for self-control. From this perspective, the fact that religion and government acquire ulterior motives over time and begin to act in their own self-interest merely demonstrates that they are managed by human beings and must be viewed accordingly. Similarly, the fact that all religions and governments strive to awaken the higher soul and purify the lower soul—even when they have forgotten how and why—simply demonstrates that the quest for metamorphosis is a universal and irresistible force. Just as our inner autonomy releases us from the trap of depending on social influences for our sense of self, in other words, it also releases us from the trap of not seeing how those social influences contribute, however unintentionally, to the gradual unification of humanity. Reversing the flow of power, we gain inner autonomy and, paradoxically, become one with the universal civilizing force.
Intent: The wise become independent even from what they revere. Like children who are grown up and independent of the parents they love and admire, spirit warriors take their place among the community of spiritual equals. Because you use this lifetime to bring the most benefit to others, you incubate the higher soul that is preparing to hatch from the lower soul: joining in the collective labor shared by spirit warriors in every time and every place, you contribute directly to both the fulfillment of humanity’s destiny and the creator’s vision. Becoming part of the universal civilizing spirit, you contribute directly to the founding of a free and harmonious world of equals right here within this world.
Summary: Only the body marks the passage of time—for the soul, there is only this everlasting moment of growing. Let five rivers of energy come in through the senses, let them run together into a sea of growing power. Do not expend it on petty thoughts, moods, or goals. Send forth your rain clouds only to water the valuable. Condense intent into actions that foster peace and prosperity for all. Your success is inevitable.