Horizons Magazine

More about Andrea

SEPTEMBER 2003
Media spin, looking for signs of inner guidance, getting lost in the
smoke & mirrors, refuse to settle for less, stop attracting disasters

Hello and welcome to the September 2003 issue of Horizons Magazine.
I was excited to see in the news last month, when the nation experienced
 its most widespread electrical blackout ever, the smiling faces of the New
Yorkers who filled the highways, walking home in droves together, waving
to the cameras. You could tell these people had learned a giant lesson since the World Trade Center event two years ago. I personally think that when a giant cosmopolitan area such as New York gets the lesson to smile despite appearances, and make the best of things, that has a giant effect on mass consciousness and goes a long way toward facilitating 100th-monkey saturation.

The Media Spins Our Perception
The media is famous for showing us the bleakest picture of world events, and amplifying the tragedies and discord, giving the appearance of things being much worse than they are. They put this spin on things because it sells the advertising they depend on to stay in business. The movie Wag The Dog has been airing lately, a movie about how the government manipulates our perception via the media, and distracts us from issues of dubious motive by whipping up patriotic frenzy. The old bait and switch!

Being Open To Guidance
In this issue, Doreen Virtue gives examples of types of clairvoyant messages that you may be receiving, and not recognizing as clairvoyant instances. Since expectation and belief govern how you perceive something, unless you know what to look for, you may dismiss crucial guidance. How often have you asked for guidance and then dismissed the first thoughts coming into your head as being your own? And when you asked for guidance again, perhaps a friend called and repeated or confirmed something you'd been asking about? However you didn't stop to put two and two together, so you didn't contemplate what the friend said, in light of your question. You don't consider that guidance can come to you in that form, from that person. You may be waiting to hear an ethereal voice or see a spectre materialize in front of you. Begin to listen for messages on the wind, and it will speak to you firm and clear. Ask earnestly, with a sincere and humble heart and know that you are even now being answered by everything around you, if you had eyes to see and ears to hear.

Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs
It reminds me in the Steve Martin movie, The Man With Two Brains, where he's speaking to a large wall portrait of his deceased mother, asking whether he should marry a rather unsuitable woman, and he asks the portrait, "Mom, give me a sign, should I or shouldn't I?" Suddenly a dark storm comes up, hurricane-like wind rushes through the house sending papers flying and the wall portrait begins spinning crazily on the wall, and you hear a woman's voice from far away shouting NOOOOOOOOOOOO, Noooooooooooooo!

Steve Martin looks again at the portrait and says, "Just a sign, Mom, any kind of sign." We all laughed at that because we've all experienced it, being blindly oblivious to messages and guidance being given.

Remember What You're Asking
What works for me is to keep index cards in front of me asking whatever it is I am seeking guidance on at any particular time. If I'm serious about being open to guidance, I will listen carefully around me to see if anyone is answering me, and contemplate everything in light of my questions. I do that for people I read for also. I have them write down on index cards what they'd most like answered, and we keep those cards in front of us as we do the reading. It's easy to digress and be taken in other directions, and unless you're mindful of what you've asked, you can't recognize the answer when it comes.

I'm sitting here on another full moon night, watching the moon move slowly across the sky from my office window. Right now however, the woods it previously illuminated stand stark and eerily shadowed, the trees burned to charcoal. In the daylight, you see the shoots of green dotting the ground, and the palmettos are already waist high again, but here in the dark, you see only a wide expanse of dark shapes. Some of the tall pines still stand, devoid of leaves and looking like burned sticks. I've been told many of them may come back, since the heat of the fire makes the sap run and form a seal which protects the tree. Mother Nature is unrelenting in protecting and healing her inhabitants.

Don't Fear Earth Changes
We're in the midst of an active storm season and have been having nice blustery weather. I always welcome hurricane season because I know by the time it ends, so ends the oppressively hot and humid Florida summer. This is also a real active time for people to talk about earth changes, and "the stress we humans are causing the planet," and making us fearful about earthquakes, fires, storms, volcanic eruptions, and violence. I recently received a few emails about earth changes and these come from people who have not yet gotten the lesson that "what we focus on, we attract more of into our life." They may say that and teach that, but they do not understand it if they keep bringing our attention to what they think we should be fearful of. They really believe they are just passing on helpful facts and information. They simply do not know better.

Dragging Others Into Your Chain Of Pain
I wrote to one friend, "New age writers receiving astral information love to point out all the calamities and catastrophes coming our way, and then we pass along emails like this, bringing others into the chain of pain by focusing their attention on it also. Yes, good and "bad" both exist. Yes, what we focus on is empowered and fueled by our attention.

Fueling The Good
When we think about all the good that is happening in the world, we add power to it and strengthen it. We fuel ourselves into future positive, hopeful events every time we think of a happy event, every time we talk of the good being done in the world and every time we pass along a happy email.

We say we understand this and yet if we did, we would talk and act differently. You know what a person understands by how he behaves, not by what he says. What he says is always his spin on what he understands.

Fueling The Trouble
So when we think about all the discord that is happening in the world, we add power to it and strengthen it, too. We fuel ourselves into future fearful, violent events every time we think of fearful, violent events, every time we talk of the trouble in the world and every time we pass along an email that contains all the worst-case scenario what-if's. So, yes, good and "bad" both exist. Yes, what we focus on is empowered and fueled by our attention. We do not have to pass along fearful and negative information. If we really understood that by passing the info along, we were perpetuating the problem, we would stop doing it. It's a big lesson to get. But it's as simple as passing along only what you want to see more of in your future.

Not Seeing The Bigger Picture
A friend last week sent an email out saying that Mother Earth is plotting her revenge on us for what we've done to her, and he talks about the earth changes, such as Yellowstone Park having to reroute trails to keep hikers off the increasingly hot spots. I wrote to him: "Are you kidding?? It's only a human consciousness that "plots revenge." Mother Nature is just involved with evolution. I imagine she is far less concerned with humans having to re-route their hiking trails and amusement parks, than she is with maintaining balance on the Earth. Whatever She in her infinite wisdom thinks "balance" is, which is often a far cry from what we humans - including all scientists and all mystics - with our limited knowledge and perception, believe constitutes "balance."

Here we are, running around on earth like ants trying to save our precious anthills from being destroyed by the giant footsteps From Above, simply because as ants we can't see it's part of a bigger picture. To quote George Carlin, "If we were disturbing Mother Earth, she could shake us off like fleas on a dog."

Survival of the Happiest?
So, ok, maybe we're losing the world as we know it, endangered species (us!) becoming extinct and all that, but uh, isn't that a natural byproduct of evolution? Who lamented the loss of wooden teeth, 8 track tapes or the telex machine? Who among us right now doesn't have a closet full of outdated computer equipment and a history of lost loves? Haven't we somehow managed to move forward without them and thrive?

Holding The Vision Despite Lack Of Evidence
Every time something becomes extinct, from a marriage to a loved one to a job to a civilization, don't we somehow from the depths of the abyss arise with tools to create something new? Don't we, from the heights of the mountaintop, chart our next move to cross the dark valley in between? Standing in the valley we may see nothing but the path before us, but once we reach the mountaintop, it's clear where we were and where we're going. This is the vision to hold while in the valley if we're to make it without fear to the other side.

We Had It All The Time
Hilda Charleton said: "Take what you have and make what you want," meaning that whatever is before us is all we need in order to get us to the next level. I'm not saying don't help where you can and don't support those you know are making a difference. I'm just saying there is a real freedom in accepting what is happening as a natural event, and having faith that Someone up there or out there knows what S/He's doing. If we choose to accept this, we can be free right now in this moment.
If the Earth and her inhabitants, and the entire galaxy was annihilated, destroying everything we've ever known, when our consciousness next awakens, it may well be in a world unlike anything we can now imagine. And somehow, because we always have, we'll figure out what to do when we get there. And last but not least, if I feel I'm in the midst of God's will, how can I be fearful? How can I not rejoice?

Subjective Reality: Reality With A Spin
Astral information is - on some level, to those who believe - true enough, but certainly is a subjective reality fueled by emotions and projections of one's own ideas and opinions. That's what it is anytime there is a "spin" on the information, such as judging it to be bad, i.e. Yellowstone heating up, increased solar activity.* (see below) It just is what it is.

Tapping Into The Astral Plane
Astral information is when you've tapped into the giant thoughtform that is the collective unconscious, the mass consciousness. Astral info is also a projection of the mind who perceives it. When that is the level of consciousness you're getting your information from, if that is the channel your mind is tuned to, you've got quite a mix in there. Dreams go into that mix. Fantasies go into that mix. Unconscious and repressed emotions go into that mix. Hopes and aspirations go into that mix. Media spin goes into that mix.

Getting Lost In The Smoke & Mirrors
It's very easy to get lost in the mix, because it pulls your attention and can be very entertaining. When an entity requires to be known by name, i.e. Archangel Michael, Kwan Yin, whoever, that's astral. The information should stand on its own, not relying upon the name of its author for marketability and acceptance. Not surprisingly, the Archangel Michaels of the world don't all have the same message and even conflict with each other. See how easy it is to get wrapped up in that, and want to get more into it, to see how it turns out? Because of this, it's not surprising that many psychics and seers get their information from the astral plane, and it's not always their fault. This is the kind of information their client is attracting from them, and they look no further than the first images they perceive.

Decide What You Want, Then Refuse To Settle
The good news is that if you refuse to settle for only astral information, when you refuse to be caught up in the hypnosis of the astral thought, and keep asking "what more?" and "how do I apply this information in my life?" a way will be opened to you. You will be shown a higher perspective. We're all too eager to settle for the first thing that comes our way, thinking it might be our last and only chance. Just as in other areas of our life, if we refuse to settle, we are always rewarded.

You'll Get Lotsa Chances to Settle For Less
A good friend of mine had been for years actively seeking a marriage partner and we often discussed the various women he'd encounter. He's a young, smart, handsome man with a promising future, and he had specific requirements, not the least of which was he wanted a churchgoing woman of childbearing age. He had many first dates with women who did not fit the bill, yet he spoke of settling, a popular byproduct of loneliness combined with sexual chemistry. Still in his 20's, he was afraid he was being too particular (he wasn't) and perhaps missing his only opportunity.

I'd often remind him that when you know what it is you really want, and you wait for what it is you really want, it comes along. You'll get lotsa chances to settle, and he got those chances. He came across lotsa pretty women who showed interest in him, yet by refusing to settle, and by sticking to his goal, he achieved it. And I might add, he achieved it within 2 weeks of the time I predicted he would, and I predicted it 3 years in advance.

You can do the same thing by not settling for a job you don't really want, or a relationship you don't want to be in anymore. In refusing to settle, you're also freeing up a job or a partner that is perfect for someone else. By releasing them to be available for the one they are perfect for, you come closer to attracting your own perfect replacement. What goes around, comes around.

When Is A Disaster Not A Disaster? When You Don't Attract It Into Your Experience!
Regarding Earth changes, Yellowstone Park heating up, increased solar activity* (from above) Yes, it's heating up, but why is that a disaster? Hurricanes and floods kill thousands a year. Those are natural events. To call them disasters is to not understand how things work. Natural events are going to happen, earth changes of all sorts. That's not the point.

The point is YOU don't have to experience the disasters.
YOU don't have to attract them into your experience.

You Control What You Attract To Yourself
You can adjust your behavior and discipline yourself so that you don't attract "the disasters" into your life. You can train yourself to focus your attention on all evidence of good around you, and to keep that focus no matter what you see or hear otherwise. Part of the training is to stop passing along any information that shows evidence of a world you don't want to live in. Part of the training is to stop sharing your doubts and concerns and criticisms with your friends. Ouch, huh? There goes 75% of your phone time... Rededicate Your Intent For A Happy Future

Fall Equinox falls on September 23rd, which is two days before the new moon. This is the time of year where we reap what we have sown, and we have an opportunity to rededicate ourselves to what it is we wish to bring into our lives. Make a point to sit and contemplate with friends and family your fun and hopeful futures. Don't participate in giving power and fuel to anything less. As Louise Hay reminds us, "As hopeless as any situation feels, it's really only your thoughts that you're dealing with." And you have the choice and power to change those. Enjoy our offering this month. Hari Om.