By Judith Gayle | Political Waves

WE LIVE in remarkable times, my friend. Given our heads-down, small-picture preoccupation with the details of our lives, few of us are aware of how much is changing around us and how quickly: except for the bad stuff. And there's plenty of that to go around, isn't there.

The Mother is on a rip now, giving us earthquakes and cyclones, tornados and floods, fires and extreme weather events. If that isn't enough, sinkholes the size of buildings are opening under us and the temperature shifts are creating mayhem with our comfort levels, plans and pocketbooks. San Francisco is all a' twitter as the Ring of Fire has produced a series of sharp quakes in the last weeks: talk of "the big one" is in the air. I grew up in the Bay Area, enjoying (seriously, I did and to  everyone's disapproval) a couple of earthquakes a week, and talk of "the big one" is ALWAYS in the air, or at least since the city was all but destroyed in 1906.

J.Z. Knight's Ramtha, a channel I admired in the 80's, said that those who lived on fault lines (which he called "zippers") were thrill seekers, adding that if they listened to their inner voice, they'd know when to leave an area before a major event. I must come from a long line of thrill seekers, since my family survived the '06 quake, and my grandfather, living in Anchorage, Alaska, made it through the 1964 quake and tsunami. Now I find that here in the Pea Patch, I'm plunked down over the top of a fault line called the New Madrid; one that produced the nations largest recorded quake in 1812, felt over a million square miles and causing the Mississippi River to run backwards. Towns disappeared, lakes were formed, life went on; and that would be important to note, given our current level of fear.

I see that Mt. Etna has erupted again: back in the 80s, I was the San Diego point person for The Association of Research and Enlightenment, the Cayce foundation based in Virginia Beach. I'd get phone calls at all hours from the spiritually inclined, anxious about his land change prophecies. The volcano question was usually the first they'd ask: Edgar Cayce had prophesied that the earth changes would be led by the simultaneous eruption of a handful of volcano's; Etna one of them. In Cayce's view, as he dictated readings in out-of-body trance while reviewing the Akashic Records, a pole shift would occur, man-made rather than cyclic, around the turn of the 21st century. The man that is referred to as The Sleeping Prophet, America's most respected psychic, mentioned sun spots, the Arctic, Antarctic and climate change; he also indicated a great upheaval and sinking of land mass, and the creation of new waterways.

In the 70s, seekers -- those who were prompted to look outside of the traditional religions and philosophies toward that unknown something out there -- had few choices available, and the Cayce material was one of them. Like all things we put our attention on, the need for more information grew and exploded until the 80s brought us what is called the New Age. This internal need to explore spiritual information had some interesting participants. It came as no surprise to me, for instance, that Nancy Reagan employed an astrologer during the course of Ron's political life: he was sworn in as Governor of California in 1972, a few precise minutes past midnight, causing many to scratch their heads; years later tell-all books would cause the former First Lady embarrassment. Hillary Clinton turned to a woman who pioneered the human potential movement during her troubled years in the White House, which the press took delight in calling Wackygate. I'd suppose they said the same thing about Mary Todd Lincoln's series of séances in the White House.

Media, as its called today, has always been a bit behind the public understanding, leaning toward the traditional so as not to offend; though it seems cynical to poke a stick at things outside of their accepted understanding while throwing roses at things they do, like fundamental Christianity and the resulting heartburn it's given us in the last few years. I doubt that many investigative reporters are evangelicals, so why the free ride for a religious conviction that is so extreme?

As well, I'd propose that it's no more silly to believe in channeling the spirits of the dead than awaiting Jesus to descend from the clouds like Tinkerbell riding the cable to Sleeping Beauty's Castle at Disneyland. And, while the majority of the world firmly believes in UFOs and extraterrestrials, any mention in our news cycle will be given a wink-wink and tin-foil hat reference.

It's as though media panders to the lowest common denominator of accepted intelligence: Lord, we wouldn't want to shake up the incurious and self-satisfied of our citizens, would we! Yet there are many more curious and unsatisfied among us, who explore the unseen to give relevance to the seen. It is natural that humankind wants to know how things will turn out, how they can assist the process; more, it is normal to look for meaning in our lives. During these dysfunctional and disruptive times, that seems to be the intent of many of us. We want to know why we're here: we're looking for purpose.

It seems to me that our purpose is a lot more -- and quite different -- than we think it is. While some would argue that we're in a pre-apocalyptic era; I say a good prophecy, like Cayce's, gave us plenty of warning and turned our attention toward our responsibilities to one another and to the planet. In other words, a good prophecy is a failed one. Yes, the news is dire, but nothing is as straightforward as it seems; the Death card in a Tarot reading, for instance, is almost always about change, not keeling over. The efforts of Lighworkers, those in service to the spiritual movement that will take us into a new understanding of ourselves and our presence on the planet, seems to have put off the worst of the earth changes; at least, so far. Cayce's predictions stopped being dead on in the mid-80s, and his estimate of the turn of the century bringing sudden calamity did not occur. Other mediums of prophecy, like the I AM America map, and the projections of futurist Gordon Michael Scallion have also not happened as predicted.

I'm not one of those End Times people, even though I follow the changes carefully. Yes, the polar bears are drowning, the ice caps are melting and our delusional Decider sits in the White House, pondering how little he can do and still keep the people from storming the Capital (I think THIS might be, more aptly, defined as Wackygate.) The scientists have given us any number of warnings and projections, and we're most definitely in a disruption phase that will produce enormous challenges for humankind. But we are adaptable as a species, capable and resourceful; we just have to pay attention and focus our intention to do all we can to provide for one another. I think if we don't, we will be forced to.

"For of those to whom much is given, much is required" is a quote from Luke, one repeated by John F. Kennedy in a speech that united the nation to service decades ago. When we ponder the word much, we think of the resources of the collective American nation, but that was also a challenge to each of us, no matter our circumstance. Western civilization bears a responsibility to the whole world. It has occurred to me many times to be grateful that I was born an American and not a suffering child in Sudan; to be a woman in a free nation and not one of a repressive country like Afghanistan. My mother used to urge me to clean my plate because children are starving in China. Children, it seems, are always starving somewhere. We are each better off in uncountable ways than the majority of world citizens. Yes; to whom much is given.

Because of the privilege of our birthright, we think it can't happen here; but of course, it can. The Hopi prophecies speak to a time of purging; the spiritual community talks of "burning karma." What appears to be the victimization of many who have lost their lives, or struggle to find assistance after great calamity, goads me to remember Ramtha's warning to listen to that inner voice, to know when to go: or step aside; or follow instinct and intuition, even when it seems to make no sense. There will be a Phoenix struggling to rise at some point, but that will mean ashes: the great Pluto principal, disrupting what was to make room for what will be. The degree of dissolution is what we don't know; but as we search for purpose, the very acknowledgment of the process we find ourselves in can push us forward to meet the challenges.

Neale Donald Walsch tells us that caution is not the same as fear, and observation is not the same as judgment. Some spiritual types think that discussing the end time business is negative and counterproductive; I don't. I'm one of those who thinks that ignoring the darker side of anything only creates a bogeyman in our psyche, a fear point to trip on and a denial of feelings that drives us into despair and defensiveness. It looks worrisome out there, boys and girls, and I don't blame you if you're a bit stiff-lipped and distressed.

Hey, you knew it was coming, don't try to deny it. We've all felt that inner flutter, and looked out at a world turning too fast, leaving too many behind, seemingly out of control. Humans run to pleasure and shrink from pain; that has always been so. In the last decades, that is an instinct that has been used against us by canny politicians and corporate advertisers. In our search for ease and convenience, we have allowed ourselves to get out of balance with nature. We've looked the other way while powerful interests have directed our lives and our governments and our future. What is happening at the will of the Mother is an echo of what we have allowed to happen to our civilization. Now, the only thing we can do is what we know we must do: bring the best of ourselves to the moment.

When Cayce was asked by a worried client how to deal with the challenges laid out in his reading, the Prophet said this: "To meet same? Only that each soul turns not to self alone and cry for strength, but that each soul LIVES in such a manner that there may be the awakening to the needs, the purposes, the causes for the nation coming into existence!" In another reading, he had this to say: "Unless there is, then, a more universal oneness of purpose on the part of all, this will one day bring -- here -- in America -- revolution!"

Barack Obama's call to political reform, to unity and, most of all, to hope is seen by some as sheer nonsense; but without it, we are nothing. Without hope, we can just fold our tent and slip away. Hope speaks to the awakening, the needs and the purposes Cayce references. If we began to reverse course now, perhaps a revolution would not be required. Each bit of intention we put into balancing ourselves can only help to soften that prophetic possible future we're scanning; certainly not the only one, and certainly not written in stone. Only time will tell.

End Times? I think not. More the end of one paradigm; of an old way of perceiving ourselves and the beginning of another. Relax with this earth-shaking zipper of an evolutionary shift. Taking each moment as it comes, listening for the whisper of our higher angel and following our intuition will lead us into our purpose. We will know what to do, when to move, what to say if we allow Spirit to quicken our understanding and our compassion. If we can't single-handedly rescue the world, we can give a smile, do a kindness, support a dream, create an open heart. We can give and forgive and allow others their path, even if it's not one we would choose. We can be totally here, in this moment, with the best we have to offer. That's how we'll get from here and now to wherever we're going, creating the future, coloring it with love and commitment to add light to the planet; making our mark on this moment, this hour.

Cayce, who most effectively introduced the concept of reincarnation to this nation, said we'd do well to be prepared to leave the planet at any point; that is good advice in peaceful times as well as chaotic. If we treated each moment as if it were our last, the mundane would fall away leaving the truly profound to inform and optimize our experience. Maybe that's the message of all this apocalyptic stuff, anyhow: what am I doing with this moment in my life? What am I contributing? Who am I touching? Maybe chaos allows us to cut through the crap and think big thoughts, allows us to face the primal fears of death in order to choose life. Perhaps our purpose is to do our own lives as gracefully as possible, as lovingly: as present; to add our energy to the balance, to tip the collective forward toward the coming evolution.

Only NOW counts, doesn't it? Yesterday's gone, tomorrow hasn't come; but NOW is our point of power. We can imprint each moment with higher thought, hope for the future and desire for joy. Me? I'm a child of earthquakes, of zippers and thrill seeking; I'm willing to bet that if you're reading this, you are too. So here's a thought that puts wind beneath my wings. I offer it to you brave ones that came to play in the changes, to add your light and love and pretend you don't know what to do next: life isn't about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain.