Ben's Story

My first foray into the world of NDE's (near death experiences) came through such researchers as Elizabeth Kubler-Ross and Raymond Moody as early as the 1970's. Over the years there have been many books and many researchers who have all come to the same conclusion - we survive death with our "selves" intact. We are much more than we think we are - we are immortal beings - who have forgotten who we really are in order to do and learn what it is we came here to do and learn. After all, many of us would lose our courage to continue if we knew we were actually going home when we died.

And every once in a while someone comes back to tell their story and we are reminded, in our heart of hearts, that we have nothing to worry about.

Here is one young man's story - for all of you who may not have heard about him - he passed away a short time after making this U-Tube video. A big thank you to Trish MacGregor for sending me this link:

Rest in peace, Ben.

Thank you, Hilary!

Hooked

I am currently hooked on the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. Has anyone else read this trilogy? My older daughter read them all at once over just a few days.

Soon to be a major motion picture to be released in March, I think.

See you in a few...

Happy Holidays

I'm happy to report that I will have my family home for Christmas after all. I will be able to feed them from my own kitchen. It means catering to one that is vegetarian, one that is gluten free, one that loves beef, one that loves bacon and sausage, and one that is on a diet. I'm not sure what we'll be eating, but it should be interesting.

I'll be able to play with my grandson on Christmas morning and watch all of the excitement of Santa through the eyes of a four year old. If he is anything like his mother, he'll find it hard to get to sleep on Christmas Eve.

I have much to be grateful for this year, including our goofy tree with the angel that never seems to stand upright.

Wishing all of you a happy, healthy, holiday season. May all of your wishes come true.

Crop Circle Update

Coast to Coast did an interview with Colin Andrews, the man responsible for coining the term "crop circles" some 30 years ago. Mr. Andrews was an electrical engineer that worked for the government in the UK who just happened to glance off and notice some crop circles on his way to work one day. It ended up changing the course of his life.

You could tell through the course of the interview that it was difficult for him to wrap his mind around the possible implications of what they might be early on in his investigations. Most of the engineers I know are very linear in their thinking. But, he stuck with it and as the crop circles became more and more numerous and complicated he came to some astounding conclusions.

First of all, he believes only 20% of the circles can truly be considered a mystery. But of those 20% that can be proven to be made by something we do not yet understand, he and other researchers have discovered some extremely interesting details. For instance:

• The crop formations seem to be advancing in complexity as our understanding of them increases. In other words, some of them are actually responding to focused prayer and/or mediation. It is as if they are communicating with us. He uses a personal example to prove this point. 
• One crop formation actually refers to another date on the Mayan calendar that ends in 2033.
• The designs themselves contain mathematical, astronomical, and things of a natural nature. 
• These designs may actually be coming from "a higher mind" or God. Or they could be ET in scope. 
• The date of 12/21/12 has a very rare astronomical alignment, which he discovered through a friend, (a former FBI anti-terrorist agent), who did not believe in crop circles being anything more than man made before doing a chart on this date. (Yes, this FBI agent also does astrology.) He fears there could be a nuclear incident between Iran and Israel.
• There have been some unusual encounters with ET-type beings at some crop circles - including one with a police officer and three very tall beings that seemed to float and move in tandem. The police officer has continued to have very strange events occur since this encounter - one that included his wife.

Needless to say, I was fascinated. This man seems totally believable - mostly because he questions everything. One very curious incident happened in 1977. He said he was watching the news on television when the screen seemed to stop action and an odd voice hijacked the program for several minutes. The British network ITN has never been able to totally explain what happened next, mostly because it would have been very difficult to have been able to pull this off in 1977. It was recorded with much interference but the message seems timely. (Try to get past the cheesy introduction and music and just focus on the words - very strange!)

THRIVE

Over the last couple of years this site has discussed many issues. We've looked at how our police are becoming very militaristic, how evil corporations are using our food to genetically engineer seed that cannot reproduce, how a very small percentage of the population owns more than the vast majority, how the pharmaceutical companies are drugging our babies. But it hasn't been until now that I've watched something that put it all together and into perspective.

Most of us do not want to believe in conspiracy theories. We've been taught to laugh at them, to be very suspect of anything that requires secrecy as we've come to believe that it is impossible to keep everyone quiet. But when a few hold all of the cards that the rest of us use to get our information - it can be done.

While we were in Hawaii we visited an art gallery and proceeded to get into a deep discussion with its owner. He asked us if we had seen the movie Thrive, which we had not. He proceeded to tell us that we must watch it - that it was a movement and that most of his friends had not only watched the movie, but were actively using the website.

Well, I finally watched it today and I can honestly say it is very well done. I can see why most of the reviewers on Amazon gave it 5 stars. Not only does it link all the dots about how we've come to find our world in the place it is in, but gives solutions about how to get out of the seemingly impossible quicksand that we've found ourselves.

Our future depends on us waking up and seeing the world for what it is, but more importantly for what it could be. As Einstein reminds us - "we can't solve problems using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."

This movie at least starts the conversation. You can rent it for $5 for 48 hours directly to your computer, or order the DVD from the Thrive site or Amazon.com. It comes in many languages - this is a world-wide phenomenon.

Bad Mercury Retro

My friend, Trish MacGregor, has a website that is dedicated to the Omarr series of astrology books - which she writes. This last month has been a Mercury Retro, when Mercury appears to go backwards. She talks about what that means here.

Now, let me talk about what that has meant to me. Last year when we took our vacation to Hawaii we had our whole family there to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. A few days into the vacation, just as all the family was arriving - I got really sick. Seriously sick. I spent most of the vacation in bed as my family enjoyed island life. Mercury was retro for that trip.

This year, same thing. We arrived on Maui on the 16th and by Thanksgiving, I was in Urgent Care. Same illness - serious chest cold. Mercury went retro on the 23rd of November, one day before Thanksgiving. My husband ended up working the entire two weeks. Every day. If not for the view - we could have been at home.

Only this time, I have been sick for a month! The medications did absolutely nothing to hinder the progression of this illness. It steadily got worse. Until today. First day that Mercury went direct - and first day I woke up without coughing. Not much of a voice, but well enough, considering. Trish was right - as soon as Merc went direct, I would start feeling better. (Thanks DJan for the Throat Coat idea.)

But that's not all.

We lost Lilly on November 30th.

My daughter was diagnosed with walking pneumonia. My grandson with pneumonia.

To top it off, my mother-in-law fell and broke her hip last night. (The last day of the retro.) She will be 99 on the 18th. I don't have to spell out the gravity of this event. She either stays bedridden and in pain for the rest of her life - or they attempt a hip replacement. The latter is what she chose to do last night.

So the beautiful Christmas I've been planning all year will probably be different. The party for the 23rd has already been canceled, and we are thinking of driving to Portland to be near his mother for the holiday. The kids won't be skiing, and I won't be cooking wonderful meals in my kitchen with Christmas music and all of my beautiful decorations out of their boxes for the first time in several years. But that's the way things go sometimes. I have my health returning, and my family will be near me. Good enough.

You can bet on one thing - I will never take my vacation during a Mercury Retro again!

Wake Up Interview

For all of you that watched the movie Wake Up, and might like to hear more about the documentary, Coast to Coast interviewed both Jonas and Steve Hutinksky on December 1st.

The interview was quite interesting as it's been awhile since the documentary was released. Oprah will be showing the film on her network, OWN, as well.

Here is the trailer to the movie if you don't know what I'm talking about:

The Militarization of our Police

I have been very upset with the escalating violence with which our police are using on its citizens. Have any of you noticed that it appears more and more swat teams are being utilized for what used to be routine police business? That there seems to be an inordinate amount of brute force being used against ordinary citizens that are hardly a threat?

The Department of Education has its own swat team! In fact it raided a home in the middle of the night, rousing a man and his three daughters from bed at gun point because his ex-wife defaulted on student loans. The Department of Education said it was because of embezzlement and fraud. Embezzlement and fraud requires a swat team to terrorize a family in the middle of the night? The fact that his ex-wife hadn't lived there for over a year seemed to matter not.

A grandfather being thrown to the ground and knocked out in front of his grandson for allegedly stealing a video game? He denies stealing the game and said he merely stuck it in the band of his pants while grabbing his grandson to get him out of a Black Friday melee. He wasn't even followed to see if he was trying to leave the store with the item. I can't tell you how many times I've stuck something in my purse, or coat pocket while running after a toddler, only to take it out and pay for it at the check stand. Breaking this man's nose?

And then watching Anthony Bologna of NYPD pepper spray women who were defenseless and penned in by police tape. Or watching a peaceful group of college protesters get pepper sprayed for having a sit-in. Isn't that what our country is all about? Peaceful protest? Isn't that what separates us from all of those countries that are not free to do so??

Something is going on here. Something is not right.

Then we have the routinely used taser. Pregnant women have been tasered, children as young as six, the elderly, an out of control ten year old! People have been tasered at routine traffic stops, or for noncompliance with an officer. I guess if you have the audacity to ask any questions, you can be tasered. A 61-year old man was tasered and killed in North Carolina for not stopping on his bicycle. He had done nothing illegal. His wife said he probably didn't hear the command as he was hard of hearing.

Then there is the increasingly militaristic look to the police uniform. You routinely see the domestic cop dressed in camouflage, or a battle dress uniform, or full-on armour, toting an assault weapon for summits and protests. They drive tanks and military command centers. Then we have the law that is now before Congress that would allow the government to hold American citizens indefinitely, without a trial, if the government can accuse them of terrorism.

This is starting to feel very fascist.

Rest in Peace, Sweet Lilly

Our little Lilly passed away on Tuesday after a long fight to get better. I first posted about her here, and then here, and lastly here.

The angels are happy to have her home.