This word has come up over and over again the past year. It is interesting how we (the collective we) used to believe the news, or at least our parent’s generation did – if they were privileged enough to not have had the illusion of safety and trust broken. People of color have always had to de-code and discern truth from plausible fiction. I’m seeing grown adults in my community, even ones with strong meditation practices and a good sense of their own intuitive knowing get caught up in conspiracies and languaging around freedom and sovereignty that is interesting to me. I’m observing the real need for discernment during this chaotic and confusing time.
The lack of believable structures and the disappearance of old paradigms is leaving many to rely on a skill they haven’t had to rely on as heavily before or maybe it’s more of a capacity than a skill. Many are ready to rebel against what is left of the old system. That system is fading, trying to rebel now is like a teenager rebelling against 99-year-old aging grandparents – they’re not long for this world and the battle isn’t necessary. I’d rather go with the flow, work within the fading system, crawl through the labyrinth of break down and emerge out from under the rubble of crumbling structures to freedom.
Regardless of our previous level of privilege or trust in the communities, news outlets and systems we used to rely on – we each now must discern for ourselves what is true. What is in alignment with our deep knowing and intuition. We must listen to the whispers in our feeling. Does it feel too good to be true, too bad to be true, too convenient to be true? What is the source, who is the messenger? Why do I want to believe it? Does it illicit fear in me? Does it illicit a reaction? Can I lean into the possibility that it’s not right, not true or mis-aligned with my own integrity? Can I go along with it until I know more? A friend said to me recently, that she welcomes all opportunities to exercise her capacity for discernment. I get that. It is a much needed skill right now. We all could use a regular discernment work out. And opportunity is all around us.
Exploring the question of, why do I want to believe it or why do I distrust it- is a good way to start peeling back the layers toward discernment. Our egos sometimes need to believe or trust in order to feel safe. In order to feel justified in taking certain actions. In order to feel justified in our feelings of being afraid or our feeling of wanting to react. When in fact, maybe we need to check our fear and tackle that head on, rather than becoming indignant about the latest challenge to our sovereignty. Sure, we’re not going to stand idly by and allow the authorities to shackle us to a stake while they set fire to the pyre laid at our feet. We’ve done that before. Four lifetimes ago in the 16th century – I was burned at the stake for being a witch. And if you don’t have that past life awareness, I assure you – you either also were, or knew someone who was, were forced to watch, to participate in the intention, joined the throng of thousands who came out to watch the spectacle or heard about it afterwards. Or you carry the trauma in your DNA from past generations who experienced that level of restriction and loss of freedom and life. Because that sort of atrocity was widespread in the European culture not that long ago in a soul’s life. And if your lineage isn’t European – you have your own different but similar past life trauma, known or not of a lack of freedom, maybe even more recently. And yet, fighting the executioner rarely if ever wins victory from the fate of the soon to be executed. Best not to be labeled a witch in the first place. Best to remove yourself from the marketplace where one might identify you as a witch. See what I’m saying? Don’t put a neon sign on your head that flashes – I’m against you. Discern when the time is right to move, to engage your cloak of invisibility, to keep your head down. Take the narrow path through the woods. Don’t join the ill-informed and mis-guided rebellion without a leader, into the Capital where you’ll surely be taken into custody and tried as an extremist. Those folks lacked a certain amount of discernment and many of them came from a place of privilege that left them deficit of the skill that is now very necessary. It’s the meek who will inherit the earth. Not the snobby. Not the privileged. Not the soap box warriors. The meek.
Discernment, taking the high road, walking the narrow path – these are the metaphors for the way forward through this great tribulation we find ourselves in. We are walking through the pestilence, the pandemic, the breaking down of the structures of the old paradigm. In biblical revelation, it’s the fall of Babylon the Great – and we’re in it. We’re not out of the woods just yet. The pandemic is raging on all around us but with a light at the end of the tunnel. For some that is a vaccine for others it’s the awareness that the new variants will be weaker and provide greater immunity to the stronger variants.
Yesterday with the conviction of Ghislain Maxwell I sensed a biblical moment, “the judgement of the great Harlot”, the one with many passports who the politicians of the earth committed acts of great immorality with and got drunk on the misogyny of the old paradigm. As we continue to stealthily make our way on the narrow path, we must keep paying attention, slaying the dragons who cross our way when necessary. I’ll keep voting in the old system, even as it falls apart and I begin to envision the new way. Voting in a way that throws my hands up over my head to prevent a tower from falling on me in an earthquake but not in a way that believes the tower is in any way salvageable.
And we have another year, or two of tribulation ahead of us – if were following biblical prophecy were on day 660 out of 1260. That leaves us with 21 more months of tribulation by my calculation. The pandemic alone is not enough to crush the old system. There will be something else. Another challenge to the old ways. Perhaps a great cataclysm or earthquake or maybe the metaphorical shaking out of the old paradigm that is like an earthquake. It’s a numerological 6 year and that aligns with nature. Mother Earth has a lot on her mind to speak. And when she speaks – we will notice.
As the old ways continue to dissipate – latch onto to the new way that is forming. Discern the safe places, the new footings, seek company with the meek, the opportunities to live in alignment and integrity. Don’t be like Lot’s wife and look back with regret for the end of the old ways. Only look forward. Only discern your next step. Don’t get distracted, caught up in the fear of others or your own ego. Just get out of Dodge, so to speak. Find the way to the new earth, the new paradigm. Find your own truth and alignment. Find the intentional community based on love and integrity. Integrity might be our next word of the day.
Anyone living out of integrity, making decisions based on greed or fear – will not have an easy time. Maybe already has not had an easy time. It’s time to shift. Time to discern. Time to heal. Time to walk into the new paradigm. Time to join the intentional communities of the future. Observe the sinking of the ship and discern that the lifeboat is available now. Don’t get caught up in bailing out the water as the ship floods.
Quietly go about your business, putting on your life vests, stocking emergency beacons and paddles into your lifeboat, gathering your friends and stepping into a smaller, simpler way forward away from the lights of the ship and into a vast darkness in silent reverence for the moment. Don’t yell at the captain of the sinking ship or protest that there is water flooding your cabin – that’s not your life anymore. There is a new paradigm. One that aligns with freedom in a way that may not be obvious without discernment. Heaven on earth is here, we just have to discern it.
October 14, 2023 is a new moon in Taurus approximately 1260 days from the beginning of the pandemic. If John’s vision in Revelation is correct and if these are the last days of an old paradigm that literally lasts 1260 days – that new moon will mark the beginning of a new paradigm, a new earth. It is not lost on me that will be one month before we are set to vote in a new president in the United States and somehow I believe the world will be completely different when we get there.