Blogs

I'm not sure what the difference is between discussions and blogs, so this may appear in the wrong place.

 I looked through the 56 groups and can't derive which groups are teaching groups

2012 ~ What Do You Mean The 3rd Dimension Is Going Away?

By Jim Self

Posted December 9, 2011

As 2012 approaches there is an increasing urgency to this message because
we're all, literally, running out of time to play in the third dimension.

In simple terms, the habit of thinking and feeling and behaving that we know
of as the third dimension is going away. Everyone is shifting into a fourth
dimensional consciousness and experience, and then into a fifth dimensional
consciousness and experience.

However, most people on the planet are not prepared for this Shift. But it
is happening nonetheless, and for those who are unaware of what's going on
it will not be an easy or comfortable experience.

Yet this can be a wonderful, enjoyable time as well. With some basic
information about what the Shift is, and what "dimensions" are, and with
simple tools to help manage our thoughts and feelings, everyone has the
ability to evolve their consciousness and move gracefully and joyfully into
these higher vibrational realms.

If you don't know what dimensions are, you are not alone. Most people
playing the game of life as we know it in the third dimension are playing
without a "rule book" that would explain what the game really is and how one
can play it successfully.

This article provides these basic, missing rules. It explains what the
third, fourth, and fifth dimensions are, and why they are the most important
consideration of your life right now.

If you can understand the structure and play of these dimensions, you can
begin to move fluidly through the unprecedented changes of this Shift
without fear, without effort, without the tension and anxiety that is, for
the most part, the daily habit of our lives.

So, first of all, let me define what dimensions are not.

Dimensions are not places or locations, and they are not a linear
progression - 3, 4, 5, 6 - stacked up like pancakes. And the 3rd dimension,
or the 4th dimension, is not the chair you're sitting in, or the walls that
surround you, or even the Earth itself. That is form, which exists
predominantly in the 3rd and 4th dimensions, and which will still be very
much part of the play in the 4th dimension when the 3rd dimension is no
longer an option.

In general, dimensions are states of consciousness available to anyone who
vibrates in resonance with the specific frequencies and opportunities
available within each dimension.

In a way, you could think of each dimension as a different game with a
different set of rules as to what is possible and not possible for the
beings that choose to play and create there.

So what is the 3rd Dimension?

The third dimension (3D) is a box of rigid beliefs, more or less, with a
relatively inflexible set of rules and limitations. Most of us have been
playing this game for lifetimes, so we tend to think it is the only game
available to us. But nothing could be further from the truth. One of the
rigid 3D beliefs that structure our lives - our thinking and feeling and
actions - is linear time.

Linear time is an optional belief and structure that let's us "live" an
experience of past and a future... and then we die. Because this belief is
the default assumption of mass 3D consciousness, and events seem to validate
the belief, most of us think and act as if it's true.

But now we are all waking up from the illusion of this ubiquitous belief.
And as you become more conscious, you realize that time in 3D is actually a
time loop. What you experience in "the past" is pretty much what you put
your attention on now, and you project that reality into "the future," and
therefore you experience it over and over again.

So the structure of time is quite specific (and limiting) in the 3rd
dimension, but your experience of time is quite different (and empowering)
as you move into higher dimensions.

Everything in a 3D consciousness is also very conditional. The concept of,
for example, 'unconditional love,' does not exist in the 3rd dimension. If
you experience 'unconditional love' or 'unconditional peace' you have
actually moved into a fourth dimensional (4D) consciousness.

You see, in the earth experience now, we have access to both 3rd and 4th
dimensional consciousness, but most of us rarely step out of the
well-grooved habits of 3D thinking and feeling.

The 3rd dimension also offers no possibility of choice. We don't choose our
thoughts, feelings, and actions in every moment (that's a skill of 4D and
5D), instead we react from unconscious beliefs and training to the people
and situations that pop up in our space.

Duality provides another rigid structure for 3D experience. Up/down.
Left/right. Should/shouldn't. Since the fall of Atlantis 12,500 years ago,
we have become very fearful as a way of life, and in that fear we have
learned to narrowly define good and bad, right and wrong, etc. Unconscious
judgment permeates 3D thinking.

Moreover, we perceive our 3D experience predominantly with the left
hemisphere of the brain, home of the rational mind, and so we use only about
5 to 10 percent of the brain's capacity to play the 3D game. Most of us
suspect the rest of our brain must do something but have no idea what it
actually does and how it functions.

In fact, what the rest of the brain enables us to do is function in the
higher 4th and 5th dimensions, and beyond.

We already have the potential, all the necessary equipment and wiring, right
now, to be fully conscious in all these dimensions. But our habits of
thinking and feeling, grooved over many lifetimes, dumbs= us down and limit
us to 3D experience. Our left-brain, rational mind only knows what it
knows, and doesn't know what it doesn't know, and it works tirelessly to
keep us within a thin range of objective 3D thinking and possibilities. And
we, for the most part, have gone along for the ride. But no longer.

The increasing light energies and frequencies of the Shift are rewiring our
brains to allow us access to a much wider range of information and
possibility than is available in the 3rd dimension. These light energies
are preparing us for 4D and 5D experience, even as they are clearing the
rigid 3D "rules" from our consciousness.

So what is the 4th Dimension?

The "rules" of 4th dimensional consciousness provide an enhanced sense of
ease, possibility, and capability than the structures of the 3rd dimension.

Time in 4D, for example, is always present time. The focus is only ever this
moment, what is happening right now. Our bodies already know only this
present time; they can't know 'yesterday' or 'tomorrow,' and as conscious
beings in our natural alignment in the higher 4th dimension, we function
absolutely in this "Now" of present time awareness and attention. When our
attention point becomes present time awareness, choice becomes possible
again. We can observe any and all events with a sense of detachment, merely
as information to consider, and from that still, uncluttered platform we are
then, and only then, free to choose our response. In the higher 4th
dimension we become response-able.

A concept and possibility known as paradox also becomes available in the
present time of 4D consciousness. Paradox simply means that what was true
just a moment ago may not be true right now. And what was false a moment ago
may no longer be false. Instead of applying rigid, pre-existing definitions
to any experience, we choose our preferred version and vibration in every
moment.

So as we move into 4D consciousness in present time, with the power of
choice and response-ability, and the flexibility of paradox, the ability to
alter the game to enhance our happiness and wellbeing becomes available.

Interestingly, 4D consciousness will not be a long-term option after the
Shift clears away the rigid structures of 3D consciousness.

The 4th dimension is serving as an essential, but short-lived, stepping
stone or vibrational platform from which we will all move into 5th
dimensional consciousness. 5D is the target for Earth and all her
inhabitants. The archangels have said the entire consciousness of Earth will
be a fifth dimensional consciousness by the year 2015.

But although the 5th dimension is the target, the experience of the 4th
dimension is essential. We cannot enter 5D directly from 4D. All mental and
emotional baggage from the 3rd dimension must be left at the door to the 4th
dimension, and we can only enter the 5th dimension after we have become
masterful of our thoughts and feelings in the 4th dimension.

Some assembly is required.

So what is the 5th Dimension?

The 5th dimension operates, to a great extent, in a completely differently
fashion from the 3rd and 4th dimensions.

Time in 5D is instantaneous time, meaning that everything (all
possibilities) occurs in the same place at the same moment. In 5D, you focus
your attention and the answer or experience is given to you exactly when and
where you focus.

Ask and you shall receive.

In 5D, you don't have to move or go anywhere for your answers or
experiences; everything comes to you easily and effortlessly based upon the
attention point and vibration you choose to hold in every moment.

When you are vibrating in 5D consciousness, you don't create with form as
you do in the 3rd and 4th dimensions, you create with light and light
patterns and light frequencies. You apply sound and color and geometric
shapes. You consciously interact with the Creator and all the Beings of
Light.

In this heightened consciousness, the rational mind plays a very minimal
role. It returns to a small, specific focus it was intended to have, namely
the wellbeing of the physical body.

But before we can move into our vibrational home that is 5D consciousness,
we must first become masterful of the vibrations and possibilities of 4D
consciousness. This is the focus of the Shift for most people as we head
into the ever-accelerating events of 2012.

So how do you become masterful in 4D consciousness?

The Tools of 4D Present Time

As I mentioned, 4D is the 'right now' of 'present time.' But present time
actually has four different levels.

In 2010, we all stepped into the third level. As we move 2012, we will step
into the fourth, and final, level. In that level, when you think, 'I would
like an apple,' the apple is going to appear in your hand. Usually when I
say that people get very excited. And it is exciting. However . there is a
however.

The vast majority of people on this planet are not prepared to be the
masters of their every thought, feeling, and action in every moment. But
there's no option. It's a required, baseline skill of higher 4D and 5D
consciousness.

One of the reasons the 3rd dimension was created was to provide a
"playground" in which we each can practice and hone the vibration of our
thoughts and feelings. To accomplish this, the 3D playground has a time
buffer. Instead of 'instant manifestation' there is a time lag between the
thought we think and the manifestation or experience of that thought. For
the most part, we are very sloppy with this buffer.

Instead of focusing on what we want, and allowing this to unfold over time,
we spew anger, frustration, boredom, worry, anxiety, blame, guilt, fear -
all kinds of lower, disharmonic thoughts and feelings. We behave as if we
can think and feel anything with impunity because we do not see the
instantaneous results of our thinking.

But no longer. As 3D linear time is collapsing into a single point of
present time, the time buffer is collapsing too. We have less opportunity to
practice being aware of our mental and emotional habits before what we think
is what we get. This is a very big deal.

Fortunately, some simple energy tools can help you manage your thoughts and
emotions in every moment so that you can be prepared for the unprecedented
opportunity and challenge of living and creating in present time in the
higher dimensions.

These basic energy tools are available for free on our website
www.masteringalchemy=""> www.masteringalchemy .com but let me explain
a few of them here by way of example.

Allow the Shift to clear your unconscious thoughts & feelings

In simple terms, the Shift is using one wave of light frequencies to clear
away who we are not, and another wave to remind us who we are. The Shift
knows where we've stored unwanted, unconscious habits of thought and
reactionary emotion, and the light is clearing all this from our vibration.

However, as these lesser thoughts and feelings are cleared, they will come
into our awareness, and magnetize people and circumstances to us that mirror
these chaotic energies. How do you handle these often-powerful energies when
they appear. You allow them. If you can simply observe them with a sense of
detachment as they come up - knowing that they are just coming up to be
cleared - they will clear quickly, and you won't even remember what the fuss
was all about.

But if you grab hold and engage these chaotic thoughts and feelings, if you
insist on feeling guilty or worrying, if you continue to argue that 'I am
not OK' or 'They are not OK,' these energies will not be cleared from your
space - and the Shift, as it accelerates ever faster, will become a very
bumpy, very 'not OK' road for you.

Remember most often what comes up is not even yours; it does not belong to
you. Acknowledge it and know that it's coming up to be cleared. forever.
Take a couple of deep breaths, go for a walk, listen to music -- but turn
your attention point to something of a higher vibration.

Understanding the Lower and Higher 4th Dimension

To simplify another important aspect of the Shift, let's imagine that the
4th dimension has just two parts to it - a lower 4th dimension and a higher
4th dimension. (This is not technically true, but it's a useful
distinction.)

As I mentioned, form will remain when 3D disappears. We'll still experience
houses and cars and trees. But fear, judgments, blame and guilt, the rights
and the wrongs, will disappear. All this dense emotional energy, which is
the only thing that prevents us from playing in the higher dimensions right
now, will simply be cleared from our space.

However, depending upon the vibration of the thoughts you are thinking as 3D
disappears, you will find yourself in either the lower 4th dimension or the
higher 4th dimension.

The lower 4th dimension, which is also called the astral plane or dream
space, holds all the thoughts ever thought by anyone in the 3rd dimension.

You see, thoughts don't just disappear after we think them. They live on in
the lower 4th dimension, with specific weight, texture, density and
emotional charge. And they bond and cluster with all the other thoughts of
similar character.

Some thoughts - such as rape, domination, slavery, war, hatred - feel heavy,
dense and dark. Conversely, thoughts such as 'butterflies,' 'children
playing in the park,' and 'flowers blooming on a warm spring day' feel light
and have a simple, airy vibration. Lighter thoughts like these rarely
linger in a 3D consciousness. Because in order to align and feel the
vibration of, for example, 'beauty,' we must step out of 3D consciousness
into present time, a higher 4th dimensional space.

Wait, you say, I know 'Beauty!' You do, because we're now living in both the
third and fourth dimensions simultaneously, but how often do you align
yourself with, and linger on, the feeling of beauty?

It's a 4D, present-time skill to take thoughts like 'light,' 'airy' and
'beauty' to heart. These vibrations don't even exist in the hurry up,
past/future of the 3rd dimension where it's very difficult to pause in
present time and smell a flower.

But, on the other hand, have you noticed that heavy, uncomfortable thoughts
such as 'I'm not good enough.' or 'They don't like me.' or 'I'm never going
to succeed.' tend to linger quite a bit longer in 3D consciousness? This is
because thoughts are electric and emotions are magnetic. A set of light,
airy vibrations like 'beauty' or 'graciousness' has a low, soft, electrical
charge that is expansive and fluid. Whereas heavier, uglier thoughts come
highly charged and wrapped in highly magnetic emotions. These thoughts are
not only harder to clear than kind, loving thoughts; they also bond
magnetically to all other thoughts like them in the lower 4th dimension.

So much of the magnetic field we walk around in - I'm not OK, You're not OK
- has very little to do with who we really are. It's just the magnetism of
one heavy, unconscious thought attaching itself to the magnetism of similar
heavy, unconscious thoughts.

You begin to see why it's vital to become conscious of the thoughts you
think and the emotions you throw into your vibrational mix.

Fortunately, the second wave of the Shift is making this easier and easier.
As we let go of the heavier energies of Who We Are Not, the light is
rewiring us, stepping us up into a higher 4th dimensional vibration where
lesser thoughts and emotions are not such a distraction in our general
experience.

We start to live in alignment with the heart, and experience the vibrations
and consequences of concepts such as 'I like me,' 'I'm happy,' 'I'm pleased
with myself.'

The alignment with the heart becomes natural because it already is our
natural alignment in the higher fourth, fifth and sixth dimensions.

However, some assembly is required.

Any limitations, judgments, denials, blame, guilt, or resentments that we
each still argue for, in one way or the other, become like weights on a hot
air balloon. They limit how far we can rise within the fourth dimensional
range of vibration.

Each of us is 100 percent in charge of the process. The more weight -
lower-vibrational patterns of words, thoughts, and emotions - we remove, the
higher we rise into the expansive experience of the higher 4th dimension.
Here, it is as if we look past the boundaries and limitations, which were
always just a habit of observation in 3D. It's a wider view, a calmer view,
and a quieter view. In the upper 4th dimension, you can choose fear or
worry, and drop into the lower 4th dimension. but you won't.

As you begin to align with the heart, very naturally - 'I Like Me' - you're
going to find there's no reason or compulsion to choose an uncomfortable
attention point in the lower 4th dimension. It comes naturally and readily
because it is the language and vibration of you're natural well being - if
you let it, and if you focus upon it.

It's a choice.

As the shift accelerates and time collapses and everything is in the present
moment, you could still choose your thoughts and feelings unconsciously, out
of 3rd dimensional habit, and you would have the opportunity to live that
discomfort immediately and fully in your experience.

Or you can choose your thought and emotion in every moment, with focus and
awareness, and live the fullness of that experience.

In other words, it's to your benefit to practice and integrate the ability
to choose the contents of your consciousness right now, before it really
counts - and that moment is not very far away.

It's all up to you.

Until now, the center of your head, the place from where you can choose your
thoughts and attention point, has been pre-occupied by the thoughts of
others. Your Mom-Dad-Teacher-Minister loved you and had an opinion about the
best way for you to live your life, and as their thoughts moved in to your
head, "You" moved out.

Now it is time to take back ownership of the center of your head. As you
recognize and let go of the unnatural thoughts that say, 'Oh, I can't do
this' and 'I can't do that' and 'I must do this,' you're going to find that
soon all those thoughts, with their sticky interlocking connections in the
lower 4th dimension, disappear.

Just putting your attention in present time on 'beauty' and 'well-being', or
just being 'happy' in a state of 'ease', eliminates the lesser vibrations
stored within the lower astral fields of the 4th dimension.

Start by playing with the vibration of what I call Living Words. The
Archangels very deliberately and precisely selected these words - words such
as Certain, Capable, Commanding, Present, Senior, Graciousness and Happy -
so that you can most easily clear all the unconscious vibrations from your
space.

Choose one word each day and live with it all day, think it and feel it
often.

If you practice thinking and feeling these vibrations now, when it doesn't
absolutely count, they will become your habit when it does count.

You begin to gracefully realign with the fullness of "You," and your natural
state of wellbeing lifts you into the higher 4th dimension.

Easy? Kind of.

Simple? Yes.

Does it require awareness and a choice from a present time space?
Absolutely.

Can you sit on the sidelines and hope it all turns out? No.

Increased levels of electromagnetic light from the higher dimensions are now
flowing within all of us. Many people in the 3rd dimension cannot handle
this surge, and they are choosing to step out of their bodies.

And many, many more will follow as the Shift accelerates

You see, everyone is going home to the 4th and then 5th dimensions, but not
everyone is going home on the same timeline, and with the same ease and
grace.

How do you choose?

Blessings

Jim Self is an author, international speaker, and teacher of the Tools for
Mastering Alchemy. This work is in co-creation with Archangels, Ascended
Masters and Teachers of Light. Free DVD and Free Tele-Classes. Jim is
presenting Free in-person classes and the weekend seminar, Creating the
Personal Power Field around North America.
www.masteringalchemy.com=""> www.MasteringAlchemy.comor 775-851-8950 ~
Copyright: You may share this article with your friends as long it is kept
whole and our website is included. Thank you.

Dear Friends,
As per the guidance and instructions received from my Guru Maha Avatar Baba Ji
and the divine mother Adi Shakti last night,WEF 1st January 2012 all
transmissions(Past,Present and Future) (Except some special closed ones)made by
me would be freely available to any one who wants it throughout my life time (as
the energy is drawn through me as a conduit).
There will be no restriction on number of times they can be taken,just observe
the normal precautions while taking any energy.

Just say "I am ready to receive the XYZ Energy Transmission sent by Aditya"and
the energy starts.

I need the next fortnight for intense meditation/special rituals to increase my
energy Threshold to be able to handle this additional energy load.

May Babaji and and the Divine Mother give me strength to carry out their
command.

Love and Blessings.
Aditya

As the cold sweeps across the hairs on my pimpled skin,

The voices of angels, singing Alleljua,

Surge the chill and magick, to pierce my flesh

And tremble my cells into sacred movement.

So begins the inner dance, before the Alpha Omega Healing...

~ Maria (Savita)

(Alleljua by Vox)

 ~*~   Dear friends, this is an excerpt from "The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching" by Thich Nhat Hanh  ~*~

                                                                 ~~~~~  o O o  ~~~~~

    In this excerpt, Hanh is referring to not only food we eat that is ingested, but also our environment

    and all of the energies associated with outside circumstances that we encounter throughout our day.

    For the serious spiritual seeker, using 'mindfulness' is a valuable tool in being aware of what we are

    allowing our senses to absorb.

                                                         ~~~~~~~~  o  O  o  ~~~~~~~

    "Movies are food for our eyes, ears and minds.  When we watch TV, the program is our food.  Children

     who spend five hours a day watching television are ingesting images that water the negative seeds

     of craving, fear, anger, and violence in them.  We are exposed to so many forms, colors, sounds,

     smells, tastes, objects of touch, and ideas that are toxic and rob our body and consciousness of their

     well-being.  When you feel despair, fear, or depression, it may be because you have ingested too many

     toxins through your sense impressions.         Not only children need to be protected from violent and

     unwholesome films, TV programs, books, magazines, and games.   We, too, can be destroyed by these

     media.

     "If we are mindful, we will know whether we are "ingesting" the toxins of fear, hatred, and violence, or

     eating 'food' that encourage understanding, compassion, and the determination to help others.

     With the practice of mindfulness, we will know that hearing this, looking at this, or touching that,

     we feel anxious, sad or depressed.   As a result, we will know what to be in contact with and what to

     avoid.        Our skin protects us from bacteria.        Antibodies protect us from internal invaders.

     We have to use the equivalent aspects of our consciousness to protect us from unwholesome sense

     objects that can poison us.

    "The Buddha offered this drastic image:  'There is a cow with such a terrible skin disease that her skin

     is almost no longer there.  When you bring her close to an ancient wall or old tree, all the living creatures

     in the bark of the tree come out, cling to the cow's body, and suck.  When we bring her into the water,

     the same thing happens.  Even when she is just exposed to the air, tiny insects come and suck.'

     Then the Buddha said, 'This is our situation, also.'

    "We are exposed to invasions of all kinds  -  images, sounds, smells, touch, ideas  -  and many of these

     feed the craving, violence, fear, and despair in us.  The Buddha advised us to post a sentinel, namely

     mindfulness, at each of our sense doors to protect ourselves.     Use your Buddha eyes to look at each

     nutriment you are about to ingest.  If you see that it is toxic, refuse to look at it, listen to it, taste it,

    or touch it.   Ingest only what you are certain is safe. "                    ~  Thich Nhat Hanh

      Shared with Loving Intent  ~  Mary.         

Recently, I related how a senior member of the spiritual hierarchy – a global spirit who functions as the Lord Protector of The Shift – took me under his wing to act as a messenger for urgent spiritual information.

Under his guidance, I have learned about a principle called the 2012 Gateway Trajectory. This states that the pattern of consciousness that you have on December 21st, 2012 will influence your trajectory through experience for many thousands of years into the future.

The 2012 gateway is rather like a vortex. You enter it from one side, pass through the eye of the vortex where your pattern of consciousness is stamped or fixed within your aura, then you exit the vortex into a whole new set of multi-millennia cosmic cycles bearing that pattern.

Last week, I talked about how your challenges in life are not all that they seem. As a spiritual seeker, you are a lightworker and therefore a leading thinker in the advancement of consciousness. You may have adopted one or more challenges to work through in this life so that you could create a pattern in the mind belt to make it easier for others to follow and heal their own lives.

You’ve borne those challenges, not so much because you need the experience, but because other people need pioneers to resolve the issues that are important today. The more the pioneers succeed in resolving their issues, the easier it becomes for the rest to follow.

The point of knowing this is so that you may resolve whatever challenges still face you before December 21st, 2012. As you head towards the 2012 gateway, it’s time to take inventory and see where you stand on matters of unfinished business.

Whatever gives you discomfort – even so much as a nagging doubt that all is not right – now is the time to address those issues. Anything that gives you a feeling of being out of harmonious alignment of mind, body and soul should be addressed and resolved.

Remember, you’re not the challenge that you are facing. You adopted it as something to master in order to make the way easier for others to follow the pattern you set in the mind belt. The average lightworker has already mastered those challenges in previous lives. They took the same challenges upon themselves in these critical days because they knew they could rise above and resolve those challenges in time to help set a pattern for others to follow and set themselves free.

As I said last week, if you are currently working through a major life challenge and feel as though you’re going round in circles and getting nowhere, stop and look for the gift in that challenge. The gift is that, by loving yourself and others more, you can rise above the challenge and become more of who you really are. Then, the experience changes from one of challenge to one of self-empowerment.

The solution to a challenge in the material world is typically not to be found in the material world at the level of the problem. The answer is found when you rise above that frequency and gain from the resources of the higher aspects of your mind. Fear-based challenges, for example, are always resolved by connecting with the strength and security of your inner being.

Real strength does not lie anywhere in the outside world. It lies within you. Once you find that inner power, you rise above any limitation and stand as a self-realized way-shower in a world desperate for spiritual freedom.

We can look forward to December 21st, 2012 as the gateway that marks the close of many cosmic cycles and the end of the old way of doing things on Planet Earth.

The 2012 gateway is the beginning of a whole world full of opportunities. Positive action will come very easily when all the cycles begin anew and are running in their constructive, ascending mode.

Most of all, decide before then to make Spiritual Growth your number one priority and you will harvest an ever-increasing joy in the years ahead.

Make the 2012 gateway everything you want it to be. Make it a beautiful event opening into a wonderful future filled with joy and enlightenment!

Courtesy of Owen Waters, www.InfiniteBeing.com

                                                        ~*~  Thich Nhat Hanh   ~*~

                          It is true that the Buddha taught the truth of suffering, but he also taught the

                          truth of "dwelling happily in things as they are" (drishta dharma sukha viharin).

                          To succeed in the practice, we must stop trying to prove that everything is suffering.

                          In fact, we must stop trying to prove anything.  If we touch the truth of suffering with

                          our mindfulness, we will be able to recognize and identify our specific suffering,

                          its specific causes, and the way to remove those causes and end our suffering.

           Reference: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy and Liberation

                                  by   Thich Nhat Hanh   ~    Namaste   ~

                                                        ~*~      GIVING    THANKS      ~*~

     ~*~     We live, for the most part, lives dominated by self-created routine and unskilful obligation.

    It is when we come upon moments of thankfulness that we become truly alive.   Thankfulness is an

    immensely powerful skillful thought energy and this is why it is good to give thanks every day.

    ~*~     In giving thanks daily, we start to connect to the underlying forces of abundance.  Give thanks

    not just for what you have, but also for what you do not have.    Give thanks for all the good and the 

    bad, the positive and the negative in your life. Give thanks, also, that you are free from the problems

    that others have.    In this way you keep yourself free of these problems and you also lessen the 

    misfortunes of others.

    ~*~     To give thanks is to open your heart.      To open your heart is to experience what others

    experience.   To experience what others experience is the first step in developing compassionate

    thought energy that can help others to be free of suffering and bring them happiness, wisdom,

    and the power to create prosperity.   Giving thanks teaches each of us the special responsibility 

    that we have to use our personal and global resources wisely.        

    ~*~     Giving thanks heals the pain of the bad things and creates new opportunities for growth.

    It also secures and increases the power of the good things in every area of your life.   Giving

    thanks brings peace, beauty and understanding to the skillful thought energy that lies behind

    all prosperity.     Above all, give thanks for yourself  -  for who you are, have been and shall be

    in the future.       ~*~

      Reference:  

     The Tibetan Art of Positive Thinking

          By   Christopher Hansard  ~

     Shared with Love  ~  Mary

Beef & Cabbage Stir-Fry with Peanut Sauce

WebMD Recipe from EatingWell.com

The subtly sweet peanut sauce blends deliciously in this beef, cabbage and carrot sauté. Spice up the dish with a few dashes of your favorite hot sauce. Serve with udon noodles.

Servings: 4
Yield: 4 servings
Total Time: 40 minutes
Prep Time: 40 minutes

Recipe Ingredients:

1. 1/4 cup smooth natural peanut butter
2. 1/3 cup orange juice
3. 3 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
4. 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
5. 2 teaspoons sugar
6. 4 teaspoons canola oil, divided
7. 3 cloves garlic, minced
8. 1 pound sirloin steak, trimmed and thinly sliced (see Tip)
9. 1 small head Savoy cabbage, thinly sliced
10. 2-5 tablespoons water
11. 2 medium carrots, grated
12. 1/4 cup chopped unsalted roasted peanuts (optional)

Recipe Steps:

1. Whisk peanut butter, orange juice, soy sauce, vinegar and sugar in a medium bowl until smooth.

2. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add steak and cook, stirring, until browned and barely pink in the middle, 2 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.

3. Reduce heat to medium. Swirl in the remaining 2 teaspoons oil. Add cabbage and 2 tablespoons water; cook, stirring, until beginning to wilt, 3 to 5 minutes. Add carrots (and more water if necessary to prevent sticking or burning) and cook, stirring, until just tender, about 3 minutes more. Return the steak and any accumulated juices to the pan, then pour in the peanut sauce and toss to combine. Serve sprinkled with peanuts (if using).

Recipe Tips & Notes:

1. Tip: For thinly sliced beef, freeze for 30 minutes to make it easier to cut into very thin slices.

Recipe Nutrition:

Per serving: 364 calories; 17 g fat (3 g saturated fat, 5 g mono unsaturated fat); 42 mg cholesterol; 23 g carbohydrates; 31 g protein; 7 g fiber; 469 mg sodium; 866 mg potassium

Nutrtion Bonus: Vitamin A (140% daily value), Vitamin C (110% dv), Folate (40% dv), Potassium (25% dv), Magnesium (19% dv).

1 Carbohydrate Servings

Exchanges: 2 vegetable, 3 lean meat, 2 fat

Special Health Consideration(s):

Low Sodium − High Potassium − High Fiber − Low Cholesterol − Low Sat Fat − Heart Healthy

Font size:
I would imagine that the title of this chapter would be Spiritually intriguing to many of my readers, for I think a great many of you already know what I am talking about here. There is a very interesting small group of lightworkers in the Spiritual Movement who I am sure you all have come across who have "Total Poverty Consciousness in the Name of God or Spirituality"! What I mean by this is, this unconscious group of people are constantly trying to lay trips on people, telling them they should not charge for their Spiritual services. Now, we all know the real reason they are doing this is because they want your service but don't have any money! Since they are run by the negative ego, the negative ego is angry about this so it strikes with judgment to blame others for charging money for their Spiritual service. This is, of course, total self-delusion and self-deception, for they charge money for their service, they just don't want you to charge for yours. The most comical thing about this is, they try to use GOD to support their total poverty consciousness and judgmental and blaming energy and tone, which is also totally of the negative ego!

To now continue the faulty delusional line of thinking of these poverty consciousness individuals, they also lay trips on Spiritual people that all Spiritual services such as channeling, Spiritual readings, Spiritual healings, Spiritual products, Spiritual teaching, Spiritual books, Spiritual workshops, Spiritual events, and Spiritual counseling should be free! This is of course, again, because they don't have any money. The negative ego, by nature being competitive and not wanting to feel like it is losing anything, starts feeling low self-esteem about not being able to take advantage of such wonderful offerings and feels it is being left behind, so to get back to its position of self-aggrandizement, self-righteousness and being better than others it attacks others and blames others for its own lack of ability to make money. Instead of just admitting to self that this is an area they need to work on, these people can't do that for then the negative ego will judge them, so the negative ego comes up with the idea to use GOD to judge and attack others, crying "poor me" instead of taking responsibility in this area of life they need to develop!

This type of person believes all Spiritual services should be for free! Their negative ego then lays a trip on good Spiritual people who have prosperity consciousness in a properly balanced way, saying that it is they who are run by the negative ego. Quite an ingenious conniving plan of the negative ego, wouldn't you say?

All lightworkers must realize that the mind is a brilliant thing, but it can be used by the negative ego or it can be used by the Soul or Spirit! This is called "Spiritual Materialism." It is where the negative ego has infiltrated religion and the New Age Movement!

The truth, of course, is that it is total prosperity consciousness for Spiritual people to charge for their services no matter what kind they are! This is part of the heavenly/earthly balance and integration. It is not just Spirit who provides this information, it is also the Spiritual channel, Spiritual teacher, Spiritual psychic and Spiritual healer. This is another one of the misconceptions of this type of Spiritual poverty consciousness, if you could even call it that! Life is a co-creation with GOD and the Masters, and this is a fact no matter what kind of Spiritual work one does!

There is the issue of people's time. Spiritual people need to be paid for their time and the focus of their concentration, even if they are bringing their Spiritual energies of one sort or another. Spiritual people also need to eat, pay their rent and pay their bills like everyone else, which these self-righteous, judgmental, attacking, poverty consciousness-driven people seem to forget!

Now it is true that one should not put money before GOD! There are many lightworkers who do this! This is wrong and should be adjusted and corrected immediately. However, this particular group of poverty consciousness-driven lightworkers have thrown the "baby out with the bath water"! They have gone to the other extreme and now say lightworkers are not allowed to charge for their services. Both extremes are wrong and both extremes are the negative ego at play! It is true lightworkers need to consider helping people at times not just for money. A great many don't. Those who always have to get paid to serve and help others are just as corrupted by the negative ego as those in poverty consciousness crying the opposite. My Beloved Readers, I think you are beginning to see how tricky the negative ego really is, and how vigilant one must be to not be seduced by all its irrational and insane games.

So next time one of these poverty consciousness-driven lightworkers who has not developed true balanced and integrated prosperity consciousness tries to lay a trip on you, remember this chapter and article and let their "trip" slide off you like "water off a duck's back," for it is a projection of their own negative ego and has nothing to do with you!

The 12:12 Alignment

Dear Ones,

The 12:12 Alignment on December 12, 2011 will bring the full force of the Angelic Dimensions into assistance. From this realm there is clarity about your Soul capacity to receive, as well as your readiness for the integration of the highest frequencies yet available for transformation on this planet.

The Twelve represents an activation of Divine Love within, through and around you. When Divine Love activates the light-encoded filaments within your being, there is a communion of awakening. It moves the body into the 12-helix system and allows the connection of the DNA strands. This activates subtle energy that unites the new 12-chakra system. Light alone cannot create the connection, even though the Divine Intelligence is there within the Light Force. Divine Love is required to awaken the coding of your Soul’s union with the completion inherent in the Twelve. This can be called the Light of the Christ.

Through the power of the associated gateways held open by the Archangels, a new force of the Christ Consciousness will be made available during the 12:12 Alignment. The power of this awakening energy enables each person to have the experience of the Christ Light at the moment of the 12:12 Coding. Once experienced you will not fall back into old ways, as the Golden Christ Light literally expunges from your being frequencies that no longer serve you. Transformed by Light, the cells awaken to the coding embedded in your soul. This activation has been held in abeyance until the earth consciousness would support mass awakening. Awareness and preparation are key signatures for the transformation available through the Christ Light. That time is Now.

Receive Forgiveness

In the Alignment of the 12:12, Divine Forgiveness is provided with a healing of old wounds. Your job is to receive the healing by accepting forgiveness for past errors you believe you made. Allow the light of Divine Love to permeate all the old structures you built around the idea of shame and unworthiness. Forgive the attacks on yourself for having failed to do whatever you thought you “should be doing.” This new Light encoded with the Christed energy carries a frequency of healing and love. It also holds an alignment with your multi-dimensional selves in order to create more unity and wholeness within your being.

You committed spiritual warriors stepped foot on this path the moment you were born. You witnessed dedication in the world around you to all that you considered untrue. You picked up your Soul’s banner of Truth, Illumination and Expansion and began moving in directions that were met with fear and controversy. This may even have caused dissension in your family dynamics that continue to this day. Through it all you were committed to your belief in Divine Light and the process of evolution – a way that honored the sanctity of all life on Earth.

A recognition that other dimensions exist that merge and coincide with ancient wisdom and illumined Truth pervaded your consciousness. You were open to receive the teachings that resonated deep within your being, no matter how it appeared to others. Through the wave of rising consciousness it took great courage to hold strong to your beliefs. On December 12, 2011, the 12:12 Alignment is an anchoring of all you held to be true in your soul.

Divine Unity

Through the 12:12 there will be a sense of being reborn into unity with all aspects of you. Greet yourself with a new level of respect and honor your commitment to this life. Your willingness to proceed on the Path of Light through out time has brought you to a completion of one aspect of your soul’s journey. Your task now is to take this new fullness deeply into your being. Let the Christ Light permeate every cell and create a new healing force that will pervade your consciousness. When you integrate this alignment within you, the Divine Love in your energy fields will be so pervasive that your world will begin to change around you.

Begin to use this new connection to the Light Force of healing and bring it to all your stories, all your relationships and all the places in your life that still do not appear as you imagined. Use this Light to strengthen yourself with true forgiveness and compassion. No matter what is occurring, focus on your center of True Light and Divine Love to bring this compassion to yourself. Create a habit of doing this before any other reaction can take place and you will discover that this truly is a new time.

New Structures in the Human Energy System

With the 12:12, new structures are being built in the human energy system. The alignment of the 12-strands connection in the DNA structure opens the way for the creation of the 12-chakra system. This paradigm shift within the development of the encoded human being begins to create a fully aligned structure that operates at the highest frequency of energy available now. This new aligned energy system allows the human to not only navigate this new earth time, but also pave the way for others to respond. The codings set into the human energy system that fire at different times have been creating waves of change within the structures set into the old world paradigm. Each person will now feel the soul impulse to move into purposeful action, retreat or choose to leave the planet entirely to await a more developed time on Earth.

Further evolution on planetary levels creates new openings for souls to step into. Those whose light encoded DNA has allowed their energy frequencies to shift, now work in a multidimensional earth simultaneously magnetizing other souls. An entrainment of energy frequencies ensues as your own inner coding firing in resonance attracts more who are ready for the awakening. It is a truly exciting time to be alive and you were born to be the creator of the new structures of the Earth. Within this new energy, you may feel as though you have finally come home.

Create an empowered vision to serve you as you raise your energy frequencies within the new light structures of the 12:12 codes. This will activate your energy centers in a new way. Create a deep vital connection to an Earth awaiting this time of honoring. You have unseen partners whose work includes your evolution, to assist in the creation of a fully functioning world that operates on a higher frequency of Light and Divine Love.

You were born for this. Now is your time. Envision the helix of the12 strands of Light encoded DNA within you going deep into the Earth and above your head. This will empower the connection of the 12-chakra system above, within and below your body. Join with others in the 12:12 timings to assist the firing of new matrix energy codes. These will be the structures that help create a new Earth – one where the spirit within all things in honored, and beauty and harmony are sanctified.

If you are reading this, you are aligned to the Christ Energy that empowers new life at the coded time on 12:12 this December 12, 2011. It is the true beginning of a paradigm shift that will continue throughout 2012. All will change. Commit to graceful evolution and begin to build the new structures within your being, so those in the world can follow the blueprint. You have always been one who paved the way, and this still continues. The alignment of the 12:12 energy is what has been called the “Second Coming.” Misunderstood for centuries, this connection to the Christ Consciousness is within you, and is not the arrival of a single enlightened being in the world. The awakening of full evolutionary spiritual energy is available within all beings, if they choose it, and are willing to bring into the planet the evolutionary shift in consciousness the Earth awaits. It is your time to choose.

Here is a prayer to assist the activation:

Divine Presence,

During this 12:12 Alignment, please bring the Golden Light and Divine Love of the Christ Consciousness through my being and anchor it upon the Earth. If it is in my highest good, may it awaken the connection to the 12 strands of DNA within me and create the full helix of Light that activates my 12-chakra system. I ask for my Soul’s alignment to all the Divine Love and Light that I can receive for the good of my evolution and the evolution of the Earth at this time. I invite the assistance of my guardian angel and all the beings of Light who work for my awakening to be with me in this process.

May all beings awaken their Divine Potential and bring the presence of Divine Love and ever more Grace upon this planet. May the Earth be honored in a new way that allows our beautiful planet to thrive. May every heart feel the gifts of this loving Presence within them so Peace may prevail on Earth. Thank you God for this and all our blessings.

And so it is.

Shanta Gabriel for Archangel Gabriel
December 4, 2011
www.TheGabrielMessages.com

A Secret Scrolls #102
A Secret Scrolls message from Rhonda Byrne

Creator of The Secret and The Power
From The Secret Daily Teachings

Happiness is a state of being, and comes from the inside of you. By the law of attraction you must become on the inside what you want on the outside.

You are either choosing to be happy now, or you are making up excuses for not choosing to be happy. But there are no excuses for the law!

May the joy be with you,

Rhonda Byrne
The Secret... bringing joy to billions

A Secret Scrolls #103
A Secret Scrolls message from Rhonda Byrne

Creator of The Secret and The Power
From The Secret Daily Teachings

To desire something is in proper accordance with the law. You attract what you desire.

To need something is misuse of the law. You cannot attract what you need if you feel you need it urgently or desperately, because that emotion contains fear. That kind of "needing" keeps things away.

Desire everything. Need nothing.

May the joy be with you,

Rhonda Byrne
The Secret... bringing joy to billions

A Secret Scrolls #104
A Secret Scrolls message from Rhonda Byrne

Creator of The Secret and The Power
From The Secret Daily Teachings

Change in a country begins with one person. Each country reflects the inner peace or turmoil of its mass population, and so as one person changes they affect the rest of the population. One person has the power within them to bring massive change to their country through immense love and peace within themselves. But we cannot bring about peace and well-being to our country unless we have conquered that in our own life. Do you see? You cannot give what you do not have.

Each person's job is to bring utter harmony into their own life, and then they will become the greatest human gift for their country and the world.

May the joy be with you,

Rhonda Byrne
The Secret... bringing joy to billions

An Old Japanese Love Warrior

--by Terry Dobson

A turning point in my life came one day on a train in the middle of a drowsy spring afternoon. The old car clanked and rattled over the rails. It was comparatively empty -- a few housewives with their kids in tow, some old folks out shopping, a couple of off-duty bartenders studying the racing form. I gazed absently at the drab houses and dusty hedge rows.

At one station the doors opened, and suddenly the quiet afternoon was shattered by a man bellowing at the top of his lungs — yelling violent, obscene, incomprehensible curses. Just as the doors closed the man, still yelling, staggered into our car. He was big, drunk, and dirty. He wore laborer’s clothing. His front was stiff with dried vomit. His eyes bugged out, a demonic, neon red. His hair was crusted with filth. Screaming, he swung at the first person he saw, a woman holding a baby. The blow glanced off her shoulder, sending her spinning into the laps of an elderly couple. It was a miracle that the baby was unharmed.

The couple jumped up and scrambled toward the other end of the car. They were terrified. The laborer aimed a kick at the retreating back of the old lady. “You old w*@#e!” he bellowed. “I’ll kick your a*#!” He missed; the old woman scuttled to safety. This so enraged the drunk that he grabbed the metal pole at the center of the car and tried to wrench it out of its stanchion. I could see that one of his hands was cut and bleeding. The train lurched ahead, the passengers frozen with fear. I stood tip.

I was young and in pretty good shape. I stood six feet, weighed 225. I’d been putting in a solid eight hours of aikido training every day for the past three years. I liked to throw and grapple. I thought I was tough. Trouble was, my martial skill was untested in actual combat. As students of aikido, we were not allowed to fight.

My teacher taught us each morning that the art was devoted to peace. “Aikido,” he said again and again, “is the art of reconciliation. Whoever has the mind to fight has broken his connection with the universe. If you try to dominate other people, you are already defeated. We study how to resolve conflict, not how to start it.”

I listened to his words. I tried hard. I wanted to quit fighting. I even went so far as to cross the street a few times to avoid the “chimpira,” the pinball punks who lounged around the train stations. They’d have been happy to test my martial ability. My forbearance exalted me. I felt both tough and holy. In my heart of hearts, however, I was dying to be a hero. I wanted a chance, an absolutely legitimate opportunity whereby I might save the innocent by destroying the guilty.

“This is it!” I said to myself as I got to my feet. “This slob, this animal, is drunk and mean and violent. People are in danger. If I don’t do something fast, somebody will probably get hurt. I’m gonna take his a*# to the cleaners.”

Seeing me stand up, the drunk saw a chance to focus his rage. “Aha!” he roared. “A foreigner! You need a lesson in Japanese manners!” He punched the metal pole once to give weight to his words.

I held on lightly to the commuter strap overhead. I gave him a slow look of disgust and dismissal. I gave him every bit of p#*$-ant nastiness I could summon up. I planned to take this turkey apart, but he had to be the one to move First. And I wanted him mad, because the madder he got, the more certain my victory. I pursed my lips and blew him a sneering, insolent kiss. It hit him like a slap in the face. “All right!” he hollered. “You’re gonna get a lesson.” He gathered himself for a rush at me. He’d never know what hit him.

A split second before he moved, someone shouted “Hey!” It was ear splitting. I remember being struck by the strangely joyous, lilting quality of it — as though you and a friend had been searching diligently for something, and he had suddenly stumbled upon it. “Hey!” I wheeled to my left, the drunk spun to his right. We both stared down at a little old Japanese man. He must have been well into his seventies, this tiny gentleman, sitting there immaculate in his kimono and hakama. He took no notice of me, but beamed delightedly at the laborer, as though he had a most important, most welcome secret to share.

“C’mere,” the old man said in an easy vernacular, beckoning to the drunk. “C’mere and talk with me.” He waved his hand lightly. The giant man followed, as if on a string. He planted his feet belligerently in front of the old gentleman and towered threateningly over him.
“Talk to you?” he roared above the clacking wheels. “Why the hell should I talk to you?” The drunk now had his back to me. If his elbow moved so much as a millimeter, I’d drop him in his socks.

The old man continued to beam at the laborer. There was not a trace of fear or resentment about him. “What’cha been drinkin’?” he asked lightly, with interest. “I been drinkin’ sake,” the laborer bellowed back, “and it’s none of your god d#*& business!”
“Oh, that’s wonderful,” the old man said with delight. “Absolutely wonderful! You see, I love sake, too. Every night, me and my wife (she’s seventy-six, you know), we warm up a little bottle of sake and take it our into the garden, and we sit on the old wooden bench that my grandfather’s first student made for him. We watch the sun go down, and we look to see how our persimmon tree is doing. My great-grandfather planted that tree, you know, and we worry about whether it will recover from those ice storms we had last winter. Persimmons do not do well after ice storms, although I must say that ours has done rather better that I expected, especially when you consider the poor quality of the soil. Still, it is most gratifying to watch when we take our sake and go out to enjoy the evening — even when it rains!” He looked up at the laborer, eyes twinkling, happy to share his delightful information.

As he struggled to follow the intricacies of the old man’s conversation, the drunk’s face began to soften. His fists slowly unclenched. “Yeah,” he said slowly, “I love persimmons, too…” His voice trailed off.

“Yes,” said the old man, smiling, “and I’m sure you have a wonderful wife.”

“No,” replied the laborer, “my wife died.” He hung his head. Very gently, swaying with the motion of the train, the big man began to sob. “I don’t got no wife, I don’t got no home, I don’t got no job, I don’t got no money, I don’t got nowhere to go. I’m so ashamed of myself.” Tears rolled down his cheeks; a spasm of pure despair rippled through his body. Above the baggage rack a four-color ad trumpeted the virtues of suburban luxury living.

Now it was my turn. Standing there in my well-scrubbed youthful innocence, my make-this-world-safe-for-democracy righteousness, I suddenly felt dirtier than he was.

Just then, the train arrived at my stop. The platform was packed, and the crowd surged into the car as soon as the doors opened. Maneuvering my way out, I heard the old man cluck sympathetically. “My, my,” he said with undiminished delight, “that is a very difficult predicament, indeed. Sit down here and tell me about it.”

I turned my head for one last look. The laborer was sprawled like a sack on the seat, his head in the old man’s lap. The old man looked down at him, all compassion and delight, one hand softly stroking the filthy, matted head.

As the train pulled away, I sat down on a bench. What I had wanted to do with muscle and meanness had been accomplished with a few kind words. I had seen aikido tried in combat, and the essence of it was love, as the founder had said. I would have to practice the art with an entirely different spirit. It would be a long time before I could speak about the resolution of conflict.

Be The Change

Got conflict? Resolve it skillfully, by first connecting with your "adversary's" suffering.

"Of Poppy Seeds & Nougatine"
by Rosalee de la Forêt

This past summer I traveled to France to meet my husband’s family. I’ve been reminiscing about that trip a lot lately, especially because of my video series on HerbMentor.com, Plants in France.

This series narrates videos and photos I took in France and shares the French culture of these plants.

In case you aren’t an HerbMentor.com member I thought I would share a taste of France with you.

Some of my favorite memories from my trip to France were gazing from the train window watching the beautiful fields of corn poppies fly by. Of course I am not the first to notice this beautiful phenomenon. Art impressionist Claude Monet made these fields famous in many of his paintings.

Les Coquelicots by Claude Monet

What’s in a name?

The French call this plant Coquelicot (Coke-lee-coh), which is a derivation of the rooster crow. In english, roosters make the sound of cockledoodledo, but in French the sound that the rooster makes is Cocorico. Hence, the name coquelicot.

The genus for this plant, Papaver, may have been derived from the celtic language where papa means porridge or gruel. Poppy is said to have gotten this genus name because they used to add parts of the poppy to children’s porridge to help them sleep at night.

“Whoa!” You might say. “Giving poppies to children!!! What kind of newsletter is this?!”
Well, actually the corn poppy (Papaver rhoeas), which is the poppy growing abundantly in the agricultural fields of France, does not contain the same opiates as the opium poppies (Papaver somniferum).

Corn poppies were commonly used as medicine and were even called the safe opium of the people (nevertheless, it is not for children less than three years old.)
Here’s one explanation of how the English word “poppy” came to be. It was once popular for children to make little dolls out of the poppy flowers. The word for doll in French is poupée, which over time became poppy in English. This summer my husband made me some of these poppy dolls. Adorable! The dolls are pretty cute too.

Corn poppies in history

No one really knows where the poppy plant originated, but they have been associated with agriculture and grains for a very long time.

Poppies are really prevalent in Greek mythology. Hypnos, the Greek god of sleep, was represented by a crown made of poppies.

This painting depicts Hypnos and his mother Nyx bringing sleep to people by spreading poppies.

Poppies are found in Egyptian tombs and poppy seeds were also used as a condiment in ancient Egypt.

Poppy is an international symbol for commemorating wars and other places of blood shed. One reason for this is the bright red color of the flowers symbolizing blood.

Another reason the poppy commemorates wars is because in Europe it easily colonizes the disturbed soils of mass graves. Thus it is said that the poppy fields covering the soldiers’ graves is the blood of the fallen. “In Flanders Fields” is a famous poem written in 1919 that begins with

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

Edible and medicinal uses of the seeds

The seeds and seed capsules are also used as food and medicine. One recipe I learned in France called for a decoction of 8-10 seed capsules per liter of water, bring to a simmer for ten minutes, and take 3-4 tablespoons a day. It can also be added to warmed milk in the evening to give a peaceful sleep to children. Poppy seeds are also used to help quiet coughs.

You are probably familiar with the tiny black poppy seeds being used for culinary purposes. They add a nutty flavor to foods and are commonly added to bagels and lemon breads. Generally the poppy seeds that are used for culinary reasons come from the opium poppy, but there is only trace amounts of opiates in the seeds, not enough to raise health concerns.

Our recipe for today’s newsletter is part treat and part medicine and is based on a French recipe called nougatine. While these can simply be enjoyed as a sweet treat, the demulcent and expectorant qualities of the honey and relaxing nervine qualities of the poppy seeds make this helpful for coughs.

For this recipe you’ll need...

(all ingredients should be available at your local market)

• 1/2 cup of honey
• 1 cup of chopped nuts such as hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds
• Two heaping teaspoons of poppy seeds

Place the chopped nuts and poppy seeds in a pan and roast them at 450 for about ten minutes. Check on them every couple of minutes to stir them and check their progress.

They are done when the nuts begin to brown and release a pleasant smell.

Next, melt the honey in a medium saucepan on really low heat. Once it is warmed and syrupy then add the nuts and seeds.

Cook on low heat for about ten minutes, stirring frequently.

Pour this mixture into a pan and then cut into bite size pieces. It will harden as it cools.

This month I’ll be releasing a video about corn poppies on HerbMentor.com that includes information about using the petals and leaves for food and medicine. This is one of my favorite projects since it combines two of my passions in life. France and Plants!

Enjoy these treats!

~Rosalee

http://www.learningherbs.com/news_issue_76b.html

Twinkling star cupcakes

Prep time: 1 hr, plus 2 hrs drying
Cook time: 20 min
Serves: 12

Pastel pink and green icing and sparkling, glittery stars, make Angela Nilsen's pretty cakes perfect to serve at parties

Ingredients

For the decorations

• 250 g ready-to-roll whiteicing
• claret and mint green edible pastefood colouring
• small silvercoloured dragees
• edible glitter, such as Disco white hologram by Edable Art

For the cupcakes

• 115 g softenedbutter, cubed
• 115 g goldencaster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 125 g self-raising flour
• 25 g groundalmonds
• ½ tsp almond extract

For the icing

• 250 g fondanticing sugar
• claret and mint green edible pastefood colouring

Method

1.For the decorations: slice off a quarter of the ready-to-roll icing (wrap the rest to prevent it drying out) then colour one half of it pastel pink and one half pastel green. Wrap both colours in cling film.

2. On a work surface lightly sprinkled with icing sugar, roll out the reserved white icing. Cut out 12 white stars using an 8cm diameter star cutter. (You will need to re-roll the trimmings.) Place a 3.5-4cm star cutter in the centre of one star and cut out a smaller star, so you have a large cut-out star and a smaller star. Repeat to give 12 cut-out and 12 smaller white stars. Keep re-rolling the trimmings to give you enough white stars.

3. Press a few silver dragees into the smallest white stars and lay all the stars on a large board lined with baking parchment.

4. Using a 5-5.5cm star cutter, roll out the pink and green icings and cut out 6 stars from each colour. Lay them by the white stars, brush each one with a little edible glitter, then leave them all to dry and firm up, about 1½-2 hrs.

5. For the cupcakes: preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and line a 12-hole bun tin with silver paper cases.

6. Tip the butter, sugar, eggs and flour into a large bowl and beat together with an electric hand mixer for 1½-2 minutes until the mixture is light and well mixed. Using a large metal spoon, lightly fold in the ground almonds and almond extract.

7. Divide the mixture between the paper cases and bake for 20 minutes until risen. Leave in the tin for a couple of minutes, then lift the cakes onto a wire rack and leave until cold.

8. For the icing: stir about 2 tablespoons water into the fondant icing sugar to give a smooth, thickish icing. Remove half to a second bowl and colour one batch pastel pink and the other pastel green, using the edible food colourings. Spoon the icings over the cooled cakes so that the tops are almost covered and leave to set for a few minutes.

9. Arrange one large white star, one medium coloured star (using pink stars on the green iced cakes, and green stars on the pink iced ones) then one small white star on top of each cupcake, securing with a little of the fondant icing if necessary.

Death by chocolate cupcake
By: Lisa Harris

Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Serves: makes 12

Chunky chocolate chip sponge, a swirl of decadent frosting and a topping made from all your favourite chocolate bars – can you handle Lisa Harris’s Death by Chocolate cupcake?

Ingredients

For the sponge

• 100 g self-raising flour, sifted
• 145 g goldencaster sugar
• 40 g butter, at room temperature
• 20 g cocoa powder
• 120 ml wholemilk
• 1 largeegg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp instant coffee, dissolved in 1tsp hot water
• 100 g 70% cocoadark chocolate, cut into chunks

For the frosting

• 225 g butter
• 350 g icing sugar, sifted
• 50 g cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp wholemilk

To decorate

• Assortedchocolate bars, cut into small pieces (such as Mars bars, twix, flake, maltesers, chocolate buttons…)

Method

1. For the sponge: preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and line a 12-hole tin with cupcake paper cases. Tip the flour, sugar, butter and cocoa powder into a food processor and blitz on a slow speed for one minute, until you achieve a sandy consistency.

2. Gradually pour in half of the milk and beat until just incorporated. Don’t worry if it looks a little messy at this stage – it will come together! In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining milk together with the egg, vanilla essence and coffee. Pour into the batter and beat for a couple of minutes until smooth, scraping down the side of the bowl to catch any unmixed ingredients as you go. Fold through the chocolate chunks with a spoon.

3. Divide the mixture between the 12 paper cases, filling each one up two-thirds full. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until the sponge bounces back when prodded with a finger. Leave to cool on a wire rack while you make the frosting.

4. For the frosting: Tip the butter, icing sugar and cocoa powder into a food processor and beat until well combined. Add the milk and then beat again for a couple of minutes until light and fluffy.

5. When the sponges have cooled completely, carefully spoon a third of the frosting into a piping bag and use it to decorate the first four cupcakes. Repeat until you have finished them all. Alternatively, just use a palette knife to spread about 2 tbsp of frosting onto each cupcake.

6. Decorate as you like with different chocolate bar pieces.

Cooks Tips...

Leftover frosting? Try sandwiching two digestive biscuits together with a dollop for a quick pudding.

Don't worry if your cupcake comes out of the oven looking a little flat - it's supposed to happen! A flat sponge is ideal when it comes to frosting the cupcake.

Christmas cupcakes

These beautiful and classy little cakes make lovely gifts, and kids will enjoy decorating them too

Makes 12

Preparation and cooking times

Prep 40 mins
Cook 45 mins
Can be frozen un-iced

Ingredients

• 200g dark muscovado sugar
• 175g butter , chopped
• 700g luxury mixed dried fruits
• 50g glacé cherries
• 2 tsp grated fresh root ginger
• zest and juice 1 orange
• 100ml dark rum , brandy or orange juice
• 85g/3oz pecan nuts, roughly chopped
• 3 large eggs , beaten
• 85g ground almonds
• 200g plain flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 400g pack ready-rolled marzipan (we used Dr Oetker)
• 4 tbsp warm apricot jam or shredless marmalade
• 500g pack fondant icing sugar
• icing sugar , for dusting

• 6 gold and 6 silver muffin cases
• 6 gold and 6 silver sugared almonds
• snowflake sprinkles

1. Tip the sugar, butter, dried fruit, whole cherries, ginger, orange zest and juice into a large pan. Pour over the rum, brandy or juice, then put on the heat and slowly bring to the boil, stirring frequently to melt the butter. Reduce the heat and bubble gently, uncovered for 10 mins, stirring every now and again to make sure the mixture doesn't catch on the bottom of the pan. Set aside for 30 mins to cool.

2. Stir the nuts, eggs and ground almonds into the fruit, then sift in the flour, baking powder and spices. Stir everything together gently but thoroughly. Your batter is ready.

3. Heat oven to 150C/130C fan/gas 2. Scoop the cake mix into 12 deep muffin cases (an ice-cream scoop works well), then level tops with a spoon dipped in hot water. Bake for 35-45 mins until golden and just firm to touch. A skewer inserted should come out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

4. Unravel the marzipan onto a work surface lightly dusted with icing sugar. Stamp out 12 rounds, 6cm across. Brush the cake tops with apricot jam, top with a marzipan round and press down lightly.

5. Make up the fondant icing to a spreading consistency, then swirl on top of each cupcake. Decorate with sugared almonds and snowflakes, then leave to set. Will keep in a tin for 3 weeks.

833 kcalories, protein 9g, carbohydrate 139g, fat 29 g, saturated fat 9g, fibre 3g, sugar 125g, salt 0.44 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, December 2009.

Christmas Tree Cup Cakes

Makes 12

Ingredients

1 quantity buttermilk sponge mixture

For the decoration

• 1 quantity meringue buttercream
• Green food colouring paste
• Edible green glitter
• Coloured sugar balls
• Gold and silver sugar stars

Equipment

• 1–2 muffin tins, lined with 12 brown paper cupcake cases
• Large piping bag, fitted with a medium star-shaped nozzle

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Divide the sponge mixture between the cupcake cases, filling them two-thirds full.

2. Bake on the middle shelf of the preheated oven for about 20 minutes, or until golden, well risen and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cakes comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

3. Put three-quarters of the buttercream in a bowl and tint it green using the food colouring paste. Leave the rest untinted and spread some of this over the top of each cold cupcake.

4. Fill the piping bag with the green frosting and, working from the centre, pipe pointed branch shapes towards the edges of the cupcake. Keep doing this, turning the cupcake as you go, until you have the bottom of a tree. Repeat with the next layer up, making the branches shorter. Carry on with more layers, making the branches ever shorter as you get to the top of the tree.

5. Dust with green glitter and decorate with coloured sugar balls. Top with a gold or silver star.

Sparkling vanilla Christmas cookies

Hang these from a Christmas tree or pack them into boxes as end-of-term gifts for teachers and friends.

Makes 20 biscuits

Preparation and cooking times

Prep 10 mins
Cook 12 mins
Plus chilling time (raw dough)

Ingredients

• 140g icing sugar , sieved
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg yolk
• 250g butter , cut into small cubes
• 375g plain flour , sieved

• 200g icing sugar , sieved
• edible food colouring , optional
• edible gold and silver balls
• approx 2m thin ribbon cut into 10cm lengths

1. Tip the icing sugar, vanilla extract, egg yolk and butter into a mixing bowl, then stir together with a wooden spoon (or pulse in a food processor until well combined). Add the flour and mix to a firm dough. Shape the dough into two flat discs and wrap in clingfilm. Chill for 20-30 mins. Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5 and line two baking sheets with non-stick baking paper.

2. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to about the thickness of two £1 coins. Cut out Christmassy shapes (use a cutter if you like) and place on the baking sheets. Using the tip of a skewer, cut a small hole in the top of each cookie. Bake for 10-12 mins until lightly golden.

3. Lift the biscuits onto a wire rack to cool. Meanwhile, mix the icing sugar with a few drops of cold water to make a thick, but still runny icing. Colour with edible food colouring, if you like. Spread it over the cooled biscuits, decorate with edible balls and thread with ribbon when dry.

Nutrition Per serving
233 kcalories, protein 2g, carbohydrate 34g, fat 11 g, saturated fat 7g, fibre 1g, sugar 19g, salt 0.2 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, December 2005.

Great Christmas Cookie Recipes: Walnut Linzer Cookies
Posted by julievr on December 7th, 2011

The holiday season somehow makes baking more enticing; I’m more inclined to make the effort and bake fancy cookies at this time of year than any other. Linzer cookies are some of my favorites – simple butter cookies sandwiched with jam, with a window to allow a peek of sweet colour. If you can find tiny star, gingerbread man or other festive cut-outs, use it to cut a shape out of the top layer. Finely chopped walnuts makes them even more festive.

Believed to have originated in the City of Linz, Germany, Linzer cookies are traditionally two round cookies held together with a layer of preserves or jam. The raspberry fruit filling used in this soft buttery cookie complements the nutty flavour of the walnuts.

How to toast walnuts: In large, dry skillet over medium-high heat, toast walnut halves or pieces, stirring occasionally, until lightly brown, about 1 to 2 minutes.

Walnut Linzer Cookies

Pastry:

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup California walnuts, toasted and finely ground
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Icing:

1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp rum or vanilla
1/4 cup California walnuts, finely chopped

Filling:

1 cup raspberry jam

Preheat oven to 350˚F.

In bowl beat butter and sugar on high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
In small bowl whisk together flour, walnuts and cinnamon.

Stir flour mixture into butter until well blended. Divide dough into three pieces and shape into discs. Wrap well with plastic wrap and refrigerate until well chilled.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out each disc to 1/8-inch thickness. Using a 1 1/2 inch round fluted cookie cutter, cut dough into rounds. Use a small cutter to make holes in the centre of half of the rounds. Arrange on parchment-lined baking sheets about 1-inch (2.5 cm) apart and chill in fridge for 15 minutes.

Bake the cookies in the centre of preheated oven, 1 sheet at a time, until cookies are pale golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer to rack and let cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.

In bowl, whisk together icing sugar and rum. Brush over cookies with cutouts and sprinkle with finely chopped walnuts. Spoon approximately 1 tsp (5 mL) of the jam onto the bottom side of the solid cookies. Top with cutout cookies. Repeat with remaining cookies.

Makes approximately 3 dozen cookies.

Spring Daisy Apricot Linzer Cookies
Posted by thenaptimechef on May 11th, 2011

Spring Daisy Linzer Cookies adapted from Ina Garten

Ingreidents

3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon good quality extract
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon lemon zest (optional)
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¾ cup apricot preserves

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat.

2. Sift together flour and salt in a bowl and set aside.

3. In a mix cream the butter and sugar until totally combined. Then, add the vanilla and lemon zest, mix again. With the mixer on low, add in the flour/salt mixture until the dough comes together. Do not overbeat. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

4. Place the dough on a floured surface and roll out until ¼ inch thick. Cut out rounds in a 3-inch round cookie cutter. With ½ of the rounds, cut out a smaller shape. Use extra dough to form a few more cookies. Place all cookies on the cookies sheets and bake for 20-25 minutes.

5. Allow cookies to cool to room temperature. Then, spread preserves on the bottom cookie and place the cut-out cookie on top. Dust the top of cookies with confectioners’ sugar.

Please adopt a senior dog

One by one, they pass my cage,
Too old, too worn, too broken, no way.
Way past his time, he can’t run and play.
They shake their heads slowly and go on their way.
A little old man, arthritic and sore,
It seems I am not wanted anymore
I once had a home, I once had a bed,
A place that was warm, and where I was fed.
Now my muzzle is grey, and my eyes slowly fail.
Who wants a dog so old and so frail?
My family decided I didn’t belong,
I got in their way, my attitude was wrong.
Whatever excuse they made in their head,
Can’t justify how they left me for dead.
Now I sit in this cage, where day after day,
Those younger dogs get adopted away.
When I had almost come to the end of my rope,
You saw my face, and I finally had hope.
You saw thru the grey, and the legs bent with age,
And felt I still had life beyond the cage
You took me home, gave me food and a bed.
And shared your own pillow with my poor tired head.
We snuggle and play, and you talk to me low,
You love me so dearly, you want me to know.
I may have lived most of my life with another,
But you outshine them with a love so much stronger.
And I promise to return all the love I can give,
To You, my dear person, as long as I live.
I may be with you for a week or for years,
We will share many smiles, you will no doubt shed tears.
And when the time comes that God deems I must leave,
I know you will cry and your heart, it will grieve.
And when I arrive at the Bridge, all brand new,
My thoughts and my heart will still be with you.
And I will brag to all who will hear,
Of the angel who made my last days so dear.

Photo: A Senior Dog's Christmas Prayer

http://www.causes.com/media/1134429?template=bulletin_mailer%2Fposting&causes_ref=email

       ~**~   Every person on this planet is linked by their thoughts to every other person.  Each one of us

       can use thought energy to create happiness.   True happiness is a balance of thought energies, woven

       together so that they support each other and create harmony.

       ~**~   You have a right to this happiness as long as you share it.   This is true of money, wealth and

       spiritual achievement.   If you do not share these you cannot hold on to them for long, or you will

       end up damaging your ability to think and feel.   We have the right to own things but not to abuse

       ownership.   We should own our inner achievements and share those achievements with others, but

       we should never give away the thought energy behind our achievements.   This energy is sacred to

       each of us and is unique once developed.

       ~**~   Thinking in a positive manner in the Tibetan way simplifies all things, and naturally creates

       happiness, success and love.   The more love you can create within yourself the more useful your

       thinking becomes.   Thinking well means taking control of your life.   That can be a scary thing to do,

       because it means taking responsibility for the way your life turns out.   We are not subject to some

       greater force that dictates our every move.   As individuals we can determine the outcome of each

       moment and thus the main events in our lives, by paying attention to the detail in order to direct

       the outcome.    ~**~      Taken from: The Tibetan Art of Positive Thinking by Chris. Hansard   ~

Astronomers discover biggest black holes ever

Scientists have discovered the two biggest black holes ever observed, each with a mass billions of times greater than the Sun's, according to a study published Monday.

The two giants are located in the heart of a pair of galaxies several hundred million light years from Earth, said the study in scientific journal Nature.

Each black hole is estimated to have a mass about 10 billion times greater than the sun, dwarfing the previously largest-known black hole, which has a mass of 6.3 billion suns.

The University of California, Berkeley, team led by Nicholas McConnell and Chung-Pei Ma said one black hole is located in NGC 3842, the brightest of a cluster of galaxies about 320 million light years from Earth.

The second hole is of "comparable or greater mass" and is located in NGC 4889, the brightest galaxy in the Coma cluster, about 335 million light years away.

"These two black holes are significantly more massive than predicted," the astronomers wrote.
They said their calculations suggest that different evolutionary processes influence the growth of the largest galaxies and their black holes than in smaller galaxies.

Astronomers have long supposed that since the universe began it has harboured black holes with a mass the size of the two newly found giants.

These cosmic gluttons grow in tandem with their galaxies, slurping up gases, planets and stars.
"There is a symbiotic relationship between black holes and their galaxies that has existed since the dawn of time," Kevin Schawinski, a Yale astronomer said in a June study.

NASA confirms 'super-Earth' that could hold life
By Kerry Sheridan

In another step toward finding Earth-like planets that may hold life, NASA said the Kepler space telescope has confirmed its first-ever planet in a habitable zone outside our solar system.

French astronomers earlier this year confirmed the first rocky exoplanet to meet key requirements for sustaining life. But Kepler-22b, initially glimpsed in 2009, is the first the US space agency has been able to confirm.

Confirmation means that astronomers have seen it crossing in front of its star three times. But it doesn't mean that astronomers know whether life actually exists there, simply that the conditions are right.

Such planets have the right distance from their star to support water, plus a suitable temperature and atmosphere to support life.

"We have now got good planet confirmation with Kepler-22b," said Bill Borucki, Kepler principal investigator at NASA Ames Research Center.

"We are certain that it is in the habitable zone and if it has a surface, it ought to have a nice temperature," he told reporters.

Spinning around its star some 600 light years away, Kepler-22b is 2.4 times the size of the Earth, putting it in class known as "super-Earths," and orbits its Sun-like star every 290 days.

Its near-surface temperature is presumed to be about 72 degrees Fahrenheit (22 Celsius). Scientists do not know, however, whether the planet is rocky, gaseous or liquid.

The planet's first "transit," or star crossover, was captured shortly after NASA launched its Kepler spacecraft in March 2009.

NASA also announced that Kepler has uncovered 1,094 more potential planets, twice the number it previously had been tracking, according to research being presented at a conference in California this week.

Kepler is NASA's first mission in search of Earth-like planets orbiting suns similar to ours, and cost the US space agency about $600 million.

It is equipped with the largest camera ever sent into space -- a 95-megapixel array of charge-coupled devices -- and is expected to continue sending information back to Earth until at least November 2012.
Kepler is searching for planets as small as Earth, including those orbiting stars in a warm, habitable zone where liquid water could exist on the surface of the planet.

The latest confirmed exoplanet that could support life brings to three the total number confirmed by global astronomers.

In addition to French astronomers' confirmed finding of Gliese 581d in May, Swiss astronomers reported in August that another planet, HD 85512 b, about 36 light years away seemed to be in the habitable zone of its star.

However, those two planets are "orbiting stars smaller and cooler than our Sun," NASA said in a statement, noting that Kepler-22b "is the smallest yet found to orbit in the middle of the habitable zone of a star similar to our Sun."

"The Europeans have also been very active, actively working on confirming our candidates," said Natalie Batalha, Kepler deputy science team lead at San Jose State University.

"They have already confirmed two that are published and they have got another batch that are on the preprint servers so those will be, I'm sure, in the published literature soon," she added.

"So we are just thrilled about this. We need all telescopes observing these candidates so we can confirm as many as possible."

A total of 48 exoplanets and exomoons are potential habitable candidates, among a total of 2,326 possibilities that Kepler has identified so far.

The top rankers are listed in an online catalog that indexes bodies outside our solar system, available online at http://phl.upr.edu.