The new season kicked off with surprising new supporting actors and even a few deadly serious and tragic plot twists, including weather disasters (possibly even far more destructive than we're even being told – thanks Marcus), looming financial Armageddon and maybe even World War III. It would be breathtakingly suspenseful if it weren't being played out in the real world, so it ends up just being frighteningly depressing for many people.

I'm trying to ignore some of what passes as news these days, like lipstick, up-do hairstyles and designer eyewear. (Though I found a really good blog on that whole thing, not to mention an occasional objection to the propaganda.) But I can't ignore the feeling of dread when I see them broadcast financial aftershocks around the world, including the largest expansion of government since the Great Depression, not to mention the hawkish rhetoric and veiled threats in recent international exchanges that continue to haunt the background. The issues confronting us during this election season are most certainly being manipulated, and very well, I might add. Using fear to manage the outcome is genius, if not old hat. I for one am on the edge of my seat.

Awhile back during Act I when the primaries were in full swing, I noted that despite the frustration of feeling manipulated by the whole show, I still hoped there would be an election and a changing of the guard, superficial though it may be. I still feel that way, and with good reason considering the current very dangerously evolving issues. I can't help but imagine GW's trigger finger hovering over his newly created extraordinary emergency powers, NSPD-51.

The World War III rabbit hole is very deep, from videos on YouTube to radical articles that shock one out of the mainstream propagandist trance into some very agonizing considerations. Wars and rumors of war, and all that. It's hard not to smell the noxious odor of tensions rising between certain countries. Don't let the current financial crisis or candidate mudslinging cause you to take your eye off the ball on this one – pay attention. It's all connected, and wars are not accidental – evidence is strong that the sparks of war are fanned into flames by those most likely to profit.

The recent economic chaos just throws more fear and instability into the mix, not to mention a convenient increased consolidation of resources and control for the powers-that-be. That rabbit hole is deep and wide. For a basic lesson on how this imaginary money is being created, and who benefits from it, check out Money as Debt, here's the film on YouTube. Another longer one with a lot of information is called The Money Masters. Clearly more research and thought on alternative ways to manage economies must be considered. We would be well-advised to take a clue from our ancestors and create smaller, sustainable and more manageable communities, like the Ahupua'a in Hawaii, combined with new technologies like Aquaponics. Other intriguing alternative economic ideas I came across are Open Money and possibly the Global Reserve Bank.

There is no time to lose. Frankly mainstream news is bad enough, but I suspect the real truth of the matter is far worse. Be careful for China, for one thing. This Hit & Run post points out the subsequent rise in gold prices, something to pay attention to for lots of reasons (and be very careful if you're investing – could be They're planning to crash that too). Check out this Coast to Coast clip from last year about the collapse of the world economic system. In this video, Ron Paul accuses Fed Chairman Bernanke of deliberately destroying the dollar. According to some more radical sources, this has all been malevolently preplanned. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. One might take note that NSPD-51 defines a "Catastrophic emergency" as "any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions." [author's emphasis.] Could it be that our “hero” will come in the form of a unified North American currency, the Amero? Will They let it get so bad that we'll literally beg for it, classic problem-reaction-solution?

Finally we have the issue of the election itself, which is as suspicious as anything else. The manipulation of the hearts and minds of an unwitting population is hard to watch, knowing the powers-that-be have likely got it all sewn up already, either way. However I recently came across an independent documentary well worth watching, called Free For All, about the theft of the election and the democratic process altogether. Watch the film, check out his blog, pass it on. I've linked to documentaries on this subject before and feel it's important for people to be aware of the reality of hackable electronic voting systems and voter caging. Even mainstream news is picking up on these stories now. The makers of Free For All encourage participation and involvement from the people, including citizens observing elections (videothevote.com). Also check out Steal Back Your Vote.

Whether we really have a choice is up for debate. Watching all these issues swirl around, I remain unconvinced, though I am a little dizzy from all the spinning. It's time to be prepared for anything. We're living in important times, I believe.  Bring on Act III.

The master allows things to happen. She shapes events as they come. She steps out of the way and lets the Tao speak for itself. -Tao Te Ching # 45

I don’t know; maybe I saw too many episodes of Land of the Lost when I was a kid. Anyway there’s no doubt our entertainment industry has done a good job of maintaining the fictional status of these wild ideas. Impossible, says mainstream science, for the earth to be hollow. Even those who take the UFO question seriously often doubt the Hollow Earth, we are so steeped in the solid earth and molten core of our schooling (though others claim UFOs are actually from the inner earth realms).

A few braver, more radical adventurers and researchers have spoken out against the establishment, despite the risk of endangering professional credentials not to mention their very lives. Admiral Richard Byrd couldn’t help speaking out about his controversial trip to the ‘Land beyond the poles’, and many believed he was killed for doing so. More recently, Steve Currey, the head of a planned expedition to the inner earth in 2007, suddenly died of brain cancer. He had reported having been approached by an agent of the Illuminati who wanted to finance (and control) the expedition. Without question, scientific ridicule is the penalty for bringing up the topic at all, even as historical and mythological lore contain stories from all kinds of cultural sources about missing explorers, and hidden tunnel systems leading to mysterious areas beneath the surface. Even the Mormons have their own stories.

Jan Lamprecht is author of Hollow Planets. When you research the evidence from other planets in the solar system one must admit it is curious. The hundreds of miles of earth’s crust still leaves plenty of room for surface volcanism, and the idea of an internal dynamo, a kind of plasma arc singularity at the center, seems to account for the aurorae in a profound way, not to mention the magnetic dynamics of the planet as a whole. The Hollow Earth blog contains all kinds of interesting links and information to follow on these subjects.

Why are there no more solid photographic evidence of such holes in the poles? And why doesn’t someone go check it out? Listen to Lamprecht and Dr. Brooks A. Agnew, the new head of the planned expedition now scheduled for August 2009, talk more about the evidence and future plans. The investigation notes constant polar cloud cover and missing sections of satellite photographs, as well as strange radiations from the poles of other planets and the hollow ringing of the earth like a bell after large earthquakes. And, if indeed there is a secret civilization inside with an agenda, as related by the Thule Society and other theosophical writings, one imagines this mystery may not want to reveal itself until it’s ready – and then perhaps with unfortunate results.

Hollow Earth theory may be one of the most radical of them all in terms of alternative scientific concepts. Is this all simply symbolic reference to higher truths about our inner selves? Or is there an ancient tunnel system throughout the planet, connecting secret surface entrances to a hidden kingdom within? Do mysterious guardians maintain the secrecy to keep ignorant surface dwellers from getting in – or an even more horrible race of beings from getting out? Is the inner earth inhabited by the lost tribes of Israel, or the Serpent races? Is it a magical land, like Agharta or Shambhala, inhabited by enlightened beings, or the pits of hell infested with flying shapeshifting dragons? Considering legends of earth’s inhabitants escaping massive surface cataclysm by fleeing to the inner regions, one wonders if it has anything do with all the engineered underground bases, cities and tunnel systems created by our modern governments, and the rumors of an upcoming event in 2012?

These questions and more tease and tantalize those willing to venture outside the box, and down a very, very deep hole of brain-twisting imaginings and alternative science. I can only wonder; is this rabbit hole simply proverbial, or – perhaps something much more material? Should we take note from the vermin scurrying inside the holes during these seemingly pre-apocalyptic years? Or are we being prepared for illumination by voices from below?

Or – perhaps it is simply to Know, things may not be at all as they seem, and yet, the Way will be made clear when the time is right.

We join spokes together in a wheel, but it is the center hole that makes the wagon move.

We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want.

We hammer wood for a house, but it is the inner space hat makes it livable.

We work with being, but non-being is what we use.

Tao Te Ching #11

Please check over at Labyrinth of the Psychonaut for more on Soundlessdawn‘s excellent new video, Cosmic Keys, Archaic Man, and The ShapeShifting Lizard Kings, which I have embedded here. He mentions the new article over at Project Camelot about a Norwegian scientist’s fright at discovering what’s really going on in those underground “seed vaults” – and why.

My friend Kingsley over at Between Both Worlds picked up on this recently as well, wondering why governments are so busy building these underground bases. I’m happy to find others sensitive to the topic and including it in their eclectic and discerning research.

On the same note I must admit feeling suspicious when many who claim to be so well-connected to certain alternative topics such as extraterrestrials, clairvoyance, channeling, and the “new consciousness” are unwilling to bring up the subject of Planet X, a polar shift or global catastrophe, or simply claim the 2012 enigma is only and ever a positive transformation. I’m not saying let’s all run around like Chicken Little; such a catastrophe could be exactly what ushers in a new consciousness for those who are prepared. In other words; the very thing that destroys, also creates, ala Shiva. The sister sun flies by more or less around the same time the 12/21/12 galactic alignment beams psychedelic energies from the “Tree of Life” at the center of the galaxy. Simultaneous? Or will the consciousness trip “save” us before, or even after if we survive, like some kind of ‘rapture’? Not sure. Perhaps be prepared for both?

It need not be something to be afraid of. And of course I’m willing to admit the whole Planet X scenario may be total crap – or even an event hundreds or thousands of years away (though I tend to think otherwise). But any responsible eso-researcher should at least discuss the issue, whether they believe it or not; there is plenty of strange evidence out there to support that, at the very least, including mysterious reports of the object in the Washington Post in 1983, secret Vatican space probes, not just global warming but the warming of our entire solar system, increased earthquakes and volcanic activity, warnings in ancient texts and even from Native Americans and certain ETs – just to name a few. Without mention of the otherwise shunned topic, I tend to be suspicious of their motives, which then seem, at least to my own personal sense of discernment, to be nothing more than eerie echoes of the dead silence from our world leaders and their cabals, comfortably ensconced in their underworld. Maybe somewhere in Paraguay, like GW. (On the other hand, let’s not forget what happened to Phil Schneider after he talked about his experience with ETs, underground bases and the gov’t.)

In May, there is scheduled a conference entitled “New Science, Consciousness & Contact” – which serendipitously is taking place right here in Kona. Whether I will go or not remains to be seen. David Wilcox is speaking, as is Dr. Elizabeth Rauscher, whose work has long been of interest to me, having quoted her work on mind control in my book published four years ago. In fact I recently discovered Dr. Rauscher is involved in another somewhat fringe yet fascinating scientific group here on the island, The Resonance Project, which I had heard of a few years ago through friends. Kind of strange how things seem to come full circle.

Did you see the crazy picture of a supposed man on Mars someone found, from a photo taken there four years ago? What do you think? I think it looks like a statue; my husband thinks it’s something akin to the Tusken Raiders.

As far as what and how to think about all of this; please check out this excellent article by Neil Kramer over at The Cleaver. Neil has managed to put a lot of powerful thoughts and concepts together that I believe will resonate with many people, particularly those who spend time researching alternative topics.

And not that you’ve missed it by now, Heath Ledger was found dead today. What went through my mind was how much his make-up as the Joker in the upcoming Batman movie (which role apparently gave him some anxiety, thanks Adam at Inside the Cosmic Cube) reminded me of Brandon Lee in The Crow, who was also 28 when he died. BTW Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin were 27 when they died just days apart in 1970. Kurt Cobain was also 27. Here’s a list of other famous people who died before age 30.

Whether this transformation will occur in one simultaneous event on December 21, 2012 remains to be seen. However Mr. Pinchbeck threw himself to the wolves in this book, revealing not just his own relationship issues, self-doubt and twisted shamanic journeys, but a full-on prophetic experience of Quetzalcoatl himself and a vision of our future perhaps only a very small handful of people are willing to consider.

He calls this book an “extravagant thought experiment”, explaining his dual lines of investigation from philosophical groundwork to his own “process of discovery”, which led us from psychedelic trips all over the world, to crop circles, alien abduction, occult manifestations, time vs. consciousness theory, global environmental and economic collapse, and back to his own frustrating and comparatively two-dimensional Manhattan habitat. Through these various means, he points out our general unwillingness as a species, in these post-modern times, to recognize the ever-increasing void of spiritual awareness; our cultural blinders have rendered us more or less incapable of recognizing the signs of our own imminent demise, which come to us through journeys into a level of consciousness few seem prepared to take.

While his writings and experiences differ greatly in style, organization, and attitude, I found the skeletal framework somehow reminiscent of my own, as if there were some great field of knowledge to be tapped into whose messages are passed on through one’s own particular experience, research, circumstances, filters, lexicon, allegory, etc. – the flesh, as it were. Granted, the subject matter stems from the same genre, though our intentions are arguably dissimilar; however I couldn’t help but notice how much of this work resonated with my own in Surfing the Tao. After much agonizing over whether to share what I found to be synchronous lines of thought, I have decided to note some here humbly, knowing my own self-published, obscure volume will likely only make it into a handful of minds. I ask the reader not to misinterpret the following as any folly of ego; I recognize my own small work can never be compared to Pinchbeck’s literary talent, however critiqued he may be. I do this only in the spirit of noticing how similarly the Tao can touch the thought patterns of an open mind and heart, and that the synchronicity of it all could raise a few eyebrows as to what may or may not be truer than we realize…

DP: “Throughout my early life and into my thirties, I lacked a metaphysical view of any sort.” (p. 19) AVM: “For the first thirty-odd years of my life, I wandered in ignorance.” (p. vii)

DP: “…I concluded, sadly, that our current civilization is not a machine built to last. (p.8) AVM: “As time and technology progresses, general knowledge is actually regressing…A system based on money instead of love will eventually falter.” (p.7)

DP: “…the modern materialist sees myth as antiquated and simpleminded – at best, metaphoric or symbolic.” (pp. 9-11) AVM: “..we have been taught to think of the ‘gods’ as mythological or symbolic…”(p. 31)

DP: “…a text can only act as a scaffolding of concepts, a ladder for others to climb.” (p. 15) AVM: ““Though some texts can be used to help guide us, no one ever entered the actual ascended state through the pages of a book.” (p. 210)

DP: “Real knowledge of what I am saying must be earned, and lived, by each individual, in his or her own way.” (p. 15) AVM: “This is a highly personal experience…little things will pop up in everyday life that will start to ‘prove’ it to each person in their own way.” (p. 14)

DP: “Few of us have time to make our own investigation of such abstruse realms as psychic research – and why would be bother, when our ‘experts’ assure us they have the situation wrapped up?” (p. 38) AVM: “…those who control the leading educational and intellectual institutions of our day have settled on the general public view of non-supernatural evolution…Many would rather accept the lives they have been taught…and not bother with anything more.” (p. 5)

DP: “…modern physicists…were surprised…[to find] that matter was largely composed of empty space. At this quantum level, physicists discovered that their attempts to measure the phenomena they were studying affected that phenomena…” (p. 47-8) AVM: “…inside an atom, there really isn’t any substance at all; just tiny sparks of energy…physicists are surprised to discover you can’t measure sub-atomic activity without influencing it.” (p. 15)

DP: “I found that attuning myself to synchronicities…required the development of a kind of intuitive skill…some of these synchronicities involved conjunctions between personal episodes and world events that seemed to me both numinous and inexplicable.” (p. 55) AVM: “My life became filled with so many bizarre synchronicities and small daily miracles that few people would even believe them.” (p. vii)

DP: “It is only as a fully self-reflective individual consciousness that one can make the choice, out of free will, to reconcile with the Divine, through sacrifice, or supercession, of the ego.” (p. 117) AVM: “Choose love: use your free will to seek His will, and soon it will coincide with your own and your life will be truly blessed.” (p. 20)

DP: “In the popular culture of our secular age, the gods, demigods, fairies and gnomes of the old mythic realm have returned as extraterrestrials.” (p. 121) AVM: “Author John A. Keel wrote in his work Operation Trojan horse, “The UFO manifestations seem to be, by and large merely minor variations of the age-old demonological phenomenon.” (p. 50)

DP: “According to this hypothesis, Christ ‘redeems’ us only when we follow his lead. We still have to save our own souls.” (p. 117) AVM: “It is a bit of a paradox – we must first save ourselves, by refusing to be fearful, and maintaining a positive state of mind.” (p. 199)

DP: “Our conventional notion of history, like our conventional understanding of space and time, supports a linear, evolutionary and causally deterministic view of events.” (p. 189) AVM: “Most people alive today probably think our world is just the result of natural evolution…” (p. 1)

DP: “As represented in the Tai Chi symbol, one pole does not negate its antipode, but reflects and includes it.” (p.209) AVM: “Yin and yang are not opposites – yinyang is the essence of the oneness of all things.” (p. 28)

DP: “The superstrings, quantum jumps, and wormholes through space-time described by contemporary physicists might prove the basis for shamanic techniques of visiting other realms…” (p. 245) AVM: “The passageways between [black and/or white holes] are referred to as wormholes, gateways through space/time…This concept mirrors our ancients’ views about our reality [re. origins of 'the gods'.]” (p.42)

DP: “’EVERYTHING IS SAFE IN GOD’S HANDS.’ This telegraphed answer [to a question regarding the fate of humanity] was startling – and reassuring…It has liberated me from fear and anxiety.” (p. 259) AVM: “God’s plan is great but complicated…only know that He loves us and everything will be ok in the end…Stop worrying…never give in to fear.” (pp. 250-1)

DP: “As it says in the Tao Te Ching, ‘Non-Tao is short-lived.” (p. 375) AVM: “’That which goes against the Tao comes to an early end.’ – Lao Tzu” (p. 14)

DP: “Such a shift would not be the ‘end of the world,’ but the end of a world, and the opening of the next.” (p. 15) AVM: “Far from being the end of everything, this event could trigger our ascension into a higher realm…” (p. 249)

But whereas many of my own thoughts seem mirrored in his book, I found it interesting how his own particular circumstances, and journey towards this consciousness, manifested in such different ways. While I’m no stranger to psychedelics and have indeed had some prophetic experiences thereby, my most profound revelations were actually not drug-induced but rather brought about during moments of startling clarity during deep meditation. What truth I believe I stumbled upon comes from within; our own atoms already contain the necessary ingredients for wisdom, transcendence and enlightenment. Mr. Pinchbeck does not hesitate to tell of his terrifying psychedelic foray into the realm of the trickster daimon and the occult; he does indeed admit the inherent dangers therein, “The initial visions had been seductively Luciferic.” (p. 72) While he does admit the inherent dangers of the “daimonic reality”, I might suggest the best protection there, as anywhere, is love. And love is something he seems to have struggled with, on a personal level, throughout – though he does recognize the necessity and power of positive thinking, something he was not afraid to comment on during a recent and much-discussed argument with Whitley Strieber on his radio show.

But he is on a very different journey than I am; for many, psychedelics offer a way to, in Pinchbeck’s own words, ‘break open the head’ in a way they might not otherwise be able to, in a world that seeks to keep this kind of knowledge hidden. Certainly one cannot help but be mystified by the profound and strikingly similar types of inferences made by the likes of McKenna, Burroughs, Narby, Pinchbeck himself and others in these altered states. To seek knowledge of another realm, consciousness or dimension, you have to somehow travel there.

Towards the end, Pinchbeck shares the transmission he received from Quetzalcoatl. I read it umpteen times, my sense of discernment on high alert, as if searching for a way to Know…I am left with the overwhelming sense that he did intuit truth and wisdom, the sort of truth one gleans from Knowing with the Spirit; in the intellectual world, nothing like this could ever be proven. I suffer the same dilemma. Somehow I find solace knowing that if these revelations indicate mental illness according to western psychiatric theory, at least I would be in good company in the psych ward. So, knowing how difficult it is to write about these things in a secular materialist culture, he does win my respect and admiration for even coming out with this material. As I said before – the wolves are eager to tear it apart, and he has laid bare his jugular, “Even if it required isolation from the mainstream, I preferred to sacrifice my beliefs and preconceptions, along with the comforts and status they afforded, rather than cling to a set of inherited values that I increasingly suspected to be false.” (p. 40) At the risk of repeating myself, again I find evidence that our many diverse paths have the potential to converge onto the Great Path – that singular Truth of Being which seems to so deftly escape our waking consciousness.

2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl was published in hardback in 2006 and paperback in 2007. Mr. Pinchbeck can be found online at Breaking Open the Head, Reality Sandwich, Whole Life Times, featured in a video at Postmodern Times, his Amazon blog and MySpace among others.

Searches for “Antarctica anomaly” yielded a work of fiction some claim could be a disinformation campaign for what scientists have really discovered down there. Another involves Lake Vostok, the “largest deep sub-ice body of water on our planet”, which stays liquid as a result of heat from an unknown source and along whose shores scientists have found an “unknown magnetic anomaly”. Since 1999 there have been a few highly unusual and dangerous ‘emergency airlifts’ during the winter, arousing suspicions; a few scientists involved in research in Antarctica have also turned up dead for various reasons. The coincidence is debatable, but rumors suggest they knew something and wanted to talk. Soon after this unusual activity, some controversy arose surrounding the development of an “ice highway” due to potential environmental impact, but the road was recently completed anyway; now they can drive there, lessening the reliance on cargo plane travel to cart equipment to and from the research stations.

All kinds of interesting news filters out of Antarctica; there are lots of blogs and even a newspaper. Awhile back I found a strange story at Pravda about some kind of time portal in Antarctica. Research also brought up Nazi interest in the continent; it is well known that Hitler was deeply involved in the occult and was perhaps influenced by claims that such knowledge originated in Atlantis, or maybe he was looking for the passage to Agartha itself, supposedly accessible through holes in the poles. There is some history of military activity there, see Operation Highjump and Britain’s secret war. There’s even a movie called The Secret Land about the US military exploration of Antarctica in 1948. But according to the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, countries are no longer allowed to engage in military activity there – of course, one imagines that some, including the US, are indeed doing just that, in secret. In fact I found other rumors of the NSA coming in and taking over the study of Lake Vostok. Certainly there is military technology there.

And amongst the news about all the melting going on down there as a result of global warming, I found this article about “an unprecedented series of ‘blasts’, energy surges, which the planet has been taking from an as yet unknown source which has been bombarding Antarctica with cosmic rays and disrupting Northern Hemisphere weather systems on a global scale.” The largest blast occurred on December 1, 2004, just weeks before the earthquake/tsunami in Indonesia. This information startled me into thinking about Planet X again as being the cause. This quote from an anonymous Russian scientist gave me pause, “Why this game? We all know what’s happening.” Global Research concluded the article by wondering about a fact apparently known to world governments and scientific establishments but beyond the understanding of the general public at large. “It remains an undisputed fact that this world of ours is facing a type of global cataclysmic event buried in our common geological past, and maybe…in our common ancestral memory also.”

Certain investigators have suggested this debated extra-planetary body is hurling towards Earth’s South Pole which is why most astronomers don’t see it, and why there is such fevered research going on down there right now. Former CNN producer Marshall Masters does a great job finding what programs are being sponsored that could aid in tracking Planet X; incidentally, he also throws his hat into the ring with the binary star theory. Who knows what is really going on, what will happen, if or when but one thing is for sure: I will continue to pay attention.

[Picture of new South Pole Telescope courtesy of US Antarctic Program]

In my book I suggest awareness of fractals might help spark the consciousness necessary to create a world outside of what are now considered to be our boundaries. Some researchers believe ancient civilizations were processing fractals long ago, evidence of which is found in ancient carvings and artwork. I always thought the Mandelbrot fractal resembled a sitting Buddha on its side. I believe fractals may be a much larger part of our subconscious than we realize; somehow they provide a link, or a bridge, to a larger universe; a Greater Reality – the Tao. In my own spirit I see them as a way the Tao reaches out to us and says, I Am.

For whatever reason fractals fascinate and inspire me. If you’re into them check out Ultra Fractal 4, which a friend turned me onto recently. I’m looking forward to tackling it myself and making some fun designs. I did this one a few years ago with an older program.

This is the super-fractal vegetable, Romanesco broccoli (photo courtesy of Jon Sullivan).

Mandelbrot set.

According to scientists, this “disturning event” shows “we are crossing climate thresholds.”