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Good News – The End of the World has been Delayed (Again)

Avalon — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 18:40:05 +0000

There is so much buzz about 2012, the Solstice, the full moon, the eclipse, world woes, and ancient predictions. It could be easy to lose focus and get caught in a downward spiral of thought and energy.

Rob Brezsny comes to the rescue once again with this uplifting excerpt from his book Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia, How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.

This is Part 6 of his series on how good life really is – we just have to see it from a healthy perspective. I love this entry in particular, it seems the apocalypse is a pretty common prediction among humans – and yet we’re all still here!

LET’S EXPOSE THE OBVIOUS MIRACLES (Part 6)

“Many people alive today are convinced that our civilization is in a dark age, cut off from divine favor, and on the verge of collapse. But it’s healthy to note that similar beliefs have been common throughout history.

As far back as 2800 BC, an unknown prophet wrote on an Assyrian clay tablet, “Our earth is degenerate in these latter days. There are signs that the world is speedily coming to an end.” In the seventh century BC, many Romans believed Rome would suffer a cataclysm in 634 BC.

Around 300 BC, Hindus were convinced they lived in an “unfortunate time” known as the Kali Yuga — the lowest point in the great cosmic cycle. In 426 AD, the Christian writer Augustine mourned that this evil world was in its last days. According to the Lotharingian panic-mongers who lived more than a 1,000 years ago, human life on earth would end on March 25, 970.

Astrologers in 16th-century London calculated that the city would be destroyed by a great flood on February 1, 1524. American minister William Miller proclaimed the planet’s “purification by fire” would occur in 1844. Anglican minister Michael Baxter assured his followers that the Battle of Armageddon would take place in 1868. The Jehovah’s Witnesses
anticipated the End of Days in 1910, then 1914, then 1918, then 1925.

Oddly, no major prophets forecast cataclysm for the years between 1930 and 1945. Is there any time in history that was more deserving of being called the “Apocalypse” than that period? The Great Depression was the most widespread, long-lasting economic disaster ever. During World War II, 50 million civilians and 25 million soldiers were killed.

John Ballou Newbrough (“America’s Greatest Prophet”) wasn’t impressed with the tragedy of that era. After the war, he promised mass annihilation and global anarchy for 1947.

The website “A Brief History of the Apocalypse” at tinyurl.com/yqb83n lists over 200 visions of doom that have spilled from the hysterical imaginations of various prophets in the last two millennia.

Our age may have more of these doomsayers per capita than previous eras, although the proportion of religious extremists among them has declined as more scientists, journalists, and storytellers have taken up the singing of humanity’s predicted swan song.

In her book *For the Time Being,* Annie Dillard concludes, “It is a weakening and discoloring idea that rustic people knew God personally once upon a time but that it is too late for us. There never was a more holy age than ours, and never a less. There is no whit less enlightenment under the tree by your street than there was under the Buddha’s bodhi
tree.”

I invite you to go sit under that tree by your street.”

READ PART 1 OF THE SERIES “Let’s Expose the Obvious Miracles”:
http://bit.ly/ObviousMiracle1

Gemini Manor – Secret Hollywood Hideaway

Avalon — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 05:50:57 +0000

I started feeling a strong urge to visit Los Angeles weeks ago. It was unexplainable, but quite persistent so finally I made a casual call to a new Facebook friend to see if he had any rooms available at his house for a few days.

Was I in luck.

I’d seen some intriguing photos of “Gemini Manor” . . . but photos do no justice at all to this amazing work of art.

In fact first night I was there, I decided not to leave my room to get something I’d forgotten downstairs. I just wasn’t sure I could find my way back through the winding maze to reach my cozy room up in the trees.

I’ve since heard several people say that visiting the Manor feels like being inside an M.C. Escher drawing.

Only this is much, much more elaborate than anything Escher ever drew.

There are multitudes of…

- stained glass windows
- old movie props
- total junk pieces turned into magical sculptures
- kid’s toys
- dragons
- fairies
- cars

- comfy sofas
- whimsical creatures
- hidden rooms
- towering skylights
- mirrors
- artwork
- and on and on and on.

And on.

I’ve never experienced anything like it.

I’m addicted – I’ll be going back again soon. Meanwhile I just can’t keep it a secret from the world. Other people should experience this place.

It’s the kind of destination people travel far across the world to see, only it’s just around the corner in Hollywood. It’s a creation that both awakens and satisfies the innate human thirst we all have for the magic and mystery of life.

Alexander Lehr is the creative, amazing Wizard behind the curtain.

He’s a gracious, wonderful host who will happily transport you into his secret oasis of stunning beauty.

A visionary genius of many talents, he’s a Filmmaker, Event Producer, Real Estate Investor, Artist, Business Man, and Collector (ask him about his 41 cars!).

He’s lived on the property for decades so he naturally knows the town, and it’s residents, very intimately.

A natural storyteller, he thoroughly entertained me with fascinating accounts of his adventures in Hollywood, as well as his tales of the area history. He’s a real insider with connections to people and parties others only dream about.

He also throws some great parties himself, find him on Facebook (Alexander Lehr) and keep on eye on what he’s doing. His events are as magical as his home.

If you’re going to LA, forget Disneyland (even though it’s one of his favorite places) and visit Gemini Manor instead! I highly recommend it.

(P.S. The Manor is frequently used as a film set. You’ll find lots more photos on the Ambassador Locations website.)

Avalon of the Heart

Avalon — Tue, 04 May 2010 03:56:08 +0000

Avalon of the Heart

by Manon Tromp

Who thinks of Avalon, thinks of magic and mysticism, the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, of the mists of Avalon or of the Goddess honoured there. It is also possible that Avalon does not mean a thing to you; however, it does give you a certain feeling. Avalon is a name that has enormous appeal to numerous people, all over the world. Why? What is that link with Avalon many feel? What is Avalon? Does Avalon exist, or is it a figment of our imagination?

Finding the answers to these questions became a personal journey of discovery – an assignment to investigate the magic of Avalon. Avalon seems to be intangible but it is really within reach. For me, Avalon is closely linked with the town of Glastonbury in the South West of England. The year 2002 was the first time I came to Glastonbury, England, ‘The Isle of Avalon’, as the sign along the road indicates when driving into town. It was a feast of recognition and an overpowering sense of coming home: I have been here before and here is where I wanted to be. I hear that from many people who have crossed my path since then, and who, like I, have visited Glastonbury. And even if they have never visited the place, they do have the feeling they have to.

No one can deny that Glastonbury has a strong energy, which can be felt by many. It is a loving and transformative energy that expresses itself differently per person and feels differently every time. This energy is also known as the Avalon energy, but what is that connection between Avalon and Glastonbury?

The meaning of the name Avalon

The name Avalon is from the Celtic Avalloc or Avallach, a Celtic demigod who ruled the underworld. The word Avalon means: “The Isle of Apples”. Indeed, many apple trees grow in Glastonbury, but that does not have to mean anything. The apple was seen as the fruit of wisdom for Goddesses, a magical fruit. A dragon or a serpent guarded the holy orchard. Later, the apple became a forbidden fruit in the bible, and Eve, urged by the serpent, was accused of seducing Adam to take a bite of this forbidden fruit. The tone was set and women, from now on, were portrayed as seducers and traitors by the church. With this, the church leaders succeeded in their endeavor to ban the (female) nature religion and to entice people to convert to Christianity. And yet, the mystical meaning of Avalon stayed alive, especially in legends; she slumbered in the background, waiting until the fruit of wisdom could be eaten again and we can use our inner wisdom once more.

Avalon and the Goddess

According to a legend, Avalon was long ago an existing physical place, where priestesses were honoring their Goddesses by performing rituals. It was a sacred place, a kind of temple, where not everyone had access. The Celtic people respected this. One says that through the arrival of Christianity, Avalon is shrouded behind the veils. Only those possessing the ability to look through them can gain access to Avalon.

For centuries the priestesses have honored the Goddess with ceremonies and rituals in Avalon. Avalon is connected with the Goddess and in that sense is a symbol for female spirituality. The Goddess is Mother, the giver of life, she who creates. Life originated from her womb, she looks after it, nourishes it and feeds it. The cycle of her body is the cycle of the earth: a circular, reoccurring change. The Goddess is the symbol for our femininity connecting us with creation, beauty and respect for the life Mother Earth gives us.

According to the legends, women rule in Avalon and more specifically the Lady of Avalon; a Goddess of love, beauty, power and wisdom. She is the Lady of Light and Dark; she has multiple names and multiple ways of appearing.

Among the eldest names are those of the nine Morgans – a sisterhood of nine, of which Morgan la Fey is the most well known. The familiar druid Taliesin in the book Vita Merlini by Geoffrey of Monmouth has noted these names. The nine women together possess all the qualities of the Goddess and are known for their knowledge of the seven free arts: astronomy, astrology, math’s, healing, music, the body and divination. The nine Morgans sit in their dark cloaks in a circle around the large cauldron of inspiration, immortality and reincarnation, in a cave, deep under the Glastonbury Tor, in the underworld of Annwn. Sometimes they take the appearance of black crows, white doves, green jays or hawks.

Female Spirituality

Female spirituality is an acknowledgement of the Goddess as planet, as the earth and of woman. In short, this is the female principle of creation that is inside all of us. We can create life, we can celebrate life and honor her through our participation in the cycle of the earth and the universe. We represent Life! The Goddess is everything that is creative, everything which lives in nature and everything what it truly means to be a human.

The Goddess gives everything and takes everything, she is the connection with life, the earth and the cosmic powers. Everything that influences the earth, influences the Goddess and everything and everyone on earth. A clean environment is good for us, just like harmony among people without competition, conflicts and separation. The Goddess is in all of us; she is the power and the strength of women and men, to direct their own lives, to having free choice and to take responsibilities for their actions. The philosophy of the Goddess is, that there is abundance for everyone.

Glastonbury: Isle of Avalon

Glastonbury is located in the South West of England, in the district of Somerset, not far from well known stone circles like Stonehenge and Avebury. The popular mystic of the early twentieth century, Dion Fortune, called Glastonbury: the Avalon of the hart. Glastonbury being the physical place and Avalon being the spiritual place. Many myths and legends indicate that Glastonbury is where Avalon is.

Glastonbury used to be an island and was called Ynisvitrin, an old Celtic name, meaning: The Isle of Glass. It was well known for it’s hill, called the Tor, which still stands out in the landscape of today. According to stories, this hill was used to bury the dead. In Avalon legends the Tor is known as land of the dead, the underworld. These legends also point out a connection to Caer Sidi, the glass castle of the fairies and the home of Cerridwen, the crone goddess who is in charge of the kettle of wisdom.

But the best known legends which connect Glastonbury to Avalon, are the King Arthur ones. He represents the male side of Avalon and of it’s values: strength, courage, protection and power. The name Arthur was derived from Arth Fawr, The Big Bear in the solar system. The legends mention a few places in and around Glastonbury were important events took place. One of the most well known legends is about the dying Arthur, who is taken by boat to the Isle of Avalon. There he will rest until he returns.

Avalon in the here and now

Glastonbury has always been a place for pilgrims from all kinds of backgrounds. Nowadays it still attracts a lot of visitors who are intrigued by her mystery and history. It is considered to be a centre for spirituality and magic. The whole town breathes spirituality and people in all kind of colorful outfits roam the streets to visit the spiritual shops that are everywhere. The energy of Avalon is felt everywhere and it gives you a feeling of love, acceptance and openness, which in the ‘real world’ is not always easily found. The meetings with people you can have are special and before you know it, you will be in a deep conversation about life with someone who you have just met. Many different spiritual activities are being organized every day and you can have your pick from anything from yoga to Buddhist meditation, from wicca meeting to a druids ceremony.

The Avalon spirit of the heart is also evident in the more big events that are being organized. I will mention a few I have attended myself and which I can highly recommend: the Glastonbury Symposium and the Goddess Conference. The symposium is a three day event where speakers and researchers present their findings on earth mysteries as crop circles, orbs and other phenomenon. The Goddess Conference is a 5 day celebration of female spirituality with workshops, lectures and ceremonies. Both events take place in the month of July.

There are more places like Glastonbury/Avalon in the world, which seem to be portals to other worlds and dimensions. They have a peaceful and loving vibration, which makes you feel unconditionally accepted. It also brings about a faster pace of spiritual and personal development and before you know it your creativity seems to be exploding and taking you to levels, you never knew were possible. I can get easily addicted to places like that, because deep down I know this is our natural way of being: living from the heart.

Manon Tromp is a Dutch writer, trainer and singer. She works with the Celtic Traditions and teaches Nature Magic. Parts of this article are from her book The Magic of Avalon which has been published in Holland. For more information: www.manontromp.com

The Bohemian Life is the Only Life Worth Living – Osho

Avalon — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:45:35 +0000

OSHO, IN THE PAST ALL FAMOUS ARTISTS HAVE BEEN WELL-KNOWN FOR THEIR BOHEMIAN SIDE OF LIFE. OSHO, PLEASE CAN YOU SAY SOMETHING ABOUT CREATIVITY AND DISCIPLINE?

The bohemian life is the only life worth living! All other kinds of lives are only lukewarm; they are more ways of committing slow suicide than ways of living life passionately and intensely. In the past it was inevitable that the artist had to live in rebellion, because creativity is the greatest rebellion in existence. If you want to create you have to get rid of all conditionings, otherwise your creativity will be nothing but copying, it will be just a carbon copy. You can be creative only if you are an individual, you cannot create as a part of the mob psychology. The mob psychology is uncreative; it lives a life of drag, it knows no dance, no song, no joy; it is mechanical.

Of course, there are a few things you will get from the society only if you are mechanical: respectability you will get, honors you will
get. Universities will confer D.Litts on you, countries will give you gold medals, you may finally become a Nobel laureate, but this whole
thing is ugly.

A real man of genius will discard all this nonsense, because this is bribery. Giving the Nobel prize to a person simply means that your
services to the establishment are respected, that you are honored because you have been a good slave, obedient, that you have not gone astray, that you have followed the well-trodden path.

The creator cannot follow the well-trodden path, he has to search out his own way, he has to inquire in the jungles of life, he has to go
alone, he has to be a dropout from the mob mind, from the collective psychology. The collective mind is the lowest mind in the world; even the so-called idiots are a little more superior than the collective idiocy. But the collectivity has its own bribes: it respects people,
honors people, if they go on insisting that the way of the collective mind is the only right way.

It was out of sheer necessity that in the past, creators of all kinds — the painters, the dancers, the musicians, the poets, the sculptors
– had to renounce respectability. They had to live a kind of bohemian life, the life of a vagabond; that was the only possibility for them to be creative. This need not be so in the future. If you understand me, if you feel what I am saying has truth in it, then in the future everybody should live individually and there will be no need for a bohemian life. The bohemian life is the by-product of a fixed, orthodox, conventional, respectable life.

My effort is to destroy the collective mind and to make each individual free to be himself or herself. Then there is no problem; then you can live as you want to live. In fact, humanity will really only be born the day the individual is respected in his rebellion.

Humanity has still not been born; it is still in the womb. What you see as humanity is only a very hocus-pocus phenomenon. Unless we give individual freedom to each person, absolute freedom to each person to be himself, to exist in his own way…. And, of course, he has not to interfere with anybody — that is part of freedom. Nobody should interfere with anybody.

But in the past everybody has been poking his nose into everybody else’s affairs — even into things which are absolutely private,
which have nothing to do with the society. For example, you fall in love with a woman — what has that got to do with the society? It is
purely a personal phenomenon, it is not of the marketplace. If two persons are agreeing to commune in love, the society should not come into it, but the society comes into it with all its paraphernalia, in direct ways, in indirect ways. The policeman will stand between the lovers; the magistrate will stand between the lovers; and if that is not enough then the societies have created a super-policeman, God, who will take care of you.

The idea of God is that of a peeping Tom who does not even allow you privacy in your bathroom, who goes on looking through the keyhole, watching what you are doing. This is ugly. All the religions of the world say God continuously watches you — this is ugly. What kind of God is this? Has he got no other business but to watch everybody, follow everybody? Seems to be the supreme-most detective!

Humanity needs a new soil — the soil of freedom. Bohemianism was a reaction, a necessary reaction, but if my vision succeeds then there will be no bohemianism because there will be no so-called collective mind trying to dominate people. Then everybody will be at ease with himself. Of course, you have not to interfere with anybody, but as far as your life is concerned you have to live it on your own terms.

Then only is there creativity. Creativity is the fragrance of individual freedom.

The Goose is Out
Chapter #9
Chapter title: Rejoice to abandon!
9 March 1981 am in Buddha Hall

A Whole New Frequency of Healing

Avalon — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 06:24:15 +0000

My intention: be a master healer. I’ve thrown that one out to the universe a few times and it always gets amazing results. Once, I was almost immediately transported to live at a healing temple in Sedona, Arizona where I learned a whole new way of being in the world from some of the best healers around. More recently, I was introduced to a new modality called Reconnective Healing.

I was seeking out something new, something hugely powerful. And I found it. This is like nothing else I’ve ever experienced even though I’ve been on a spiritual path now for over twenty years. It is simple, direct, instant, and also quite a mystery. My personal sense is that I’ve been craving this energy my whole life and now it’s finally here and ready to play.

The frequency is completely benevolent and non-denominational. You don’t have to take up, or put down, any beliefs. All you have to do is relax and observe. I went to see a practitioner of Reconnective Healing to see if it was real and to get rid of a bad tummy ache. I came away with an entirely new life and I had barely been touched by these new frequencies. It seems to be a simple, direct way to experience deep healing of the whole being…body, mind, and soul.

“This is something new. This is different. This is real.”

I believe in the work so much, and want everyone to experience the transformative effects Reconnective Healing can have on a person’s life. The training to become a practitioner was an eye-opening, consciousness shifting adventure into miracles. The stories of healings I had read about were almost unbelievable. Even after my tummy ache went away and I started to see dramatic shifts in my life, I still went to the training to become a practitioner a bit skeptical. Yet there I was, in person, watching dramatic healings right before my eyes. There are scientists and researchers worldwide who are studying this evolutionary mode of healing. They say this is something of a whole new power and frequency.

So it could all just be a bunch of new age fluff, or even snake oil. Or could it be that this is part of the Great Evolution of humanity that we are now undergoing? Is this the process that makes your whole life click like it did for me? You owe it to yourself to try it out.

Reconnective Healing works in person, over long distances, with people who know you and those who don’t…it’s great for children and animals. Call or email me to schedule your session…

Avalon
805-760-8588 (cell)
Avalon@AvalonOfSedona.com

P.S. You can also find out lots more about me and about Reconnective Healing by poking around on my blog: www.AvalonOfSedona.com