December 21, 2012 - What do I think?

December 21 2012 - what do I think?

Many of you have written in and asked for my interpretation on the upcoming end of the Mayan calendar (Dec 21 2012). Those close to me have heard me joking that 'maybe they got sick of writing it'. Why  on earth would we expect a calendar to be left for us that lasts forever? 

So the logistics would say, the end of the calendar is purely that, the end of a calendar. Human love timetables and definitive timetables. Endings scare us. What will be next? Will it be over? Will what be over? And we're all a dramatic lot who have deep ancient memories stored in our cells from our ancestors who underwent dramatic disasters and life changing experiences. Perhaps memories from our other lives. We remember, and thus we expect to face annihilation in some form. Catastrophobia in other words. History does have a habit of repeating when we don't learn from it.

 Theories are running wild on the topic of 2012. When I was 16, a book dropped off a shelf at my local library. You can hear it free here on YouTube. The second in the series can be heard here. These books (written in the 80s) rocked my 16 year old world as they talked about energies and events that I felt in my gut and witnessed manifesting in the years after my reading it. The material resonated, as far out as it may have seemed to others. The books (channeled material) mentioned a window from the 1980s-2012,  a window of time that psychics claimed couldn't be 'seen' intuitively, a slice of time that no one could project ahead into, as though it had been left for us to figure out ourselves - free-will for everyone on the planet.  I like that idea to this day as it reinforces a belief I hold that we do get to choose certain specifics of our physical reality.  

 In that respect, Dec 21, 2012 will be one of Your making no matter what manifests or does not manifest on a global scale. That may be the most accurate answer of them all.

Other theories surrounding this whole subject:

* Disclosure. An announcement that aliens are real, they are here or on their way or that they already walk amongst us. The arrival of ships.

* Massive weather shifts, a possible pole reversal. Cataclysmic conditions, earthquakes, tornadoes, you name it.

* A spiritual awakening that tips the majority towards a better and brighter future as we wake up to the fact that we are All One.

* A Change in the way we measure time. The calendar thus becomes the 'end of time' as we have been measuring it, but not the end of the world.

* The return of great Gods who once mingled with humans.

* Events that force us all to work together to 'fix' social problems that have built up and so far have been left unresolved

* Worldwide conflict, a possible third world war.

* The collapse of the financial systems on the planet.

* Reality splits - where this current Earth continues on, but other Earths in other dimensions are born, and we'll all be living on the one most in line with where our energy is at on Dec 21, 2012.

There are as many theories as there are people living on the planet. 

I had a lot of ideas since that book piqued my interest 19 years ago. My thoughts have since changed, because from my vantage point as an Astrologer, I see cycles within cycles, a never-ending story. I see no real endings, just cycles of expansion and contraction.

Saying that, the lead up to this point in time does seem to coincide with a feeling of 'contraction'. Things tighten up. Lessons become obvious, inescapable. Time changes, perhaps moving faster. Feelings intensify. issues become larger so that they can be dealt with. Are you feeling it also? Those who remain ungrounded during these times are the ones likely to get swept up into any frenzy and thus become mere pawns playing into the games and manipulations of others who are feeding off people's emotional fear. Those who look for the bigger picture and know that all is unfolding as it should, and who remember their divine heritage and who they really are (or simply put those willing to keep making better choices and refusing to put 'negative' energy back into the pool), will become beacons of light during darker times.

I can say this with certainty - global shifts are here. They have been building for some time. I agree with the "spiritual awakening" theory but I'll also throw in that during a time of a spiritual awakening there is usually an equal measure of people who aren't sure what it means, whether they even want to participate and thus inevitably end up unintentionally joining team of people who want to try and keep things the same, out of fear of change, inadvertently adding to the chaos on the planet. 

A pole shift IS upon us, but I am beginning to feel it may be an energetic one. The good gets better, the bad gets worse all under their own self-guided self-fulfilling prophecies. You're either facing your issues and working through them or you're getting lost in your human dramas.  It's all a matter of perspective. If you insist on appeasing your ego and proving everyone else wrong, cutting off people who disagree with you (when they could actually be helping you grow through your old conditioning) then you're likely to wind up with a happy ego but sad soul. In other words, you win the battle but lose the war. If you treat every experience as a challenge and an opportunity to evolve, then you'll sail through the coming years with much more ease. You'll be the change and part of the change everyone is seeking.

Kabbalah defines the world we see with our senses as the 1%. And that the greater reality we can't see is the 99%: that stuff you spend so much time on that you'll inevitably lose when you die. That's the 1% crap. The 99% is the spiritual dimension where you are more than just a human being. As the 1% proves ineffective, unfulfilling or painful, people will be forced back inside themselves to (hopefully) connect to a source of spiritual power (the 99%). In other words, people are beginning to disconnect from the matrix they currently find themselves in and realize there is more going on behind the scenes than we have been led to believe.

In the months and years ahead, you're either adding to Light on the planet or contributing to the blocking of it, and thus you're working for the Dark. Light and Dark are two sides of the same coin of course, and simply labels. But when you're not shining light on your own secrets or conflicts, you're adding to the darkness, it's as simple as that. The Light helps us grow and evolve as a whole, the darkness delays that process.

Light = conscious awareness.

Dark = unconsciousness.

Are you being controlled from behind the scenes by your lower nature, your reptilian brain? Are you, in fact, taking this whole physical life way too seriously, and therefore reacting in ways that pollute your environment further with even more unconscious actions and thus darkness?

The great news is that the darker moments are perfect opportunities to bring in more Light, more conscious awareness. Stop hiding your darkness or hiding from it. Accept that, just like everyone else on the planet, you have the option and choice to align with either. We all have inner 'demons', and it's our personal job to slay them (by bringing them into the light of our conscious awareness, where they can do no harm). That which is lurking behind the scenes, pulling strings, untalked about and ignored/denied or repressed is controlling us, whether we care to admit it or not. The media will continue to be filled with examples of this very fact. "Disclosure" is upon us, of much that has been kept in the dark for so long. 

Astrologically, Uranus in Aries represents an awakening of the individual. We can't stop this. People who will no longer sit back and take it. Aries means war, so unexpected conflict (Uranus in  Aries) is inevitable. The individual is demanding its equal rights. People are bubbling with unresolved anger, possibly even the anger that they have an intuitive feeling they are being manipulated and used by those with more power and more financial control. The pyramid is beginning to crumble. Those abusing their power at the top may soon find themselves powerless and defeated at the bottom. And those long suffering souls at the bottom may actually come out on top!

Pluto in Capricorn represents the destruction (Pluto) of outdated systems (Capricorn). All governments are going through a cleansing. Secrets are bubbling to the surface. Nightmare scenarios are being exposed as real (such as how widespread child sexual abuse is, and the key public figures who are part of it). Conspiracy theorists are proving to be correct in their claims, made back in the 80s. 

Companies are shutting down due to greed, corruption. People swindling others are being brought to justice. But at the same time, there are those in power who are hiding (Pluto) from the structures they are promoting (Capricorn) that are unhealthy and harmful to our planet as a whole. Through diversion and other more overt methods of control, there are those seeking to do all they can to keep their secrets just that. No wonder we feel such a push-pull right now.

Saturn (our karmic life lessons) is currently in Scorpio. Saturn rules Capricorn. it's the Lesson teacher. In Scorpio, it teaches us through death, losing that which we value. it also rules intimacy - trusting others long enough to get close so that we can do the shadow work of unveiling and transforming our inner darkness (the parts of ourselves where we feel shame, hurt, rage, hatred etc). Scorpio is ruled by Pluto the transformer. When we have the two combined (Saturn in Scorpio and Pluto in Capricorn) we have a "mutual reception" between the two energies. They go hand in hand. Combining the energies of Scorpio and Capricorn we already see the patterns playing out:

Abuse within governing bodies (financial, sexual etc)

Greed/manipulation within existing structures and hierarchies

Massive overhauls and changes necessary to repair what's broken

Death as a vehicle of change to the system

Transforming the rules and regulations

Death/Changing of major political leaders around the world

I talked about Pluto in Capricorn before the fact, so you can compare what was said then, with what has transpired since. This placement also warns of the danger of over-control. As the citizens of planet earth awaken from their slumber and realize to what extent they have been abused and used, lied to and otherwise taken for granted, there will be outbursts and backlashes as people rebel against the rulers of their time. Pluto in Capricorn shows that the powers that be will not give in easily. Controls may be put in place, ways to control people's freedom of speech, movement and individuality. Capricorn is the System and Pluto can represent every effort being made NOT to change!  

 But Change is synonymous with both planets. 

Uranus in Aries will continue to move like a spark of electricity, first via the internet as groups focused on social change (be it the Meditators of Neptune in Pisces or the internet groups or computer hackers of Uranus in Aries), to those who refuse to change just for the sake of it (Saturn in Scorpio). Everyone everywhere is being tested, in public, in private. We are urged to transform the darkness within our personal life, before we entertain any hope or possibility of things shifting in larger scales. one affects the others. one person can truly change the world.

As things intensify, and the world news seems completely bleak, we must not forget one thing. Change is necessary. Look around. Things aren't working on a grand scale. Roads are broken up, people are having to pay for education, healthcare stinks, food is being genetically manipulated (here in California, people actually voted to NOT have genetically modified ingredients listed on their groceries), the list goes on. Things have to change for us to sustain our future on the planet. A happy future at that.

But....things are changing in a positive way, a way no one is really reporting on the owned media news networks. We don't get to see or hear about these changes, thus adding to the darkness on the planet. But the possibility of long term improvement is riding on the wave of the current short term stresses.  There is always a light shining.

How do we feel when we 'wake up' after a night of slumber? Groggy, tired, confused, unsure, vulnerable?

That's how many people are feeling right now across Planet Earth. You can't see them or speak to them but there are people across the globe living with the same conflicts you have, who are trying every day to handle the conflicts raging within themselves. And each decision to move further into the Light, tips the balance of energy on the planet.

People are questioning what they are being told. Smelling a rat when the news and politics of the day are trying to steer them into a place of fear and powerless. People are realizing they can regain their sense of power by looking beyond mere surface appearances. Who gains from tomorrow's conflict or disaster, attack or crisis? What will happen when the balance tips in favor of the Light? What would it take for that to happen?

These are question we may see answered in our time. Where we see light, we must see shadows. And where we see shadows, there is always light. Change sometimes creeps in slowly, for better or worse. Sometimes it arrives with a nuclear blast of devastating proportions. Great change, the type we are all looking forward to, is rooted in truth. "Seek the truth and it shall set you free".  And so I believe that as the truth is told (of course determining the truth can be difficult while Neptune is in Pisces!) the shift many are talking about is facilitated.

Who's to say if some of the 2012 theories are relevant. I expect we'll see the results in 2013-2015 when Uranus and Pluto continue to square off against each other.  As a humanity, we are facing the uncomfortable conflict created when we are forced to face the darkness we have been instrumental in creating, allowing, ignoring or dismissing. We all have a hand in global events, even from just our reaction to the 'news' we see before us each day. What do we do and how do we change when we have become entrenched in negative patterns and behavior. Do we accept the discomfort of change, or insist of digging our heads in the sands? Try as we may, this is just not the page in the history books when that is possible. 

And that idea excites me.

Why don't we simply focus on a better world, however that looks to us. if our desires are stronger for the whole than our personal selfish nature, we may just see some major changes - of our own making.

2012, I believe, sets the stage for the unfolding of greater and deeper change - necessary change and often difficult. But we are simply players in a story that has reached a darker chapter but which, with our help, focus, commitment and intention, can have a happy ending.  

 In other words, as the chapter of the Mayan Calendar ends, the real change begins.

Your astrologer,

Neil D Paris

www.NewWorldAstrology.com