Birth Pains of a New Planet

Photograph © 2015 Peggy Kornegger
Photograph © 2015 Peggy Kornegger
The daily news is full of distressing world events. Terrorist attacks, lockdowns, drones, guns, and the targeting of entire religions, races, or nationalities as enemies. Racism, homophobia, violence against women, bullying—these too are pervasive. There is no doubt that much of the planet is living through turmoil. Many people are reacting within themselves to this turmoil, experiencing chronic depression, emotional upheaval, or physical/mental breakdown. In one way or another, we are all affected by events in the world and in the lives of those we care about. Still, beneath those events is the transformative energy of a planet in transition. The old age and the new age are engaged in a vibrational dance-off, and something entirely new is being born. The planet’s vibration is shifting radically, and our vibrations are shifting right along with it. Yes, change can be unsettling and frightening, but it also can be exhilarating and hopeful.

We hear lots about fear, violence, and conflict at both the global and the individual levels; yet, that is not all that exists. Stories of compassion, courage, mutual aid, and loving-kindness are underreported, but they occur, as do stories about the spirit of people in the midst of crisis. The website Positive News (http://www.positivenewsus.org/) posts less-publicized accounts of the lives and experiences of people around the world who are taking positive action for peace, harmony, and global oneness. These are individuals and groups who live love day to day in their homes and communities as they step out of separation and embrace others as sisters and brothers. In that embrace is the beginning of the end of “otherness.” Through compassionate action, sharing, kindness, and mutual regard, these people are making a difference in the world. Small scale becomes large scale person by person.

The extreme polarities (love/hatred, war/peace, oneness/separation) that we are seeing now are all part of the planetary shift Earth is experiencing. No matter what you see in the external world or in the media, something greater is being birthed on our planet. At the deepest level, it is the full expression of love itself, the complete embodiment of spirit in human form, and the conscious awareness of the divinity that lives within each of us. That may sound like spiritual nonsense or utterly utopian and unrealistic when you look around at the anguish so prevalent in the world or in the lives of those we love. Still, ancient cultures have foreseen and spoken of this time. It’s not just wishful thinking or uninformed naiveté. The wisdom of elders in many cultures tells us that “now is the time” and “we are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”

This past Christmas Eve, I watched a late-night program called “May Peace Prevail on Earth.” Broadcast nationally and viewable online, it was organized by the United Religions Initiative and was meant to be a bridge between those of varied religions, spiritual beliefs, cultures, and backgrounds. The diversity of those participating was both impressive and grounded in a visible sense of community among those speaking, singing, dancing, offering prayers, and lighting candles. To me, it was a hopeful sign, that there are more and more people and groups dedicated to oneness and community instead of divisiveness and separation. The full program can still be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWZ2dgd1fbg.

So if you listen to the mainstream news, don’t forget that it’s not the whole story. Those who pay for these newscasts benefit from keeping people uninformed, fearful, and powerless. We don’t have to buy into that reality. We can choose to love one another. That’s how a new planet is birthed. It may not be easy or clean or quick, but eventually, something miraculous appears. A new planet is being born, and we are the midwives. We are the newborn as well. In the midst of chaos, new life comes into being, and new being comes to life. Each of us is a miracle moving down the birth canal to emerge onto a light-filled planet, full of infinite possibility.

 

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My new book Lose Your Mind, Open Your Heart–Limitless Love on an Evolving Planet is now available for ordering at Amazon and Barnes & Noble!
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The Real Magic Kingdom

Photograph © 2013 Peggy Kornegger
Photograph © 2013 Peggy Kornegger
Last month, during the summer solstice, I participated in a very special weekend celebration called Living in the Heart of Possibility, the annual Global Gathering put together by Panache Desai and staff/volunteers. This was my third year being part of the incredible energy created by nearly 500 people gathered from all over the world (42 states, 21 countries), and it was the best yet. In Orlando, Florida, not far from Disney World, we found ourselves within a “magic kingdom” beyond anything even Walt Disney could have imagined. The magic was in our hearts—and in the connections we felt among us, individually and collectively.

In the course of three days, we had wildly diverse experiences ranging from uncontrollable laughter (Panache is very funny) to tears of release and joy. Sessions included activities that opened us up on multiple levels: yoga; improv “volleyball” with dozens of giant beach balls; full-out crazy dancing to an eclectic mix of rap, rock, kirtan, and Monty Python; ongoing sharing of life stories which often led to individual and group emotional breakthroughs (with Panache’s help); and deep inward journeys within the powerful catalytic energy that Panache transmits vibrationally. At a wonderful event on Saturday night, volunteers from our group offered free massage, Reiki, angel guidance, chakra healing, hugs, and other gifts of love to participants. Basically, we were all in an altered state of consciousness throughout the weekend—and continuing into the weeks that followed. Every small detail of life felt miraculous, every conversation deeply meaningful.

This state, filled with seemingly never-ending synchronicities and miracles, is becoming our new “normal” in the world. I have experienced it increasingly powerfully at every Panache event and every global Livestream he has facilitated online. Our lives are shifting in such a magical way that the miraculous streams nonstop now. Within this energy, in person or in cyberspace, there is a sense of profound connection and oneness—I becoming We. Inner doors open wider and wider until they fly off the hinges, and we are just in open space, expanding infinitely. Timelessness, heart-centered conscious awareness, and moment-to-moment living are not aspired to but just experienced effortlessly. During the weekend, every time I looked into the eyes of another person, there was no separation: I am You; We are One in Spirit. This is the global consciousness that is rising to the forefront of our awareness more and more as 2013 unfolds.

Unarguably, there continue to be challenging events and circumstances in the world, but there are also extraordinary human experiences in the midst of the turmoil of great change. Recent examples: the spontaneous massive demonstrations of the people of Turkey and Brazil; the U.S. Supreme Court decisions clearing the way for acceptance of gay marriage. All of it is part of the extreme polarities playing out as we move through a great shift in planetary consciousness. The hidden pain and repressed emotional density within all of us is now being experienced through to completion, and we are emerging with new clarity and lightness of being. Collectively, we are looking around and seeing family where once we saw aliens. We are stepping into a new world in which difference is embraced and celebrated instead of shunned and hated.

Don’t see it yet? It’s there, just not in the mass media or the prevailing interpretation of reality. The dominant paradigm is gradually crumbling. Look through the cracks, and you can catch glimpses of other eyes looking back. In moments of shared loss or joy, in a split second, everything shifts: I AM You. That is global consciousness, and it is our birthright here on the new Planet Earth. Soon we will have no need for Disney’s Magic Kingdom. We will be living our own magic: no kings or hollow fantasies, but real multidimensional humans expanding together into infinite possibility.

2013: Reboot to Resilience

Photograph © 2012 Peggy Kornegger
Photograph © 2012 Peggy Kornegger
The year 2012 is behind us. The world didn’t end. But it did shift in major ways for people all over the world, and those shifts continue. Many of the changes involved extreme challenges and emotional/physical upheaval, but the promise of the Great Shift was never instant utopia. It was transformation: the caterpillar gradually morphing and expanding within the cocoon until it breaks free, emerging as a full-fledged butterfly. During this transitional time of expansion and growth, our greatest strength is our resilience, our ability to stretch ourselves beyond limitation or growth pains and emerge triumphant. And 2013 is all about resilience, fueled by the power of our individual and collective evolution.

In 2012, my heart opened more and more—with love, with joy—until there were times when I felt as if it couldn’t possibly open any wider. In the process, however, I found that I also had to face the presence of pain that I had carried within me for a very long time. My heart was aching with the suffering I saw everywhere in the world, and my body itself struggled with pain in the form of headaches. Unconsciously, I felt a resistance to becoming fully resilient and healed because I believed that would separate me from other people. As I moved to a place of acceptance of the full spectrum of human experience on Earth at this time (pain included), my entire consciousness shifted. Pain/suffering is one part of a greater whole, and as we continue to evolve, that part begins to diminish in the face of human compassion and love, which brings all of us closer and closer together in the global experience of oneness.

What is more, as I/we expand and become more resilient (peaceful, joyful, loving), that energy goes out into the collective matrix and helps to shift everything/everybody. This is the power of interconnections and of the reverberations of light resilient energy. It is the butterfly that moves its wings in China and affects the wind on the other side of the planet. It is the human heart that opens so wide as to embrace every experience and every living being with unconditional love. It is the power of fully awakened spirit in human form.

The Maya Cosmovision: Beyond 2012

Tikal © 2007 Peggy Kornegger
“The Maya Keepers of Time know the opening of this new cycle to be transcendental, as it is the beginning of the Fifth Sun and brings with it the possibility of great spiritual awakening, insight, and realization for all of humanity.”—Nana Mercedes Barrios Longfellow, Maya Mam elder

Contrary to what you might hear or read in the media, the Maya never predicted that the world would end on December 21, 2012. Never. That’s a complete misinterpretation of the ancient Maya teachings, which have been handed down and preserved by indigenous Maya lineage carriers. The Maya cosmovision brought forward by the Maya elders of today speaks of the end of one cycle or Sun and the beginning of another, one filled with light. This is a time of transition, possibility, and expansion, not apocalypse.

Over the past eight years, I have had the opportunity and honor to learn about the traditional Maya teachings from Nana Mercedes Barrios Longfellow and other Maya elders from Guatemala. A number of us have traveled with the elders to Guatemala and participated in traditional fire ceremonies at Maya sacred sites there. Gatherings and fire ceremonies with the elders have also taken place in the United States, often at Rowe Center in the mountains of western Massachusetts.

Nana Mercedes’ teaching always involves a discussion of the Cholqij, one of the twenty sacred Maya calendars. The Cholqij is used as a guide for the spiritual growth and evolution of human beings, thus its particular importance at this time. The calendar consists of a 260-day cycle, each day of which carries a different frequency. In Nana Mercedes’ words, “Spirit speaks through the energy of the day. If we attune to the frequency of the day and begin to obey the laws of the universe, that day that sacred energy will fully support us.” Using the calendar on a daily basis helps humans to live with a conscious awareness of the larger cosmos that we are a part of here on Earth.

Over the years, I have learned so much from Nana Mercedes: about slowing down and getting in touch with the flow of each day’s energy (through meditation/prayer); about living life with humility and respect for all beings; about being of service to others and being grateful for the blessings we receive every moment on this beautiful planet. To spend time with Nana Mercedes is to experience a deep connection to a profound and wise way of living in the world. “We are one heart,” she has always said, and for me that is one of the most beautiful of the Maya teachings. I feel it profoundly when I am present at a Maya fire ceremony and also when a group of us—some longtime friends, others new friends—comes together to hear the wise teachings that have been handed down for thousands of years.

In September, about 30 of us spent four days at Rowe Center with Nana Mercedes and Nana Regina (who is also from Guatemala). Afterward, my heart was full, and I felt the ancient wisdom and light embodied by the Maya, and other indigenous peoples, shining forth powerfully and helping with the global awakening of all beings to universal oneness. More and more, I see evidence of that awakening, in spite of the huge challenges the planet faces today. The Great Shift—this transition to a new era, or new Sun, which the Maya have foreseen—is with us now. And it’s not about one date, or even one year. As we release old ways based in separation and fear, the cosmic energy will carry us forward beyond time and space into full immersion in the realm of the heart. As Nana Mercedes herself has said, “We are destined to be evolved beings, living in harmony, with great gratitude for the miracles of life.”