FALL

August 2, 2011

August 5 marks the first day of Autumn. While the western cultures celebrate this day on September 21, that day is actually the mid-point of the season of Fall. Even though we might all be experiencing intense heat and humidity, there is a subtle shift beginning. The song birds no longer wake us in the morning. There is a difference in the air at night. Many plants begin to fade and drop leaves. The harvest is begging to be picked and shared.

Which brings me to this season's topic. I've spoken at length about the cycles of nature - how intense growth is always followed by harvest, then the winter. Winter is a time of living off the resources of the previous year, and preparing for the coming year. Fall is a time of harvesting, sharing and preparing the ground for the new year. In many traditions, Fall is the beginning of the New Year cycle.

As the economy has gotten worse, I am hearing more and more talk about people living outside of their means, lazy bums collecting welfare or government pensions, unions being unreasonable, etc. A lot of blame and fear going on, yes? So I have been asking myself, what is the bigger context to this change? What story would I need to find to make sense of things and allow me to feel part of a bigger, more meaningful story? I asked my ancestors to help me, and after several blind alleys, I woke up today and said, "yes, this feels right."

In the 1960's, the idea that we could create our reality was first introduced into our consciousness. I remember the first new-age bookstores, how limited their stock was. The Seth books, A Course in Miracles, Carlos Castaneda - those of us who were fascinated by these new ideas could not get enough. We talked passionately into the wee hours of the night. We met for dinners and imagined what might be possible if we knew no limits. We were on a wave of change, and it was oh so exciting. Potential was everywhere.

Then we entered the 80's, the era of greed that seems to cycle back on a regular basis. Only now we had this idea of universal abundance. The marriage of these two beliefs had a certain kind of potency - the greed was convinced that if there was universal abundance, it did not have to say no to anything it wanted. As we have learned, abundance comes quickest to those who do not have a need for it. Like the alchemists of old, we have had to learn that turning lead into gold only happens when we have no attachment to gold.

So now there is all this fear and judgment that seems aimed at shaming us into being serfs and peasants, struggling to survive. "The economy cannot support your so-called abundance" is the message we are receiving. So we may be feeling slightly schizophrenic. How can we believe in universal abundance if resources are drying up, and we have no power? We can't stop the jobs from going overseas. We cannot stop corporations from buying elected officials, in order to influence laws that give them more wealth and take more of the collective resources. So how do we move through this time of increased scarcity with a belief in abundance?

The answer to this question has kept me up nights for the past month, and is the reason this newsletter is late. I finally got the big "ah hah" answer this week.

If you look at my "potential cone" on the right, you will see that the areas of potential are largest at the top of the spiral, and gradually get smaller as we go down the cone. This represents the areas of potential that are available whenever we shift realities. And we shift realities whenever we make change in our lives. (see Multiverse theory). So each time we make a change, we enter a new multiverse. At the top of that multiverse there is a tremendous amount of potential and lots of resources (the pink area in the cone represents resources.)

Now, many people, creatives in particular (and most teens fit this category) prefer to swim around at the top of the cone, resisting making any kind of choice and commitment. It is delicious to roam around and swim in the sea of potential. The problem with this is we never actually take the plunge and follow a particular story to its conclusion. We watch life without really living it. So at some point we need to make a choice. Once we make a choice and a commitment, we begin to move along a particular path. We move from the multiverse to a specific universe, or story. As we play out that story (new job, marriage, children, college, start a business, etc). the other areas of potential in our universe close down. In addition, we use up the resources of the universe until such time as we end up at the bottom of the cone, or reach the end of that storyline. Here, we are out of options. We are out of potential futures, out of resources, seemingly out of everything. This is a natural depression.

It is a NATURAL part of the cycle of life. Depression is simply the bottom of of the cone. And if we resist this depression - with drugs, with food, with alcohol, with busyness - we end up stuck in the bottom of the cone, spinning around and around, watching more and more of our resources disappear, because we are magnetically stuck in this story. But if we can allow ourselves to simply stay in this spot without resistance - and oh, is that a challenge!! - then the most amazing thing happens. At some point, we are simply sucked through the black hole at the bottom of the cone and end up in another part of the multiverse. In this new universe, we are bombarded with new potential and new resources. Opportunities we could never imagine are suddenly knocking at our door, inviting us to come play in an arena that, amazingly, seems to be precisely designed for our unique gifts and life wisdom.

So, as we are watching the decline of one "cone" of the universe, there are billions more cones waiting for us, each of them filed with universal abundance. The new universe may look exactly like the old one at first. You will know that you have reached a new story when potential explodes around you. We can do nothing to make this happen - rather, we must rely on our feminine magnetic energy to attract this new world. Stillness and peace attracts. Trying to make something happen repels. As we learn to sit still and simply enjoy what we have the most of - and for many of us, that is time right now - the black hole pulls us closer and closer, and our new world reaches for us.

Not all of us will be going to the same new universe, which means we need to live our lives as though all we love may not be here tomorrow. Then we need to clear out everything from our old life that is not necessary to our survival. "Stuff" binds you to the universe in which it was acquired. As we move through the season of Fall, the season of letting go, it behooves us to let go of all the props that we needed in our previous life, to make room for our new life.

While I may not see all of you in my next world, I believe ALL of you will be somewhere living a life of true abundance, sharing your unique gifts and creating worlds of beauty and bliss. So, let's relax and enjoy the end of what has been a wonderful journey, and be poised in trust and anticipation for the next great adventure. Until then,

Blessings!

Cat

Fall is a time when true colors are revealed. What do your colors show?

At the bottom of this universe is a black hole that will spit you into another portion of the multiverse.