Monthly Archives: March 2012

About the Illusion of Money

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Modern Alchemy: The Money Illusion

MARCH 4, 2012

 

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“While boasting of our noble deeds, we are careful to control the ugly fact that by an iniquitous money system, we havenationalized a system of oppression which, though more refined, is not less cruel than the old system of chattel slavery.”

– Horace Greeley

Have you ever wondered why the vast majority of hard working people on this planet does not make enough earnings to have a reasonable standard of living without being in debt? Our personal debt is modern version of slavery*.

* Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation. Historically, slavery was institutionally recognized by many societies; in more recent times slavery has been outlawed in most societies but continues through the practices of debt bondage, indentured servitude, serfdom, domestic servants kept in captivity, certain adoptions in which children are forced to work as slaves, child soldiers, and forced marriage. [ Wikipedia ]

  • For the first time in U.S. history, banks own a greater share of residential housing net worth in the United States than all individual Americans put together.
  • In 1950, the ratio of the average executive’s paycheck to the average worker’s paycheck was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300 to 500 to one. 
Some famous quotes regarding money and central banking:

“Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies.”  — Thomas Jefferson

“History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and its issuance.”  – James Madison

“The modern banking system manufactures money out of nothing. The process is, perhaps, the most, astounding piece of sleight of hand that was ever invented. Banks can in fact inflate, mint, and un-mint the modern ledger-entry currency.”  — Major L.L.B. Angus

“Banking was conceived in iniquity, and was born in sin. The Bankers own the Earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power to create deposits, and with the flick of the pen, they will create enough deposits, to buy it back again. However, take it away from them, and the great fortunes like mine will disappear, and they ought to disappear, for this would be a happier and better world to live in. But if you wish to remain slaves of Bankers, and pay the cost of your own slavery, let them continue to create deposits.”  — Sir Josiah Stamp, (President of the Bank of England in the 1920′s, the second richest man in Britain)

“Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce.”   — President James A. Garfield

“Those who create and issue money and credit direct the policies of government and hold in the hollow of their hands the destiny of the people.”   — Sir. Reginald McKenna, former President of the Midland Bank of England

“Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value— zero.”   — Voltair (1694 – 1778)

“Give me the power to issue a nation’s money, then I do not care who makes the law.”  –  Anselm Rothschild

“Money confers social and political power, naturally.   Those who have more of it than others use their wealth to dominate or control other human beings who have little or none.  But money also gives power to a secret self, enabling it to pursue its own self-gratification in a singular fashion…
“Money, therefore, contains a continuous illusion of immortal power – the psychic vehicle for defeating time itself by controlling the future.  It is only an illusion; no mortal ever conquers time…
“Thus, on a psychic plane, the Wall Street investor accomplishes what the alchemist could not – creating gold from dross, real wealth from mere paper, a living organism from raw numbers…
To demystify the Federal Reserve, one first had to understand that money did not require religious faith or buried fantasies or impenetrable technicalities.  Money was, above all, a political question – a matter of deliberate choices made by the state.”  — William Greider,Secrets of the Temple, pp. 235, 236, 238, 242

The Money is an Illusion

By Dene McGriff

Over the centuries man has used many things for money – cattle, seashells, camels, coffee, jewels and precious metals.  Before money, there was Barter – two people trading something the other wanted.  Commodities and finally metals in the form of coins were introduced.  Paper money originated with the goldsmith who gave receipts to wealthy citizens for storage and safekeeping.  The goldsmiths realized that the receipt could be used in commerce since it could be redeemed in gold from the goldsmith.  Thus, modern banking was born.  Then they realized that the demands for redemption were relatively small so long as they kept a minimum in reserve.  Thus fractional-reserve banking was born.  If they kept ten or fifteen percent on hand, they would have enough to redeem any demands on the bank.  For centuries, European privately owned banks would issue paper bank notes backed by gold reserves.  The system was transferred to America.  Gradually, the value was transferred to the demand deposits which were redeemable by personal drafts or checks and gold was all but forgotten.

During the 18th, 19th and early 20thCenturies, periodic failures plagued the banking industry.  Experiments with fiat (paper) money always ended in inflation and devaluation of the currency.   After the Civil War, the National Bank Act tried to regulate bank notes issued by state banks but the public at large had little confidence in this chaotic banking system.  Then along comes the Federal Reserve Act in 1912 to restore order and public confidence in the monetary system.

Now when the Federal Reserve began, the paper money was backed by gold or silver up to a small portion of the face amount.  The problem is that the fractional reserve tends to become smaller and smaller until it is reduced to nothing.  And even to this day, fiat money is the way governments create money without taxation.  It has nothing of tangible value to offset it so let the printing presses roll

The Alchemy of the Federal Reserve

Money is created out of absolutely nothing.   Most texts teach that money is created first by someone making a deposit and then the bank waits for someone to come along and borrow it.  That is not true.  Money is created the instant it is borrowed.  In other words, debt creates money.  The government creates bonds (debt), gives them to the Fed which uses that debt to create money.  There is no other value attached to it.  It is the act of borrowing which causes it to spring into existence.  “Banks are creating money based on a borrower’s promise to pay (the IOU)….Banks create money by ‘monetizing’ the private debts of businesses and individuals.” (I Bet You Thought, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, p. 19).  Now I am going to quote from Griffin’s book to explain how the process works.  Money creation is a circular concept and hard to grasp so please stay with me.  Once you get it, it is absolutely shocking!

“The entire function of this machine is to convert debt into money.  It’s just that simple.  First, the Fed takes all the government bonds which the public does not buy and writes a check to Congress in exchange for them.  (It acquires other debt obligations as well, but government bonds comprise most of its inventory.)  There is no money to back up this check.  These fiat dollars are created on the spot for that purpose.  By calling those bonds “reserves,” the Fed then uses them as the base for creating 9 additional dollars for every dollar created for the bonds themselves.  The money created for the bonds is spent by the government, whereas the money created on top of those bonds is the source of all the bank loans made to the nation’s businesses and individuals.  The result of this process is the same as creating money on a printing press, but the illusion is based on an accounting trick rather than a printing trick.  The bottom line is that Congress and the banking cartel have entered into a partnership in which the cartel has the privilege of collecting interest on money which it creates out of nothing, a perpetual override on money which it creates out of nothing, a perpetual override on every American dollar that exists in the world.  Congress, on the other hand, has access to unlimited funding without having to tell the voters their taxes are being raised through the process of inflation.  If you understand this paragraph, you understand the Federal Reserve System.  (Griffin, The Creature from Jekyll Island, p. 193)

 “The federal government adds ink to a piece of paper, creates impressive designs around the edges, and calls it a bond or Treasury note.  It is merely a promise to pay a specified sum at a specified interest on a specific date…this debt eventually becomes the foundation for almost the entire nation’s money supply.  In reality, the government has created cash, but it doesn’t yet look like cash.  To convert these IOUs into paper bills and checkbook money is the function of the Federal Reserve System.

An instrument of government debt is considered an asset because it is assumed the government will keep its promise to pay…so the Federal Reserve now has an ‘asset’ which can be used to offset a liability.  It then creates liability by adding ink to yet another piece of paper…the “Federal Reserve Check”…

There is no money in any account to cover this check.  Anyone else doing that would be sent to prison.  It is legal for the Fed, however, because Congress wants the money, and this is the easiest way to get it…The process is mysteriously wrapped up in the banking system…The Federal Reserve check is then deposited in one of the Federal Reserve Banks…

These checks become the means by which the first wave of fiat money floods into the economy.  (For detail, please see Griffin, pp195-197)

These Federal Reserve Checks become commercial bank deposits.

Read the entire Source Article >>

The Truth about the Economy

By Dene McGriff

On Aug 10th, 2011, the stock market dropped over 500 points again after having gone up 450 the day before and down 640 the day before that.  What is this all about?  Why so much confusion?  Where is it going?  Is America on that long slide down to “third world-dom”?  Is China taking over as top dog?

I have been writing on the economy for quite a few years now.  I called the housing bubble back in 2004, the derivatives problem which led to the crash in 2008 and the continuing deflation (depression) the entire world is experiencing.  So what is the problem?  Is it the US debt?  Does it have anything to do with the US?  Will America be destroyed?  I would use the analogy of attacking a Chihuahua with a baseball bat – one swipe and he’s a goner.  Ever try and attack an elephant with a baseball bat?  The elephant will probably survive just fine but the attacker may not.  America may have problems but they are nothing compared to the rest of the world.  Bottom line is that we are much more able to absorb the blows than they are.

What is the Problem?

Let’s start with today.  Is the problem the credit downgrade of the U.S. by Standard and Poor’s?  No, in fact Treasury sales are better than ever (the markets aren’t that stupid) and long term interest rates continue to drop.  No, it is Europe and specifically France.  France has been supporting Greece and there isn’t enough money there to save them.  The stronger nations of Europe have been trying to save the weaker PIGIES (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain) but France and England are not far behind.  Does this floundering European Union sound like the burgeoning power that will rule the world one day as some Christians think?  They can hardly agree on anything.  The EEC is a joke and it is disintegrating before our eyes.

So, you say, China holds all the cards and yes they have a pretty good hand.  But I have news for you, China has 1.5 billion problems: an aging population with fewer women (since baby girls were often eliminated), not to mention the logistics of providing fresh food and water, housing and other services for huge population.  Corruption and cronyism, demography and regional inequities will overwhelm and destabilize the new Asian miracle.  The same might be said to a slightly lesser extent for India.

So who does that leave on top?  You guessed it.  As we have said in the past, there is only one nation known as prophetic Babylon which matches this picture: apostate Christian, the great consumer nation, the greatest military power, and a friend of Israel (at least for now).  So the economic demise of America/Babylon may be greatly exaggerated.  Let’s look at the facts as to why America is nowhere near falling into oblivion.

There is a tremendous amount of debt all over the planet – corporate debt, government debt, local debt, personal debt, bank debt, not to mention the so-called unfunded liabilities (also an international problem) of retirement, medical care for the poor and elderly, unfunded pensions, etc.  Nearly every country in the world is having the same problems that we are but it is much worse.   The government “solution” is to print money (increase the money supply), both in cash and credit markets and just spend, spend, spend. Debt is parlayed and expanded in the form of derivatives.  One would think that since the 2008 meltdown fiasco we learned our lesson, but we haven’t and the derivative debts continue to grow exponentially.  The world is awash in funny money – fiat currency with no backing, but rather than causing hyperinflation, we see deflation which is the financial enema solution to excess liquidity.  Dead broke businesses, banks and factories go out of business and local governments and countries default (just don’t pay their debt).  The irony is that the world knows that America will never default and that is why the dollar is golden – even if they have to tax and take away nearly every dollar earned.  Nations flock to buy US Treasuries.  They can’t get enough even when they make nothing on them.  Those are the facts.

So in this article, we want to look at the debt ceiling crisis, why there isn’t enough money in the world to bail out the PIGIES, what will be the result of this failure and where we are headed as individuals.

From a prophetic point of view, we see that America will not decline commercially.  Up until the very end America will be the leading economic and military power.  However this doesn’t mean all goes well for you and me.  All of the crashes and bailouts have been at our expense.  More on that in a minute – the $16 trillion heist!  The long term trend is that the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer and the middle income will continue to slip into poverty.  Right now, I am making one sixth of what I made twenty years ago.  I have three grown children and all are struggling to keep their heads above water.

The middle class is shrinking and here are stats to prove it.

  • 83 percent of all U.S. stocks are in the hands of 1 percent of the people.
  • 61 percent of Americans “always or usually” live paycheck to paycheck, which was up from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.
  • 66 percent of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1% of all Americans.
  • 36 percent of Americans say that they don’t contribute anything to retirement savings.
  • A staggering 43 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved up for retirement.
  • 24 percent of American workers say that they have postponed their planned retirement age in the past year.
  • Over 1.4 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009, which represented a 32 percent increase over 2008.
  • Only the top 5 percent of U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.
  • For the first time in U.S. history, banks own a greater share of residential housing net worth in the United States than all individual Americans put together.
  • In 1950, the ratio of the average executive’s paycheck to the average worker’s paycheck was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300 to 500 to one.
  • As of 2007, the bottom 80 percent of American households held about 7% of the liquid financial assets.
  • The bottom 50 percent of income earners in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.
  • Average Wall Street bonuses for 2009 were up 17 percent when compared with 2008.
  • In the United States, the average federal worker now earns 60% MORE than the average worker in the private sector.
  • The top 1 percent of U.S. households own nearly twice as much of America’s corporate wealth as they did just 15 years ago.
  • In America today, the average time needed to find a job has risen to a record 35.2 weeks.
  • More than 40 percent of Americans who actually are employed are now working in service jobs, which are often very low paying.
  • the first time in U.S. history, more than 40 million Americans are on food stamps, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture projects that number will go up to 43 million Americans in 2011.
  • This is what American workers now must compete against: in China a garment worker makes approximately 86 cents an hour and in Cambodia a garment worker makes approximately 22 cents an hour.
  • Approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States are living below the poverty line in 2010 – the highest rate in 20 years.
  • Despite the financial crisis, the number of millionaires in the United States rose a whopping 16 percent to 7.8 million in 2009.
  • The top 10 percent of Americans now earn around 50 percent of our national income.

So what are the prospects for your future?  Not very good.  I know you don’t like to hear this but all of the bailouts have occurred at your expense.  Let’s talk about the bailouts and stimulus. Who caused the crisis to begin with?  We all now know that it was the banks and their reckless derivatives. Who got bailed out?  How much money did you receive?  Nothing?  I didn’t either.  Imagine that.  But read on.  It gets much worse for us little peeps even though America will continue to prosper.

The Bailout and Dismantling of Europe

Look at Europe.  Greece already received $153 billion and now the Eurozone and IMF are providing another $152 billion.  Where does that money come from and who benefits?  It comes from tax payers.  The bailout doesn’t go to the Greek government.  It is just passing through to pay the banks to pay the 14% interest they already owe on their $476 billion in original debt!  This guarantees another default which will filter back through the banking system in Europe, the US and other countries.  Greece is very small potatoes.  It is 38th in size, $318 billion in 2010, whereas Italy is 10th and Spain 13th in size with a total economy of nearly $3 trillion.  Looking at it another way, the chart on the right shows the size of country debt by GDP.  We hear about the PIGIES all the time (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain), but look at the other countries that are in equally bad condition.  Countries like the UK, France and Germany are the ones providing the loans to the PIGIES, but when the PIGIES default, who will cover those countries?  One guess is allowed.  Guess who will be left to save them all?

Analysts know that Italy and Spain are close to default and will soon be followed by England and France.  It isn’t a matter of the amount of debt.  Japan and the U.S. have shown that they can and will pay it back.  It is whether they can finance the debt and at what price.  The U.S. and Germany finance their debt for practically nothing (in the 2 percent range) whereas the PIGIES are paying all time highs of 14 to 30 percent.  These are holes they can’t dig out of and as one country after another defaults, Europe will be torn apart.  But will the Euro die?  Probably not.  Once the PIGIES drop out of the EU, then the EU will survive.  The PIGIES however are doomed because they won’t be able to finance their debt.  I would like to emphasize at this point that Europe and the rest of the world will look, perhaps grudgingly, to America to save them and establish order.

America and the Debt Crisis – Smoke and Mirrors!

America has a debt problem, no doubt about that and neither party faced it.  The so-called $4 trillion in cuts are not cuts at all.  It is not a cut in spending but a cut in the increase. The deficit was slated to double from $14 to $28 trillion over a ten year period.  The agreement was to cut that increase in debt back to only $10 trillion. The graph on the left shows the growth in the national debt through 2020 at that rate.

It shouldn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that this is not sustainable.  One lesson we should have all learned from the recent debt ceiling debate, is that if the rating agencies downgrade the US economy, we pay a higher interest rate on our debt.  Let’s look at some round numbers for a moment.  If we say that our national debt is $14 trillion and we pay 2 percent on that debt that makes our debt payment a mere $280 billion and everyone agrees that is okay.  That represents about 8 percent of the total Federal budget.   Historically, we paid 8 percent on our national debt.  That would quadruple the amount spent on debt.  You do the math.  What would the debt payment be at 8 percent on a $24 trillion deficit?
The more you tax, the more you grow government, the more of the GDP allocated to government, the smaller the productive economy and the higher the tax rate to pay for this massive debt.  This is why some legislators are screaming about debt and wanting a balanced budget!  The “compromise” reached by Democrats and Republicans did not limit spending but merely the size of the increase in deficit spending.

So what does this mean?  Bottom line it means massive tax increases if the administration has its way or massive cuts in government programs such as the military, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and Education.

The question you all may have is how did we get into this situation?  Where has all the money gone?  What about the stimulus and bailouts?  According to Bloomberg News in 2008, the total bank bailout amounted to $8.5 trillion.  According to the first audit ever done in the 99 year history of the Federal Reserve, they loaned over $16 trillion to US and foreign banks.  Now think about it, the federal banking system is run by a private banking cartel called “The Federal Reserve” which oversees our financial system made up of dollars – those little greenbacks that are backed by the “full faith and credit of the United States of America.”  We’ve heard those words before but what do they really mean?  “We the people” are the ones backing these huge loans.  Please read this article about the “Greatest Bank Robbery”.  For more information on the Federal Reserve, please see the article I wrote some years ago [ Modern Alchemy: The Money Illusion ].

Some of you may think that I am contradicting myself.  How can I say America is strong when it is destroying itself?  There are two answers to this question.  First, America is still golden to the rest of the world.  In spite of the downgrade in the credit rating, interest rates have gone down rather than up and the world is flocking to buy our debt.  Second, it would appear that the long term plan is to destroy all fiat currency and come up with some kind of digital world currency in order to help establish the New World Order.  It is also impoverishing those of us in the middle while the rich seem to grow richer.

Where do We Go from Here?

I would remind Christians that the book of Revelation clearly indicates that there will be an increasing gap between the rich and the poor, a subject I explored in great detail in the chapter on the four horses of the apocalypse.  Please see the section on the black horse.  Most Christians are also familiar with the absolute control the Antichrist establishes by requiring everyone to take the Mark of the Beast in order to buy or sell (Revelation 13:13-17) so the end of the age will have not only a one world government but a one world economy – talk about going global!

There is some truth to the debt crisis, but like most crisis in America this is manufactured, apparently designed to rob from the tax payers.  We are not a PIGIE.  We do not have the tremendous population pressure experienced by China or India, pressures that will eventually tear them apart and stall their miracle economies.  America still has tremendous natural resources and a population that is being molded into a patriotic frenzy that highlights America’s “Manifest Destiny” to save the world (whether they want saving or not).  There will soon be another Middle East war in Israel, a defense treaty with Israel, followed by a more massive civilization conflict between the Islamic and post-Christian worlds and the ultimate rise again of China and the powers to the East as armies mass for the final conflict in the battle of Armageddon.  We know the sequence of events.

Meanwhile, don’t trust in your 401K’s, your IRAs, pensions, investment or even gold.  The world is having birth pangs and a new era is about to begin.  Unfortunately, the Laodicean Church will be found Lukewarm and asleep in their “blessed rapture hope” of escape.  We are closer than we think and it is no coincidence that the year 2012 finds prominence throughout the world, and, as you will soon see, even in the sacred Scriptures.  Doug is about to present some earth shattering revelations.  Now is the time to not look to Mammon or anything in this world for our salvation, but to get out of the little box that has programmed our minds and open our hearts and minds to fresh revelation that God desperately wants to share with us – that generation spoken of in Daniel 12 that has a “need to know” what is coming down and why.  This is the generation of destiny, of sacrifice and of glory.  We need to humble ourselves before Him and present ourselves a holy sacrifice and let Him speak to us and reveal His purposes to us.

Copyright Dene McGriff
August 11, 2011 Sacramento

from:    http://blog.world-mysteries.com/ancient-writings/modern-alchemy-the-money-illusion/

Organic Pest Controls

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Spring is just around the corner, and your thoughts might be turning to planting.  If you are a gardener concerned about toxins in your foods, here is a list of organic pest control options:

Extensive List of Organic Pest Control Remedies

List compiled by Australian Organic Gardening

ORGANIC BUG SPRAY FROM ONION SCRAPS

You can make your own organic bug spray from kitchen leftovers! Simply save your onion skins, peels and ends then refrigerate in an empty margarine-sized tub or ziplock bag until the container is full. Once you have enough, place the onion pieces in a pail and fill with warm water. Soak for a few days, up to a week. You can keep this on the patio in the sun to steep but this is optional. After one week, strain the onion bits out and store the onion water in spray bottles.

Bury the onion bits around plants that are prone to aphids, spiders and other pests. Just spray both house and garden plants with the water to fight aphids and pests. You can also mix your garlic trimmings in with the onion pieces, bugs hate garlic too!

CURE FOR WHITE/BLACK SPOT (mildew)
Add *1 litre of FULL cream milk to an *8 litre watering can, watered on Roses or mildew attracting plants, will kill white/black spot

SCALES

Make the oil spray by blending two cups of vegetable oil with one cup of pure liquid soap, and mix it until it turns white.

Dilute one tablespoon of the emulsion to one litre of water and spray all affected areas thoroughly. Do this during mild weather, because if it’s hot it may burn the plant’s leaves.

Scales shoot a sweet substance called honeydew. Ants literally farm the scale to feed on the honeydew. They’ll pick them up and they’ll move them all over the tree. Honeydew also leads to sooty mould, a black dusty fungus that grows over the leaves and stems. Controlling the scale will also get rid of the sooty mould.

If you only have a small amount of scale, scrape it off with a fingernail or toothbrush. Larger infestations can be controlled by spraying with an oil to suffocate them.

http://heartgarden.com.au/Pests.asp

To keep APHIDS and OTHER PESTS off your roses: Finely chop 1 onion and 2 medium cloves of garlic. Put ingredients into a blender with 2 cups of water and blend on high. Strain out pulp. Pour liquid into spray bottle. Spray a fine mist on rose bushes, making sure to coat both tops and bottoms of leaves.

GARLIC SPRAY

Chop 90 grams of garlic, cover with mineral oil let soak over night, strain, add 1 litre of soapy water and store in a glass jar with a sealed lid. Dilute one part garlic to 50 parts water for use in spraying.

ALUMINUM FOIL “FOILS” APHIDS

Use an aluminum foil much around the base of plants such as tomatoes. The reflection confuses the insects and drives them away.

GENERAL PESTICIDE

3 hot green peppers (canned or fresh) 2 or 3 cloves garlic 3/4 tsp liquid soap 3 cups water Puree the peppers and garlic cloves in a blender. Pour into a spray bottle and add the liquid soap and water. Let stand 24 hours. Strain out pulp and spray onto infested plants, making sure to coat both tops and bottoms of leaves.

AGAINST INSECT PESTS

1. Soapy water (NOT detergent). Try to find one based on caustic potash, rather than caustic soda and mix well with water until frothy (you’ll need more soap in hard water areas). For aphids and other soft-shelled insects

2. Oil sprays suffocate insects. Boil 1 kg soap with 8L of oil, stirring until dissolved. Dilute 1:20 with water just before use. Spray on cool days only.

3. Tomato leaf spray (very poisonous). Cover leaves with water, boil and cool. Use immediately as a general insecticide.

4. Pyrethrum spray. Pick almost-open flowers of Tanacetum cinerariifolium and dry in a cool place. Cover a few tablespoons of flowers with cheap sherry, steep overnight and mix with a litre of hot soapy water. Cool and use within a few days as a general insecticide. Store in a dark place.

5. Wormwood spray. Infuse leaves in boiling water and leave for a few hours. Dilute 1:4 and use for sap-sucking insects.

6. Chilli spray – equal volumes chilli and water blended and sprayed fresh onto caterpillars. (Prevent contact with eyes and skin.)

7. Lapsang Souchong tea – a strong brew (1 tbspn in a pot) deters possums from nipping rose tips

8. Many other materials can be used to make insect sprays. Depending on what you have available, try -quassia, garlic, marigolds, melaleuca, parsnips, turnips, eucalyptus, larkspur, elder, white cedar (Melia azaderach) or rhubarb (Please note: larkspur, elder (except for ripe berries) white cedar and rhubarb leaves are all highly toxic to humans.)

AGAINST FUNGAL DISEASES

The following plants reportedly contain antifungal or antibacterial chemicals that you can extract via infusion to spray onto crops:Chamomile, chives, sheoak (Allocasuarina), elder, eucalyptus, garlic, horseradish, hyssop, melaleuca (tea-tree), neem (Azadirachta indica), nettle (Urtica dioica), and thyme.

ANTI FUNGALS:

1. Milk spray: a 1:1 mix of milk and water reportedly controls black spot on roses and fungal diseases on other plants

2. Fresh urine (a healthy person’s urine is sterile)

3. Condy’s Crystals: 1gram/L of potassium permanganate. Use immediately.

4. Washing soda: 110g dissolved in 5.5L water. Add 56g soap and use immediately.

5. Bordeaux mixture: In a bucket completely dissolve 90g of copper sulphate in 6.5L water. In another bucket, thoroughly mix 125g brickies lime with 2.5L water and strain into first bucket. Mix well and use immediately. 6. Dusting sulphur

BORDEAUX MIXTURE

This is a standard organic fungicide used to treat a wide range of rots, mildews, and blights. Mix 90g of copper sulphate (bluestone) with 4.5 litres of hot water in a non metallic container and leave overnight. Next day mix 125g slaked lime with 4.5 litres of cold water in a non metallic container. Combine both mixtures by stirring vigorously. Use immediately. An oil like Codacide can be added to increase its effectiveness. Bordeaux spray may clog nozzles. Also, if over-used, it may lead to a build up of copper in the soil and associated toxicity.

OTHER PEST CONTROL HINTS

1. Use companion plants that mask the scent or appearance of desirable crops. Many highly aromatic plants contain chemicals designed to make them unattractive to pests. Camphor, mints, scented pelargoniums, wormwood, southernwood, lavender, balm of Gilead, rosemary, sage and many other herbs have spicy/bitter scents rather than sweet ones. When actively growing amongst desirable crops, these herbs can confuse pest insects by masking attractive scents.

2. Use companion plants that act as trap, sacrifice or indicator crops. Some plants, including nasturtium, mustard and Chinese cabbage, can be used as decoys so that pests attack them rather than your crop. Roses planted along the edges of vineyards deter human predators but also provide early warning of mildew disease!3. Use Physical Pest ControlsThe good ol’ “see ’em and squash ’em” technique still works a treat for snails and slugs. Attract them with beer in a jar sunk into the ground, or lay a wooden plank a centimetre above the ground – they’ll shelter underneath it and you can squash them in the morning. Yellow boards painted with sticky oil will attract aphids. Control ants to reduce aphid and scale infestations on trees – a band of grease will stop them climbing the trunk. Codling moth can also be reduced by banding trees with corrugated cardboard soaked in derris spray.

ORGANIC SPRAY. Quarter fill your spray bottle with vinegar, a teaspoon each of molasses (melt down in a cup of hot water) and liquid soap, top up with tap water.

BUG JUICE

Collect by hand the nuisance pest, bug, grub or snail from your garden. Place the bug(s) into a blender, cover with fresh water and switch on. DON’T FORGET THE LID. Then strain, dilute 1 part to 20 parts of water into a spray bottle. Spray the juice on the underside of the leaves as well as on top.

MILK

Milk is effective against a range of mildews on peas, pumpkins and cucumber leaves. Use equal parts milk and water and spray every couple of days until the mildew is under control. If the mildew is out of control remove the affected leaves to avoid the mildew from spreading and do not water at night, try watering in the mornings.

MOLASSES SPRAY

Molasses is a good deterrent sticky spray, ideal for cabbage moths and grubs on the Brassicas. Blend 1 tablespoon of molasses with 1 litre of hot water until the colour of weak tea, then mix in one tea spoon of detergent, which will help the molasses to stick to the leaves, spray top and under side of the leaves. You could also add vinegar to this brew to make it more potent.

VINEGAR SPRAY

For cabbage moths and grubs on the Brassicas. Blend 1/4 vinegar with 3/4 of water, then mix in one tea spoon of detergent, which will help the vinegar to stick to the grubs, bugs and leaves of the plant, spray top and under side of the leaves. You can also add molasses to this brew.

VEGETABLE OIL

1 table spoon of dishwashing detergent & 1 cup of vegetable oil. Mix together and store in an air tight bottle. When required add 1 to 2 ½ tea spoons of brew to 1 cup of water in a spray bottle, spray on plants covering all leaf and stem surfaces.

CHAMOMILE TEA

Is a mild fungicide. Pour boiling water over a chamomile tea bag, leave to steep for ten minutes, when cool use as a spray.

PYRETHRUM.

(Harmless to animals and humans) Two heaped tablespoon pyrethrum flowers, stand in one litre of hot soapy water for one hour, strain and use (the soap will help the spray to stick on the plants). Do not inhale the fumes as they are toxic.

CHILLI PEPPER

Blend fresh chillies in water, add pure soap, strain and spray. Acts as a stomach poison and can be used against caterpillars. Spray along ant trails or kitchen shelves as an ant repellent. Used by beekeepers to keep ants from hives.

WORMWOOD.

Cover leaves in boiling water, infuse several hours. Dilute 1 part brew 4 parts water, use as a spray. It has very pungent qualities which makes it useful against soft bodied insects. Good aphid and fly spray. General repellent for fleas, flies, housemoth, ants and snakes.

RHUBARB.

A spray made from rhubarb leaves is harmless to bees and breaks down quickly, but it is harmful to humans, so be sure to keep it out of the reach of children. Boil 1 kilogram of leaves in 3 litres of water for half an hour, strain, add some soap. Dilute with equal parts of water before spraying.

VEGETABLE OIL

Spray recipe Mix 1 tbsp of liquid soap with 1 cup of vegetable oil. Dilute as required using 1-2.5 tsp of the mixture to 1 cup of water.Oil sprays can cause burning when applied to sensitive plants. If in doubt, test a plant sample first and wait 2-3 days to see if burning results. Oil sprays can also cause burning if applied when shade temperatures exceed 29 degrees celcius or when applied within 4 weeks of a sulfur spray such as wettable sulfur or lime sulfur.

INSECTICIDAL POTASSIUM SOAP

Insecticidal potassium soap has a high salt content which when sprayed on susceptible insects desiccates and kills them. Being a contact insecticide, the target insect must come into direct contact with the spray, so good coverage is essential for optimum results. Susceptible insects include aphids, mealybug, some mite species, thrip and whitefly. Potassium based soap products available on the home garden market include, ‘Moeco Neemtech’, ‘Yates Green Earth aphid-mite spray’, ‘Multicrop BugGuard’ and ‘Spraytech or Yates Naturasoap’.

PURE SOAP

Pure soap when mixed with water can be used as a natural insecticide for the control of some sap-sucking insect pests, including aphids and mealy bugs. It is a contact insecticide and works by breaking down the insect’s exoskeleton, causing it to dehydrate and die.

SULPHUR

Sulfur is registered as a protectant and erradicant fungicide for the control of powdery mildew on vegetables and ornamentals, rust on vegetables and various fungal diseases on stonefruit. Sulfur is also registered as an insecticide, for the control of mites on vegetables and ornamentals, grape leaf rust mite and grape leaf blister mite on grapes and white louse scale, citrus rust mite and citrus bud mite on citrus. Sulfur should not be applied 21 days before or after an oil spray, in combination with an oil spray or when temperatures are expected to exceed 25 degrees celcius. Sulfur can be purchased as ‘Sulfur spray’, ‘Dusting sulfur’, ‘Powdered sulfur’ or ‘Wettable sulfur’ and can be found in various other products in combination with ‘mancozeb’, ‘copper oxychloride’, ‘rotenone’ and ‘carbaryl’.

LIME SULPHUR

Lime sulfur is registered to control powdery mildew on ornamentals and various diseases on stonefruit and apples. It is also registered as an insecticide for the control of some scale and mite species on various fruit trees, ornamentals and tomatoes.Lime sulfur should not be applied when the air temperature is over 32 degrees celsius, after a copper spray in the same season or within 2 weeks of an oil spray.

CONDIES CRYSTALS (potassium permanganate)

Condies crystals can be mixed with water and sprayed onto plant foliage to control powdery mildew. They may also be useful as a contact spray for the control of aphids and slugs.Condies crystal spray recipe Mix 30g of condies crystals, 9L of warm water and 30 ml of petroleum oil. Spray undiluted.

MOLASSES Molasses spray can be used as a feeding deterrent for chewing insects such as caterpillars and grasshoppers.Molasses spray recipe Mix 1 tbsp of molasses and 5 g of pure soap flakes in 1 L of water. Apply undiluted as required.Molasses applied to soil infested with nematodes may reduce root galling and nematode reproduction. Molasses soil treatmentApply 38 ml of molasses per litre of water per square metre of soil per week.

MILK Spraying equal parts full cream milk and water every 2 days may help control the fungal disease powdery mildew. Powdery mildew can be a problem in pea, tomato, capsicum and cucurbit crops.

VINEGAR Vinegar spray may be useful in controlling caterpillars and sap-sucking insects such as stink bugs, aphids, and mealybugs. Vinegar spray recipe Mix 1 part vinegar with 3 parts water and add 5 g of pure soap flakes.

CHILLI SPRAY FOR APHIDS ON ROSES

5 garlic cloves 3 hot chillies 2 litres of boiling water Steep overnight. Use in all garden sprayers.

GARLIC SPRAY

general pest deterrent 10 garlic cloves 5 small hot chillies 3 medium onions 1 litre of water

Mix all ingredients together, bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes.Let stand overnight then add 2 tbsp. of milk. Store in labelled glass jars.Use by diluting 1 cup of the mixture to 9 litres of water. Use in all garden sprayers.

TO ERADICATE MILLIPEDES OR EARWIGS.

10 ml Eucalyptus Oil 10 ml Biodegradable Hair Shampoo 80 ml water Mix all ingredients together and spray around on the ground at night.

POSSUM DETERRENT

300 grams of Quassia Chips, (Surinam Tree:- wood, bark or root of this and other trees yielding bitter medicinal decoction) to 1 litre of water.

Boil chips for 5 minutes. Strain and collect water mixture. Spray on ground when cool.

SUFFOCATING SPRAYS

Many small insects, especially thrips and aphids, can be suffocated by being sprayed with a weak solution of water soluble glue. Fine clay mixed with water has a similar effect but tends to clog spray nozzles.

LANTANA/WORMWOOD SPRAY

Boil 500g of lantana leaves in 1 litre of water- for 20 minutes. Cool and strain. Spray liberally on affected plants. Most effective against aphids. A stronger spray can he made by substituting wormwood for lantana.

Please note : All Natural sprays can be dangerous, so LABEL well, and keep out of reach of children. Also overuse of deterants can jepordise the natural balance, so use sprays of any sort, sparingly

Source – Australian Organic Gardening

from:    http://wakeup-world.com/2011/12/06/extensive-list-of-organic-pest-control-remedies/

The Brain in Your Heart

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Hearts Have Their Own Brain and Consciousness

29th Feburary 2012

By mindfulmuscleblog.com

Heart Fields

Many believe that conscious awareness originates in the brain alone. Recent scientific research suggests that consciousness actually emerges from the brain and body acting together. A growing body of evidence suggests that the heart plays a particularly significant role in this process.

Far more than a simple pump, as was once believed, the heart is now recognized by scientists as a highly complex system with its own functional “brain.”

Research in the new discipline of neurocardiology shows that the heart is a sensory organ and a sophisticated center for receiving and processing information. The nervous system within the heart (or “heart brain”) enables it to learn, remember, and make functional decisions independent of the brain’s cerebral cortex. Moreover, numerous experiments have demonstrated that the signals the heart continuously sends to the brain influence the function of higher brain centers involved in perception, cognition, and emotional processing.

In addition to the extensive neural communication network linking the heart with the brain and body, the heart also communicates information to the brain and throughout the body via electromagnetic field interactions. The heart generates the body’s most powerful and most extensive rhythmic electromagnetic field.Compared to the electromagnetic field produced by the brain, the electrical component of the heart’s field is about 60 times greater in amplitude, and permeates every cell in the body.The magnetic component is approximately 5000 times stronger than the brain’s magnetic field and can be detected several feet away from the body with sensitive magnetometers.

The heart generates a continuous series of electromagnetic pulses in which the time interval between each beat varies in a dynamic and complex manner. The heart’s ever-present rhythmic field has a powerful influence on processes throughout the body. We have demonstrated, for example, that brain rhythms naturally synchronize to the heart’s rhythmic activity, and also that during sustained feelings of love or appreciation, the blood pressure and respiratory rhythms, among other oscillatory systems, entrain to the heart’s rhythm.

Video: Rollin McCraty Science of the Heart 1:15 mins

We propose that the heart’s field acts as a carrier wave for information that provides a global synchronizing signal for the entire body. Specifically, we suggest that as pulsing waves of energy radiate out from the heart, they interact with organs and other structures. The waves encode or record the features and dynamic activity of these structures in patterns of energy waveforms that are distributed throughout the body. In this way, the encoded information acts to in-form (literally, give shape to) the activity of all bodily functions—to coordinate and synchronize processes in the body as a whole. This perspective requires an energetic concept of information, in which patterns of organization are enfolded into waves of energy of system activity distributed throughout the system as a whole.

Basic research at the Institute of HeartMath shows that information pertaining to a person’s emotional state is also communicated throughout the body via the heart’s electromagnetic field. The rhythmic beating patterns of the heart change significantly as we experience different emotions. Negative emotions, such as anger or frustration, are associated with an erratic, disordered, incoherent pattern in the heart’s rhythms. In contrast, positive emotions, such as love or appreciation, are associated with a smooth, ordered, coherent pattern in the heart’s rhythmic activity. In turn, these changes in the heart’s beating patterns create corresponding changes in the structure of the electromagnetic field radiated by the heart, measurable by a technique called spectral analysis.

More specifically, we have demonstrated that sustained positive emotions appear to give rise to a distinct mode of functioning, which we call psychophysiological coherence. During this mode, heart rhythms exhibit a sine wave-like pattern and the heart’s electromagnetic field becomes correspondingly more organized.

  • At the physiological level, this mode is characterized by increased efficiency and harmony in the activity and interactions of the body’s systems. [1]
  • Psychologically, this mode is linked with a notable reduction in internal mental dialogue, reduced perceptions of stress, increased emotional balance, and enhanced mental clarity, intuitive discernment, and cognitive performance.

In sum, our research suggests that psychophysiological coherence is important in enhancing consciousness—both for the body’s sensory awareness of the information required to execute and coordinate physiological function, and also to optimize emotional stability, mental function, and intentional action. Furthermore, as we see next, there is experimental evidence that psychophysiological coherence may increase our awareness of and sensitivity to others around us. The Institute of HeartMath has created practical technologies and tools that all people can use to increase coherence.

Heart Field Interactions Between Individuals

Most people think of social communication solely in terms of overt signals expressed through language, voice qualities, gestures, facial expressions, and body movements. However, there is now evidence that a subtle yet influential electromagnetic or “energetic” communication system operates just below our conscious awareness. Energetic interactions likely contribute to the “magnetic” attractions or repulsions that occur between individuals, and also affect social exchanges and relationships. Moreover, it appears that the heart’s field plays an important role in communicating physiological, psychological, and social information between individuals.

Experiments conducted at the Institute of HeartMath have found remarkable evidence that the heart’s electromagnetic field can transmit information between people. We have been able to measure an exchange of heart energy between individuals up to 5 feet apart. We have also found that one person’s brain waves can actually synchronize to another person’s heart. Furthermore, when an individual is generating a coherent heart rhythm, synchronization between that person’s brain waves and another person’s heartbeat is more likely to occur. These findings have intriguing implications, suggesting that individuals in a psychophysiologically coherent state become more aware of the information encoded in the heart fields of those around them.

The results of these experiments have led us to infer that the nervous system acts as an “antenna,” which is tuned to and responds to the electromagnetic fields produced by the hearts of other individuals. We believe this capacity for exchange of energetic information is an innate ability that heightens awareness and mediates important aspects of true empathy and sensitivity to others Furthermore, we have observed that this energetic communication ability can be intentionally enhanced, producing a much deeper level of nonverbal communication, understanding, and connection between people. There is also intriguing evidence that heart field interactions can occur between people and animals.

In short, energetic communication via the heart field facilitates development of an expanded consciousness in relation to our social world.

The Heart’s Field and Intuition

There are also new data suggesting that the heart’s field is directly involved in intuitive perception, through its coupling to an energetic information field outside the bounds of space and time. Using a rigorous experimental design, we found compelling evidence that both the heart and brain receive and respond to information about a future event before the event actually happens. Even more surprising was our finding that the heart appears to receive this “intuitive” information before the brain. This suggests that the heart’s field may be linked to a more subtle energetic field that contains information on objects and events remote in space or ahead in time. Called by Karl Pribram and others the “spectral domain,” this is a fundamental order of potential energy that enfolds space and time, and is thought to be the basis for our consciousness of “the whole.” (See heartmath.org for further detail.)

Social Fields

In the same way that the heart generates energy in the body, we propose that the social collective is the activator and regulator of the energy in social systems.

A body of groundbreaking work shows how the field of socioemotional interaction between a mother and her infant is essential to brain development, the emergence of consciousness, and the formation of a healthy self-concept. These interactions are organized along two relational dimensions—stimulation of the baby’s emotions, and regulation of shared emotional energy. Together they form a socioemotional field through which enormous quantities of psychobiological and psychosocial information are exchanged. Coherent organization of the mother-child relations that make up this field is critical. This occurs when interactions are charged, most importantly, with positive emotions (love, joy, happiness, excitement, appreciation, etc.), and are patterned as highly synchronized, reciprocal exchanges between these two individuals. These patterns are imprinted in the child’s brain and thus influence psychosocial function throughout life. (See Allan Schore, Affect Regulation and the Origin of the Self.)

Moreover in a longitudinal study of 46 social groups, one of us (RTB) documented how information about the global organization of a group—the group’s collective consciousness—appears to be transmitted to all members by an energetic field of socio-emotional connection. Data on the relationships between each pair of members was found to provide an accurate image of the social structure of the group as a whole. Coherent organization of the group’s social structure is associated with a network of positively charged emotions (love, excitement, and optimism) connecting all members. This network of positive emotions appears to constitute a field of energetic connection into which information about the group’s social structure is encoded and distributed throughout the group. Remarkably, an accurate picture of the group’s overall social structure was obtained from information only about relationships between pairs of individuals. We believe the only way this is possible is if information about the organization of the whole group is distributed to all members of the group via an energetic field. Such correspondence in information between parts and the whole is consistent with the principle of holographic organization. [2]

Synthesis and Implications

Some organizing features of the heart field, identified in numerous studies at HeartMath, may also be shared by those of our hypothesized social field. Each is a field of energy in which the waveforms of energy encode the features of objects and events as energy moves throughout the system. This creates a nonlocal order of energetic information in which each location in the field contains an enfolded image of the organization of the whole system at that moment. The organization and processing of information in these energy fields can best be understood in terms of quantum holographic principles. [3]

Another commonality is the role of positive emotions, such as love and appreciation, in generating coherence both in the heart field and in social fields. When the movement of energy is intentionally regulated to form a coherent, harmonious order, information integrity and flow are optimized. This, in turn, produces stable, effective system function, which enhances health, psychosocial well-being, and intentional action in the individual or social group.

Heart coherence and social coherence may also act to mutually reinforce each other. As individuals within a group increase psychophysiological coherence, psychosocial attunement may be increased, thereby increasing the coherence of social relations. Similarly, the creation of a coherent social field by a group may help support the generation and maintenance of psychophysiological coherence in its individual members. An expanded, deepened awareness and consciousness results—of the body’s internal physiological, emotional, and mental processes, and also of the deeper, latent orders enfolded into the energy fields that surround us.This is the basis of self-awareness, social sensitivity, creativity, intuition, spiritual insight, and understanding of ourselves and all that we are connected to. It is through the intentional generation of coherence in both heart and social fields that a critical shift to the next level of planetary consciousness can occur—one that brings us into harmony with the movement of the whole.

for footnotes and links to more information on HeartMath Insittute, go to article source:       http://wakeup-world.com/2012/02/29/hearts-have-their-own-brain-and-consciousness/

Bus-Top Gardening

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Gardens Thrive on Top of City Busses

 

27th Feburary 2012

By urbangardensweb.com

Bus Roots is a living garden planted on the roofs of city buses. It’s an effort that rose out of New York City designer Marco Antonio Castro Cosio’s graduate thesis at the NYU. The project aims to reclaim the forgotten space on the tops of city buses, while enhancing the quality of urban life by proliferating green spaces on these unused bus roofs. A prototype of the rolling gardens has been installed on the roof of the BioBus, a mobile science laboratory and the first bus with an extensive green roof system. It has been growing for five months while travelling around New York City and as far as Ohio.

Bus Roots joins the ranks of mobile gardens planted on trucks, trains, and other roving sites. Cosio explains his project as an exercise in “nomadic urban agriculture.”

Benefits
According to the bustop gardener, benefits include:
• Aesthetic Value
• Mitigation of Urban Heat Island Effect
• Acoustical and Thermal Insulation
• Storm Water Reduction and Management
• CO2 absorbtion
• Habitat Restoration
• Public Education and Recreation
• Reclaiming Forgotten Real Estate

 

Raising the Roots
Cosio estimates Bus Roots can add greatly to the city’s green space. Each public transit bus has a surface of 340 ft2., and The Metropolitan Transit Authority has a fleet of around 4,500 buses. Do the math.

“If a garden were planted on the roof of every one of the 4,500 buses in the city’s bus fleet,” calculates Cosio, his busses could add 35 acres of new rolling green space in the city.

from:    http://wakeup-world.com/2012/02/27/gardens-thrive-on-top-of-city-busses/

Evita Ochel on Heart-Centered Living

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Awakening to Heart-Centered Living

12th March 2012

By Evita Ochel

Our world is in the midst of a major change, and we are awakening. Awakening today from years, decades and centuries of living stifled by illusions and limited by controlling beliefs and unconscious thoughts. Today, we have the chance to step into the light of consciousness and see the world, life and ourselves through a lens of clarity like we never have before. We have the chance to see through the illusions, the drama, the propaganda and all that has kept us asleep, busy and distracted from the truth of all that is.

But what will we do and how will we react as we wake up? For many around the world, the awakening is a rude one and it is bringing about various levels of anger, resentment, frustration and despair. Many of the things, people, organizations and systems we put our trust and faith in have failed and betrayed us. Many of our first responses thus are to strike back, get even, attack, retaliate and expose that which has enslaved us for so long. And while all of these actions may have some merits and many of us may feel justified taking them, there is something else to consider, something very fundamental about this awakening that is much more powerful to put into practice.

At the root of this awakening is a very important foundation—the foundation of the heart. For eons humankind has led life ruled by the mind, which has to this point been largely untapped and unconscious where its full potential lies. Despite this, logic, reason and rational thinking were valued over empathy, compassion and emotional feeling. We were taught to be strong, competitive, the “fittest” and focus on personal desires without regard for how it will impact others or nature. Yet something about this did not feel “right” – did not feel natural to many of us, and is today one of the biggest factors driving this awakening.

In the midst of evolving as life on this planet, we neglected one of the most important aspects of ourselves. We have denied, suppressed and alienated our heart. And so today, we are not just awakening, we are awakening to heart-centered living.

The Meaning of Heart-Centered

“Love doesn’t need reason. It speaks from the irrational wisdom of the heart.”  – Deepak Chopra

The foundation of heart-centered living is love. Pure and simple. Therefore, when we embrace or step into heart-centered living, we are allowing love to be the guiding force for all that we think, say and do. We are moving out of fear-based paradigms and moving into love-based paradigms. How this plays out in everyday life on a practical level is huge, and has massive implications for all life on this planet. Our hearts are starved and we are finally coming back to ourselves, healing ourselves and healing our planet. For example, it is no coincidence that heart disease today is our number one killer. While I will be the first to say that healthy eating is vital to our physical survival and quality of life, beyond this physical nourishment is something much bigger. Our overall energetic frequency of the thoughts, words and actions we experience influences our mind-body connection and this is reflected in the state of our personal health, and collectively in the health of our planet.

Therefore to understand what heart-centered living is all about, there are three main areas that are the building blocks for putting a heart-centered approach into action on every level of our existence.

Compassion for Self

For starters, it means growing in and nurturing self-love. Yes, we actually start to put ourselves first, but not from an Ego perspective, but from a heart perspective. When we wake up to heart-centered living, we understand that we are the central point of creation of our personal reality. Until we understand love personally and experientially, and learn to love ourselves, we are of little value to ourselves, others and our world. Until we learn to really love ourselves, we will continue to engage in destructive behaviors that harm the self, others and our planet. This applies to everything in life.

A person who has a high degree of self-love is incapable for example of being in a destructive relationship, or over-eating, or using toxic substances, or subjecting themselves to any other physical, mental, emotional or spiritual harm. The higher your level of self-love the more compassion you exercise in all of your thoughts, words and actions towards the self and all of life’s creation. And in case it is not yet clear, this has nothing to do with selfishness, but with being awake and aware enough to know that we can only give what we are and what we have. Therefore if we do not have love within us, how can we give love to others? Or kindness? Respect? Compassion? Etc.

“Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. Your really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.”   – Lucille Ball

Compassion for Others

Secondly, it means a unity-centered attitude in how we interact with others. We begin to value things like community. We come to understand that we are all from the same source on this planet, and thus one human family. We begin to see ourselves in all of the “others” with whom we come into contact with everyday. And because we would not hurt, cheat or abuse the self, we would not do this to any other being. But again, for this to take effect, we have to first apply the point above with respect to increasing our self-love. And when we do apply the highest level of self-love we can at any given time, we immediately change our thoughts, words and actions towards others, for we take on the highest level of empathy no matter who we are dealing with.

We realize that only peace is natural in how we interact with others, releasing fear-based behaviors that are centered in violence, war, and oppression. We begin to understand the real meaning of justice and equality, knowing that it just does not make sense for one to have more than enough, while the other struggles with not enough to survive. Discrimination, judgement, and prejudice get released as we come into full awareness of what it means to be one. We stop fearing our differences, and instead celebrate our unique diversity.

“Love for others and respect for their rights and dignity, no matter who or what they are: ultimately these are all we need.”   – Dalai Lama XIV

Compassion for Nature

Thirdly, it means a high degree of stewardship when it comes to all of nature and our planet. The more we love ourselves, and love the communities that we share this Earth with, the more we make sure that our home—planet Earth—is kept in the healthiest state it can be.

Living from the heart means we know that every body of water on this planet is like the blood that runs through our body, and in order to be healthy, we cannot pollute either. We begin to be mindful of our actions in how we preserve clean air, both inside and outside our homes. We begin to show the highest level of compassion for all animals, and plants and all other species of life on this planet. Nothing is seen as worse than, or more worthy than. We stop discriminating between species as to which ones we call our pets, and which ones we abuse or kill. We begin to take a high degree of reverence for nature knowing that it has a sacred balance, and we learn to work with it, rather than against it.

Living from the heart and being stewards of this planet also means that we do not try to impose our will or control nature or any of its species. We are just one aspect of nature that has the choice to either live with the sacred harmony, or destroy the harmony of life on this planet.

“There is hope if people will begin to awaken that spiritual part of themselves, that heartfelt knowledge that we are caretakers of this planet.”   – Brooke Medicine Eagle

From Mind Wisdom to Heart Wisdom

In closing, I wish to share with you my personal philosophy for my life, which today I keep as simple as possible – live consciously using the wisdom of the heart and the power of the mind.

May we remember that living from the heart does not mean that we abandon the power of our mind. To do so, would be to enter a new imbalanced way of existing on this planet. We cannot deny any part of ourselves to live from our highest potential – not our mind, not our heart and not our soul. We are multidimensional beings, both on a physical and spiritual level and we are today learning how to truly put that into action and live our lives from the most holistic and balanced foundation.

Ultimately, at our essence we are love. We are not fear, or anger, or greed, or competition. As we continue to awaken, may we continue to grow in love, and exercise all that we are in how we relate to ourselves, others and all living and non-living things on this planet. May we always focus on the solutions, rather than the problems, and truly be the change we wish to see.

About the Author

Evita Ochel is an author, speaker and holistic living expert. She is the editor of two online publications:EvolvingBeings.com – to awaken and inspire people to expand their consciousness and connect with a heart-centered way of life, and EvolvingWellness.com – to awaken and inspire people to attain optimal health and wellness through natural health and nutrition. Evita is also the founder of the Healthytarianmovement and author of the newly released book “Healing and Prevention Through Nutrition”.

from:   http://wakeup-world.com/2012/03/12/awakening-to-heart-centered-living/

El Hierro Update

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El Hierro Volcano : Yellow alert – Atlantic Explorer will try to use the ROV on Tuesday

Last update: March 12, 2012 at 3:19 pm by By 


Update 12/03 – 07:28
– The Atlantic Explorer vessel of the company QSTAR SLU, hired by members of ‘Universidad de las Palmas de Gran Canaria’ (ULPGC) and collaborating, the non-profit organisation, SOS Océanos is back in town. Julio received an Email from one of the people in charge that they will try to use the ROV today on Tuesday, weather permitting of course.
– 2 earthquakes so far today – M &.1 and M 1.3 both at a depth of 12 km

Update 11/03 – 23:55
– New images from Joke Volta have been loaded in our picasaweb
– A 5th earthquake with a magnitude of 0.6 occurred at 21:37

Update 11/03 – 22:58
– no more new earthquakes
– some people are looking for a new name for the new volcano. IGN scientists are talking internally about “El Volcan de La Restinga”  but a new name is certainly desirable.
– Involcan and ITER have published the new CO2 graphs who are showing a light increase to 934 ton per day.

Update 11/03 – 21:34 UTC
– Today a number of people and Joke saw a faint jacuzzi or rather degassing in the vent area. This was also confirmed by scientists.
– The degassing started already yesterday afternoon and was mentioned by some ER readers, Julio and AVCAN.
– We think it is probably too early to talk about a reactivation of the eruptive process.

Update 11/03 – 18:38 UTC
– Images Joke Volta from today showing a beautiful sunrise and a few images with a super faint jacuzzi. Click here.

Update 11/03 – 08:38 UTC
– 4 earthquakes so far since midnight. Resp. 1.8, 1.5, 0.3 and 1.7. Depths in between 8 and 12 km.

Update 10/03 – 23:10 UTC
– The Atlantic Explorer vessel is currently navigating to El Hierro for a new campaign. In the team, members from the Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and SOS Océanos. Lets hope this time the conditions will be good enough for deploying the ROV.
Update 10/03 – 21:45 UTC
– The following video shows the activity at ‘El Mar de Las Calmas’ from 18:55 to 19:55 UTC  x10 normal speed, by Julio del Castillo Vivero.

– AVCAN (Actualidad Volcánica de Canarias) believe the eruption was not over and continues.
– Joke Volta has spoken with Ramón Ortiz and here we have translate his words for what he believes could be happening:

” What can be observed now we saw 2 weeks ago. I have looked at the seismic network, and there has been no variation, no anomalies. When there is an eruptive activity this is reflected in the seismic network. What could be happening is that as magma is still hot, it takes time to cool down, this material is still releasing heat and vapor, and there is still gas release. That is why there is still an exclusion zone around the volcano. Tides can affect the process that we see. As the tide changes, the pressure does too and this can alter what is happening. The effect of the tides we have observed it two weeks ago when there was a decrease in activity. The visibility of the volcano changes and this is also due to the tides.

– What we are sure of is there has been no official communication about what is happening.

for more information and updates, go to:    http://earthquake-report.com/2011/09/25/el-hierro-canary-islands-spain-volcanic-risk-alert-increased-to-yellow/

Earthquake — Kashmir, India

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March 12, 2012 – Strong earthquake in Kashmir

Last update: March 12, 2012 at 7:12 am by By 


M 5.6      2012/03/12 06:06      Depth 49.3 km     NORTHWESTERN KASHMIR
Local time : 11:06:45 AM at epicenter
Satellite map of the greater epicenter area (see below)
141 km (87 miles) NW of Gilgit, Kashmir
154 km (95 miles) NE of Chitral, Pakistan
Max. expected shaking : moderate for 9,000 people and light shaking : 332,000
The nearest populated places are: Lasht (13km), Baroghil (19km), Kharach (20km), Dehe Gholaman (18km). The closest civilian airport is Chitral (159km).
The Murgab hydrodam is located at a distance of 62 km from the epicenter.
Koyo Zom is the highest peak in the Hindu Raj mountain range in Pakistan at 6872 m. The Hindu Raj mountain range lies between the Hindu Kush and the Karakoram ranges
Based on the current hypocenter (49.3 km) and the epicenter location (preliminary) , earthquake-report calls this earthquake moderately dangerous. The biggest danger will come from landslides and rockfall. Additionally, the houses in the area are mostly build of stones and are very vulnerable

from:   http://earthquake-report.com/2012/03/11/earthquakes-list-march-12-2012/

Sperm Personhood, Viagra Rectal Exams, and More. Ah, Republicans

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Insane Sex Laws Inspired by Republicans

—By Hannah Levintova

| Thu Mar. 8, 2012 4:00 AM
The Doctr/Flickr

As Republican lawmakers have pushed evermore intrusive and expansive uterus-related legislation, some of their colleagues across the aisle have fired back with intentionally and equally ridiculous counterproposals. From mandatory rectal exams for guys seeking Viagra to prohibitions on sperm-stifling vasectomies, most of these male-only provisions have, unsurprisingly, flopped. But they’ve scored big as symbolic gestures, spotlighting the inherent sexism of laws that regulate only lady parts.

Some of the tongue-in-cheek ideas introduced across the country:

Delaware: By an 8 to 4 vote, the Wilmington, Delaware, city council recognized the personhood of semen because “each ‘egg person’ and each ‘sperm person’ should be deemed equal in the eyes of the government.”

Virginia: As the state Senate debated requiring transvaginal ultrasounds for women seeking abortions, Sen. Janet Howell proposed mandating rectal exams and cardiac stress tests for men seeking erectile dysfunction meds. Her amendment failed by just two votes.

Georgia: Responding to a Georgia house bill banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, Rep. Yasmin Neal wrote a bill outlawing most vasectomies because they leave “thousands of children…deprived of birth.”

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Ohio: A bill introduced by state Sen. Nina Turner would compel men to get psychological screenings before getting prescriptions for impotence meds. “We must advocate for the traditional family,” Turner said, “and ensure that all men using PDE-5 inhibitors are healthy, stable, and educated about their options—including celibacy as a viable life choice.”

Illinois: State Rep. Kelly Cassidy proposed requiring men seeking Viagra to watch a video showing the treatment for persistent erections, an occasional side effect of the little blue pill. As she explained, “It’s not a pretty procedure to watch.”

Missouri: Protesting the legislature’s vote to reject Obama’s contraception coverage mandate, nine female lawmakers cosponsored a bill restricting access to vasectomies except for men risking death or serious bodily harm. “In determining whether a vasectomy is necessary,” the bill reads, “no regard shall be made to the desire of a man to father children, his economic situation, his age, the number of children he is currently responsible for, or any danger to his wife or partner in the event a child is conceived.”

Oklahoma: When a zygote-personhood bill came before the state Senate, Sen. Constance Johnson penned an amendment declaring that ejaculating anywhere outside a woman’s vaginaconstitutes “an action against an unborn child.” Bonus: Johnson also suggested that any man who impregnates a woman without her permission should pay a $25,000 fine, support the child until age 21, and get a vasectomy, “in the spirit of shared responsibility.” In response to the same bill, state Sen. Jim Wilson proposed an amendment requiring the father of an unborn child to be financially responsible for its mother’s health care, housing, transportation, and nourishment during pregnancy.

Texas: Contesting a bill mandating sonograms before abortions, Rep. Harold Dutton unsuccessfully offered three amendments in a row. The first would have required the state to pay the college tuition of children born to women who decide against an abortion after seeing a required ultrasound image. The second would have subsidized the children’s health care costs until age 18. When that failed, he lowered the age to 6. That didn’t fly, either.

from:    http://motherjones.com/mojo/2012/03/birth-control-viagra-vasectomy-laws

Matthieu Pigasse – Reform and REVOLUTIONS

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Matthieu Pigasse

CEO, Lazard Financial Advisory in France at Lazard Ltd.

We Must Invent a New World

Today, all of Europe is living in doubt. For five centuries, our continent has been able to invent the ideas and the goods that have transformed the world, yet it seems to have lost the secret of their manufacture. It no longer knows if it is capable of inventing the world of tomorrow; it doesn’t even know if it has a common future any more.

Of the two terms of Schumpeter’s formula summarizing capitalism, «creative destruction», we have forgotten the former, that is to say, creation, leaving us only with the latter, destruction. For many, unemployment has become the norm. The hope of becoming a part of society through work has evaporated. Extreme ideologies bloom, though one sole look at the world would be enough to demonstrate the absurdity of all of them. Our societies thought they had built a balance in which every successive generation could legitimately hope that its progeny would have a better life. Today they are convinced that we can no longer keep this promise. Our systems of social negotiations have broken down, and our systems of social protection are threatened. Belief in progress has faded. Many perceive technical progress as a danger, economic progress as a lie, social progress as a mirage, democratic progress as an illusion.

We are living through a turning point, in great confusion. Nothing of what seemed obvious yesterday is evident today. Nor are there any signs to tell us what future certainties will be. The great points of reference — the Nation, the State, Morality — seem to have disappeared. The great hopes of tomorrow remain invisible.

We must struggle against this doubt, so devastating for a Europe whose history was built, precisely, upon progress.

When a majority of the population comes to the point of thinking that tomorrow may well be worse than today, the only possible strategy it can see becomes that of preserving what exists. Everyone wants things to remain frozen as they are as long as possible, in order to preserve his own interests, which leads to hampering, preventing, all change. Fear is the greatest ally of conservatives. It feeds the rise of egoism: the social egoism of those who can or believe they can succeed in spite of others or against others; ethnic egoism that rejects the other, whom they consider responsible for all ills; and the national egoism of each individual country persuaded it should prevail over its partners.

So how can one approach tomorrow in a new way?

We must invent a new world. We must recover the meaning of progress, not progress as an automatic reflex or an empty word, but as an act of will. We must return to the idea that it is possible to act in order to influence things. Never become resigned, never submit, never retreat. We must not see the market as a more effective means of coordinating individual actions. No society can organize itself simply by virtue of the market. Thus we must be wary of the liberal illusion of a society that has no need to think out its future or define its regulations. On the contrary, it is up to politics to reinvent itself, to define new rules and new institutions.

Many believe that in a so-called global and liberal economy, governments should have no power. They are mistaken. The crisis and reactions to the crisis demonstrate that this is a fallacy, that there exist good policies and bad ones, that there exist good and bad regulations.

We must act in three areas:

  1. Production, in other words, growth. We must tell ourselves that without growth, there can be no progress and no reduction of inequality.
  1. Solidarity, which is a method as much as it is a necessity. There is no progress if it does not profit all and if it is not accepted by all. Solidarity in Europe is not only a part of our glorious past, it is the key to our tomorrow.
  1. Public action, for the genius of Europe is first of all that of a collective project and a common destiny.

Production and growth, to begin with, to reach full employment. That may seem like a utopia, but actually it is not. The society of full employment we should strive for will not be that of the 60s. It will not be a society without unemployment. But it will be, or it should be, a society in which unemployment is only short-term. A mobile society in which every wage-earner can tell himself he will advance. The contrary of a society where everyone is pigeon-holed to remain in the same profession or at the same rank or level for decades. A society where all of us are perpetually learning or relearning. This implies a radical change in our relation to work and to our crafts and professions.

We must renew our solidarity. It is the distinctive feature of Europe and of European society. Those who carry the banner of individualism refuse to understand that, in the social contract, we Europeans have a concept much richer than theirs, founded upon the existence of a common good that cannot be reduced to the sum of individual interests. We should be proud of what we have built: adequate medical care available to all, an end to poverty for the aged, solidarity towards those who do not have jobs. An economy more vulnerable to technical change and the appearance of new competition is also harsher. So it demands that those who miss out because of progress can count on the solidarity of those who are benefiting from it.

Finally, we must reinvent public service, public action, that is to say, the role of the State. What counts is not the amount of taxes paid, it is the comparison between taxes and the quality of public goods and services offered in exchange: education, training, security, roads, railroads, communications infrastructure. It is the State’s capacity to favor the creation of wealth, to ensure its just and efficient redistribution, to reduce inequality.

The key principle upon which this project must depend is that of equality. The rise of unprecedented inequality is characteristic of the present day. It is something new, and it has been with us over a sustained period. To borrow Necker’s phrase, equality was the very idea of the Revolution. Yet today, the force that is affecting and transforming the world is the development of inequality. And it hasn’t slowed down for decades. Inequality between countries, between regions of the world, between social classes, between generations, etc. The result is the dissolution of the feeling of belonging to a common world. A world henceforth undermined by social inequality, the secession of the wealthy, and a revolt of those who feel, conversely, forgotten, despised, rejected or abandoned. And whose sole weapon is their discontent and the power of their indignation.

We must revive what was once the revolutionary plan: equality, in other words, a manner of building society, of producing together, of living together and of breathing life anew into the common good. As Pierre Rosanvallon put it, it is a question of refounding a society of equals. A society in which everyone possesses the same rights, in which each of us is recognized and respected as being as important as the others. A society that allows each one to change his life.

We must also take into consideration the political crisis we are currently experiencing. It is marked not only by political disengagement, abstention, and the rise of extreme ideologies, but also by an institutional crisis. To be more precise, a crisis of the political model. The crisis of the political model is the extreme concentration of power, and in particular the extreme concentration of executive power in the hands of one man, the President of the Republic. The real power of a sole individual versus the actual power of all. It is marked as well by a crisis of decision and a weakened legitimacy of institutions, government, ministers and other authorities.

What is to be done? To undertake a program of institutional reform comparable in its breadth to that of 1958, at the establishment of the 5th Republic. With two main objectives.

To make political decisions more effective and, with this in mind, introduce a dose of proportional representation in elections in order to ensure the best representation possible; reduce by half the number of parliamentary representatives, and outlaw cumulative office; downsize the number of ministers to fifteen, each concentrating on lofty missions of State and thus avoiding the dispersion of public actions, thereby ridding ourselves of that French specificity consisting of incessantly inventing new ministries whose missions are vague but whose uselessness is certain.

Take up the challenge of democratic representation. The historic principle of representation, the idea according to which the people exercise real power through the intermediary of their elected representatives, can only function if we recognize that two principles have proven largely fictitious. The first is the view that a relative or absolute majority represents the opinion of all. The second is that the ballot represents the opinion of the citizen, whereas the rich diversity of an opinion cannot be reduced to the choice of one person at a given time. The result is a legitimate feeling of not being represented. The demand for better representation must be met with more participation, the submission of governments to intensified surveillance, to more frequent rendering of accounts, to new forms of inspection. It is not possible to keep an eye on every decision, but everyone must be entitled to participate in the collective power through a system of evaluation.

This is the price of the construction of a more just and meaningful society.

This post is excerpted from Matthieu Pigasse’s new book, Révolutions.

from:    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthieu-pigasse/we-must-invent-a-new-world_b_1335992.html

Antimatter Atom Measured

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Revealing Our Antimatter Universe–1st Measurement Ever of an Antimatter Atom

 

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We may soon know why the universe seems to have a preference for matter over antimatter.An international team of physicists working on the ALPHA experiment at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland, has successfully used microwaves to manipulate antihydrogen atoms. Their work could help answer fundamental questions about the universe. The accomplishment, by physicists working on the ALPHA experiment at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland, is a first step towards more detailed measurements that will reveal whether matter and antimatter are true mirror images.

“This comparison is motivated in part by a question that has baffled scientists for a long time,” says Simon Fraser University physics professor Mike Hayden, lead author of the research paper published in Nature March 7. “The known laws of physics tell us that matter and antimatter should naturally exist in equal amounts. The problem is that we seem to live in a universe that is almost entirely devoid of antimatter. A possible explanation is that there might be some subtle difference between matter and antimatter, which let matter win out over time as the universe evolved. If a difference between hydrogen and anti-hydrogen is discovered, it could provide a valuable clue for solving this mystery.”

The ALPHA team trapped an atom of antihydrogen –made up of a positron – the antimatter equivalent of an electron and an antiproton– using magnetic fields. By shining microwave radiation tuned to a specific frequency on the captive atom, the team was able to flip the anti-atom’s magnetic moment, liberating it from the trap and allowing it to be detected, enabling the first spectroscopic measurement of antihydrogen.

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The current standard model of particle physics predicts that antimatter atoms should behave exactly the same as atoms of normal matter, and have identical properties, apart from their opposite charge, which can be verified by comparing the frequency of light emitted from excited atoms. Any difference in these spectroscopic measurements would suggest that antimatter is not an exact opposite of matter – and the assumptions the standard model is based on would be considerably weakened.

The present measurement, which was conducted by the ALPHA collaboration at CERN in Switzerland, involved irradiating magnetically-trapped anti-atoms with microwaves. Precise tuning of the microwave frequency and magnetic field enabled researchers to hit an internal resonance, kicking atoms out of the trap and revealing information about their properties.

“We have just witnessed the first-ever interactions between microwaves and trapped antimatter atoms,” says Hayden. The Daily Galaxy via Simon Fraser University. Eventually measurements may reveal clues that may help solve one of the deepest mysteries in particle physics.

The Daily Galaxy via Simon Fraser University and newscientist.com

from site:    http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2012/03/revealing-the-antimatter-universe-1st-measurement-ever-of-an-antimatter-atom.html#more