Beloveds!

we find ourselves in unprecedented times. The current catalyst of the global coronavirus pandemic is the latest trigger of a dying cultural paradigm, hot on the heels of global warming fires, floods, and massive social upheaval.

As we can see in the news, multiple events and organizations are cancelling gatherings to align with the times and the health protocols for minimizing groups and potentially infecting each other with the coronavirus. This is especially prudent in geographical areas that are seeing outbreaks. A good John Hopkins link for live updates is here: https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

This is not a drill. This is not over compensating. The global pandemic is unprecedented since the 1918 Spanish Flu, and these are different global and networked times. The virus can take up to 14 days to be noticeable, and people can infect others in that time. Air travel is especially risky (one example, an Australian doctor transiting through San Francisco caught the virus 2 weeks ago and went back to work in Melbourne and saw up to 70 patients that are now in danger). The infection rate is 1.3x more transmissible than the normal flu, and the coronavirus is not a normal flu. Without getting into too much detail it has 4 strands that target how it transmits into the cells and make it a super spreader. It can damage the lungs, and it can be caught more than once. The elderly are especially susceptible and those with weakened immune systems. There is no herd resilience to this yet nor a vaccine for 18 months probably. Angela Merkel in Germany just announced an expected 65% infection rate in Germany and its the same globally. Most of us are going to get this at one stage or another.

Health officials are advising self quarantine for those that feel afflicted, and authorities usually implement regional quarantine when the virus gets to a critical mass. Health sites suggest the US is 11-14 days behind Italy (which just announced a country wide quarantine for 30 days!!!) in outbreak numbers, so it’s not a question of If but When this will happen in the US. NY state is already infected, Seattle, and growing numbers elsewhere. They do this to reduce the spread of infection and slow it down and spread it out so hospitals and health care isn’t overwhelmed by a spike all at once. This is responsible community action to not contribute to the worst case scenario. It will inevitably also affect travel, flights (Trump just banned ALL European flights for 30 days) and life as we know it.

This is unprecedented in modern times. Schools are closing, events are shut down, and we must feel deeply for our correct response. It’s very likely that our own communities will be drawing back from events and that our work and livelihoods will be impacted, so start adjusting. The stock market crashed yesterday and the domino effect from global quarantine is inevitable; global recession at the best imminently in the months ahead. It’s all happening hard and fast now.

Moreover, the real medicine is, as we know, within. I reaffirm that in the Ceremony of Life, we are all now facing a medicine journey. It’s not just the coronavirus, its change. The capitalist hierarchical 20th C lifestyle that we were unsustainably drifting along with as mother earth fights back is collapsing. The beginning of the end has arrived. This will be a time of turmoil and transformation, and our communities will need guidance and leadership. It’s all about surrender and trust. Even those of us that know the current way of living is wrong, that capitalism, inequity, ego and the battery farm of consciousness we live in is unsustainable, even then we still hold on. To the comfort zones, to micro changes, to wanting change and yet we collectively resist it. Until it is thrust upon us.

This is a species ego death (and rebirth), of who and what we think we are. We need to let go of the old and rapidly embrace new ways (maybe old ways) of being. On a species level we are entering the medicine of trust, of the unknown, of change, of acceptance – and there is a gift deep in all this if we embrace it. We are in the chrysalis stage, brothers and sisters, when the caterpillar lets go, when every cell in its body breaks down and becomes unrecognizable goo, when it has to transform into the thing that is being born that it cannot even imagine, but there is no other way but forward.

Everything we know is falling away to make way for the new. The quarantines are forcing people to let go of the mechanics of civilization, of the known. There may be panic, but we need to hold it together. We, especially, need to hold it together to be effective leaders and stewards of trust. If you have felt connected, one-ness, unity, surrender to something bigger and greater that has our best interests at heart, that LOVEs us, and IS us, then how can we say no to its own unfolding? To the grace of transformation and growth? To what IT intends for us individually and collectively? THIS is what we need to hold space for in us and in our communities.

Crisis brings people together. After the quarantines, the community will rebound, but what can we learn from out enforced imminent time of retraction and isolation, going deep within? How can we outreach to our existing community and remind them of the spiritual nature of this crisis on a planetary level?

Let’s assuage any community fear, hold and support them and each other (safely), and focus on Who We Want to Become, on the world we want to envisage as the old ways break down and the clamor for change grows. Let’s hold space for the Best Possible Outcome (BPO) that, as author Charles Eisenstein has said, Another More Beautiful World is Possible.

Many are moving online to connect, to work from home, school from home, and– and potentially, commune together from home. Many online platforms exist to come together so let’s use them to hear and hold and accept, to BE with each other as a collective to discuss and grow and support as things develop–and to to plan for the future!

I would love to pray with you, vision with you, feel you at a distance and keep the integrity of our community and love afloat.

Will you join me?

In perfect love and perfect trust,

Rak