Saturday, September 08, 2007

A Book of Columns

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:



Member E-News An IANDS Member Service

Many of you have read and appreciate the work of PMH Atwater, the most prolific writer and researcher of NDEs. To celebrate the publication of her new book this October, The Big Book of Near-Death Experiences (Hampton Road Publishing), IANDS is offering a special CD with forty columns that PMH, as she is fondly known, has written over the past 25 years for the IANDS quarterly newsletter, Vital Signs.

This CD is vintage Atwater. No one has ever written better about the experience of the experiencer! Included is the exceptional series of columns titled "The Seven Most Common Aftereffects," probably the best descriptions of what it feels like after experiencers return from their NDEs. This is a must read for all experiencers and anyone close to them  - family members, friends, mental health and medical professionals - who want to understand why so much has changed for these folks.  

Interspersed throughout the CD are PMH's personal reflections as a researcher, speaker, and near-death experiencer herself; her observations on the field of NDE research; and numerous accounts of NDEs as told to her by experiencers.

All the columns are in PDF format, readable on any computer (the free Adobe Reader is required which is very easy to download), just as she wrote them originally. This is a collection to keep and pass on, and to give to another experiencer - especially a new NDEr - as a gift.

The price is $29.95 for the general public, $24.95 for IANDS members. To order, go to http://www.iands.org/shoppingcart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=646



A service of the International Association for Near-Death Studies (www.iands.org).

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Solar Eclipse

So many people have asked me about the coming solar eclipse on September 11, 2007, that I have prepared this brief article about eclipses in general and about some of the other changes now occurring in our world. –PMH

Tradition has it that eclipses increase the intensity "thermometer" of the very air we breathe, in the sense of how the vibrations of that intensity affect us. Those who live in the areas of our globe where a given eclipse actually occurs (is the most readily seen) are affected the most. Lunar eclipses tend us toward emotional extremes; solar eclipses, toward violence/social unrest. Both can also be times of spiritual and creative breakthroughs, portals opening to the invisible worlds - depending on the willingness of individuals to use these opportunities in a positive, uplifting way. For some they are times of high creativity; for others, worry/fear without any direct or definable reason.

What is so special about all of 2006, 2007, and 2008 is the continuous and intense "interplay" between Pluto and the Galactic Center, along with a parade of strong, heavy configurations of various types that leave us with little time to "recover" before another rolls in. Exhaustion and depression have been common complaints. It's like we the people are constrained to simply "run in place," even when it seems like we are making progress. Add to this the downturn in our country's energy factors and our place in the world (progressed Mars now retrograde in our nation's chart - for 70 years!) along with another major downturn in our nation's chart to occur one month after the elections in 2008, and you can see that it really doesn't matter who wins the Presidency. What does matter is that the average John and Jane Doe wake up to the fact that this is our country and it is us who must change it. We are, and we will!

This particular solar eclipse occurs on, of all days, September 11th. That alone makes it rather foreboding. On September 2nd, Saturn made its initial move into the sign of Virgo, an earth sign, and will be there for 2 1/2 years. Virgo is business, jobs, education, health, that which is practical and down-to earth. Saturn says "get real." So what are we seeing, right on cue? Mortgages and mortgage brokers failing at a rate that is unbelievable and the economy in such an unusual slump that it is virtually in recession. Toys are jerked from shelves; food is proving unsafe. No matter were you turn in the practical, physical world around you, there's another challenge - another opportunity to reassess, revamp, and reconsider. We knew this time was coming, and we were right - it's here. And, Pluto begins its shift into Capricorn - January 2008 until January 2024 (wiggling out of that sign a couple of times before it's in to stay). That's a long run, one which will take us from a focus on freedom, inspiration, religion, spirituality, imagination, intuition, the arts, gambling, and world travel to quite a different factor - one centered on banks and banking, politics, government, corporations, big business, earth changes, security, status, achievements, sacrifice, and nationalism. (Take a look at what's happening already in Russia with the rise of the Nashi - young people encouraged by Putin to act in a manner similar to the Nazi Brown Shirts before Hitler took over.)

These movements are part of the larger movement in our universe, called "The Great Shifting," where the cosmic year does a complete roll-over, ushering in a whole new 25,920-year cycle. We really cannot compare what is now happening in the energy world and directly affecting us, to anything else that we have record of. We can get hints from the geological "record" and from memories encoded into each of our dreams and hearts, but, that's about it. To look at what might happen this year on September 11th is to kid ourselves. Yes, the activity between Pluto and the Galactic Center, not to mention T-Squares and other strong configurations, have been unusually intense throughout this entire summer, right now, next month, and again in December, and, yes, next year will be another "doosy." Where we kid ourselves is in seeking predictions instead of waking up to the order of the day, which says "be in your center - practice what you preach - and be flexible and ready to change on a dime."

No matter where you are, no matter what you are doing throughout all of next week, affirm the truth of God's Presence in this world, your world and mine, and know, absolutely know, that you have within you the knowledge and the courage to act with creativity and flexibility. . . and that nothing can keep you on track better than a good, hardy laugh. These are incredible times - made to order for who we are and what we are capable of doing. That, dear ones, is exactly why we're here.

Anyone who wishes to has my permission to pass on this article to others. Just honor my byline and mention my website, www.pmhatwater.com. You may wish to tag this addendum on to that article. PMH

The one thing I left out of my brief article about eclipse is that the energy pattern of an eclipse lasts from three months to a year afterward. The power of this eclipse will continue then for some time. In this case, however, even though the eclipse is just a partial one, it occurs during a timeframe of immense power: the memorial to September 11, World Prayer Day, Rosh Hashanan, Pluto on the Galactic Center, and other significant energy configurations. . . that roll us into the Fifth Night of the Mayan Calendar (November 24th and lasting for primarily one year).

In the final countdown to the end of the Mayan Calendar, the Fifth Night is especially important as it signals the "death of old consciousness" and is considered to be exceptionally negative - in the sense of how the old order may use every option available to them, in a last ditch effort to continue their control. This indicates that 2008 could indeed be a very rough year, not only for our country in the way of economic downturns, weather damage, and politics gone wild, but throughout the entire world. The idea of Fifth Night and its timing coincides with Pluto and the Galactic Center, and many of the most intense astrological configurations I have seen in my lifetime, as well as pressure surrounding the Presidential elections.

We are certainly living in a time of reckoning. Following the Fifth Night energies, though, are those of the Sixth Day - a time of renaissance: new ways and new options to heal old wounds and recreate lives, societies, and governments in a better way.

How do we get through this fall and next year in a sane manner? People helping each other, complementary healthcare, sustainability, energy alternatives, gardens, alternative schools and home schooling, and on and on. In five words: Creativity, Intuition, Prayer, Application, Practicality.

P. M. H. Atwater, L.H.D.

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