We are on the cusp of a new era of consciousness on the planet. The whole hub-bub about 2012 is about this shift. It's a transition from masculine to feminine consciousness, meaning those humans (men or women) who resonate with the earth's unfolding creative, dynamic, careening, ever-changing life force, will be better prepared for a future that holds a tremendous amount of change in the next 50 years.

A major determining factor on whether you will be one of the clear-minded, flexible, sensitive creatures who rides the universal flow or one of the clamped-down, stuck, recalcitrant, comfort-seekers is....of course.... THE FOOD YOU EAT.

I have noticed both a decline and a crescendo of human consciousness in America. (Have you?) The primetime network TV shows seem to be getting more crass, more violent or vulgar and yet... the artists and visionaries and healers I know are galloping over their life-hurdles at an apparently accelerating rate. The news gets ever-bleaker from around the world, and yet quantum physicists are agreeing with the Dalai Lama. (and Einstein might have too.)

In one single week last month, I had four people who didn't know each other mention to me the healing power of ley lines and vortices. (This is something like fengshui or acupuncture for the planet-- Camden, Maine, where I live, happens to lie in a vortex of energy, much like the ones in Taos, New Mexico, Sedona, Arizona or Findhorn in Scotland) Apparently the people who live in such magical places are the beneficiaries of some form of earth energy that amplifies and vitalizes all growth and development.

I know a group of artists who moved here expressly for this reason. Almost everyone I talk to--from bankers to massage therapists--seems to know that this is true here, without knowing why. The vitality, creativity and healing energy are that self-evident.

When you spend time here, you come to marvel at the number of world travelers, artists, healers and metaphysical practitioners who have settled here. You also come to marvel at how you can drive 30 minutes inland and it's not there. An hour south, nope. 40 minutes north... nope. There are edges to this vortex of energy. You can tell from the store fronts and the people and the food. It just feels different.

Food is dangerously crappy everywhere you go in America (and now in many other countries too.) Devitalized, processed food is available to everyone here and in many places in the country, there's no alternative.

People are raised on extremely nutrient-deficient food and they never even see someone who eats a different kind of food.

Certainly that happens here too. But there's a choice of food culture here. Many of my friends haven't owned televisions for years. (A regular TV habit is a very solid predictor for eating processed food.) Most everyone I know cooks their own food most of the time. A fair few friends shop regularly at Farmer's Markets and natural food stores. This culture honors farmers.

Artists and healers are particularly sensitive human beings, by nature.

Fact: If you eat processed food, you injure your sensitivity. You close it down.

It follows, then, that to truly be prepared for the shift that is happening around us, we must eat clean food. We must get right with ourselves and connect with our environment. We must support our farmers and acknowledge their crucial role in delivering to us the vital life force of the earth, so that we can participate in the earth's evolution.

The Mayan calendar is the one that ends on December 21, 2012. Carlos Barrios, Mayan elder and Ajq'ij (is a ceremonial priest and spiritual guide) of the Eagle Clan studied with many teachers and interviewed nearly 600 traditional Mayan elders. This is what he has to say:

"At sunrise on December 21, 2012 for the first time in 26,000 years the Sun rises to conjunct the intersection of the Milky Way and the plane of the ecliptic. Some observers say this alignment with the heart of the galaxy in 2012 will open a channel for cosmic energy to flow through the Earth, cleansing it and all that dwells upon it, raising all to a higher level of vibration."

"This process has already begun. Change is accelerating now and it will continue to accelerate. We need to take care of the Earth that feeds and shelters us."

"We are disturbed -- we can't play anymore. Our planet can be renewed or ravaged. Now is the time to awaken and take action. Everyone is needed. You are not here for no reason. Everyone who is here now has an important purpose. This is a hard but a special time. We have the opportunity for growth, but we must be ready for this moment in history."

"Meditation and spiritual practice are good, but also action. It's very important to be clear about who you are, and also about your relation to the Earth. Develop yourself according to your own tradition and the call of your heart. But remember to respect differences, and strive for unity.

"Eat wisely --- a lot of food is corrupt in either subtle or gross ways. Pay attention to what you are taking into your body. Learn to preserve food, and to conserve energy. Learn some good breathing techniques, so you have mastery of your breath. Be clear. Follow a tradition with great roots. It is not important what tradition, your heart will tell you, but it must have great roots."

"We live in a world of energy. An important task at this time is to learn to sense or see the energy of everyone and everything -- people, plants, animals.  Go to the sacred places of the Earth to pray for peace, and have respect for the Earth which gives us our food, clothing, and shelter. We need to reactivate the energy of these sacred places. That is our work."

Wherever you live, you are an expression of the earth's energy. A dynamic conductor of life force. Or not. Kinda depends on how many Hot Pockets you have in a week. (wink)

Taking steps (even baby steps) towards clearing out your pantry and your life of "black hole" food (that which sucks your energy into an abyss) is taking steps towards a new future where your life and your body are part of the solution that the planet conjures up for itself. Wouldn't that be nice? To be a dynamic conductor of the solution? The healing of the planet and all her inhabitants?

Yes, please. Supersize THAT.

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Holly Noonan writes about self-nourishment and food empowerment every month in her Mind Body Nutrition Newsletter.

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