The Cancer Festival 2019

THE CANCER FESTIVAL 2019

16/17 JUL 19

© Malvin Artley

Topics (Linked to paragraphs): Italy and lighted houses The Cancer interval Two main themes Family values The full moon A most important factor The eclipse and Eris A potent triangle India The problem of Zionism Will there be a war? Another look at Iran Russia, China and terrorism Another “Deal of the Century”? Zionism, politics and resources Iran and the bomb Israel allied with Iran?? A Middle East ‘Bay of Pigs’? So, what is the plan, really? This eclipse and the NGWS

Greetings Everyone!

Italy and lighted houses: It has been a busy time here in Italy. Aside from the frantic news cycle in recent weeks, we here are in the process of renovating the in-laws’ old family home. The house has been passed down through generations, has seen the Great Depression and a world war and holds many stories within. They built houses to last for generations in those days. Still do. And we are discovering just how solid the place is as we go along with the work. Hopefully the house will stay in the Italian family for many more generations. Anyone who has been involved in renovating a house knows the score: There are always setbacks, surprises good and not so good, help when you least expect it, and then other people bailing on the work. Then there are the costs involved. It has been an enlightening process for many reasons.

I have had a living example of the rays of Italy^[1] in the process. The Italians express a 4^th ray personality (beauty/harmony through conflict), and it is most prominent in their art and architecture. We (my wife, really) have been trying to decide on flooring – wood or ceramic, colors, textures and so forth. It is the family home, after all. If you want a good example of Italy’s 4^th ray, go into a shop for flooring or house fixtures in general. You’ll be there for hours. We have been to three shops for flooring so far, getting quotes and ideas. There is every conceivable type of paving and tiling one could imagine, and then many one would never have thought. No carpet. The only carpets you will find in Italy are of the Persian variety. The thing is, the house supplies are all top quality, all made in Italy, sometimes Germany, with room after room full of it, exquisitely presented, with salespeople who actually know what they are talking about. If you have fourth ray in your nature, it is pure delight. Want ceramic flooring that is indistinguishable from wood? No problem. It’s all the rage here these days. Want oak, pine, spruce, maple, knots or not, coarse, fine, long pieces, short, mixed, glossy, flat? All ceramic. (It wears and transmits heat better). Or you can choose from their wide variety of wood flooring, if you prefer the classic. Take your pick. Would you like a coffee while you are deciding? (The latter is obligatory, by the way). Sorry, we don’t do tea or soda.

So, I’m standing there in the midst of all this, listening to the talk in the background, occasionally asked my opinion, doing my best to understand la lingua Italia rolling out at light speed. The closer to a decision and as the excitement builds, the speech goes faster and faster. That’s how one tells the decision is close. But I digress. Being from a technical background, I am looking at all the beautiful, perfect tiling and pavement and I am wondering, distracted from the conversation: How in the world do they do this? Technical types will understand. Not to spoil the mood for artistic types, but you have to wonder. (Yes, you do.) The thing one has to appreciate is the legacy there – centuries, millennia of human know-how, each generation contributing to the next, and obviously a great, unwavering attention and dedication to the ideal behind the product (Italy’s 6^th ray soul coming out), which goes to produce generation upon generation of master craftspeople. The old idea of guilds comes to mind. And then, the ultimate question comes to the forefront – will what we choose stand the test of time, or will it become worn, boring and ragged with the passing years? And as well, will it contribute to the light in the house, or will it make the house appear dark and depressing? All important considerations. And then, at the end of our decisions about new tiles, we found stacks of old tiles from years ago in the house we are renovating, now on their way to Mali to build a small 4-room surgery in a remote region. Who would have known? It was a good lesson: Be careful about what you think to throw away. It might be quite valuable to many people down the road. A further legacy.

The Cancer interval each year brings such questions as the preceding to mind as well, but subjectively. What is the legacy from which we work? How to we build on it? Does it need re-thinking? In other words, what is in the box, or do we need to think outside it? Are we building solid foundations for the future? Is the plan sound? Do we have the right information? What sort of ‘lighting’ do we need? The esoteric motto for Cancer is “I build a lighted house and therein dwell”^[2], after all. An amusing example of such a subjective emphasis comes out of Washington, with the motto of the news service, The Washington Post: “Democracy dies in darkness.” Washington, DC has Cancer as its soul expression. Ironic, that motto. We’ll get to why a little later. However, it expresses an ideal close to the American heart. Really, to the human heart. The US horoscope has its Sun in Cancer. So we have both a challenge (Sun) and a possibility (soul) for the US, as does anyone with such a combination – a foundation in process (Sun) and path to fulfillment (soul/ascendant), the latter considering charts in general. The national chart of the US has Sagittarius rising.

Two main themes: To get to the purpose here, there are two main themes to examine in this letter, both Cancerian in nature – security and the foundational nature of information. The latter refers to the light of wisdom. The family is taken as the basis. The orthodox ruler of Cancer is the Moon, ruling women and motherhood in general, family, legacies, the past, the home, beginnings and the general populace. It also rules, via the 4^th house (Cancer is the natural 4^th house of the zodiac), buildings, infrastructure, the land, waterways (generally understood to be smaller bodies of water) and the beginning and conclusion of situations, the latter in connection with the 8^th house. The family is the basis of a person’s life, serving as the psychological foundation and guiding the early development, which gradually recedes into the subconscious as one grows to adulthood. That family basis includes the culture into which one is born. The Moon also rules the subconscious, in distinction to the unconscious. Since the family and culture is so foundational, and since the mother has the closest association with the child in the first years of life, it is actually quite important to understand what we mean when we talk about family. If a person is born into a ‘lighted house’ then they get a good start on life and can overcome much, even though there may be challenges (There usually are). Regarding family, then, consider the following passage:

“…the true nature or “family” of any…organism must be ascertained before cyclic pronouncements can be made with any hope of approximate accuracy. This was why H. P. Blavatsky. sought to emphasise the need of studying the “astral family” and occult heredity of any person, for in the astral is to be found the clue to the “egoic family or group.” With this clue the student can then ascertain the characteristics of his/her group on egoic levels, its place among other egoic groups, and eventually his/her ray or group centre. As time elapses, the true study of heredity and esoteric transmission will open up, and the whole fabric of thought built up around such modern expressions as:

Just how, then, are we supposed to ascertain the nature of our ‘astral family’, and just what is such a family? The only other reference to ‘astral family’ in Bailey’s books is as follows:

“It should be borne in mind that every human being belongs to a physical family which constitutes his link with the animal kingdom, and also belongs to an astral family.”^[4]

The situation is even worse if we do a word search through all of Blavatsky’s works. There is no singular search reference to ‘astral family’. One has to do so through inference and investigation, plus quite a bit of reading and study. That, along with the realization that Blavatsky’s terminology differs somewhat from what we find in Bailey’s books. All that being said, the only sure way to know the nature and fact of one’s astral family is through being able to accurately read the akashic records – a rare ability, indeed^[5] – and to then be able to accurately interpret the information thus seen. We can know enough, though, for the concept to be serviceable to us in our present state of affairs.

The key to having any idea about one’s astral family is contained in the bolded words in the preceding quote. There are people to whom we have instant attraction or repulsion, but this is not to be taken as a simple emotional reaction. It is far more than that. ‘Astral families’ refer to soul groups, which have their reflection in the astral plane. It goes back to a concept we have examined many times – we come into incarnation in groups. Those group members may be separated by great physical distances, races, occupations and cultures, but there will be a resonance with those group members when they are encountered – a recognition of shared destiny – and that shared destiny will be quite specific. The methods for expressing that destiny are likely to be diverse, but there will be common themes. And there will always be a karmic component – connections via past actions and thoughts. Thoughts are actions in and of themselves, in essence.

But if the physical family connects us with the animal kingdom, then is it really so important to our human development and work? Well, yes, in a word. Our physical family members are also very likely members of our astral family as well, with exceptions. Buddhists say that family members carry a ‘heavy karma’, meaning that there is strong and conditioning karma to be worked out: cultural factors to consider, conditioning to consider (those being the result of our own past actions especially) and so forth. ‘Heavy’ in this case means strong and immediate, not burdensome, as we normally use the term. Certain lines of work often run through physical families, too, but more importantly, attitudes toward others, service motivation and so forth. And it goes back to foundations, again. We all probably know many people with whom we feel the ‘astral family’ connection outside of our birth family, who sometimes come undone or face challenges in their service because of difficulties in their early life, resulting in subconscious blockages and/or biases that have to be overcome in order to be of greater use to society as a whole. Those factors will be shown in the birth chart, especially in connection with the Moon and the Sun.

Family values: At this time we see an increasing emphasis on family values in many societies, especially in Eastern Europe and Russia. Russia is now providing ‘maternal (family) capital’ to encourage family growth. Hungary has initiated similar measures. Those measures are helping women especially to raise their children, in nations where wages are low (Hungary), divorce rates are high and there is little in the way of support save from the government. These are laws being enacted in order to ensure the growth of the populace and to safeguard the raising of children, which has become increasingly problematic in recent decades. Children must feel secure if they are to properly develop and thrive. The birth rate is falling across the industrialized world. For some reason we seem to take a dim view of ‘paying women to be mothers’, but to nations like Hungary, they see their culture disappearing, have seen the effects of mass migrations due to war and other reasons, and to them it is an existential problem. The question then arises: What is wrong with supporting motherhood and state sponsorship of families? It would appear to be a sound approach, really, if we want our cultures to survive and thrive. It also sponsors the care and raising of children at a critical time of their lives. Russia and Hungary are leading the way for Europe in that. Yet many of us in the West chafe at the thought. Why? Legislation for children is forecast to be first advocated via Russia.^[6] So, what’s the problem? Putin recently addressed it, which we’ll reference later.

This brings us to the factor of information. Our primary information in life comes first through the family. Later that information comes through the astral family groups with whom we are associated and to whom we find our way. We exchange ideas with people, share and influence public opinion, advance thought and skills and pass our knowledge and wisdom along to future generations. That exchange is heavily influenced by the information we get through our various media. But our world is not meant to be a globalized melting pot. Countries are encouraged to preserve their cultures and identities. It is a fundamental of the emerging Aquarian Age.^[7] The astral family does not even become a conscious concern to a person until after childhood in general, when mind, brain and soul are connected.^[8] That brings in the Neptunian esoteric rulership of Cancer.^[9] But in this particular letter, we are looking at foundations, so the esoteric, for this installment, will take a back seat, as it were, as we look at the foundations that are being reorganized and built around us. That takes us to the full moon.

The full moon takes place on 16 July 19 at 21:38 UT (7:38 AM on the 17^th AEST). This full moon is also a partial lunar eclipse. I gave a partial description of it in the blog, which you can read about there. There are a couple of points that need repeating here, though, starting with the Sabian symbol for the Sun:

24 – 25 Cancer: A willful man is overshadowed by a descent of superior power.

This eclipse will be especially active at the beginning of next year, when it will be activated by four planets in succession – Saturn, Pluto, Jupiter and Mars, in that order. Pluto is the lord of the eclipse, too, being conjunct the Moon in the eclipse figure. And, the Moon culmination line runs through the Levant and the horn of Africa. What those activations might entail relates to what we have seen with the recent tensions in that part of the world. To make a longer story very short, there is a picture (below) that tells us one reason why we see the tensions running so high there now and why we see so many policy errors coming out of Washington and London regarding the Levant, and why the war in Syria has taken the shape it has, with US troops occupying the eastern part of Syria. That is one part of the story, a big part now, but there is another piece we will get to shortly, of longer standing.

There are four nations in particular in that region that are experiencing difficulties, shall we say, with the US, those nations to be key pathways for China’s BRI Initiative – Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. If peace and stability can be brought to those four nations in the near future it will mean one of the most significant shifts in geopolitical and economic influence in the past century. If we consider the Sabian symbol for the lunar degree, the scene before us gets even more interesting:

24 – 25 Capricorn: A store filled with precious oriental rugs.

When we think of Oriental rugs, the term ‘Persian carpet’ comes to mind. But really, Oriental rugs come from a belt of countries that stretches from North Africa into – you may have guessed – the old Silk Road. And the map of the old Silk Road routes closely resembles the economic BRI land route through Eurasia.

A most important factor: So, before we continue further, there is a factor that warrants our close attention. And it is central to our understanding of the evolving world order. We have examined before how six corporate conglomerates control all the major media outlets in the US. Actually, it is far worse than that, and it covers the entirety of the Western world. There are only three global news agencies remaining these days – the Associated Press (AP) in New York, Thompson Reuters in London and New York, and Agence France-Presse out of Paris. These are the source points for the largest part of the international news we hear every day. That should greatly concern us. Why? Because it causes and perpetuates a world glamour that casts a long shadow over the West and produces the most striking cognitive dissonance between our expectations and what is actually taking place right under our noses. Considering that our newsfeed on international events comes from those three agencies, there is this from the linked article on the three news agencies:

“The key role played by these agencies means Western media often report on the same topics, even using the same wording. In addition, governments, military and intelligence services use these global news agencies as multipliers to spread their messages around the world…A study of the Syria war coverage by nine leading European newspapers clearly illustrates these issues: 78% of all articles were based in whole or in part on agency reports, yet 0% on investigative research. Moreover, 82% of all opinion pieces and interviews were in favor of the US and NATO intervention, while propaganda was attributed exclusively to the opposite side.”

“0% on investigative research”. The only place you get that sort of investigative reporting is from independent media, off the internet (for example), with rare exceptions. That is something to give us pause the next time we read or hear about an international issue or incident in the mainstream press, quoting ‘unnamed/anonymous sources’ – such as with Syria, Russia, Ukraine, China and Iran, for instance, considering where those three aforementioned ‘news’ agencies are located. The other news agencies that parrot that type of propaganda include most of what many people would call their most trusted news outlets – the New York Times, The Washington Post (remembering them from the start of this letter), Fox News, The Guardian, the BBC, Reuters, and then in Australia, the Murdoch publications and even the ABC, speaking strictly of international news. It is a very long list across a broad spectrum, across so called liberal and right wing news outlets. But it is far worse even still, especially for American readers, from the same article:

“…in 2009 the head of the American news agency AP, Tom Curley, made public that the Pentagon employs more than 27,000 PR specialists who, with a budget of nearly $5 billion a year, are working the media and circulating targeted manipulations. In addition, high-ranking US generals had threatened that they would “ruin” him and the AP if the journalists reported too critically on the US military…Despite – or because of? – such threats our media regularly publish dubious stories sourced to some “unnamed informants” from “US defense circles”.

The eclipse and Eris: Getting back to our eclipses, then, and what might be the fallout from them, it just so happens this eclipse axis makes a t-square with Eris as the apex planet. Eris was the goddess of discord and strife, recalling our news media. What might we possibly expect when this eclipse is activated next year? To know what is likely to happen in the future, it is helpful to know the conditions preceding. The following has happened in the past month, even:

• The so-called “Deal of the Century” for the Palestinians has been floated. The planned meeting in Bahrain to drum up support for it was a failure, reflecting Mideast sentiments.
• War almost broke out in the Persian Gulf over a drone. However, unless something drastic happens, all the talk of war is just that – talk. Indeed, meditate for peace, but war with Iran is pretty much a no-show.
• Turkey’s spat with the US over the Russian S-400 system is ongoing. The system has been shipped to Turkey and has been delivered. Trump blames the division on Obama, re: the attempted 2015 coup. Tensions have gone from bad to worse over Western/NATO policy in the Syrian War. Presidents play only bit parts in it. Watch the blog space for more on this one in a few days.
• African leaders launched a landmark 55-nation trade zone, forecast to become operational in July next year. This could be a real boon to the struggling continent and a future powerful economic bloc, uniting 1.3 billion people with trillions in trade and resources.
• Xi Jinping paid a visit to North Korea, the first time for a Chinese leader in 14 years. Shortly thereafter, Trump paid a visit to the North after the G20 in Osaka, the first US president to do so. Xi had previously urged both parties (Trump and Kim) to restart talks. Western mainstream media pundits were less than pleased. Other commentary called Trump’s visit a photo-op and a campaign stunt by Trump. Look for more news from the DPRK.
• Russia was reinstated to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), reputedly for the purpose of maintaining dialog on human rights, more cynically, for financial reasons. Still other sources call Russia’s readmission Europe’s ‘surrender’ to Russia.
• Russia and other non-OPEC states have been embraced in an ‘expanded OPEC’, which will go to threaten the petro-dollar over time.
• Vladimir Putin, recalling reference to Putin earlier, gave a wide-ranging interview with The Financial Times (transcript) before the G20, where he stated that the liberal economic order has become obsolete and has failed the average citizen. He is correct. The western globalists are starting to agree, much in the vein we have discussed in recent letters. The interview caused a huge stir in the US and strong criticism from Western liberals, unsurprisingly.
• There was a trilateral meeting between the US, Israel and Russia in Jerusalem about – who else – Iran. It didn’t go the way Washington and Israel would have liked. Russia quite bluntly told the other two parties that Iran was an ally and a friend and to stop all the nonsense about Iran sponsoring terrorism and threatening Israel. The Israelis were told it would be better for their security if they made peace with Iran. (Full statement here)
• The G20 has just wound up, with concerted moves by Xi and Putin to woo Modi of India toward greater integration with the SCO and the BRI. That will take time. They discussed counter-terrorism, international hot-spot issues, reformed multilateralism & climate change, among other issues. BRICS has become RIC, for now, quite an important development.

A potent triangle: These were important news events. How much did we hear about them in the mainstream press and what kind of coverage was there? With the last bullet point, there is something worth keeping in mind. Russia, China and India form a very interesting and potent triangle of forces in Asia, once they get their differences ironed out. The sticking point and the one lagging is India, due to a variety of reasons. Once those differences are resolved and RIC has become cemented it will spell the end of neoliberalism as the dominant economic and cultural order. We are told that is a great threat, but in reality there is nothing to fear in it and much of promise. But here is the main factor to consider: Their soul rays are all on the same line of energy. India and China are both seeking to more fully express their 1^st rays of will and power, each in their own way. Russia is seeking to express its soul ray (7^th) of order and ritual. The 1^st and 7^th rays form a natural pair. The 7^th ray is actually the focused and differentiated energy of the 1^st ray.^[10] They also all tend toward a centralized, more authoritarian/ordered structure when focused through a government and its people. This is something we fail to consider in the West. We see that tendency in all three of those nations at the moment.

Even the personalities of those three nations fall along similar lines of energy in a roundabout way. However, that way is revealing as to what is taking place. India and Russia express the 4^th and 6^th rays respectively as their personalities. Those two are intimately connected with the 2^nd ray, which eventually merges into that ray.^[11] Those two nations have a long ongoing friendship. The 6^th ray is peculiarly linked to the 3^rd ray.^[12] In this we see the linkage between China, with its 3^rd ray personality, with Russia. We also see a linkage of Russia and India with the US through their personality rays, the latter albeit antagonistic at the moment (which can be typical with 6^th ray personalities). The US personality is being expressed as the divisive aspect of the 6^th ray and its devotion to material ends right now. The soul ray of the US is the 2^nd ray, relating it to the personality of India, and to Russia. In that we also see the US and China both jockeying for influence with India – China through the soul ray, Russia and the US both through their personality rays – attempting to win India over. But in the long run, given their close proximity, their long spiritual interconnectedness over millennia, their soul energies and karma, China and Russia will eventually win out over the US, given India’s soul ray and the expediency of the times. As the current capitalistic system dies out or reaches some sort of reorganized expression, the process of pan-Eurasian integration will accelerate, too, and the differences between India and China will resolve themselves over time. This brings up a couple other points about India’s current resistance to both China and Russia and her standoffishness, called in the media, her ‘non-aligned’ posture in the region.

India: Up until very recently, India’s focus has not been material. India’s personality ray is the 4^th, which can lead to sitting on the fence. It also lends itself toward her internal diversity and divisiveness and her combativeness with her neighbors when roused into activity. It has been said, though, that India, being an Oriental nation, lacks will, leading to her difficulty in adapting to the modern world.^[13] She lacks her soul expression, in other words. That is changing quickly. But it is also why she waffles back and forth at times. She is very conscious of her spirituality, but she is also very diverse and prone toward inner fracturing. What India desperately needs is the 4^th ray ‘skill in action’, uniting all of her diverse inner factions. Once she realizes her place in the emerging order – which would seem to be a natural conclusion, given her history and location – the 4^th ray of her personality will move quickly toward her goal.

That 4^th ray of India also inclines her to act as a mediator when she is not fighting, like in Afghanistan for instance. The RIC triangle will go on to be one of the most powerful spiritual, political and economic blocs on the planet. Their time has not yet come, but is quickly emerging. This is what has the Atlanticists so worried and why we see their antagonisms toward Russia and China, and why the US is seeking to peel India away from Russia and China. The thing is, the RIC triangle is a natural association, and can be a tremendous stabilizing factor in world relations. In no way does it bode ill for the West. It is only the West’s reactions to it that are problematic. Business leaders understand this, and want in on the coming multipolar reality. But ideologues see things differently, much to the disadvantage of the 6^th ray personality of the US.

The problem of Zionism: Moving on to other matters, in the penultimate bullet point preceding there is a matter that needs to be addressed, which is the other side of why there are tensions in the Middle East. Zionism is currently the greatest threat to world peace. It is upon us with a growing sense of urgency, particularly in recent months, and which requires our immediate attention, regarding world security. I recently had correspondence with a colleague on a particular Jewish issue, which by extension is underlying what we are seeing today with Judaism, Zionism and the Middle East in general, and which has prompted me to include what follows. It is a matter that has raised its ugly head once again in world affairs, calling quickly for resolution. But, it is also coincident with American strategy to control the flow of oil out of the Middle East. The two go hand-in-hand. I would qualify the following quote and substitute ‘Zionist’ for ‘Jew’. Keep the following in mind as we go along:

“I would point out here that the [the Jews, through the planetary solar plexus center] focussed in the Jewish problem, is definitely producing cleavage as a part of the divine plan. The Jews are instruments in the working out of the Plan for the production of certain syntheses and to bring humanity to certain realisations and decisions…However, it only expresses the present situation in this interim period between the old Piscean age which is passing and the new Aquarian age which is coming in. It depicts this present world cycle…As the ploughman turns the soil of his field and harrows it, and so brings that which is underneath to eventual fruition, so a similar process is taking place in the world today…”^[14]

The stated problem actually belongs to all of us. It is clear, too, that those words written decades ago now, still ring true today and have yet to be resolved. My own sense is that we are at a juncture where a very significant part of the stated cleavage is about to see resolution, one way or another. If by war, it will be extended. That might sound contradictory, but only through fundamental changes in Jewish thinking and in the way the rest of the world handles the crisis will we have the problem ultimately solved, for good. If through goodwill (heaven knows how), much to the better. We examined aspects of this to a large extent in “The Israel letter” some months ago. We won’t go back over it, except to say that the Jewish Zionists are the most extreme militant faction of the Jewish population, and clearly a minority among Jews. In addition, there are far more ‘Christian Zionists’ than Jewish ones, and the latter are concentrated in the US and nations where one would not ordinarily expect them. There are an estimated 40 million in the US alone. But, there are estimated to be hundreds of millions of them worldwide, growing rapidly in South America and Africa. Zionism in the latter two continents does not appear to be so militant. Conversion toward Zionist ideology has been a very active campaign on the part of more fundamentalist, right-wing Christians, however. The ones that are most worrisome, though, are in the US, UK, Canada, being the most militant factions. Therein lies a great problem for us. And yes, it is a problem.

Will there be a war?: There is one fact we need to understand quite clearly about Israel, Zionism and what is really possible in the immediate future, which goes to the reason I am bringing this up:

If the right-wing Zionist leadership in Israel and the US continue as they are, attacking positions in Syria, stealing the territory of the indigenous people of Palestine and the Levant, seeking to control the narrative about Israel and suppressing any opposition to Israeli policy in Western nations, along with pushing for a war with Iran, they can and possibly will precipitate the end of the Israeli state as a going concern and bring about the deaths and displacement of possibly millions of people. That action would also lead to the demise of the Saudis and Emirates for the immediate future. The Zionists of all persuasions were/are the main driving force for war in the Middle East, and have been especially since the neocons came into positions of power in the US – the great majority of them also being Zionists.

I don’t say these things to be inflammatory or alarmist, but as a result of wide reading and study of the situation in the region as it exists now. The Zionists see their chance for the fulfillment of their aims in the Trump administration, but so far have been frustrated by Trump in their attempts to push him to war. They want this war with Iran. These are cold facts. But in point of fact, the current state of this is that there will be no major war in the Middle East. We can probably rest easy on that point. Aside from the linked article, we will see why as this piece progresses. Still, there is a danger.

Netanyahu, as leader of the most vocal and militant wing of the Zionists in Israel, calls for in Israel and lobbies Western governments for expansion of Israeli territories, via militarism. (translate Tweet) The arrogance and ignorance of the current leadership in Israel and among many leaders in the US and UK is astounding regarding the dangers to Israelis and others in the region, as well as their perceived sense of superiority and their perceived weakness of Iran. The calls for war are based now largely in fear and insecurity and play to domestic politics, stoking the fears, anxieties and prejudices of the populace. Maybe it is according to plan. But contrary to what we hear in the mainstream, Iran is not weak, nor has it been appreciably destabilized or weakened by the punitive sanctions placed upon it by Washington. We are hearing the same lines out of Washington about Iran that we heard about Afghanistan and Iraq – that a war with Iran would be short, sweet and ‘a walk in the park’ – that Iran will come begging. They won’t. They will fight back if they are attacked, asymmetrically and fiercely.

Another look at Iran: The current Iranian state has Leo rising. There was a recent interview by a Middle East journalist who explained Iran and the crisis quite well. Her views fit with Iran’s astrology. Leo types become strongly motivated toward freedom, self-development and strength by forced isolation and deprivation. They naturally rebel against such interference with their destiny. The Iranians already have announced their plans to counter what is facing them. Those sound very much like what Russia has done in the face of their isolation and sanctioning, with their Leo personality. Russia is advancing in spite of everything, for example, especially internally, and her rebuilding and infrastructure is something to see. They still have their problems, but those are not insuperable. The Leo connection also ties Iran with Russia. The Iranians have proven their mettle as to resistance and resilience in the past with the Iran-Iraq war and years of sanctions. They are determined and motivated. They, too, have advanced in spite of sanctions and the like, and now with Russia’s and China’s help, will advance further still. The Europeans, cowed by Washington, have yet to come onboard to save the JCPOA and bypass US sanctions. Russia and China are already doing so. There is a another piece to add to our considerations here. Then we will return to Israel and the Zionists.

There is what might be called a secular Shia renaissance happening in the Middle East region. And this has the Gulf monarchies particularly worried. They see their continued existence increasingly under threat, but it is not from outside forces. It is from the internal pressures of their own populace, who see what is happening around them and are beginning to clamor for change. They also see the weakening of the US and its gradual withdrawal from the region – not by choice, mind you, but by circumstance – and that has them rethinking their positions, alliances and futures. Plus, there is the factor of decreasing demand for their oil, with the US now the major oil producer, along with a glut of oil supplies. The revenue of the Gulf States is under stress, further weakening their power base. Then, there is Russia, who would be quite happy with $40/barrel oil, on which they base their oil economy, but would rather see prices per barrel where they are currently. Then, the Gulf monarchies also see that Iran would be the prime mover in gas for the region along with Qatar, which is gradually replacing oil as an energy source.

Russia, China and terrorism: We should recognize that neither Russia nor China can allow Iran to become a failed state. Iran lies just across the Caspian Sea at Russia’s underbelly. We have recently seen the resurgence of anti-Russian protests in Georgia, on Russia’s border, and that presents a problem for Russia. Those have Western fingerprints on them. The bigger problem is that if Iran collapses, then Russia will face an influx of terrorism and destabilization from below. China will face the same from their west. This is what the Western intelligence agencies and some Middle East nations hope to achieve by sponsoring jihadist groups in Syria and Iraq. Israel, ironically, also supports those same jihadist groups. It benefits them, they think, in that a successful jihadi takeover of Syria and Iraq would allow the Israelis to move into Jordon, Lebanon, southern Syria and so forth to establish ‘buffer zones’, another term for Israeli colonization. That is why we see Israeli attacks being stepped up in Syria, now that the Syrians are in the process of slowly clearing the Idlib province. Turkey supports many of those radicals as well. It has its own interests in the Levant and wants its own ‘buffer zones’ in Syria and Iraq (map). It is a complicated and very toxic mix.

There are an estimated 30 – 50 thousand radical Islamic terrorists concentrated in Idlib, to borrow a harped-on theme from a recent presidential campaign. We don’t hear that term out of Washington now. Supposedly, Daesh has been defeated. It has not been. Many of those radicalized Islamists are from the Xinjiang province in China, and from Chechnya and the northern Caucasus region. That should give us some clues as to why Western agencies support those groups. China and Russia want to ensure that none of those people return home, for obvious reasons. It is the primary reason why Russia went into Syria and why China is making its inroads in the region as well. But the Western intelligence agencies, again, have funded them for exactly that purpose. Balkanization and destabilization of the region have been the plan all along for the West.

This is why, for instance, we see China in a concerted effort to offset the radicalization of Uighurs in Xinjiang. In the Western media those efforts are cast as ‘concentration camps’ where they say over a million Uighurs are detained and brutalized. The truth is probably somewhat different. But following on the experiences of the post-US invasion of Iraq, if the Chinese wanted to ensure a steady stream of radicalized Uighurs, they would indeed set up concentration camps and brutalize the Uighurs. That is likely the somewhat the opposite of what is taking place there. Western media has a vested interest in demonizing China and Russia. Russia and others have warned that some of those terrorists in Idlib are now finding their way to Libya, too, intensifying the conflict there, with Turkey as a main agitator.

Another “Deal of the Century”?: At this juncture it may be of interest to know yet another facet in the history of the current tensions in the Levantine region. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, with the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne, the modern state of Turkey came into being and in concert began the partitioning of the Levant. The Levant included all of present-day Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Cyprus and the northern border of Iraq. At its widest extent it also included Turkey and all of Iraq. At the onset of the Sykes-Picot Agreement in 1916 the Levant was divided into zones of influence among the Russian, French, British lines. The Russians blew the lid on the agreement when they figured out they were not getting what was promised from France and Britain. The Arabic peoples of the region, after hearing from Russia of the betrayal, which was also against them, revolted. As a result, after WWI, the League of Nations created the mandated borders that would later become the independent states we see today, with the exception of Israel. That would have to wait for another World War.

Going back to the first bullet point preceding, this year marks the 100^th anniversary of a little-known initiative put forward by Woodrow Wilson, US president then, who was looking for his own “Deal of the Century” at the time. He believed in the self-determination of the people of Greater Syria, and had sent a delegation to the Middle East to feel out the populace and any leaders who were interested in order to stabilize and move the region forward after the demise of the Ottomans. The people of the Levant wanted the US to oversee the region, seeing the US at the time as a friend and grateful for American assistance. Times have changed, obviously. In the end, the report by the American delegation recommended:

“…that Syria including Palestine and Lebanon be kept a unity according to desires of great majority … Syria be under a single mandate…that Emir Feisal [later King of Iraq] be King of the new Syrian State…that extreme Zionist programme [in Palestine] be seriously modified [sic]…that if for any reason America does not take mandate [sic] then it be given to Great Britain.”

The Zionists scuttled the plan and pushed it into obscurity. But there is more. Another recommendation of the delegation was as follows:

“…it is necessary to point out the extreme importance to the American nation of maintaining a strong position in the petroleum trade…It is a fact that the native petroleum resources of the United States are becoming exhausted…with our own supplies about to decline…the necessity of guaranteeing now to American industry the right to have its part in the development of the petroleum resources of the [Middle East] territories about to pass under British control will be apparent.”

Zionism, politics and resources: And there we have it – the primary reasons for the establishment of the state of Israel and its ongoing concerns – Zionism and oil. The Zionists believe that what was called ‘Greater Syria’ a century ago was theirs by Biblical right and should be returned to them, which is the reason why they continue to annex the West Bank, have de facto annexed the Golan and want the Palestinians out of Gaza. This is the reason for the current “Deal of the Century”. They actually want at least control over the entire region. Theirs was also a prime reason for the Iran-Iraq War and then the invasion of Iraq, but we are not told that. It has been the reason for the conflicts with Lebanon and was behind the Syrian war, which was anything but a ‘civil war’. Remember, what we have heard about the Middle East in the mainstream news for decades now has neither been fair, nor impartial nor properly investigated in the main via true journalism. Keeping those thoughts in mind along with the previous quote from Alice Bailey, we go on to consider Israel and our Zionist problem.

We hear constantly about the supposed threat that Iran poses to Israel and the West, how it is a malign actor, about its terrorists affiliations, etc. And now Israel is saying they will attack Iran on their own, and hit them hard, because of a little excess heavy water and enriched uranium. What is the truth here? It might perhaps sound surprising or even cynical, but this is really about domestic politics in the US and Israel, and to a lesser extent in the UK and France, and about Israeli ambitions in the region. It is also about control of the energy resources in the Middle East. More than that, though, it is about Israeli insecurity about their neighbors, especially about precision ballistic issles, of which there are 100,000+ in Lebanon alone, aimed at their key facilities, especially airports, their nuclear facility, their oil and gas platforms and their electrical and water infrastructure. Those would all be hit within minutes at the outset of a major conflict against Iran or any other member of the ‘Axis of Resistance’.

Iran and the bomb: So, now we have a hit piece in the NYT about how Iran is after the bomb and Trump cannot do anything to stop it. This is solely inflammatory propaganda. It is also quite beneath the person who wrote it, who is otherwise quite knowledgeable. But Iran is not seeking the bomb. At one time it was researching it, when Iraq under Saddam was doing so, but after the 2003 invasion any plans for a nuclear weapon were scrapped. Iraq no longer posed a threat to Iran. It turned out to be the opposite. It is also against the dictates of the Iranian supreme leader, Khomeini. Iran’s military doctrine is strictly defensive. They have not invaded anyone in over 300 years and simply want to live in peace. But, like any 6^th ray type, which the nation has in abundance, they will fight like demons if they have to in order to defend themselves^[15]. They have already demonstrated this in the Iran-Iraq War. They learned valuable lessons in that war, too, and their response to any attack will be asymmetric. Their weaponry, motivation and skills have rapidly increased since then, too. So why does Israel want to see Iran defeated? It turns out to be a road with twists and turns. Currently, the Israeli leadership believes that by setting Iran back, Hezbollah will lose support and be weakened, thus enabling the Israeli military to get rid of the military resistance to their plans. They have not been paying attention to the Yemenis, who beaten and war-weary as they are, have managed to develop their own precision aerial guided weapons and are starting to strike back at the Saudis. The Yemenis. Think on that for a moment. But then, maybe the Israelis are paying attention and that is one reason why they are nervous. The interesting thing is that the Zionists think they have the upper hand in US support, in that a quick, overwhelming strike against Iran would solve their problems. It is actually a death wish.

Israel allied with Iran??: Israel was once allied with Iran, under the Shah, and even after. They were instrumental in pushing the Iran-Contra affair with Iran, siding with Iran against Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War, because they saw Saddam as their primary enemy in the region. But when Iraq was defeated in the 1^st Gulf War, that sentiment changed. Iran since the revolution has always held strong views about Israel, calling it the ‘lesser Satan’ and would like to see the Israeli regime gone – the Zionists, that is. They hold no such views about Jews in general. Historically, Iran has typically had good relations with Jews. There are estimated to be upwards of 350,000 Iranian Jews, with most of them having emigrated to the US. The Jewish history with Iran (then Persia) goes back to Cyrus the Great, who liberated the Jews from Babylon in 539 BCE. The largest number of Iranian Jews are in the US, since after the 1979 revolution, with the next largest having gone to Israel and another large group to Europe. The Jews remaining in Iran are said to number now at the highest at around 25,000. The Jews were understandably in fear for their lives and culture after the revolution, so they decided to meet the evolving situation head-on. Ayatollah Khomeini met with Jewish leaders after the revolution and had this to say, after speaking with them, issuing a fatwa afterwards^[16]:

“Moses would have nothing to do with these pharaoh-like Zionists who run Israel. And our Jews, the descendants of Moses, have nothing to do with them either. We recognize our Jews as separate from those godless, bloodsucking Zionists.”

With that, the Jews in Iran have been physically protected ever since. That is about all, though, with all non-Shiites, including Sunnis, now being disadvantaged, a heavy glass ceiling being in place for all of them. On the other hand, many Iranian-born Jews now in Israel have risen to high positions and hold some of the most hawkish views toward Iran. But to paint all Jews with the Zionist brush is a wrong view. The great majority of Jews in the US, for instance, are proud Americans first and foremost, Jews secondarily. Most American Jews are not Zionist, and instead prefer “…building a better, more equal, more tolerant world now, where they live.” There is a widening chasm now between American and Israeli Jews, the former seeing the Likud Zionists as nationalist and racist, the latter seeing Trump and Christian Zionists as once again giving them value. Unfortunately, American Zionists strongly support the current Israeli leadership.

Even though Iran has no nuclear weapons, there is a great fear among Israeli leadership about Iran being able to develop them. That is what they say, anyway. They want to be the only nation in the region to be able to have that deterrent. Bolton stated before the trilateral summit in Israel that Iran will never have nukes. Well, at least in that he is correct. Iran doesn’t want them. They say Islam forbids them. Bolton’s is the propaganda hook line, though, and many people take it with the sinker, too. And now, with Iran crossing the threshold regarding enriched uranium and heavy water, that same tired scare story is being rolled out again – “Iran wants the bomb!”. Why, then, is Iran going over its limits? Because of Trump’s sanctions. This is basically a ploy to set up Iran for either an attack or an attempt to turn the world against Iran. However, Iran is within its rights, according to the JCPOA. The rest of the world knows it, too. Here is the story as it stands:

Under the terms of the JCPOA, Iran was to sell its excess heavy water and enriched uranium to third parties in the agreement, under strict observation. This was usually sold to Europeans. Russia set up their reactors in the first place. Iran has remained in compliance. But since Trump has sanctioned such sales, Iran has to store such material, as it has no vehicle to sell it. It could just give the material to Russia, but that is income and besides, they need to make a point. It is a bargaining chip to push the Europeans toward instituting their planned INSTEX mechanism, allowing Iran and Europe to bypass the US dollar. Europe has been dragging their feet. It is a risky gamble. The Europeans had until the 7^th of this month, with a possible short extension, to do so. Otherwise, Iran is now within its rights to slowly pull out of the JCPOA. But it will do so gradually. This is what the neocons and Middle East allies are hoping for, feeling they will then have justification and sufficient backing to attack Iran, thinking the world will be onside with it. As was recently stated, the latter is a false and jaundiced view. Israel is leading Trump and Washington down the garden path. The Europeans have only themselves to blame if Iran pulls out of the deal.

A Middle East ‘Bay of Pigs’?: To give an idea how close we have come to war, on 3 July this year, just a few days ago – the day before Independence Day celebrations in the US – someone or some faction in the US decided they would fly a manned spy plane into Iranian air space. It was a provocation. Given what happened with the drone that was shot down, what were they hoping to achieve? Martyrdom for Air Force personnel? The casus belli for an attack? The Iranians were more disciplined than the perpetrators behind this scheme had bargained, though, and held their fire. If the Iranians had shot down the plane – and they would have been within their rights, given current tensions – what do we think would have happened? Do we not see the warped thinking behind the people pushing for war with Iran? And Israel would have condoned it, and would have joined in. They are preparing to participate in a war between the US and Iran. So, we are at another crisis point in international affairs, this one potentially quite serious. The propaganda now from the US and Israel will be fierce, will be bent toward war, and is placing Iran in the appearance of the aggressor and that of a pariah state. We have seen it all many times before. Hopefully, this time we are more aware, smarter and more motivated to put a stop to it.

So, what is the plan, really?: There are several parts to this emerging story, then. Firstly, there are the Zionists in Israel and the US who want to see a wider conflagration, which they hope would weaken Iran and kill the ‘Axis of Resistance’, leaving Israel as the local power, and with more land – their ‘promised land’. Of course, we all know about promises being made to be broken. Secondly, that wider conflict would be used behind the scenes, yet in a larger context, to stop the progress of China’s initiatives for the region, setting back its progress, as well as Russia’s moves into the region. Thirdly, in keeping the region destabilized, it would allow the radicalized fighters there to regroup, rearm and be sent to do their mischief in China, Russia and wherever they were needed. Fourthly, it would stop the transit of oil and gas from Russia and the ‘Stans through the region, except with US/Israeli approval, of course. If it sounds like a plan, it is. Iran was supposed to be the big prize, the last of the seven countries in the region to be invaded. But, there is one more piece, an even larger piece to consider.

As was stated at the beginning of this discussion, the Zionist problem is creating cleavages as part of the divine plan – to bring about certain syntheses and to bring about in us certain realizations and decisions as we approach closer and closer to the Aquarian Age. Those realizations and decisions are upon us once again. And that brings us back to the eclipse and the symbol for the Sun: a willful man overshadowed by a superior power, and that of the Moon: a store filled with precious Oriental rugs. There are many ways we could interpret what we see with the eclipse and in the symbols. One thing that stands out is that we will be forced to make certain choices and decisions in the months to come. We could choose war or peace, but choosing peace will mean that the Zionists will have to go, that Israel will have to make peace with its neighbors, especially Iran, Syria and Lebanon, that they will eventually have to return the lands they have taken and a just solution to the Palestinian problem will have to be negotiated and insisted upon. How likely is that to happen, given our current world mood? Then again, it can happen if enough will is brought to bear. Perhaps it will take some sort of event to precipitate such a peaceful solution.

This eclipse and the NGWS: There is one thought that stands out with a fair amount of certainty. In the period prior to the activations of this full moon/eclipse, we have the Festival Week of the New Group of World Servers, starting at the Capricorn ingress of the Sun and lasting for a week. The figure for the Capricorn ingress, which marks that week, looks quite favorable. There is also a solar eclipse in that period, making the event that much more powerful, especially concerning world leaders and the response of the masses to those leaders. For example, the 13 Jul 18 solar eclipse was on the UK Moon, marking the sitting government, and its first activation by Saturn in April of this year saw the government initiatives around Brexit soundly defeated, with Theresa May thereafter resigning. The UK remains divided on the issue of Brexit. We should add that the UK is now actively seeking to provoke Iran now, too, which will have repercussions in the months ahead. Their foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, is up for Theresa May’s job.

If there can be enough massed intent and invocation through that festival week, then it is very possible that there actually will be the ‘superior power’ that overshadows the willful man, or men, through that period of eclipse activation, and throughout the period to follow. It would be the energy of international goodwill, based in the will of the people. We must be careful throughout not to seek to impose what we think or feel should happen, but instead present as much clear and accurate information from a great diversity of sources to as any people as possible, not simply what people wish to hear. The best foundations for group work are built from accurate information. It is the general populace who must decide the direction of their nation, whether they have duly elected or imposed leaders. Leaders come and go, but the people remain. Make no mistake about it, though: the Saturn/Pluto conjunction, which is in turn the activation of not one, but two eclipses (one of them being the aforementioned eclipse), will mark a decisive and seminal point in world affairs into the immediate future. It will likely revolve around the West, the Middle East and Central Asia, but it will also have effects worldwide. A profound opportunity lies before us. This present eclipse can be seen as marking the beginning of preparations for that week and the start of next year.

The evolving world order will be based in international law, and on the original intent of the UN Charter, instead of what we have now. What exists at this juncture is an ad hoc ‘rules-based order’ centered around the Western nations. Russia, China, Iran and many other nations call for adherence to the original intent Charter, for an end to interventionism, for the so-called R2P doctrine (‘responsibility to protect’, which has been greatly abused) to be re-examined and for states to have their sovereignty, dignity, cultures and security recognized and upheld. The UN Charter was signed on 26 Jun 1945 – in the sign Cancer, in order to eventually ensure world security and peace. It is a work in progress. There is no totalitarian regime that threatens the world these days. The primary threat we face now is in public opinion, unduly influenced by powerful players behind the scenes, from a crying lack of good journalism, accurate information and open, uncensored news. The battlefield now is for hearts and minds. Light is breaking through, but it needs to be greatly amplified to offset the glamours that our mainstream media is foisting upon us. War is not the answer. Let peace be our foundation and goodwill be our guiding light.

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1. http://malvinartley.com/destiny_of_nations.htm (Use for reference throughout regard the nations and rays) ↑
2. Bailey, Esoteric Astrology, p. 344 ↑
3. Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, p. 798 ↑
4. Bailey, The Light of the Soul, p. 278 ↑
5. Bailey, Esoteric Psychology I, p. 242 ↑
6. Bailey, Esoteric Astrology, p. 239 ↑
7. http://malvinartley.com/emerging_blocs.htm (a collection from AAB on 2025) ↑
8. Bailey, Education in the New Age, p. 13 ↑
9. Ibid, p. 69 ↑
10. Bailey, Esoteric Astrology, p. 139 ↑
11. Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age I, p. 574 ↑
12. Bailey, Esoteric Healing, p. 150 ↑
13. Bailey, Glamour: A World Problem, p. 256 ↑
14. Bailey, The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, p. 89 ↑
15. Bailey, Esoteric Psychology I, p. 210 ↑
16. Parsi, Trita, Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States, intro, p. 8 ↑