The Pisces festival 2023

THE PISCES FESTIVAL 2023

7 March 2023

© Malvin Artley

Topics (linked to paragraphs): Pisces The action of Pluto The full moon 20 years – a milestone Other cycles A Russian prophesy Putin and Russia Pan-European security 250 years – The end? And after the war? A moral imperative? The greatest threat to world peace The Yellow Peril War with China? The past is past In summary

Greetings Everyone!

It has been Carnevale season here in Italy. We recently just had the big do in our fair city with everyone in costume, the obligatory parade, the presentation of the key to the city to the Little Mayor – it was all good fun. Carnevale is our version of Mardi Gras, but more formal and low-key. And it is capped off with Martedì Grasso (‘Fat Tuesday’), meaning we can eat all the stuff that is really addictive and bad for us (like crostoli) before we start fasting for Lent the next day. No one I know here pays much attention to the bit about fasting except for the nuns at the convent a few doors down from us. Carnevale ended here the day after Fat Tuesday with the start of Lent, marking 40 days until Easter (April 9^th this year. Mark your calendars). That’s the theory, anyway. Carnevale dei Bambini (Children’s Carnival and parade) started here in Rovereto on the 12^th of February. There was a big do in the main city park where all the kids (and a lot of ‘big kids’ too) came dressed in their costumes and were judged as to the best one. Prizes were given, the band played on and a good time was had by all.

Here at the house spring is already in bloom, with warmer weather than usual, with drought already a thing here and obligatory trips to the local large plant nursery in the next town. We keep saying we won’t spend as much on plants this year, but once you get there and see all the flowers…well, you know the drill. But the news around the town has a strange note this year. Stores are closing left and right. There is one street where over half of the stores are closed. The fish and tackle shop across the way from us recently closed. We hear it has been rented, so we wait to see who moves in. But the high energy prices are forcing the closure of businesses – you know, the small mom-and-pop shops that manage to eke out a euro or two on an average year. Yet, signs with ‘Affittato’(rented) are appearing in the windows of the vacant shops. Perhaps with warmer weather and lower energy prices life will return to our little city. Now they can’t afford to stay open. Only the shops that sell essentials manage to keep the faith. I plan on going back to the States soon for a visit, so it will be interesting to see if it is the same there, too. I hope a few of my favorite old haunts are still hanging on. But as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. Well, good or not, all temporal relations eventually do come to their rightful conclusion. That brings us to our present sign, Pisces, the last sign of the zodiac, and one especially connected with endings, concluding circumstances, release and liberation – salvation.

Pisces: We won’t go much into the sign this year as there are other matters to discuss, but all of them are concerning concluding circumstances, which we will address shortly. Endings are often most associated with sadness, as in when one loses a fond attachment, whether a circumstance, an environment, a person or what have you. Often not recognized in any ending is also the aspect of liberation. Sadness at the death of people close to us is normal and to be expected, for example, but at the same time we often experience a sense of release, especially if the conditions leading up to the death were long and difficult. Pisces is ruled esoterically by Pluto^[1], the planet ruling the house of major separations and death.^[2] It is that planet and rulership upon which we will focus in our investigations this year, as that planet is very active in the national charts of several nations right now, most notably the United States, which is experiencing its first Pluto return. On a side note, Pluto also rules over plutocrats (oligarchs) and plutocracies (government by oligarchs), which is the state of affairs in the US today. We will have more on that after our look at the full moon here. The United States is not a democracy as it stands now, not at the federal level.

What do we mean by the term ‘major separations and death’ when it comes to Pluto? There are several connotations here – the cycle of life and death, the end of karmic situations, the breaking of attachments, release from confining environments and most importantly, salvation. Pluto gives us closure, in other words. As such, that planet has the nature of the healer, because it cuts the ties that bind us to outworn circumstances and allows us to move on with our lives and development.^[3] Pisces, via Pluto is the sign associated with the birth of the Messiah, signalled by the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the sign Pisces,^[4] the Messiah as the World Savior as the Christian world knows it. Pisces is:

“…the sign of the divine Intermediary in the highest sense, or of the medium in the lower; it is the sign of many of the world Saviours and of those Revealers of divinity Who establish world relationships. I would have you note that phrase…”^[5]

‘Establishing world relationships’ – what might that mean? We have often heard it said in various ways that every ending is also a beginning, ‘one door closes, another one opens’ and so forth. There is a twofold action at work with this: Once a phase of work and relationship has run its usefulness and no longer serves to advance a person or group spiritually, the outer, physical relationships are ended (while the spiritual connections always remain) and the person or group is released to pursue other avenues of relation and service. Such is life. Once one’s body is worn out, also, and one’s fellow travellers have passed on there is no point in staying around, as it were, and death comes, as it does to all of us. We are released from the body, yet we carry the wisdom gained in our life experience into future relations. Once we begin to see death as a release and ultimately salvation, many of our present terrors and concerns will dissolve. Implicit in the ‘establishment of world relations’ is also the factor of every new teaching or impulse bringing people together in the next karmic wave. We are bound together through our karma and our souls, which karma we create together and must work out together, generally speaking. Every world Teacher brings in such an impulse, to which souls and personalities of similar vibration respond. At one and the same time such an impulse challenges the old order, the latter which tries to perpetuate itself, while new groups form, eventually overturning the old order. We will have a look at that here, a little later.

The action of Pluto is to drag to the surface and destroy in one’s personal life all that hinders the expression of one’s soul.^[6] In the wider, spiritual context the action of Pluto is to end karma altogether, meaning at which point we are released from the karmic necessity to continually reincarnate. This is the true meaning of ‘salvation’, which in effect is saving us from ourselves. Pluto brings for us an end to samsara, the wheel of birth and death, represented for us in the zodiac. Pluto works to bring about this end phase. In Buddhism Pluto is represented in thangkas by the wrathful deities, who challenge our attachments and ignorance, to the point where we achieve liberation from our karmic entanglements:

“Through Pluto—under the destroying power of death—death of desire, death of the personality and of all which holds one between the pairs of opposites, in order to achieve the final liberation. Pluto or death never destroys the consciousness aspect.”^[7]

“Pluto is a deity with the attributes of the serpent,” (from endnote 3) citing Pluto as a deity. Buddhism has its wrathful deities (a rather unfortunate term), which represent the cutting power of direct cognition, over that of reason and discrimination. Wrathful deities (dharmapalas) are called ‘protector deities’, which serve to protect practitioners while they are ‘getting in tune to the straight and narrow’ path to full enlightenment. The ultimate such wrathful deity is the Vajrayana Buddhist deity Yamantaka – the ‘death destroyer’ – while in Hinduism the same is attributed to Shiva, the Destroyer (meaning the same thing).

It is easy to conflate each personal ‘death’ as simply a part of the cycle of samsara, until one realizes each death to be but a step in a larger process leading ultimately to the liberation from the cycle of life and death – the ‘final death’. Pluto is the closest representation in the Western zodiac to a Yamantaka or a Shiva. That ‘final death’ is experienced in the 4^th initiation – the Crucifixion in Christian terms and the Great Renunciation in Buddhist terms, both of them leading to the final step on The Path (the spiritual path for human beings) – Revelation, or the Path of No-More-Learning. That latter Path is represented in the zodiac by Pisces. In other words, the ‘final death’ leads to full enlightenment, or buddhahood. There are actual practices of death meditation and accomplished practitioners take major initiations at the time of their physical death. Societies go through their evolutions, too, their own samsaras, and we are seeing one in process today, with one door closing and another opening. One great societal (collective) wave is passing, while another is starting to wax. We have been looking at all this in past letters here. With these points in mind, we move now to our look at the full moon and after, what is ending and what is beginning.

The full moon takes place on 7 March 2023 at 12:40 UT (11:40 pm AEDT). The full moon axis forms an applying t-square with Mars at the apex. The Sun is conjunct the projected longitude of the stars Mizar/Alcor (they are a visual pair) in the tail of the Great Bear, giving this full moon a political dimension. The Moon is conjunct Orcus, governing oaths and contracts. We are likely to hear quite a bit of talk about international law (if you read independent and foreign news sources), broken agreements, and increasing push for a ceasefire in Ukraine. Mizar/Alcor has a Mars-like quality, and Mars is still out-of-bounds, increasing the volatility and tensions indicated in the chart. At the last full moon we had Uranus at the apex of a t-square with the full moon axis and we saw the attendant disasters and accidents resulting from that indication – the East Palestine train derailment, the 2023 Tűrkiye-Syria earthquake, the Greek rail tragedy and a host of other minor incidents, all consistent with Mars out-of-bounds along with the powerful t-square from that full moon. This full moon, instead we have full militarism in evidence and more disasters, probably involving fires and other extremes, shown by the apex Mars, again out-of-bounds. More than that, though, we see the action of Pluto behind it, burning away our misconceptions, our outworn attachments, our prescriptions and proscriptions for outcomes, and so forth. This full moon and the events to follow it will challenge our belief systems.

The international scene will see a turn toward more desirable outcomes – more desirable for peace. This is shown by the sextile of the Sun to Uranus in the figure. That desire is not likely to materialize in the next few months for reasons explained shortly, but the desire will definitely be there. However, that sextile also points to the planning stages of projects, which is attendant on two cycles commencing this year at the Wesak festival – the three-year cycle of the New Group of World Servers (NGWS) and the nine-year planning cycle of the spiritual Guides of our world. The latter is done in meditative conclave. We will have more on those cycles in the next letter. Lastly, though we could say much more, our international relations have been clouded recently by subversive acts, notably the Nord Stream bombing and information coming out now regarding American (meaning American oligarchs) intentions for Europe. This is highlighted in the chart by the full moon axis sitting at the Mercury/Neptune midpoint: the state of being deceived, deceived or deceptive people, along with the more positive manifestations of the possibility for rich imagination, intellectual creativity and impressionability.

With Neptune being focused through Pisces, the personalities of Poland and Germany come to mind with that midpoint and the deception that has been afflicting the peoples of those nations through their elites and politicians, ‘weaponized’ by Washington and London, especially since last year regarding Ukraine. We will have a bit of a look at that here, too. That leads into the possibility of ruptures in relations within Europe and between Europe and the US, shown by the approach of the nodal axis to Pluto at the bending of the nodes – the feeling of one’s relations with others as being a burden, a tragic shared destiny, as well as (on the other hand) the beginning of new associations important to one’s destiny, all this again reflecting the action of Pluto, discussed above. So, the preceding gives us a thumbnail sketch of the full moon. From here there is something to share with you and then we will move on to the world at hand.

20 years – a milestone: This year marks 20 years since I started sending out these letters. It has been quite a journey. The letters started at the behest of a few people requesting information on what I saw ‘in the stars’ related to current events. Some of those people – some of you – have been subscribers for the entire time, and to those people I send my heartfelt thanks. These letters will continue, but change comes to all of us. At this point in my life I recognize I need to get on with other writing, so the tone of these letters will change. Our world has changed, too, to such an extent that certain developments now appear unstoppable. We refer here to the development of the multipolar world and the waning of the West’s – primarily Washington’s – power and dominance. For that reason I see no further need to make lengthy comment on what has led us to this point in our shared history.

These letters for the past few years have seen a major focus on the geopolitics behind the changes we are seeing. They have been heavy reading at times. This I recognize. Some of you have appreciated the insights, others not so much and a very few have left the readership, I would say less than a handful. So again, I express many thanks to those of you who have stuck with these letters through thick and thin. So, what will change?

It is rather clear to anyone we face some major challenges going forward. We need to support each other, and our international relations need healing and a new direction, especially for the West. The nations outside the West are already getting aboard the multipolar movement. We need to look to the future, deal with the present and put the past behind us, as much as that is possible. With regard to the past I will be compiling what I have written on various subjects in past letters into categories as time allows and referring to those in the future letters instead going into long explanations about the reasons behind developments to come, and resistance to them. Many of you will be relieved. Those compilations will be available on my site, starting with the Wesak letter. Also, the main posts on matters geopolitical will be done on my blog site, since that is a blog on mundane (event) astrology anyway.

Where to from here, then? We’ll see. For starters, these letters will probably be somewhat shorter, much to your relief, I would think. I’m not making any guarantees, though. As the world turns, so shall we see. I have several thousand pages, as in A4 pages, of unpublished material I need to get out, on various subjects, and some of it is time-sensitive. I won’t say more, except that astronomy keeps giving us new small planets to investigate (astronomers like to call them dwarf planets), other constellations to consider outside those of the zodiac, Oriental astrology, unconsidered branches of astrology (call them ‘niche’ if you like), Buddhism and esoteric astrology and even work I archived some years ago on occult chemistry and the elements. I have a little work to do and time marches on ever-quicker. We also need to look to the future now.

My own sense of what is happening in the subjective realms is that an acceleration of events has taken place. Some people are checking out before their time, their souls calling them to other work, as in preparatory work. Several colleagues have left us in the past few years, their work having reached a point where they could leave. Who knows what they will do next time around? It may not be anything even esoteric, though we can be assured their work will be in service to the greater good. They are all members of the New Group of World Servers, as outlined in Bailey’s books. There is also a great need for their services on the other side of the veil of life and death, where no doubt they now continue their work. A wave of humanity is passing out now, with another coming in, which is always the case when the cycles pass out, ceasing their influence, with incoming cycles waxing. And with the new cycle the new wave of souls coming in will shape the future. Having said that, starting with the next letter (Aries) we will be looking at pioneering efforts, as well as what we can do in the interim and how we can aid each other in our continuing service on this plane. We aren’t talking about saving the world here. We are talking about practical matters in our own spheres of influence and shared experience. Speaking of cycles, there is one that is of moment which opens some rather interesting insight into what we see before us at this point in our history.

Other cycles: There is a quote, now passed into obscurity for all but the most informed Theosophists, which hints at what was outlined in more detail in Alice Bailey’s works – the ray cycles. We touched on one such cycle in the last letter (“Orcus and constellational astrology”). There is another cycle relevant to what we see unfolding today, intimately connected with the rise and fall of empires and wars. The quote is from “The Theosophist”, from 1880, parsed as follows:

“…we will now summarize the opinions of the press in general, on a more suggestive work by a well-known German scientist, E. Zasse, with certain reflections of our own. It has just appeared in the Prussian Journal of Statistics, and powerfully corroborates the ancient theory of Cycles. These periods which bring around ever-recurring events, begin from the infinitesimally small—say of ten years—rotation and reach to cycles which require 250, 500 700, and 1000 years, to effect their revolution around themselves, and within one another. All are contained within the Mahâ-Yuga, the “Great Age” or Cycle of the Manu calculation, which itself revolves between two eternities—the “Pralayas” or Nights of Brahmâ. As, in the objective world of matter, or the system of effects, the minor constellations and planets gravitate each and all around the sun, so in the world of the subjective, or the system of causes, these innumerable cycles all gravitate between that which the finite intellect of the ordinary mortal regards as eternity, and the still finite, but more profound, intuition of the sage and philosopher views as but an eternity within THE ETERNITY. “As above, so it is below, runs the old Hermetic maxim…

The italicized figures are mentioned in terms of ray cycles in Bailey’s books. Continuing:

“To illustrate his subject in the simplest and most easily comprehensible way, Dr. Zasse represents the periods of war and the periods of peace in the shape of small and large wave-lines running over the area of the old world. The idea is not a new one…if we divide the map of the Old World into five parts—into Eastern, Central and Western Asia, Eastern and Western Europe, and Egypt—then we will easily perceive that every 250 years, an enormous wave passes over these areas, bringing into each in its turn the events it has brought to the one next preceding. This wave we may call “the historical wave” of the 250 years’ cycle…”

This is the cycle of the 4^th ray, that of ‘harmony through conflict’. Continuing:

“about the year 2,000 Western Europe will have lived one of those periods of culture and progress so rare in history.” The Russian press, taking the cue believes that “towards those days the Eastern Question will be finally settled, the national dissensions of the European peoples will come to an end, and the dawn of the new millennium will witness the abolishment of armies and an alliance between all the European empires.” The signs of regeneration are also fast multiplying in Japan and China, as if pointing to the approach of a new historical wave at the extreme East.

A Russian prophesy: You can read the whole quote along with additional material pertinent to our investigations here, also as a PDF. We won’t quibble over the dates in the quote, as it is the cycle mentioned that is of importance, but what the Russian press outlined in 1880 was prophetic, yes? That was the mystic vision then of Russian elites, remembering that was in the days of the Russian Empire and the last Tsars. Is this not the general outline of what we see happening today? In 2000 the Soviet Union had collapsed and a new opportunity for peace presented itself. Instead, the US was set on maintaining its dominance as outlined in the PNAC (Project for a New American Century), seeking to prevent the rise of strong regional powers in the Eurasian landmass who could challenge Washington’s authority. But something else happened in 2000, in that Vladimir Putin stepped up to the leadership of Russia and immediately set about raising the Russian Federation from its knees. Initially the Western powers thought Putin would be amenable to keeping financial capitalism in place in Russia and allowing American meddling, continuing on with Yeltsin’s policies. The West was soon to be sorely disappointed. Putin thereafter became the ‘next Hitler’. But there are a few things we seldom if ever hear about in the West, regarding Putin.

Putin and Russia: Firstly, ‘Putin’ is not the sole leader of Russia, nor is he a dictator. And it is worth noting any strong political leader, politics being governed by the 1^st ray, is to some extent autocratic. They have to be. But the Russian government is a vast bureaucracy and there are many factions to it. Putin himself has had to tread a fine line among those factions to get anything done. To this day, though, the pro-Russian factions have held the line and the Russian Federation, while retaining aspects of capitalism, has re-nationalized or at least brought under the government’s wings the essential infrastructure of the country. That very fact incenses American corporate interests. The Russian oligarchs, so prominent in the ‘90s, have largely been reined in, while the ones who fled Russia when Putin came to power are now a much sorrier lot, having had much of their wealth frozen by the very powers in the West to which they fled at the start of the SMO in Ukraine.

The government of Russia, expressed through Putin, was all for cooperation with the West in 2000. Putin even expressed a desire for Russia to join NATO, which would have been the very thing expressed by the Russian press in 1880 – the uniting of all the old European powers in alliance, an end to hostilities, the end of intra-national dissensions among European nations – in other words, a step toward European Unity. Washington and London would have none of it.

Pan-European security: Putin was told, when he talked to the NATO chief at the time, nations applied to join NATO. They weren’t invited. In other words, nations applied to NATO out of a need for a sense of security and for the benefits the alliance offered its members. Russia wanted to be an equal partner with NATO at the time and didn’t need NATO for security. The Russians wanted a pan-European security agreement, which was expressed again in the December 2021 ‘Russian ultimatum’, as the Western press branded it. But that would have meant Washington had to cooperate with Russia. The Russian concerns were once again rejected. Sooner or later – probably sooner – Europeans will have to address those concerns, with or without Washington. The CIA has had a big hand in keeping relations between the US and Russia at a distance, which favors the US oligarchs and corporations, as well as distancing the EU from Russia.

The moves and policy by Washington and London since 2000 have done everything to retard the process of European unification and an end to hostilities, and any such unification of the Eurasian landmass. However and ironically, those same policies and actions have served to unite the Asian part of Eurasia, while temporarily separating Western Europe and the Atlanticist-leaning EU nations from Asia. Getting back to the quoted material, then, the turn of the 2^nd millennium CE should have marked the end of what could justifiably be called the Anglo-American era of dominance, which started waxing around 1750, and the emergence of the next world dominant powers in 2000. Those are rising in the East now. The dominant Western powers up until 2000 have tried their hardest to retard the process, guided by Washington. But then we must note the demarcation between the end of one cycle and the start of another is not set in stone, but is instead fluid. Such is the case with human relations, as we do have a measure of free will, individually and collectively. Such is the case with the transition between astrological ages, too, as we see with the transition from the Piscean age to the Aquarian age.

And we note also a new cycle – probably/maybe a greater cycle – of the 4^th ray will slowly begin to be felt from 2025 onward. All the ray cycles can be subdivided or multiplied by 10, and what we might actually be seeing in these final few years of the Stage of the Forerunner^[8] is the end of the 10^th sub-cycle of the longer 2500-year 4^th ray cycle, for readers more informed on esoteric matters. In fact it was stated (in 1950) the major work to be done during that stage and up until 2025 was the clarification of the world’s problems – the dissipation of glamour, maya and illusion, in other words.^[9] Therein is a clue to the work to be done in these final years of the Forerunner, with a new cycle of the world servers starting at Wesak this year, along with the 9-year planning cycle.

250 years – The end?: Just to wrap this up, then, the cycle that saw the flourishing and dominance of Western Europe and the United Sates is ending, its energy being withdrawn. The energy that informed that cycle is at an end, hence we see nothing new from the West in foreign policy. Instead it is like an old person still attached to the past who cannot countenance anything new and who is no longer able to influence their environment to any great degree. The larger cycle to slowly wax after 2025, if so, would last the entirety of the Aquarian age. And peace will guide the planet and love will steer the stars. Is it any wonder, then, the Western powers are losing their influence and a new world order based in Asia is being formed, given this 250-year cycle? Blavatsky would not have written about it or considered it if there was nothing to it. This opens up our understanding of what is happening and why, as well as giving us suggestions and an eye to planning for the future, wherever we live. For the West the end of its period will mean a steady disarmament. It is, in fact being disarmed now via Ukraine and has little hope of engaging in another arms race with Russia and/or China. Simply put, the Western powers cannot afford, nor will its people tolerate another arms race. Therein exists some hope for the future, too.

Americans and British will have a markedly harder time with what lies immediately ahead for those nations. There are two interviews, from recent days, that every American especially should hear (and they aren’t long interviews), both from retired US Army colonels – Lawrence Wilkerson and Douglas Macgregor. You can access those at the hyperlinks at their names. The war in Ukraine is costing both nations dearly, and all the leadership can seem to do is to double down. Yet, the media is beginning to slowly edge the public toward the idea the war in Ukraine is lost, that Russia cannot be defeated. Added to the comments of the two colonels, which will round out what they are saying, is the strategic city of Bakhmut is about to fall. That city has been the hub for Ukraine to hold on to the Donbas republics. Once it does fall, as within days, the war will take on a very different character. Russia will move more quickly to secure the four regions plus Crimea. Once that is done there will be a reassessment of aims and objectives.

No one seems to have any idea how much longer the fighting will continue in Ukraine but it is abundantly clear Ukraine will lose a fifth of its old territory and NATO, along with Washington and London will lose face internationally. Going back to the American Revolutionary War for comparison, around the last turn of the 250-years cycle, the British loss caused great upheaval in Europe and the end of many monarchies, as the revolutionary wave started in the US rippled through Europe. We can probably expect the same sort of thing with this present cycle, too. For all the bloviating and rhetoric of the Western elites and politicians, the people of the West will see they have been taken for fools. If you watched the interviews of the colonels you would see small polls taken asking people who they would prefer as president – Biden or Putin – which polled greatly in favor of Putin, with even Wilkerson saying there is more democracy in Russia than there is in the US. That is very telling. That will also cause great disbelief with some readers here. All we can say is those two men have had intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the Washington establishment and the MICIMATT as Ray McGivern calls it. One might dismiss their comments as the mere opinions of old men, or one can investigate and see for themselves. Either way, more likely than not their views will be vindicated. The polling, however small, shows people are starting to realize what is really happening and that their leadership cannot be trusted, which sets Western governments up for some large upheavals and unrest. Putin is seen to be taking care of his nation, whereas Washington and London keep pouring money and weapons into the Ukrainian black hole, as Ukraine has been called. All the talk of tanks and planes for Ukraine is nonsense, and is only for domestic consumption.

And after the war?: Keeping in mind the passing of the 250-year cycle for the West, it is helpful to be aware of what outcomes can probably occur as the outcome of the war in Ukraine. The war will do its work. Even Western-leaning news outlets like the Asia Times (based in Hong Kong) are admitting now Ukraine will lose the war. Western military analysts who have seen war and know a bit about Russia have said Ukraine would lose the war from the start. War is politics by other means and this one has precipitated dramatic changes in the geopolitical landscape, and will continue to do so for the immediate years ahead. From the article in Asia Times, written by an American analyst:

“The Russo-Ukrainian war is entering its next critical phase. It is a period in which the West must seriously reassess its commitment, as the Russians are not going to surrender or abandon their mission of crushing the Ukrainian state. While the Zelensky government could have been saved a year ago, the arrogance of Western leaders prevented a deal from moving forward. Alas, the Western side will lose in Ukraine. It just needs to determine how badly it wants to lose. Let’s hope there are some real reassessments going on right now in the White House and in Brussels.”

This war caps off the closing present three-year cycle of the NGWS, which cycle started with the pandemic. It has been quite a revealing period, once we have gotten past the fog and fear factor. What has been shown so far as a result of the last three years can be outlined in brief as follows, and the list is not in any way complete:

• The agendas of all factions in this conflict being exposed, out there for all to see, for those who care to look and investigate. The Russian intervention was not as it has been portrayed in the West.
• Immediate changes in Ukraine along old cultural ties, resulting in its borders being rewritten
• Profound changes in Russian society, uniting its diverse peoples, purging of the Western influence, reformatting its system of education (translate from Russian, meaning abandonment of the Bologna Process), reining in of its oligarchs and pushing Russia as a whole toward its increasing destiny with the East^[10]
• Restructuring of Europe with a fracturing of the order established under Maastricht (the EU). This was touched on in the last letter.
• Acceleration of a new world economic order, away from fiat currency and financial capitalism/neoliberalism
• Acceleration of development toward a multipolar world, doing away with the unipolar hegemony (Pax Americana)
• The end of NATO, at least as an aggressive alliance.
• Marginalizing of Western elites, meaning the likes of Davos/WEF, the Bilderberg Group, etc.
• A re-evaluation of Western Europe’s relationship with London and the United States. This latter point is embryonic now, but the public sentiment is growing rapidly.

A moral imperative?: The war in particular (the West’s response to the pandemic was also) has been promoted as a moral imperative by Washington and across the West, with Biden’s bellicose rhetoric parroting the claim that ‘Russia must be defeated’, which only prolongs the war. Apparently the war machine in the US is still making enough money on their investment in Ukraine and a weakened Europe. They are not ready to declare victory and leave. That may sound cynical, but this ‘moral imperative’ is pushed by the American oligarchy and corporate interests, now enmeshed with the government in Washington. As recently stated for a piece translated in Reuters, Patrushev, Secretary of the Russian Security Council had the following comments regarding the sources and drivers behind American foreign policy:

“The American state is just a shell for a conglomerate of huge corporations that rule the country and try to dominate the world. For transnational corporations, even US presidents are just extras who can be shut up, like Trump. All four assassinations of American leaders are connected to the corporate trail. It is no coincidence that a growing number of Americans are saying that Republicans and Democrats are just two actors in one play that has nothing to do with democracy.

The American authorities, merged with big business, serve the interests of transnational corporations, including the military-industrial complex. The assertive foreign policy of the White House, the unbridled aggressiveness of NATO, the emergence of the military bloc AUKUS and others are also a consequence of corporate influence. The draft American budget for 2023 is the best evidence of Washington’s plans to unleash new wars to the detriment of the well-being of its own citizens.”

The greatest threat to world peace: The US is seen as the greatest threat to world peace by the great majority of the world’s nations. We don’t need to go into all the reasons here. We have looked at why many times before. The military spending and number of US military bases abroad says a lot in that regard. So, when the statement was made America is not a democracy at the federal level, at the start of this letter, Patrushev’s statements tell us why. His statements are fairly consistent across nations outside Western dominance. America has an oligarch problem, with transnational corporations also being represented in the oligarchy. The present state of affairs in the US and increasingly in the UK is what Ike Eisenhower warned us about in his farewell speech, citing the military-industrial complex. He was another statesman who knew the workings of Washington in the same manner as the two retired colonels cited previously. That threat to world peace is endlessly repeated through the US media, where they constantly harp about the ‘threats’ other nations pose to democracy – American-style – which is yet but another arm of the oligarchy and corporate-political process. Corporate control of any government is one of the very definitions of fascism, noting we are talking here primarily at the federal and state government level. The American public is kept oblivious to it, yet they are starting to wake up, seeing the damage the current setup is doing to the national infrastructure and the American and British society. And the longer the war lasts, the greater the dangers of overt fascism emerging in the US and some Western European countries. So, when it comes to what we hear about the conflict in Ukraine, for instance, we may want to consider the following:

“…falsely promoting a picture of inevitable success for the West inevitably has raised expectations of a political outcome that is not only not feasible, but which recedes further into the far horizon, as these fantastical claims of Russian setbacks persuade European leaders that Russia can accept an outcome in line with their constructed false reality. Another ‘own goal’: The West now faces the task of de-fusing the landmine of their own electorate’s conviction of a Ukraine ‘win’, and of Russian humiliation and decomposition. There will be anger and further distrust for the Élites in the West to follow. Existential risk ensues when people believe nothing the élites say. Plainly put, this resort to clever ‘nudge theories’ has succeeded only in toxifying the prospect for political discourse. Neither the U.S. nor Russia can now move directly to pure political discourse…”

Do read the whole article just linked, because it ties in with the COVID restrictions, too, under which we have suffered for two years, speaking of falsely promoting a picture. But the latter has also done something quite valuable – it has brought ‘The Narrative’, in whatever situation, into doubt among the general public. In that regard, there is one more topic of immediate importance before us which is all over the news now, and that is Washington’s belligerence toward China.

The Yellow Peril: Anti-China rhetoric is off the charts in Western media. The whole purpose to the pointless and tragic war in Ukraine from the American side was to weaken Russia so Washington could have a go at China, using Taiwan in the same shameful manner they are using Ukraine against Russia. In fact, Washington no longer hides the fact Ukraine is being used as America’s proxy against Russia. The script would be the same: Build up a military posturing in Taiwan, provoke China through some sort of incident and then levy the next version of ‘sanctions from Hell’ against China – except the major part of the world would not buy it this time. And the sanctions would have an even more serious backlash against the West than those against Russia.

The beans were recently spilled about the game plan against China, stated out loud at a Senate hearing by Ret. Gen. Keith Kellogg, ex-advisor to Mike Pence, who said, “…it’s the ‘acme of professionalism’[?] to use Ukraine to fight Russia because that ‘takes a strategic adversary off the table’ without ‘using any US troops.’ And then ‘we can focus’ on ‘our primary adversary, which is China.’” As stated in the last letter, America and European elites are fighting a coward’s war against Russia, using proxies instead of their own people. It would be the same with the people of Taiwan. The Poles are suffering losses in Ukraine, too, with around 2,500 Polish soldiers (mercenaries) having been killed there. The Poles have drunk the same Kool-Aid as the Ukrainians, easily seduced by Washington and London via old fears and hatred of Russia, along with promises of the benefits offered by NATO and EU membership. Well, Zelenskyy may have just shortened his war with one of his recent statements in a video clip, now viral across US social media, where he states Americans will have to send their sons and daughters to fight and die in NATO states if Ukraine loses the war – talk about emotional manipulation. His little gaffe backfired. The clip shows the power of social media to influence public opinion, because Americans who have seen it are livid. Never mind the whole context of the clip is left out. What Americans saw was like the proverbial red flag to the bull. The wider point here applies to China, though, because Americans would not be fighting in Taiwan. However, even now the Americans along with the Japanese are ‘setting the theatre for war’ with China.

If we read a daily accounting of the build-up to the war in Ukraine from a year ago (PDF), we see very similar events taking place in Taiwan now. The US is going to quadruple the number of US troops in Taiwan. China poses no aggressive military threat to Taiwan so long as Taiwan does not try to claim independence and stays with the one-China policy. The US troop presence will be small, said to be for purposes of training ‘against China’s rising threat’. Do we see any similarity here between the alleged rising Russian threat against Ukraine and the present moves in Taiwan? Washington is slowly and steadily raising the pressure on China. A year before the Russian intervention in Ukraine there were similar troop build-ups first by Ukrainian forces (armed by NATO) in the Donbas and then reactive troop build-ups on the border by Russia. It is the US who is being the aggressor here. That is why paying attention to this rhetoric is important, even though 100 troops might seem insignificant. The same thing took place just prior to the war in Vietnam being escalated. American troop presence there started with ‘advisors’. To start, China will see such moves as meddling in Chinese affairs.

War with China?: Who would be fighting if there is a conflict over Taiwan? It would be the Taiwanese – along with Australians, Japanese and maybe Koreans, though the latter would likely be otherwise occupied with a northern neighbor should such a conflict eventuate. Washington would be ‘offering support’, like it has been doing with Ukraine. That support comes with a price tag, too. Someone else would be doing the dying. The United States is not going to put itself in harm’s way over China. It would be a naval battle for the US and they will not put their surface ships at risk. What the US would be doing instead is knocking on every embassy door demanding every nation to heavily sanction the ‘brutal Chinese invasion’. What do we think would happen, given our experience with Russia and sanctions? For a start, it would be the end of the US economy, along with that of much of the West, because all the Western powers would be ‘required’ to support Washington. But there is one thing never mentioned in the press: the American economy depends upon China for many of its goods and those would not be easily substituted. It takes years to build up industrial capacity. China would suffer, too, but not nearly to the extent of the US. China, like Russia, has made a lot of friends outside the West in the past decade or two. It would be a monumental disaster if Washington manages to finally provoke China into more drastic action, or the Taiwanese to overreact to Chinese intentions. From everything I have read the Chinese are onto the American scheme and will practice patience and reserve, much to everyone’s relief. There are also major political factions in Taiwan who want peaceful relations with the Chinese mainland.

Australians should be particularly wary of American intentions regarding China. The Murdoch press, which dominates in Australia and the UK, is pushing the pollies in Oz to double the military budget for the supposed coming war with China. The Murdoch press and social media bots also push this ‘China is taking over’ meme. It’s the same old ‘yellow peril’ scaremongering dressed up in modern guise. The truth is, the Americans own controlling interests in many of Australia’s key industries and they covertly influence Australian politics via those banking interests and industries. The AUKUS deal is a case in point, which has just painted Australian ports with big, fat targets in case of war. Australians should oppose in every way possible any talk of a war with China being inevitable. It’s just bollocks and will only be a money-spinner for the military-industrial complex, mostly in the United States. Aussies will get thrown a bone or two. And finally, Aussies should be very sceptical of any pronouncements coming out of ASPI (the Australian Security Policy Institute), because it is basically the propaganda arm of the CIA and US government and is thereby very hawkish on China. At least there is some questioning in Australia about what a war with China would actually look like.

Just so we can keep the fear levels up, the US can’t keep up with China’s warship building, the Navy Secretary says. Before you know it, the Yellow Peril will be patrolling in the Gulf of Mexico and off of Sydney Harbour. We might be able to think of another reason why the Chinese would be building so many warships – to protect their shipping against ‘adventurism’ by foreign powers. And those Chinese balloons are a major threat to our security, don’t you know? We would be far better off conducting friendly economic competition with China than engaging in threatening posturing like a bunch of teenage boys. If it comes to it, though, and if I were of age for military service, I recall the old American protest chant during Vietnam: “Hell no! We won’t go!” I ain’t no senator’s son. We probably won’t go anyway, because if the war in Ukraine has shown the American military planners one thing, it is that the US and NATO by default are in no condition to go head-to-head with China, armchair warriors’ fantasies aside. Everyone should watch John Pilger’s doco on the The Coming War With China? (sic) for background. Get some popcorn and prepare to take a dose of truth. And when it comes to the CIA trying to destabilize China through one of its autonomous regions, there has been a very interesting development, for the Free-Tibet crowd.

The past is past: The Dalai Lama participated in a program in 2017 at Kolkata, India where he made the following statements:

“At an interactive session organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce in Kolkata, the Dalai Lama said that though there have been incidents of “fight” between China and Tibet, the two countries enjoyed a close relationship. Taking a positive stand on the issue, he said “The past is past. We will have to look into the future.” He also clarified that the people of Tibet are not against China and want to stay with the latter. “We are not seeking independence…We want to stay with China. We want more development…”

Not the Dalai Lama you though we knew? My, how times have changed! This doesn’t even sound remotely like what we hear about Tibet in the Western press, yet there was the spiritual leader of old Tibet stating the obvious, much to the chagrin of Washington and the Tibetan community in exile, one might imagine. And he hardly sounded like he was a CIA asset, as it was once claimed he was. The CIA did send funding to the Tibetan government in exile via the Dalai Lama, though, which was dispersed by him to the government in exile. The CIA has tried several times in the past to destabilize China through stoking rebellions and unrest in Tibet (short vid), as well as in Xinjiang, Hong Kong and now Taiwan. This went on in Tibet from the ‘50s through to 1974. The Western media would have us believe Tibet was some sort of Shangri-la and was brutally invaded and kept suppressed by the Chinese, but the opposite is actually true. Tibet up until 1960 was a theocratic and brutal feudal state for the vast majority of Tibetans, dominated by the monasteries and Tibetan elites. There was the terrible period of the Cultural Revolution, of course, that went on throughout China in which all but 8 of the 6,000 monasteries that existed in Tibet were destroyed. I visited several when I was there in 2009 with a tour and there are efforts now to restore many of them. That was an awful period for all of China. But the point is, as much disinformation and propaganda as we are fed about Russia is even worse when it comes to China. I will just add that there is religious freedom in Tibet now. Do take the time to travel there and see for yourselves if you can. The monasteries are open, pilgrims are everywhere and the monks openly debate in the debate yards. Tibet has been modernized. They still have their yak races and you can enjoy them while having a Budweiser. Tibetan momos would go down a treat after. I never did develop a taste for their salted butter tea, though.

In summary, and as we close this cycle of letters, so the close of the last cycle of 250 years is seeing the conclusion of Western dominance and the beginning of the rise of non-Western powers. The next 250-year cycle will take us firmly into the Aquarian age, away from empire, with the focus on rebuilding the world on more pragmatic human values, rather than militant ideals. Of course, we humans will always have our ideals, but what we are losing is the militant application or expression of those ideals as the old age passes out. Over the next three years the need for healing in international relations will reach an intensity not seen since the close of WWII. Eastern Europe and the West will be in particular need of such healing as we, the general public finally realize what has been forced upon us in recent years. It has been said we only need more light, esoterically understood, in order to see and know the soul, and it is also said the intensification of that light will continue until 2025, wherein thereafter a relative stabilization in world affairs will ensue.^[11] Therein lies our immediate task ahead over the next three years as the Stage of the Forerunner draws to a close. That light is shown in increased depth of understanding, deeper cooperation, in security based in right adjustments, and peace in place of fear, coercion and austerity. In the throes of crises, the measure of a person’s soul is shown. May your light shine brightly in the coming years ahead. As we make effort to raise ourselves spiritually, so will the world be saved.

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1. Bailey, Alice A., Esoteric Astrology, (1951) Lucis Publishing, NY, NY, p. 68 ↑
2. Ibid, p. 509 ↑
3. Blavatsky, Helena, The Secret Doctrine II, Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar, India, p. 30, note ↑
4. Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine III, p. 152 ↑
5. Bailey, The Destiny of the Nations, p. 148 ↑
6. Ibid, p. 70 ↑
7. Ibid, p. 127 ↑
8. Bailey, The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, p. 530 ↑
9. Bailey, Glamour: A World Problem, pp. 170, 171 ↑
10. Bailey, The Destiny of the Nations, p. 86 ↑
11. Bailey, Esoteric Psychology I, p. 103 ↑