The Wesak/Taurus Festival 2025

Topics (linked to paragraphs): Taurus Decisions, decisions Masters and such Not the papal conclave Had a good crisis lately? What is the divine will? Past crises This Wesak conclave New ground The full moon Current events Pope Leo XIV Victory Day 80 Africa Egypt The honeymoon is over West Asia Iran Kashmir, India and Pakistan Ukraine In conclusion

Greetings Everyone!

We’ll come back to the lead quote, above, later in this letter. ‘The world’ has other ideas about the man who said it. But we start with other more important matters. As I stated to subscribers with my last letter I was just in the United States for a family visit. Having returned, I have a few observations, since some subscribers have asked. I was in the US for Easter, with family, the first Easter with family in many years. I arrived bearing half a suitcase full of Italian traditional Easter dolce (sweets), which received rave reviews from family and guests. Of course they did. Then the next day, we found out the Pope had had passed on. There is a topic on him later in this letter. So, for the first week the Pope dominated the US headlines. I was particularly interested in what I would see in US media reporting on the whole while I was there. As is usually the case in social media, there were all kinds of speculation about how the Pope passed from this realm, the most prominent meme from American posts being that J.D. Vance killed the pontiff. That was absolute nonsense. Pope Francis had been near death for a few weeks preceding Easter. But for the Pope to pass at Easter was quite an auspicious event. Again, we’ll have more on that later.

From what we had been hearing outside the US, I expected to hear all sorts of talk about Trump and the administration, but such talk was strangely absent. North Carolina is a ‘purple state’ and one might have expected to see signs promoting Trump everywhere. But such was not the case. Instead, people were getting on with their lives. I would barely have known there had been an election, just speaking with people, no matter their political persuasion. Instead, what I did hear was quite a lot of complaining, about the high prices (which were markedly higher than when I was there last year, except for gasoline). People were worried about the tariffs, though, and how they were going to affect the country. People in the US generally have little idea of what is to come from the tariffs (see video on shipping at the end of this letter), but that will start to hit in a few of weeks. Then, shortly after Easter we (my siblings and myself) made the yearly road trip to West Virginia to see extended family. We have an auntie there who is quite advanced in years, and many cousins.

I must say the entire time I was in the US this year I saw only a few signs supporting Trump, and most of them were in West Virginia. Trump won over 70% of the votes in that state. We learned a few family secrets on that trip, following upon the passing of one of our uncles. Such revelations are helpful, in that they give one clues about past family behaviour, conditioning and myths – but I will save that for another letter. West Virginia is one of the poorer states in the US, made poorer by the death of its steel industries due to globalization. My extended family on my mother’s side are all in the north of that state along the Ohio River – steel country. My family there were all involved in steel in one way or another. The death of steel caused a wide dispersion of my extended relatives, as economics often does thus affect families. In West Virginia as well as in North Carolina, there was barely any talk of politics. Instead, the price of eggs was a bigger topic, for example, at least in my conversations with people. The price of iPhones was another biggie.

Upon returning to North Carolina the big news was Trump’s first 100 days in office. The honeymoon is over. The spin doctors were in high gear. We will cover all that later here. Absent from US news was any talk of Ukraine except for large strikes made by the Russians on that tragedy of a nation. Also absent was any news that painted Israel in a less than flattering light. In fact, there was hardly any news about foreign affairs. American news is very insular and very tightly controlled. We might call it ‘American Pravda’ for all the news that falls outside the Washington and Wall Street narrative. As a result the wider American public knows virtually nothing about other matters outside America’s borders. All we hear is that nations such as Iran, Russia, China, North Korea, et al, are all enemies. This is meant to keep up ‘defense’ spending as well as an endless trail of corruption. Tell me I am wrong. Last I heard, no one was threatening the US militarily, or even otherwise.

There is plenty of financial news, if we can call it that – Wall Street, stock prices, economics for the wealthy. A word to the wise: the stock markets are not an indicator of the real economy of any nation. The real economy is what takes place at the grassroots. There are also more ads for pharmaceuticals than you can shake a stick at. They are quite something, those ads. They begin with happy family times, then highlighting some health issue that mom, dad or the grandparents have – diabetes, weight issues, arthritis, gastric trouble, eczema, joint pain, you name it – at which point the magic remedy appears, followed by all the dire side effects which could come with it, all the while the happy family scenes play on in the background.

Those ads just described are usually followed by fast food commercials, with all the ingredients that make American the most obese nation on Earth. Then (commercials always come in clusters) there are ads for personal injury lawyers of all sorts – accidents, medical – ambulance-chasers. You can watch all this on the most incredible TV screens, with thousands of channels from which to choose, or one can binge on Netflix. This is American media. Bernays would be proud. If one is paying attention and has any consciousness of what is going on in the world it becomes quickly apparent why Americans are so ignorant of world affairs and why they are constantly steered toward gratification and conspicuous consumption instead of knowledge – kept wilfully so by the oligarchy that controls American media. There is no nuance, no views opposing ‘narrative’, with spin being put forward as ‘news’. This is important to note. Yet, the people are good-hearted, but kept in the dark about what is coming down the ‘pike, as it were, and soon to be rudely awakened to the realities that are about to dawn. The ‘penetrating Light of the Path’ forward for America is about to be thrust on the American people (along with the rest of the West) in a big way. That brings us to our current theme, the sign Taurus, which is said to carry that penetrating Light.

Taurus: The solar festival of Taurus, also known as the Wesak Festival or the ‘Festival of the Buddha’, taking place at the full moon when the Sun is in Taurus, is often experienced as the most powerful and consequential full moons of the year. The reason it is thus so relates to the clarification of desire. For Taurus in the orthodox interpretation, desire is represented through Taurus by Venus. Consider the following:

“We come also to the sign which is called “the sign of the major life incentive,” because Taurus is the symbol of desire in all its phases. Whether the subjective man is impelled by desire, or the disciple is driven forth upon the path of return by the urge of aspiration, or whether the initiate is controlled by the will to cooperate with the Plan, he is, nevertheless, being responsive to the most potent manifestation of a little known and understood aspect of divinity, to which we give the inadequate name of the Will of God.

Will, power, desire, aspiration, ambition, motive, purpose, impulse, incentive, plan—all these are words which attempt to express one of the major underlying attributes and fundamental causes (man scarcely knows which) of manifestation, of the evolutionary processes and of the will-to-be or the will-to-live. The great triplicity of desire—aspiration—direction (will) are only three words which endeavour to describe the progress and bias of man the personality, man the soul, and man the channel for spirit or life. All three point inadequately to the cause of the threefold expression which underlies all events, all progress and all happenings in time and space.

It was the Buddha who clarified for man the nature of desire and its results, with the unhappy effects which desire produces when persistent and unenlightened. It was the Christ Who taught the transmutation of desire into aspiration which, from the expression given to it in The New Testament, was the effort of the human will (hitherto animated by, or expressed through, desire) to conform itself to the will of God…”^[2]

There is a subjective alignment that takes place at the Wesak festival, wherein at the time of the full moon the Buddha (representing ‘the center where the will of God is known’) appears and bestows his blessings upon the world. Wesak is a linking festival, linking the faiths of the West and the East, as well as linking what is known as Shamballa in the books of Alice Bailey with the spiritual Hierarchy of our world. There are further points on the Hierarchy in what follows. What is called Shamballa (from various Eastern traditions) is not a physical place, but is the abode in consciousness, if we can call it that, which connects our world with the wider local universe. It connects us with realms of consciousness outside of our planetary consciousness (incorrectly called the ‘astral plane’ in the article just hyperlinked). It connects us with the so-called ‘cosmic astral plane’, which is beyond our planetary consciousness. There is divine purpose which drives our local universe forward, and without much elaboration, the Wesak Festival allows us to connect with that wider purpose if we are open to receiving it. That is why the Wesak Festival is sensed to be so powerful, because it not only involves our planet, but connects us with all others in our local universe, thus giving us a ‘course correction’ of sorts, allowing us to live more aligned with spiritual realities. For those people who aspire to live in a more spiritual way, this festival thus becomes supremely important.

The sign Taurus, once one takes on spiritual aspirations, leads into the esoteric and planetary rulers of the sign, which is the planet Vulcan. Vulcan is not a dense physical planet. It is one of the etheric planets which has yet to be discovered and catalogued. Vulcan was the Roman god in mythology was the god of fire, giving one the fiery inspiration to overcome all obstacles in the pursuit of ultimate truth and enlightenment. More than anything, the Wesak Festival is supposed to lead us to this realization of full enlightenment, hence its transmission of the ‘penetrating light of the Path’, which the Buddha gave to humanity in the graded stages of the Path to enlightenment, primarily through the clarification and overcoming of desire. We could say that Vulcan, through the fires of aspiration and purification, forges within us the tools we need to enable greater service to all lives on our planet. Every Wesak Festival thus imparts to us progressive means to realize our own individual and collective paths to enlightenment. And that often invokes crises. Those crises also invoke decisions about our way forward along The Path. And every 100 years, from the 25^th year of every century, such crises and decisions take on particular importance.

Decisions, decisions: There is another long quote to consider, in sections, essential to our understanding of what is to precipitate in world affairs as well as the subjective realms of our planetary life over the intervening years. The bolded text in what follows is of particular interest to us in our human lives:

“This training in decision is given by forcing the Master to make basic decisions within His Ashram affecting world work and involving all within the Ashram. It is given by His admission to the conclave of the Masters, meeting every seven years.

At that conclave They make decisions which concern all forms of life in all the kingdoms in the three worlds and their evolutionary progress; it is put to the test in group form when the entire Hierarchy meets at Its centennial conference and—at that time—decides what form of crisis, on what level of consciousness, and involving what group of lives, must be implemented and presented to humanity, though the other kingdoms of nature will be necessarily implicated. The reason for this is that the meeting of such a planned crisis will hasten certain realisations. Forget not that humanity grows through the presentation of moments of crisis. These moments of crisis, based on past karma, conditioned by the point in evolution already achieved, and on the presence in the three worlds of certain appropriate ray forces, are brought to the point of precipitation by united decision in the conclave of the Masters.“

Masters and such: At this point we must pause, but the quote will be continued in a bit. Firstly certain definitions and misconceptions (due to modern discourse) are in order. A ‘Master’ is one who, through dint of individual effort, has completed the five paths and ten grounds in Buddhist terms, or has undergone the five initiations – Birth, Baptism, Transfiguration, Crucifixion and Revelation as described in the Bailey material – has mastered control over the forces of nature and is free of human karma. Such an individual is a full member of the Kingdom of Souls and one who is preparing to surpass even that. A Master is a fully enlightened spiritual being, to put it another way, one whose life and consciousness is concerned solely with the liberation of all sentient beings from the wheel of life and death. We might add, a Master works solely with the evolution of consciousness, and only with forms so long as those forms aid in the evolution of consciousness. Masters have specialties, too. Some work with human evolution, while there are those who work with the other kingdoms in nature – mineral, vegetable, deva, animal, as well as human and souls. There are Masters specialized in rays, astrology, culture and so on. And the vast majority of these accomplished Bodhisattvas of Great Compassion (for that is what the Masters are) are completely unknown to the esoteric groups operating in the world today. Such Masters are legion.

Not the papal conclave: As for the conclave mentioned in the quote, this is not a physical meeting. It is not even a telepathic ‘meeting of the minds’. Nor is it some form of occult meeting of ‘the Illuminati’ or some Satanic or Masonic cult. This conclave is not a human construct. Nor is it some sort of meeting for world domination, covered in the next part of the quote. Its intent is for us to foster our own free will. We can see it as a ‘focusing of spiritual Light’, meant to raise our world out of our collective suffering, ‘collective’ meaning all kingdoms of nature below that of the souls. The Hierarchy spoken of is a ‘Hierarchy of Light’ instead of some human hierarchical construct. This conclave at the 25^th year of every century is one where the Masters of the 5^th degree, having gone through the initiation of the Revelation, are prepared to pass on to even greater work. As such, they have a decision to make, based upon their own development, as to which path they will choose beyond our Earth, indeed, beyond our solar system even. It is useful to realize that evolution is eternal, with ever increasing fields of awareness and experience stretching out infinitely before us. The universe is a big place, you know? And we know of only the tiniest, infinitesimal speck of it in our worldly affairs. But here we are. And it is also important to know that each step we take toward greater realization brings all that we know along with us. Each act of compassion ripples out into the world far more than we can possibly know. Hence we have the value of crises, as strange as that might sound.

Had a good crisis lately?: Crisis: Def: a time when a difficult or important decision must be made. As if we didn’t know. We do tend to like our comforts, don’t we? The suffering of change is one of the fundamental forms of suffering talked about in Buddhist teachings. Yet, nothing tends to focus one’s mind and attention quite like a good crisis. Some people like the merry-go-round, content to cycle around with the gentle up-and-down motions of the characters represented. Burlington, NC (where I grew up) has a Carousel (merry-go-round). My dad used to be the park manager at the City Park in between school years (he was a music teacher) and we got to ride all the rides for free. My favorite on the carousel was the lion, while all the other pansies rode the horses or just sat in the carriages. But the carousel was boring after one ride. Actually, my favorite ride in the Burlington City Park was the train – the sound of the engine, the rumble of the carriages, the journey, what was around the next bend – but that is another story, for those readers familiar with the seven rays. We also had a roller coaster in the park, now long gone, but which was also great fun. It was also the most intense, with the expectant ride up to the peak experience and then the thrill of the ride down with all the curves, finally coming to rest. But at the peak a new vista emerged, one that gave a wider view. On the modern roller coasters one can see for miles at the peak, and then be propelled in abject terror during the ride downwards. One always comes to rest, though, richer for the experience and blessed with a new vision, provided one doesn’t pass out on the way down. I like roller coasters, too.

It was said that humanity was facing or passing through five great spiritual events at the time (1960), as follows:

These are the five deepest spiritual events happening in the world today. The two which lie ahead in the not too distant future (but which depend upon humanity availing itself of the present opportunity) are:

The first three points above are still ongoing, which is not difficult to see. In fact, we are still embroiled most markedly still in the first point, keeping the following in mind, which follows on the quote:

“The platform of the leading ideologies is not necessarily wrong or wicked; it is the imposition by force and by a police state of an ideology, and its use by powerful men or groups for their own benefit, plus the keeping of the people in blind ignorance so that no free choice is theirs—which is fundamentally wicked and evil.”^[4]

Where do we see this imposition by force? – in our Western democracies, though we are told by the leadership of our democracies that nations such as Russia and China are the main culprits of such. That also encompasses the 2^nd point, above, in that such suppression of free speech is done exactly to keep people ignorant of the wider world. That bears some investigation on our part because it may surprise some readers to learn that there is far more freedom of expression in Russia and China, for instance, than we are told. As it stands, this also leads into the 3^rd point, above, meaning that when people express goodwill to the Palestinians, for example, they face the spectre of arrest, deportation and even jail if they openly do so in protest of government policy toward Israel. Then that goes to the 4^th point, above, which points to the fact that part of the evil cited in the quote was not sealed away at the end of WWII, but has instead been incorporated into and corrupted many governments and societies across the world because it was not so sealed away. I don’t think further explanation is necessary for most readers. Lastly, for the bulk of humanity the 5^th point, above, has no meaning. We as humanity pray for peace, but our efforts are so scattered and diffuse as to have no effect. It takes focused and concerted group effort to offset darkness in the world. However, regarding the 2^nd point, above, people are awakening to what is going on. And for all of our vaunted freedoms in the West, the wider world – ‘the 85%’ – has seen what has been happening in the two major hot conflicts in the world and great glamours about the West and its values have been dispelled for good thereby. Conflicts as crises do have their useful purposes.

Crises have a specific function in the evolution of consciousness, in that they serve to free us from our attachments and thereby our ignorance and slavery to the past. If handled rightly, a good crisis sets us free to pursue a more fitting spiritual goal. At the time of their occurrence we are most often unaware of what is being imparted to or sought from us. For the bulk of humanity the soul is an unknown quantity, some vague notion that we are connected to God somehow. Yet at each crisis our souls are there seeking expression through our earthly existence. It is said that crises show the measure of the soul in us. But what is actually taking place is a test of our personal lives, coming from the level of the soul, to assess whether or not we are willing in our personal lives to live more fully as souls, to ‘come nigh unto God’, using Christian terminology. When we realize that our personal lives are a one-off and but a brief moment in the life of a soul, which is comparatively eternal compared to a human life, then we begin to see ourselves as instruments (projections or emanations) of the soul, with each successive life representing an opportunity to advance along the path of that soul. And that means each crisis is meant for us to practice our own free will as a means to attain to the higher consciousness the human soul represents. These remarks bring us to the next section of the quote which was cited above:

“These decisions do not affect man’s free will, for the Hierarchy does nothing to condition man’s approach to the crisis and, occultly speaking, Their “attitude is deliberately turned to other things” during the period of man’s decision; thus the potency of Their thinking does not affect the human mind. Once the precipitation of the crisis is complete, and humanity has begun to take action of some kind, then the full attention of the Masters, working through Their Ashrams, is committed to the giving of full assistance to all those who are seeking to guide humanity along correct lines—a relative few among the countless millions of the ignorant…”

As souls we are all interconnected within groups. There is no individual sense of separation at the level of the soul as we experience as personalities. We retain our individuality, but we know ourselves as individuals within a collective with common purpose, recognizing as well that our group purpose is interconnected with all other groups seeking after the liberation and spiritual freedom of all lives. All souls are divine. As personalities in human bodies we feel ourselves to be separate from that reality and we err from that divine purpose. Each century at the 25^th year our collective humanity, as well as all the lives we know of as personalities – mineral, vegetable and animal – are assessed as to their development which has been achieved (or not) over the preceding century. Then choices are made as to how to proceed in terms of raising the consciousness of the planet. As humanity we have made tremendous progress over the past few centuries. Our awareness of this world and our universe has expanded at an accelerated pace, much as our present circumstances might seem to contradict such a statement. But so it is, in that we are able to handle the forces of nature and expand our knowledge in ways that were unimaginable even 100 years ago. We will return to this latter thought momentarily, but we need to finish the quote:

“While these centennial conclaves are being held at the close of the first twenty-five years of every century, the Lord of the World with the Members of His Council watch the process of decision in order to see how far the will of the Hierarchy conforms to that aspect of the divine will which should be expressed in the three worlds as the result of Their decision. They watch also Those particular Masters Who should in a short time be ready for the sixth initiation, in order to see how much of that divine will They register and what is the nature and quality of Their use of it. By recording that quality, the Council at Shamballa is able to determine with great accuracy which of the seven Paths a certain Initiate will choose. In this manner They become aware of how many senior disciples will be needed to take over the headship of an Ashram, with a consequent admittance of many disciples to the initiation next in order for them. At the same time, aspirants on the periphery of an Ashram are enabled to move forward into full ashramic participation. All this should give you some idea of the synthesis which expresses itself through the three planetary centres: Shamballa, the Hierarchy and Humanity. These are responsible for the conditioning of the other planetary centres and the consequent demonstration of divine intention…”

What is the divine will?: We all know the statement, “God is Love.” Our solar system is deemed to be an expression of the love of God. At least, that is the aim. Our little planet is said to be of the nature of a great experiment in our local cosmos. Whereas most planets evolve slowly through the cycles of time, we are said to be a planet that evolves through crises and testing. Such a means of development is faster than riding the merry-go-round of the cycles. We are all taking the fast train and the roller coaster toward the full realization of the will of God. But the end aim, if we can call it that, is to express fully the divine quality of love. In Buddhism this is known as Great Compassion. Love is not a sentiment, nor a passion. Sentimental love is a form of attachment. Divine love neither hinders nor forces one’s will. Divine love is of the nature of eternal patience and graded revelations through the process of crises. At each crisis we experience, we have choices as to how to respond. At the level of the soul we are never judged as to our decisions, but we do create karma. We are our own judge and executioner or liberator, depending upon our choices. Each choice sets a train of events into motion. It is the simple rule of cause and effect. For the majority of humanity the good karma (proper choices) outweighs the bad (mistaken choices). If we grow in love and understanding as a result of a crisis, then we have made proper choices. Thereby we grow in strength of will, sense of purpose and the ability to be of service. Service is the primary means through which we grow in fostering divine love. This brings us to the crux of why this year is of such importance going forward. And it comes down to the choices that were made by humanity and the spiritual forces guiding our planet at the last conclave in 2025. There are several matters to consider in that regard.

Past crises: The crises decided upon at the last centennial conclave (1925) released immense power into the hands of humanity, via the atom and via technology. The crisis that led to that development of immense power was the economic crash that brought on the Great Depression a few years after that conclave. There are rhymes of a similar crisis building today. The Western powers decided a wider war was needed to correct the economic depression. There were several other things of note: There were discoveries in modern physics which resulted in an expanded understanding of our material universe, as well as enabling us to release the immense energy (which in itself was an act of liberation for the mineral kingdom) of the atom. We were then given the choice as to whether we would destroy ourselves or to learn to live in peace and to demilitarize. We have yet to learn that lesson. Even today the threat of nuclear war still looms large.

With the invention of the radio and the television we had instantaneous communication across the world, as well as the manifestation of our electronic era. Such communications can be used to educate and expand our understanding, or to indoctrinate, deceive and mentally enslave. We have yet to work that one out as well. In the last century we learned how to escape the pull of Earth’s gravity, ushering in the era of space exploration in its infancy. Other worlds were opened to us. By learning to explore outer space we are also learning – coupled with what we now know of physics – to rise above our physical limitations and to come to an understanding of what in Buddhism is called ‘emptiness’ (perhaps better known is ‘openness’) as our primordial state of mind. As a result of the manifestations of the last century we can no longer claim we are separate, either from each other or from the other kingdoms of nature. Yet, still we try.

Those manifestations from the last century followed upon the crises invoked in the 1825 conclave. The revelations imparted manifested in rail travel, the invention of the internal combustion engine, the electric motor, the telegraph, invention of photography, commercial use of electricity, the Erie Canal, Darwin’s voyages, anaesthesia, the consolidation of the ‘lower 48 states’ in the US, the abolition of slavery in the West, and at the end, the discovery of radioactivity. In geopolitics and following upon the crises of the previous conclave, Europe was reorganized into the nation states we see there today. France was dethroned as the world power, to be replaced by the British Empire. But in terms of communications and awareness, we achieved regional instantaneous communication via the telegraph and nationwide transport via rail. Humanity was becoming more telepathic, shown in the manifestations (mentioned in the Aries letter) of rail, shipping and the start of electrical modes of communication. Travel is as much a manifestation of telepathy as are electrical means.

The centennial conclave of 1725 brought about the overthrow of the European monarchies, eliminating the idea of the ‘divine right of kings’. The Church was likewise weakened. The Enlightenment was at its height, leading to the European revolutions which remade Europe, bringing those states into the modern era. The First Industrial Revolution was a manifestation in Great Britain which changed the world and brought us squarely into the modern era, along with all its attendant troubles. Along with the wealth it created and the resulting modern society, it also brought the problems of child labor, zero worker protections, pollution, and a wide wealth gap. Economics was transformed as the banks were rallied to support industry. And at its worst, that revolution gave us the means to conduct modern, industrial scale warfare. The 5^th ray came into manifestation during that century, which gave us the beginnings of technology and the rapid growth of science, as well as dispelling faith and fealty as the main guides of humanity in favour instead of education and individual thought.

Each crisis causes us to reassess our situation, calls upon us to rise above our limitations, and thereby challenges the existing order. Crises always have the capacity for and the seeds of revolution in them. The powers that exist up to the point of any crisis rarely ever go quietly into the night. We are in the midst of such crises today – in economics, in politics, in environment, in human welfare, in technology – across the board. The opportunities for spiritual advancement abound! We are spoiled for choice, and we should welcome what they are offering to us. That brings us to our present conclave.

This Wesak conclave is unusual and thus of more vital importance for the years immediately ahead. It comes at the conclusion of a 250-year cycle of empire, where we find that powers have definitively shifted from the West (where the centers of power have been for the past 500 years, or 2 of those 250-year cycles) now clearly to the East. From this year forward a longer cycle of the 4^th ray (2500 years) begins to slowly rise into force.^[5] The next such conclave (2125) will see us fully into the Aquarian age, with the incoming 4^th ray cycle spanning the whole of that age. The 4^th ray is expressed through the soul of the East and the personality of the West.^[6] Over that time a world of great beauty will evolve, across all national birders and cultures, with each nation contributing its unique expression to the whole. This will take place as the Western inclination toward conflict is displaced and imbued by its 2^nd ray soul, which will then seek unity instead if division. This will happen over time, meaning with each passing decade and century. But given our current pace of change and rising awareness, such beauty could emerge rather more quickly than we might think.

Additionally we are at a decisive point in the two major conflicts – Ukraine and Palestine, both of them being a continuation of the evil that was not sealed away at the end of WWII. Indeed, that evil was simply transplanted to West Asia (creation of Israel through Zionism) and the Anglo-American empire (via Operation Paperclip) and allowed to fester and grow there, as well as to rise again in Eastern and Central Europe. The United States is key to the resolution of both conflicts, yet Washington insists that they continue. As it stands, the resolution of the Ukrainian conflict will fall to Russia, as Washington seeks to wash their hands of it.

Behind everything just mentioned in relation to these conclaves and crises, though, is the fact that human progress over the last few centuries has been phenomenal, progressing exponentially instead of in a slow, linear fashion. Thus, the use of crisis as a tool for accelerating evolution has proven its worth. Beholden upon us now is that, as the Masters embark upon their chosen paths after undertaking the ‘Initiation of Decision’, a void is potentially left at the center of the groups (ashrams) they led. Whenever any leader passes on from the center of a group, the tendency is for the group to begin to splinter into factions and disintegrate, rendering the group less effective in their collective goal and service. This is due primarily to personalities and all that entails, such as power plays, differences of opinion, fears, karma and so on. We have witnessed this in several of the outer esoteric groups, without going into detail. A Master serves as a magnetic center, and there is normally training among the more spiritually advanced members of any group to take the place of the Masters once they depart and continue the work of the ashram. So, here we come to probably the more important idea to emerge from the preceding comments:

New ground: From this year onward we enter into new territory, as it were, and we are all called upon to step up and carry on with what we had been addressing in our spiritual practices, but with added intensity and enhanced awareness. If we don’t know what we are to address further, it will be pointed out to us via some sort of individual crisis. This is to be expected. Think about it: Each new development, each revelation overturns some part of the world order, calling upon us to adjust to the new reality and thereby do our part to make the world a better place. That is all we are saying here. What can we expect, then?

Much of what we can expect over the next few years can be gleaned from some of the current events outlined after the full moon topic. In general a fundamental financial reset is taking place, particularly in the East, with ongoing attempts to save the Western financial order across the West. This will be one of the first major world crises. Another one will emerge once the Zionists across the West and the nationalists in Ukraine are defeated, which is quickly coming for both groups. What is to be done with those people and how will the healing of the conflicts be handled? There will be sweeping political changes in Europe as the liberal order grudgingly gives way to more conservative leaders. Hopefully there will not be a repeat of fascist governments like we saw after the Great Depression. The West in particular is facing a labor crisis, precipitated fully during the pandemic. Younger people do not want to work, or if they do, they don’t want to get their hands dirty. They don’t want to hear, “You want fries with that?” either. Tradespeople are a dying breed. For the Western powers, remember those jobs that were sent overseas? Well, they aren’t coming back. The future of manufacturing is in automation, meaning cheap products but at very high quality. The West just simply cannot compete with that. At present we have neither the infrastructure nor the manpower, or even the time to catch up to what we are seeing in Asia. So, with these preliminary remarks in mind, we take a look at what this full moon offers energetically.

The full moon took place on 12 May 2025 at 14:56 UTC (13 May at 04:56 AEST). Following upon the most recent lunations, this full moon is tame by comparison. The Sun is conjunct Uranus, indicating sudden and/or unexpected changes and challenges. This full moon represents the imposition of a changed world order, with all that entails. Uranus represents the imposition of a new rhythm in life, via subjective (occult) influences. Uranus is involved in a triangle with Neptune and Pluto, with Neptune at the apex of the triangle. This is a particularly psychic/intuitive combination and speaks to revelations coming forward. The triangle is composed of two sextiles with a trine as the base, marking its ease of expression. Ceres, Saturn and Neptune straddle the Aries point (0° Aries), indicating that what was once received with hysteria in some quarters of the world is resolving into realisation, in that the emerging world will not be as expected by the Western powers.

We are at a crossroads across the world, represented by Ceres with Saturn and Neptune at the Aries point. Aries is one of the catalytic signs’,^[7] with Aries representing a seed that is planted in human consciousness, breaking through the earth and emerging in Taurus and finding its fulfilment and full fruiting in Capricorn. This decade in particular was in reality an attempt by the Western powers at what we heard about as the Great Reset. That attempt has summarily failed, since BRICS and Russia have emerged out that crisis stronger, the Western economy is being forced to adjust to the new realities of the East and the Western public is receiving a big reality check regarding our leadership, the state of our societies and that the rhetoric with which we have been conditioned for many years, having been proven to be false. This full moon blows in the winds of change and quite a bit of fresh air (intuition) with it. With these points in mind we move on to the current events.

Current events: The following events have precipitated since the last full moon. The first ones listed are all astrologically connected, if not politically. The latter may also be the case as more evidence emerges. The most intensive period was through to the end of April:

• Pope Francis passed on. Across the Western world that was all the news that was fit to print for days. American flags were flown at half-mast in respect. There was much in the way of fallacious speculation about his death, largely from people ignorant of the fact he had been seriously ill with pneumonia for weeks prior.
• A terrorist attack in Kashmir almost brought us to the brink of nuclear Armageddon. India and Pakistan are both nuclear powers. There will be more on this below.
• There was a large explosion at the container section of the Bandar Abbas port in Iran, reminiscent of the 2020 Beirut explosion. There were over 750 injuries (mostly minor) and 14 people dead. Investigations point to mishandling of materials as the cause. There was also a large explosion at a gunpowder factory in Iran a few days later, followed by explosions at a motorcycle factory. This will be covered more under the topic on Iran.
• Large wildfires in the Jerusalem hills in occupied Palestine which quickly burned through the non-native trees and vegetation. The non-native species were planted by the settlers, ongoing since the Nakba. The non-native species reflect the European Jews and Zionists who emigrated to Palestine and displaced the Palestinians. There is more on this below. This was largely unreported in the American press.
• An American F-18 Superhornet jet and its tractor were flung off the side of the USS Harry Truman, now being dubbed the ‘Trembling Puppy’ on social media. Another one was lost soon thereafter off the same ship. Soon thereafter a ceasefire was called by Trump (yes, he did) and the carriers were removed from the Red Sea area. The wider world saw the ceasefire as a humiliating defeat for CENTCOM.
• Hamas has adjusted its tactics markedly in Gaza. The IOF is quite concerned, as they are very casualty-sensitive.
• Kursk was finally liberated by a joint Russian-North Korean operation from the Ukrainian invasion of last year. With that announcement by the Kremlin admission also came that North Korean troops were very active alongside the Russian troops in expelling the Ukrainians from the Kursk region. There is more on this below.
• The Israelis, using drones, fired upon a Freedom Flotilla ship loaded with relief aid for Gaza off the coast of Malta. The ship was at anchor. Of interest, the ship’s name was ‘Conscience’. Let the symbolism sink in, although the ship itself is still afloat. The Western response to the attack was…crickets.
• A new Pope was elected. He’s American. There is a complete topic on this below.
• Ansar Allah in Yemen just imposed a no-fly zone for Israel for civilian aircraft in response to Israeli bombing of a cement factory and the airport in Sanaa. The Israelis did so after Ansar Allah landed a missile at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv. This marks a major turning point for West Asia. Ansar Allah has promised a blistering response. More below…
• Trump has apparently distanced himself from Netanyahu after he broached a ceasefire with Ansar Allah. Bib was not consulted. Trump is also travelling to West Asia, but is not stopping in Israel. The B-2 stealth bombers have been removed from Diego Garcia and brought home. Something has shifted in West Asia, but people are also right t be suspicious as well.
• Putin challenged Zelenskyy to sit down for talks in Istanbul. It didn’t happen, and no one who follows those matters expected him to attend. Neither did Putin. More on this below…
• The PKK has announced its dissolution, which removes a major reason Türkiye gave for invading northern Syria. The Turks considered the PKK as a terrorist group.
• The US and China have de-escalated the trade war for 90 days, agreed on the day of the Wesak full moon.
• Iran and Russia signed a landmark nuclear and energy deal that will strengthen their strategic partnership and ease Iran’s energy woes from sanctions. That also means claims from Washington that Iran shall have no enrichment of uranium in lieu of a deal are off the table. Iran is also about to complete the Chabahar-Zahedan railway, which will connect Central Asia to the Persian Gulf, completely changing traditional trade routes.
• Joe Biden has been diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer. (Yes, terminal) They would have known about this for several years. Why nothing was done is a mystery, but it is the back story behind why Biden pulled out of the presidential race at the last minute. A scandal is brewing. The people using the autopen for the mass of Biden’s pardons have been identified also. That said, Trump has no legal basis to rescind the pardons.

As we have a closer look at events in the rest of this letter as they are unfolding we take note of the fast pace of change as the old order dies out and the new order takes shape. It was stated decades ago that by the time this year rolled around the outlines of the newer order would be rapidly taking shape.^[8] There is a compilation on 2025 cited from Alice Bailey on the site, which it may be useful to review and keep in mind as we look at events going forward. This year marks a decided pivot away from Western dominance, largely due to the crystallization and breaking of Western policies and ideals that have formed over the last 500 years, coming to a head, really, in this decade. Our Western leadership must learn to accept the changes occurring now and adapt, otherwise the transition into the Aquarian Age and the new 250 and 2500 year cycles will be marked by periods of restiveness and upheaval. But such has been the way of human behaviour throughout human history. It is perhaps wishful thinking that circumstances would be any different this time around. Hence, crisis after crisis will occur. We should not be surprised, but at the same time we should never lose faith in our collective ability to overcome each and every crisis.

It is important to realize that leaders, even destructive ones, often act unconsciously. No person, having to act through a human personality, sees the entire scope of the cause and effect nature of events. Nor are they able to act alone. Our Western leaders (many of them) also seem to be history-challenged, forgetting the lessons of the so many times similar incidents have presented themselves before. The recent debacle in the Red Sea for Western leadership is a current case in point. Still, every leader has to act through the people and organizations that have gathered around the leader in order to keep themselves in power. We might venture to say there are no true dictators (as in 1^st ray types) active anywhere in the world today. Some readers may and probably will disagree. But looking at the wider view at present, all world leaders are only able to act by consent. That consent may come from a small coterie of powerful elites, or it may come through a revolutionary council, for example, who represents the will of the people. And there are always factions who act to oppose the leaders.

But here is the point: Who is to say that leaders who make mistakes which otherwise may temporarily disadvantage or even destroy their nation’s institutions consciously act to do so? Sometimes they do. Then, we all know that no leader is perfect. As well, who can say that a leader who apparently make wise decisions in the moment is not otherwise playing into the hands of more nefarious purposes? Unless we can see events in the context of history as well as what is ultimately planned for humanity, it is best to reserve judgement about the personality of any leader until we have all the facts at hand. And that is no small task. Leaders represent and act through the culmination of events and public consciousness that have led to a particular point in time – points of precipitation – that change the world order and further (or sometimes set back) the evolution of humanity. So, with these preliminary statements in mind, we begin with possibly the most visible world leaders at present and the two events that took place just before the full moon.

Pope Leo XIV: We have a new Pope. This is important to consider here for several reasons, to name a few, firstly because the new pope is a thinker, and he follows the teachings of Jesus (He is not pedantic). He is American, yet he has great care for the people of South America as well. His thinking will influence the thinking of upwards of 1.4 billion people. And as it turns out, his thinking aligns with the emerging model of economics – neither laissez faire nor communist – ‘mixed economies’. So, here we go: I had just finished feeding our dogs the evening he was elected when all of a sudden all the bells in Rovereto started tolling. I knew what had happened – white smoke had exited from the chimney at St. Peter’s in Rome. Robert Francis Prevost was selected by the papal conclave, taking the name of Pope Leo XIV. He chose his papal name in admiration of Pope Leo XIII (1878 – 1903).

Pope Leo XIII was one of the great thinkers of the Catholic Church. That will be important to note in a bit. But as an aside, Pope Leo XIII had a penchant for Vin Mariani, which one can still buy. Vin Mariani is a tonic and was the precursor to Coca-Cola. Popes are human, after all. Pope Leo XIV is American – the first American Pope – born 14 Sep 1955 in Chicago (birth time unknown), not that his nationality matters, nor his race. A few people have questioned, “Is the Pope white?” It certainly doesn’t matter, though some people will make a big storm of nonsense out of nothing. And people should not draw any conclusions about the fact he was born in the US. But as to the legacy of Pope Leo XIII, he was a champion of the working class and did much to restore The Church, bringing it into modern times. From the previous link, “Leo XIII issued encyclicals condemning Freemasonry, Americanism, and the capitalist exploitation of the worker, which he excoriated in Rerum Novarum, which launched an era of Catholic Social Teaching which has lasted for over a century.” Therein lies a clue as to the inclinations of the present Pope.

Robert Prevost has spent much of his adult life overseas, mostly in Peru, where he also holds citizenship. Thus, he is a citizen of the Americas, so to speak, and not solely of the US. His ancestry is French-Italian on his father’s side and Spanish on his mother’s side. His grandparents on his mother’s side were Creole. You can see the ancestry clearly in his profile. He speaks five Romance languages fluently and reads German and Latin. I went to order a pizza after I found out about his election as people were streaming into the pizza shop, and they were all glued to the television while the new Pope addressed the crowd for the first time. They were surprised he is American, as Italians were hoping for an Italian pope. But they were also surprised at how well he spoke Italian, with barely any accent at all, in perfect Italian, as past interviews showed. My wife was most impressed, also by the impression he gave, which we will come to.

Robert Prevost was a missionary, presiding over a small mission in Peru for a time. He presided over his flock on horseback, making him a cowboy honoris causa. Eventually he was called to Rome by Pope Francis where he was appointed Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, and promoted to the rank of Archbishop. He is the first Augustinian Pope, which is important. We have the following, regarding the Augustinians:

“The pursuit of truth through learning is key to the Augustinian ethos, balanced by the injunction to behave with love towards one another. These same imperatives of affection and fairness have driven the order in its international missionary outreach. This balanced pursuit of love and learning has energised the various branches of the order into building communities founded on mutual affection and intellectual advancement. Augustine spoke passionately of God’s “beauty so ancient and so new”, and his fascination with beauty extended to music. He taught that “whoever sings prays twice” (Qui cantat, bis orat) and music is also a key part of the Augustinian ethos. Contemporary Augustinian musical foundations include the Augustinerkirche in Vienna, where orchestral masses by Mozart and Schubert are performed every week, as well as the boys’ choir at Sankt Florian in Austria, a school conducted by Augustinian canons, a choir now over 1,000 years old. Augustinians have also produced a formidable body of scholarly works. Augustinian friars believe that Augustine of Hippo, first with some friends and afterward as bishop with his clergy, led a monastic community life. Regarding the use of property or possessions, Augustine did not make a virtue of poverty, but of sharing…”

Robert Prevost received an undergraduate degree in mathematics from Villanova University in 1977, where he also studied philosophy. He is thus schooled in logical thought, as well as in the ability to handle abstract constructs. The universe is based in mathematics, and music as well. He is a man of high intelligence, as well as being a man of faith. Astrologically he may be a double Virgo, but a Leo Moon is possible, given we don’t know what time he was born. His Sun is conjunct Venus in Virgo, showing high idealism as well as magnetism. He will be a mediator, much as was the Pope he admires. He also links the past with the future, given his Sun/Venus conjunction squares his nodal axis, with all the challenges that also indicates. There is quite a lot of symbolism surrounding the timing of events, too.

Pope Francis passed on early in the morning the day after Easter – a most auspicious passing for Christians. He was a man of faith, not so much a man of thought. His passing could be seen as the passing of a purely faith-based approach to Christianity. Something more vigorous is needed now. Pope Francis did little to confront the genocide in Gaza in a physical sense, for example. Yes, he had daily conversations with contacts there, but what was needed was action. Pope Leo XIV was elected on May 8, on the anniversary of the defeat of Nazism in Europe. Pope Leo XIV stands for values that run counter to the current US administration. It was rumoured that wealthy Catholics tried to bribe the cardinals in the papal conclave to elect a conservative pope. This took place during ‘America Week’, a yearly gathering of business leaders, philanthropists and conservative activists in Rome. This year they descended on Rome where they wined, dined and feted cardinals for conservative causes just after the death of Pope Francis. That yearly gathering is basically a religious lobbying group.

The timing for America Week this year was, shall we say, ‘unfortunate’, because it gave the impression that those people were there solely for lobbying for a conservative pope. Some of the attendees, no doubt, would have been suitably chuffed if such a pope had been elected. American conservatives of the ‘Judeo-Christian’ variety certainly would have been. Instead, they got a Pope who is actually a Christian, as was Pope Francis. Some folks in the MAGA crowd call Pope Leo ‘a woke, Marxist communist’. Well, they would have said the same thing about Jesus. Pope Leo XIV so far has called for an immediate ceasefire in Palestine on at least four occasions thus far. If you want to know what his views are and how he will be approaching his papacy, NPR gave a quick run-down. And if he emulates Pope Leo XIII, Western capitalists will not be very happy with him. What remains to be seen is how much he will be allowed to act on his stated views, what he aspires to from Leo XIII, and for how long. Then we have the other major event of that day.

Victory Day 80: Yes, we need to say a few words about that. On May 8^th and 9^th there were Victory Day parades in Red Square in Moscow. There were also VE Day celebrations across Europe, too (VE Day in Europe is on May 8.) Absent in the VE Day celebrations were the Russians. They were excluded for political reasons. The Leo personality of Russia was on full display in its parades, but their soul was there as well, bringing nations together who were not directly involved with the Russians in WWII to celebrate victory over darkness. The political divide between European Russia and the rest of Europe will pass at some point. Peoples across the world watched the Russian parades. There were markedly few VE Day celebrations in the remainder of Europe. The largest celebrations were in the UK. While Europe aside from London seemed to want to forget the past, the Russians celebrated, both on VE Day and Victory Day.

The grandstand in the first Russian parade was reserved for veterans and military. In the second parade the grandstand featured world leaders, with Xi Jinping the prime guest. Also in attendance were leaders from across the Global South. Anyone who watched the parades on those days would see the massive support Russia has across the developing world. There were a few Western leaders there, the two most notable being the ‘European renegades’ Fico and Vucic. But notably absent were leaders from NATO, whose troops up until the last few years even marched in the Victory Day parades in Red Square. But the more important little fact to note is from where the attendees hailed. There was no one from North America, except from Nicaragua and Cuba. Those two were among the allies in WWII. Venezuela’s and Brazil’s heads of state were there. There was an African contingent, with heads of state from Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, the Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Ethiopia, and then perhaps the two most interesting – Egypt and Burkina Faso. Keep an eye on Burkina Faso, where a seed for the future of Africa is attempting to sprout again, while the Western powers by proxy are already seeking to stop it in its tracks.

Ibrahim Traoré (of Burkina Faso) was flown in by Putin specially on a chartered Russian jet with his contingent. He was the star of the show for Africa and people were lined up to take selfies with him. The states just mentioned are important, because none of them except for Nicaragua, Cuba and South Africa were considered allies in WWII. Yet they were invited, showing solidarity with the Russians. The real importance of those nations being in attendance, though, related to South America and Africa as well as to the meetings that took place afterwards, as it usually the case. Before we get to that, it should be noted that this was primarily an Asian gathering, with the West not represented at all except for Slovakia, Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Many of the Asian nations were part of the Soviet Union in WWII. The parade on May 9 was a look toward the future for Russia and the world majority.

Africa is important to note here because the nations of Africa are in the process of throwing off the last vestiges of European colonialism, the nations of the Sahel having been most in the news in that regard lately. Traoré was feted by Putin, showing the growing influence of Russia in Africa, as well as giving a snub to the West. The African and South American attendees were sending a message to the West, in that Western interference in national affairs of the old colonies will no longer be tolerated. For Burkina Faso this was particularly directed to its old colonial master, France, where Macron has been trying to edge his way back into Burkinabe good graces, albeit with no success. The memory of damage done by France to the Burkinabe is still very fresh and raw, and they have moved on from France. The day after the parade a diplomatic meeting was held between Burkina Faso and Russia, where Traoré requested help with the transfer of technology and education from Russia, as well as military training. In particular he wants to open universities in Burkina Faso with an emphasis in STEM studies.

Traoré wants an educated public, since he knows that is the primary way Burkina Faso can raise itself out of poverty and into the modern world. His hero was Thomas Sankara, after whom Traoré is modelling his own policies. Sankara was assassinated in 1987 in a coup led by his friend, Blaise Compaoré, who betrayed him. He became the French puppet leader over Burkina Faso for 27 years and reversed all the efforts made by Sankara, placing the Berkinabe back under colonial rule. Those days were different, in that the West still stood supreme in economic and military power. Times have changed, though. Traoré’s efforts have made him a threat once again to Western influence in the Sahel, shown by the fact there have already been 18+ assassination attempts against him. He is making someone very nervous. But Russia has his back, as do the North Koreans.

North Korea is returning to Africa. After the trip to Moscow and fresh from their military experience in Kursk, Kim Jong-un sent 700 North Korean special forces to Burkina Faso to protect Traoré and the revolution taking place there. Traoré will need them, because reports are that ISIS in Africa just overran a military base in northern Burkina Faso, reporting a high number of Burkinabe soldiers killed. The figures are unconfirmed. In fact there was an attempt at a coup while Traoré was in Moscow. It is also well known by now that ISIS is backed by the Western powers when they are ‘useful’, as they were in Syria. Such attacks have increased since Traoré took power. There are two main ISIS offshoots who have made many attacks in the northern half of Burkina Faso. The two groups just happen to be concentrating their attacks in the main gold producing areas of the Sahel. The BBC lists them a ‘civilians’ whenever they are killed. That is a story for another time. Traoré is making waves across Africa with the youth of every nation there. Many comments are appearing to the effect that Burkina Faso could well represent the future of Africa. It has embarked on a renaissance under Traoré’s leadership.

There is a final note on Africa. There was another spectacle in the Oval Office the other day when Trump ambushed the visiting President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, in similar manner to Zelenskyy before, and accused South Africa of ‘white genocide’ in South Africa. The South African delegation was there primarily on business related matters. We can probably guess not much business followed on from the spectacle. It was utter nonsense, but it sent a message to Africa. Ramaphosa’s response to Trump’s accusations was weak, while the images displayed by Trump during his ‘lecture’ were from different eras and even other countries. The visual aids were fake and poorly sourced. If Trump wanted to alienate all of Africa he chose the correct path to doing so. The main reason he did so was because of the South African effort at the ICJ genocide hearing. It was all about Israel. There is no ‘white genocide’ happening in South Africa, as much as Trump and Co. would like to claim. It is also race-baiting It was a diplomatic blunder and cast a poor light on Washington, but it also left Ramaphosa looking weak as well, although if he has stood up to Trump. Then after the fact the White House doubled down on it. Then there is Egypt, which is also making unwelcomed waves across the West.

Egypt has been considered to be firmly in the Washington camp, but things have recently begun to change, starting with its membership in BRICS. The partnership in that bloc with China is bringing other results. From The Jerusalem Post: “Egypt and China have completed a joint air force drill dubbed “Eagles of Civilization 2025,” an exercise that is significant and symbolic for the two countries.” Indeed, it is significant. It marks a turn away from the West, as well as marking an uptick in the influence of China in Africa. It also marks a snub toward US weapons manufacturers as well as an attempt to reassert Egyptian sovereignty. No doubt the catalyst for this turn of events has been the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the threat and cajoling by the US and Israel to take in a large number of Gazan refugees. Thus far Egypt has refused, and at the same time has sent armed forces to Israel’s border on the Sinai. That air force drill signals that at some point the Egyptians will be looking at purchasing Chinese weapons, too, which have just proven themselves in the recent skirmish between India and Pakistan. The latter is hopefully about to be settled. Neither Israel nor Washington will be happy about the “Eagles of Civilization” and we can probably expect turmoil to arise in Egypt in the near future if Egypt swings too far to the East. Just so you know, reports on social media of Chinese planes bring in aid to Gaza are untrue. And videos of Chinese planes flying over Egypt were part of the aforementioned air force drills.From here we get to the gist of what is driving current events in the two main areas of world conflict.

The honeymoon is over: When I was in the US, the last week I was there the news was all about Trump and his first one hundred days in office for this term. Yes, he was the man quoted at the head of this letter. Are you surprised? Trump being Trump, he came into office with a wrecking ball and an eye to avenge his first term in office against all the people who had sought to sabotage him in his first term in office. Otherwise, he had some good ideas as he came in – ending the war in Ukraine, reining in government spending, finding a solution to the genocide in Palestine (though he didn’t see it that way), resetting the American economy, and so on. These were ideas that won him the election in 2024. His supporters insist that those promises will come to pass. However there are a few things he promised that are clearly not going to happen, not in the way they have been promoted. We cannot go through the entire list, but there are a few initiatives by this administration that are currently playing out in reporting that bear a mention.

Firstly, the big economic plans that Trump and Co. had trumpeted are basically falling flat. To begin, instead of reining in government spending he has promised the Pentagon a trillion dollars for its budget. That will include a Golden Dome air defence system, supposedly to protect the US mainland from enemies that will probably never attack us on the mainland. The Golden Dome is simply another iteration of the Reagan Star Wars initiative, which fell flat by the way. The Golden Dome is just pork barrel politics for his donors. But there are also back stories to Trump’s initiatives, which we will get to, speaking primarily of the DOGE as well as tariffs. There is little reporting on DOGE these days. Did we forget about it? And also, where is Elon Musk? Well currently, the latter was in Saudi Arabia with Trump. Regarding that trip, it is partly about seeking Saudi investment in US tech, partly about Musk’s business interests and probably more to the point, seeking assurances for the continuance of the petro-dollar. Returning to DOGE, the DOGE is increasingly coming under criticism. Is it a federal agency or not? Is Musk in charge or not? Are the savings claimed on the DOGE site accurate or not? Regarding transparency in government, DOGE has been called “a Goldilocks entity – not an agency when it is burdensome but an agency when it is convenient.” In reality, what DOGE is apparently more about is turning US government services and agencies over to Big Tech, taking the human element out of government and instead automating it and privatizing it. Do we want ‘government by AI? DOGE is gradually being exposed as a major effort to further turn the US government into a surveillance state. As much as some readers may dislike Wikipedia, their page on DOGE is quite interesting as well.

Then, there are the Trump tariffs. This is actually one of the biggest stories illustrating the final months of Uranus’ transit through Taurus, astrologically speaking. Along with the DOGE, there is the outer story regarding the tariff trade wars (which is what they amount to) and then the inside story. Let’s just get to the inside story first, shall we? Tariffs are engineered to produce instability in world markets. What they do on their implementation is to cause wild swings in the stock markets across the world, with stock being dumped in value, and then rising again when the tariffs are walked back. For people with inside information (like big business and members of Congress), Trump’s tariffs have been a gold mine. They have been able to sell at the high points of the market, dumping stocks just before the markets crash, and then buying on the cheap as the markets rise on announcement of the reduction of tariffs. It is a rich person’s game, and Warren Buffett is a prime example of how the game is played. While the tech moguls have lost BIGLY (when in fact they are hardly worse off for it) with the imposition of the tariffs (for reasons we don’t have the space to cover here), Buffett’s fortune has increased by over $11 billion since the tariffs were introduced. But the bigger story is what Trump’s tariffs will do to the US over time. Basically, they will leave the US more isolated.

Americans are not generally aware of what happened when the tariffs were first imposed by Trump. Immediately nation after nation started adjusting their shipping lanes and clientele away from the US. The Japanese started dumping US treasuries (China has been doing that slowly for several years). Just prior to the tariffs European and other foreign delegations made trips to China to secure business deals – in defiance of US demands to cut ties with China. There is talk of reopening Nord Stream gas to Europe. Economics and trade just had a major shakeup, consistent with the transit of Uranus through Taurus. The Chinese held their ground and matched the US tariffs. The Canadians have held their ground, too. Both Canada and China express Taurean souls. And then Trump folded on China, at least for 90 days. In other words, Trump lost the gambit (must read) and displayed the fact that the tariffs were not actually about restoring jobs to the US and reducing the deficit. They were really about isolating China. This is based in the same sort of lack of good intelligence – read that as you will – in Washington that led them to provoke Russia in Ukraine, with Biden stating at the time that the Russian ruble would be reduced to rubble. The US lost that gambit, too.

You wouldn’t know it, but midterm elections are coming in the US and Republicans are getting nervous about Trump’s financial policies. It has often been said in the past that Washington is not agreement-capable. Now that the tariff trade war started nations who are more sovereign (not financially tied to the US) will be reluctant to go back to the old relationships with the US. The damage has been done.

Negotiations?: There was a good exchange of views on how the negotiations are going, both with Iran and Russia, with Ray McGovern and John Helmer. What comes out is that Trump is following the so-called ‘deep state’ line regarding both Russia and Iran. Trump is not dismantling the Deep State, as his followers believe. The negotiations are about keeping The Empire in place. Regarding Iran, the US has always seen Iran as a launching point for an attack on Russia, even before Israel was a state. The aim for the Washington establishment has always been to weaken Russia to the point where China can be reined in. Hence, money, intelligence and weapons keep flowing into Ukraine. Moving on to the conflicts, there too Trump keeps painting himself into a corner. Instead of cutting off aid to Ukraine, which would force Ukraine into negotiations, Team Trump is still holding to the idea that Putin will welcome some sort of deal – any deal – to end the war. But Putin holds all the cards in that conflict. The resources deal signed with Kiev has locked American interests into Ukraine into the future. The kabuki theatre around negotiations is going nowhere. Zelenskyy is playing this for all it is worth, putting up the front that it is Russia that is not serious, when all along it is the Europeans and the Washington establishment and oligarchs who want the war to continue. Zelenskyy knows he will ‘fade into obscurity’ once the war ends. The Western powers know, too, that with the defeat of NATO it means the end of the post-WWII order. It will serve to shatter NATO and the EU. The West insists on a ceasefire, but the Russians aren’t biting. The Russians are in the catbird seat and are in no rush to end the war.

Putin had challenged Kiev to come to the negotiating table in Istanbul. But neither Kiev nor Europe has any desire to end the war, despite the fact the Ukrainian army is starting to collapse across the front. Their battlefield situation is deteriorating quickly. And when we look at the three main nations who are seeking for the war to continue – the UK, France and Germany – all of them at one point had invaded Russia, and all of them had been defeated. We can throw in the US, Poland and the Baltics for good measure. And NATO encompasses all of them. The Western powers are insisting on an unconditional ceasefire, which Russia has refused on multiple occasions. In Israel Trump has fared no better, and for similar reasons, even though he could end the genocide in Gaza with a simple phone call. And let us be clear – neither Biden nor Trump had any real objections to the genocide in Gaza. But Trump is beholden to the lobbies and the donors. That brings us to West Asia.

West Asia: Here we have presented in macabre detail the biggest crisis facing the West in particular at the moment. It is a moral dilemma: Should we allow Israelis to burn people in tents and starve children to death for the sake of maintaining Western hegemony? For readers of these letters, there is no dilemma. The clear answer is the Israelis have to be forced to stop. But for Western leaders, oligarchs, industrialists, weapons manufacturers and so on…yes, it is a dilemma. It shouldn’t even be a question. Where is our humanity? It is clear to the world outside the West that the leadership of the West has no moral compass. We have no human decency in allowing this to continue. So, here is the crisis: How to force the leadership of the West to rein in the Israelis. Saying again, Donald Trump could stop this with a phone call. Let that sink in. Now we see the spectre of US senators going to Israel begging the Israelis to stop and to allow food in. Why? – Because genocide and war crimes are bad for optics. What to do then? Bibi ‘caved’ to pressure and allowed thirty trucks in a week (for 2 million people, and a minimum would be 300), nine of which contained only burial shrouds for the victims. If you think this is cynical, have a listen to Gideon Levy’s and Alastair Crooke’s interviews in the suggested viewing at the end of this letter.

Zionism is an evil that must be stopped by humanity if we are to live in a just and peaceful world. ‘Appealing’ to or ‘urging’ Israel has no effect. Peaceful protests likewise have no effect. By banning and outlawing peaceful means and conduct, as shown by the efforts of the Palestinians for years, in desperation oppressed people will result to violent means. But then, the powers that be will use that as ‘justification’ for violent suppression and doubling down on their own efforts. In saying this I do not advocate violence. To end this will take getting at the roots at its source – the financial and territorial greed that underlies it. Only then would it be possible to begin the process of educating the public as to what has happened. But at present, opinions and beliefs trump every other effort. Threats fall on deaf ears in Israel. The West gives lip service, wrings its hands and then continues to funnel arms and money to Israel. Threats and protests are simply thrown back at us as ‘antisemitism’ and are used to suppress dissent at home. Ponder on it. Intervention is required. Maybe the tide is starting to turn, but actions need to be seen. The UK, France and Canada have threatened action to allow aid in – or else (What? Sanctions? Suspension of weapons?). The only nation that acts against the genocide at present is Yemen. Major powers like Russia and China are increasingly in the spotlight for their lack of response – indeed event their backhanded support of the regime itself. When will they stand and take action to end this, if ever?

The region has to be watched carefully over the coming weeks. Trump’s recent moves in the region are pushing it toward a dangerous escalation rather than peace. The Resistance will soon have to act unless tensions in the region are deescalated. In a recent letter it was forecast that at the end of last month the US and Israel would be at points of major crisis. That has panned out. Trump is pressed on all sides – to end the wars, to continue the wars, the tariffs, immigration, the donors, inflation – it’s a long and growing list. But he is an old hand at reality TV. Netanyahu, on the other hand has had to throw in his last gambit to keep himself in power and out of jail – the final solution, which is to push all of the Palestinians out of Gaza. Bombing in Gaza now is the most intense it has been since October 7 of 2023. Hundreds of Palestinians are being massacred every day. IOF troops are moving in to northern Gaza. They have done this under the cover of Trump’s trip to the Gulf States. Israelis typically instigate major military campaigns when the world is otherwise distracted by other international news. This time was no exception.

Trump has had to back out of two major initiatives – tariffs with China and bombing Yemen to protect Israel. Trump did so unilaterally, out of necessity because the costs and the stakes of continuing tariffs and of Operation Rough Rider were too high. This isn’t 5D chess, as his supporters try to imagine. The world has changed dramatically since the days of the “W” administration. There are now two very solid and undefeated states in The Resistance – Iran and Yemen. The Pentagon knows it, and now so does Trump, which is why he would much prefer to make a deal with Iran than go into a war the US would lose. The negotiations with Iran are at a dead end. It is to the point now where both sides are saying either put up or shut up.

The spin doctors have been hard at their craft over the last few weeks. We have been hearing about a split between Trump and Netanyahu and a ‘widening gulf’ between them. Don’t bet on it. The meme is deceptive. It is now appearing to have been a feint to give cover to the Israelis ad to give Washington plausible deniability. All one has to do is to watch their feet. Shortly after his honeymoon period this term Trump has made his first visit overseas, a magical mystery tour to Saudi Arabia, then to Qatar, where a $200 billion deal (citing the grossly overinflated value) for 210 Boeing passenger aircraft was inked, and finally to the UAE, where Trump was allegedly going to meet with Putin. The latter has been deferred. Since landing in Saudi Arabia he scored a $600 billion investment deal from the Saudis across military, security, economic and technological sectors. This will give a brief injection of liquidity into the US economy, which is sorely needed. On the whole the trip was more about continuing the protection racket with the Arabs and injecting more money into the American economy.

On the surface Trump will proclaim a big win from his trip. And it was a win economically, but nowhere near to the scale that has been claimed. None of the three Gulf States have anywhere near the amounts of money claimed, and their sovereign wealth funds are all tied up in Western banks. By and large, the trip was a business junket (must read), but at the same time being aimed at cajoling them to join the Abraham Accords and reinforcing the protection racket the US has over the Gulf States. It was neither a diplomatic mission nor a peace mission, but it will enrich his family and the American oligarchy. But we notice there was no BIG announcement from him thus far (the announcement about pharmaceuticals is not really all it is touted as being), which he said was coming on the 15^th (comments were interesting). Trump’s trip was more about optics than substance. The deals he made are quite complex and involve past administrations as well as new deals, and all of them need to be taken with a lump of salt. And then there are the real estate deals in the three states that his sons are running behind the scenes. His trip to Saudi Arabia also gave away the entire game as it is currently playing out in the region.

Trump’s trip also exposed quite a bit else – and there is not a whisper of remorse or admission of wrongdoing by the West in that region since before the start of WWII. But pictures speak volumes where words are inadequate. Trump met with the terrorist Jolani (interim president of Syria, Sharaa) while he was there and pledged to remove all of the sanctions against Syria (the Caesar sanctions), saying he wants to make Syria great again, in a word. Syrians were celebrating in the streets when it was announced the sanctions had been lifted. It was like celebrating one’s executioner when they give one their last meal. The US and the West destroyed Syria and have divided the nation. Rubio is now saying Syria is on the verge of civil war, which would be the fulfilment of Netanyahu’s dreams. The Russians, strange or the betrayal it might seem, have vowed to support the new government. Their air base at Hmemeimim is currently under attack by a separatist Uzbek group associated with Jolani’s forces. Syrians still in the country live under sharia law in the part controlled by Jolani. Trump described Jolani in the following terms: “Young, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter.” Trump has urged him to join in the Abraham Accords sometime in the future.

‘Jolani’ is used here to remind readers that ‘Sharaa’ used to be 2^nd in command of ISIS/Daesh. He was the leader of the takfiri faction that had been holed up in Idlib for the past few years. Now that he has been whitewashed and everything is out in the open it is OK to shake hands and make up. Of course, Jolani was always ‘one of ours’, even though he and his people used to kill Americans and we were supposedly at war with them. Ex US Ambassador Robert Ford was one of the chief operatives in the effort to arm the ‘moderate rebels’. We hardly hear about ISIS/Daesh these days. Strange, that. Just to add a bit with Syria, it has recently emerged from talk on the ground in Syria that the Syrian army was paid off in order to allow the Jolani forces to sweep down and take over Damascus. Assad was caught off guard. The Russians had offered and tried in vain for years to upgrade the Syrian military, but Assad refused. When they saw Syrian troops standing down the Russians cut their losses and left. The pay-off of Syrian officers happened because the onerous Western sanctions had crippled the country and Assad had not been able to pay his army. The Qataris and Saudis stepped in and paid the army to stand down.

Iran: CNN is reporting today that ‘intelligence sources’ are claiming Israel is getting to ready to attack Iranian nuclear facilities. Apparently this was a pre-emptive ‘leak’ to offset or delay an actual strike by the Israelis. But there are some factors it would benefit us greatly to understand if such an event were to take place. Firstly, if such an attack by the Israelis were to take place, it would not be the Israelis per se who would be attacking. Israel is an American proxy, an American-European settler outpost in Palestine, for the most part funded, armed, directed and in close cooperation with American interests. If the Israelis do anything in the region it is because the American government approves of it. Be very clear about the fact. It is in American interests to exert hegemony in the region. The Israelis can do nothing, by and large, without American support. The Europeans at this point are so weakened by the war in Ukraine that they are of no real viable support for Israel. CNN is reporting that ‘Israel’ is planning such an attack only insofar as to give the US deniability of any involvement. So, when the attack draws the inevitable counterattack by the Iranians – which will be the fulfilment of their True Promise III and more – the US will no longer be able to claim deniability. If they want to save their Zionist colony, Americans will have to become embroiled. Such an Iranian counterattack would probably effectively end the siege and genocide in Gaza. Without air cover and air defences the Israelis are sitting ducks. To drive the point home, if the Israelis attack Iran, they will have Trump’s approval. The buck stops at the White House when it comes to foreign policy. There is another point.

Commentary across the internet repeats the idea that “war with Iran appears to be inevitable.” Don’t buy into it. There may be air strikes, yes, but air strikes do not a war make. The US is not in a position to wage war with Iran. Israel certainly is in no position to wage war with Iran. The US could not even bring the Houthis to heel, who are still lobbing missiles onto ships bound for Israel and into Israel itself, by the way. A war with Iran would mean an invasion force. Where would we find such a force these days? We are overstretched as it is. And then we would have to get them there. If memory serves, it took months to mount the logistics and troop concentrations to go to war with Iraq. The Arab states would not allow that these days, fearing their own infrastructure would be destroyed by Iran. The Arab states are in the process of making peace with Iran anyway. Iran is not weak. Iran is a sovereign, powerful, technologically advanced nation. It is the lack of intelligence in the West – again, read that as you will – that is telling the folks in Washington and Tel Aviv that Iran is ripe for the picking. OK. To borrow an acronym, FAFO. If Iran is attacked, that will bring on the next major crisis, which would be a world financial crisis, destroying the Western-style derivatives markets. We have examined this before – closure of the Strait of Hormuz, financial crash due to lack of oil, major military strikes from Iran on American and Israeli bases used to attack Iran, and mounting casualties on the American side. If one doesn’t believe that would happen, refer back to the aforementioned acronym. Maybe all this needs to happen. We have reached the point in these conflicts where reason and common sense is no longer at play in the West. War with Iran is impossible, even from a logistical standpoint. War with Iran? – forget it.

The negotiations between Iran and the US, such as they are, rest on three main points, all red lines for the Iranians and the West – no nuclear program in Iran, an end to their missile program and ending alleged support for Iran’s proxies, a.k.a. The Resistance. These are all non-starters for the Iranians. With the Iranian refusals of the three points, what then? The Israelis know Iran will refuse them. So do the hawks in Washington, which is why they are being pushed. But so long as there are talks, strikes against Iran are averted. Do not expect a return to the JCPOA. Even if Trump was able to secure some sort of deal Congress would have to approve it, which would be strongly in doubt. Trump has threatened a 500% tariff on any nation buying Iranian oil, which essentially is directed at China. But that would also affect India and South Korea as the next-largest importers of Iranian oil. The Iranian reply to such an idea was swift: “OK, if you want to stop the sale of our oil, we will close the Strait of Hormuz. Then you can pay sky-high prices for a barrel of oil,” or words to that effect. Trump is blustering. He would probably never follow through on his threats, but anything is possible. But if threats don’t work, there are always false flags.

There is a hidden reason why the US wants to strip Iran of its ability to enrich uranium even to 1%. You will never hear it mentioned, because it involves a class of weapons using fissile material. Those weapons have been used in Iraq, the Balkans, Lebanon and Gaza by NATO and the Israelis. By denying Iran access to uranium enrichment it also would deny them access to such weapons. But the thing is, there is a fatwa against the development and use of such weapons in Iran. We will not discuss this further here, as it is really inconsequential in terms of Iranian capabilities, although they do have the technical knowhow to produce such weapons. The only thing I would add is that such weapons are not weapons of mass destruction. They are used for tactical precision strikes. But the effects linger. They are part of a toxic cocktail that produces what has loosely been called ‘Gulf War syndrome’. There is a book that explores the subject.^[9] This is mentioned here for the hidden reason, mentioned, as well as for veterans who fought in the 1991 Gulf War and civilians from war zones who might be suffering from the syndrome or other strange symptoms. Moving on, we came close once again to facing the spectre of nuclear war between two nuclear states – India and Pakistan. The roots of that conflict go back a long way, and the British have played a large hand in the causes for it, back to the days when India was a British colony.

Kashmir, India and Pakistan: You may have heard about the little incident in Kashmir that almost provoked a nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan (2^nd bullet point under current events). Thankfully, that seems to be dissipating, with both India and Pakistan removing their troops from their shared borders. They have resumed their border crossing ceremony – choreographed, theatrical anger instead of armed combat. We hope it stays that way. The present episode suspiciously coincides with Washington’s efforts at seeking to contain China and disrupt its economic development and might. There are suggestions of American and Israeli connivance behind it. India sides with the Zionists regarding Gaza and Israel, while Pakistan sides with China. The British partition of India had several back stories, as such events usually do.^[10] Pakistan was meant to be a buffer state between India (British interests) and the Soviet Union. The United States had a hand in that, as it was the start of the Cold War at the time. The British played the religious card in the partition. Thus Pakistan’s troublesome journey began. There is a blog post on the partition and the astrology of the two nations, starting with the revocation by India of Article 370 of their constitution. Kashmir has a particular interest for the United States because it borders India, Pakistan and China. Unrest there can be used to disrupt the BRICS and the Belt and Road Initiative. Kashmir has been called ‘Gaza in the Himalayas’. The population is largely Muslim, while India is ruled by Hindu nationalists (Hinduvta).

The present conflict was more about optics than anything, with Modi hoping for a quick and overwhelming strike against Pakistan, which he could then sell to the public. It did not quite work out that way. Modi rushed into the conflict after the terrorist incident by proclamation – no investigation, facts be damned:

“No group claimed responsibility, no investigation followed, no evidence was released. But New Delhi, undeterred by the absence of facts, scripted its own narrative. In this state-sponsored spectacle, truth is neither sought nor necessary. The only thing that matters is momentum—toward escalation, toward conflict, toward the mythic idea of national purification through violence.”

So, India launched Operation Sindoor, a supposed counterterrorism strike, which was actually more about theatre than necessity. The Kashmiris were the victims. The article just quoted gives the rundown. But India and the West got a surprise, and not a nice one. Pakistan stood up and counterattacked. The aerial dogfight that followed caught the West and India off guard in more ways than one. The Pakistani armed forces are armed with Chinese weapons – integrated systems, game-changers in the region – whereas the Indian forces use a hodgepodge of US, European and Russian systems, none of them integrated. The Pakistanis downed multiple Indian aircraft, including three French Rafael fighters. Rafael Industries’ stock fell on the news, while Chinese stocks rose. And the Chinese fighters were export models and not even newer ones. Upon news of the Pakistani showing Marco Rubio was on the phone to Modi:

“Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Dar confirmed the script, Rubio picked up the phone, Riyadh balanced the optics, Ankara drafted the quiet clause. The Americans, Saudis, and Turks rushed in to cool India’s fever, not because Pakistan asked but because Delhi couldn’t stabilize the board. Not one concession was extracted from Islamabad. Pathankot still smolders. The grid still flickers. The narrative holds. Diplomacy didn’t broker this pause, containment did. India didn’t hold the line. It collapsed behind it. A paper tiger hemorrhaging in public doesn’t negotiate, it stalls, hoping no one sees the wounds. Pakistan didn’t flinch. It didn’t fold. It escalated, absorbed, and redrew the board.”

Given what happened, Washington and the Pentagon are likely re-thinking going up against China, or even Iran for that matter, seeing what happened with the Houthis. Pepe Escobar gave a good summary of the geopolitical roundup. No one wins at a conflict between India and Pakistan. Heaven help us if they ever do go to war. But the Americans and British will continue to keep the region just unstable enough to delay the inevitable completion of Eurasian integration.

Ukraine: Probably the biggest news regarding Ukraine are the negotiations and phone call, the latter which we will get to. Putin thwarted any talk of EU/NATO troops going to Ukraine by calling for negotiations, as well as side-lining for the moment any further sanctions. But instead of Putin himself actually attending the Russians sent the same negotiating team to Istanbul that was there for the 2022 negotiations. These first negotiations in three years were intended for the two sides to feel things out. The Ukrainians demanded an unconditional month-long ceasefire. They have a long list of demands, actually, all unacceptable to the Russians – NATO membership, withdrawal of Russian troops from the Donbas regions, war reparations – all of which means the Russians will continue the war. Medinsky, the lead Russian negotiator, went straight to the point:

“We don’t want war, but we are ready to fight for a year, two, three – as long as it takes. We fought with Sweden for 21 years [the Great Northern War, 1700-1721, as it is known in Russia]. How long are you ready to fight?”

The negotiations on an end to the war in Ukraine will stumble back and forth. Trump claims to be a mediator in the conflict when in fact it was the US that armed Ukraine and pushed the war via NATO expansion that provoked the war in the first place. But this is old news. Trump could end that war, too, by stepping away from any aid to Ukraine, including the ISR intelligence and leave the Russians and Ukrainians to sort it out. But then the US and Europeans would have to accept the results, which would be a loss of the entire Eurasian land mass by the Empire. That doesn’t mean Russia will control it. It simply means Europe (as in the nations of Europe) will have a chance at a new future, sans Pax Americana. Washington and London would lose control of Europe via NATO and the EU. Zelenskyy is adamant (for now) that Russian demands are entirely unacceptable. The only thing gained in the Istanbul negotiations was a trade of 1000 prisoners of war on both sides. That is the majority of Russian prisoners held by Ukraine, while the Russians hold many thousands more of Ukrainian prisoners.

A few days later Trump and Putin held a two-hour phone conversation. Although the call was cordial, nothing was gained. With the signing of the resources deal between Washington and Kiev, and with Trump continuing to send weapons to Ukraine, he has taken ownership of the war. He can no longer rightfully claim it to be ‘Biden’s war’. Russian soldiers on the front line interviewed around that time stated they were opposed to any ceasefire and negotiations until enough territory under Russian control was gained in order that they or their children never had to fight the war again. The cause of the war was NATO expansion, under Washington’s and London’s primary direction. Removing that root cause, as well as Ukraine’s involvement in it, would end the war. For now, sadly, the war continues.

In conclusion, there has been a large influx of light in recent years. For some people it has been a help, while yet for others it has brought instability. We enter a new era from this year forward. What it will bring eventually is peace and a more cooperative interchange between nations. We just need to get past this little patch of challenges first. There is the matter of finishing the military operation in Ukraine, which by the look of things will take the rest of this year at least. But that could happen quicker. Resolution of that conflict, whether by a negotiated settlement or with Ukraine’s capitulation, will be the key to Europe’s future. That in turn will change the financial structure of the Western nations as well as to bring in a new security architecture for Europe. The elitist leaders in Europe we have now will likely be gone at that point. We see the pressure for that extant now, and it is gaining momentum. So, for the remainder of this decade we see a more turbulent period. It is best to see these next years ahead as the labor pains of the birth of a new renaissance in Europe. There will be sweeping political changes in the process.

As for Asia, the key to resolving that issue is the defeat and ousting of the Zionists, which means also Washington. The suffering in West Asia is heightened at the moment, with crystallized and ancient opinions and karma at the point of being shattered. At the same time the seeds of a rebirth are there, too. The Empire has a choice: Either fight a war that will bring about its dissolution, or not fight a war, which will see its dissolution anyway. Sic transit gloria mundi – thus passes the glory of the world. Future historians will likely say that West Asia is where The Empire turned back to sand, recalling a song lyric. The Empire is already fracturing. By ‘Empire’ we mean the post-WWII hegemonic order, centered in Washington, New York and London. That defeat is much closer than we might suppose, and a mere spark could bring it to pass. The moral defeat has already happened. Once the morals collapse the demise of the rest comes quickly.

The cycles turn, and with them the destiny of humanity and nations. There is no escaping it. And though humanity on the whole may seem cowed and numbed at the moment, the will for instituting better conditions is being forged in the fires of our purgation. Looking back over the last few decades, the changes seen across the international order have been startling, both in their scope and their rapidity. But already the form of the emerging order is apparent. It has only to be filled with a renewed sense of our shared humanity, our sovereignty and our purpose. We have heard in the past that, “These are the times that try men’s souls.”^[11] It was a line written at the start of the last cycle of empires, in 1776. But we posit this time around that line has a new meaning: “These are the times that souls try men,” meaning humanity. Are we, as humans living through our personalities, up to the tasks of decrying empire, of seeking justice for the oppressed, cooperation instead of conflict, and otherwise shining our light in every dark corner, spurred onward in those tasks in search of the relief and release of a suffering world? Our souls call upon us in these days. Do we hear that still inner voice in the midst of the storms around us? Let us listen, and then move to act thereby.

These letters are sent as a service. If you wish to be added to or deleted from the mailing list let me know. Feel free to pass them along, but do so without charge or alteration.

Picture credits:

1. Donald J. Trump, in a statement to The Atlantic, from the June 2025 issue. ↑
2. Bailey, Alice A., Esoteric Astrology, (1951) New York, NY, Lucis Publishing, pp. 370, 371 ↑
3. Bailey, The Rays and the Initiations, p. 611 ↑
4. Op cit ↑
5. Bailey, Esoteric Psychology I, p. 26 ↑
6. Bailey, Esoteric Astrology, p. 526 ↑
7. Ibid, p. 157 ↑
8. Bailey, Esoteric Psychology I, p. 178 ↑
9. Torrealta and Giudice, The Secret of the Three Bullets, (2014) Walterville, OR, Trine Day LLC ↑
10. The Shadow of the Great Game: The Untold Story of India’s Partition (2009) London, New York, Haoer Collins pubs ↑
11. Written by Thomas Paine in late December 1776. It is the opening line of his essay “The American Crisis”. ↑