Begin Again

My first thought when preparing to write this column was to offer my congratulations to Tim Miejan and Cathy Jacobsen on their purchase of this publication. I have known The Edge almost since it began early in the ’90s, and I believe it has outlived almost every other free paper on Twin Cities newsstands. That fact alone speaks clearly about the interest in the subject matter of the paper and the service being performed by its existence

I will also be honest about my experience with The Edge these past few years: I stopped reading it. I felt like I was moving at a different pace and the words I read no longer spoke to me. I wondered if some day that would change. Well, the Universe works in mysterious ways and I now find myself writing this column. Which, I might add, makes it a teensy bit awkward to grouse about what I am reading. That said, I’ll let you know that I am very happy to be included in the rebirth of this magazine.

Seems appropriate that the new incarnation of The Edge launches in March, the movement into spring and a time of new beginnings. The equinox gently saunters in at 11:44 (UTC) on Friday March 20. Hey, did you know that UTC stands for Coordinated Universal Time? I like that idea, although I’m probably thinking of it differently than whoever came up with it. Anyway, as I was leading up to, 11 and 44 are two of the notable master numbers in numerologyland. Depending on interpretation (mine, in this case) a person could say that this is the time of birthing and anchoring something new as the foundation for our new lives – with a little magic thrown in. You probably already know that 2009 is an 11 year, so the whole process gets some extra amperage.

The original concept for this publication was to reflect on the evolution of consciousness. For me that’s a story larger than what is contained in the notion of spirituality. As I see it, our story is no longer about what it means to accept that we explore by different pathways, but what happens at the end of the path. The Mayans mapped this evolution, and their pathway ends in 2012. After that we appear to be charting new territory. To be clear, though, I would suggest that 2012 is just a number to reference a state of transition, and that we’re already in it.

My sense is that many old teachings will now lose energy and dissolve, especially if they aren’t truly assisting people to move beyond them. Dogma has had its day, whether traditionally religious, new age or otherwise. We are moving beyond the binding structures born of the old world and are freeing ourselves to move into a newly created world. We are leaving behind, with some grief, all that is no longer needed for what lies ahead. And, we have prepared a fertile ground from all that we have released and plowed under, recycling old energy for use in a new creation. I believe we are ready.

I expect great things from this new spring season, and I can hardly wait to see what begins to sprout from all we have planted. As I write this in early February I’ve been without a sense of movement for many weeks. It has felt like somewhere off in the distance things are swirling all around me, yet I’m being kept out of the loop. Sure, I’ve been busy in a day-to-day routine, but without any sense of what is coming. Some part of me has wondered if inspiration would ever return, but I know it will, and just taking a moment to acknowledge that a new season is upon us has been a gentle reminder to myself. And so, I breathe.

I know there is chaos in the other world but that’s just energy releasing from where it has been bound in old forms, making itself available for something new. As we enter the next phase of our amazing journey, my suggestion is to keep an eye on what is rising from the earth, not on what is being plowed under.