I have been taking some time to process a massive energy spurt that I have been experiencing inside myself and in the world. Energy seems to be the word of the day lately, in the throes of a gas crisis, with renewable energy on people’s minds. And certainly the contaminated tomato scare has caused me to think a lot about how to make my life my own so it is not dependent on government agencies and outside sources for its sustenance. So I have began Round Two of my ‘growing vegetables’ experiment (Round One, a couple of years back involved beans which sadly failed to fully mature). This time, I planted artichokes, lettuce, spinach and zucchini. And again, I’ll be watching what sort of energy the sun imbues them with.

My energy–and that of a lot of people I know–shifted massively last month. It was like everyone was making monumental changes in their lives or faced with things they could no longer ignore. I had just come back from Amsterdam and was trying to reintegrate my vacation experiences with my life here. My interpretation had been that that trip opened up my heart again. I felt a sense of the ‘possible’–like the world was open to me. I am still struggling to retain that feeling even in light of some disappointments that have revealed themselves since I returned from that trip.

In the meantime, the energies swirling around me have been intensifying. Everyone around me is talking quite freely about mystical affairs. I spoke with two brothers at an art opening in Venice last week who recounted their fantastical Ayahuasca trip in Machu Pichu. One asked his psychedelic self the question, “What is 2012?” The answer, he said, was simply an energy of bliss. I discussed similar matters with a film development guy who lives in my neighborhood. He pointed out how amazing it was that ABC (I believe it was ABC) is doing a series about where we’re at, and how we can survive the next century. Incredible that this vibe is permeating mainstream consciousness. Then there’s the topic of astral projection–which, I know, sounds like so ’70s and cosmic to veryone. But, having experienced it momentarily (accidentally) for the first time a couple of weeks back, I can attest to the fact that it is alive and well in the millennium era.

My good friend Eva in Spain opened up to me about her experiences with it. We are now in the throes of experimenting with ways to communicate remotely and non-verbally with each other at a higher state of consciousness (hey, it saves on long distance bills). Another good buddy of mine from the neighborhood also had an out of body experience that was not purposely induced. Basically, we have all been trying to make sense of this stuff. We’re all intelligent, educated professionals. But something about the way this world has been operating doesn’t make sense to us anymore. So we are attracting these super-real experiences. I believe, at the end of the day, that the Age of Reason and Logic is pasing away to make room for the Age of Experience.

I can’t profess to knowing how to process all these changes, except to say that when I fight them, I feel tremendous amount of anxiety. When I embrace them and flow with them, I feel a sense of euphoria.

My dreams are changing me….

As I’ve professed many times, I have been a huge supporter of Hillary Clinton’s. I was deeply disappointed by her failed presidential campaign. However, recently, I had two rather vivid dreams about Barack Obama. In both, he communicated many serious things to me. And I can’t quite explain it, but now, in waking life his message is suddenly resonating. Either he’s pulled off the most amazing campaign ever (that involves the clever marketing tactic of entering voters’ dreams) or I’m feeling the pulse of something greater than myself, greater than him as a man or politician, a general sense of the times.

Lately, in my dreams I consciously travel to places I am kean to visit, but I have still not mastered true lucid dreaming. Last week I was in Amsterdam and in Paris. In the former I saw a street begin to flood and attempted to tell the police who were not listening to me. In the latter, I rode in a boat on the Seine. I still, however feel that these reveries are close to the realm of 3-D reality. I have not yet succeeded in truly traveling ethereally to these places because of FEAR. Each time I feel a part of me splitting off from another part of me, I panic.

The truth is, there are some people I’d like to see in the ethereal realm. There are things I’d like to say to them–things which words compromise. Sometimes, this waking reality of DSL streams, phony online social network connections, ignored emails, and promises of “we’ll do lunch”, feels like a nightmare. And I wish I could wake up in my dreams and really connect–if only for a fleeting moment.

Posted by Shana Ting Lipton