Solar storm heads Earth's way after double sun blasts

Solar storm heads Earth's way after double sun blasts
The Aurora Australis is observed from the International Space Station during a geomagnetic storm on May 29, 2010 (AFP Photo)

Northern lights over Terschelling, Friesland..

Northern lights over Terschelling, Friesland..
(Terschelling, Friesland, Netherlands - 27-28 February, 2014)

Northern lights delight Dutch in surprise showing in north and east.

Northern lights delight Dutch in surprise showing in north and east.
Still from timelapse film by Schylgefilm (Terschelling, Friesland, Netherlands - 17 Mar 2015)


Amsterdam, The Netherlands
"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) -

“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013.

They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader ..."
"Update on Current Events" – Jul 23, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: The Humanization of God, Gaia, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Benevolent Design, Financial Institutes (Recession, System to Change ...), Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Nuclear Power Revealed, Geothermal Power, Hydro Power, Drinking Water from Seawater, No need for Oil as Much, Middle East in Peace, Persia/Iran Uprising, Muhammad, Israel, DNA, Two Dictators to fall soon, Africa, China, (Old) Souls, Species to go, Whales to Humans, Global Unity,..... etc.)
(Subjects: Who/What is Kryon ?, Egypt Uprising, Iran/Persia Uprising, Peace in Middle East without Israel actively involved, Muhammad, "Conceptual" Youth Revolution, "Conceptual" Managed Business, Internet, Social Media, News Media, Google, Bankers, Global Unity,..... etc.)



"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …

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Koningsdag 2023

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Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Black Pete: Not a usual X-mas story

The Jakarta Post, Agnes Titi Kusumandari, Jakarta | Wed, 12/23/2009 8:53 AM | Opinion

With the onset of Christmas, those who celebrate it are getting into the festive season with Christmas songs and decorations. It’s also the time of year when people see Christmas’ best known icon, Santa Claus around and about along with his black helper, Black Pete or in Indonesian, Pit Hitam.

Even though Christmas is a Christians celebration commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, it is also closely associated with the arrival of Father Christmas, a jolly old man carrying gifts for well-behaved children worldwide. Known around the world, this image has been adapted by each local culture. The North Americans for example, perceive him as a fat, jovial old man with a thick white beard and a red suite — introduced in the Coca-Cola advertisements from the 1930s — while in Europe, Santa comes with a long coat and travels by horse or boat.

This figure also never comes alone. In Austria, Bavaria, Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary for example, he is accompanied by Krampus, a horned devil, while in the German tradition he is with Knecht Ruprecht. Servant Rupert is Santa’s dark skinned helper who carried a rod or broom as well as a sack to scare the naughty kids.

The Knecht Ruprecht is interpreted as Zwarte Piet or Black Pete in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. He arrives not in form of a devil, but as a black African man — influenced by Holland’s trade with Spain, which back traded in African slaves — carrying a whip to lash naughty children, as well as helping Santa Claus carry his big sack of gifts.

The idea of a white Santa and his black helper disseminated out of Holland with Dutch colonialism. In Indonesia and Suriname, for example, the figure of Black Pete or Pit Hitam remains close people’s minds. I remember being terrified of being whipped by the curly-haired black guy.

My father also told me that he still remembers how his father was sometimes asked to play the role of Black Pete in his days, “as he was black and small, not like Santa Claus,” my father recalled. He also remembers that Santa Claus was always pictured as a londo — a Javanese term to call the Westerners — while Black Pete would more or less look like an Indonesian.

The development and transformation of ideas is called ideoscape, a term coined by Appadurai. He says that ideas — as part of globalization — will merge themselves into new-born ideas. This is helped by the augmentation of technology, distribution of money, as well as the migration of people. It would supposedly diffuse the original ideas and social functions into new ideas and meanings.

In the case of the Black Pete and the White Santa though, we can still grasp the grand discourse behind it and feel that the powers behind this distribution of ideas are not equal. Even though this Christmas tale has been adapted to our local understanding, we still fail to escape the grand idea about the position of black and white as well as to attach new meanings to these symbols.

The Santa-Pete duet imply in itself a binary opposition between the inferior and superior, the wise and the tribal. Black Pete being the antagonist may create a false consciousness of feeling inferior and wicked for those who may associate themselves due to the physical similarities with Black Pete – or in the other words, those who are dark skinned — while Santa Claus represents the strong, good, white and wise other.

Although this opposition may not appear in extreme gestures in Indonesia, we can still trace this inequality of color. The rush of women to buy cosmetics to make them feel as white as the good and jolly Santa, is one example of this. It shows the idea of aesthetics and beauty accepted today are indeed influenced by symbols such as these, which existed since the colonial era.

This fact has been noticed by Frantz Fanon in his book Black Skin White Mask where he documented black people’s inferiority and their eternal longing to be white. This longing to be white — not only as a color, but also as a symbol — are implied in the living symbols in society. In Indonesia we can witness the half American Miss Indonesia who’s more fluent in English than Indonesian, television shows like bule-gila (crazy bule), Facebook groups such as “buleholics”, dozens of advertisements, and even books on “how to get a bule” that entails an unspoken declaration of the native’s amazement to their white “superiors”.

This unequal image of black and white has been reproduced through culture for decades. The superiority of the West is an idea that stayed even after the departure of the Dutch 65 years ago. Even though in the low lands, an innovative Black Santa and a White Pete has been introduced to deconstruct the image of black and white, the idea of the superior white man proved to stay in the lives of the ex-Dutch colonial descendents.

It is an inequality that still lives on — more vividly felt when we see the different digits of salary between a native and expatriates in Jakarta — and is often overlooked and seen merely as a given fact. But I do believe that by first admitting this situation, we can come closer to the liberation of mind that may lead to a different perspective in how we value ourselves.

So, this Christmas, know that you don’t have to put thick white powder on your face to dress up as Santa. Being colored is not such a sin.

The writer is an alumnus of Cultures and Development Program in Kuleuven, Belgium

Related Article:

My Jakarta: Santa Claus


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