The Times

"Shiva flares from the stars. Shakti surges from the earth, seeking his lips. Polar opposites kiss like lightning in your spine, swirling serpentine through your ancient brain, the brain before the thought, smelling like an almond tree sparkled with raindrops.

"The effervescent union of the Lover and Beloved may not feel so delightful, but rather like a dizzy opening of your skull, a radiant pressure in your brow, a tremulous fickle romance in your heart, a restless apprehension of catastrophe in your solar plexus, a stir and burn of Eros through your hips.

"In meditation, luminous golden supernovae, with the influx of celestial music, may distract you. In the body, heightened sensual attraction. In large crowds, exhilaration, loss of center, and possibly violence.

"These are signs of the times we live in, end times, beginning times. So essential now to have a stable regular meditation practice, grounding and channeling these energies of holy chaos, so that they remain creative, and do not dissipate or destroy.

"Practices of concentration or mind-control may only cause headache, repression, and frustration. In the words of one great meditation teacher: 'If a technique is not effortless, it won't allow you to transcend.'

"Practices of visualization may over-stimulate the imagination, confusing you even more than the dream of the world.

"Find dynamic surrender in a practice that welcomes and settles all your energies, both dark and bright, without denying them. To embrace is to transcend. A sadhana that channels heat upward from the abdominal earth, breathes starlight downward from the solar crown. For you are the ground, and you are the sky.

"Let Shiva unite with Shakti, Christ with Magdalene, in the Bridal Chamber of the heart. These are the antipodes, the syzygies, of one You. Consummate their divine marriage with your own human Radiance. Give birth to acts of compassion."
~Ur