THE SYCAMORE TREE --- the search for values

THE  SYCAMORE TREE --- The search for values

                    For some quirky reason I would try to remember the street where Annette my daughter lives with her family when the need to recall it comes like when I direct a driver to go bring a package to her house, I simply couldn’t recall the name “Sycamore street” I usually have a mental block when something has not been fully understood in my mind.  The Sycamore street is one that keeps slipping off my mind strange as it seems for I love my daughter Anna Marie so much.  Intuitively I knew there was something the Sycamore wanted to convey to me in a mystical sense that I needed to fathom.      

 How does the Sycamore Tree look like? I don’t know if we have it here in the Philippines but it's pictured here now when i googled it   It didn't really matter until it called my attention to the fact that it is a tree significantly configured in the Bible.  Recently, I was inexplicably led to the story of Zacchaeus climbing up a sycamore tree to see Jesus passing by as posted in the holy scriptures.  In one of the “sharing” sessions at a bible-study group discussing the gospel of the week, the name “Sycamore” struck me again!  Now its name would never be forgotten as much as it impacted on me as a significant symbol of something in my search for the meaning of existence.

 "Gnoothi soauton" (words on the lintel of Apollo's temple in Delphis)  "From the hub to the rim and back again;" (Dante. Paraiso, XIV)  "As he looks back, back will have to go." (Dante Purgatorio IX, 132)

 The problem of such existence is how to insert oneself in the Whole, or in other words, to find out where one's central point is ("central," not midpoint, like hasty interpreters will have it.)  The 12 degrees Pisces of the 360 degrees of the Zodiac the precession path of Astrology divine science of the stars, says:  The way to one's own innermost core may prove an ordeal, taking up one's best years and further.  At each cross-road the native may have to stop in utter puzzlement and retrace part of its steps.   Like a wheel caught in the wrong contrivance, the native may go to pieces; or like a sprocket wrongly fitted in its hub, he may skid off and come to grief; or even like a wheel forever removed from any contrivance, he may end by becoming a pretty but useless trinket, an ornamental dead weight for himself and others.  But once the hub is properly fitted upon its axle, the yield and the range of the native's activities  cannot any more be measured by conventional standards; his vitality is prodigious and the depths to which his unfettered thought can reach are abysmal.
         The more dangerous is any aberration.  
    
     
 The stars at this time pointed me to look to the ground where thick vegetation such as bushes and trees grow.   Look for a Tree.  Earth people, look for your Tree!!  Trees are your Temples standing under the vast dome of your Cathedral on the ground of your planet Earth, and this Shrine called cathedral is covered by an immense, vast canopy called Sky shielding, protecting it as it were against the onslaughts of multidimensional dark, sinister, incredibly sinister dark forces ... entities of various frightening shapes, Anunakis they call it in a series of science-fiction books by a visionary I found intriguing to read in my younger years.  Is it possible the Anunakis (used here as a symbol) are back to invade the earth to make slaves of its people to mine gold ?

                     The way to one's innermost core may prove an ordeal, taking up one's best years and further.  At each
cross-road the native may have to stop in utter puzzlement and retrace part of his steps. Mainly the trouble lies in the choice of leaders of countries in the immediate past.  In Europe, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden are now in a state of chaos, miserable, pathetic often tragic confusion resulting from terroristic attacks. In the direction to do with humanitarian aid hosting for war refugees from war-torn Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia, etc.,  Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany is the hardest hit leader who has come to grief which demonstrates the gravity of her foreign policy by taking in vast numbers of refugees who are not willing to assimilate the host country’s culture

 Choice is the Main Thing.

                    Why Trump?  Why does a non-politician and a businessman billionaire, catch the fervent attention of the American populace to sweep them off their feet in an enormously contested presidential race to make him win?  The United States is at a crisis, a crossroad and perilous time when its power as a sovereign nation to be great as ever to lead the world on its Path to Freedom is endangered by its own internal political and ideological conflicts aided by an abusively biased mainstream media. Here I'd use the Sycamore tree as a symbol of our search for values in electing the right leaders in a democracy. 

                    Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.  And there was a man named Zacchaeus; he was chief tax collector, and rich. He was small of stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way.  “Hurry down Zacchaeus,” Jesus called, looking up the sycamore tree, “because I must stay in your house today.”  So he made haste and came down, and received Jesus joyfully.  And when they saw the meeting they all murmured. “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”  And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will restore it a hundredfold.”   And Jesus said to him, “Today, salvation to this house comes since he also is a son of Abraham.

                    For the son of man came to seek and to save the lost. 

                    No wonder my mind would shut off whenever I had to remember the “Sycamore” street where my busy architect-daughter Annette lives.  Strangely enough I had delighted knowing the name of her street, for it has a mysterious ring or a sound-bite that fascinated me, yet it eluded me for some reason that defied my understanding.  I was lost in the forest of trees.  As Gorbachev says, the Trees are our Temples.  Temples are houses of worship. Money is not evil. It only becomes evil when used to fund projects that are worked out by demonized people obsessed with the worship of Power through the use of Money to destroy existing spiritually inspired cultures that enrich our lives with the Light of truth, love, joy, compassion and splendors embodied in the freedoms of worshiping the true God living within each of us as Consciousness?     

                    And so Zacchaeus, the small, rich guy known by the early biblical people of having enriched himself as chief tax collector, would call to mind certain names Today in ultra-modern times of heavily “ corrupted” top government officials or agencies that the “new- cycle changer” president Duterte has avowed to clean up next to solving the universal menace of proliferation of dangerous drugs now deteriorating to the level of narco-politics that’s killing the next Filipino generation?  Drugs represents the lure of money, millions of dollars, rupiahs, dinars, pesos, money.  Will the worship of the Lord of money bring us to our Doom?  In our country the daily newspapers run headlines thundering about protest rallies versus the burial of the late President Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani;  scandals involving a former secretary of justice of the previous administration engaged in illegal drug activities allegedly done at the capital Bilibid prison involving sex scandals and transactions of hidden vast sums of money produced by peddling drugs...Like a wheel caught in the wrong contrivance, the native may go to pieces; or like a sprocket wrongly fitted in its hub, he/she may skid off and come to grief....she may end by becoming a pretty but useless trinket, an ornamental dead weight for herself and others    
   

                    Are we on the edge of doom as prophesied in Holy Scriptures called Apocalypse or End-times?  Or the coming of a new Golden Age when humanity becomes One and yet fascinatingly diverse and honest and respecting individual choices and talents in life’s multi-cultural dynamics by developing human “genius” through increasing  awareness of one’s  own Beingness in creativity?  But why do we have to go through a catastrophe or a Crisis to find how creative we can get?  To be creative means being truly productive of good to society upon finding one’s Tree to climb to seek his God-given gifts realized

                    Father Larry Tan, SDB, defines Crisis as an eye-opener – a time when people let go of former ways of viewing reality AND BEGIN TO SEE THINGS differently.  To Fr. Larry Tan there is nothing more unreasonable than a blind person who insists that he/she can see.  The admission of blindness is often the first step towards a new perspective.  For Zacchaeus the curiosity to see Jesus the Messiah was so compelling that in spite of all the odds, the conspiracy theories governing imperial Rome at that time, he was creative in his mind to find a way to catch a glimpse of Jesus passing by, even if it means climbing a sycamore tree nearby.  He thought nothing of what other people might think and say about him.  To see Jesus was what really counts. It might be the only chance he could encounter Jesus so he made a dash for it.  Fr. Larry Tan points that the inner movements of the human heart will reach out; for our hearts were made for God.  And will not rest until they rest in God.  It may be absolutely, inherently based in the heart, to find a place, a tree to perch on.  A tree would provide a higher level of escape from confusion and distress.  Find a time to get ready to create the necessary inner space above the noise of the crowd, so that we can truly let the Peace of the Lord into our house, house of the soul.
                 

                    At this critical juncture in world History we are challenged to be co-creators of the Divine Creator.  And we are natural born co-creators.  For we are made of star dust, equipped to do successful work by the starry formations in the skies to find our destiny.  Our universe is a vast, great cathedral with majestic tall trees as temples   Let’s take the case of Rody Duterte of the Philippines, Donald Trump of the United States, whose creativity consists in putting unlikely elements together to create effective surprise – the sort of surprise which makes an explosion of a recognition inside us, making us utter in disbelief : “Yes, of course”

                    RDD comes from Davao City, a provinciano mayor whose unseemly way of cursing P’s when confronted with inexplicable narco-politic disasters happening nation-wide would shock the seemingly refined, highly educated people in catholic private schools of the national capital region.  He is catapulted suddenly into the presidency of the republic by a massive vote of We the Filipino People for  his values of what's good for his country are as enduring as the ancient hills and oceans. He is willing to be forgotten as the best president that ever got elected and be remembered only as one who fought for his people to survive the evils of a drug-inflicted society, to save the future generation.  Similarly, DJT comes from New York a billionaire, an “outsider” to Washington DC politics and “not fit” to rule for lack of political experience, but because he knew how not to be crooked and be bought by money (he has already labored to have more than he needs for himself and his family) all he wants now is for America to work again, to be safe again, to be great again based on the values of its constitution written and promulgated by their Founding Fathers as their inalienable rights and so he came out as We the People’s choice by landslide popular vote topped by the electoral college votes.
       

                    People who create effective surprises who make their own story, are no longer bound by the walls of separation and convention around them.  Take the case of Donald Trump:  he has been catapulted to be the president–elect of fifty federal states making the electoral map of the US appear to be lit on fire with mostly red (symbolic color of Republican, conservative) voters sweeping across the continent causing the last remaining blue (symbolic color of the Democrats, liberal) wall of Wisconsin to crumble.  Never has this happened in American history.  Yet having nearly all states in his pocket does not mean the Donald goes sleeping peacefully at night.  The secret cabal whose god is money does not allow him total peace; fighting must spark street riots, killings of police, stabbing of innocent civilians, crimes to do with burning of US flags in college campuses on the pretext of free speech (allowed by the First Amendment) need to be checked by stringent laws.  The lure of money is reported to be behind lawlessness among diverse migrant aliens supported by radicalism of beliefs as well as harmful excess of liberal education by the Left.  So much work to do for the Right if it hasn’t left Trump to struggle alone supported by a few good men in his battle to replace and reform previous regime’s questionable legacy with a tendency towards acceptance of ideological radicalism espousing terrorism. Media is often silent in reporting violence and harmfully biased. Again, powerful and super rich oligarchic support is in evidence.      

                    Violence suddenly erupting and intermittently so would be supported by corrupt oligarchy to disturb Trump’s inner peace.  Freedom of choice is under stress from the way his destiny pattern is organized in consciousness. Truth is, we are governed by karma. the law of cause and effect, what we sow is what we reap, so it becomes imperative that we study Who am I? in terms of quantum energy thru astro analysis.  Over the years my work in sharing what's there to learn Online in my column "Forest of Stars" has been always propositioned on Karma, the Law of cause and effect ruling the Universe. There's nothing here but energy, energy carries the Law and the Law regulates energy.  The energy you throw out will always return to you like an echo, shout to the mountain and the mountain shouts back at you. So take care of what comes out of you  in word and deed  as your choice of values of good or evil becomes a ripple spinning from the point of where you stand reaching outwards to spin back to where you stand together with those within the range of the pool of water.
            
 Trump's Moon in Sagittarius in his Fourth House of home and foundations, has an opposition to Uranus in his Tenth House of career. Negatively it can indicate emotional perverseness on the Opposition side, causing instability to the flow of events rendering frequent changes in mood and attitude around him. The tendency to seek unusual experiences can drain too much time and energy sometimes from boredom but the great positive cosmic aspects or ties of his Jupiter to the Sun, North Node, and Uranus aligned in Tenth most elevated Midheaven of presidential career from Second house of huge wealth, sparkles with material and spiritual values. Trump from youth enjoys life without succumbing to vices, successfully imparting such spiritual values in raising his handsome and highly favored children -- no smoking, drinking, drugs. For him, even with a glamorous wife, Trump would limit his glittery night life. Self-discipline has been imbedded in his consciousness by his parents, a philanthropic mother of excellent taste, a remarkable businessman father with a good heart, excelling in real estate enterprises that he has further advanced in building houses that  soar as skyscrapers in New York and in other countries.   Naming grandiose high- rise buildings of hotels, “Trump" in bold letters has not been inspired by ego but by a feeling of Jupiterian jolly expansiveness, characteristic of a highly charged and energized Jupiter which has three flowing magnanimous aspects to other planets and the royal sign Leo is repeated ruling two houses, eleventh and twelfth, in his birth chart.  He becomes magnanimous shining as a Sun in the tenth house of his presidential career.  To be richly endowed and protected as Jupiter stands for great fortune and divine protection a person needs only one trine or two trines perhaps with sextile aspects, but that said, we don't get to see an avatar unless it is so mandated. Trump is born with three rare positive trine linkages to Sun, North Node and Uranus.  Nevertheless his magnificent Jupiter is blighted, obstracted by three negative Opposition aspects to the Moon.  Women or one distinctive woman will work to rile or disturb his flow. It would be an exciting political tug of war to watch in terms of wit and divine favors.   

                    He is, according to interviews, simply just having fun but he needs to trim down his expanding Jupiterian waistline as he gets on in years.  However, he is too laborious in work to worry about his wide berth. Funny it is for one to know to believe that Trump is not bereft of compassion and humility.  Jupiterian generosity and kindness to people in financial and judicial distress have been verified by unbiased news reports.  He will be interested in religion but along progressive, occult or metaphysical lines although his conservative character makes attending church services also a serious matter, he is happy to be with large congregations of religious people.  Jupiter rules God's blessings called luck, religion, philosophy as well as travel, higher studies

                    He is often fortunate on account of past life karma manifesting itself in unexpected ways so how can he be seriously harmed if he finds himself and family in highly favorable SITUATIONS owing to the good karma of conservatism?  Optimism, flashes of spiritual inspiration, intuition can easily make Trump spot a deceptive fellow, a felon, making it possible for Trump to take advantage of opportunities which other people would not notice.  Sun, North Node, Uranus most elevated in his Tenth House of prominent leadership career all running in harmony with Jupiter the cosmic dwelling –place of the Masters can make it possible for Trump to be a master and a great leader. Sun conjunct lunar Nodes mandates a mission or destiny to save his people from those who seek to destroy America.  Is this the End times or spectacular proof that God's glory is over all... to start with the United States.