stephanie brail

Over Memorial Day weekend, beach cities in various parts of the U.S. were overrun by violent mobs. Fights were the least of it. People were killed in Miami. It was called a “war zone.” This out of control behavior came on the heels of some of the most violent tornadoes the country has seen in decades…and as I write this, more tornadoes are touching down in Massachusetts, of all places.

What is going on? Is the world really coming to an end because 2012 is right around the corner?

It is popular in the new age and self help movements to believe in a “Law of Attraction,” which states that you create your reality with your thoughts and feelings. I was never a fan of the Law of Attraction, as I felt it was too reductionist. While I do think we exert some control over our lives through our thoughts and attitudes, I don’t think victims of crimes “attract” their attackers with their thoughts. It’s more that we can do better with what we’re given if we approach things with a pro-active mindset. And yes, affirmations and visualization can be very powerful tools for personal growth, which is why hypnosis can be so effective in curing phobias and addictions.

The Law of Attraction also doesn’t take into account collective or group thought. But my theory is, if there is something to this idea that we can “create” our lives through our intentions, then wouldn’t the group intention or collective thought exert more power over individual thought?

This brings us back to the weather. If you are open to the idea that we live in a quantum universe where the observer can affect reality, can we collectively affect the weather? Is it possible that the bad storms we’ve seen in 2011 in America have a correlation to the collective bad mood we are in?

Now, there are many theories as to why we’re having so many crazy storms lately. One is, of course, climate change. There are more “conspiracy” oriented theories too, including the idea that a government-run science program, HAARP, is being purposefully used to manipulate weather for nefarious reasons we are not privy to. Whether the HAARP theory has any merit or not, I find the videos by YouTube Weather Guru Dutchsinse to be fascinating. He has predicted much of the recent bad weather by following so-called “HAARP rings” that show up in radar.

I do not discount the role of “climate change” (which is a misnomer – we should be saying, “human pollution” if that’s what we really mean) in our weather woes. I’m skeptical of, but open to, the idea that HAARP has a role in all this.

But I’m also wondering if our collective angst isn’t also contributing to the bad weather. Can our collective negative energy create storms? Perhaps.

I remember when I moved to Los Angeles right after the 1992 riots. My timing was pretty bad! Over the next few years LA saw disaster after disaster – fires, mudslides, and a major earthquake. After a few years, when the economy started picking up in the mid 90s, things calmed down considerably. People also seemed happier and gang violence decreased.

There definitely seemed to be a difference in the number and frequency of disasters as the collective mood of Los Angeles improved. As the economy tanked in the fall of 2008, we coincidentally saw a huge outbreak of fires in November of that same year.

Now, all of this is simply observational, and I have not done any sort of “scientific” study to see if there is a direct correlation. I am well aware that such “woo-woo” theories don’t have much basis in science at this point.

However, I will make the following prediction: As the world economy continues to be fragile if not downright depressive, and as people continue to generate “bad vibes” through their anger and frustration (especially due to the poor economy), expect to see more major earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanoes, hurricanes, typhoons, and other crazy weather. Additionally, a good number of people on the planet are “expecting” doom and gloom because of 2012 – so it’s almost like we are hell-bent on creating it.

This is not to say that our human pollution isn’t affecting the weather and our atmosphere. Or that sun spots and solar flares aren’t also at fault. What I am suggesting, however, that we may potentially be adding fuel to the fire with our bad energy.

Now…what we can do?

Whether or not you agree that our collective ill will is causing bad weather, I hope you can agree that we as a society can’t move forward if we are bogged down by hate and rancor. Perhaps these natural disasters are meant as a spiritual wake-up call. So where do  we start?

First off, I’ve been more and more disturbed by the partisan divide in America turning into a chasm. When liberals in Arizona feel they have to “secede” because they can’t deal with the conservatives in their state, we have a problem. And guess what? The problem isn’t just with conservatives! It’s with extremes on both sides that are unwilling to compromise, listen, or give the other side any credit. Yes, this applies to you, dear liberal friend, who insists on name-calling any Tea Party Patriot a “racist teabagger” in order to dehumanize them and make them into the “enemy.” And this also goes for you, dear conservative Christian, who really ought to know better than call someone a “baby-killing libtard,” because that’s not what Jesus would do.

Our inner city children are in particular expressing more openly the anger and seething resentment in America today. Since they don’t feel they have anything to lose, they feel justified in expressing their rage outwards, whereas the “latte liberal” will simply waste time bitching about Sarah Palin on Facebook.

In this one blog post I can’t lay out all the answers, but let’s start with a few right here:

1.  Stop with the name calling. And yes, that includes you liberal friends of mine. The minute you label someone a “hater,” you are being exactly that which you decry. Let’s start a truce – stop the labeling and start listening. Get curious – why is “limited government” so important to some people? Open your mind and your heart – you might learn something.

2. Focus on positive solutions. Quit yer bitching. And yes, I’m just as guilty of bitching as everyone else. But if you don’t like what is going on in the world, do something positive. Don’t expect the government to do it for you – the government is broke, corrupt, and inept. They can’t and won’t fix society’s problems. You need to roll up your shirtsleeves and do it yourself. If you are disturbed by poverty in the inner city, get some friends together and go volunteer at a non-profit serving teens in that area or start one yourself.

3. Get a spiritual practice. Stick to it. And if you are an atheist, you can still meditate. Think of it as mental decluttering.

4. Send unconditional love out to the world. And yes, that includes sending love out to the “teabaggers,” Obama, Donald Trump, Sarah Palin, and even Lindsay Lohan.

5. Speaking of Lindsay Lohan, get your mind out of the gutter. Consuming celebrity tabloid trash that exploits the pain and suffering of the rich and famous, instead of focusing your energies and attention on more positive things, contributes to the dumbing down of America. And the thing is, if you feel you need a “break” from all the pain and suffering in the world, aren’t there still better things you can read? Inspire yourself with great art and poetry, not celebrity trash talking! Work on illuminating your mind, rather than supporting the mental junk food spoon-fed to us by a corporate elite that is more than happy to keep us dumb and disempowered.

All of the above are pretty good places to start to make the world a better place. And whether or not your actions will affect the weather, you can rest assured that you are at least contributing to a kinder, gentler world instead of an angry, violent one.

I actually started writing this energetic weather report the day before the Japan earthquake…actually, maybe not even 12 hours before it. I ended up getting sidetracked writing about the extreme partisan divide in America and didn’t finish the original post. So it’s easy to say, after the fact, that I had a feeling about Japan…perhaps you may be skeptical, but I really did. Here’s what I wrote on March 10:

My intuitive radar is up, and I’m not the only one. Many empathic, sensitive people are wondering if something bad isn’t going to happen very very soon now.

Now, bad stuff happens all the time. Every day you can read the news and find something bad going on around the world. For example, the Middle East is in total turmoil right now. While I certainly hope more democracy is a result of the protests, the danger is that extremists will win the day. And it’s not good that protesters are being shot and insane madmen like Qaddafi are blowing up oil fields.

So course, some of the unease we’re feeling is due to the uncertainty on the world stage. But I am also wondering if some “big event” may not go down soon, if not a natural disaster, then something man-made that might be pretty shocking. Let’s hope that feeling is wrong.

Well, unfortunately that feeling was not wrong. That Japan earthquake is a huge deal, not just because of the lives lost but because of the current nuclear threat. Yet, I didn’t have this sense of unease prior to the Haiti quake of 2010, and many more people died in Haiti. Was my intuitive radar not working last year? (Perhaps due to all the bad energy I was picking up in Los Angeles?) Why would I pick up on one quake but not the other? Will the Japan quake end up being more devastating in the long run due to a meltdown at a nuclear reactor? I hope not.

My initial gut feeling when I heard the news of the Japan quake was that there was still something more coming. I actually felt that “something more” was possibly a human-made event. I also feel more quakes are to follow, and I am still keeping my eye on Southern California, which has become extremely unstable seismically since the 2010 Easter quake along the border with Mexico. I still feel like there’s something more in the works. I’m not sure what. So buckle up.

Energetic Moods and Trends
These energetic weather reports aren’t really meant to be psychic predictions, by the way. It’s more about the feeling of the “energy” in the air. You do not necessarily need to believe in psychic anything to buy into the idea that we all collectively have “moods” as a species. So with that, let’s look at the current collective moods:

1. Anger and Politics. Increased anger in America with widening political divides that involve demonizing the other side – and both right and left are guilty of this. Concurrent to this is a sense that a lot of people (like myself) are getting a bit fed up with the “lot of them” and tired of the political bickering. It’s almost a comedy when some conservatives believe that the left wants to take over America and make it into an authoritarian socialist state, when at the same time the some liberals think the right wants to take over America and make it into an authoritarian fascist state. Both sides fear the other side wanting an authoritarian takeover and a loss of basic rights. (BTW, this is why some libertarians say the true political measurement should not be right vs. left but authoritarian state control vs. individual freedom.)

The danger with the fear and anger, if left unchecked, is that it could lead to civil unrest and violence. The counter-pull of people wanting to find a middle ground is a positive thing, however, and there’s room right now for a moderate political leader to come forward for 2012. This politician (possibly a woman?) could really be the “uniter” that Obama promised to be but did not deliver upon. This is a long-shot but there is a chance. (This person, by the way, could be a Democrat. I am still not convinced Obama will actually end up being the presidential candidate for the Democrats.)

2. 2012 Fears and the End of the World. Fears over the world ending are ramping up. It’s one thing when you hear a friend making a comment that maybe the world will end in 2012, and they are not totally serious about it. It’s quite another when a mainstream website such as CafeMom publishes fears that the Japan earthquake is a fulfillment of Mayan prophecy and could the end be near? OK, folks, let’s calm down and stop giving the Mayans so much credit. These are people, let’s not forget, who actually performed human sacrifices to appease the gods. If they did that, why on earth do we think they were smart enough to predict the end of the world?

Now. The one thing that the Mayans were right about is that we’re entering into a new astrological phase. This has to do with the positions of the constellations in relation to the earth. Could this mean that we may be entering into a new phase of humanity? Possibly, if you believe the stars have any influence on us. But that’s not an ending. Some new age people actually believe this is a new beginning and a period of enlightenment.

Still, there is this undercurrent of fear around 2012, even though I’d wager most people don’t take it very seriously. But it has the weight of mythology on it, and each time a disaster like a big earthquake hits, it gets people a bit riled up. This, along with the economic uncertainty, is certainly contributing to an overall “mood” that is a bit pessimistic and anxious. Unfortunately, such moods can become self-fulfilling prophecies, and a little more optimism might not be a bad thing right now.

3. Earth Energy and Changes. Along with the 2012 stuff, many people believe we are undergoing earth changes, or that Mother Earth aka Gaia is making shifts because she’s trying to send us humans a message – stop raping the planet! I’m not so sure about that. We’re not really experiencing any more earthquakes or natural disasters than normal – we just have a lot of people on an increasingly crowded planet, which means we’re going to have more casualties when the earth acts up.

Take a look at the historical data for the largest earthquakes with the most casualties – the worst was back in China in 1556, and 830,000 people died!

Now. We have been putting a lot of stress on the planet with our population, so we may well see some “earth changes” that are caused by humans. I’m not talking about global warming so much as I am things like the big patch of floating plastic in the Pacific Ocean. Or plagues of bunny rabbits in Australia, because they were wrongly imported there by settlers.

4. Economic Collapse Fears. There is one big thing going on in America that is contributing to our pessimism, and that’s the rotten economy and fears of an impending collapse. While the majority probably still don’t believe that an actual, literal collapse of America is imminent, they do sense that something is wrong and this is fueling the partisan anger I mentioned above. I don’t sense the optimism in America that was there when I was growing up. Even in the cynical 90s, there was a lot more optimism than there is today. This is course could end up creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts.

Unfortunately, I see a lot of people preparing for a collapse by stocking up on food and whatnot, but I do not see a lot of people taking initiative to fix things. There is also the peak oil crowd, which claims that we’ll be running out of oil soon and this could mean the end of Western Civilization. The irony is that, if they really believed this was going to happen, you’d think they’d be clamoring for alternatives. Many of the peak oil folks have unfortunately thrown their hands up in the air and said that no alternatives will make up for oil. So I guess giving up is the better option? Curious.

The Common Thread
The common thread in all of these points above is a sense of powerlessness, despair, and fear. (Ultimately, the political anger is fueled by fear and a sense of powerlessness.) Meanwhile, there are powerful people out there who want to take advantage, and if they see a populace that is pliable, fearful and victimized, they’ll be more than happy to take advantage.

It is for these reasons that mindful, self-actualized people should be doing double-time on looking towards building a better future for us all. There is an opportunity here to shift the energy from fear to optimism. We need true hope, not the hope that is packaged up in a political campaign. I’m not suggesting that we put our faith into miraculous solutions to our very real problems. We need to acknowledge our problems, but not get sucked down into despair, or get swindled by easy answers. We may have a bit of a struggle ahead of us, but the world will go on.

Well, January is almost over, so I better post these 2011 predictions before the year is half over! Please remember my standard disclaimer: I don’t claim to be some master psychic, and I’m doing this for fun! So here we go, making some wild and crazy predictions for 2011…

I have gotten my first “hit” on a previous prediction! In my predictions of November 6, 2011, I predicted that Keith Olbermann would be let go completely from MSNBC. And he’s now outta there! Almost at the drop of a hat, with barely any warning. We shall see if the second part of my prediction will come true – I said he would “act out” in some way, or may be found to have a drinking problem. I will give the “acting out” a few months or so to come to pass.

In a related note, some Olbermann fans are trying to draft him for the Senate. I could be wrong, but I really don’t see this going anywhere. I think it’s much more likely that we’ll see him going to rehab, or to jail, before going to Washington.

Assassination Attempt on Sarah Palin. I hope Sarah Palin keeps security around her and her children. I would not be surprised if someone tries to kill her this year, especially after all the unfair blame she got for the Tuscon tragedy. If this does happen, I do feel she will be OK and the wannabe killer will be brought down before doing any real damage. I do have some friends who think Sarah Palin should be eaten by a grizzly bear, but they aren’t really serious, and no-one with a heart would want to see her family get hurt, no matter how much they dislike her politics.

Will the Political Rhetoric Die Down? Much was said about “inflammatory rhetoric” in the wake of the Arizona shooting, but will it actually be toned down? My guess is, no, not much, but the rhetoric about the rhetoric will. In other words, you’ll hear less news pundits discussing “should we tone down the political rhetoric?” as other things become more prominent in the news this year. “Rhetoric” will become an issue once again in 2012, during the presidential campaign, and it will be flung back and forth between right and left as both sides will accuse the other of being inflammatory.

More Storms. And I’m not talking storms of a political nature, though we’ll have those too. We’ve had a crazy winter, and I feel that the spring, summer and fall of 2011 will also bring some weird weather. Powerful rainstorms, tornadoes, and more hurricanes this year. Maybe more damaging hurricanes, kind of like we had back when Katrina hit. I don’t necessarily see another Katrina, but we’ve had many years of relative calm in the gulf. This year things will flare up again. 2012 may be even worse.

Earthquakes and Wrong Predictions. So many psychics predicted a huge devastating earthquake for the Los Angeles area in 2010, and they were all very wrong. What gets me though, isn’t that a prediction is wrong – it’s not an exact science after all. It’s that people try to explain away the wrong predictions by saying “Oh, we were able to postpone or prevent this big earthquake with our prayers. We averted it!” Sorry, but I don’t think that’s what happened. If the spirit guides these psychics were talking to actually knew what was going on, they wouldn’t have said “BEWARE! MAJOR EARTHQUAKE! MOVE NOW OR PERISH!” They would have said, “There is a chance of a major earthquake, but you can change this with your prayers.” See the difference?

So anyone who predicted earthquakes that did not happen either happens to be really bad with dates, has a bad channel, or isn’t particularly psychic. Or they are somewhat psychic, but a bit fuzzy, and they won’t admit that they aren’t quite clear on everything. I think this does a disservice to the world at large, because it’s precisely this type of wrong, dramatic ego-based prediction that gives skeptics all their fuel. You give a wrong prediction, and the skeptics say “Look! Psychic abilities are a bunch of bunk!”

Intuition is often a subtle thing. You get information in snippets or hazy visions. It’s often not exact. But just because dates can’t be easily pinpointed, it does not mean that people aren’t somewhat psychic.

But I digress. My “unpsychic” prediction regarding earthquakes is that 2011 may be the year that Los Angeles does indeed see a big nasty one. I’m going to guess centered either near Northridge or in the valley, or up near the Tejon Pass (possibly the San Andreas!). I posted back in November I felt there would be not one, but two big quakes in the LA area, one smaller and less devastating as a foreshock to the big one. I’m going to stick with that. If not this year, then at least one in 2012. I can’t pinpoint exact dates on it, I just feel it will be happening in the next few years.

Violence and Civil Unrest. I may be affected by the fact that I just saw a horrible video of teenage girls beating up a Wendy’s employee, but I feel this is a sign of things to come. We’re going to have more random violence, more shootings, more robberies, and more people going nuts in 2011. We’re going to have things get out of control in some cities. Maybe this will start small, but eventually I predict riots in major cities such as Los Angeles. Maybe not quite yet this year, but the rumblings will start this year at least.

Something Shocking. I mentioned in a previous entry that something shocking may be coming. I could not pinpoint it when I last mentioned it, but I am going to take a leap and say that there may be another terrorist attack on American soil in 2011. It may be a “false flag,” which is a term referring to a fake terror event use to manipulate the public. We have some bad things going on economically, and with China and the dollar, and the terror event may be created as a distraction and manipulation.

I should note here that I had a dream last week that there was a big explosion in Los Angeles. Don’t know it meant or if it had anything to do with the future. I’ll just put it out there.

Worldwide, I also feel some sort of major tragedy will occur. I am leaning towards it being a natural disaster, on par with the tsunami of 2004. I feel a lot of people will be really sad.

WWIII? The tensions between North and South Korea in 2010 were not the start of WWIII, I feel laid the foundation for it. 2011 will not see the start of WWIII, but will lay more groundwork for it. Expect some more chest-beating by North Korea, and perhaps an incident with Japan. I’m going to take a wild stab in the dark and say that WWIII will start with Asia and Russia in 2012.

On a happier note: the amazing Betty White. A lot of people predict celebrity deaths. I won’t do that. But I will predict that Betty White will have a happy, healthy, productive 2011 and live to see 2012. I hope I am right on this one!

OK…some of those are gloomy predictions, but we’re in for a wild ride the next few years. I will have more predictions this year and hopefully some of those will be happier! And remember, these are unpsychic predictions, so if we’re lucky, most of them won’t happen!

I think we are all intuitive, so what I share here are some intuitive feelings and then some stuff that’s purely pulled out of thin air. I don’t claim to be a “psychic.”

2011-2012: I’m not posting any specific 2011 predictions right now (maybe at the beginning of January), but I’ve noticed a lot of intuitives getting very nervous about something “big” happening next year. Part of me wonders if we’re all just collectively freaking out because we’ve bought into the Mayan calendar story (2012 is just around the corner!!!), but I also know logically that the economic mess we are in is probably not going to end well.

I do agree something shocking and unexpected will happen next year. What is that shocking and unexpected thing going to be? I can’t tell you! If I could, it would not be shocking nor unexpected!

Now…I do feel a dark cloud is coming in over America…the energy is not good but we in part create that energy. So I’m thinking about ways to inject some pro-active, positive energy into all the doom and gloom. I don’t know about you, but I’m not taking the possible collapse of America and life as we know it sitting down.

WikiLeaks & Cyberwars: The cyberwars have begun. (They are also referred to as “data wars.”) “Hactivists” (the combination of “hacker” + “activist”) are hackers who are using their skills for protest. In response to the shutdown of WikiLeaks accounts, hacktivists have been hitting Mastercard, PayPal, and Amazon’s websites. This is just the beginning, I feel, and if the government/corporate oligarchies continue to smack down on free speech, you can bet the hactivism is just going to increase.

After all, who actually runs the computers and networks of the government and corporations? Computer nerds, who are often anti-authoritarian and not tied to social approval like CEOs and politicians are. I would not be surprised if hactivists shut down the country for a day…but of course, when that happens, more smackdowns will occur and then more protests. All of this will be an excuse for more governmental control, which will end up stirring up more anti-government sentiment and so-on and so-forth. Things could get super messy and disruptive.

Alternative Internets: With the above in mind, I expect that alternative Internets will start cropping up that are beyond corporate/government control. I didn’t make this up – years ago I read about an idea for a peer-to-peer Internet run on wifi from personal computers. Not only do I think there will be an Alter-Internet someday, but a variety of Internets, some of which will be set up for people who have a particular interest (such as gaming). Some will be open and some will be encrypted so only those who have the codes can enter. These Internets will be vital to maintain freedom of speech and help organize people when and if governments get out of control.

Martial Law: Are the TSA body scanners preparing us for martial law? I don’t sense martial law coming in for all of America, but I do feel there will be civil unrest in some cities that will end up creating a de facto martial law when the National Guard gets called in. I really do have a bad feeling about the future of Los Angeles, which is one reason why I left.

President Palin? I think Palin may run for 2012, but I don’t think it’s her time to president. Strangely enough, I think she still has a good chance of being our first woman president, but maybe in about 20 years, when the country will be hugely different (maybe even organized differently), the zeitgeist will have shifted dramatically, and those people who have been rabidly anti-Palin will frankly have bigger and better things to worry about, such as their gas rationing under Peak Oil.

For some reason, I see Palin reinventing herself in the next 10-20 years as being an advocate for the poor. That might sound strange…but understand that she still won’t be pushing for government programs, but trying to get people together to help people in need. When the economy collapses, a lot of middle class will become poor, so poverty will become a huge issue for a lot of Americans. When Palin takes up this banner, people will perceive her differently. (Do not ask me where this strange idea comes from, as I said, I am pulling some of this stuff out of thin air.)

Obama Retiring: I don’t see Obama as president in 2012. I do not feel he will be assassinated (so don’t worry about that), though I always felt he would die somewhat young (more due to his health from his cigarette addiction). I don’t see him being president past this term, perhaps because he chooses not to run again. But I also feel there will be a lot of shocking, bizarre, crazy things that will happen in the next presidential election, so how this all falls out will be nothing that we could have possibly predicted.

Economy: The Powers That Be will continue to try to prop up the dollar, the banks, and the economy through short-term measures that will ultimately result in a lot more long-term pain. All of this will result in major financial crisis for the globe (and all of this may have been orchestrated). Will there be a United States dollar in the future? Hmmm maybe. But don’t put all your eggs into that basket. This is why there has been such a rush for gold and silver, though there’s no guarantee anything is safe. Your best bet is to look beyond the mainstream media spin and start reading the econobloggers such as Karl Denninger, who really lays out the corruption in colorful language and takes everyone to task, including Democrats, Republicans, the Tea Party, everybody.

OK, those are my current predictions…if you have any others you want to share, please do below!