Until recently, death was the only way most of humanity could comprehend ascension. The reason is that traditional religions convey an incomplete understanding of spirituality and evolution, including that the soul dies with the body. Yet, a more reasonable proposition is that the energetic release we know as death begins life anew – now freed from the 3rd dimensional form, to a new and completely different level of existence and dimension.

People are discovering that ascension isn’t an enigmatic process reserved only for Jesus and perhaps highly evolved adepts and masters. Ascension is beginning to be perceived as the continual and progressive transformation of consciousness to ever higher frequencies and dimensional levels of existence. All life, including Earth and all her resident species, have been and are continually advancing through this intelligent dimensional progression.

Until recently, humanity maintained only the limiting perception, behavior and frequency of 3rd dimensional consciousness. Then, in recent decades, people began ascending from 3rd to 4th dimensional consciousness, and in the process, embodying both dimensional levels simultaneously. Now some people are beginning to ascend from 4th to 5th dimensional consciousness. Hence, individuals can exist in several universal dimensions simultaneously. This confirms that ascension occurs without leaving the body.

The Seeding of Freedom

Our current stage of ascension was seeded long ago, as liberation and ascension were seeded as living realities into human consciousness. This occurred through the lives of two people.

The first seeding was 3,300 years ago, through Moses and the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. This is significant because it is the first account of a large-scale assemblage risking everything for liberation, and successfully relocating themselves to its refuge. Their exodus from Egypt, deliverance from bondage, and destruction of their subjugators both represents and models the liberation of humanity from the bondage of Satan, the symbolic embodiment of the negative polarity. (Which means that for many Jesus would be the symbolic embodiment of the positive polarity.)

Through stories passed down the generations, the vast numbers of this extraordinary passage seeded liberation as a reality into the human collective consciousness. Their journey, struggles, temptations and victories can serve as inspiration forus now. Like them, we must press through the wilderness of difficulties until we find the promise fulfilled…

The second seeding occurred 2,000 years ago, through Jesus, whose life and teachings signaled a major turning point. Followers and witnesses were amazed with the integrity with which he lived, and confounded and dazzled by his ascension. These both profoundly disturbed and challenged their world view.

The power of their response activated them to a highly energized state, and opened them to the possibility of a new reality. Though their brain function was too limited to fully grasp his teachings and life, they nevertheless witnessed profundity. It was thus seeded into the human collective consciousness, and genetic possibility, and likewise passed down the generations.

As the embodiment of the light (offered by the positive polarity), forgiveness, unconditional love and compassion, Jesus initiated humanity into the possibility of freedom, not through escape and “relocation” at the same 3rd dimensional level, but through ascension. The Exodus proved that people could liberate themselves from bondage by another. Whereas Jesus showed that bondage is a state of consciousness from which one can and must ultimately liberate oneself through ascension.

Seeding Becomes Reality – The Possibility of Ascension Begins

Humanity is now clearly undergoing an unprecedented evolutionary shift – an ascension – that formally began with the last Uranus-Pluto conjunction. Uranus and Pluto are slow moving planets, so it takes them a long time to meet in conjunction. Hence, a rare conjunction that first occurred direct on October 9, 1965 @ 17 Virgo, then in retrograde on April 4, 1966 @ 16 Virgo, and direct again on June 30, 1966 @ 15 Virgo. During that time, some people began feeling a “non-negotiable demand” for change, and initiated a radical departure from the traditional paradigm and way of life.

At that time, African Americans, then students, were demanding simple rights, the women’s movement was in its infancy, and hippies were “dropping out” to expand their awareness and find their way back to respectful basics. People began following Eastern spiritual masters, doing yoga, meditating, turning to the wisdom of ancient systems such astrology, tarot, numerology and the I Ching, radically changing their names and diets, and refusing to eat animals. Men refused to go to war, countless ancient and new healing modalities began emerging, people were becoming self-employed, and so on. A dynamic time indeed!

In Transpersonal Astrology, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are regarded as the transpersonal planets. This means that their function is to stimulate change, each in its own distinctive way. They do this by receiving galactic intelligence as higher frequencies then reflecting that new information into the solar system (like the nighttime moon reflects the sun’s light).

The frequency of the new information “disturbs” existing paradigms and structures, and reveals what is out of alignment with the current evolutionary intent. Each in their own ways, the transpersonal planets reveal the divisive perceptions, fears, limitations and weaknesses for which the old strategies and structures were devised. Through the sign represented by the constellation of their backdrop, they most intensely disturb the aspect of life represented by the “house” in which the conjunction was located in each individual’s birth chart. And when they aspect major points in a chart – planets, cardinal points and house cusps – those functions are influenced as well. This translates to disturbances in ones life that provoke change.

Uranus initiates the transformational process. It “pulls out the rug” or shatters that which appeared stable but was held in place by tradition, illusion and fear. It disturbs or even destroys structures erected within paradigms unsupportive of the highest good. Through sudden, unexpected change (catastrophe, accident, serious illness, divorce, death, loss of job or money and so on) with loss and pain, disturbance inevitably paves the way for new understanding, perspectives, and ways of being. As this occurs with individuals, it expands into the collective, as demonstrated in the mid 1960s.

The influence of Neptune is like the constant ebb and flow of oceanic tides. Steadily over time, it dissolves and disperses the debris from Uranian upheaval. Within the psyche, as it dissolves illusion it begins to reveal a vision of greater possibility. Neptune was positioned in Scorpio, within just one degree of a direct sextile with the Virgo Uranus/Pluto conjunction. Since sextiles are constructive aspects, Neptune added further support to an already dynamic arousal.

Pluto is the unceasing coercion ever compelling us to see the truth – spiritual or practical – awaiting revelation through the process of change. We can’t escape truth, but we can deny and ignore it, distort and misspeak it; and in the process, threaten our stability, security and tacit complacency. Yet Pluto is ever-persistent, revealing the negative and destructive conditions and circumstances resulting from fear, denial, blame, self-righteousness, deception and so on.

Together, these transformational forces are a highly demanding and pragmatically supportive relationship that forever changes human life. They catalyze revolution. They The last time they so aspected was in 1850-51, as debates about slavery heated up the in the US Congress, then lead to our great Civil War; and the revolutions of many European countries in 1848, demonstrating the plights of the lower classes and new attitudes toward individualism, idealism, romanticism and religion, and the advancement of science and technology, to name a few. The preceding time was in 1710-11, and the making of modern political theory, the repeal of English laws against witchcraft, abolishment of torture in Russia, for instance.

More recently, they catalyzed the onset of a New Age, when humanity began escaping the bondage of long- and powerfully-held repressive traditions. Combined individual actions became a collective arousal for change; and began an ascension from a profoundly limited and limiting 3rd dimensional existence to the infinite possibilities of 4th dimensional consciousness. In essence, one side of the 3rd dimensional container suddenly burst open, and people began ascending into 4th dimensional freedom, seeking whatever would heal their wounds and restore them to freedom. Life began changing. The body can be contained, but the spirit, once liberated, is forever free.

A New Consciousness, A New Dimension

Since the upheaval catalyzed by the 1960s Uranus/Pluto conjunction, and the emergence of numerous spiritual perspectives and healing modalities, more and more people have begun awakening. The result is the 4th dimensional drive for self-knowledge, meaning, purpose and spiritual fulfillment. In the process, we free ourselves from the tradition-dominated, individually- and spiritually-confining 3rd dimensional existence.

Some cultures have evolved dramatically. Remembering that humanity has been a species for 1,000,000 years and writing for 5,000 years, four decades is only a moment – a mere breath or two – in humanity’s evolution.

Now, according to several studies, many populations are comprised of Cultural Creatives, which is another way of acknowledging and describing 4th dimensional consciousness – the live birth of the consciousness and lifestyle seeded in the 1960s. According to the website Cultural Creatives, as of 2000, there were 50 million US adults with this worldview, values and lifestyle, and about 80-90 million in the European Union. You are likely a Cultural Creative, as are many or most of your dear friends and colleagues. We seek to follow our own inner directives, we care about the world and quality of life around us, and are actively exploring the unlimited possibilities of 4th D consciousness. Plus, many of us are self-employed, earning a living offering services birthed in this evolution.

At first, escaping restriction can lead to overwhelm and indulgence. This can bring disturbing consequences, but in truth, the best way to achieve balance is to experience the extremes. And although these oscillations are indeed uncomfortable, and cause for concern, they ultimately lead to a more open, expanded, inclusive perspective, infrastructure and life. In time, they bestow virtue, integrity, compassion and unconditional love.

Currently, you are most likely existing in two universal dimensions simultaneously – 3rd and 4th – perhaps sometimes shifting in and out of 5th. Some people have begun evolving from the 4th to 5th dimensional consciousness. They personify integrity and compassion, loving unconditionally and experiencing life as one unified, intelligent whole. By doing so, they enjoy grace, abundance, and creative freedom.

While restricted 3rd D consciousness is easily distinguishable from expansive 4th D consciousness, 5th is more subtle. It’s quiet. It’s respectful, unassuming and wholly loving regardless of context. You feel it in the quality of the consciousness speaking… feeling safe and spacious in its presence. More about these in the next installment.