Gay marriage signed into law in Ireland

Yahoo – AFP, October 29, 2015

Ireland voted 62.1 percent in favour of allowing marriage between two people 

"without distinction as to their sex" in May, the first time anywhere that gay 

marriage has been legalised in a referendum (AFP Photo/Paul Faith)

Dublin (AFP) - Same-sex marriage was signed into law in Ireland, five months after a historic referendum saw the traditionally Catholic nation become the world's first country to vote for gay unions.

"The Presidential Commission today signed the 'Marriage Bill 2015' into law," the president's office said in a statement, paving the way for the first weddings within a month.

Ireland voted 62.1 percent in favour of allowing marriage between two people "without distinction as to their sex" in May, the first time anywhere that gay marriage has been legalised in a referendum.

The president's endorsement was the final hurdle for the bill after legal challenges briefly delayed the legislation from coming into effect.

The first ceremonies should be possible by mid-November, according to Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald.

Senator Katherine Zappone, who had long campaigned for her Canadian marriage to her wife to be recognised in Ireland, called it "a defining moment".

"It is a deeply emotional moment for those of us who have campaigned for so long," Zappone said in a statement.

"This victory truly belongs to the nation, it is a moment for us all."

In a memorable moment that unfolded live on national television after the referendum result was announced, Zappone proposed to her wife Ann Louise Gilligan to re-marry her under Irish law.

International gay rights campaigners congratulated efforts by Irish activists to win public support for a "Yes" vote in the referendum.

Revelers hoist a celebratory sign after Ireland's marriage referendum passed

 resoundingly on May 23, 2015 -- a result that moved closer to implementation with

a presidential bill-signing October 29 (AFP Photo/Paul Faith)

"Tribute must also be paid to national politicians in Ireland, as all the main political parties put aside their partisan differences to campaign for the greater goal of equality," Evelyne Paradis of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association said in a statement.

Marriages between same sex couples that took place outside of Ireland will now be recognised under Irish law.

Couples already in civil partnerships, which were introduced in Ireland in 2011, will be able to marry within weeks.

May's referendum generated a lively, and at times divisive, debate in Ireland, which only decriminalised homosexual acts in 1993.

"The referendum confirmed that Irish people want a society that embraces diversity while valuing the family and marriage," Fitzgerald said last week, as the bill passed through the upper house of parliament.

"On 22 May 2015, the people of Ireland showed the scale of their ambition for our society."

President Michael D Higgins is on a visit to the United States, so in his place the bill was signed by senior delegates of the Presidential Commission.

German frustration builds over TTIP secrecy from US

German parliamentarians are demanding access to documents that contain the US position on transatlantic trade negotiations. TTIP supporters in the US argue that Washington shouldn't lay all of its cards on the table.

Deutsche Welle, 31 Oct 2015

In Germany, the documents are only available in the US embassy in Berlin. Known as "consolidated texts," they can contain the positions of both Brussels and Washington on key aspects of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

Access to the embassy reading room has been limited to 139 German government officials cleared by the Ministry for Economic Affairs. National parliamentarians do not have access under the current process, according to the US embassy's German-language website.

The German parliament is chafing under the restrictions. Even Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right Christian Democrats, who support strong trans-Atlantic relations and generally favor a trade agreement with the US, have grown critical. Norbert Lammert, president of the Bundestag, warned this week that parliament would not approve an agreement if it wasn't given greater oversight during the negotiations.

"I see no chance that the Bundestag would ratify a trade agreement between the EU and the USA without involvement in how it came together or any say regarding alternatives," Lammert said.

According to Daniel Hamilton, the executive director of the Center for Transatlantic Relations at Johns Hopkins University, Washington is concerned that providing greater access to the draft documents will result in leaks that could undermine the negotiations before a text is finalized.

"The real answer here is that in the end TTIP will be a mixed agreement in EU jargon, which means all member-state parliaments plus the European parliament will have to approve it," Hamilton told DW.

"So 29 different parliaments will have to approve this," he said. "They will have full access to everything obviously once they get that far, but they're not that far."

'Disenchantment with the EU'

The US position has softened somewhat. Until May, the consolidated texts weren't available in the EU member states at all. There was a reading room at the US mission in Brussels where cleared officials could view the draft documents.

Under pressure from the member states, Brussels negotiated with Washington to make the documents more accessible. The two sides agreed to set up reading rooms in US embassies throughout the EU. The current arrangement is based on the practice in Washington, where select officials are given clearance to read draft trade documents in secured rooms.

"There's been a lot more transparency than we've had in the past," Joseph Quinlan, an expert on trans-Atlantic economic relations and chief market strategist at US Trust, told DW. "You can't show the world your cards and not expect the people you're negotiating with across the table not to know what your cards are. There's a fine line there."

Many believe the process is still too opaque. According to the daily Tagesspiegel, those officials who have been cleared can only access the reading room two at time, twice a week, for two hours each session. And they can only use a pencil, pen and paper to take limited notes, the daily says.

Some organizations have taken matters into their own hands. Wikileaks has offered a 100,000-euro ($110,090) reward for TTIP documents. There have been repeated Internet leaks to the investigative journalism platform Correctiv.org, based in Germany.

Wikileaks also wants access
to the documents

In response, the European Commission temporarily allowed access only to the Brussels reading room over the summer, refusing to forward the consolidated texts to the national capitals. German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel - a cautious supporter of TTIP - criticized the move, calling it a "very regrettable step backward."

"There's disenchantment with the EU and the Commission broadly across Europe, and TTIP becomes an area in which they vent those frustrations," Hamilton said.

Strong German opposition

Limiting access to the consolidated texts may be fueling the anti-TTIP fire. In October, more than 150,000 people protested against the proposed trade agreement in Berlin, the largest demonstrations in Germany since the run-up to the Iraq war in 2003. According to a 2014 Eurobarometer poll, 39 percent of Germans support TTIP while 41 percent are against.

"There's a general sense in Germany that German standards are world class and that American standards simply aren't and that it's all about the American Übermacht coming over and steam rolling the European way of life," Hamilton said. "Without much substance behind that, it's kind of a gut feeling."

The opposition is more pronounced in Germany. In the other major EU states, clear public majorities support the trade deal - 65 percent in the UK, 50 percent in France, 58 percent in Italy, and 73 percent in Poland. But as the EU's largest economy and most populous country, the success or failure of TTIP will likely be decided in Germany.

"I don't think the [German] government nor the members of parliament who are pro TTIP have been very well organized," Hamilton said. "They have not tried to articulate the case why you want TTIP. The business community has been passive."

"Those criticizing have been well organized," Hamilton said. "They have a pan-European organizational structure and they are active. They have simply taken the initiative away from the proponents."

Related Articles:

Labour MPs, MEPs criticise EU-US free trade agreement
Dutch MPs call for national laws to have priority over TTIP trade treaty

Dutch to support China-backed Asian infrastructure bank

Yudhoyono to Joko: Don’t Force Indonesia to Enter TPP

Yudhoyono, whose foreign policy mantra was 'A thousand friends, zero enemies,'

has cautioned Joko to look at the geopolitical consequences of signing up to the

 TPP, which conspicuously leaves out China but includes US ally Japan.

(Antara Photo/Prasetyo Utomo)

.

Saudi blogger wins Sakharov rights prize, sparking pardon calls

Yahoo – AFP, Arnaud Bouvier with Bryan McManus in Brussels, October 29, 2015

An Amnesty International activist holds a picture of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi 

during a protest against his flogging punishment on January 29, 2015 in front of 

Saudi Arabia's embassy to Germany in Berlin. The 30-year-old Saudi has been

 sentenced to 1,000 lashes for insulting Islam and is serving a 10-year jail term - a 

case which has drawn widespread international criticism. (AFP Photo/Tobias Schwarz)

Strasbourg (France) (AFP) - Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, who was sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison for insulting Islam, was awarded the European Parliament's prestigious Sakharov human rights prize on Thursday.

The 31-year-old, who was arrested in 2012, is an outspoken advocate of free speech whose public flogging in January triggered international outrage when he was subjected to a first round of 50 lashes.

European Parliament head Martin Schulz

 called on Saudi King Salman to 

immediately release blogger Raif

Badawi (AFP Photo/Thierry Charlier)

Announcing the award, parliament chief Martin Schulz called on Saudi King Salman to immediately release Badawi, denouncing his sentence as "brutal torture" and demanding that Riyadh live up to Europe's standards on human rights.

"This man has had... imposed on him one of the most cruel penalities which can only be described as brutal torture," Schulz said. "I call on the Saudi king to immediately free him."

Watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) echoed the call, urging King Salman to pardon the father of three.

Badawi, who co-founded the Saudi Liberal Network Internet discussion group, was detained in 2012 on cyber crime charges.

Like most Saudis, Badawi is a Sunni Muslim but his network had announced a "day of liberalism" and called for an end to the influence of religion on public life in the kingdom.

He was arrested and the website shut down on grounds it criticised Saudi Arabia's notorious religious police.

He was initially charged in 2013, and last year a Saudi court sentenced him to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in jail.

Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, 

photographed in 2012

(AFP Photo)

His wife Ensaf Haidar, who fled to Canada with his children, hailed the award as "a message of hope and courage" which came just two days after she warned that her husband's flogging was expected to resume.

"I hope that this prize is going to help advance" Badawi's cause and allow him to rejoin his family, Haidar told AFP.

She said she had not spoken to him in six days and was not sure if he even knew that he had won the prize. "When I last spoke with him his morale was low, so I hope this news gives him hope," she said.

'A message to his torturers'

The award was also hailed by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) which said he had played a major role in promoting freedom of expression and attempting to foster public debate in Saudi Arabia.

"Raif has spoken up for all Saudis who simply dream of enjoying the same rights as other human beings. He has paid dearly for his commitment and this Sakharov Prize sends a clear and strong message to his torturers," said FIDH president Karim Lahiji.

Born on January 13, 1984, Badawi studied economics then went on to run an English-language and computer learning institute, says Haidar, who married him in 2001.

He eventually found his calling as a writer, focusing on free speech.

The network that he co-founded was described by Paris-based RSF as "an online discussion network whose aim is to encourage political, religious and social debates in Saudi Arabia".

Supporters of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi protest in Paris against his sentence of 

1,000 lashes for "insulting Islam", on May 7, 2015 (AFP Photo/Stephane de Sakutin)

In a blog posting last year which was translated into English, Badawi wrote: "It requires courage to respect others' views, to appreciate others' beliefs and choices along with their right to believe them."

RSF named Badawi as one of three winners of its press freedom prize last year.

Sentence upheld

After his arrest, a court in the Red Sea city of Jeddah sentenced him in 2013 to seven years in jail and 600 lashes for insulting Islam and setting up the liberal network.

An appeals court overturned the original verdict, sending Badawi's case back for retrial with his sentence increased last year to 10 years and 1,000 lashes. The sentence was upheld by a Saudi court in June.

Citing an informed source, Badawi's wife on Tuesday said Saudi authorities had "given the green light to the resumption of Raif Badawi's flogging", saying it would take place "soon" at the prison where he is being held. The information was posted on a website dedicated to her husband's plight.

Ensaf Haidar, wife of jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, in Berlin on May 21,

 2015 prior to the Amnesty International's Ambassador of Conscience Awards 

2015 ceremony (AFP Photo/John Macdougall)

Britain on Wednesday announced that a Briton facing the threat of flogging in Saudi Arabia for being caught with home-made wine is to be released from custody.

The prestigious Sakharov human rights prize is given every year to honour individuals who combat intolerance, fanaticism and oppression.

Last year, it was awarded to Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege for helping victims of gang rapes by soldiers.

Past winners include Pakistani education campaigner Malala Yousafzai, late South African president Nelson Mandela and Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

Related Articles:

Blogger Raif Badawi's long struggle for freedom of expression

Saudi Arabia postpones flogging of blogger Badawi for third week

Saudi blogger Raif Badawi’s case referred to supreme court, says his wife

Saudi postpones blogger lashing on medical grounds

Protesters call for the release of Raif Badawi outside the Saudi embassy

in The Hague, Netherlands. Photograph: Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto/Rex

Report: Arms maker sued Germany over Saudi Arabia exports license

An investigation by German media has uncovered a lawsuit filed by Heckler & Koch against a subordinate office of the economy ministry. The arms maker complained about the lack of export licenses for Saudi Arabia.

Deutsche Welle, 29 Oct 2015

The G36 Heckler & Koch assault rifle has been used in several conflicts

German public broadcasters NDR and WDR, in collaboration with the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" newspaper, on Thursday published a report detailing a lawsuit filed against the federal government by arms maker Heckler & Koch.

Waffenhersteller verklagt Bundesregierung, weil die Export von Teilen des G36 nach Saudi-Arabien verweigert https://t.co/JKmdb6coLj

— Süddeutsche Zeitung (@SZ) October 29, 2015

"The weapons manufacturer Heckler & Koch sued the federal government," the report said.

The arms maker's lawsuit reportedly filed a complaint against the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control's (BAFA) apparent decision to stop authorizing export permits for components of the G36 assault rifle.

The report cites government sources as saying Heckler & Koch are seeking the restitution of tens of millions of euros.

In 2008, Saudi Arabia built a G36 assault rifle production plant outside the country's capital Riyadh, the report said.

However, BAFA, a subordinate office of Germany's Federal Ministry of Economy, ceased reviewing export license applications by the arms dealer, after a decision was taken "at the political level."

The report added that Heckler & Koch have been unable to deliver necessary components to Saudi Arabia for the manufacturing of the G36 assault rifle.

According to German law, a company can sue federal authorities when an application "has not been decided, [and] without sufficient reason, in an objectively reasonable time."

Germany's Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel has been criticized for seeing small arms exports to non-EU and non-NATO countries triple under his watch.

In February, Germany reauthorized some weapons exports to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Egypt, countries which have been criticized for being human rights abusers.

ls/mm (NDR, WDR, SZ)

Related Article:

"The Biggest Filter" - July 18-19, 2015 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“..  War - Nobody Sees What is Coming

Let's talk about war. Let's discuss something that very few are considering. What you expect next is completely and totally out of perspective of what's actually coming, because you only have one kind of knowledge about war. Your war has advanced over history with bigger explosions, higher yields and weapons that fire faster. Nuclear, laser, sound - all are far more efficient ways to terminate life. That's how war has evolved. However, there hasn't really been anything called anti-war devices, have there?

I'm going to give you an invitation for discovery, and some are already in the postulation stage of this. Multidimensional fields change 3D reality. Period. I've told you that lurking in your future are discoveries that will help you with every aspect of your life, mainly due to the discovery of what makes basic physics do what it does at the atomic level. If you fully understand multidimensionality, you can manipulate the formula for mass and create massless objects. You can even do it with the tools you have right now.

There is physics possible that can create certain kinds of fields - listen to me - certain kinds of heretofore unseen multidimensional fields that are harmless to your biology, but will alter some attributes of 3D. These fields are designer fields, and they are isolated and specifically designed for one purpose. When in the field, conventional explosive reactions can't happen. Can you imagine putting a field within rooms of a building so that no matter what weapon is fired, whether it's a machine gun or a pistol, it simply won't work! What about targeting an airplane when it drops a bomb and it won't explode? This is pure physics. The alteration of 3D reality through multidimensional designer fields, both small and large, is coming. I know you don't believe it, but just wait. As you start to discover multidimensional physics and the ability to control it, you will discover that there is a "benevolent attitude" of this kind of physics. You can't "weaponize it" as easily as you can 3D. It is an entirely different kind of reality.

Again, I tell you that when you understand how mass is created at the atomic level, you'll learn how to create massless objects. By the way, that has another name. You call it anti-gravity, but there is no such thing. It's just the ability to finally control the formula that creates gravity with mass. You understand that this is simple physics, don't you? And it's very easy to manipulate for benevolent uses through other fields that you do know about. Just like you have learned to control certain kinds of physics that are 3D, you can also control multidimensional physics. Imagine a planet where it doesn't matter what war device you had, it wouldn't work anymore! What do you think about that? Imagine physics having the ability to shatter the molecules of a biological weapon. Do you think that would change world politics? It's happening, it's going to happen. It's in the laboratory today. You're broaching the discovery of multidimensional physics. Being able to control that which you don't think is controllable is what you are doing. It's going to make such a difference to the Human race!

You don't believe it, since your knowledge of how things work just doesn't allow for such a thing. This is your filter.  ….”

EU watchdog says Neelie Kroes should not work for Merrill Lynch

DutchNews, October 28, 2015

The Netherlands’ former EU commissioner Neelie Kroes is one of four commissioners whose current job could run foul of conflict of interest rules, according to Brussels watchdogs Corporate Europe Observatory and Lobby Control. 

Nine former commissioners now have jobs with commercial sector companies, ‘leading to fears of an unhealthily close relationship between the EU’s executive body and private interests,’ the organisations say. 

Eight of those jobs, done by four different commissioners, could be considered to involve a conflict of interest and ‘should have been rejected outright’, the watchdogs say. 

This includes the former Dutch competition and digital agenda commissioner Kroes, who is now an advisor to Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Influence 

The current commission should not have approved these appointments, the groups say. They are also concerned that former commission chairman José Manuel Barroso is now working as a lobbyist and has some 20 different jobs. 

Socialist MP Dennis de Jong called pointed out that current commission chairman Jean-Claude Juncker had said the highest possible ethical standards would be applied when assessing new jobs.

‘It is hardly surprising that European citizens have no faith in European institutions,’ he is quoted as saying by the Telegraaf. ‘The influence of the big corporate lobbies goes right to the top. The last word has not been said about this.

Ancient warrior's tomb and huge treasure hoard found in Greece

Yahoo – AFP, October 26, 2015

An undated picture released on October 26, 2105 by the Greek Culture Ministry

 shows an ivory comb, one of the items found in a 3,500 years old warrior tomb 

unearthed in the Peloponeese region of Greece (AFP Photo)

Athens (AFP) - US archaeologists in Greece have uncovered the skeleton of an ancient warrior that has lain undisturbed for more than 3,500 years along with a huge hoard of treasure, the Greek culture ministry announced Monday.

The treasure is "the most important to have been discovered in 65 years" in continental Greece, the ministry said.

The wooden coffin of the unknown soldier -- evidently a person of some importance -- was found on the site of the Mycenaean-era Palace of Nestor on Greece's Peloponnese peninsula.

He had been laid to rest with an array of fine gold jewellery, including an ornate string of pearls, signet rings, a bronze sword with a gold and ivory handle, silver vases and ivory combs.

The jewellery is decorated in the style of the Minoans, the civilisation that flourished on the island of Crete from around 2000 BC, with the figures of deities, animals and floral motifs.

The archaeologists, Jack L. Davis and Sharon R. Stocker from the University of Cincinnati, have identified more than 1,400 pieces "whose quality testifies to the influence of the Minoans" on the later Mycenaeans.

The Mycenean civilisation spread from the Peloponnese across the whole of the eastern Mediterranean in the 2nd century BC.

The tomb, which stands at 2.4 metres (7 feet 10 inches) long and 1.5 metres wide, was unearthed during excavations begun in May near Pylos, on the site of the palace of Nestor.

Built between 1300 and 1200 BC, the palace's ruins were discovered in 1939.

Saudi tells UK it 'won't be lectured to' on human rights

Yahoo – AFP, 26 Oct 2015

Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (R), Saudi Arabia's 

ambassador to the UK, speaks to Britain's Prince Harry during a Jubilee lunch 

at Windsor Castle, west of London, on May 18, 2012 (AFP Photo/Dominic Lipinski)

London (AFP) - Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Britain criticised Monday the breaching of "mutual respect" between the two countries, adding that the Gulf kingdom "will not be lectured to by anyone".

The envoy's comments come after Britain this month cancelled a bid to provide training to Saudi Arabia's penal system, as criticism mounts over the absolute monarchy's human rights record.

Saudi Ambassador Mohammed Bin Nawaf Bin Abdulaziz spoke of his country's economic importance to Britain, and of the value of Saudi cooperation on security matters.

Saudi Arabia's legal code is based on

Islamic sharia law (AFP Photo/Taha Saleh)

"We want this relationship to continue, but we will not be lectured to by anyone," Abdulaziz wrote in an opinion piece in Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper.

"To further our shared strategic interests in the years ahead as we confront a variety of threats, it is crucial that Saudi Arabia be treated with the respect it has unwaveringly afforded the United Kingdom."

The ambassador's blunt and public criticism is unusual for Saudi Arabia, which has in the past preferred closed-door diplomacy in its relations with allies.

The kingdom has become more vocal in recent years with the intensification of conflicts in Syria and Yemen, and in response to the US nuclear deal with Iran.

There has been growing concern in Britain over several Saudi human rights cases in the last few months.

The family of a septuagenarian Briton caught with home-made wine in Saudi Arabia have pleaded for the government to intervene following reports that he is going to be flogged.

A prominent Saudi blogger has been sentenced to the same punishment.

The kingdom also plans to execute young pro-democracy activist Ali al-Nimr, sparking a global outcry.

New leftist opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn raised Nimr's case with Prime Minister David Cameron, urging him to intervene.

"One recent example of this mutual respect being breached was when Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition, claimed that he had convinced Prime Minister David Cameron to cancel a prison consultancy contract with Saudi Arabia," Abdulaziz wrote.

"If the extensive trade links between the two countries are going to be subordinate to certain political ideologies, then this vital commercial exchange is going to be at risk."

Saudi Arabia is Britain's most important trade partner in the Middle East and was its biggest market for arms exports last year.

Cameron also says Saudi Arabia is a key partner on security issues, and has claimed Saudi intelligence has helped saved British lives.

Related Articles:

Three women say Saudi prince abused them at Beverly Hills mansion
Drug smuggling, rape and torture: These 5 Saudi royals all did things commoners would be executed for

Dutch king mentions human rights during China speech

Matthew message (Channelled by Suzanne Ward, October 19, 2015)

Matthew Ward - October 19, 2015

Matthew Ward

With loving greetings from all souls at this station, this is Matthew. Earth is orbiting in astral planes wherein vibrations are impacting your society at a quickening pace. As linear time is “crunching up,” everything in your world is being pushed more swiftly toward remedy, resolution or final moment, and third density karmic experiences are moving faster toward completion.

This acceleration is causing the Illuminati to take irrationally desperate measures to cling to their remnants of control in New York City and Washington, DC. Often fingers have pointed at the United States for self-serving interference in other countries’ affairs, and with justification—all significant federal actions from Day One have been the work of individuals in the Illuminati’s Rockefeller faction within that nation’s government and military forces, all without the knowledge of the citizenry, who mistakenly thought their voices and votes counted.

Let us tell you what evolved civilizations have long observed about your world. People ruled by other corrupt governments knew they were captives of their political systems; however, only recently and only some United States citizens are realizing that they’ve been duped into believing they lived in “the land of the free” and what they’ve been told generation after generation: We must fight our enemies who want to destroy our freedoms and democratic way of life.

Thus, as your world reels from aerial strikes on Doctors without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, a tragedy stemming from Illuminati madness, the blame falls on the United States via the wrongful assumption that the country’s Commander-in-Chief authorized the unconscionable attack. The fact is, behind the scenes President Obama and others in positions of influence—primarily individuals in the US and in China; Israelis who know Netanyahu’s dark intentions to foment WWIII; Russian President Vladimir Putin; Prince William, Duke of Cambridge; and Pope Francis—have been collaborating to uproot all of the far-reaching tentacles of the Illuminati’s Rockefeller and Rothschild factions.

That attack on the hospital; explosions at a peace rally in Ankara, Turkey; clashes between Israelis and Palestinians; the situation in Syria; and shootings in the United States have caused some to view deadly violence and other prevalent conditions globally as “unsolvable problems.” Dear ones, none of the issues of your concern, which also include effects of climate change, lack of clean water, deforestation, near extinction of some animals, diminishing bee population, widespread surveillance, unjust legal and justice systems, enforced vaccinations, massive impoverishment and rampant pollution as well as war mentality, bigotry, greed and ignorance of truths is unsolvable!

Everything happening in your world is due to Earth’s ascension into increasingly lighter energy planes wherein negatively-based activity is more quickly and emphatically running out its energetic course. However, in some circles this is deemed evidence that “end times” are at hand. We know this isn’t your belief, but we think you will enjoy knowing what God told my mother about that concept several years ago:

“Those souls who are intent upon having an Armageddon, so they shall! But for you who aren’t intent upon having that sort of ‘future,” you WON’T! You can stay within the light and rise into higher and higher dimensions of closeness, understanding, awareness. There are no strict rules that are so complex or rigorous that you and anyone else aren’t capable of adhering to them. All that is required is to live within the light! Or in simplest terms: BE KIND.”

And, with thanks to the light—the same energy as love and the most powerful force in the cosmos—your world is overflowing with kindness and godly works as more and more people are “seeing the light.” Joyously greet this unfolding of consciousness connecting with soul-level knowledge—this, not bodies rising into the skies, is personal ascension—the shedding of all of third density’s negative characteristics and harmful behavior to self and others.

As for other aforementioned issues of concern, first we say, do not be fearful about anything! We cannot say too often that the energy of fear refuels those with dark tendencies and the universal law of attraction is in constant operation!

Now then, to address those issues. Harsh effects of climate change will ease as Earth gets closer to attaining her once-moderate climate worldwide; if necessary, residents of sea-level island areas will be relocated in plenty of time to avert danger. Ongoing assistance of your universal family includes neutralizing or ameliorating harmful effects of toxic elements in vaccines and all sources of pollution; and, added to your own technologies that are emerging from Illuminati suppression, your family will introduce advanced technologies that can remedy environmental damage so quickly that you will be astounded. Bees will return and eventually wildlife will rebound to sustainable numbers except for the few species in arctic climes that will not adapt to those areas’ rising temperatures. Peaceful, trustworthy behavior in your society will end the need for surveillance; all unfair or injurious national laws, justice systems, regulations, and cultural traditions will end incrementally; and, as your world’s resources are fairly allocated, poverty will be eliminated.

It is Gaia’s desire and intention that her planetary body be restored to its original health and beauty and Earth’s humankind flourish in abundance and live in harmony with each other and all of Nature. And so it shall be! Planetary ascension—the world transformation process that you went to Earth to assist in—is assured! Personal ascension is a choice that each person makes, and part of attaining spiritual and conscious enlightenment is knowing the soul you are. Most heartily we have welcomed all of your relevant questions and now shall answer those for which there was no space in previous messages.

“How do I ‘go within’ to ask a question and how will I know if the answer is from soul level or my conscious thought?” In solitude and comfort, visualize yourself in the midst of golden white light, think or say aloud what you want to know, then quiet your mind and simply BE. You may want to see if meditative music is relaxing or a distraction, and it could be helpful to ask first a question that can be answered “yes” or “no.” The answer may come immediately or take a few moments, and when it does, it may be a word, phrase or sentence, which may be audible or appear as a printed sign or move in tickertape fashion; or one or more mental images; or a sensation that clearly indicates “yes” or “no.”

If what you see, hear or strongly sense is similar to what you had been thinking, or hoping for, prior to “going within,” it doesn’t mean that the answer is your own thought; it could be confirmation that your conscious thought and soul knowledge expressed as intuition are closely connected. And, please don’t be disheartened if nothing happens at first try, or even a few times—like every other worthwhile endeavor, practice leads to improvement.

“Was it the person Jesus or his soul who knew how to walk on water and turn a few fish and bread loaves into enough food for the multitudes or were those stories made up to substantiate the claim that he is ‘the only son of God’?” Jesus and his soul were one and the same being, just as every other soul-self is. He knew that everyone has the innate capacity to manifest whatever the person desires and can visualize; that’s why his teachings included that whatever he could do, everyone else could, too. He did walk slightly above water on an occasion when there was a need to do so, and one time there was a need to turn a small amount of food into enough for a hungry crowd. I noted both in my journal.

A conversation with my mother soon after we started communicating in 1994, when I was still living in Nirvana, answers a number of queries about the soul’s origin and its relationship with the cumulative soul, and I’ve asked her to copy those parts.

The soul is the very essence of life as it first sprang from Creator. It is an indestructible living entity of light energy that may have a physical body, etheric body or astral body, or it may exist in free spirit only. Our souls, manifested by God through His co-creating powers with Creator, are expressions of the love and light of God and contain in microcosm every essence of God. In any of its forms, the soul is an inviolate independent being at the same time it exists inseparably with God and Creator and all other souls.

The soul is the power behind everything that exists on Earth. It is the life force of all its parts that it creates for ever-greater experiencing. At every level of evolvement, each soul part is an independent self with intelligence, characteristics, choices, goals and all the other life elements that make each person a unique being.

Each individual lifetime of a soul is its personage. The sum of a soul's personages is the cumulative soul, and all knowledge gained by each personage is available to all. Thus, as each one melds into the cumulative soul, bringing the wisdom of that lifetime’s experiences, every individual personage evolves just as the cumulative soul does. I believe the simplest explanation of the cumulative soul is this: It is the composite of all its parts starting with the very first division of itself into an independent lifetime for diversity in experiencing.

Where do cumulative souls reside?

There is no specific place of residence because a cumulative soul is not an individual entity, but rather the indivisible sum of all its personages wherever they are living, and it grows as each one adds its lifetime experiences to the ever-changing composite. Actually, a better description of a cumulative soul than I first gave you is that it is a force field that derives its entire essence from all its aspects wherever they are throughout the universe.

Do you personally know the other personages in your cumulative soul or do you only have access to their knowledge?

I know those who are in this realm and some of us have become friends. Some are spending a lifetime on Earth, and I know very well who they are! Some have moved so far toward the light that our energy densities are incompatible, so a meeting isn’t possible, and others have regressed far from the light into lower densities, and I’m surely not interested in going there! Some have chosen lifetimes out of this galaxy, where I don’t travel often, so I’m barely acquainted with them.

Each has its own soul growth to accomplish, Mother. Wherever the other personages are experiencing for their individual growth, we’re always within the familial bonding of our cumulative soul. But it isn’t necessary that we meet or share lifetime interests or know all the details of each other’s lives. What we do share is the essential knowledge of our collective awareness, otherwise all the individual souls’ learning would be wasted.

The cumulative soul can advance from its station toward the light only by the advancement of its personages. Therefore, each one not only has the benefit of the cumulative soul’s composite knowledge, but it is continuously given encouragement at soul level to master its chosen lessons so the cumulative soul can evolve. However, that is not self-serving—with that soul’s advancement, all of its personages also have the opportunity to evolve. But, depending upon the free will choices of each, the personage can either grow toward the light or regress so far as to become trapped in base energy.

If a personage becomes trapped, how does that affect its cumulative soul's energy?

The lifetime energy registration that consigns a personage to the base energy placement does not affect its cumulative soul because that personage's unique energy stream made its own way entirely by its free will choices. The cumulative soul may encourage its personages, but it can't ever interfere with their free will. However, out of love for all its personages, the cumulative soul may request divine grace to assist any that become trapped in base energy.

Are the individual souls always aware of everything their cumulative soul knows?

Let me compare this with your memory, Mother. Nothing you have learned or experienced is ever lost in your memory system, but you can't remember everything at the same time–it would be overwhelming! Furthermore, many of your experiences were so trivial that they were irrelevant to subsequent happenings and never returned to your conscious mind, yet all are in your memory bank. It's the same with the personages of the cumulative soul as they experience their respective lifetimes.

That makes sense. Matthew, with all these parts of your cumulative soul, I just want to be absolutely sure that you are ONLY my Matthew and nobody else!

Oh, Mother, absolutely I am Matthew and no one else! Every personage is its own soul and no one else! The cumulative soul is the synthesis of all its independently functioning soul-selves.

But it sounds as if every soul that divides itself becomes a cumulative soul, so you could do the same and become one, too.

Mother, I realize that in my eagerness to answer your questions, sometimes my efforts result in confusion rather than clarification. The terms I've given you for the various aspects of soul expression—cumulative soul, personages, soul fragments or sparks and such—are meant only to show the soul's long journey striving through multiple lifetimes to return to its beginning in the perfect love and light of Creator.

In this realm we don't need differentiation of terms, as the soul's energy registration in the universe is evidence of its evolutionary station. Since each soul is its own inviolate self regardless of its station or the number of its progeny, we think of each simply as "soul." And that is how we speak of each one to you unless we are trying to explain the soul growth stages through its independently functioning aspects, or the inextricable and eternal connection of each soul with God and all other souls in the universe.

Thank you, Mother, and yes, I see that once again must leave remaining questions about the soul for the next message. We hope that our answers thus far have been convincing: You are limitlessly powerful, unconditionally loved divine beings in the eternal Oneness of All.

LOVE and PEACE

Suzanne Ward

Website: The Matthew Books

Email: suzy@matthewbooks.com..