Pope warns overeating is 'avenue of personal destruction'

France24 – AFP, 16 October 2019

Vatican City (AFP) - The pope on Wednesday contrasted the world's 820 million hungry people with those who turn food into "an avenue of personal destruction" through overeating, in comments to mark World Food Day.

Pope Francis noted that the "distorted relationship between food and nutrition" has left almost 700 million people overweight, "victims of improper dietary habits".

"We are in fact witnessing how food is ceasing to be a means of subsistence and turning into an avenue of personal destruction," the pontiff said in a message to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation.

People suffer from diabetes and heart disease because of overeating, but also from anorexia and bulimia through deliberate undereating, the pope said.

He called for "the cultivation of lifestyles inspired by gratitude for the gifts we have received and the adoption of a spirit of temperance (and) moderation."

"By adopting such a lifestyle, we will grow in a fraternal solidarity that seeks the common good and avoids the individualism and egocentrism that serve only to generate hunger and social inequality."

"It is a cruel, unjust and paradoxical reality that, today, there is food for everyone and yet not everyone has access to it, and that in some areas of the world food is wasted, discarded and consumed in excess."

India launches 'Modicare', world's biggest health scheme

Yahoo – AFP, September 23, 2018

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the world's largest health insurance
scheme, promising free coverage for half a billion of India's poorest citizens (AFP
Photo/PRAKASH SINGH)

New Delhi (AFP) - Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday launched the world's biggest health insurance scheme, promising free coverage for half a billion of India's poorest citizens ahead of national elections next year.

The bottom 40 percent of India's 1.25 billion people will be covered under the flagship program, dubbed "Modicare", unveiled in the federal budget earlier this year.

The 100 million lowest-income families will be provided 500,000 rupees ($6,900) -- a sizeable sum in India -- in annual health insurance to treat serious ailments.

Modi handed medical cards out at the launch in Ranchi, capital of the eastern state of Jharkhand, calling it a historic day for India.

"We want to strengthen the hands of the poor and stand shoulder to shoulder with them in pursuit of good health," he posted on Twitter.

The scheme is expected to cost the central and 29 state governments $1.6 billion per year in total. Funding will be increased gradually according to demand.

India's overburdened public health system is plagued by a shortage of facilities and doctors and most people use private clinics and hospitals if they can afford to.

But a private consultation can cost 1,000 rupees ($15), a huge sum for millions living on less than $2 a day.

More than 60 percent of the average family's spending goes on medicines and healthcare, the government estimates.

Many of the poorest just go without care.

A report published this month by The Lancet medical journal found substandard healthcare was responsible for an estimated 1.6 million deaths a year in India -- the highest anywhere in the world.

"A scam"

Critics have questioned how the government plans to fund such an enormous safety net, and suggested it was little more than a sop ahead of elections next May.

Modi will be seeking a second term on a platform of pro-poor policies and "Modicare" is a key plank of his pitch to low-income Indians.

"This is going to be another scam. It will benefit only private insurance companies. The citizen of the country will realise later that it is nothing but an election gimmick," said Sanjay Nirupam from India's main opposition Congress Party.

But K. K. Aggarwal, a cardiologist and former president of the Indian Medical Association, said "politicking over the scheme should stop".

"It has been launched, and it is going to be a game changer," he told AFP.

Some healthcare providers have raised concerns about being left out of pocket, fearing the government has underestimated the cost of certain treatments.

Prathap Reddy, chairman of private hospital chain Apollo Hospitals, said the private sector was "rightly worried" about pricing and reimbursements.

"While we all work together to ensure the success of this scheme, there are areas that need focus and fine tuning," he said.

Others say it should have included primary day-to-day healthcare instead of just secondary and tertiary care for more serious and long term treatment.

"Modicare does not extend to primary healthcare, which, we believe, is the weakest link in the provision of public health in India," Rajiv Lall and Vivek Dehejia of the IDFC Institute think-tank said in a column for the Mint newspaper.

India withdraws controversial tax on sanitary pads

Yahoo – AFP, July 22, 2018

A national survey report released earlier this year said around 60 percent of young
women in India aged between 16 and 24 years did not have access to sanitary
pads (AFP Photo/INDRANIL MUKHERJEE)

India has withdrawn a controversial tax on sanitary pads following a vocal campaign led by activists and Bollywood stars to boost female education and empowerment.

Saturday's announcement is part of a slew of changes to the national goods and services tax (GST) intended to reduce the prices of around 90 key consumer goods, many of which target urban middle classes ahead of next year's general election.

"I think all women will be happy to know that sanitary pads will now have 100 percent exemption. There will be no GST on sanitary pads," India's acting finance minister Piyush Goyal told journalists on Saturday.

Activists, Bollywood actors and some politicians had opposed the 12 percent tax, citing a lack of access and affordability for a key hygiene product as a key barrier to female empowerment in the country.

A national survey report released earlier this year said around 60 percent of young women aged between 16 and 24 years did not have access to sanitary pads.

The figure was as high as 80 percent for some of India's poorer central and eastern states.

Reports in the last few years have linked absence of basic infrastructure such as toilets at Indian government schools outside big urban centres, and lack of access to sanitary pads, with higher dropout rates among girls.

"One of those days when a news brings tears of joy as a cause close to ur heart gets fulfilled," Akshay Kumar, one of Bollywood's most popular stars, wrote on Twitter.

Kumar was the lead actor in Padman, a Bollywood movie released earlier this year about the life of an activist who created a line of low-cost sanitary napkins for rural India.

"Thank you ... for understanding the need for menstrual hygiene and exempting sanitary pads from tax. I'm sure crores (tens of millions) of women in our country are silently sending gratitude ur way," he added.

The new national GST (goods and services tax) was introduced last July under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and was the country's biggest tax overhaul in a generation.

It was meant to unify the over $2 trillion economy into a single market, with four tax rates of 5, 12, 18 and 28 percent.

India unveils healthcare for 500 million of its poorest

Yahoo – AFP, February 1, 2018

India has an estimated 840,000 medical doctors -- one for every 1,674 people -- far
fewer than the one per 1,000 people recommended by the World Health Organization
(AFP Photo/PRAKASH SINGH)

India on Thursday announced a national healthcare scheme for half a billion of its poorest citizens in a major giveaway to voters in the final budget before a general election.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said India's most vulnerable families would be able to access up to 500,000 rupees ($7,855) a year for hospital cover through the initiative.

India spends a little over one percent of its GDP on public healthcare -- one of the lowest proportions in the world -- a sum the government is aiming to increase to 2.5 percent by 2025.

The government currently provides 30,000 rupees towards healthcare for poor families, but that sum is insufficient to cover most medical procedures.

The programme would take public healthcare in the world's largest democracy "to a new aspiration level", said Jaitley.

"This will be the world's largest government-funded healthcare programme," he told parliament in his budget speech.

"The government is steadily but surely progressing towards a goal of universal health coverage."

He said "adequate funds" would be provided to roll out the insurance program to 500 million of India's poorest nationwide.

Nearly $190 million was earmarked to improve smaller local health centres accessed by many of the most vulnerable, he added.

India is home to 1.25 billion people but lacks sufficient doctors, and state-run hospitals are stretched to breaking point.

Patients face long delays for even minor treatment, and a consultation with a private GP can cost 1,000 rupees ($15) -- a huge sum for millions living on less than $2 a day.

Jaitley said the government was "seriously concerned" that millions of Indians had to borrow or sell assets to receive adequate treatment in hospital.

India only has an estimated 840,000 medical doctors -- one for every 1,674 people -- far fewer than the one per 1,000 people recommended by the World Health Organization.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi won a thumping mandate in 2014 promising, among other things, a universal healthcare plan to protect India's poorest.

The budget is his government's last before Indians go back to the polls for a general election, which must be called by May next year.

Cambodia bans human breast milk exports to US

Yahoo – AFP, March 28, 2017

Cambodia temporarily halted breast milk exports by Utah-based Ambrosia Labs,
which claimed to be the first firm to source the product from overseas and
distribute it in the US (AFP Photo/Raul ARBOLEDA)

Phnom Penh (AFP) - Cambodia officially banned selling and exporting locally-pumped human breast milk Tuesday, after reports exposed how women were turning to the controversial trade to boost meagre incomes in one of Southeast Asia's poorest countries.

The order comes after Cambodia temporarily halted breast milk exports by Utah-based Ambrosia Labs, which claims to be the first firm to source the product from overseas and distribute it in the United States.

The milk was pumped by poor Cambodian women in the capital Phnom Penh and then shipped to the US, where it was pasteurised and sold for $20 per 5 oz (147 ml) pack.

The company's customers are American mothers who want to supplement their babies' diets or cannot produce enough milk of their own.

On Tuesday, Cambodia's cabinet ordered the health ministry to "take actions to immediately prevent the purchasing and exporting of breast milk from mothers from Cambodia," according to a letter seen by AFP.

"Although Cambodia is poor and (life is) difficult, it is not at the level that it will sell breast milk from mothers," it added.

Cambodia's cabinet has ordered the health ministry to "take actions to immediately

 prevent the purchasing and exporting of breast milk from mothers from Cambodia," 

according to a letter seen by AFP (AFP Photo/Fred DUFOUR)

Ambrosia Labs has defended its business in previous interviews, saying the model encouraged Cambodian women to continue breast feeding, earned them much needed extra income and helped fill milk bank shortages in the US.

But UNICEF -- the arm of the UN protecting children -- welcomed the ban, saying the trade was exploitative and that excess breast milk should remain in Cambodia, where many babies lack proper nutrition.

"In Cambodia exclusive breastfeeding for newborns for their first six months declined from 75 per cent in 2010 to 65 per cent in 2014," Debora Comini, UNICEF's Cambodia Representative said in a statement.

Ros Sopheap, the director of the local women's rights group Gender and Development for Cambodia (GDC), applauded the government's decision to bar the trade.

"Even if women agree to do it voluntarily, they often have no other choices and face economic pressure," she told AFP.

Chea Sam, a 30-year-old mother who once worked for Ambrosia Labs, told AFP in a recent interview that she had been selling her breast milk for three months after the birth of her son.

She said she earned $7.5-$10 a day and she knew at least 20 other mothers doing the same.

"We are regretful that this trade has been banned. It had helped our livelihood a lot," she told AFP after the exports were initially suspended.

Health care: Obama warns against changes that harm Americans

Yahoo – AFP, March 23, 2017

People protest Trump administration policies that threaten the Affordable
Care Act, Medicare and Medicaid in January 2017 in Los Angeles, California
(AFP Photo/DAVID MCNEW)

Washington (AFP) - Former president Barack Obama warned Thursday against approving a Republican bill that would repeal his signature health care reform law unless the measure improves coverage for Americans.

"We should start from the baseline that any changes will make our health care system better, not worse for hardworking Americans. That should always be our priority," Obama said in a statement on the seventh anniversary of his signing "Obamacare" into law.

Obama weighed in on the big debate of the day in Washington as the House of Republicans prepared for a high-stakes, too-close-to-call vote on a new health care plan backed by President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly dismissed Obamacare as disastrous.

But in doing away with the Obama law, the Trump plan would cause an estimated 14 million people to lose their health care insurance by next year, according to an assessment by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.

President Donald Trump faces a reckoning Thursday as US lawmakers vote on the Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare pic.twitter.com/V0LISusIlD

— AFP news agency (@AFP) March 23, 2017

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Pope gives priests permanent right to pardon abortion

Yahoo – AFP, Ella Ide, 21 November 2016

Pope Francis greets the crowd from the popemobile after a mass marking
the end of the Vatican's jubilee year on November 20, 2016

Pope Francis declared Monday that all priests would have the right to forgive abortion, making permanent a temporary measure put in place for the Vatican's jubilee year.

"I henceforth grant to all priests, in virtue of their ministry, the faculty to absolve those who have committed the sin of procured abortion," the pope wrote in an apostolic letter marking the end of the "Year of Mercy", which wound up Sunday.

"The provision I had made in this regard, limited to the duration of the Extraordinary Holy Year, is hereby extended," he wrote.

The Argentine, 79, said he had to "restate as firmly as I can that abortion is a grave sin, since it puts an end to an innocent life".

On Sunday, as he brought the jubilee to an end by closing the bronze-panelled Holy Door in Saint Peter's Square, Francis gave an interview in which he slammed abortion as "a horrendous crime".

But he said Monday that the end of the special year did not mean the end of mercy itself, and so-called sinners must be given a chance to repent. The Catholic Church considers abortion to be a sin.

"I can and must state that there is no sin that God's mercy cannot reach and wipe away when it finds a repentant heart seeking to be reconciled with the Father," Francis said in the letter.

"May every priest, therefore, be a guide, support and comfort to penitents on this journey of special reconciliation."

The forgiveness stretches not only to women who have abortions but those who carry them out or are involved in any way.

'A major gesture'

The watchword of mercy has meant helping the unfortunate, and welcoming outcasts back into the fold.

Francis hopes greater compassion from a more open-minded Church will not only counter xenophobia but also draw people to pews.

"The concession on abortion has had little practical effect in places such as the United States, where many bishops had already delegated permission to priests to forgive the sin," wrote Vatican expert John Allen on the Catholic Cruxnow.com website.

"But symbolically it's been interpreted as a major gesture of outreach to women," he said.

The letter, entitled Misericordia et Misera ("Mercy and Misery"), was signed by Francis at the end of a mass closing the jubilee.

Critics have said his emphasis on mercy reduces the gravity of perceived sins, but the pope said rigidly sticking to "the level of the law is equivalent to thwarting faith and divine mercy".

He also stressed that priests had to help members of their flock on a case by case basis, rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach to "sinners", saying: "the works of mercy are 'handcrafted', in the sense that none of them is alike".

Francis has been challenged by traditionalists over his "flexible" attitude to Church teachings, particularly regarding the hot-button issue of whether divorced and remarried couples should be able to receive communion.

The Argentine, who has repeatedly called for "a poor Church for the poor", also said in the letter that he wants the Church to celebrate a World Day of the Poor in November each year.

Related Articles:

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Campaigning for abortion rights in 1974. Photo: SPAARNESTAD Photo/NA/

Anefo/unknown photographer

Kryon Q&A

Question: Dear Kryon, thank you for the many communications you have given. They have been enlightening in many ways. I hope this is not a rude question, but it is a subject that I have not seen addressed in the collection of Questions and Answers. I want to know: What is the morality of stopping someone's new life in the physical plane, by abortion? And what is the karma to the person who helps to accomplish an abortion? I think it will depend on when a Human life begins. When life begins is a moment that is very important to those who oppose abortion and those who say it is allowable.

Do you have a decisive response to guide those who receive your words?

Answer: [from Lee Carroll] We have tried to "paint" Kryon into a corner on this many times, since it really is an important issue in our society. Kryon says this: "Human life actually begins when the intent of the entities involved in the planning session is to create it." It's not a biological answer, and it won't please either side.

This places it far before any kind of biological morality decision. Kryon has said that there is no judgement in the choice of Humans... including this one. When it occurs, there is also no horrible karmic payback. But there IS energy created that affects everyone around the event. Sometimes these lives come and go to create lessons for those involved, then these terminated lives return almost immediately, often within the next pregnancy (sometimes changing gender). If there is no next pregnancy, often it's in a very close family group.

God is not in a vacuum concerning these things, and often they are set-ups, and are executed with the agreement of all parties in advance. This is far different than our society wishes to believe. They want to paint a black and white answer to when life occurs, and set rules on what you can and cannot do with it. Instead, Kryon's answer gives honor and validity to the fact that you are not here by accident, and the things that take place in your lives are not random. Not to mention the fact that your free choice is the free choice of God (since you are a piece of God).

So we leave the biological cultural decisions for those who wish to make them, but we have heard the spiritual answers many times... that these things are far more than they appear, and are all part of our spiritual setups, and they are honored.

"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Reincarnation, Gaia, Old Energies (Africa,Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism, Higgs Boson), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text Version)

"... I want to define life for you - not biological life, but spiritual life. So for all those intellectuals, just hold on, for many won't like this. Spiritual life, as measured by Spirit, is when a Human has free choice. When is that? It's when they take their first breath. Not in utero. There will be those who will say, "That's wrong, that's wrong. The soul in the woman's body is alive!" Just wait. I'm talking about spiritually. That which Spirit sees, and it's when you come from the other side of the veil and take your first breath.

A child with the mother has no free choice. That child is linked to the choice of the mother until it is born. It is, indeed, a soul in preparation for free choice, and there are many attributes that are spiritual that we have discussed before about how that soul reacts. But now I'm discussing life with polarity [duality], free choice.

But let's discuss that "child inside" for a moment, for there is a process I want you to know about. I want to talk about 240 days into the pregnancy. At about that time, the child has perfect DNA. It hasn't taken its first breath. The DNA hasn't measured the energy of the planet yet, since it is contained. Did you realize that? Inside the womb is a perfect child. The child's DNA has all the attributes of the Akash and also the parent, but it's different in a way you have not been told. The DNA is 100% as designed.

The quantum instructions within the DNA are all talking to the biology of the child,, getting ready for the first breath. ..."

"THE THREE WINDS" – Feb 23-24, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Humanity, Home - other side of the veil, Wind of Birth - Birth, Wind of Existence - Life, Wind of Transition - Death) - (Text version)

Matthew message (Channelled by Suzanne Ward, February 18, 2016)

Matthew Ward - February 18, 2016

Matthew Ward

With loving greetings from all souls at this station, this is Matthew. We begin by addressing issues foremost in thoughts around the world. North Korea’s recent successes in rocketry were not unexpected by analysts who have been observing activity in that country; nevertheless, this is of concern because Kim Jong-un is considered unstable, egoistic and ambitious. What none of them knows is that if North Korean scientists attempted to launch a missile bearing a nuclear warhead, crews in spacecraft surrounding Earth will assure its failure just as they have done with more than a dozen Illuminati attempts during the past several years.

Our perspective of “Putin’s aggression in Eastern Europe” is that this is an Illuminati-promulgated implication that he will forcibly bring Baltic countries and others under Russia’s governmental and economic control. That is not his intention, and as a reminder, the Illuminati feed on the energy of fear and resort to any means to engender fear.

With talk of a ceasefire, albeit temporary, it is natural that violence has escalated in Syria, where energy long has been chaotically directed; and, with several diverse contingents at battle in that country and nearby countries, a lasting ceasefire will not come until those energy streamers have run out their course. While Russia is criticized for its air strikes that aid the Assad regime as well as help ground forces regain areas taken over by the Islamic State, President Putin and other influential individuals are working behind the scenes to bring stability throughout the Mideast and North Africa.

Understandably, there is concern about people in war-torn areas continuing to undertake risky transits into countries that are not able to provide adequate housing, schooling, work or healthcare to the millions of refugees already there. In time, violence will end in the villages and cities from which the people fled and those who wish to return can start rebuilding their communities and lives. In the interim, compassion and good will on the part of the host citizenry and the immigrants’ contribution of talents, skills and assimilation efforts can result in compatibility and mutual benefit. In this moment and into the future, financial assistance from all prospering nations is necessary to ease, then end this humanitarian crisis.

According to Nirvana’s monitors of Earth, investigative scientists know that a toxic chemical is causing the many cases of microcephaly associated with the Zika virus, but they don’t know if the source is bites from Aedes mosquitos that were injected with the chemical or bites from those that mutated by absorbing the very toxin used to eradicate them, or if the condition is due to pregnant women drinking water containing the chemical. Thus, to readers who asked if the Illuminati are behind this spreading outbreak of Zika and microcephaly, we say yes, but it may be indirectly as opposed to their concerted but futile efforts to create pandemics by releasing laboratory-designed viruses such as SARS and bird flu.

They deliberately put toxins in chemtrail spray, and others are in industrial pollution, fossil fuel energy usage, soil and underground water contaminated by nuclear waste or chemicals in fertilizer and insecticides. That this proliferation of toxicity is adversely affecting the planet and all of its life forms has been shamefully disregarded by chemical manufacturers abetted by powerful individuals in governments. And, the Illuminati’s amassing of wealth globally contributes in large measure to masses living in the impoverished conditions wherein disease-bearing mosquitos thrive.

No, karma is not involved in all cases of fleeing peoples or babies born with microcephaly and their families. Soul-level petitions are being granted in unprecedented numbers to permit advancement in evolvement status for enduring unchosen experiencing. Still, this honoring of soul requests isn’t consciously known by those persons or the world, and their situations are seen as the grievous hardships they are on the physical level.

The reader who wrote that astrological readers and intuitives have predicted “the rest of this month and March will be extremely delicate on this planet” asked “in what areas will things be ‘delicate’ and challenging?” Certainly the aforementioned situations are delicate and fraught with challenges to the many millions directly affected and unnerving to all of society. Calmness about stock market volatility and reports of banks closing would be a challenge for investors, and confusion as to what is ahead economically very likely is worrisome to many others, too. In numerous countries candidates are vying for office and the citizens are anxious about election outcomes. Then there are predictions anew about catastrophic earthquakes and tsunamis as well as World War III imminent, starting in the Mideast. And, in the midst of all those energy streamers with tumultuous attachments, even lightworkers may find it challenging to consistently maintain optimism about Earth’s future. That said, when planetary alignment is more conducive to unsettlement than during periods of less interaction, individuals with negative attitudes and pessimistic outlook will manifest more challenging circumstances for themselves—the law of attraction operates 24/7.

Beloved family, every happening whether perceived as progress or setbacks, tragedies or triumphs, is a reflection of vibrations that are ramping up turmoil so it can run out its course and simultaneously expanding the success of grassroots movements around the world. How we wish that this very moment life on Earth were what you want: peace, truth, kindness, mutual respect and cooperation of all peoples. Ultimately, it will be, and your steadfastness in the light is helping to create in linear time the world you want that already IS in the continuum.

Now then, we shall address the remaining soul-related questions. The first, from a reader in the United States, is much the same asked by others who also tied it to presidential campaigning in that country, but the relevance of this issue is global: “What happens to the souls of unborn children due to an abortion?” Janos, a soul in an eighth density civilization, spoke about this with my mother several years ago, and I asked her to copy that part of their lengthy conversation.

[ The following excerpt is from the chapter “Janos” in Voices of the Universe.]

A soul does not need a body for life itself, as that is inherent in the essence of every soul. It is only for experiencing physically what cannot be without some mass for functioning that souls choose to have a body of some sort.

Among your people, there is great misconception about “life” and the difference between a soul and a body. You have a process called “abortion” that some believe is the destruction of a new life, and there is argument about when a soul enters a body being formed in the womb. No soul’s life ever is destroyed by ending the formation of a developing body. Bodies grow independently of souls through the natural laws of physical mechanisms reproducing in accordance with the cellular programming of each civilization.

Souls are not restricted to incarnating in a specific civilization. A soul’s spiritual evolutionary status automatically puts it within a certain vibratory level, and it chooses a civilization within that sphere that can provide the experiencing needed for its advancement. The greater the spiritual evolvement, the higher the light station within which a soul may choose the civilization for embodying, or living as a free spirit member.
Souls whose spiritual growth needs are within the third density of Earth or other placements of similar vibratory status have a number of choices regarding bodies. They may reside around the parents even before conception takes place, and after conception, they may enter the fetus to experience that growth sensation. If that kind of experience isn’t needed, they may remain “outside” for other kinds of experiencing prior to the birth, but with a soul contract “claim” on the developing body that other souls respect. If a soul enters a developing body and then reverses that decision, the woman experiences a miscarriage. A soul may inhabit a developing body until imminent birth, then decide not to continue in that body and a stillbirth results. Also, a soul may make one of those decisions, experience what it requires emotionally, and in agreement with another soul, will exit and the second soul enters until miscarriage, stillbirth or live birth occurs. A soul with a “claim” on a developing body may permit another soul to reside in the body to experience the growth and birth sensation, then that soul leaves and the first one takes over the physical life.

These various situations always are by agreement with all souls involved, which of course includes the parents and any other family members, and the purpose is to permit chosen experiencing to several souls at the level they need. Abortion, like all the other stages from prior to conception through a viable birth, provides opportunities for the participating souls to experience the attendant emotions that fill voids in their experiences to that moment.

Bodies have a life force independent of a soul, and while it is an unusual situation that a body lives without a soul, this can happen. Souls have the choice to enter a cloned body or not, and if not, the clone still seems like anyone else because the brain and all senses and motor abilities are functioning. Another example is when injured or ill people are comatose. The soul may choose to remain with the body or not, and if not, as long as nourishment is given, that body continues to live in a vegetative state until it dies from deterioration of cells.

Thank you, Mother. If all Earth’s peoples could know that every one of you is a soul having a physical experience and the many choices souls have, abortion would not a political, social or religious issue. When you are living in the fullness of Earth’s Golden Age, there will be no abortions or divisiveness of any kind—life will be loving, peaceful and in harmony with all of Nature.

“Is the 'soul' the essence of a person, or was it created to support the 'fundamental essence' as a storage unit for experiences? In other words, are we really the 'essence' ... with a 'soul'.... 'mind' and 'body' as functional instruments only to support our true self, which is the 'essence' - which would suggest that the 'soul' is a spiritual function located in-between our 'fundamental essence' and our 'mind.'”

Your true self is a soul—an independent, inviolate, eternal Being whether living in a physical or a spirit world or as a free spirit anywhere in this universe. Your essence, or composition,is the pure love-light energy of Creator—the source of everything in existence throughout the cosmos—and in this universe is of God. Using Creator’s energy and Its gift of free will with its component power of manifestation, you design a mind and a body that will enable you to function in accordance with what you want to experience after incarnating. You endow this person with a repository, or storage unit, of soul-level knowledge of The Beginnings in Creator and the collective wisdom and memories of your other lifetimes. It may be helpful to read a prior message that offers more extensive information about preparing for a new physical lifetime. [ February 3, 2014 ]

Thank you, Mother, for adding the date, and we add that a lifetime as a free spirit has nothing whatsoever to do with personality traits or behavior. It is a special kind of experiencing that may or may not require a body, not even an etheric body, whereby the soul communicates directly with God and knowledgeably accomplishes its pre-birth chosen mission. Jesus and other messengers of God are examples of souls that needed a body to accomplish their free spirit lifetime mission.

“Why is it that some deceased souls remain attached to the Earth plane and not ascend to the light? How come they have that choice? Don't we all have to go to Nirvana or another realm to account for our lives here, and assess whether we need to return or not?”

It isn’t quite accurate to ascribe “choice” to the rare occasions when persons don’t go to Nirvana or another spirit world directly after physical death. The soul, which is pure love-light energy, is liberated from the person’s etheric body and psyche, and it is the psyche that is reluctant to leave. The power of belief is mighty indeed, and some of those people believe they still are alive and carrying on, maybe preparing for a loved one’s return or caring for their young children or consummating a new business venture. Others do know they had died but want to stay on Earth until they have completed something of utmost importance—perhaps explain to families how to handle personal business affairs or continue fighting alongside their comrades or let police know who killed them.

Whatever the reason, it is of such vital significance to people in either of those categories that the energy they exert enables their etheric bodies to linger nearby. Eventually, often with the assistance of angels, spirit guides or a proficient energy worker, all of those souls realize that they cannot do what they desire and willingly move on to a spirit world. If to Nirvana, they experience life review and take advantage of all the opportunities that wondrous realm offers as they plan their next embodiment.

Then there is the considerably different situation that you call “possession,” which also is a very infrequent occurrence on Earth. A darkly-inclined soul purposefully lingers to look for a body to enter during sleep time and remain henceforth. When it enters a body, a struggle ensues until one of the souls manages to oust the other. If the intruder soul takes possession, an experienced energy worker can perform what you call exorcism; when that is successful, the intruder is assisted to the light and the original occupant returns. If exorcism is not performed or is unsuccessful, the original soul goes to Nirvana or the spirit world of its civilization and the intruder remains in the body and causes considerable changes in the person’s behavior.

“What happened to the Soul when someone committed suicide?” First we say, there is NO punishment for suicide as some religions teach. Just as in cases where physical death is by any other cause, the soul is liberated from the etheric body and psyche. Someone who takes his or her life does so in mental and emotional anguish, and the psyche enters Nirvana in that traumatized state. After a healing process of tender, customized care and constant attentiveness, the person joins the realm’s population and experiences life review just as all others do. When another incarnation is planned, it includes the karmic lessons that had been chosen but not experienced in the life cut short. Mother, please add the date of the message that covers this topic more comprehensively. [ September 23, 2014 ]

Thank you, and yes, I see that we have reached preferred space limits. I also see more questions about the soul on your list, but I feel that the information we have provided is the most relevant for the greatest number of readers.

So, with the assurance that never are you alone in your Earth journey, we bid you loving farewell for this moment.

LOVE and PEACE

Suzanne Ward

Website: The Matthew Books

Email: suzy@matthewbooks.com

Cannabis: the new Californian gold rush

Yahoo – AFP, Jocelyne Zablit, September 18, 2016

Adelanto councilman John "Bug" Woodard, Jr. stands on undeveloped desert land
 in the "green zone", an area designated by the city for industrial scale marijuana
cultivation (AFP Photo/David McNew)

Adelanto (United States) (AFP) - Two years ago, the city of Adelanto, a crumbling outpost in California's Mojave desert, was facing a bleak future as it teetered on the brink of bankruptcy and struggled with double-digit unemployment.

"We were about to vanish, to be incorporated into another city," says councilman John "Bug" Woodard Jr. "The place was dying and in total despair."

Today, however, the once-desolate town is firmly back on the map, having joined a handful of communities in California in embracing large-scale commercial cannabis cultivation -- a move that smells of success as the state prepares to vote in November on legalizing the use of recreational marijuana.

Though California already allows the use of medical marijuana, the initiative to fully legalize the drug -- seen as likely to succeed -- is expected to transform the most populous state in the US and one of the world's largest economies into a new epicenter for cannabis, bringing in billions in revenue.

According to the Arcview Group, a cannabis investment and research firm based in California, medical and recreational marijuana sales are expected to more than double to $6.5 billion in the Golden State by 2020 if the drug becomes fully legal after November.

Nationwide, the legal cannabis market -- which stood at about $5.7 billion in 2015 -- is projected to reach more than $23 billion by 2020, according to Arcview.

Apart from California, several other states including Arizona, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada will also vote on legalizing recreational marijuana on November 8, at the same time as casting ballots in the presidential race.

A similar ballot measure in California failed in 2010 but support has grown since, with Silicon Valley billionaire Sean Parker among backers of the latest initiative, which has the support of 58 percent of voters according to a recent USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll.

The High Desert Detention Center sits across from a future marijuana farm

 in the "green zone," an area designated by the city of Adelanto for marijuana 

cultivation (AFP Photo/David McNew)

Celebrities join scramble

For Adelanto, the signs pointed to an opportunity too good to pass up.

Last November, the town became among the first in California to permit medical marijuana cultivation.

The decision to welcome marijuana growers led to a flood of high-end investors rushing to the town of 32,000 residents to buy up warehouses and plots of land in two so-called "green zones" earmarked for cannabis cultivation, local officials say.

"All of a sudden, we have people driving over here in Bentleys to look at property," said Woodard, 57, a real-estate agent with wispy shoulder-length hair who organizes an annual jazz festival in the desert.

"Here you have a building that was bought for $725,000 a couple years ago and now it's worth four million," he added, pointing to an expanse of land dotted with warehouses surrounded by Joshua trees and brush.

"When you say Adelanto now, everybody knows where it is."

Among the celebrities who have reportedly joined the mad scramble to snag a producer license in the city, Woodard says, are rapper Snoop Dogg, one of reggae legend Bob Marley's sons, Ky-Mani Marley, and actor Tommy Chong, of cult comedy duo "Cheech & Chong."

City officials said they expect cannabis production to easily reach 100 tons annually once farming gets fully underway, bringing in much-needed tax revenue to the decrepit town until now known more for its three prisons than for being pot-friendly.

The decision by Adelanto city officials to allow marijuana cultivation led to a flood 

of high-end investors rushing to buy up warehouses and plots of land in

"green zones" earmarked for cultivation (AFP Photo/David McNew)

Blossoming industry

"We are on the precipice of taking over the industry," Jermaine Wright, a former pastor and member of the city council, said assuredly. "We're doing what no other city has done when it comes to marijuana and this is going to bring in other businesses and manufacturing."

The city's cannabis ordinance stipulates that 40 to 50 percent of the workforce must be drawn from the local population, a measure that should significantly reduce unemployment, local officials say.

So far Adelanto, which means progress in English, has issued 35 licenses to grow cannabis and expects to hand out more in coming months, Woodard said.

Dan Olson, who owns a company that manufactures air filtration equipment in one of the "green zones," said he has seen the town transform as it prepares for the expected windfall from cannabis farming.

"I go out for a walk in the desert every morning and I can see the change," said Olson, whose company has been in the city for 12 years. "You now see all these cars with black tinted windows driving around and you see all these warehouses where the weeds have been pulled and you know it's going cultivation."

Christopher Goodman, 59, who is in the process of purchasing several warehouses in the city, said he expects to reap millions from his investment.

"The demand is here and the more people get educated about cannabis the more people will use it," said Goodman, who was in the auto business before turning to cannabis farming several years ago.

"I'll tell you what, I'd much rather smoke cannabis than drink beer and I mean that wholeheartedly."