I just felt the Earth shaking

I can relate so deeply to the animal pain you feel Jeanne. We have chickens and last week, one of my darlings got sick and we had to end her life. My husband and I must have sat there for 2 hours trying to find any other way to fix the situation. We were both physically ill at the thought of killing something. Eventually, we knew she was suffering and my husband (bless his heart) ended her life. Immediately, I was sick to my stomach. More so due to the fact that I can easily eat a chicken breast when it's cleaned off and nicely wrapped up in a package. Not thinking about the cruelty that this bird endured for my pleasure. But when it comes to the act of ending one first hand...it becomes VERY real. 
Oddly enough, despite my hippie ways and liberal heart - one of my dearest friends is a horse riding, gun shooting, red white and blue, cow rancher. (Hey, balance is good) One night when we were sitting on her porch talking about life and all of its weird twists and turns, we got on the subject of farming and ending a cows life. She said something very powerful that I still think about today. 
"There's a peace between you and an animal you have raised for slaughter when its small scale. I raised that cow. I nurtured her. I knew she lived an absolutely wonderful and when she was killed, the act was painless and fast. This cow lives and dies to feed others and it's a great honor to have her give the gift of life for my families needs." 
Native Americans live this way too. Everything on this earth is sacred. Everything has a purpose. The sacrifice of their life to continue yours is a spiritual and humbling process that isnt taken lightly. That's why Native Americans use every bit of the animals resources. 
What I find most rattling, is that not too long ago - we still farmed this way. With respect. 
As a mommy with growing kids, it has been very difficult to transition to veganism. So I do what I can to respect the earth. I grow everything I can. I raise my own chickens. I buy beef from my girlfriend mentioned above. I try so hard to make sure I'm making an effort to respect my earth and all the lives on it. 
As for clothes...and literally everything else we surround ourselves with....Im right there with you Jeanne. It can almost feel overwhelming just thinking about the kind of devastation we create just by...well...living. 
Oddly enough, your dream rings true in this sense. Hades was greedy too. I know for me, there are changes I could make that I just choose NOT to make because of greed. That new patio were building with the teak floors comes to mind. :-/ 
Also, are you feeling the Hades/Trump connection like I am?

Welcome back, Perriwinkle10.  I was so pleased to see your post last night and it touched my heart that you are back among us.  I am sending you much love.    You have a unique voice and an intuitive presence that we need.  

There’s a reason we are together.  We need to be a light within our own communities, within the like-minded online community of Jeanne’s site and within the greater collective.  There is a strength within our meditative practices and our read the future practices.  

I’ve been thinking about your latest dream and agree that the earthquakes you experience in dreams are also a metaphor for the turbulent days we are living through right now.  I know I feel shaken to the core with every awful action by our president and his government.  

Interesting that you mentioned Nostradamus.  Six weeks ago, my husband and I were wandering down a narrow back street in St. Remy looking for a cafe, when I looked up and saw a plaque marking the house where Nostradamus lived.  It was such a surprise and I loved the coincidence/non-coincidence of the moment.

Again, welcome back.  We will all learn together how best to share what we see and dream.

Perriwinkle10, your words about  the Native Americans are exactly what I was thinking before seeing your response.

 I wish we all lived by the Seventh  Generation Principle, The Great Law of the Haudenosaunee, the founding document of the Iroquois Confederacy practiced by many Native  nations worldwide.  It is the oldest living participatory democracy on Earth. 

The Seventh Generation philosophy mandated that tribal decision makers consider the effects of their actions and decisions for descendants seven generations into the future. There was a clear understanding that everything we do has consequences for something and someone else, reminding us that we are all ultimately connected to creation.  The Seventh Generation Principle today is generally referred to in regards to decisions being made about our energy, water, and natural resources, and ensuring those decisions are sustainable for seven generations in the future.  It is also about building relationships between people because as we know, everything is interconnected throughout the world.

While I have known about this philosophy for about 20 years now, I think I need to consciously incorporate it into my world and daily living practices.  I almost exclusively buy grass fed beef and pasture raised eggs in my home.  I also try to buy organic produce whenever possible.    I also try to avoid  buying the "dirty dozen "  unless they are grown organically.  I can do more. 

As I am finishing this message, I am currently starring into my backyard.  A family of 8 adorable tiny baby quail plus  their mom and dad have come into view.  They are searching for food in the shade of my tall green grass.   It is a blistering 114 degrees outside.  Just this morning I was picking some weeds in my grass  before it got too hot.  I was a little bit miffed.  We don't use chemical pesticides and boy do we have some invasive weeds in our lawn this year.    It is going to take awhile (days) to get most of them out.  I wasn't very happy. But, now that I am watching this family of quail move quietly through our yard, I am reminded about WHY we chose not to spray it with chemicals.   

2 quail generations saved, 5 more to go (at least).  

I don't believe this  beautiful moment is a coincidence.  

I am going to go quail watch now. They are so darn cute. Their parents are so protective too. :D

The trumpet shakes with great discord.
An agreement broken: lifting the face to heaven:
the bloody mouth will swim with blood;
the face anointed with milk and honey lies on the ground.

Nostradamus

Perriwinkle10, Thank you for the clarity on animals.  Your post explained my dream. In the dream it was that I had to kill these animals myself  and I could not do it.  

It is not that eating animals is wrong but if I am going to eat animals then I must be able kill them myself.  Or else I’m living in denial about what I am doing.

But the dream came when I asked Jupiter in the night sky to help our world just as he did in the Greek myth.    I felt I was hearing an answer that we were not awake enough yet.  Too many of us still cause suffering of others without realizing it.  The atrocities our country is committing is waking people but so many are still asleep. 

You asked if I’m feeling the hades/T connection.  Absolutely.   Last year for several days I kept seeing  T  in a vision as Khali the devil god. I also heard the name Beezabub for him, another emanation  from the darkness. 

T is not a god but he channels the darkness.   He has attained power because our patriarchal civilization has reached its darkest culmination and he is the perfect representative Of the dark.  

For centuries man has seen himself as superior to animals and women and separate from the natural world.

In  a famous essay Sir Francis Bacon formalized the claim about man’s superiority that impressed an age. 

The myth of separateness has put us on the path to  our own extinction.

But If the ancient Greeks are right then the  battle for light can’t just be about bringing down this bad guy and his criminal enablers and sponsors even if he channels the devil himself . 

To come into an age of light, we have to see into our own darkness too. My dream is telling me that that is what I have to do.  

Before we can see Persephone again, We may have to bring Hades up from the depths of our own psyches as well and make peace with ourselves.   

This is one area in which I struggle; I'm pre-diabetic, so I think I have to stay on animal protein. I've tried to go vegan, but it just caused my blood sugar to skyrocket.

I hate to think that I'm contributing to suffering, but I don't know what to do.

@pacosurfer

You are fine with your diet —the right diet for your body.   We each have our path.  

Just weighing in on veganism vs. not. I used to be vegetarian, for a long time, macrobiotic for a time too. Unfortunately, probably due to chemicals in much produce (whether organic or not), I developed severe allergies to just about everything and then debilitating autoimmune disease. I'm celiac and especially allergic to soy. I was advised by my doctors to go back on meat and fish. Over time, I've also developed significant seafood allergies, so I'm very limited on that front. That leaves meat.

I support friends who hunt, and who are kind enough to cook what they hunt and share it with family and friends. They only take what they need, during licensed hunting seasons. So that's one source. If I had to kill to eat, I might starve to death, as I just can't do it. I weep when I'm at the railroad crossing nearby and see that it's the slaughterhouse train going past, full of livestock. I've seen the horrific videos...

For all other meats, I go to my farmers' markets, where I know where the meat came from (local), how the animals lived (and most of them have had decent lives), and that they were slaughtered as humanely as possible. Because it's expensive, it limits how much I can buy anyway. I only buy what I know we'll finish. I believe that at least this way I'm supporting local farms and their employees, who are doing their best to be as sustainable as possible and cause the least amount of harm possible.

This has worked for me, because my autoimmune issues, while still present, are stable. I only get sick a couple of times a year. And part of that is also endocrine dysfunction, so yeah, I need protein. Nuts and seeds help, some legumes are ok, others I can't tolerate, and all grains except rice and quinoa make me sick.  So this is the path I have to be on.

The Japanese say something before they eat or drink anything:  "Itadakimasu". It means "I receive gratefully". Even if not said out loud, the thought of gratitude as one is about to eat, I feel, is important. I make an effort to receive gratefully, to thank the animal for its life and for helping me sustain mine.

I am with you on feeling grief and remorse at the pain our need for sustenance inflicts on other beings. One thing to consider are the assumptions that underly a hierarchy we give to the possibility of pain experienced by what we consume: that the more complex/larger the creature, the worse the suffering, i.e. beef and pork worse that chicken, which is worse than fish, etc. It is human-centric thinking that tells us that the closer to human a being is, the more capacity for suffering it has.

We cannot live without taking life elsewhere. While I certainly respect the impulse behind veganism, even the farming of vegetable crops causes loss of habitat, death of insects and rodents in the fields, etc. It is not "cruelty free." 

And I'm someone particularly sensitive toward plants and feel a spiritual relationship with them. They are sentient. In his fascinating book, The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben explains how trees communicate with one another, have mother/child relationships, and how living trees will transfer sugar to dead ones, as if to care for them. And as for complexity, more is being discovered all the time that changes our perspective on what that means. Fungi, for example, are deeply mysterious and complicated. There is intelligence and, I'd argue, consciousness, in all things.

What to do about this is not easy to determine, and must be an individual choice, but I believe awareness is key. We can seek information and make intentional, conscious choices to the best of our ability. We can pray and grieve and orient our hearts in a manner that is far different from blind consumption. Mainstream culture needs more space and sanctity for grieving. We can push for systemic changes to reduce suffering, such as the elimination of factory farms, which are abominations. This shift in mindset will also lead us to consume far less, a necessity to curb the climate crisis we are in.

This moving conversation made me think of a poem by Mary Oliver:

@herondreams

thank you for this lovely response. I have a vegan friend who tells me that my empathy should make it easy for me to be vegan. 

Im going to check out the farmer’s market, and perhaps focus on fish and chicken