By Ariana McCue

Introductions By Paul Lenda

This summer we sent our wonderful Ariana to take an intimate look at a place that is essentially a festival within a festival…the Lucent Temple of Consciousness at Lightning in a Bottle. An adventure into a transformational experience full of wonder and awe ensued.

The LIB Lucent Temple of Consciousness is a place to expand your mind and explore science, playfulness, and the inner and outer reaches of spirituality. Come bend and twist your body and hear the sounds of sweet harmonizing instruments calling us to rise up.

From July 11 to July 15 there is an incredible array of music, yoga, workshops, speakers, and transcendental experiences that thrill mind, body, and soul. Lightning in a Bottle is pretty well known these days in the transformational festival culture as a new form of sacred space catering to the New Paradigm. Perhaps not as well known is the Lucent Temple of Consciousness which is a magical space within LiB that is focused on the more consciousness-elevating elements of the festival.

Some people never leave this part of LiB because that’s just how nurturing of a place it is. What you’re going to see in this article is an especially deep dive into why Lightning in a Bottle remains one of the most transformational festivals in the world. Come take the journey into a real life fantasia and drink the sweet elixir of wonderment.

Bashar

Bashar via Darryl Anka at Lightning in a Bottle 2013

Bashar: “Oh, I’m only awe-SOME? Some of awe? Shouldn’t I be FULL of awe?” Audience: “YOU’RE AWE-FUL!”

Bashar is risen in recognition in recent years and for good reason…the messages and answers he provides audiences around the world are nothing short of inspiring and stimulating. Bashar is said to be a being of non-terrestrial origin who has spoken for the past 30 years through human channel Darryl Anka, sharing an immense wealth of knowledge from the vast in-formation field of Reality. Anka claims that he began to communicate, through trance-channeling, with this non-terrestrial entity called Bashar in 1983. He describes Bashar as existing in a parallel reality which according to the perception of a linear timeline would be the future.

The topics discussed are as plentiful as the questions from people, which occur on the spot without the flow of thought-forms hesitating to answer them. There were so many amazing things covered during Bashar’s LiB visit so we’re going to take a closer look at a few of the ones that were really impressionable.

Synchronicity & Coincidence

All of the coincidences and synchronicities you experience when around another person are simply just you being conscious of and noticing your connection with that other person. It means you are in flow with them. It is a clear sign of that connection.

Transcendence

You only start fully experiencing when you stop worrying. You have got to get rid of any negativity that your human experience has had to go through in order to move forward into bliss. You have got to go into your past and change your perspective of it. The answers are within. There is no learning anything. There is only remembering. The answers will come when you stop searching. Just BE. Remain open, and they will come. Through forgiveness you will see your mistakes and how NOT to repeat them.

Present Moment

There is no past, present, or future. There just is. So make the best of it. It is all that you have. You have so much you cannot see or comprehend, as well. Remember that. Feel that. The only way for you to miss opportunity, is if your thoughts get in the way of you doing or experiencing what is natural for you…your purpose. Do not think about, ‘Ohh, MY decisions affect it all! What if I missed an opportunity and I’m doing so now? It’s all on me!’

No…

Stay present. Stay focused. Or you will keep missing out. Just focus on the now, what you do know now, you couldn’t have known it before (though you are given all the resources). You are here now and now is perfect, so apply your realization. It’s all up to you! This is just you living your life. You are here and chose it. Ask yourself, do you want to be happy? The answer is of course yes. Set your future by being excited about your present. Balance between present & future goals: do not dwell on past trials or triumphs because then you are living in a world that doesn’t exist, a world of past & future.

Bashar via Darryl Anka at Lightning in a Bottle 2013

Takeaways

Our biggest obstacles are the ones we create.

We are on the path to enlightenment, although we know that this dream is a reality… we are still human. We are still cosmic babies. and we are forever in the process of re-learning what we have forgotten. We are allowed to make mistakes, and it’s okay. It’s all part of the process.

The biggest room for growth lies when you are out of your comfort zone.

Jamie Janover and the Unified Field Theory

Jamie Janover is the producer of another inspiring transformational festival called Sonic Bloom in Colorado. He has been traveling around and speaking on the unified field theory which physicist Nassim Naramein has been raising the popularity of in recent years. Jamie gets right into the heart of the most fundamental aspects of both our microcosmic and macrocosmic realities in a way that is incredibly inspiring.

So what is the unified field exactly? It’s the space we all live in. All matter we observe is made of atoms and all atoms are 99.999999% empty space that isn’t empty at all but contains the energy of Infinity. Blending science and spirituality in a captivating way, Jamie led us down the rabbit hole of singularity.

Peering into the Unified Field

Space is actually so dense that it is in fact infinite. Space is infinitely full of energy. If you grab just a minute part of space, you have infinity within it. In our western world, people have shoved the energy that exists in space under the rug. Inside any finite boundary, including you, is the possibility of an infinite amount of information in that being. Scientifically, we are all infinite beings. ‘Match spirit and science together, and you’re getting somewhere. When you can unify spectrums, you’re onto something.’ The majority of society is scared. This presence of fear is the absence of love. No love = the destruction of our species. Those of us who aren’t scared need to take the reigns back and lead us onto a more positive path.

Change is happening BIG right now. We have the ability to change this planet in a short amount of time. Our families will only know what we pass on. The rest will flow off. Change yourself and radiate your perspective like a human washing machine. Channel your consciousness through the creative arts. You can pump serious positivity technologically right now.

Everything on all scales is spiraling into singularity.

If every point of the universe is infinite, YOU are the center of the universe (and so is everything else!). “PARTY ON AS ONE!” We as humans are in aid to the organization of the infinite universe. If we can understand the structure of space, than maybe we can learn how to act and be in this space. We are galactic technology. The geometry of our genetic code is encoding the key to the Universe… we can tap into it all by pointing in to the stillness at the center of our hearts and of our existence. We need to make technology based on galactic technology. Cataclysms in nature made ancient knowledge hidden and obscured. We are just now beginning to link modern science with this, with ancient knowledge.

Physics

Protons themselves are miniature black holes. We have never seen an atom stop spinning, let alone slow down. They orbit each other because of gravity, which is the weakest force.

The Flower of Life is a 3D structure replication of the fabric of the vacuum of space. A feminine curved structure with an underlying masculine structure of triangles inside. Everything is made up of the same thing, underneath. This also shows the balance of the masculine/feminine. Everyone has the flower of life encoded within them. All information in the universe is encoded into geometry.

Workshop in a human nest at LiB 2013

Some Words from the LiB Staff



Dream Rockwell



”The Lucent Dream is to create a world that people would be influenced to create after they go home, as well.” ”The reason we strive to have plentiful water at Lightning in a Bottle is because available water = less trash at the festival, less waste, and the ability to reduce, reuse and recycle!”

Shena Jade Jensen

”I had an awakening sorting through garbage… seeing waste as a consumer and deciding I am not going to put one more thing in the earth.”



Before LiB had funds and fans, Shena volunteered to get inside of dumpsters and sort through every single solitary piece of trash to make sure that everything was being disposed of properly, with an environmentally conscious attitude. She inspired the festival to have the kind of conscious recycling that it does now, and according to her, it is through her tedious, devoted, disgusting and influential hard work that she became the kind of awakened being she is before us today.

Lucent Temple of Consciousness, Lightning in a Bottle 2013

Interview with ‘Shrine’, Co-Founder of LiB & Lucent Dossier

“Empire of Love” represents that, ‘We all want the same thing’ [He went from being ‘the shy guy’ to a performer in Lucent Dossier, and at 50yrs old, had a huge life shift when he got into a car accident].

Take something ugly and unwanted and turn it into the glory of life, the beauty of life. It is never over, people. It is never too late to do stuff. Enjoy your lives! You are responsible in every way for every part of your life, and, art ties into it all.

Suffering is a part of the well rounded experience of this dream appreciation. Through suffering you have an opportunity to let it go. We still make mistakes, too… that’s why you practice! Can you be alright when things are bad?…THATʼS the question.”

Feel good in every moment. *There is no waiting, the dream is now.* [or you’ll be chasing all your life]”

Alex Grey and the Goddess Triad

The Goddess Pose at Alex Grey’s workshop at Lightning in a Bottle 2013

Alex Grey is known worldwide for his multidimensional visionary art that pierces through the veil between the physical and subtle planes of Reality. Seeing the art Alex creates can be akin to a spiritual experience because the nature of the space he taps into when in a creative flow is something that is a profoundly intimate aspect of a deeper reality. Transcendental truths make their way into form by the stroke of a brush in Alex’s artwork and it should be of little surprise that he made an appearance at LiB.

I attended Alex & Allyson’s art drawing workshop in particular. On this day I had sat in the front with my good friend Madison, a very serious painter who wanted to have a very good view of the models. Whist doing so, I overheard the production team talking to Alex & Allyson about how their art models still hadn’t showed up, and how they may not show up in time for the workshop.

I immediately sprang up and ran after this guy, to let him know that if they really needed a model with ample art modeling & nude artistic modeling experience, I was good for it; They need not worry! After doing so, two other girls also stood up and volunteered. We three were than of course chosen to go up onto the stage in front of hundreds of people and save the workshop!

Turns out, the LiB staff actually did not condone nudity in the workshop (much to Allyson’s dismay!) because of some kind of laws, so we ended up only having to strip down to our undies, which did alleviate some of the fresh nerves of suddenly having all eyes on us… all eyes deeply, deeply on us. What’s even more awesome (or as Bashar puts it, Awe-FULL!), is the friendship triad we ended up forming, and the deeply meditative experience we all unexpectedly went through together.

Before we began, Allyson told us that we would be doing two half our Goddess poses, in which we needed to hold and be very still in. What did she mean by that? She gave us a beautiful speech, or, motivational words of wisdom. She said something along the lines of, “Be your inner most truest highest and loving self. Reach inside and pull that inner Goddess out. Be grounded and firm in your pose. Be confidant, pure and full of light. Emit all that you are and gift selflessly your spirit to this class.” She reminded us that we all had a significant, wonderful and unique Goddess inside, guiding us, and that we needed to connect to her now and bring her out.

Both poses were standing in firm Goddess stance, planting our roots far into the earth, first with our arms down and slightly outstretched, palms turned over (‘the Mother Mary pose’, I believe she might have said)…and than with our arms reaching high above our head. During the model work, there was a huge square Alex Grey art piece hanging quite exactly in our center eye view. After talking with each other, we three later found out that each one of us had used this art piece as a reference point. At first, as you can guess, It was hard to sink into the pose, stop having the urge to fidget or itch, and to be present through all of the staring eyes. Eventually though, I began to trance out into a meditative state that I did not even expect to go into [expect the unexpected!].

A half an hour is definitely a good chunk of time to still yourself, especially in front of others and in challenging positions, so I kept just focusing on my task, what I was asked to do and what was asked OF me, and I was doing my very best to emit that & allow for that inner goddess to shine through. Before we went into the second, highly more difficult pose, we took a break to collect ourselves.

The three of us girls ended up sitting in a circle on the stage, holding hands in a triad of what I felt was energetically flowing love, and shared our experience…which of course turned out to be extraordinarily synchronistic. We all happened to experience somewhat of the same thing, in our own different ways. It was nice have the ability to share the experience with others (the joy of human connection!), and to receive such a bonding experience with these girls through sharing our experience.

As we were doing this, Alex stood up and in a joking but serious manner, suggested to everyone at the workshop that they draw us in THAT position (all sitting in lotus, with our arms crossed over in a web pattern with each other, holding hands). He said ‘Now this, is beautiful.’ Everyone started clapping and as this was happening, I began to have a breakthrough that continued into the next phase of the workshop.

Lotus pose by Alex Grey at Lightning in a Bottle 2013

The second pose was significantly harder, as the burn started within the first few minutes…and we needed to keep those arms up for a while! Of course we were allowed to bring them down at any moment, but for this pose I began to feel a huge sense of responsibility… a responsibility to the class to keep the proper pose for as many of the minutes as I could, so the artists could have the most ample amount of allotted time to create their magical pieces….and a responsibility to myself to just be the best I could be in that moment (and in every moment, always).

When I was up there for the final few minutes of our set, I almost started crying…I felt such a huge light warmth happiness shooting out from inside and all around. As we finished, there was no negativity in that room… no jealousy… no anger… sadness… just everyone being truly happy to be sharing in an experience with each other [life!], and to all have such a huge role in this experience with each other, and to ALL have realized this role!

The applause was thundering.

Every artist in that room was thanking me…ME… for what I had done for THEM. I thought, ‘Are you kidding me? Look what you have done for ME! Thank YOU!’ It was an endless circling stream of appreciation.

People began coming up to me, gifting me their portraits and saying all the words I needed to hear at that time. What was most profound is how many different women came up to me after I had gotten down off the stage, saying things like, Wow, I honestly had no idea how small you are, you looked so big up there. I had no idea how young you are, you looked so mature up there. You are SUCH a goddess! You are more in touch than you know right now, you were absolutely shining up there.” It was all so beautifully overwhelming, and I even got to keep one of the art pieces that one of the women drew of me, and than gifted to me at the end of the workshop.

1 Giant Mind and The Earth Harp

1 Giant Mind meditation at Lightning in a Bottle 2013

A really amazing part of the Lucent Temple of Consciousness was the 1 Giant Mind meditation. The mission of this project is to reduce the impact of the global stress epidemic and its effects on health and well-being, society and culture, the workplace, economy and the world at large, through:

promoting the practice and benefits of meditation

teaching as many people as possible how to meditate

advancing scientific research into the practice of individual and collective meditation motivating 100 million people worldwide to regularly practice meditation by 2020.

“No one can take care of you the way that you can.” – Light Watkins, meditation teacher

The 1 Giant Mind Meditation calls itself a giant mind because it’s a massive group meditation experiment that is done with thousands of individuals who are meditating at the same time to see what outcomes, if any, are apparent. Blood tests performed on meditators for changes in their oxytocin, serotonin, dopamine, and certain stress hormones help paint a clearer picture of just what is happening in the brain during a mass meditation.

An incredible added element to the mass meditation was the Earth Harp. Played by William Close, the Earth Harp (called the world’s largest instrument) was set up in towards the center of the space where the meditation was taking place and somewhat in the middle of the crowd. Since the crowd was huge, and the strings went up over the crowd past the stage and connected somewhere, I couldn’t quite see that well but I definitely did hear!

William Close on the Earth Harp at Lightning in a Bottle 2013

It was all very instrumentally and visually complicated, as it should be! It looked awe-inspiring…almost as if that stage was set up like a concert hall in the back with all the architectural structures. He and his wife played the Earth Harp while someone sang alluringly beautiful melodies. They were incredible spiritually-transcending notes…he was so magical.

There were around 2000 participants in the group meditation and I was somewhere amongst it all. After finding a spot by the front with my friend Suzy, I was able to hear an introduction being given for the meditation where we were told information and statistics on meditation and how mass meditation can affect the overall well-being of cities and the planet itself. The people behind 1 Giant Mind did actual scientific studies on crime rates in towns and how after group meditation occurs, there happens to be a striking correlation with a decrease in crime.

It was extremely hot out during the meditation, so we only did it for a little while, though it was still incredibly beautiful. I felt very connected to everyone and you could just feel the bliss radiating out from everyone around.

Taking your own body and mind as the laboratory, engage in some thorough-going research on your own mental functioning and examine the possibility of making some positive changes within yourself. ~ H.H. The XIVth Dalai Lama

1 Giant Mind meditation at Lightning in a Bottle 2013

Reflections & Takeaways

*Conversations I had with friends and strangers were just as much, if not sometimes more enlightening than the speakers and workshops I attended at the festival!

*The less we live according to the current cultural matrix, the more we have a chance to make a change. We cannot control others, we can only ultimately control ourselves and influence others. Basically, don’t go to Target or KFC if you believe in supporting gay rights and the humane treatment of animals. It’s up to you you you to be the change you wish to see.

*WE can bring about a paradigm shift, but it is all about ‘doing you’, setting an example, choosing what you want to devote your time to and realizing that you are simultaneously out of control of everything (as everyone’s own consciousness is effecting yours) and in control of it all. You have your own individual consciousness that is affecting others. You are more powerful than you may realize.

*We are part of one intelligence network, evolving.

*You don’t want just any energies entering your body. They can harm or heal you, depending on who or what you let in.

*People resonating at higher states of consciousness glow. An expanding sense of connection is a person literally lighting up a room! Your love can brighten everything within and around you.

*Art has the ability to come out of seeing the beauty in something. Art can reveal, serve and feed the soul… not only for yourself, but for others.

*We are in the midst of a social and spiritual transformation… the likes of which has never been experienced in the human collective experience.

*Sometimes a broken heart is the only access to an open heart.

*You look into outer space and say it’s out there, but it’s in here, too. As the old Hermetic adage goes…as above, so below.

*When a life change/huge transformation occurs this is natural, so you do not need to bottle up what you are feeling, but you do need to hone in on it and learn the lessons from it.

*It is very important to lose yourself so that you can find yourself again… as your new self; your better, transformed self. When you lose what you believe is you, you are only coming to know the real you… because your true self is underneath it all. You are still you, 100% of the time. You are always you. You are forever Y O U.

Sometimes we lose sight of ourselves but it doesn’t mean our true higher selves are not waiting beneath all that gunk, waiting to break through to the surface. You’ve got to peel away the layers and get to that core.

So who are YOU, really? Allow yourself to get lost more.

Take the journey into self-realized understanding…

The Next Step

The important thing to [re]remember here, is that Lightning in a Bottle and the experiences adventures wonder and delight that take place there, is just a model, an example, another tool of inspiration to fuel the mind, the spirit, and promote action! The most beautiful part of knowledge and learning, is that it is constant and ever growing. We are on an infinite cosmic journey of epic proportions, swirling so small in the great universe, but each individually and together, causing such a great splash in the interconnectedness of it all, in the love flow of the ride we have all chosen to take.

Let’s continue our travels towards our highest consciousness. Y O U are the maker, you are the creator, you are the spirit that lives within you, you are the light responsible for your happiness. What will your next step be? The world is your canvas, and you are the painter. When you know your potential is limitless, what will you imagine?