Your visions and the awareness of other realms beyond the limitations of the five senses are activated by mysterious molecules, which are secreted within our endocrine system. The pineal and pituitary glands are the physical correlates of the Third Eye, as it is termed in eastern metaphysics. A healthy functioning endocrine system opens the doors to the perception of worlds within worlds, to higher dimensions, and to the eternal, the unmanifest – AKSHARA.
A crippled and confused endocrine system that is being sent misleading signals, an endocrine system that has to spend all of its energy fighting toxic chemicals in the body, has little left to produce the ability to ‘SEE’ beyond the narrow frequencies we mistake for reality.
In 1994 the book ‘OUR STOLEN FUTURE’ was the first serious attempt to educate the public on the ubiquitous dangers of endocrine disrupting chemicals – EDCs. The authors tell us that EDC’s go into the blood stream and mimic estrogen. They do not kill cells or attack DNA. They target hormones, the same hormones that also control the expression of the genes in our genetic blue print.
Theo Colborn describes them as ‘thugs’ on the biological information highway – thugs that sabotage vital communication. “They mug messengers or impersonate them. They jam signals, scramble messages, and sow disinformation.” Sounds like a description of the monopoly media!
EDCs include the group of chemicals known as organochlorines (chlorine by-products) – and in a more recent book, Pandora’s Poison: Chlorine, Health, and a New Environmental Strategy, we are told that ORGANOCHLORINES NOW CONTAMINATE EVERY INCH OF THE PLANET!
According to the author Joe Thornton:
* the Chlorine Chemical Council (CCC) has been spending about $130 million per year to protect the industry
* 40 million tons of chlorine are produced every year world wide
* virtually all organochlorines examined to date cause one or more of a wide variety of adverse effects on essential biological processes, including development, reproduction, brain function, and immunity.
* organochlorines disrupt biological processes at the most fundamental levels.
* Organochlorines may also:
Affect memory and reduce cognitive ability
Lead to obesity
Reduce sperm counts and alter sexual behavior
Disrupt female reproductive cycles
Cause endometriosis
Induce spontaneous abortion and cause birth defects
Impair the development and function of the brain
Interfere with the controlled development and growth of body tissues
Cause cancer and compromise immunity
“Even if we stopped all further pollution today, these compounds would remain in the environment, the food web, our tissues and those of future generations for centuries.”
Sounds insane, doesn’t it? Why are we humans releasing chemicals into our environment that are so heinously damaging to every aspect of our lives? What are they thinking? Even the most avaricious greed cannot justify the use of EDCs.
***
Along with all the other consequences of the permeation of EDCs into our environment, our food and water, is an attack on our endocrine system. EDCs and other chemicals, such as fluoride, damage the human pineal gland and thus impair our access to the Invisible Realms and our Source, Self, IS-ness.
This realization has led me to a new and stunned comprehension of the Twilight of the Kali Yuga.
Is the release of these endocrine disrupting chemicals playing a profoundly significant utilitarian role in bringing about the final Dissolution of the World?
Until we first dissolve this temporal illusory hologram in this, the final cycle of time, the KALI YUGA – there can be no KRITA YUGA, no Golden Age,
The symptoms of the Kali Yuga occur as the solidification of our world increases and we are successively cut off from our natural experience with Oneness. If we human beings were still consciously connected to our Source, we could never become so insecure as to feel hatred and envy. If we all remembered that God is within the Heart of each and every man/woman, we would never have been killing each other in endless wars for the past 6,000 years.
Our sense of Oneness with our good earth would not allow us to bring about, however unconsciously or unwittingly, the poisoning of our environment and the consequent destruction of Life on our planet. Possessed by fear and greed, cut off from the ‘true memory’ of who we really are, we attack each other and aggressively pursue short term goals, which in actuality lead to our own demise.
These EDCs, endocrine disrupting chemicals, have been produced in increasing quantities since the beginning of Twilight of the Kali Yuga, the year 1939 according to Alain Danielou. 1939 correlates also with the discovery of atomic fission and the recording in western culture of UFO sightings and interactions with various ETs.
Remember that throughout the first cycle of time, the KRITA YUGA, the Age of Wisdom, we all KNOW that we are a part of GOD/IS-ness. In that Golden Age we Know that we are the ONE behind the illusion of multiplicities. We Know that in fact we ARE each other. We have no desire to control, manipulate, and kill each other. We have not experienced lack, loss, or fear. Whatever we think manifests – and the Darkside is veiled.
My intuitive grok is that the astral and interdimensional entities, which are now commonly referred to as ETs, began to interact with this planet in the second cycle of time, the TRETA YUGA, the Age of Ritual Fires and Rites. Perhaps the more benevolent other-dimensional/astral ETS began to visit our planet, mate with us, exchange or experiment with combinations of DNA in order to enhance the possibilities of enjoying life and spiritual experiences.
Keep in mind that the primary goal of separation from IS-ness is the path of re-uniting with that which we are and have always been. This is the reason for EVERYTHING! Any advanced evolved civilization would know this and perhaps be attracted to the possibilities contained within the data-collecting-vehicle known as the human body, the outward manifestation of our subtle body.
***
So how does ISNESS bind ITSELF in an Illusion?
By the third cycle of time, the DVAPARA YUGA, less evolved and more tyrant-based ETs might have arrived here and ensconced themselves as colonizers and conquerors. In this third Yuga, the DVAPARA, we are told that, Man loses the sense of the divine reality of the world and grows away from natural law. (Alain Danielou)
Part of bringing this third cycle of time into play could have been the manipulation of our DNA – not to enhance our abilities to reconnect with Source, but rather to unplug our innate telepathic abilities, making us easier to control, and more useful as an energy source.
Around 3,600 BC there are indications that an enormous amount of radiation was unleashed on this planet. This release of radiation perhaps affected the DNA of many, if not most of the human beings living here on Earth from whom we are now descended.
This radioactive shock left us even further from the ‘true memory’ of our essence, purpose, and meaning. No longer able to even perceive the Invisible Realms, we became the victims of the priests of propaganda. We sadly lost all sense of our own power within — and began the endless wait to be ‘saved’ by an external being, who would hopefully judge us as worthy to enter in some kind of eternity.
In the Kali Yuga, life on third dimensional planet Earth had become so ‘risky’ that many of the souls who, by any means whatsoever, had achieved some level of partial enlightenment chose stay on the astral plane (LOKA World) its consciousness had drawn it to. There the entity would have mastered that ‘reality’ and followed the natural results of its own nature, whatever that might be, for better or worse.
These beings didn’t want to come back here! But they didn’t mind amusing themselves by manipulating human beings. This explains both the Darkside conspiracies, the Illuminati, etc., etc. – and the revelations of hundreds of 1000s of ‘religious’ apparitions, who represent their doctrines and their heavens & hells within these planes. These beings are convinced of their “truth” because their truth did in fact get them to where they are – and thus they are driven to aggressively make you accept their truth. Ouch!
Stuck in their own self-generated illusory realms, the Phantasmal Hierarchies, they have seemingly forgotten that these planes, however splendid and amusing, are both temporal and LIMITED. Eternal IS-ness is formless. And so they are trapped in the limited frequencies their ‘efforts’ – great or small – brought them to. They are not willing to risk returning into the dangerous and painful frequencies of planet Earth — especially now in the Twilight of the Kali, where even our water, food and air contains harmful chemical molecules, EDCs, seemingly specifically designed to cut us off from Source and any ability to re-connect with the God-within.
For those of us who were courageous enough to return to the fray in hopes of total realization of our Oneness with our SELF/ATMA, know that the Twilight of the Kali Yuga is an excellent time to wake-up:
“The end of the Kali Yuga is a particularly favorable period to pursue true knowledge. Some will attain wisdom in a short time, for the merits acquired in one year during the Treta Yuga can be obtained in one day in the age of Kali.”
Shiva Purana 5.1.40
God would not leave you without access to your Home – if you so choose. IS-ness is delighted by any effort we make to move towards ‘memory’. While it helps to stay away from chemically toxic food & water, you can reactivate your pineal, no matter how atrophied it may be. In all humility, simply want it, ask for it, and in time – the veils will be lifted.
A great website on EDCs: http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/index.htm
It’s been another busy week in Canadian cannabis news. StratCann’s own Tim Wilson uncovered that the CRA is currently owed more than $200 million in unpaid cannabis excise taxes. Despite this, the federal government continues to issue payments to provinces to the tune of nearly $2 billion since legalization.
Chatham-Kent Police raided an illegal cannabis shop, seizing cannabis, psilocybin, and LSD, while the OPP raided 7 illegal dispensaries, seizing 63 kg of flower, 500 vape pens, and made 7 arrests.
In other cannabis news…
Jeff and Vicky Curtis of TruQuartz and Boro and Beyond spoke with the news about their desire to see cannabis consumption spaces in BC. The BC government is looking at the issue but has been clear that indoor inhalation is off the table.
Tilray Brands is bringing beverage brand Mary Jones fromVancouver’s Jones Soda Co. to the Canadian cannabis market, starting with Ontario in Q1 2024. Green Hedge will support sales and field marketing for Mary Jones in Canada.
Nextleaf Solutions Ltd. announced a wholesale distribution agreement with Lineage Distribution, a licensed cannabis processor and distributor based in Niverville, Manitoba. Lineage will exclusively distribute Nextleaf’s complete product catalogue of over 35 SKUs across four initial categories. The Agreement encompasses Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and the Yukon Territories.
MediPharm Labs Corp. announced receipt of GMP certification for their Barrie, Ontario facility from ANVISA, the governing body of Brazil’s pharmaceutical industry. MediPharm Labs now has GMP certification from the United States FDA, European Union, and Australia’s TGA, and holds a drug establishment license from Health Canada.
A new study from researchers in Ontario says cannabis-involvement in self-harm Emergency Department (ED) visits almost doubled over 12 years and may have accelerated after medical cannabis legalization. The results, caution the researchers, cannot determine whether cannabis is increasingly causing self-harm ED visits or whether individuals at high risk of self-harm are increasingly using cannabis. While many headlines focussed on anxiety, the study itself was much more broad and only mentions “anxiety” twice. Of the 158,912 self-harm ED visits in Ontario between 2010 and 2021, 4.9 % involved cannabis.
The Cannabis Benchmark’sCanada Cannabis Spot Index for February 9, 2024, shows the average LP wholesale selling price for cannabis continuing to decline to $4.73 per gram, down from last week’s C$4.82 per gram.
Greenway Greenhouse Cannabis Corporation announced that it has surpassed 20,000 kg of product sold since its inception. Greenway will deliver its first brand, MillRite, to the Ontario Cannabis Store this fiscal quarter.
Cannabis NB plans to open new stores in Fredericton, Saint John, and Moncton. They will soon be hiring employees. The average vape price per gram equivalent in Canada fell to $8.65 in Q4 2023, a 9% decrease from the previous year. Vape products accounted for significant portions of cannabis sales, with Alberta leading at 22%, followed by British Columbia and Ontario.
On January 11, 2024, Harris & Partners Inc. was appointed as the receiver (the “Receiver”) of all the assets, undertaking and properties of 314 Pure Cannabis Ltd. (“314 Pure” or the “Company”) pursuant to an Order of the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta (the “Court”).
The Company operated a cultivation and hydroponic growing cannabis facility located in Crossfield, Alberta (the “Facility”). The Facility is approximately 21,700 sq. ft. in size on a lot that is approximately 3.0 acres.
314 Pure also owns a total of approximately 15.61 acres of land surrounding the Facility, of which 12.61 acres have been deemed as excess land. 314 Pure owns the Facility and related production equipment.
On February 9, 2024, the Receiver commenced a Sales Process (“Sales Process”). The Sales Process is being conducted in accordance with the procedures, which can be located on the Receiver’s website: www.hpiadvisory.com/314pure.
Interested parties who wish to pursue a potential acquisition and receive additional diligence materials will be required to execute a Confidentiality Agreement, which can be obtained by contacting Avison Young directly ([email protected]; 403-232-4381).
Per the Sales Process, non-binding letters of intent must be submitted by no later than 5:00 pm (Calgary Time) on March 15, 2024.
Texas attorney general Ken Paxton is asking the court to overturn cannabis decriminalization policies passed and implemented in five cities and has vowed to overrule the “pro-crime extremists” who championed cannabis reform in the Texas cities. The Republican filed suits against the cities of San Marcos, Austin, Denton, Killeen and Elgin earlier this week to overturn their voter-passed cannabis decriminalization measures.
In the filings, Paxton cited relevant state constitutional and statute provisions and argued that these provisions prevented local governments from approving policies that were in conflict with state law. The AG also issued a press release stating that he would not stand by idly while Texas cities run by “pro-crime” extremists deliberately violated state law and promoted illegal drug use. He added that the municipalities that had enacted cannabis decriminalization laws in the last couple of years took unconstitutional action because cities cannot decide policies to be enforced.
Paxton’s legal action comes as cannabis reform activists with Texas Cannabis Collective and Ground Game Texas work to gather signatures that will allow decriminalization measures to be placed on the November ballot for the cities of Lockhart and Dallas. Lubbock voters will also have the chance to make a decision on a marijuana decriminalization, after legislators allowed a resolution on that issue to be placed on the May ballot.
The decriminalization initiatives passed in Denton, San Marcos, Austin, Killeen, Harker Heights and Elgin prevent law enforcement officers from issuing citations against individuals or arresting them for committing nonviolent or drug-trade-related Class A or B misdemeanor marijuana offenses.
Of the aforementioned cities, Harker Heights is the only city that wasn’t targeted by the AG’s lawsuits, likely because it refused to implement the voter-approved change in policy.
Ground Game Texas’ executive director Julie Oliver stated that the attorney general’s lawsuits were an assault on the authority granted to cities by the constitution, which allowed them to enact their law enforcement policies. Oliver issued a press release noting that a majority of voters in each of the cities cited in the lawsuits were in favor of cannabis decriminalization and the deprioritization of cannabis enforcement.
Oliver explained that voters approved resolutions to minimize racial bias in law enforcement efforts and direct public resources to public safety needs with higher priorities. She added that the AG’s description of promarijuana reform groups in the state as pro-crime organizations was ironic because he is currently being investigated for financial crimes. In her conclusion, Oliver noted that the suits attempted to deflect from the AG’s legal issues and his waning political influence.
The pushback from the attorney general in Texas to local efforts to decriminalize marijuana is likely to be a subject of interest to major marijuana companies such as Canopy Growth Corp. (NASDAQ: CGC) (TSX: WEED). This is because the outcome of those lawsuits could impact the manner in which drug-law-reform efforts progress in other states that have not yet ended prohibition.
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Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) say they executed search warrants at seven illicit cannabis storefronts in southern Ontario, seizing cannabis, cannabis products, and psilocybin.
An OPP-led Provincial Joint Forces Cannabis Enforcement Team (PFCET) executed nine search warrants in Barrie, St. Catharines, Vaughan, Toronto, and Brampton on February 6. This included several storefront locations as well as a residence in Toronto and a suspect’s vehicle.
Police say they seized 63 kilograms of dried cannabis flower, 901 packages of cannabis edibles, over 500 THC vape pens, 214 grams of butane hash oil, 436 grams of hashish, almost 300 packages of psilocybin, cell phones, $500,000 in Canadian currency and brass knuckles.
Seven individuals were arrested with a total of 26 offences. They are scheduled to appear before an Ontario Court of Justice in Newmarket on Feb. 26, 2024. The investigation is ongoing.
Screenshot of products available in one of the illicit stores’ online shop
I grew up very naïve as most of us do no fault of our own that was until my life was literally turned upside down at the age of nineteen.
I experienced what was understood as a spiritual awakening in my aboriginal culture a “healer” was being born. However I had no clue this is what was happening to me. A profound vision of “peace” was shown in my dreamtime and a type of time travel through a dream that materialized in real life shook me up. Then shortly thereafter I was treated by western allopathic medicine locked up in a padded room with a window covered with black paper. I was raised to trust doctors but here I was helplessly being physically and emotionally abused as treatment for an experience I was to go through a form of initiation into the spiritual realms.
I was able with support by my loving family and friends to heal a sign of a healer is to be able to heal themselves and that was to be my first encounter to heal myself.
A few years later at the health store I was excitedly employed we were harshly raided by Health Canada for selling safe natural foods and herbs and given a hefty $2,000 fine. This is where I took my first stand against a very clear injustice, abuse of power and became a health activist.
I never looked back I began to question everything and seek answers on my own.
I had finally come to terms that not all people are good nor can be trusted but I didn’t let that jade me as my father taught me most people are moral have empathy and a conscience and he was correct.
But I was no longer naïve.
These lived experiences changed my perception and view of life and would take decades to understand and comprehend on a spiritual and mental level. But by stepping into the ancient world and unknown plight of my First Nations ancestors I began to acquire tools to live in this modern society. They once had a thriving healthy culture of civility respect that honored Mother Earth, the sacred life givers, the “medicine people” and lived by high moral high value spiritual laws and governance. Coincidentally they were led by elderly women matriarchs who were appointed Clan Mothers (knowledge keeper’s wise woman) and held in high esteem as the Peace Keepers, Protectors of the Water and Laws. Perhaps it might be necessary to seek these ways of living today as many are looking for answers and I say why reinvent the wheel just look to the past.
I have always been an optimist a solution oriented fearless woman and even though I have fallen many times I dust myself off heal and get back up. I believe our “life changing experiences” create and mold us into who we will become and it’s up to us whether we let these experiences break us or strengthen us.
I am a firm believer in the old ancient ways of living on Mother Earth that can be rescued dug up and brought back to life. Like a seed buried for years just waiting for the “spark” of a forest fire to bring it back to life to grow as its innate nature knows what to do.
We human beings have to collectively find that “spark” within ourselves and together in our communities find our courage and do what is necessary to bring back justice and peace against all not good in our society.
I look forward to writing more of my “original thoughts” as a thinker who gleams learning from experiential, listening, and reflecting. I feel in my bones we are coming closer to the “hundredth monkey syndrome” when a new level of conscience is attained and we as a society make a flip back to something once very good a society like nature based on balance and true democracy like my ancestors lived here on Turtle Island.
I think we are here…
Written by Candace Hill (brown bear woman) a bi cultural Metis, healer, knowledge keeper, storyteller, writer and activist. candacebrownbearhill@gmail.com
First and foremost Candace – osawuskiskwew (brown bear woman) is a mother and now a proud kookum (nehiyo for grandmother). She has lived a very diverse life straddling two world’s one as a healer/medicine keeper and the other as an international natural health activist.
As a bi cultural Métis with mixed blood – Scottish, Irish, English she walks in the ancient ways of her Nehiyo & Anishnabe Kokum’s, she was born in Manitoba known to the First Peoples as “Manito Api”- “That Place That Creator Sits”. In ceremony she learned she is from the “Golden Eagle Clan”
She is a visionary, spirit talker, storyteller, singer/drummer, sweat lodge keeper, and Sundancer. She believes knowledge is to “give away”
She has been a certified wholistic nutritionist for over 30 years, an herbalist, practitioner of alternative & traditional indigenous medicine, and family/community/addictions counselor. She began her consulting business over 22 years ago called, “Walking in Balance” where she has spoken on a wide variety of subjects such as nutrition, health, and Indigenous spirituality here in Canada, USA, Europe (France, Scotland) and recently Mongolia.
She published her first book in 2018 called, “She Who Wears Moccasins and Carries a Big Stick” and her second book (manuscript) about her experience working in the natural health industry, becoming an international health activist exposing WHO & Health Canada she hopes will be published this next year.
Police in Hamilton, Ontario had a case thrown out of court for violating a person’s Charter rights in a no-Knock raid in 2021.
The case against a woman related to a 2021 raid by police in Ontario has been thrown out of court, along with collected evidence, after an Ontario Superior Court Judge ruled police violated her rights in an unnecessary no-knock raid.
The judge ruled that Hamilton Police Service (HPS) violated the woman’s Charter rights with “cavalier disregard” after smashing their way into her downtown apartment home to look for drugs, which was reported first by CBC Hamilton.
The case against the Hamilton woman, Ms Russell, and the evidence officers seized—which included $500,000 of cannabis products, $50,000 in cash, and some magic mushrooms—were thrown out of court, according to a Jan. 25 ruling by Ontario Superior Court Justice Andrew Goodman, reports CBC.
The judge found that police were unable to explain why they broke down the woman’s door, despite testifying that there was no information that the occupants were armed or dangerous, and that police had no safety or weapons concerns related to the raid. Police also failed to identify themselves prior to entering the woman’s apartment. Police were unaware the occupant had a video camera that detailed the entry and contradicted police claims.
Image of the building where the no-knock raid was conducted, via Google Maps
Court documents show that while officers who testified all claimed that, upon entry, they shouted, “police” or “police – search warrant,” this was contradicted by the audio video CCTV captures of the police entry into the unit.
“Rather, the CCTV shows police breaking down the door to unit 2502 with a battering ram, which took many strikes, entering the unit with weapons drawn in a holding position, and then yelling “search warrant, get on the f*** ground” after gaining entry,” notes the court report.
The judge expressed several concerns with how police conducted themselves in this raid. Police also failed to inform Russell of one of the charges against her relating to the seized psilocybin.
Police claim that a “dynamic” no-knock entry can be necessary to ensure evidence is not destroyed.
“It is well established that generic information about the potential presence of drugs in a home is insufficient to warrant the dynamic entry,” wrote the judge in his decision, writing that “dynamic entries were verging on becoming a systemic problem in Hamilton.”
History of raids of “Georgia Peach” cannabis dispensary
In late 2020, the Hamilton Police Service first became aware that a cannabis dispensary known as the “Georgia Peach,” which had formerly had brick-and-mortar storefronts and had faced raids and closures on four locations in 2018, was operating as an online delivery service. The business quickly reopened their brick and mortar business in 2019 following the initial raids.
Hamilton Police discovered the business had moved to an online model in 2020 from four confidential informants. Based on information received from these sources, the HPS began an investigation into the Georgia Peach, which they believed to be operating out of a residential unit in a nondescript building in Hamilton.
Police began conducting surveillance on the building in late 2020, observing what they believed to be suspected delivery drivers for the Georgia Peach dispensary entering the building. Officers claim that observed evidence, such as the alleged odour of cannabis coming from some of these drivers, led them to focus their investigation on the building.
Hamilton Police officers executed their search warrant on June 2, 2021. They arrested four women and seized Canadian currency, a quantity of psilocybin, and hundreds of pounds of cannabis.
Police did not file a Report to a Justice (RTJ) for this evidence. Following the seizure of property, an officer is required to submit a “Report to a Justice” to be taken before a Justice.
The judge in the case notes that without an RTJ, “what has transpired is effectively a continued unlawful detention of the seized items, from June 2, 2021 until present day.”
Police told the court this was an oversight, but had no explanation for why the seized drugs and cash were never reported. The court rejected this argument.
“The seriousness of this breach is underscored both by how long it went on for—over two years—and the sheer number of officers who participated in this search. This is especially troublesome given the nebulousness of the evidence in reviewing the whole operational plan,” they wrote.“
For all of the aforementioned reasons, I find that the applicant’s ss. 8, and 10(b)Charter rights were breached,” the judge concluded. “Pursuant to s. 24(2) of theCharter, all the drugs and drug-related evidence seized from unit 2502 is to be excluded.”
“Natural forces within us are the true healers of disease.” Hippocrates
Modern medicine has achieved remarkable results. Its ability to save people from ailments which a mere generation ago would have led to an untimely death, borders on the miraculous. But when it comes to chronic illness modern medicine has its limits. Sometimes the treatment is worse than the disease. Sometimes the treatment only provides temporary relief from symptoms. Sometimes there is no treatment. Fortunately, modern medicine does not possess a monopoly on our ability to heal as the body possesses innate powers that can heal many chronic health issues. In this video we explore the body’s natural capacity to heal and look the role self-transformation plays in promoting these healing abilities.
“. . .health and illness are not random states in a particular body or body part. They are, in fact, an expression of an entire life lived. . .” Gabor Mate, The Myth of Normal
Our body is constantly at work healing itself. White blood cells clean out wounds and combat infections, fibroblast cells create new tissue to repair ruptures to our skin and flesh, new bone cells are created to fuse fractures, and the immune system can identify and neutralize all sorts of harmful pathogens. But the body can do more than just heal from wounds, infections, fractures, and viral and bacterial illnesses, it also has the ability to heal itself from virtually all forms of chronic disease as is evidenced by the phenomenon of spontaneous recovery.
A spontaneous recovery occurs when an individual is unexpectedly cured from a disease in a way that cannot be explained through the paradigm of modern medicine. Absent any intervention by doctors, without surgery or pharmaceutical drugs, some people heal from cancer, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, Chron’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and other forms of chronic illness. For example, with regards to cancer, it is well-established that tumors can shrink in size, or even disappear absent surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation, or as was written in the medical journal Oncology Letters:
“. . .malignant tumors as well as metastases, of almost all histological types, can regress spontaneously although certain histological types regress more frequently than others.” Sante Basso Ricci & Ugo Cerchiari, Spontaneous regression of malignant tumors: Importance of the immune system and other factors
A spontaneous recovery does not necessarily occur suddenly, or without cause, rather as Caryle Hirshberg and Marc Barasch explain in their book Remarkable Recovery:
“The original meaning of the word “spontaneous” (derived from the Latin sponte, “of free will”), has little to do with the suddenness, rapidity, or immediate change without cause which contemporary usage implies. The word, the dictionary reveals, originally had more to do with something occurring due to a “native internal proneness,” a tendency to “act by its own impulse, energy or natural law.” It implies a natural process that arises from within.” Caryle Hirshberg & Marc Barasch, Remarkable Recovery
While only a small fraction of individuals with a chronic disease will spontaneously recover, and while most spontaneous recoveries go unreported, there are still many cases of this phenomenon documented in the medical literature. For example, in Mind Over Medicine the physician Lissa Rankin points to a case of a man suffering from pancreatic cancer, one of the most devastating forms of this disease. This man was scheduled for surgery, but had a heart attack due to a pre-surgical procedure which forced delay of the surgery and as Rankin writes:
“Within four weeks of his heart attack, while he was recovering from the cardiac event, the symptoms and laboratory findings of his pancreatic cancer began to resolve. Four months after the initial diagnosis, a CT scan revealed that his tumor had disappeared completely – without surgery, chemotherapy, or any other cancer treatment. Four other case studies in the medical literature report “spontaneous” remissions from inoperable pancreatic cancers.” – Lissa Rankin, Mind Over Medicine
An article titled Notes on Spontaneous Regression of Cancer examines twelve cases of spontaneous remissions and tries to understand what life changes may have led to these recoveries. One of the most remarkable cases involved a patient with a grade four brain tumour:
“Dr. Maurice Green, as an intern, observed the treatment of a physician with glioblastoma multiform [grade 4 brain tumour]. The operation was unsuccessful. The patient, however, had a regression rather than progression of symptoms… Eventually he left the hospital completely well, indicating only that he felt differently about life after facing death ….” -Charles Weinstock, Notes on spontaneous regression of cancer. Journal of the American Society of Psychosomatic Dentistry & Medicine
Examples of spontaneous recoveries are not limited to cancer; they span the spectrum of chronic diseases, from cardiovascular and autoimmune diseases to neurological disorders, blood disorders, and skin conditions. There is even the mysterious Lazarus phenomenon which is the unassisted, or spontaneous recovery, from cardiac arrest after a patient has been declared dead and all attempts at resuscitation have ended.
If the body can bring itself back from the brink of death and cure itself from diseases believed to be terminal, then its capacity for healing is far greater than most of us realize. Our goal should be to harness this power to help us heal from chronic ailments or to prevent their onset. For even if we turn to conventional medicine to treat whatever ails us, when our body is optimized to heal the efficacy of such treatments will improve.
Research into spontaneous recovery has yet to unveil a universal formula or specific set of steps to unlock the body’s vast healing potentials, as many factors influence this capacity, and individual needs vary. Those who have studied numerous cases of spontaneous recovery, however, suggest that there are recurring patterns and shared contributing factors that offer potential insights into how we can prime our body to heal.
On the one hand there are the physical factors that contribute to healing, these include changes to diet, regular exercise, improving the quality of sleep, and the breaking of addictions to drugs or alcohol. Factors related to the health of the body are crucially important to our ability to heal. But there is a psychological factor that stands above these in rank of importance, and this is the willingness to undergo a self-transformation.
Self-transformation is critical to the process of physical healing for two main reasons. Firstly, it is often only when we transform our sense of self that we develop the courage, discipline, and desire to change the physical habits that are thwarting our ability to heal. Secondly, self-transformation helps correct for the unhealthy patterns of thought, belief, and emotion, that through the body-mind connection, keep us locked in a state of sickness. Many of these thought and emotional patterns operate below the threshold of conscious awareness and are the product of our conditioning, bit it an upbring in an unhealthy environment or years of conforming to the sickness of modern society. If we free ourselves from this conditioning through self-transformation, we free ourselves from the damaging physiological responses that are dictated by our maladaptive thoughts, behaviours, and emotions.
The literature on spontaneous recovery supports the assertion that self-transformation facilitates healing, for example in the book Cured Jeffrey Rediger who examined hundreds of cases of spontaneous recoveries, writes:
“People who experienced spontaneous healings disrupted the default mode, got out of that rut, saw and experienced themselves in an entirely new way. . .” -Jeffrey Rediger, Cured
Or as Caryle Hirshberg and Marc Barasch write in Remarkable Recovery:
“. . .it has been noted by a number of researchers that extraordinary healing is often preceded by profound personal change, sometimes even what seems like a startlingly different personality.
Several researchers have noted sudden psychological turning points [or what are called] “existential shifts” preceding remarkable recovery. Dr. Marco DeVries and his associates found that a group of spontaneous remission cases they studied all showed a relatively sudden change toward increased autonomous behavior, and significantly altered attitudes toward illness, treatment, relationships, and spiritual beliefs.” Caryle Hirshberg and Marc Barasch, Remarkable Recovery
In a paper titled “Psychological Changes Preceding Spontaneous Remission of Cancer” several researchers discovered that common among those who spontaneously healed from cancer was:
“…an increased dystonic reaction to limited aspects of the personality and an increased syntonic reaction to a wider set of characteristics than normally accessed.” Schilder, J. N., de Vries, M. J., Goodkin, K., & Antoni, M. (2004). Psychological Changes Preceding Spontaneous Remission of Cancer. Clinical Case Studies
In layman’s terms this amounts to a rejection of the limiting aspects of one’s personality and an opening up to, and acceptance of, a greater sense of self.
As self-transformation can lead in many directions, some good and some bad, which form of it primes the body for healing? The etymology of the word heal offers a clue, as at root this word means a return to wholeness. A movement in the direction of psychological wholeness, which Carl Jung identified as the epitome of psychological health, is the form of self-transformation that promotes healing. Psychological wholeness is an ideal state which can only ever be approached, never fully attained, and it entails increased awareness of all aspects of who we are and integration of these aspects into our conscious sense of self. In volume 16 of his Collected Works, Carl Jung wrote that:
“…no previous age has ever needed wholeness so much. It is abundantly clear that this is the prime problem confronting the art of psychic healing in our day.” -Carl Jung, Collected Works Volume 16
Wholeness is attained through self-acceptance, coupled with self-knowledge, and expressed through acts of courage. Without self-acceptance we tend to deny and repress aspects of who we are, thus blocking their healthy expression. Without self-knowledge we never discover our true potential and what we value in life. Without courage we never express our potentials in the service of valued ends. Or as Mate wrote:
“When we heal, we are engaged in recovering our lost parts of self, not trying to change or “better” them. As the depth psychologist and wilderness guide Bill Plotkin told me, the core question is “not so much looking at what’s wrong, but where is the person’s wholeness not fully realized or lived out?”” Gabor Mate, The Myth of Normal
While self-transformation can enhance the healing capacities of the body, the fact remains that we are never in complete control of an illness, nor of matters of life and death. We can take all the steps necessary to heal and yet remain sick. But this does not invalidate the benefits of self-transformation as a response to illness or disease. For the pursuit of wholeness is an enriching and meaningful experience that will help us endure life no matter the health of our body. In fact, many people only wake up to their more authentic self when faced with their mortality and so amidst the great suffering that accompanies disease, a silver lining can be found. An illness or disease may be the necessary spark that inspires us to discover who we truly are and which imbues us with the courage to live in a way more aligned with our authentic sense of self.
“It is only in the face of death that man’s self is born.” -Saint Augustine
Or as Martin Heidegger wrote:
“If I take death into my life, acknowledge it, and face it squarely, I will free myself from the anxiety of death and the pettiness of life – and only then will I be free to become myself.” Martin Heidegger, Being and Time
Canopy Growth Corporation, the company behind brands like Tweed, reported another loss this quarter of 216.8 million in the third quarter of 2024.
In the three months that ended on December 31, 2023, Canopy reported $78.5 million in net revenue, after paying $11.6 million in taxes. The company also reported a $60 million loss from continued operating costs and a $216.8 net loss.
Despite these losses, Canopy also reported gross margins increasing to 28% in Q3 2024, up from an 11% decline in Q3 fiscal year 2023. Revenue from international sales increased 81% year-over-year, led by sales growth in the Australian and, to a lesser degree, German market.
Canopy says their Australian medical cannabis business has generated 12 straight quarters of revenue growth. Canopy was one of a handful of producers named by Israel over concerns of Canadian cannabis companies dumping products on their market, but their quarterly report makes no mention of the Israeli market.
Canopy’s ownership of vaporizer company Storz & Bickel meant net revenue in Q3 FY2024, an increase of 54% sequentially, driven by strong sales of the new VENTY portable vaporizer, and traditionally strong seasonal sales. During Canopy Growth’s third quarter fiscal 2024 financial results conference call, Judy Hong, Canopy’s CFO, says that Storz & Bickel sales in Australia were especially robust.
Canopy has free cash flow from continuing operations of $34 million in Q3 2024, a 57% improvement year-over-year, a cash and short-term investments balance of $186 million as at December 31, 2023, and reduced overall debt by $69 million during Q3 2024.
“This is the dawn of a new era at Canopy Growth,” said CEO David Klein, in a press release. “We’re singularly focused on cannabis and demonstrating growth across all of our business units. With our Canopy USA strategy now moving forward, we expect to be the first and only US listed company offering shareholders a unique opportunity to gain exposure to the fastest growing cannabis market in the world.”
Canopy says they held the top three positions for cannabis flower in the BC market. The company also re-introduced its Wana brand of cannabis edibles in Q3 2024 and re-established distribution nationally. Canopy says the Wana brand cannabis gummies delivered top three and four market shares in British Columbia and Ontario, respectively.
Easy to grow, tiger nuts were once a prehistoric human food source and later a tasty snack for ancient Egyptians. Heralded as a superfood by some and an invasive weed by others, this identity crisis seems fitting because tiger nuts aren’t nuts! Named for its coating of distinctive stripes, the tiny root tuber, characteristic of the chufa or yellow nutsedge plant, is chewy and tastes similar to a hazelnut or almond.
High in fiber, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and vitamins C and E, its antioxidant powers reduce cellular decay, regulate blood pressure, and help establish a healthy digestive tract. There’s little medical evidence to solidify these claims, but that doesn’t matter. Tiger nuts are vegan and gluten-free, making them a food of note in the 21st-century era of climate change.
Spreading Goodness
Yellow nutsedge and chufa are interchangeable terms, albeit different plants from different places. Both produce tiger nuts and spread via rhizomes that sprout, forming new plants with intact root systems.
Identifiable by a triangular-thin stalk and grass blades spreading out from a 120-degree angle, yellow nutsedge (cyperus esculentus) is a perennial native to North America. It propagates by seed, rhizome, and sprouting tubers (like a potato).
It has become so prevalent in Canada that the Ontario and Manitoba governments have designated it an invasive species. Several US states have done the same. Its tubers, sometimes 35cm underground, protect the plant from surface frosts and freezes, and its resistance to herbicides makes it challenging to eradicate.
Chufa, (Cyperus esculentus var. sativus)is native to Mediterranean regions, Eurasia and North Africa. It is not cold-hardy and rarely sets seeds. Also spread by rhizomes, its tubers cluster closer to the surface and stay concentrated under the plant. It is the source of the majority of commercialized tiger nuts.
Growing At Home
Because many communities use toxic herbicides to eradicate wild yellow nutsedge, unless 100% confident the area hasn’t been sprayed, foraging for the treats may not be wise.
Growing tiger nuts at home in a large and deep container is possible and makes for a unique conversational addition to the veggie patch! That is if you can find seeds. Many areas have banned the sale of tiger nut seeds and plants because of their invasive properties.
Domesticated chufa tubers meant for growing are easier to find. Before planting, soak the tuber in warm water until plump. Remember to change the water often so that it doesn’t ferment.
Plant 5cm deep with each tuber between 7-10cm apart in a porous potting soil and well-draining container. Place outside in a warm sunny spot, and during the growing season, keep the plants well-watered. It is that easy!
In late summer, harvest the tiger nuts by digging up the plant or dumping out the contents of the container and picking off the nutlets. Enjoy fresh or dry and preserve for the winter months.
Sustainability
The actual value of tiger nuts may not be what they bring to the home garden but their versatility. There’s nothing they can’t do. Some studies even suggest using the tuber’s high oil content for biofuel.
In China, chufa is grown as a possible replacement for soybean oil. In West Africa, large organic farms produce tiger nut products, including flour and cooking oil. While in North America, the yellow nutsedge plant is used as a food source for livestock.
Wild and cultivated tiger nuts have proven their adaptability to varying conditions and purposes for millennia. In the era of climate change, this matters not only for a plant’s survival but also for humankind, making them a 21st-century power player.
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