Is Europe Preparing for War?

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. – Helen Keller

The last few weeks have seen various reports appearing in the media that European governments are telling their people to prepare for a disruption of basic necessities. Official statements suggest that individuals have three-days (72 hours) of food and water on hand in the event of a disruption of services resulting from an expansion of the war in Ukraine or civil unrest. The “three-day rule” is also known in planning circles as “nine meals from anarchy.” Keep people fed if you want to avoid seeing their fangs.

This does raise several questions and we will address them as best we can.

Over the last twenty years the Institute for Hermetic Studies has occasionally sent out emails to its members stating that it is the duty and responsibility of every adult to prepare for emergencies. The idea that one should have three days worth of food and water (one gallon per person per day) is simply realistic and let us say it again, responsible. Anyone who lives in an environment where natural disasters are a seasonal phenomena – such as snow, ice and wind storms, fires, earthquakes and hurricanes, knows that services are often out of order for at least that period of time and sometimes even longer. The more you have the better off you will be, and seven to fourteen days is not unrealistic. A snow and ice storm can easily isolate you and your family for up to a week and many of us have had that experience. The advantage of having more and not less is that even if events are not longer lasting the standard “seventy-two hours” your foresight will allow you to be of assistance to others. Typically friends and family who did not heed the warnings, or ignored the signs and portents of the weather forecasts – be they psychic or physical.

Succeed in not fearing the lion, and the lion will fear YOU. Say to suffering, ‘I will that you shall become a pleasure,’ and it will prove to be such– and even more than a pleasure, it will be a blessing. – Eliphas Levi

Don’t be afraid, be courageous, and demonstrate your strength. As Levi also noted, “Fear is nothing but idleness of the will” It is our task as adepts, even Avatars in training, to develop and demonstrate the omneity of WILL, of DECISIVE ACTIONThe ability to help and be of service makes us responsible or ‘able to respond’ to a situation and not react in a habitual manner which will typically be less than optimal in effect.

For many of our readers who live in rural areas none of this is new. For those in urban or suburban areas who have come to expect 24 hour availability based on a “Just In Time” delivery system, small events can become major problems, even disasters, because of failure to plan for the unexpected.

So, is Europe preparing for World War Three? As we pointed out in our presentation, “Pluto in Aquarius: 2025 and Beyond” World War Three has already started and began at least three years ago. The good news is that it will not look like World War Two, the image many people have of how things ‘should unfold.’ This is important because the industrial base for such an undertaking is not present in either Europe or the United States. Preparing for a major European war, whatever that will look like outside of current events, will take Europe at least three to five years if not longer. That does not mean there are not other problems European nations face, but the capacity of all the European nations combined to fight a conventional war for more than a short period of time is far more limited than many people understand or would like to admit.

In addition, it is either ironic or well timed, that on April 1st, The Day of the Fool, it was announced that the Ukrainian government may have its own “doomsday plan” or scorched earth policy in the event of imminent military defeat. The details mentioned involve intentional destruction of the country’s nuclear power stations by the Ukrainian government, thereby contaminiting itand much of Europe in the process. Even if such a plan does not exist, it is a reminder of what we told you in December 2022 in our forecasts for 2023 and 2024: in a modern technological societies all wars (and that includes civil wars) are potentially nuclear “wars” either by design or accident.

This means a broader international war is neither inevitable, nor easily predictable on how it might unfold or conclude.

Now the bad news, and this is something I discussed at length with several people before including it in this communication. While the nations of Europe do not have the capacity to fight abroad for any period of time or scale, the reality is that Europe has a very high chance of descending into a series of smaller civil wars as a result of forty years of failed policies. The reality is simple: if this does happen the European Union will cease to exist. Recent bans on candidates in running for elections are the early signs of trying to keep a lid on a very fast boiling pot. If general civil disturbances or even conflict does not happen as the problem is well past the point of a peaceful solution, then Europe as we knew it will cease to exist in less than a quarter century and will be some sort of quasi-Islamic state or states. Decisions based on naive idealism have very painful consequences, and these decisions and consequences will be very bad for esotericism in Europe. We hesitate to tell you this, but the reality is that those in charge know. Those in ignorance or denial are the one’s outside the information loop or simply not paying attention.

The mind that is anxious about future events is miserable. -Seneca the Younger

As initiates on the Path of Return you have a duty and obligation to be prepared for the predictable crises that happen in your area: natural disasters, strong weather events, and the less predictable but foreseeable disasters and crises that are a result of unresolved human emotions or karma: economic contractions, civil unrest, disease, and even war on various scales. But don’t be miserable: do what you can to prepare and move on. And remember, this is the nature of duality, of the dimension, the “playground of the gods” in this the “Season of the Apocalypse.’ As Seneca the Younger also said, “No man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity. For he is not permitted to prove himself.” If this were not the case, life would have little if any purpose or meaning.

In addition to having food on hand we encourage each of you to grow what you can. Even a little can mean a lot if you do it regularly. One of my favorite things to grow is leaf lettuce on my porch, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, even green peppers in pots, and of course some herbs. I know several people who grow in whatever space they can find, even rooftop gardens, and are either members of or have formed community gardens. The fact is, if you want to do it, you can a way to grow something. It may not be perfect in size and scope matching some ideal vision, but sometime “perfection is the enemy of the good.” It is best to start with what you can, get experience, and move on from there. If we let lack of experience get in our way with sex there would be a lot fewer people on the planet, so don’t let naive ideas of perfection get in the way of your increasing your personal sustainability, resilience, and capacity. This will not only demonstrate the value of your esoteric practice, but give your illumination a channel to work through in your service to Self and others.

“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that things are difficult.” – Seneca the Younger

The solution is simple: make a plan, act on it, adapt, and take some risks because: you are your choices and nothing more or less.

“Dare to do, the power to succeed will be given to you” is an aphorism found in some older Rosicrucian teachings. It has tremendous importance in this time in which we read and hear so much from those who would be guides on the Path telling us that strength, resilience, action, and personal capacity are either overrated or not needed at all. All while telling us how afraid they are of current events, and how we must all band together against this or that idea or person. But if none has strength, how strong will that fasces such a group of people form be? The answer should be clear.

For this reason we encourage your to come together, locally as well as virtually. Learn from one another and know that the future is your responsibility, it is in your hands. You are the shapers and molders of it, otherwise karma would have no meaning. As Eliphas Levi has pointed out, we are each the children of our deeds and we are here to become Masters of our own Being. This is a choice, a decision, an ACT OF WILL. It is an action without fear, it is an act of courage.

Act now, act today. Do your duty as that is all we can really do, and then more will be given to you. To each according to their deeds, to each according to their merits. It can be no other way.

Levi states, “Fear is nothing but idleness of the will.” For this there is a solution, to ACT, in this way we place ourselves in the domain of Causes where we may then experience the Effects and adjust ourselves accordingly. Idleness is the Vice of Yesod, and we must act if we are to overcome it along with the inertia and avarice of Malkuth. Through our decisive actions we move foreward on our journey, on the Path of Return. An adept is inwardly still, but is not idle. Do your duty and act, and the Path forward will be made clear for you – a path of courage, wisdom, and beauty in Service to Eternity.

In the closing words, taken from Emmanuel Swedenborg’s work, Heaven and Hell, and quoted in an old initiation from the European traditions:

“That it is not so difficult to live the life of heaven, as some believe, may be seen from this: When a matter presents itself to a man which he knows to be dishonest and unjust, but to which he inclines, it is only necessary for him to think that it ought not to be done because it is opposed to divine precepts. If a man accustoms himself to think so, and from so doing establishes a habit of so thinking, he is gradually conjoined to heaven. So far as he is conjoined to heaven, the higher regions of his mind are open; and so far as these are open, he sees whatever is dishonest and unjust; and so far as he sees these evils, they can be dispersed— for no evil can be dispersed until it is seen.”

“The hope of the world rests on thee, forget it not!’

We encourage you to enroll in and pay close attention to our course: Pluto in Aquarius: 2025 and Beyond,

See also our monograph Wisdom’s Bliss: Developing Compassion in Western Esotericism available as a PDF in several languages in the curriculum section of our course Unfolding the Rose: Illumination and Western Esotericism, here at Teachable. It can also be bought as part of the IHS Monograph Series from Amazon.com.

For more information on how to enhance your personal capacity and resiliency for walking the Path of Return in daily life, see our course: Four Fifteen: The Foundations of Personal Success