HEALING, TRIGGERS AND TRAUMA MEMORY

Memory is the reservoir of the soul…we deny our memories at our peril. Memories are the experiences we thread on our journey through life, when the thread is entangled we choose to forget. Unwelcome memories recede to the deepest recesses of the mind, a quiet corner undisturbed where they continue to whisper to us.

The child sexual abuse scandals of the past decade highlighted the social taboo which prevents most survivors from disclosing their experiences. Revelations involving sexual abuse by church clergy of many denominations empowered survivors to speak out, galvanising activist movements. As a trauma therapist of some 40 years experience I observed  the key difference between those who engaged with the long and challenging process to emerge healed and those who remained stuck, caught in the unresolved pain which is turned inward. Activism provides a focus for justified anger however unless personal healing is also addressed, activism becomes little more than a funnel through which to vent unresolved resentment.

Trauma is complex and multilayered, there are three main types of trauma: Acute, Chronic, or Complex. Discernment is required to accurately assess the degree in order to negate disempowerment and victim consciousness. Healing is a slow process requiring a safe place in which to address deep seated issues of vulnerability. The aim of therapy is to encourage and empower, addressing not blaming, confronting not avoiding. Anything less creates a prison with the key on the inside.

Life is punctuated with traumatic incidents, providing the means by which we are strengthened in adversity. Traumatic experiences which may result in PTSD are rare and of another order, they include disasters, accidents, combat stress and other forms of violent physical assault. Significance is measured by response rather than by the event itself. It is now recognised that sexual abuse experienced in childhood is the most intractable, whether arising as a result of an isolated incident, or having taken place over many years involving one perpetrator or many.

The natural response to trauma is to recoil, an instinctive fear reaction of self preservation. The most damaging aspect of abuse is the powerlessness which results when there is no apparent means of physical escape. The response is to freeze as the mind retreats to a safe space, resulting in conditions such as Dissasociative Identity Disorder and Attachment Disorder. The Broca’s area in the frontal lobe of the brain is a region responsible for language and speech discovered 150 years ago when it was found to be impaired in stroke patients with speech problems. More recent research confirms broca’s damage in patients who have experienced severe mental or emotional trauma. It is now known that the part of the brain which produces language goes offline during traumatic experience, the sufferer becoming unable to speak. This was first seen in WW1 veterans who became mute after suffering ‘shell shock’.

Sexual abuse remains one of the most harrowing experiences imaginable and the most difficult to prosecute. Latest  UK figures show that  less than 2% of rapes reported to police resulted in a charge within 1 year. Re-telling the story involves reliving the experience and can result in re-traumatisation as the broca’s area shuts down once more. It is a factor in resisting disclosure and a reason why therapy might not be sought or is discontinued. It is also a contributory factor in low police reporting, the retraction of statements and low rates of prosecution  through the courts with survivors who become inarticulate on the stand being viewed as  ineffective witnesses.

Human communication is dependent upon language, verbal and non verbal with the deepest wounds suppressed at the sub conscious level, a self protective mechanism. Memories are linked to the senses and can surface spontaneously in many ways, activated by significant images, language, aromas and sound.The link between trauma and abusive language is well documented and rightly embedded in criminal law. Its range has been expanded in recent years to incorporate elements of race and gender. The current ‘Woke’ movement with its focus upon social and political injustice, real or imagined, views the world as a hostile environment, a need to protect the vulnerable being paramount. Currently words or phrases describing abuse are considered to be potential triggers for distressing memories. Social media platforms now arbitrarily abbreviate or delete written or verbal expression in a mistaken effort to avoid trigger words. Sexual abuse becomes becomes ‘s-a’, abuse becomes ‘abs,  domestic abuse becomes ‘da’.  This is a pointless exercise since the role of the cognitive brain is to interpret communication, it does so by filling in the blanks in order to comprehend what is meant. The abbreviation itself, once recognised is synonymous with the word, defeating the objective. This approach does a diservice to survivors and to the general public.

Our environment is filled with the remembrances of life, impossible to avoid. Music for example can transport us to another time and place, to fond memories or to sad ones; we would not expect that music should not be played in our hearing in case it should trigger a painful memory. The olfactory system is the first to develop in embryo, the sense of smell is a powerful trigger for memory yet we would not and cannot seek to screen out what may prove sensitive to some.

An environment perceived as threatening is predicated on fear and triggers an adrenalin response, the ‘fight or flee’ protective reaction. Where the belief system accepts a flawed reality of persistent external threat, biology takes over and a cyclical automatic response to perceived danger results. The self protective mechanism which ensures adrenalin is available in an emergency, becomes an addictive reaction impacting the autonomic system, resulting in auto immune disorders. We become in effect adrenalin junkies unknowingly hooked on our own hormones.

Where males are viewed as potential aggressors, traditional masculine traits become red flags of ‘toxin masculinity’.  Clearly all males are not aggressors, the perception is therefore flawed. An unfortunate consequence is that fear creates vulnerability and victim consciousness, the means by which predators recognise and target their prey, a self fulfilling prophecy. With the advent of social media, activist groups provided an effective forum of support and encouragement. The ‘Me Too’ movement led by prominent influential figures, raised awareness of the issues, helping to bring several high profile perpetrators to justice. The power of collective action provides a focus for pent up anger and rage yet can distract from the need to address unresolved personal pain. The battle then becomes the focus, an equally addictive even vengeful process promoting victim consciousness.

It is not possible to heal the wounds of the soul through activism alone. True healing is a work in progress involving the external and the internal, only when both are in sync is healing achieved; it requires that we address the personal wounds long denied. Even the most negative experiences of abuse can be overcome without activism but are impossible to overcome without addressing inner healing. Many survivors never disclose their experience of abuse but focus their energy externally, frequently as therapists drawing upon the well of experience.

Carl Jung, the founder of analytical psychology cautioned that rather than seeking to avoid, we should acknowledge and confront our inner fears to “make the darkness conscious” a process of integrating the conscious and the unconscious.

“Filling the conscious mind with ideal conceptions is a characteristic of Western theosophy, but not the confrontation with the shadow and the world of darkness. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The later procedure however is disagreeable and therefore not popular.”                                                       Carl Jung: The Philosophical Tree (1945)

See also: Trauma – Real and Perceived

 

TRAUMA, REAL AND PERCEIVED

In an intrusively ”woke’ world where ‘trauma’ has become the new buzz word, a sense of perspective has been lost. We would do well to reassess the true meaning of a word which infers very real pain and suffering, now increasingly monopolised and trivialised to convey the potential pain of hurt feelings. In the aftermath of the wars in which millions of veterans were and continue to be traumatised, it is timely to remember the sacrifice of the generations who granted us the space in which we can choose to debate rather than pontificate.

Trauma experience includes but is not limited to domestic and childhood sexual abuse, gender abuse and the PTSD endured by veterans. Comparisons are odious and pointless for the pain of another can never be fully realised yet there can be few worse examples of trauma than that experienced by the veterans of global conflict. It is a beginning  to remember that everyone will experience trauma of one kind or another during their lives, exposure to such events is common and with support most will fully recover. Of those who have experienced severe trauma, 1 in 3 go on to develop PTSD from which they can recover with therapy. Women are more likely to experience PTSD than men and veterans are more likely than civillians. Complex PTSD  (CPTSD) is a result of compounded trauma over time, related to prolonged or repetitive exposure to a series of traumatic events within which individuals perceive few or no chance of escape. Criteria surely met in combat.

A deepening recognition of the effects of trauma whether physical, emotional or psychological emerged from the human wreckage of two world wars in which all were affected with men bearing the brunt of both physical and psychological injury.  In WW1 the term ‘shell shock’ described what was initially assumed to be the  response to continual bombardment by munitions. Soldiers became mentally frozen in time, incapable of performing their duties, their shaking bodies demonstrating the fragmentation which occurs when  pushed beyond the limits of human endurance.  In 1914, soldiers  began to report medical symptoms after combat, including tinnitus, amnesia, headaches, dizziness, tremors, mutism and hypersensitivity to noise. The symptoms resembled those that would be expected in brain injury however many showed no signs of head wounds and had not been exposed to artillery fire.

 

Recuperation programmes gradually replaced accusations of malingering and field hospitals offered brief respite before combatants were returned to military duties with predictable long term consequences. An estimated 40% of casualties sustained at the Battle of the Somme were shell-shocked, an epidemic of psychiatric casualties which could not be sustained militarily or in financial terms. In 1917 the Battle of Paschendale exemplified the horrors of war with 300,000 British and 260,000 German casualties, yet there were relatively low numbers of shell shock. One reason being that by 1917 “shell shock” was entirely banned as a diagnosis in the British Army, replaced by the term ‘battle fatigue’. Mention of it was censored even in medical journals In an effort to avoid medicalisation which would allow for disability pensions while a psychological diagnosis enabled men to be categorized as ‘Uninjured’ and returned to the front. Accusations of cowardice continued with 306 men put on trial and executed. Today many such soldiers would be diagnosed with CPTSD.

Treatments varied widely according to prevailing medical and military views. If symptoms persisted the casualty was evacuated to a dedicated psychiatric centre further behind the lines. In rare cases the soldier was discharged home to a sanitorium.The condition was poorly understood, procedures were brutal and included electric shock treatment.  Therapist, Lewis Yealland, practised a form of therapy based on punishment,   his book Hysterical Disorders of Warfare describes a patient unsuccessfully subjected to numerous treatments for his mutism over a 9 month period. These included strong application of electricity to his throat, lit cigarette ends applied to the tip of his tongue, and “hot plates” placed in the back of his mouth. By 1918 there were so many officers and men with shell shock that 19 British military hospitals were wholly devoted to the treatment of cases. Ten years after the war, 65,000 veterans of the war were still receiving treatment in Britain with shell shock victims still remaining in hospital in France in 1960With the advent of  WW2,  the term ‘shell shock’ had been replaced by ‘combat stress’  redefined in 1980 as PTSD ‘a condition resulting after experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event which later leads to mental health problems.’ With little understanding of the mechanisms involved, unethical  psychiatric interventions occurred.  Psychiatrists Roy Grinker and Frederick Hanson, implemented mandatory psychoanalysis using sodium pentothal truth serum treatments, intended to identify malingerers  among soldiers claiming “exhaustion”.  By 1944, treatment plans suggested a programme of sedatives to secure rest, intravenous barbiturates to promote mental catharsis, assisting in the recall of any suppressed episode and use of drugs acting directly on the autonomic nervous system. Treatments now known to be harmful.

For most veterans the wounds remained hidden, they returned to their families forever changed.  Current research shows a correllation with helplessness and PTSD.  In a time when masculine attributes of strength, endurance and the perceived role of protector defined core identity for males, stoically enduring pain was a factor in hundreds of thousands of combat veterans who suffered in silence. Reluctance to admit or discuss  traumatic experience is a key factor in PTSD. On return home 30% of WW2 prisoners of war diagnosed with PTSD experienced marital problems as opposed to 11% of veterans without PTSD.

Beween 1955 and 1975, the United States sent 2.7 million combatants to fight in Vietnam, 700,000 needed some form of psychological treatment as a result. The number of traumatised veterans attempting to reintegrate into their communities on return was overwhelming. Disability claims alleging psychological injury as a result of combat were relentlessly denied; for the duration of the Vietnam War not a single diagnosis relating to stress exposure was ever accepted. In 1980, the DSM-III, the psychiatrist’s bible, was published and included the newly identified condition of PTSD. With women now allowed in combat roles a study mandated by Congress in 1983 found that 30% of men and 27% of women veterans had experienced PTSD at some point.

During their deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan, approximately 380,000 U.S. troops, about 19% of those deployed, were estimated to have sustained brain injuries from explosive weapons and devices. This prompted the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to open up a $10 million study of the blast effects on the human brain. The study revealed that while the brain remains initially intact immediately after low level blast effects, the chronic inflammation afterwards is what ultimately leads to many cases of PTSD. Unprovoked angry outbursts, along with reckless and self-destructive behaviour, are neurological markers for brain injury and among the diagnostic criteria for PTSD. There is a correlation between PTSD and social isolation, increased risk of substance abuse and incarceration. In the 1970s, 25% of all incarcerated people identified as military veterans.

The physiological and psychological effects of trauma are now well recognised, informed care is the accepted standard of medical treatment while a few decades ago its mere existence was doubted by its own professionals. Each generation fashions its own standards of belief, drawing upon the best which has gone before and discarding what is outmoded. We can best judge efficacy by outcome, a strengthening or a weakening of the social structure. By this reckoning we have made an error of judgement in recent decades in redefining male/female attributes.

‘Woke’ ideology, sold to us as ‘awareness of social inequality’ is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, strengthened by an alliance of narcissistic minorities employing victim consciousness to impose their views on the majority. A  focus upon ‘toxic masculinity’ as the root cause of disempowerment was initially met publicly by a combination of concerned confusion, assumed guilt and aquiessence. Ironically the very space which allowed discussion was won by the qualities and atttributes now tragically trashed. The public tide is however turning.

As we deepen our awareness of female trauma we must also lament the pain of grandfathers, fathers and sons  born too soon to benefit from a more enlightened approach, we can and should at least honour their sacrifice. ‘Toxic masculinity’ is  a misnomer beloved by those who seek to denigrate the true masculinity on which society ultimately depends for its defence and protection just as surely as it depends upon the creative, nurturing courage of true femininity for its survival. Those who have achieved an inner balance of the two  recognise them as complementary rather than adversarial and have respect for both, seeking integration rather than division.

See also: Healing, Triggers and Trauma Memory

BODY, SOUL AND IDENTITY

Decades of legislation are currently being overturned  in the US, creating a seismic shift in an era defined by female emancipation and the right to choose regarding abortion. The difficulty is compounded when we consider spiritual and philosophical beliefs e.g. the existence of the soul and how or if it connects in pregnancy.  An atheist perspective absolves us of any such concern, the mothers freedom to choose being paramount; a  belief in the  possible existence of the soul however changes the dynamics. For anyone faced with what can seem an impossible decision it is a comfort to know that while elective abortion terminates the potential for life, it can not terminate the soul which must by definition return to its origins, perhaps to await a further opportunity.

Attempting to define the status of the embryo in pregnancy has long presented a moral challenge, for outcome dictates not only the moral and legal position governing elective abortion but the parameters concerning embryo research and medical ethics. All religions acknowledge the existence of the soul as the spirit or essence which survives the body at death with general agreement that elective abortion is wrong except to save the life of the mother. There is however disagreement concerning the point at which the soul may connect during pregnancy, further complicating the decision.   Medical science is unable to assist us for scientific and religious perspectives will inevitably be at variance regarding the nature of spirit and matter, or even the existence of the soul.  A metaphysical understanding of consciousness based upon ancient sacred traditions can contribute to the debate, helping us make an informed choice.

For many, soul consciousness defines the human being and the basic right to life. Some religions link this event with conception while most consider that this occurs at a later date.  A distinction is generally made between two stages of development, pre-embryonic i.e. an unformed embryo and embryonic denoting a formed one.  For centuries the termination of a pregnancy at an early stage carried lesser legal penalties than a later one, corresponding with the view that the human soul did not enter until the second stage of embryonic development. Rape, incest and congenital birth defects are further complicating factors in approving abortion with wide variation in interpretation and it must be said a degree of religous ambiguity.

  •  Catholicism is perhaps the religion most vehemently opposed to abortion, stating that the soul enters at conception creating a human being and abortion is therefore considered murder. The life of the mother and the foetus are equally regarded. ‘Indirect abortion’ (e.g. surgery due to ectopic pregnancy, or cancer of the womb requiring hysterectomy) is however permitted if the mothers life is threatened, because ‘the intention is ‘not to kill the foetus’ even though this occurs.
  • Sacred Hindu texts emphasise Ahimsa – respect for life. Abortion is not permitted other than to save the life of the mother. Culturally however abortion, including infanticide is widely practised as a result of the common preference for male babies.
  • All schools of Muslim law oppose abortion but it is permitted if continuing the pregnancy would put the mother’s life in real danger. This is the only reason accepted for abortion after 120 days (4 months) which is considered to be the point at which the soul has connected.
  • Judaism opposes abortion in general but permits it where the pregnancy endangers the mothers life. The foetus is not considered to have the status of a person but is believed to be linked to the soul during pregnancy.
  • Buddhism traditionally teaches that human life begins at conception and rejects abortion as the taking of a life. Adherents are counselled to make compassionate decisions for all concerned and to accept accountability for their actions in circumventing the journey of a soul.

DEFINING THE EMBRYO:  Determining the point at which human life begins, in order to decide the status of the embryo and its right to life is a matter of morals and conscience for unquestionably the embryo is alive following fertilisation… but is the embryo human? This is a religious and philosophical concern as well as a scientific one. The Ethics Committee of the American Fertility Society defines an embryo as distinct from a pre-embryo. According to that report and the UK Warnock Report, which lay behind the 1990 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, the pre-embryo stage is considered to last until 14 days after fertilisation. Legislation currently rests on the basis of these reports but is under review.  Laboratory embryos can be produced or disposed of up to 14 days of cell development i.e. until the formation of the beginning of the nervous system.

The developmental stages of pregnancy are as follows:

  • Conception: The sperm and ovum exist independently of each other, conception occurring in the fallopian tube when the sperm fertilises the ovum.
  • Zygote: A zygote is a a single-celled organism resulting from a fertilised egg carrying genes from both parents. The egg remains a single cell for 12 hours after conception, dividing into two after 30 hours. Some 15 hours later the two divide to become 4.
  • Morula: At the end of 3 days the fertilised egg has become a berry like structure of 16 -32 cells referred to as a morula (Latin for mulberry) In legend the mulberry is considered to be the link between heaven and earth.
  • Blastocyst: It takes about five to six days for a zygote to transform into a blastocyst, biological material the size of a pinhead which contains human DNA. Cell division continues during the 8 or 9 days after conception, in this period it is wafted down the fallopian tube to where it implants in the inner lining of the uterus.
  • Embryo: At about 10 – 12 days the blastocyst develops into an embryo, the early stage of human development in which organs and critical body structures are formed. The embryonic period is 2-8 weeks after fertilisation. The inner group of cells will become the embryo, the outer group become the cells which will nourish and protect it.
  • Foetus: The embryo becomes a foetus from 9 weeks up to birth which occurs at 40 weeks.A knowledge of the nature of cells and the exact timing of development is critical if we are to avoid terminating the lives of what may be considered actual “human persons”, whether by elective abortion or embryo research. The type and availability of cells determines research possibilities. Totipotent embryonic cells occur within the first couple of cell divisions following fertilisation, these are the only cells capable of forming all cell types including extra embryonic tissue of placental and yolk sac. These are the cell types used in IVF.  Embryonic stem (ES) cells are derived from the inner cell mass of  blastocysts prior to implantation and may open new avenues for medical treatment of otherwise incurable diseases. Removal of  ES cells however kills the embryo in the process.

SPIRIT AND MATTER

Science  postulates that all matter is composed of atoms which are composed of protons, neutrons, and electrons and still finer components, until we attain to ether. The human body is impermanent, composed of atoms and molecules and therefore subject to the laws of the physical universe, disintegrating at death. The position of science is that there is no empirical evidence for the  soul.

Sacred texts which precede the scientific age by thousands of years, describe the  origins of mankind. The Vedas speak of the Hindu Trinity of Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver and Shiva the Destroyer. The Torah, the Bible and the Quran, speak of the Creation of humankind created by ‘Elohim’ variously interpreted as singular ‘God’ or plural ‘gods’. Mankind is described as ‘made in our image’ and therefore deemed to be an aspect of the divine, having a soul which returns to its origins.

Metaphysics, the branch of philosophy which studies 1st principles and the nature of reality describes how consciousness originates as spirit in the etheric dimension with physical incarnation occurring as a process of downward causation i.e. spirit to matter. Soul consciousness having mental and sensory components maintains connection to the developing embryo via an energetic, pulsating ‘silver cord’ infusing the embryo with prana or chi, the vital life force. This is a counterpart to the physical umbilical cord which connects the mother and child throughout pregnancy. This energetic aspect maintains connection to higher consciousness sometimes referred to as the Higher Self. The point of connection is the crown of the head at the Sahasrāra Chakra, located beneath the fontanelle, visible in a new-born child. This ‘soft spot’ on the babies head is recognised medically as allowing passage of the baby’s head at birth, closing between 9 and 18 months.

At birth the etheric body and the physical body remain connected.  Just as the physical umbilical cord is cut at birth to allow independence, at death the energetic body separates slowly from the physical body irreversibly severing the energetic cord at which point consciousness returns to its origins.

Science too readily dismisses sacred text as unworthy of examination… a fragment of superstitious beliefs now outgrown. This archive holds the coded text which provides protection from profane knowledge which has not yet acquired wisdom,  only lately being rediscovered by the intellectual community.

THE  BIBLE DESCRIBES THE CREATION OF ADAM AND EVE FROM ‘THE DUST OF THE EARTH WHILE THE ‘Q’URAN DESCRIBES THE CREATION OF MANKIND IN DETAIL  WHICH ACCORDS WITH EMBRYONIC ANATOMY.

“We made out of the “embryo” bones, and clothed the bones in “muscles” (23:14). This statement meets the medical anatomical definition of bones forming first as cartilage at the 7th week with muscles developing around them from the somatic mesoderm at the 8th week of development. The verse continues: “Then We developed out of it another creature”. This implies that the bones and muscles result in the formation of “another creature”. We might propose that this is the stage at the end of the 8th week when the human embryo is called a foetus with distinctive human characteristics, possessing primordial internal and external organs and parts. Significantly the Creator initially refers to the  embryo as “it” (23:1; 32:9) denoting the status as only “a thing” or a cell cluster but calls the foetus “you” after ensoulment (32:9) This would seem to suggest that the human person as an individual living organism would begin only when the embryo develops into a foetus at around the 9th week of development (after the 57th day). This is after the bones and muscles form but before the development of hearing and sight when we have a multi-cellular organism rather than the blastocyst which is a mass of living cells. (The Q’uran was revealed  609-632)

BREATH OF GODEntry point of the Soul

The soul which is non physical requires a foundation of matter in order for fusion to take place. There is agreement between Judaism, Christianity and Islam that this comes about through the ‘Breath of God’. The Hebrew word “adam” is derived from the word “adamah” (meaning “earth”) the body is created from earth,  the soul from the essence of God and therefore of a much higher order. The Old Testament (Torah) (Genesis-Bereishith 2:7, 7:22), states that the life is infused into the human being through the nose. “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul”

The olfactory system is the oldest system known to mankind, it consists of the nose and nasal cavities and links to the limbic system which governs memory and hormonal, and autonomic control.

  • The vomeronasal organ (VNO) appears in the 6th week of human development as a tubular structure located at the base of the nasal septum, it connects with the brain via the ethmoid bone in the upper nasal cavity. Nerve fibres of VNO cells pass through a tiny opening transmitting biochemical information to the limbic system in the brain. VNO development in the human embryo only becomes functional between the 6th and 13th week when receptor cells transmit biochemical information to the limbic system.
  • The VNO is said to be the place in the body where the nervous system is closest to the external world providing an interface, a sensory signalling system which explains the visceral response to significant events beyond the body. This area is described in sacred literature as ‘the seat of the soul’ and demonstrates the connection to gnosis, i.e. revealed knowledge.
  • Research into the limbic system has shown that activation of the amygdala, hippocampus, pituitary and pineal glands are associated with memory and religious, spiritual, and mystical states. Brain scans now demonstrate that the area surrounding the pineal gland is activated during meditation.

Breathing is the priority for life: 1st Responders are taught that the airway is given priority even over cardio pulmonary arrest or haemorrhage. From the 13th week following conception respiratory epithelium develops to form the lining of the trachea and the upper respiratory tract. Electrical signals from the brain then direct the diaphragm and chest muscles to contract, referred to medically  as ‘practice breathing’.This is the primitive apparatus which will eventually allow the foetus to breath independently at birth.

The most significant role of olfactory signals in humans appears to be the modulation of behaviour in interpersonal relationship. Ancient breathing techniques long employed by Hindu yogis focus upon the left and right nostrils independently to infuse prana the life force, into the body.  Individual nostril breathing stimulates the olfactory epithelium, triggering electrical signals to the brain via nadis, a system of subtle energy channels. The central nadi ends at the point between the nostrils where the nasal septum joins the upper lip.This method is increasingly incorporated into yoga and mindfulness programmes to promote balance and harmony.

AT WHAT POINT IS THE UNBORN CHILD ENDOWED WITH SOUL?

An estimated ten to 20% of all known pregnancies end in miscarriage, most occurring by 8 weeks, often even before the mother is aware of a pregnancy. If the soul is fixed at conception this would suggest an enormous number of failed incarnations, coupled with an ineffective process, something nature seeks to minimise. The implication is that  fusion of the soul with the embryo takes effect only when the biological processes have produced  a matrix of matter as a stable foundation.

The VNO connections with the brain occur only between the 6th and 13th weeks of human development, the 9th week being the mid point – a potential window for the soul and the etheric body to fuse after 56 days, the end of the embryonic 8 week stage. At 9 weeks the embryo is defined medically as  a foetus with distinctive human characteristics, possessing the primordial internal and external organs and parts.

As the debate becomes ever more polarised an informed choice can assist those faced with a life changing choice.

See full article: Academia: ‘Body, Soul and Identity’

 

Covid – Follow the Money

INVESTIGATORS SEEKING EVIDENCE TO CLARIFY ANY WRONG DOING LOVE A PAPER TRAIL….

Dr David Martin is Chairman of EMCAM Risk management, Underwriters of the world’s intangible assets in 168 countries, track and  trace Patent applications, Federal grants and government e records around the world, to monitor financial and corporate responsibility. Dr Martin has shared US  Patent records with the scientific community, recording the twenty year history leading up to Covid-19. This is a long video, if even part of it is true there are profound implications. Key points are below.  See video  

September 2000 – EMCAM was part of the investigation into the origins of the anthrax outbreak in the US and the unusual behaviour around ciprofloxacin, the drug manufactured by Bayers one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, used as a potential treatment for anthrax. In the Fall 0f 2001 EMCAM began monitoring an enormous number of bacterial pathogens being patented through government agencies NIH, NIAID, AMRAD (US Armed Services Infectious Disease Programme) and other international agencies who collaborated with them. There were concerns that corona virus was being seen not only as a potential manipulable agent for use as a vaccine vector but was also clearly being considered as a biological weapon candidate.

The US Patent Office is responsible for safe-guarding intellectual property to inventors and businesses, providing a verifiable public record. Documentation in the records of Spring 2020, show 120 pieces of evidence proving a programme of research and development into Corona Virus existing over more than 20 years. Records show that the reported gene sequence stated as ‘novel’ is not in fact new at all, for the Corona virus is not new to the human condition and has for a long time been part of the sequence of proteins that circulate, associated with the common cold. Records also show that SARS, the viral respiratory disease caused by the corona virus is not a natural progression of a zoonotic modification of a corona virus,  in other words it was made in the laboratory.

In 1984, Anthony Fauci was appointed Director of NIAID (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) The malleability of Corona virus was found to be a potential candidate for HIV vaccines.

  • 1999, Fauci funded the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill laboratory research programme, creating a NIAID built infectious replication of defective corona virus, specifically targeted for human lung epithelia.
  • January 28th, 2000 – US Patent 6372224 was the first vaccine application for Corona virus, made by Pfizer specifically for the S Spike protein. This was a Spike protein vaccine for a canine. (Ralph Baric Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill worked on 2 target candidates, rabbits and canines.)
  • April 19th 2002 – US Patent Application 7279327 clearly lays out very specific gene sequencing, demonstrating that we knew that the ACE 2 Receptor, the ACE 2 binding Domain, the S1 Spike Protein and other elements of what we have come to know as Covid -19 was not only engineered in the laboratory but could be ‘synthetically modified using gene sequencing technologies, taking computer code and turning it into a pathogen or an intermediary of a pathogen.’  Gene technology to harness corona virus as a VECTOR to distribute HIV vaccine was funded exclusively in the early days.
  • April 2003 – Patent Application 7220852 filed by US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)  The entire gene sequence of what became known as Sars Corona virus was filed under this application, justified by their PR team as “so that everyone would be free to research corona virus.”  This was disingenuous and a violation of US Code 35 Section 101 which states that ‘You cannot patent a naturally occurring substance’. The Patent Office rejected the application twice as un-patentable because the gene sequence was already in the public domain having already found 99.9% identity with the  existing corona virus recorded.
  • Patent 46592703P and Patent 776521  included and covered a series of derivative patents of multiple subject matter covering not only the gene sequence of Sars Corona virus but also of the means of detecting it using RTPCR, (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, the most sensitive technique for mRNA detection and quantitation currently available.)
  • Moderna received the spike protein sequence by phone from the vaccine research centre NIAID prior to the definition of the subclade . (a subclade is a  genetic subgrouping)
  • APRIL 2003Patent 7151163 was filed three days later by Sequoia Pharmaceuticals on anti viral agents, treatment and control of infections by corona virus.

THE QUESTION ARISES – HOW COULD THERE BE A TREATMENT FOR SOMETHING ONLY INVENTED 3 DAYS EARLIER?  Answer: The Sequoia Pharmaceuticals patent was issued and published before the initial CDC Patent number 7220852 on corona virus was approved. Patent Office records  available in the public archive office, show that after the initial  CDC Patent was rejected twice, an Appeal fine was paid the Patent Office to keep this information private, patent approval was not given until 2006/7.

‘If you own the patent of the gene itself and you own the patent on its detection you have a cunning advantage of being able to control 100% of the provenance of not only the virus itself but also of its detection: You have entire scientific and message control.’ 

RICO PATTERN

The RICO Act is a United States federal law defining criminal conspiracy, racketeering  and collusion. Rico provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization, causing some to query the  possibility of a future RICO action. ‘This is the very definition of criminal conspiracy, racketeering and collusion – it is evidence. The degree to which that information could have been known to anyone  except for  insider information is zero, not physically possible. You cannot have information in the future informing something which does not yet exist.’

5TH June 2008  –  DARPA  the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military, actively took an interest in corona virus as a biological weapon.

  •  5th June 2008- Ablynx (now a part of Sanofi a French multinational pharmaceutical company) filed a specific number of patents in sequence for the novel feature of the SARS COV 2 virus. They specifically targeted what was called the Polybasic cleavage site, for SARS COV, the novel spike protein and the ACE 2 receptor binding domain allegedly novel to SARS COV 2 .
  •  May 2014 – The part of the NIAID headed by Fauci, awarded a $3.4 million grant to the New York-based EcoHealth Alliance working in partnership with Wuhan bio security lab China. This was later withdrawn.
  • November  24  2015  – Patent application 9193780 was made after the ‘gain of function moratorium’ of 2014 when funding was paused due to concerns by leading scientists regarding unacceptable risks of creating a pandemic.

Moderna then began negotiating with Arbutis Pharmaceuticals and Acuitas, two Canadian companies who owned the patent on the lipid nanoparticle required to deliver the injection of the mrna fragment.

  • November 2015 Moderna entered into a cooperative research and development agreement with Chapel Hill North Carolina University with respect of using the lipid nanoparticle to facilitate delivery of the spike protein. A potential candidate vaccine before a pathogen release had supposedly occurred.
  • 2016  Ralph Berrick published his paper stating that SARS Corona Virus was poised for human emergence, stating in a speech  ‘You can make a lot of money with this’.
  • 2016/17/19 – A  series of patents all covering not only the rna strands but sub components of gene strands, were all issued to Ablynx and Sanofi.

The Bidol Rights Act states that if the US government has paid for research it is entitled to benefit from the research as their right or at their whim. So why in 2017/2018 does NIAID  have to take ownership of the patent that they already have rights to and file a certificate of ownership? Perhaps due to the complexity of 73 Patent applications which existed by 2016 from multi national pharmaceutical companies, morphing and vying for commercial exploitation.

Sequoia Pharmaceuticals  is engaged in the discovery and development of antiviral therapeutics, focusing on combating drug-resistant viruses and Ablynx Pharmaceuticals is engaged in the discovery and development of nano-bodies. Ablynx is a subsidiary of Sanofi the fifth largest  pharmaceutical company in the world.

SEQUOIA AND ABLYNX BOTH ULTIMATELY BECAME ROLLED INTO

PROPRIETARY HOLDINGS OF PFIZER AND JOHNSON AND JOHNSON

  • 2018 – Patent 7279327 on the recombitant nature of lung targeted corona virus was transferred from the University of N Carolina to NIH, the US National Institute of Health.
  • March 2019 – Moderna  suddenly revitalised and amended 4 failed Patent filings to specifically make reference to ‘a deliberate or accidental release of corona virus’  to begin the process of vaccine development.
  • November 2019 – University of Carolina and Moderna began the sequencing of a spike protein on the single patent required to develop the Vaccine Research mandate.
  • August 2020 – Funding of  $7.5 million was reinstated for Echo Health Alliance with  stringent precautions. Peter Daszak, the Chairman stated “we have an ongoing collaboration, we have data that we’ve gathered over 15 years of working in China — 5 years under a previous grant from the NIH — which haven’t been published yet”

Peter Daszak was also part of the World Health Organisation team investigating the source of the Covid-19 outbreak. He is  quoted in 2015  We need to increase public understanding of the need for medical counter measures such as a pan corona virus vaccine..a key driver is the media and the economics will follow the hype. We need to use that hype to our advantage to get to the real issues- investors who will respond if they see profit at the end of the process”

The old adage comes to mind – ‘First create the problem and offer the solution’

Listen to: ‘Wake up Ye Sleepers’ – Clann Destiny Macwestie

First published 18/7/21

See also:

Censorship- Silencing the Covid Whistle Blowers

Covid Vaccine – A ‘Clever Trick’?

 

ACTIONS AND INTENTIONS

WHAT WOULD BE THE MOTIVE FOR WITHHOLDING POTENTIALLY CONTROVERSIAL INFORMATION – IS IT THAT THE PUBLIC ARE DEEMED INCAPABLE OF UNDERSTANDING, OR IS IT THAT WE MIGHT?

Is the public aware or unaware that all the currently authorised COVID-19 vaccines are developed from fetal cell lines derived from the tissue of aborted fetuses?  This is confirmed by scientists and researchers as ‘standard  procedure in vaccine research’ with multiple papers published online as early as May 2020.

THIS IS NOT A DEBATE ABOUT ABORTION BUT ABOUT INFORMED CONSENT, THE RIGHT TO KNOW WHAT IS IN ANY VACCINE IN ORDER TO DECIDE WHETHER TO PUT IT IN OUR ARM……

Leaked internal Pfizer emails released by Whistleblower Melissa Strickler, indicate Pfizer’s intent to hide vaccine information from the public, sparking international debate. The emails, admitting the use of fetal cell lines in vaccines (originally derived from tissues harvested from clinical abortions) is information likely to have generated negative public response, potentially impacting upon the Covid vaccine programme… one of many potential reasons for secrecy.

The fetal cell line referred to in the Pfizer emails (HEK293T) is one of the major cell lines in use in vaccine development and was obtained from the kidney cells of a female fetus aborted in 1973. 

  • An email by Pfizer Senior Director of Worldwide Research, Vanessa Gelman, states “we want to avoid having the information on fetal cells floating out there … The risk of communicating this right now outweighs any potential benefit we could see, particularly with general members of the public who may take this information and use it in ways we may not want out there.”
  •  An email to Advait Badkar, senior Director of the Novel Delivery Technologies group within Pfizer’s Bio-therapeutics Pharmaceutical Sciences organization stated: “One or more cell lines with an origin that can be traced back to human fetal tissue has been used in laboratory tests associated with the vaccine program.” warning that, “We have been trying as much as possible to not mention the fetal cell lines.”

SO WHAT ARE CELL LINES?

To be clear, fetal cell lines are cells grown in a laboratory, cultivated from tissues harvested from clinical abortions. Current fetal cell lines all descend from cells taken from the tissues of abortions in the 1970s and 1980s, they are thousands of generations removed from the original laboratory procedures and no longer contain fetal tissue, other than at the bio-molecular level.

The first cells were taken from the fetal kidney tissue of an aborted fetus in January 1973 in the Netherlands by Frank Graham, a young Canadian working in the laboratory of Professor Alex van der Eb, a Dutch molecular biologist and virologist.  Normally, a cell has a finite number of divisions but Graham managed to modify these cells so that they divide ad infinitum.

‘Immortalized cell lines’ are established by culturing fetal cells in such a way that they continue growing and multiplying in laboratory dishes indefinitely.  The cells from 1970s and 1980s aborted tissue have multiplied over four or five decades, creating specific fetal cell lines, propagated and kept frozen they are still used today. Viruses grown in fetal cells are then harvested, the resulting cells are very easy to work with and have become the workhorses of cellular biology used in the development of drugs and vaccines. Cell lines age and can only be replicated so many times, these are over 60 years old, therefore new cell lines are being developed. In 2015, China developed another fetal cell line, the WalVax-2 strain.

  • HEK stands for “human embryonic kidney cells’ the HEK293 cell line was derived from the 293rd experiment in 1973.
  • HEK293T cell line is derived from the retinal tissue of an 18-week-old fetus aborted in 1985.
  •  WI-38 cells were derived by Leonard Hayflick, in 1962, from the lung of a 3-month female fetus .The initials WI refer to the Wistar Institute, a body of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and the number 38 to the fetus from which the cells were obtained.
  •  MRC-5 cells were obtained in 1966 from the lungs of a 14-week male fetus. The initials MRC indicate Medical Research Council, a body from London.”

The WI-38 and MRC-5 cell lines contain human diploid cells which were originally prepared from tissues of aborted fetuses in 1964 and 1970  are used for the preparation of vaccines based on live attenuated (weakened) virus.  The WI-38 line, a diploid human cell line is composed of fibroblasts derived from lung tissue of a 3-month-gestation female fetus. (Fibroblasts are the most common type of cell found in connective tissue.) The fetus came from the elective abortion of a Swedish woman in 1962, and was used without her knowledge or permission.

  • Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines used fetal cell line HEK 293 during the research and development phase.
  • Moderna also used HEK293T cells in their proof-of-concept tests to see if the genetic instructions contained in these vaccines would be effectively taken up and produce the required spike protein
  • Johnson and Johnson used both the PER.C6 cell line and the HEK293T cell line, to produce and assay their Janssen adenovirus vaccine.
  • CanSino Biologics and Gamaleya Research Institute (Sputnik V approved vaccine) use HEK293 cell line.
  • AstraZeneca used the HEK293T cells line, as did CanSino Biologics and Gamaleya Research Institute (Sputnik V vaccine) whose vaccines have been approved.

CONTAMINANTS

Vaccine technology raises tremendous ethical, moral, and health concerns, not least  for parents. In the 1960s monkey kidney cells were being used to make the Salk and Sabin polio vaccines however SV40 (simian monkey virus) was discovered in the monkey kidney cells, Tens of millions of American and British children were exposed to the contaminated polio vaccine before the WI-38 human cell line was subsequently used. In the late 1960s, there was concern that a vaccine using human cells could be contaminated with other pathogens and today numerous virologists, molecular biologists and other health care professionals continue to voice concerns about the potential risks of the use of aborted fetal cells.

In January 2018 Professor Stanley Alan Plotkin, Emeritus Professor of the University of Pennsylvania, and Adjunct Professor of the Johns Hopkins University, referred to as ‘the godfather of vaccine’ was subpoenaed to testify in a divorce case where the parents disagreed about vaccination. Plotkin, who worked on developing the rubella vaccine grown on aborted fetal tissue, explained how co-workers harvested the tissues from aborted fetuses, dissected and cultured them; 76 aborted fetuses were studied in order to find one whose cells could be used to make the vaccine. Fetus parts used were from the pituitary gland, skin, kidney, spleen, heart, and tongue.

Professor Plotkin confirmed that todays vaccines for minors contain the following:

  • Monkey kidney cells in polio vaccine
  • Contaminated vaccine/monkey virus (SIMEON VIRUS40)
  • Pig virus in Rotavirus vaccine
  • Blood serum from calves /calf serum
  • Guinea pig culture in Varicella vaccine (chickenpox)
  • Cow’s milk
  • Egg protein in Influenza vaccine
  • Gelatin from pigs
  • Human albumen
  • MRC5 Human diploid (fibroblast cells from fetal tissue)
  • (Varicella, Rubella, HepA)
  • Human W813 (human lung fibroblast)
  • (MMR   MMRV   WI-38 vaccines)

Some live virus vaccines contain human DNA fragments, these include  measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox, shingles, rotavirus, adenovirus and rabies, possible consequences of their use are unknown. According to Plotkin, injecting intact DNA is theoretically problematic which is why they fragmented it. Intact human DNA was recently discovered in a vaccine by Corveleva, an independent lab that has been analyzing vaccine contents. DNA can be a concern related to vaccines in two ways — because it is the vaccine’s active ingredient, such as in adenovirus-based vaccines, or as a manufacturing byproduct following growth of vaccine virus in human fetal cells.

Greater transparency is needed and surely we have a right to know what is in vaccines in order to make a decision. Long term effects of vaccines are not part of clinical trials and are not required under current legislation. Section 13 of each vaccine package insert is a disclaimer stating that the vaccine has not been studied to determine if the vaccine can cause genetic mutations, cancer, or impaired fertility. Complacency and misplaced trust is a dereliction of the individual responsibility each of us carry as global citizens.  Confronting the well meaning actions of those entrusted with our care or the smug arrogance of those who believe they know more than they do, requires courage. Safeguarding health is a noble endeavour dependent upon vigilance and compliance with the highest ethics to avoid complacency or the hypocrisy of false refuges which would  ultimately incur a cost too great to bear.

“OUR LIVES BEGIN TO END THE DAY WE BECOME SILENT ABOUT THINGS THAT MATTER”                                                                                       Martin Luther King

 

 

 

 

SHOOTING THE MESSENGERS

As hopes rise that vaccines can help control the pandemic, some of the world’s leading immunologists are expressing concerns of a potential further epidemic of autoimmune disease linked to the vaccine programme.

Professor Shoenfeld, credited as the ‘father of auto-immunity’ along with co-author Darja Kanduc from the University of Bari, Italy have warned of ‘molecular mimicry’ related to a number of genetic sequences that are identical in both the human genome and that of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. The immunologists first drew attention to the identical sequences in a paper in Clinical Immunology published June 2020. Noting specific groups of proteins found deep in the lungs, the site of covid pneumonia, they suggest that peptide sequences used in the new vaccines should be unique and not common to ones found in the body.

THE IMMUNOLOGISTS ARGUE THAT FOR CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS WITH A PREDISPOSITION TO AUTOIMMUNE DISORDERS, AN ADVERSE VACCINE RESPONSE COULD TRIGGER AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE CURRENTLY SEEN IN LONG COVID.

All vaccines work by stimulating the immune system to make antibodies to the coronavirus spike protein, if the body encounters coronavirus in the future, the defence mechanism is then triggered. The new vaccines engineer small-peptide antigens to provoke the desired immune response. Antigens are toxins which induce an immune response, however the peptides (amino acid chains) require additional immune-stimulating agents and/or delivery systems (vectors) to be effective.

GENE TECHNOLOGY – STAYING INFORMED:

Genetic engineering is the direct manipulation of a genome to change the genetic make up of cells. Recombinant DNA are molecules of DNA from two different species which are inserted into a host organism to produce new genetic combinations. Baculovirus (an insect virus) is widely used  in gene technology to engineer insect cell lines to produce recombitant proteins.

    • In the AstraZeneca, Novavax vaccines, another cell or vehicle is used as a carrier (vector ) to transport the synthetic antigen into the body. The ChAdOx1 adenovirus, extracted from the stool of chimpanzees infected with the common cold (modified to avoid its replication) is utilised as a vector for the vaccine.  Researchers inserted a modified gene into a baculovirus to produce insect cell lines infected with the SARS spike protein. Spike proteins from these cells were then assembled into nanoparticles which cannot replicate or cause Covid-19 and injected into the body where the immune system mounts a T cell antibody response.
  • The new mRNA Pfizer and Moderna vaccines use messenger RNA (the molecule which instructs DNA) to trick the body into making the viral protein itself by triggering an immune response. These are the first mRNA vaccines to be licensed for use. The vaccines have strands of genetic material called mRNA, which acts as an instruction manual to make a piece of the “spike protein” taken from the SARS-CoV-2virus. When injected into the muscle of the arm, mRNA enters the dendritic cells and macrophages in the lymph node near the vaccination site, muscle cells then direct production of the synthetic antigen. The lymphatic system acts as an immediate transportation system carrying the genetic material throughout the body.

New data released as of Feb.12 from VAERS, the US Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.  The latest VAERS data show that 799 of the deaths were reported in the U.S. and that about one-third of those deaths occurred within 48 hours of the individual receiving the vaccination. The average age of the deceased was 77.8 and the youngest was 23.   21% of deaths were cardiac-related. Dr. J. Patrick Whelan, a pediatric rheumatologist, warned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in December 2020 that mRNA vaccines like those developed by Pfizer and Moderna could cause heart attacks and other injuries in ways not assessed in safety trials.

  • CBS Detroit reported that a 68-year old news anchor died of a suspected stroke one day after being vaccinated for COVID of a stroke.
  • Dr. Gregory Michael, a 56-year-old Florida obstetrician died shortly after receiving the vaccine after developing an extremely serious form of acute immune thrombocytopenia.
  • Bell’s palsy – facial paralysis.  (Pfizer 75%; Moderna: 25%)
  • Of 917 anaphylactic reactions, 70% of which were reported after a Pfizer vaccine and 30% after the Moderna vaccine.
  • Latest data lists 3,126 “serious” adverse reactions reported which also include 34 miscarriages and pre-term births.

VAERS is a passive surveillance system that relies on the willingness of individuals to submit reports voluntarily. Historically fewer than 1% of adverse events have ever been reported. According to their  website, healthcare providers are required by law to report within the specified time period after vaccination. However, “within the specified time” means that reactions occurring outside that timeframe may not be reported, as well as reactions suffered by people who don’t report those reactions to their healthcare provider.

The World Health Organization has now approved AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine  for emergency use however some nations have said they won’t use it, citing safety and efficacy concerns.

  • News reports indicate that a growing number of people, including nearly 30% of healthcare workers, now say they don’t want the COVID vaccine, citing safety concerns.
  • The Washington Post report that nearly a third of military personnel are opting out of the vaccines.
  •  NBA top national basketball players are reluctant to promote the vaccine.
  • 40% of LA frontline workers were recently refusing inoculations.

As of Feb.19, about 56.3 million people in the U.S. had received one or both doses of a COVID vaccine despite the US Federal Drug Agency not yet implementing systems to monitor the safety of COVID vaccines. FDA officials told The New York Times they don’t expect the systems to be up and running before the Biden administration reaches its goal of vaccinating 100 million Americans. We are constantly told to trust the experts yet while many are sounding the warnings of possible autoimmune risks, governments are rolling out the mass vaccination programme despite the fact that millions suffer from auto immune disorders worldwide.

In addition to anti vaxers, there are many who simply prefer a more cautious ‘wait and see’ approach, utilising all available methods to curtail the virus pending further research. What possible motive could there be in silencing experts in the field or in ridiculing or censoring any who advise caution.Despite the horrific toll of the virus, a path of due diligence will ultimately ensure the best outcome, reassuring those who wish to take the vaccine, of it’s safety. We surely dismiss warnings from esteemed researchers like Professor Shoenfeld at our peril.

  • Shoenfeld is founder and head of the Zabludowicz Center for Autoimmune Diseases, at the Sheba Medical Center, which is affiliated to the Sackler Faculty of Medicine in Tel-Aviv University in Israel. He is on the editorial boards of 43 journals in the fields of rheumatology and autoimmunity and has published more than 1750 papers in journals such as New Eng J Med, Nature, The Lancet, Proc Nat Acad Scie, J Clin Invest, J Immunol, Blood, FASEB, J Exp Med, Circulation, Cancer and others. Professor Shoenfeld received the EULAR prize in 2005, in Vienna, Austria. In UC Davis, USA, and the Nelson’s Prize for Humanity and Science for 2008. He was recently awarded a Life Contribution Prize in Internal Medicine in Israel, 2012 as well as the ACR Master Award in 2013.

See:

Covid-  A Call to Action

Vaccines – More Haste – Less Speed