This time feels different. This time that we are in feels different.
Sometimes I think we really are in a time warp or possibly even a warp of awareness.
Awakening and awareness always translates as very linear in the ancient teachings of the Vedas. When you look at a graph of the chakra system, you see it as a flat drawing on paper. The lower chakras are taught as more dense and the higher chakras are expressed as lighter, the ether, our connection back to our Source. The more dense the energy, the more capacity to be born into the material realm. Materialism doesn’t bring us closer to our source, but it does ground us into the earth. So how does one find balance with the two directions?
Could it possibly be that we bounce back and forth with both until there is a natural harmony both inside and outside?
If you are curious about esoteric teachings, quantum physics and even web3, you may have heard inklings about the transition of our monetary system in the coming decade or so. 2027 has been a marker for this financial evolution of ours.
Money, in energetic form, can also be understood as an energetic expression of ourselves. I originally learned this concept from Lacy Phillips who works with epigenetics and developed a system based on her own personal struggle with growing up around money issues in her family. I n 2017, I took her course when I was in a transition part of my life and there was an unassuming section around Money. Her courses are brilliant and simple. Much of it is dedicated to facing your own personal and familial shadow work. I remember when I got to a section around feedback from your closest 4-6 people and watching my loved ones twitch at having to give me direct, open and honest feedback for my own personal growth was beautifully uncomfortable. They were tasked with showing me my own blind spots so that I could create better boundaries in my life.
The energetic form of money is not just an expression of the singular self. It is an expression of the collective self, which is the basis of teachings by Lynne Twist in her book The Soul of Money. And because much of what we have built over the past hundred years has been with the intention of securing us collectively, the root energy of money is from the drive to survive as a species. The initiation into the survival mode is fear. Does that mean money still has a relationship with fear?
Richard Rudd, founder of the Gene Keys System, has said that we are in a phase of energetic money laundering. We are currently tasked with moving the money away from the hoarding of the top 1% where there is still a lot of fear, into the businesses and networks for the greater good, where there is hope and possibility.
How is this done? By forming what is referred to as a network of energetic nodes - people, businesses synarchies and industries - who will work in coherence with one another to redirect the flow. Instead of money dams, the collective current will form new creeks, streams and rivers for all to have access to clean currency. This is were web3 comes into play.
There are 5 areas of web3 that are of particular interest to me as a business owner.
- Smart Contracts
- Nodes
- Decentralized Apps
- Crytpo Currency
- NFT’s
Web 3
Web 3 is a name given to the system upgrade of our current internet. It uses the platform of connection through the web, to begin a decentralized experience through smart contracts, digital currency, blockchain and social networks called decentralized apps, or, DApps. What is intended, is that there is no singular, central power for decision making, whether a brand or CEO. Instead, smart contracts will become the gatekeepers of the decision.
Smart Contracts
Smart contracts are If-Then programs stored on the blockchain. If smart contracts are programmed to respond to a formula, then it will always respond in that way. Its been compared to a vending machine - no matter what you try to do, when you push the button for your selection, you will always get that item in return. It’s objective, but it was programmed with intention - to get what you need with the least amount of complexity and the most about of security.
If a smart contract needs an update, the only way to change the smart contract is to vote on how the change is made as a network of token holders and create a new contract. In essence, a smart contract can be built to act of behalf of the environment, a socio-economic group, even an endangered species. Rules will be written in code to protect their rights. If a natural gas company wants to build on protected land, then it must meet the rules of the smart contract to be approved and can’t be bought out. Through the smart contact, it could be rejected without any person ever getting involved.
Nodes
Right now, any app, website or online service you use, connects to a server that is stored on a cloud database. The service provider is the one who actually owns all the information you load onto the cloud provided and gets paid every time they share your personal information given when you signed up. They make money off your information. In addition, any photos, information, personal identity and creative projects you have saved to their service is actually owned by them as well.
In a decentralized system, the nodes are individual personal computers. You become part of the blockchain system through the information exchange happening on your node. The more individuals set up personal nodes, the more data can be stored outside of a central cloud. Everyone agrees to take part of the ownership and security of the data to keep record of every transaction on the blockchain. No one person or business can sell the information for profit.
Decentralized Apps (DApps)
Apps as we know them today, need a cloud system owned by a third part provider who can use your data any way they want (with your permission, if using Apple products).
Decentralized apps are intended to take the place of websites as an open source network that houses the smart contracts. In the future, websites will look and feel clunky just like AOL does to us now. Instead, you will enter into a decentralized app which will take you into the experience of the company itself - whether a person, a product brand, or a city brand.
The intention of the DApp, is to use the power of the smart contract to run the experience. Token holders will be the company committee for the app, ensuring that every single holder has a vote in the direction of the business.
Even today, there are committees being formed on servers like Discord. When enough value-aligned individuals come together, they can begin to write into law what they support as the intention of the DApps. Eventually, they can formalize the values into law and begin writing smart contracts. Investments from the token holders will be pooled into the DApp, which can later be used for investing back into community, the business itself or charity work.
In the near future, there will be a decentralized layer to all company and organizations from people to cities. For example, I live in Carlsbad, CA. If the city of Carlsbad chose to suddenly allow poor quality drinking water, then the DApp for Carlsbad could vote to use money from the blockchain to form a new well to access and whole new infrastructure to offer a private service. This is theoretically, for now - all paid and organized using blockchain.
Crypto Currency
There are a few different terms being used interchangeably right now, like digital currency and crypto currency. The biggest difference is how and where the currency is stored and used. Crypto currency is the correct term for anything used on a blockchain for payment.
There are hundreds of versions of crypto currency, but you have probably heard the most about Bitcoin, Ethereum and Shiba Inu.
Bitcoin was first released in 2009, Ethereum came in 2015 and Shiba Inu came around in 2020. While all have had interesting stories of how they came to be, Blockchain remains more of the classic crypto currency, as a medium of exchange using proof of work by miners. Ethereum is branching out into a form of use with it’s medium of exchange called an Ether using proof of stake by a network vs individual miners and equating to a 99% energy use reduction and faster speeds.
Shiba Inu is considered a meme coin, meaning it started as a playful alternative to other crypto currencies. Meme coins are often owned by a small number of wallets creating volatility. As with all crypto currencies, don’t trade more than you can afford to lose because the benefit is going to come from the circulation, not from holding like it is an investment stock.
NFT’s
Non-fungible tokens, or, NFT’s are aptly named digital assets that do not have a physical (fungible) counterpart. They are fully intended to live only in the digital realm. From my business owner perspective, the most exciting part of an NFT is this blockchain aspect of certification. Instead of using a piece of paper with a numbered element to show its rarity, you can mint an NFT and the code is the certificate.
NFT’s have hit a few different areas of business now. The more promising areas are used for creatives and artists. You can mint an NFT of your work and sell online with a creator fee of upwards of 5%+ which means that as long as the NFT is sold digitally to new owners, you will always get a royalty for the transaction. This could be a huge shift in the way creatives do business.
Another use for NFT is through investments. Right now, business investments are either via private equity, fundraising, or loans. But now, you don’t need someone to benefit from your product or service to be able to support your business. Instead, your company can offer NFT’s which are still a part of the brand relationship but as a digital investment to support your mission and vision. Designer brand, Prada, offers exclusive NFT drops of graphic t-shirts for customers on their email list who may not otherwise wear Prada goods.
My fascination for the exchange of money is nothing new. In fact, my fascination came decades ago when I realized I would get money to support myself from fairly easy connections. My first job was as a muralist in Santa Barbara at the Museum of Art. I worked two summers there and was paid $15 /hr to paint a mural in the gorgeous open studio of the Ridley Tree Education Center. My Lead Muralist even invited me to come with her to paint murals in the mansions above Santa Barbara. It was effortless. People were kind to me and respectful, thoughtful and passionate.
After that, I received several grants to attend art school in college and later worked in retail while I was an undergrad. I loved my jobs and always loved my people around me.
As a business owner the harder work is using my 1-1 ability to connect my product to the right people. I truly believe our work as business owners is to use our business as an extension of our energetic self. At the same time, relying on the fluctuations of the market to get steady is like taking a drink from an open cup as a passenger in a moving car. Stuff is going to spill. Your eyes need to be on the road and you have to time your moves with the bumps. If you are in this situation, you are not alone and you are not a miracle worker. Sometimes we have to find a smoother road (or a lid for the cup). As with many of my previous writings, here is where my experiment with Human Design gets interesting.
There is a segment of our body graph that tells us how our vocation is used to build the new current of money. It’s called the Mars Line. And it’s the bigger map, the pieces to the puzzle, the smoother roads for us to take as business people to form a business Synarchy.
First, you find your Mars Line on your body graph design side. Look for the mars symbol about midway down and note the number that is listed after the period that separates the gate. Find your number below and give it some time to ponder how you fit into the whole picture.
Line 1: A one in your mars line indicates your role as a creative. This is pure energy to create and not pressure to fuel or force this creativity into a business idea.
Line 2: A two in your mars line indicates your role as a tastemaker. You find the talent of the creatives and connect it to others.
Line 3: A three in your mars line indicates your role in organizing the businesses. You take responsibility for the whole project, community and headquarters.
Line 4: A four in your mars line indicates your capacity to influence. Its your particular signature aura, like that of a figurehead, that will draw out the support needed for a new idea.
Line 5: A five in your mars line indicates your capacity to create space for the new idea in the market. It is your ability to clear out any rotting ideas or practices and replace them with the new ones for a specific industry.
Line 6: A six in your mars line indicates your capacity to draw in the right financial support. It is your capability and philanthropic nature that allows you to see clearly where there is ripeness for investment. You gather the financial support and choose what to spend it on for the benefit of all.
I have a 3 Mars Line, my flow comes from organizing and guiding the business. But I also understand that I can't build everything as a projector energy type. None of us should. The beauty and fun comes when we start connecting into one another to merge our auras, our energetic self, and our gifts that contribute to the whole. I believe strongly in the power of the network and I am now completely fascinated with the concept of our mars lines and how we can tap into the effortlessness of success as a whole for the good of all. Maybe we can experiment with this in the coming months ahead?
