The message of the Sacramento Gathering was clear and insistent: The time of awakening has passed. God has actually sped up time, Betty told us on Friday night, and it is now time to be aware and alert. She repeated this message in different ways on each of the three days we were with her.

How do we become aware? Betty shared that we are already highly intuitive; we already know how to sense energy, good or bad vibes. In fact, we are so highly tuned that we should avoid all energy/words that do not resonate with our spirits. Answers lie within, she reminded us.

Betty shared some ways to help us awaken. Jesus taught her to use a simple hand motion away from the body to deflect other people's energy if we do not want it in our energy field. Every motion of our bodies has meaning. If we change the way we move and talk, we change our energy.

Another way to tap into the spirit's love and strength is to close our eyes, be seated comfortably, imagine a bright light surrounding us, breath in, and say, "All is good" on the exhale. We can indeed use self-hypnosis to bring ourselves into health-promoting levels of relaxation.

Because troubling times lie ahead for our world, it is essential that we be prepared in spirit. Yes, only God is absolute, Betty said, but she was quite firm that the world is so far away from being like Jesus that she foresaw serious Earth changes. We talked for about ten minutes about the importance of knowing how to camp out, of learning first aid, and of storing food and water supplies.

Being alert and aware helps us avoid danger. Just after I returned from Sacramento, I read about a local store that was robbed at gunpoint. The owner reported that she wished she had followed "her gut feeling" about the person who did it, because she could have prevented the robbery. This story resonated with me, and I felt my spirit say that people will be saved from a lot of harm if they learn to trust their intuition.

Hearing about the Earth changes was sad, but I have since internalized the knowledge and trust that it was in God's will for me to hear it. I know I am to keep on loving, praying, listening to Spirit, seeking the positive, and trusting in God. In the meantime, I feel greatly blessed to have been at the 2005 Gathering and to have met up again with so many wonderful soul friends.