“You are on the journey of the crone and the wiseman. You are walking through the doors of death.
You are on the hero’s path. You are climbing the ladder of wisdom.
You are obtaining the tools of understanding and knowledge. You are gaining the skills of magic. You are earning the right to view the books of light and all knowing. Before you take the crescent voyage you will pass on your wisdom to the initiates of the truth. “
High Priestess Kristi
This blog is a sacred journal of evolving consciousness, weaving ancient wisdom and future knowing into guidance for spiritual community, ethical business, human evolution, and divine embodiment.
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Scrying the State of the Union: When Rhetoric Meets Reality
Before we begin this analysis, take a breath. Center yourself in your own knowing. What you’re about to read may challenge narratives you’ve been told to accept. It may confirm intuitions you’ve been told to dismiss. Either way, trust your capacity to discern truth from performance, substance from spectacle.
Scrying the State of the Union: When Rhetoric Meets Reality is not about left versus right, Republican versus Democrat. This is about cultivating the clear thinking that allows us to navigate the Great Transition with eyes open and hearts aligned with truth. This is about using both our analytical minds AND our spiritual perception to see what is actually unfolding before us.
As we teach in The Evolution of Clear Thinking: “Intelligence operates on three interrelated levels: Computational (analyzing data), Emotional (reading energy), and Spiritual (perceiving the aliveness beneath appearances).” Today, we engage all three.
What We Have Witnessed
On December 17, 2025, the President delivered a speech designed to reassure Americans that despite what they’re experiencing in their daily lives, everything is actually going remarkably well. The speech was filled with specific numbers, bold declarations, and absolute certainties about complex situations.
But something felt off. The body language was stiff. The delivery was scripted without the usual ad-libbing. The Christmas backdrop, was heavy with green and gold, screaming “prosperity” while many Americans struggle to afford groceries. The cognitive dissonance was palpable.
And then there was what wasn’t said.
The Bait-and-Switch: What We Were Promised vs. What We Got
In the days leading up to this address, the promotion suggested Americans would hear:
Forward-looking policy for 2026: What specific actions would address current struggles
Recognition of border patrol heroes: Honoring those doing difficult work
Solutions to pressing problems: Concrete plans for the issues keeping people awake at night
What we actually received:
A retrospective of claimed victories from the past 11 months of his administration
Statistics presented with creative interpretation
No substantive policy announcements for the year ahead
No acknowledgment of border patrol personnel
No addressing of the daily struggles ordinary Americans face
This wasn’t an accident. This was strategic redirection.
Why promise one thing and deliver another?
Because what people actually need to hear, (honest acknowledgment of difficulty and realistic pathways forward), would undermine the performance of success. The bait-and-switch keeps people watching while avoiding uncomfortable truths.
The Deafening Silence: What Wasn’t Addressed
Here’s what millions of Americans are actually experiencing that received zero mention:
HOMELESSNESS CRISIS:
Visible homelessness in cities and suburbs at levels not seen in decades
Working people living in vehicles because rent exceeds income
Families one emergency away from losing housing
Encampments growing while criminalization for it increases
No acknowledgment. No solutions. Not even pretending to understand what ordinary people are facing.
Instead: Claims that everything is better, promises about the future that may never materialize, and performance of prosperity while people struggle to survive.
If your intuition registered this disconnect, its not “being negative”, it’s honest perception.
Why This Matters for Clear Thinking:
When leadership refuses to acknowledge the reality people are living, it creates a specific kind of psychological pressure:
“Am I crazy? The official message says things are great. But I can’t afford groceries. Am I failing? Am I doing something wrong? Everyone else must be doing fine…”
No. You’re not crazy. You’re not failing.Everyone is not doing just fine.
The disconnect between official narrative and lived reality is REAL. Your struggle is VALID. The system IS broken for ordinary people while claiming to work beautifully.
Trust your experience. Build your discernment. Prepare accordingly.
Scrying the State of the Union: When Rhetoric Meets Reality With A Claim-by-Claim Analysis
Truth vs. Manipulation
CLAIM 1: “Zero illegal aliens have been allowed into our country for the past seven months”
VALIDITY: FALSE
SOURCE VERIFICATION: According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official monthly operational statistics:
THE MANIPULATION: “Zero” is mathematically absolute. The actual data shows approximately 470,211 encounters during this “seven month” period. The claim converts a reduction (which did occur from 2023 peaks) into elimination (which did not occur).
WHY THIS MATTERS: When leaders use absolute language (“zero,” “never,” “completely”) about complex phenomena, they’re bypassing your analytical mind to create emotional impact. Your critical thinking should immediately ask: “Is absolute cessation even possible for human migration across thousands of miles of border?”
SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT: Notice the energy beneath “invasion by an army.” This language is designed to trigger fear and dehumanization. It treats desperate human beings, many fleeing violence, persecution, and climate catastrophe, as military threats.
Love-based leadership acknowledges: “Migration is complex. People move for survival. We can have boundaries AND compassion.” Fear-based leadership demands: “They are invaders. We have won total victory.”
Straight Arrow News
CLAIM 2: “25 million people invaded, many from prisons and jails, mental institutions and insane asylums”
VALIDITY: HIGHLY MISLEADING
SOURCE VERIFICATION: According to the Department of Homeland Security’s own data:
Total encounters at all borders (2021-2025): Approximately 10 million encounters
“Encounters” ≠ “people allowed to stay”: Many encounters are the same individuals attempting multiple crossings
Actual estimated entries: Between 3-4 million unique individuals (per Migration Policy Institute analysis)
THE MANIPULATION: Conflating “encounters” with “invasion,” including people already deported in total counts, and implying all migrants are criminals when ICE’s own data shows the vast majority have no criminal background.
CRITICAL THINKING EXERCISE: If 25 million new people actually entered the U.S. in four years, that would be a 7.5% population increase. Where are they? Why aren’t cities with 7.5% population increases seeing proportional infrastructure strain? The math doesn’t match observable reality.
CLAIM 3: “Inflation was the worst in 48 years”
VALIDITY: TECHNICALLY TRUE BUT INCOMPLETE
SOURCE VERIFICATION: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index:
Peak inflation (June 2023): 9.1% year-over-year
Last time inflation exceeded 9%: 1981 (during the Volcker Fed era)
Current inflation (November 2025): 3.1% year-over-year
Global phenomenon: Nearly every developed nation experienced similar inflation due to:
COVID-19 supply chain disruptions
Pandemic-era monetary stimulus (initiated under both administrations)
Ukraine war impact on energy and food prices
Corporate profit-taking (markup inflation)
Recovery context: Inflation has decreased substantially from peak, though prices remain elevated
THE MANIPULATION: Presenting inflation as solely a “Democrat administration” problem ignores:
Bipartisan pandemic spending that was necessary but inflationary
Global supply chain issues beyond any president’s control
Fed policy decisions made by appointed officials serving across many administrations
WHAT MATTERS FOR YOUR LIFE: Inflation rate is down. Prices are still high. Your purchasing power is reduced. That’s the lived reality, regardless of who’s responsible.
CLAIM 4: “The price of eggs is down 82% since March”
VALIDITY: MISLEADING THROUGH CHERRY-PICKED TIMELINE
SOURCE VERIFICATION: According to USDA Agricultural Marketing Service and BLS data:
January 2025: Eggs peaked at $4.82/dozen (due to avian flu outbreak that killed 58 million birds)
March 2025: Prices had dropped to approximately $2.50/dozen as flocks recovered
November 2025: Average price $3.05/dozen nationally
December 2025: Prices rising again due to new avian flu outbreak
THE MANIPULATION: Choosing March as the starting point captures the recovery from a disease outbreak, not the impact of any policy. If we use January 2025 as baseline, the drop is closer to 37% (still significant but nowhere near 82%).
More importantly: This is how disease cycles work. Avian flu killed birds → supply dropped → prices spiked → flocks rebuilt → supply recovered → prices normalized. This is biology and market mechanics, not political achievement.
CRITICAL THINKING QUESTION: If presidential policy were responsible, how exactly? What specific action caused chickens to stop dying from avian flu? The silence on mechanism reveals the absurdity of the claim.
CLAIM 5: “$18 trillion of investment secured”
VALIDITY: UNVERIFIABLE / LIKELY FALSE
SOURCE VERIFICATION ATTEMPT: This number appears in no:
Treasury Department reports
Commerce Department data
Independent financial analysis
Business press coverage
Investment tracking databases
For context:
Total U.S. GDP: ~$27 trillion annually
Total global private equity: ~$4-5 trillion
Total U.S. foreign direct investment (entire year): ~$400-500 billion
THE IMPOSSIBILITY: An $18 trillion investment commitment would represent:
67% of annual U.S. GDP
3.6x total global private equity available
36x normal annual foreign direct investment
WHERE IS IT? If even 10% of this ($1.8 trillion) had actually been deployed:
Construction would be visible everywhere
Employment in construction/manufacturing would have spiked dramatically
Business investment numbers would show historic anomaly
THE MANIPULATION: Stating an unverifiable number so large it bypasses rational analysis. It sounds impressive. It feels like success. But it has no connection to measurable reality.
SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT: When someone offers you a number too big to verify and too good to question, they’re asking you to operate on faith rather than discernment. True leadership shows you the receipts. False leadership asks you to trust the performance.
CLAIM 6: “100% of all jobs created since I took office have been in the private sector”
VALIDITY: MISLEADING STATISTIC MANIPULATION
SOURCE VERIFICATION: According to Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Employment Statistics:
Total nonfarm employment January 2025: 157.1 million
Total nonfarm employment November 2025: 159.1 million
Net job growth: ~2 million
Breaking down by sector:
Government employment (federal, state, local) did decrease slightly in early 2025 but has since stabilized
THE MANIPULATION: This claim exploits how government hiring cycles work:
Post-pandemic, there was above-normal government hiring (2022-2024) for recovery programs
As those programs wound down, government employment naturally decreased
Claiming this as an achievement rather than a predictable cycle is misleading
Additionally, the framing suggests government jobs are somehow “bad” while private sector jobs are “good”, an ideological position, not an economic fact.
CRITICAL THINKING: Government jobs include: teachers, firefighters, public health workers, infrastructure maintenance, food safety inspectors. Are these inherently less valuable than private sector jobs? The framing reveals ideology, not analysis.
CLAIM 7: “Within the next 12 months, we will have opened 1,600 new electrical generating plants”
VALIDITY: PRACTICALLY IMPOSSIBLE
SOURCE VERIFICATION: According to U.S. Energy Information Administration:
2024: 62 new generators came online (all sizes, all fuel types)
Regulatory changes affecting drilling permits (18-24 month lag time)
THE MANIPULATION: Taking credit for cyclical market dynamics and cherry-picking outlier prices to suggest nationwide reality that doesn’t exist.
WHAT YOUR WALLET TELLS YOU: Check your own gas receipts. That’s your data point. If you’re paying $3+ per gallon (as most Americans are), that’s your reality, not the carefully selected examples in a political speech.
CLAIM 9: “Settled eight wars in 10 months, destroyed the Iran nuclear threat”
VALIDITY: FALSE ON MULTIPLE COUNTS
SOURCE VERIFICATION:
Major ongoing conflicts as of December 2025:
Ukraine-Russia War: Active combat, no peace agreement
THE MANIPULATION: Claiming to have resolved conflicts that are demonstrably ongoing. This isn’t spin, it’s fabrication that dishonors those still suffering in these wars.
CLAIM 10: “Peace to the Middle East for the first time in 3,000 years”
VALIDITY: HISTORICALLY ABSURD
SOURCE VERIFICATION:
Current Middle East conflicts (December 2025):
Gaza: Ceasefire fragile, humanitarian crisis severe
West Bank: Ongoing tensions and violence
Syria: Frozen but unresolved civil war
Yemen: Houthi attacks on shipping continuing
Israel-Iran tensions: Elevated, not resolved
HISTORICAL ACCURACY: The claim “for the first time in 3,000 years” is nonsensical:
Major Middle East conflicts are primarily 20th-21st century phenomena (post-Ottoman collapse, post-colonial period, oil politics)
There have been numerous periods of relative peace in the region over 3,000 years
The Pax Romana (27 BCE – 180 CE) brought extended peace to much of the region
Various caliphates maintained internal peace for centuries
Ottoman rule (1517-1917) had long peaceful periods
([Source: See any comprehensive Middle East history text])
THE MANIPULATION: Using grandiose historical claims that sound impressive but are factually meaningless. It’s designed to bypass your knowledge of history and create emotional resonance with “peace” while people are still dying.
SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT: Real peace isn’t announced, it’s lived. When children can go to school without fear, when families can rebuild homes, when refugees can return safely, that’s peace. A politician declaring victory while violence continues is not peace; it’s performance.
CLAIM 11: “Under Trump, the typical factory worker is seeing a wage increase of $1,300”
VALIDITY: MISLEADING WITHOUT INFLATION CONTEXT
SOURCE VERIFICATION: According to Bureau of Labor Statistics Real Earnings data:
Nominal wages (not adjusted for inflation):
Production and nonsupervisory employees in manufacturing saw average hourly earnings increase from $28.35 (January 2025) to $29.08 (November 2025)
Annual increase of approximately $1,500 in gross wages
HOWEVER, Real wages (adjusted for inflation):
Real average hourly earnings actually declined by 0.9% over this period when adjusted for CPI
While nominal numbers went up, purchasing power went down
THE MANIPULATION: Citing nominal wage increases without acknowledging that inflation has outpaced those increases. Your paycheck number is bigger, but it buys less.
WHAT YOUR BUDGET KNOWS: If you’re making $1,300 more this year but your rent, food, healthcare, and transportation cost $1,500 more, you’re actually losing ground. The speech presents the first number without the second.
CLAIM 12: “Prescription drug prices reduced by 400, 500, even 600%”
VALIDITY: MATHEMATICALLY IMPOSSIBLE / NO IMPLEMENTATION
SOURCE VERIFICATION:
The Math Problem: You cannot reduce something by more than 100%.
A 100% reduction = free
A 400% reduction = the manufacturer pays you 3x the original price to take the drug
This is either:
A fundamental misunderstanding of percentages
Intentional mathematical manipulation
Conflating “reduction” with “comparison” (e.g., paying $25 instead of $100 = “75% less” not “400% reduction”)
“Most Favored Nation” Policy Status:
Previous attempts at this policy (2021-2022):
Announced with similar fanfare
Faced immediate legal challenges from pharmaceutical industry
Implementation blocked by federal courts
No actual price reductions materialized for consumers
“trumprx.gov” website does not yet exist (verifiable by attempting to visit)
No pharmaceutical companies have announced voluntary compliance
THE MANIPULATION: Making promises that sound revolutionary while providing no mechanism for implementation. This is the same promise made in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, each time with no material result for consumers.
WHAT YOUR PHARMACY RECEIPTS TELL YOU: Check your prescription costs from last year versus this year. That’s your reality, not the promise.
CLAIM 13: “More people working today than at any time in American history”
VALIDITY: TRUE BUT MISLEADING
SOURCE VERIFICATION: According to BLS Current Employment Statistics:
Total nonfarm employment (November 2025): 159.1 million
THE MANIPULATION: Using an absolute number that sounds impressive while ignoring the proportional reality. It’s like saying “We have more cars than ever!” when the population that needs cars has also grown.
CRITICAL THINKING: Always ask: “Compared to what? Adjusted for what context?”
CLAIM 14: “Record-breaking tax cuts – families saving $11,000 to $20,000 per year”
VALIDITY: FUTURE PROJECTION, CURRENTLY UNVERIFIABLE
SOURCE VERIFICATION:
The “one big beautiful bill” referenced was signed in November 2025. Key provisions:
No tax on tips
No tax on overtime
And zero tax on Social Security benefits
The Timeline Problem:
Bill signed: November 2025
Tax year: 2025
Tax filing: Spring 2026
First paycheck impacts: Varies by employer implementation (2026)
No one has actually saved this money yet. This is a projection of what might happen based on assumptions about:
How much overtime people work
How much income comes from tips
How much Social Security income people receive
Whether they itemize or take standard deduction
Independent Analysis:
Tax Policy Center preliminary analysis suggests:
Benefits heavily skewed to higher-income households
Lower and middle-income households see modest benefits
The “$11,000 to $20,000” figure appears to apply only to specific high-income scenarios, not typical families
THE MANIPULATION: Presenting future projections as current reality. Highlighting maximum benefit cases as if they’re typical. Claiming savings that won’t be realized for months and can’t yet be verified.
CLAIM 15: “$1,776 warrior dividend for 1,450,000 service members”
VALIDITY: TECHNICALLY POSSIBLE BUT QUESTIONABLE FUNDING
SOURCE VERIFICATION:
The Math: 1,450,000 service members × $1,776 = $2.575 billion
This is within the realm of possibility from tariff revenue if tariff collections have significantly exceeded projections.
However:
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection trade data:
Tariff revenue FY2024: Approximately $80 billion
This represents an increase from previous years but not the massive windfall suggested
What other military spending was cut to fund this?
Is this a one-time payment or recurring?
Congressional Budget Office typically must approve such expenditures. No announcement of CBO approval has been made public.
THE MANIPULATION: Using an emotionally resonant number ($1,776 = founding year) and announcing it as “already on the way” without showing the actual authorization or funding mechanism. It may be true, but the verification is suspiciously absent.
CLAIM 16: “Reverse migration as migrants go back home”
THE MANIPULATION: “Reverse migration” implies a mass exodus that isn’t occurring. There is a reduction in net immigration, but framing it as “reverse” creates a false impression of magnitude.
As We Are Scrying the State of the Union: Rhetoric Meets Reality We Find The Purpose of Prosperity Theater
The green and gold Christmas backdrop wasn’t accidental. The declarative certainty wasn’t accidental. The avalanche of big numbers wasn’t accidental.
This is what we might call normalization rhetoric, communication designed to:
Override lived experience with official narrative
Prevent preparation by claiming problems are solved
Manufacture consent for policies that benefit few while claiming to help many
Exploit cognitive biases through:
Authority (presidential podium)
Repetition (saying things are great makes people want to believe they’re great)
Social proof (if everyone else believes it, maybe I should too)
Big numbers (that bypass rational analysis)
From the Agape Lens:
Fear-based systems require constant performance of strength and success. They cannot admit vulnerability, acknowledge complexity, or prepare people for genuine difficulty because that would undermine the authority structure.
Love-based systems do the opposite. They acknowledge: “This is hard. The road ahead is uncertain. Here’s what we know, what we don’t know, and how we can navigate together.”
One prepares people for transition. The other keeps them dependent on the illusion of stability.
The Crisis Around the Corner
There is a crisis around the corner. This type of speech is designed to keep people’s blindfolds on instead of helping people prepare.
Let’s speak plainly about what those with eyes to see are observing:
Social cohesion fragmenting (polarization, information warfare)
None of these are solved by a speech claiming victory. None of these disappear because someone declares them fixed.
The Agape teaching:
The Great Transition (2024-2030) is not a problem to be solved by a single administration or policy set. It is a civilizational metamorphosis, a fundamental restructuring of how we organize society, how we relate to each other, and how we interface with the planet that sustains us.
Speeches like this one attempt to convince people that the old systems just need tweaking. The truth is more profound: the old systems are dissolving because they were built on extraction, exploitation, and endless growth on a finite planet.
What comes next cannot be voted into existence. It must be built by transition leaders who understand that real transformation requires:
Acknowledging difficulty honestly
Building genuine resilience (not just talking about it)
Developing new capacities (not relying on old solutions)
Operating from love and interconnection (not fear and domination)
How to Navigate: A Practice in Clear Thinking
From The Evolution of Clear Thinking Guide:
“The goal is not to become purely rational beings. The goal is to develop reason as a servant of soul, a tool through which deeper wisdom can flow into practical form.”
Here’s how to apply that now:
1. Verify Before You Believe
When you hear a claim that sounds too good (or too bad) to be true:
Seek the original source data (not summaries or interpretations)
Check multiple independent sources
Look for what’s NOT being said
Notice emotional manipulation attempts
Practice: Pick three claims from any political speech. Spend 15 minutes researching each. Write down what you verify versus what you cannot.
2. Trust Your Lived Experience
If the official narrative says the economy is booming but:
Your grocery bill keeps climbing
Your rent takes more of your income
You’re working harder for less purchasing power
Your community is struggling
Your experience is valid data. It may be anecdotal, but patterns in your life + patterns in your community + patterns in similar communities = meaningful signal, not just noise.
3. Distinguish Between Hope and Hopium
Hope = “The situation is difficult AND we have agency to respond consciously” Hopium = “Everything is fine, trust the authorities, don’t prepare”
Hope acknowledges reality and builds genuine resilience. Hopium denies reality and breeds dependency.
One empowers. One sedates.
4. Develop Discernment About Sources
Ask of any information source:
Who benefits from me believing this?
What am I being encouraged to do (or not do)?
Does this empower my sovereignty or undermine it?
Does this align with observable reality?
5. Practice Both/And Thinking
The president is not all evil OR all good. There are some policies that may help some people while harming others. And other claims may be partially true while being fundamentally misleading. Systems can be failing AND people within them can be trying their best.
Reality is complex. Beware of anyone selling simple answers to complex problems.
The Agape Response: Love as Discernment
Here’s what often gets misunderstood about love-based approaches: Love is not naive. Love does not require believing lies to avoid conflict. Love does not mean accepting harm with a smile.
True love, Agape love, is fierce discernment in service to collective flourishing.
It says:
“I see what you’re doing, and I won’t pretend it’s something else.”
“I honor your humanity AND I reject your manipulation.”
“I hold compassion for your fear AND I won’t let that fear dictate my reality.”
When we analyze a speech like this through Agape eyes, we:
Acknowledge the humanity of everyone involved (including the president, the speechwriters, the anxious citizens)
Reject the manipulation without demonizing the manipulators (they too are operating from fear and conditioning)
Reclaim our sovereignty by choosing clear perception over comfortable illusion
Serve the transition by modeling what honest, grounded, spiritually-integrated leadership looks like
This is medicine, not entertainment. This is preparation, not panic. Love, not delusion.
For Transition Leaders: Reading the Signs, Preparing Your People
This section is specifically for those of you who are called to guide others through the Great Transition, coven leaders, community organizers, educators, healers, business owners, and conscious change agents across all sectors. Showing others how to Scry the State of the Union: and Discover When Rhetoric Meets Reality.
Why This Speech Happened Now
Before we address what was said, let’s contemplate why this message was delivered in this way at this moment.
Context Awareness:
We are approaching:
End of calendar year – Traditional time for “state of the nation” messaging
Holiday season – When people are distracted, gathering with family, less engaged with news
Economic anxiety intensifying – Despite official statistics, people’s lived experience is one of financial strain
Trust in institutions at historic lows – Across party lines, Americans trust government, media, and corporations less than ever
2026 beginning – A psychologically significant threshold; people want to believe “new year, new beginning”
Strategic Timing:
This type of messaging is designed to:
Anchor expectations – If people believe things are already great, they won’t demand actual change
Preempt criticism – By claiming problems are solved, legitimate concerns can be dismissed as “out of touch”
Manufacture mandate – By declaring victory, justify continued policies regardless of actual outcomes
Exploit holiday psychology – People in festive mindset are more receptive to optimistic messaging and less critical
The Deeper Pattern:
Every administration, regardless of party, engages in some level of this. But the degree of disconnect between claim and verifiable reality in this speech is significant. When leadership presents an alternate reality this divorced from measurable data, it suggests:
Desperation to maintain belief in the system
Awareness that actual conditions are deteriorating
Investment in preventing people from preparing for what’s actually coming
From the Agape Perspective:
Fear-based systems cannot admit vulnerability or uncertainty. To do so would undermine the authority structure. So instead, they perform strength. They manufacture certainty. They demand belief over evidence.
This is not about this particular president or party. This is about how systems in collapse behave. They double down on narratives that no longer match reality because admitting the truth would accelerate the collapse.
Your role as a transition leader is to help people navigate between these extremes:
Not panicking about the collapse
Not believing the false reassurance
Building actual capacity for what’s unfolding
The Manipulation Toolkit: What You’re Seeing
As a leader, you need to recognize these techniques not to attack those who use them, but to help your people develop immunity to them. These are standard methods of perception management:
Why it works: Absolute language bypasses critical thinking by eliminating nuance. It forces a binary: believe the absolute claim or be against it.
The reality: Complex phenomena almost never operate in absolutes. When you hear absolute language about complex systems (immigration, economy, conflict), your discernment should activate.
How to teach this: Ask your people: “What would need to be true for this absolute claim to be accurate? Is that plausible given what we know about how [immigration/economics/human behavior] actually works?”
2. Unverifiable Numbers
Watch for: Massive statistics with no source citation, numbers too large or too perfect to be real, percentages that don’t make mathematical sense
Why it works: Big numbers create emotional impact without requiring comprehension. Your brain registers “impressive” before it can calculate “impossible.”
The reality: Legitimate data comes with sources, methodology, and context. If a claim is real, the speaker wants you to verify it. If it’s not, they hope you won’t try.
How to teach this: Give your people the practice: “Pick any three statistical claims. Spend 15 minutes trying to find the source data. What did you discover? Was it verifiable? Did the context change the meaning?”
3. Cherry-Picked Timeframes
Watch for: Starting measurement at peak crisis points, ending before recent reversals, comparing unlike time periods
Why it works: You can make almost any trend look positive by choosing where to start and stop measuring.
The reality: Trends need context. A price drop from crisis-peak to normal is not the same as actual affordability improvement.
How to teach this: Show your people how to ask: “Why did they choose that starting point? What was happening then? What does a longer timeline show?”
4. Credit for Natural Cycles
Watch for: Taking political credit for seasonal patterns, disease recovery, market corrections, or demographic shifts
Why it works: Correlation feels like causation to our pattern-seeking brains.
The reality: Many things improve or decline based on non-political cycles. If no specific mechanism of influence is identified, skepticism is warranted.
How to teach this: Ask: “What specific action led to this outcome? What’s the mechanism? Could this have happened regardless of policy?”
5. Future Promises as Current Reality
Watch for: “We will,” “we’re going to,” “soon you’ll see” presented as if already accomplished
Why it works: Hopeful projection feels good. We want to believe in positive futures.
The reality: Until something is implemented and measurable, it’s a promise, not a result.
How to teach this: Practice distinguishing: “What has actually happened versus what is projected to happen? What’s the track record of similar promises?”
6. Emotional Backdrop Manipulation
Watch for: Visual/aesthetic choices designed to trigger specific psychological associations
Why it works: Your subconscious processes visual symbolism faster than your conscious mind processes verbal content.
The reality: Everything from color choices to setting to delivery style is strategically selected in political communication.
How to teach this: Have your people watch speeches with sound off. What emotions does the visual create? Then listen to audio only. What’s the difference? This builds awareness of how environment shapes perception.
The Conversation Your Coven Needs to Have
At your next gathering, create space for these questions:
Opening the Dialogue:
“We’re living through significant transition. Official narratives and lived experience often don’t match. Rather than telling you what to believe, I want to support your capacity to discern for yourselves. Let’s explore together.”
Questions to Process Collectively:
“What are you actually experiencing in your daily life?” Not what you’re supposed to be experiencing, what’s real for you?
“Where do official messages and your reality diverge?” Not to complain, but to acknowledge. Name the disconnect.
“What does your intuition tell you about the times we’re in?” Honor spiritual knowing. What are you sensing beneath the surface?
“What helps you feel grounded when external messages are chaotic?” Build collective resilience practices.
“What preparation feels aligned for you?” This is not from fear, but from conscious response.
“How can we support each other in staying clear?” Community as anchor against manipulation.
Your role: Create a container where honest perception is honored. A place where people can say “I don’t know” without shame. Where fear and hope can coexist. Where preparation isn’t panic.
Framing that helps:
“We’re not being negative by being honest. We’re being responsible. Clear seeing is not doom-saying, it’s wisdom. We can acknowledge difficulty AND trust our capacity to navigate it. Both. And.”
What Preparation Actually Means
Here’s where spiritual leadership and practical wisdom must merge:
NOT Preparation:
Hoarding from fear
Isolating from community
Apocalyptic thinking
Passive waiting for rescue or collapse
ACTUAL Preparation:
Building skills that increase self-reliance
Strengthening community bonds and mutual aid networks
Creating local systems that don’t depend on failing infrastructure
What We Can Actually Do: Grassroots Solutions for Real Problems
Since leadership isn’t offering solutions to what people are actually experiencing, we must build them ourselves. This isn’t about waiting for policy to change or systems to fix themselves. This is about creating parallel structures that serve real needs while the old systems dissolve.
FOOD SECURITY: When Grocery Stores Aren’t Enough
THE REALITY:
Food prices up 25-30% since 2020
Shrinkflation means you’re getting less for the same money
Seed saving: break dependence on purchasing seeds annually
Food Preservation Networks:
Canning/preserving groups that teach and share equipment
Dehydrator sharing for preserving harvests
Freezer cooperatives for bulk purchasing and storage
Root cellaring knowledge for winter food storage
The Agape Approach: Growing food together isn’t just about calories, it’s about rebuilding connection to land, to each other, to the sacredness of sustaining life. It’s medicine for body AND soul.
SKILL SHARING: Rebuilding the Commons
THE REALITY:
Specialized knowledge concentrated in professions people can’t afford
DIY becoming necessity as services become unaffordable
Skills like food preservation, repair, building lost in recent generations
People isolated, not knowing their neighbors’ capabilities
GRASSROOTS SOLUTIONS:
Skill Libraries/Tool Libraries:
Shared tools that individuals can’t afford to own (expensive equipment, specialized tools)
Organized through churches, community centers, or informal networks
Members contribute tools they own, borrow what they need
The Crossroads Automotive Model: As demonstrated by Witch Cat Roadside: ethical pricing (labor only, exact parts reimbursement), mobile service, family-based business structure, serving customers during transition. This is love-based economics in action.
SMALL BUSINESS & EMPLOYMENT: Creating Alternatives
THE REALITY:
Corporate jobs: part-time, no benefits, poverty wages
Small businesses: strangled by costs, can’t afford employees
Gig economy: exploitation masquerading as flexibility
Traditional employment model collapsing
GRASSROOTS SOLUTIONS:
Worker Cooperatives:
Employees own the business collectively
Democratic decision-making
Profit-sharing replaces wage slavery
Investment in members rather than extraction for distant shareholders
How They Work:
Each member has one vote regardless of capital contribution
Surplus distributed among worker-owners
Long-term sustainability prioritized over quarterly profits
Examples: Mondragon (Spain), Cooperative Home Care Associates (NYC)
Time Banking & Alternative Currencies:
Local currencies that circulate within community
Time-based exchange (one hour = one hour, regardless of service)
Builds resilience against dollar instability
Keeps wealth circulating locally
Micro-Enterprise Networks:
Very small businesses (1-3 people) networking for mutual support
Educational system not preparing students for transition era
GRASSROOTS SOLUTIONS:
Micro-Schools & Learning Pods:
5-15 children, mixed ages
Parents rotate teaching responsibilities
Curriculum based on actual skills and knowledge
Lower cost than private school, more flexibility than traditional homeschool
Community Learning Centers:
Shared space for homeschool families
Rotating teachers (parents, community members with expertise)
Resource libraries: books, materials, equipment
Social interaction without institutional structure
Skill-Based Youth Apprenticeships:
Young people learning trades directly from practitioners
Real-world application rather than theoretical learning
Building capacity for transition era
Intergenerational connection and knowledge transfer
The Crossroads Approach: Education as preparation for transition leadership. Teaching critical thinking, spiritual intelligence, practical skills, and sector-specific leadership. Not job training for a collapsing economy, but human development for building the new paradigm.
NETWORKING & COORDINATION: Building the Parallel System
THE CRITICAL PIECE:
All of these solutions are more effective when coordinated. Isolated individuals trying to do everything alone will burn out. Connected communities doing different pieces together create resilience.
How to Coordinate Locally:
Community Resource Mapping:
Who has what skills?
Who has what tools/equipment?
Who has what land/space?
Who has what time/energy to contribute?
What are the gaps? What needs building?
Regular Gatherings:
Monthly community meetings (not just crisis response)
Seasonal celebrations (build culture, not just utility)
Work parties (collaborative projects)
Skill shares and teaching circles
The Agape Principle in Community Building:
We’re not building these alternatives because we hate the old system. We’re building them because we LOVE each other and we LOVE life and we refuse to let artificial scarcity and systemic collapse destroy our capacity to thrive.
This is love-based action. A new paradigm emerging through our hands. This is transition leadership at the grassroots level.
Why Leadership Won’t Offer These Solutions
The speech didn’t address any of this because these solutions build sovereignty, not dependence.
Systems don’t solve problems that would eliminate the need for those systems.
This is why we must build our own solutions. Not in opposition to existing structures, but as parallel alternatives that actually serve human flourishing.
The Crossroads Council: Monthly membership for transition leaders across all sectors
Cross-sector collaboration and strategy development
Frameworks for conscious change in your sphere of influence
Peer support for those leading transformation
This analysis is offered in service to truth, clarity, and conscious transition. May it support your discernment and strengthen your capacity to navigate what lies ahead.
