Today is the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl, nothing to celebrate actually. When the crisis in the reactors began, the Soviets acted quickly but without notification to the international community. The accident was first discovered in Sweden when contamination levels exceeded safety guidelines but no fault could be found in the Swedish power plant. This forces us to conclude that nuclear energy is not far removed from the military-industrial complex and whatever its agenda might be.

When pressed for words, one can always look for a good quotation. Today, there is one attributed to Einstein worthy of our consideration.

"The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking...the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker."

To date, the death toll from Chernobyl has been estimated at one to 1.4 million people. As stated previously, I do not know how to interpret such figures because when I first studied cancer, beginning more than 40 years ago, the incidence had not really changed in centuries. It was then believed that one in four people would develop cancer at some point in life but where and when the cancer appeared varied enormously. Others believe we always have cancer but some do not succumb to it whereas others do. This theory is eloquent but it lures us to speculations that cannot be empirically corroborated. In my own practice, what I have seen is that cancer is occurring much earlier in life than a few decades ago. Then, most patients were in their 60s, 70s, and 80s. Today, most patients contacting me are in the age range that should be their healthiest, their prime of life.

Cancer is not actually the only risk so to use such statistics to measure a nuclear disaster limits our understanding of what is really taking place. We ought also to look at miscarriages, still births, birth defects, infertility, and even unusual problems with sexual differentiation and the functioning of the reproductive system. These problems, as noted in my earliest post-Fukushima posts, are attributed mainly to radioactive cesium. We ought to be addressing all sorts of abnormalities of a sociological nature as well. However, every time we do this, we are also pulled in other directions. For instance, how do explain increased life expectancies? or decreased quality of life? Moreover, if we blame everything on fallout from Chernobyl, what are we going to do with our laments over chemtrails, microwave towers, GMO foods, vaccines, plastics, pesticides, and so on and so forth? I can't answer these questions so they are just put out there for your reflection.

Since the disaster with the Dai-ichi reactors, I have read countless, truly countless, emails, blogs, and web sites plus I have watched ever so many videos. People are justifiably upset but blame games are tiresome and usually not very constructive. Emotions, however, sometimes lead to interesting insights. These have ranged from the way out there New Age metaphysics to some very dark conspiracy theories and some serious science. It's hard to weigh in on any of this because during times of powerlessness, one is well advised to remain observant, flexible, and open to new ideas, insights, and change. I am sure there are many people who are still in such deep shock that they cannot come out of the emotional paralysis that shock provokes to isolate us temporarily from reality. However, as the shock subsides, reactions, actions, and renewed effort begin. Only then will be start to see what is emerging in place of the old.

In the turmoil of recent weeks, my mind has poured over every detail of clinical experiences I have had with victims of Chernobyl as well as survivors of that disaster. The Japanese response to the Fukushima disaster has been completely different from the Soviet response, but personally, I believe it is too early to judge the actions of either strategy. There were deaths in Chernobyl in the early days, none so far reported in Japan. However, the reality at this juncture is that pundits in the nuclear community are going to have to create a category higher than seven because Fukushima stands to dwarf Chernobyl in magnitude.

Some of the most far out opinions circulated on the web refer to radiation as light, suggesting that if we accept this, we will allow it to pass through us and cease to be afraid. Others refer to it as an evolutionary energy that will turn us into fourth dimensional beings. Honestly, I can't quite go these directions, but there are a few points of certainty that I might share. Radiation is a frequency that exists on a level or octave higher than any for which we have conscious sense organs. This is why we do not "feel" it or "taste" it or "see" it. In reality, all vibrations have all the properties of manifest energies so they must have aroma, flavor, light, movement, sound, and, most importantly, qualifying energy, meaning that coming from the Creator, they are imbued with purpose. If we are unaware of this, it is, as noted, because we are not acquainted with radiation and therefore view it through our ignorance rather than our knowing.

Radiation is clearly Yang. There is a stable region of the source substance but the emissions are mobile and therefore yang. They are in quest of stability through union with Yin. Maybe this is too romantic because Yin may feel like Persephone dragged into Hades at the will of Her abductor, but whether we choose to see radiation as the geophysical equivalent of raging testosterone or clumsy courtship, the fact is some electrons need pairing. Some of this mating might not feel very consensual so it's no wonder the aftermath speaks to this violation of our boundaries.

On a microscopic level, we experience tissue perforation and breaking of bonds that were stable. Radiation leaves a trail of wreckage in its wake, but what we are seeing is that some of this tissue damage can be avoided by good lipid protection and ready availability of electron donors in the form of antioxidants. In a kind of a way, one is offering the electron starved, disorderly radiation an alternative to physiological plunder: sacrifice some ginkgo leaves, some black seed oil, some berry juice, and cross your fingers that your erythrocytes and neutrophils are spared the havoc. There are apparently some plants and perhaps even some minerals that like radiation or that are at least tempted to engage it. Personally, I don't feel ready, but then my astrology teacher used to call my Thomasina!

So soon after Easter, that's an appropriate place to end.

We have a lot of work ahead of us . . .

Many blessings,

Ingrid