Awakening to Zero Point: The Collective Initiation (Paperback), by Gregg Braden, Sacred Spaces/Ancient Wisdom, 1994, Fourth Printing Published by LL Productions, 1996, 278pp.

“Everyone feels it.   Something has changed – something feels different now, during these days.”  With these words, Gregg Braden opens his controversial first book, Awakening to Zero Point: The Collective Initiation.  Braden, a one-time geologist, computer systems designer, and technical operations specialist for such diverse firms as Phillips Petroleum, Martin-Marietta, and Cisco Systems, whose own personal research on ancient mystical texts and sacred sites led to the publication of this book, now writes and speaks full time.  Reflecting an ongoing interest in the intersections of science, religion, mysticism, ancient prophecy, and psychology, Braden’s more recent books include Walking between the Worlds (1997), The Isaiah Effect (2000), The God Code (2004), The Divine Matrix (2006), and Secrets of the Lost Mode of Prayer (2006).   Yet, the hard-to-find Awakening to Zero Point is where it all began.

The “Shifting of the Ages” has been a topic of increasing popular speculation and interest ever since the song “The Age of Aquarius” entered the public imagination via the 1960s hit musical “Hair.”   Yet, the “The Shift” as it is sometimes simply called has longer and deeper roots in the literature and orature of mysticism, religion, and ancient science.   One part of The Shift relates to the precession of Equinoxes through astrological signs, a process taking approximately 2,160 years per sign (roughly 26,000 years to form a Great Year).   This concept is rooted in the idea that the Earth is involved in spiritually significant energic cycles that originate at the center of the Milky Way.   Another part relates to another cycle of approximately 200,000 years for which Braden gives no clear reference, but which may be related to the Mayan calendar (which he discusses) or scientific estimates of Earth’s base frequency over time.   At the predicted coming point, which Braden calls “Zero Point,” these two cycles converge and will catapult humanity to a higher level of consciousness and functioning than it has ever known.   Braden metaphorically refers to this rapid evolution as both an “awakening” and the “collective initiation.”

What is different about Awakening to Zero Point, in comparison to some other treatments of the “shifting Ages” topic, is that Braden approaches matters as a scientist intrigued by ancient prophecy rather than as an enthusiast of ancient prophecy scouting for science.   Admittedly, much of the controversy that surrounds this text relates to the accuracy and appropriateness of Braden’s scientific data.   While most of Braden’s scientific claims are well-documented in secondary sources, his interpretations are not always based on consensus.   Additionally, even a cursory Google search will reveal individuals who disagree vehemently with Braden’s science.

Braden’s chief scientific argument is that planet Earth’s magnetic fields are decreasing in intensity at the same time as its base resonant frequency is increasing.   He argues that the decrease in magnetic polarity, related to an already documented gradual slowing of Earth’s rotation, will cause the magnetic poles to shift.   This does not necessarily mean that Earth will become skewed or rotate upside-down, as others have predicted; however, Earth’s slowing down over time will eventually cause it to stop spinning for three days before reversing direction.   According to Braden, these geophysical events will wreak havoc on existing electrical systems and cause alterations in human life in conjunction with the second variable, Earth’s increasing vibrational frequency.

Braden argues that Earth’s base vibrational frequency, which has hovered around 8Hz for most of human history, has begun an ascent toward the value of 13Hz, a number significant if one is aware of the famed Fibonacci sequence.   This change in vibrational frequency is causing both psychological and physical changes in human beings, acclimating the human race to operate within a higher range of frequencies than they have previously.   Psychologically, it correlates to a collective process of “awakening,” as 8Hz is a frequency associated with relaxed wakefulness bordering on sleep, while 13Hz is a frequency associated with the high end of alert wakefulness.   Physically, based on the mathematics of crystal formation within varying environmental parameters, Braden predicts changes in the human genome as Earth’s base frequency escalates. Over time, this last point has proven to be of particular interest to individuals arguing for the appearance and significance of Indigo, crystal, and rainbow children as a rapid form of human evolution unfolding now.

The breadth and diversity of informational strands Braden brings to bear upon his topic cannot be contained within the space of this review.   Given the current resurgence of both conservative and fundamentalist Christianity, however, one additional point deserves focus.   A distinguishing feature of Awakening to Zero Point, and, indeed, Braden’s entire corpus, is his insightful re-working of numerous key concepts central to Christianity’s understanding of this time.   In this text, the concepts of Resurrection and rapture take center stage.   Braden is a believer, and his resonance with and deep reverence for Christ comes through in his writing.   Yet, he is a free-thinking believer – one who is not afraid to recognize the connections between Christianity, other life systems, esoteric traditions, even indigenous wisdom – and his views challenge established understandings from a place of love and faith.   In the end, he suggests that, even if he is wrong and the shift “never happens,” the principles he has written about “are not a bad way to live.”

Whether or not one agrees with Braden’s arguments and predictions, Awakening to Zero Point: The Collective Initiation is a bold, daring text that exemplifies radical scholarship.   Drawing from widely diverse areas of thought and information – from spirituality and religion to science and technology to psychology and autobiography – Braden “connects the dots” in ways that are both thought-provoking and discussion-generating.   It is, of course, the reader’s responsibility to follow up, make additional connections, and test the predictions offered, but we can credit Braden with offering a courageous and cogent vision-statement about rapidly unfolding world events from a heart-felt place of concern for all humanity.