The year that will be

The turn to the new year saw my home like the Grand Central train station with people in and out every hour. This is a normal pattern for me as people who have been coming to me for the past two decades, return to check out their birth charts. We chat on what may be in store for them in the coming year, and where they may have been remiss or stagnated in their own personal work-out of Self during the past year. I don’t have the answers. I only read patterns, possibilities and projections based on the natal chart of each one. Then we discuss, process and dialogue. But aside from the usual personal questions, some common issues predominated: how to face the fear of the impending backlash of the global financial breakdown; and the collapse of morality present in government and leadership today.

Many came wanting to see clarity in how they would survive and secure their businesses. Others came struggling with the misalignment of personal values with work that looks only at profits. And others, who love the country so much, were voicing out their disgust at the present state of our leadership. Others, too, came just wondering why there was a nagging emptiness in their hearts. And as I listened to the same themes arising over and over again, I found myself repeating the same things too.

First, that we must try to unplug from the situations we see ourselves in our lives. By “unplug” I mean detach or see with clarity all the dramas that are arising in our relationships. Not to be eaten up by them, but rather, to make effort and step back and see things in a higher perspective. This will allow us to look at our lives with clear glasses, and not with rose-tinted shades that embody the veil of illusions that cloud our ego’s judgments. Try to see life from the level of the soul, and live life from the foundation of the spiritual rather than from the material, ruled by the small ego. When we are too plugged into the dramas, we will suffer. This is a certainty. The dramas arising are our own calling so we can evolve and refine our spirits. Remember, because thought creates reality, your thoughts create and attract the kind of realities that surround you. The wisdom is in how not to create more drama that can make you suffer. Why not create realities in your life that are positive, constructive and transformative that even if they may seem difficult to do, there is certain mastery about yourself that you are working out consciously. Unplugging processes mean inner work, reflection, and a constant discipline of watching the mind not go off loose and unruly. One can try to live conscious, aware and awake.

Second, we must see that the ground (our world and our time now) in which we are living our lives is shifting, transforming and cathartically spewing out all that needs to be done away with. Humanity is at the point of transformation and cleansing. Greed, power, selfishness, egoic desires are seen up close and nationally as leaders in government bully their way with no integrity, morality or even care for the poverty and suffering that is all around. Oh yes, we also see this up close and personal with lives of people we know. Independently we cannot change things drastically except by making a stand to live our lives uprightly, honestly and authentically. However, we can work in collaboration with people, choosing to make stands, not to fight and argue, but to invoke and move change for the positive... step by step. It is choosing not to sell one’s soul to the “devil” but to walk the road less taken. The road less taken is actually quite enjoyable when you walk with a group. So find that group and help create communities that are awake and aware.

Third, we must be sensitive to the rising trends and patterns around. There are key buzz words that define the new energy push against the old paradigm or way of thinking: group effort and collaboration (versus selfish greedy egoic needs); triple P’s — people, planet, profit and social enterprises (versus for profit-only stand); corporate social responsibility (CSR) that must be embraced at the core of every business (versus philanthropy or charity giving which did not sustain the receivers); environmental concerns (brought about by global warming issues); spirituality and idealism made practical (versus too much dogmatic religious separatist theories that are not embodiment in our hearts and lives); sustainable lifestyles (versus fast-food, fast-tracking lusting for what I want here, now, now, now); empowerment (versus power grabbing and bullying); connection in the world wide web that builds community and where information sharing may allow the world’s wisdom to arise and the Beetle’s song “all we need is love” (just look at the madness of wars and conflict all around the world). If we are to choose words to describe our world today, these would include “mad”, “crazy”, “conflict-ridden”, “dirty and polluted” and sadly too...”broken”.

So if we are to choose a symbol for the times, it should be the Spiral, whose direction is encompassing, including, embracing and moving up to new levels (versus the straight line of flatland) to try to move out of this present world zone we are struggling in. The disgust at the state of the world should make us look elsewhere...see new trends arising, see the need to move the other way to balance and heal the present state. We can allow the present catharsis to make something inside us begin to flower and arise. This is our Soul allowed to take center stage as we make the spiritual, practical. And our idealisms rooted in action. And stepping beyond ourselves to see that there is an Other. Perhaps we will embody what the Christ Jesus said: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Perhaps this year, we will get a better understanding of what the Buddha spoke of as compassion. Perhaps this year, we will lift the veil of illusion and let the Light through, as per the Kabbalists. Perhaps this year, we will understand the Aquarian age trying to lock in embodied by the new trends. The year that is coming into being...can we let the Soul lead? Can we allow peace to be the guiding force? Can we see, feel, embody and choose to ride the wave of the new consciousness arising?