What's Hidden In the Numbers of 2016?

If we haven't already, we will soon find ourselves reflecting on this past year and looking forward with anticipation to the next. 2015 was very much about clearing away things that were no longer working to reveal a balance in our lives we may have been seeking for some time. The 2 is about love, balance, harmony, business, diplomacy, and fairness. If these things were not present in our lives, the 5 was able to shake things up and create that for us. The zero allows for the divine in all things to be present. 1 is about movement, taking off, taking care of and being true to ourselves. The quintessential "looking out for number one". The number one embodies courage and leadership. It's about taking control of our lives again.

2016 will take all of these energies into it as well, but will lead us in more of a family and community direction, a settling down from the dust we stirred up in 2015. We will become more focused on service, humanity, and selflessness. The two will help create more of an interdependence with those we love, striking a nice balance between honoring our own truth and creating a nurturing space for our home and family. The changing of the five to the six will stimulate a greater sense of responsibility and honesty. "Taking care of ourselves before we can take care of anyone else" becomes an easier concept in the upcoming year. Both the two and six are heart associated, our love and business affairs, especially those associated with service, will take the forefront and guide us through the year; the determination and perseverance of the 1 energy will give us the drive we need to keep moving forward and bring to fruition our new and exciting ideas brought on by our unexpected and seemingly non-stop experiences of 2015.

This waning year was an overall "8" year, giving it a big picture scheme of karmic lessons and materialization of things we had been thinking and feeling for some time. It was a year that allowed us to see things from a slightly different perspective, one of those "from the outside looking in" kind of  places and urged us to make an executive decision about our life has we had come to see it. As we enter into the upcoming and expansive "9" we will find many opportunities to express deep forgiveness and reverence for ourselves, mankind, and humanity as a whole. The "16" is a karmic number and it being overseen by the 9 suggests there will be some resolution and healing of karmic relationships and/or wounds. This approaching year is also very much about service, and with the support of the 6, it only be asking that much more of us in the giving of our own unique gifts to the world and each other. It will be a year of bringing together, it's an "all encompassing" number, possessing all the best qualities of the numbers before it. A great year to wrap some things up and truly start a new. Happy New Year & blessings abound!

May we step forward with Grace & Gratitude...

Christianity Isn't About Self-Actualization?

I read a lot of articles. Today I read an article written by a university president regarding one students perception of a sermon received on campus. Honestly, I liked the article. I would agree and offer elaboration on the subject, but that is not the purpose of this particular piece.

"The primary objective of the Church and the Christian faith is your confession, not your self actualization." 

This statement literally stopped the air from moving in and out of my body and not in a good way. I thought, Oh my God, how repressing. I heard, "Let us focus on your faults. Let us have you focus on your faults instead of your Light and weaken your sense of self." Wow, that's not terrifying at all, that makes me want to run to the nearest church and sign up! (Please note the sarcasm) No "self-actualization?" That's like saying, to me anyways, "We don't want you to know who you are, so we can tell you who you are and you won't question us." That statement blew my mind, for a lack of a more eloquent description. This is in no way an attack on Christianity or this writer, just a statement that provoked thought within me, that will probably provoke conversation. It became apparent to me in that statement how easily it is to subconsciously create the very thing we are opposing or unknowingly separate ourselves. I recoiled from Christianity in that moment as if I had touched a hot stove. How are we to know God if we do not know ourselves? How are we to guide and serve others if we are still searching for ourselves? How are we to spread joy and truly feel God within our hearts if our hearts are surrounded by fear and guilt and shame? It's so simple, if God is Love, why aren't we focusing on that? Seeking to understand, seeking to connect and support our fellow humans? If God loves each and every one of us, then what are we trying to prove? 

With Grace & Gratitude...