The heaviness of 2020 is beginning to lift. Hopefully, you are feeling this surge of creative energy. 2021 is the year number 5 (2+0+2+1), which symbolizes freedom and creativity. However, we won’t fully feel this new energy until the spring when the year officially starts. As we approach the spring equinox, we are still experiencing some lingering feelings of constriction and heaviness. 2020 was an intense year to say the least. It was the year 4, which symbolized structure and foundation and a master number 22, which emphasized its spiritual significance. Additionally, it symbolized 20/20 vision or seeing things clearly. Throughout last year, we experienced some challenging planetary alignments including a confining Saturn-Pluto conjunction, several fear-inducing Jupiter-Pluto conjunctions and a highly charged retrograde storm for most of the year, which served to illuminate the foundation of our lives and the social matrix. The year ended with the grand finale of the Grand Conjuncture when Jupiter and Saturn aligned at zero degrees Aquarius to designate the official start of the Age of Aquarius. As we shift into the Age of Aquarius, the world is changing its focus emphasizing freedom, personal responsibility, creating community and doing what is best for humanity. We may no longer be looking to government or big corporations for guidance and support, but shifting to more community-based living. 2020 was a pivotal year within this shift of consciousness, which served to illuminate the flaws of our current foundation to ensure that we are building on a solid foundation as we move forward into this new era.

 Last year, the universe quarantined us and removed many of our distractions to force us all to slow down and examine some painful realities we were either denying or minimizing, not only in our lives but globally. Our planet has been in a state of crisis for quite a while now. Because we are all responsible for the condition of the planet, we all needed to fully awakening to the state of the world we have created. More than ever, we need to ask the question as to how we got here and how to fix it. I interpret the “corona” virus (the word corona means crown or crown chakra) as a symbol of our spiritual awakening. Because the condition of our planet is a projection of the collective consciousness, it is illuminating the consequences of our ego-driven life. The world appears dysfunctional as a way of illuminating our inner dysfunction. Our ego is the “virus” that has corrupted the foundation of our society. It is destroying our lives and the planet. We are witnessing disastrous effects of excessive consumerism, corruption, greed, fear, war, hate, pollution and economic disparity. Throughout most of last year, we encountered several unique planetary alignments as well as an intense retrograde storm. Because of this, many experienced the dark night of the soul which involved our deepest fears and wounds to be brought to the surface in order to be processed and healed. This forced us to dig deeper than ever, which prompted many to reexamine their careers, relationships and other lifestyle choices. Despite the turmoil, I truly believe that the spiritual world is looking out for us and making sure we have a smooth transition. I do believe that we are shifting into a more idealistic society, but we are definitely experiencing some growing pains. Although things appear to be falling apart, I believe things are really falling into place.

As a psychologist, I know that in order to change the system, it is important to first expose the underlying problems of the system. When we were children, we created a story about ourselves and the world based on our childlike perspective, limited life experiences and the beliefs of those around us. This story, which is a collection of conscious and subconscious thoughts, and how we interact with the world becomes our ego. Unfortunately, very few examine their stories because it is an emotionally painful process. Because it is our nature to avoid pain, we create cognitive distortions. Most individuals are unaware that there is an inaccurate script that is playing in their subconscious minds, which defines who they are and motivates all of their actions. Wisdom is found when we examine our egos and update our story.

There are several elements of our ego that need to be examined and updated if we are to become self-actualized. As children, it was difficult to psychologically accept certain realities such as we weren’t good enough, we weren’t safe, our parent’s acted in narcissistic ways or that we didn’t receive unconditional love from them. The ramification of these realizations created intense anxiety and threatened our sense of self. Our brain then adopted ways of psychologically protecting ourselves and created defense mechanisms or cognitive distortions to ensure psychological survival, which becomes embedded in our subconscious and is one of the primary drivers of our behavior. Becoming self-actualized is accepting the painful reality that deep down, we all feel vulnerable and inadequate and to work through the anxiety, fear and sadness that this realization creates. We attempt to overcompensate or avoid dealing with our inadequacies through the pursuit of obtaining material objects, status or engaging in addictive or escapist behaviors. We then distort or avoid dealing with the consequences of these actions. Our ego not only clouds our judgment, but our empathy. However, sometimes our feelings of inadequacy drive us to do amazing things. Some choose to dedicate their lives to helping others as a way to resolve their existential anxiety. Nonetheless, the world is reflecting back to us how destructive our ego needs can be and the consequences of our cognitive distortions. Becoming wise is letting go of the illusion that the external world is there to take care of you or make you feel better and understanding that only you can resolve your emotional needs and internal conflicts.

2020 has also illuminated the consequences of our social matrix, which is largely comprised of these unresolved childhood dynamics. This new age is asking for us to take responsibility over our lives and look for an alternative to this hierarchical system because of its disastrous flaws. Because of our victim consciousness, many continue to transfer responsibility onto others and project their childlike desire to be taken care of which leads us to put our lives in other people’s hands. Most of us can agree that individuals with pathological narcissism are inherently drawn to position of power. Due to their unresolved ego needs, these individuals act in self-serving ways. These needs oftentimes override their ethical and moral compass, yet we still continue participating in this system due to our cognitive distortions. Unless we have done some psychological work, we have a difficult time accepting the painful reality that our parents on some level were self-serving and narcissistic. We then continue participating in this fantasy that authority figures, who are merely the projections of our parents, are looking out for our best interest. All of us, to some extent, sleep better in this illusion of safety. It’s time that we all wake up from this illusion and start taking responsibilities over our own lives. The reality is no one really cares about your well-being but you and that is OK. It is not wise to allow your well-being to rest in the hands of highly flawed and self-serving individuals.

Because we have internalized and not fully resolved our feelings of vulnerability from childhood, whether we are conscious of it or not, we continue to perpetuate some level of victim consciousness. However, we are all co-creators of our reality. Although most of us desires to live in a better world, we continue perpetuating limiting victim-based beliefs such as “That’s just the way it is,” or “There is nothing I or anyone else can do about it.” If we all work or “think” together, we may really have an opportunity to shift things in a positive direction because our collective beliefs shape the world. We may differ on how we think it can be achieved, but I believe most of us want the same things: peace, love, harmony, and abundance for all. In order for us to create a wiser society, we need a new paradigm. Shifting from ego-based to spiritual-based living is in alignment with Aquarian principles. As we move into 2021, we have the opportunity to rebuild our world on a wiser, more spiritually sound foundation. If we continue living in this matrix of ego, fear and illusion, we will continue along this disastrous path. I truly believe that this matrix is transforming, but all of us need to do our part in shifting the collective consciousness.