A Year of 10

I heard something recently that made me rethink how I am looking at 2026. I keep hearing people talk about this year as a fresh start, a Universal Year 1 in numerology (the beginning of a new nine-year cycle), and I don’t think that’s the whole picture. After hearing this perspective, I find myself looking at it differently.

There’s another way to look at it that feels more accurate to me. It isn’t just a 1, it’s a 10. When you add the digits of 2026 together (2+0+2+6), you get 10. In most modern numerology systems, that 10 is immediately reduced to a 1. But there are some traditions recognize 10 as a meaningful number in its own right. When we don’t rush to collapse it down, 2026 holds the full frequency of 10.

In numerology, a 1 is often framed as a beginning. It also represents the self, consciousness, awareness, the moment we recognize “I am.” A 10 holds something different, completion and creation happening at the same time. It carries both the field of infinity and source (0) and the ignition of new creation (1). The way it was described to me was through the pattern 1-0-1-0-1-0, where the 1 represents conscious self and intention, and the 0 represents the infinite, God, source, the larger field we’re always in relationship with.

Creation happens in the meeting point between the two.

From a numerology perspective, the 2026 cycle began on January 1. From a Chinese lunar calendar perspective, the energetic shift doesn’t happen until late February, when the Year of the Fire Horse begins. I don’t look at these as competing systems. I experience them as layered events. One speaks to the mental and archetypal tone of the year, while the other speaks to the seasonal and elemental current moving through the collective. So, when I talk about 2026, I am holding both of them at once.

Earlier that same day that I heard about the year 10, I had been talking with a colleague about coding, about how everything digital is created from 1's and 0's. When I later heard this perspective about 10, I noticed the same information showing up through different conversations, and it made perfect sense.

We just completed a 9 year in numerology. The 9 carried the energy of completion, release, things finishing whether we planned for them or not. In Chinese symbolism, we’re in the final weeks of the Year of the Snake, which reflects that same theme of shedding, letting go, leaving behind what can’t continue forward.

To me there isn’t a hard stop here. Years don’t just flip like a switch. There is a handoff, or a loosening. A moment where the old is still present but no longer directing things.

With this Chinese New Year comes the Year of the Horse, specifically the Fire Horse. And fire isn’t a short influence either. In Chinese cosmology, it’s expected to shape the collective field for the next 20 years, which feels very important to acknowledge. Fire represents heart energy, our consciousness, our spirit, our passion, our compassion. The Horse represents movement, power, presence, forward motion. Together, it feels like we are galloping into the future with our hearts on fire, not recklessly, but with momentum that comes from timing and true alignment.

This is where the image of the Sacred Heart begins to make sense to me. Not as in religion, but as symbol. To me, a heart on fire isn’t about suffering or intensity. It’s about living with true passion and presence. And when we can learn to live that way, we naturally bring more life into what we create and radiate it out into the world.

The crown of thorns has always stood out to me too. Not as punishment, but as the weight and responsibility of being human while choosing to stay open. Staying compassionate and heart-led in a world that can harden us takes real courage.

When we create from the mind alone, we plan, manage, strategize. When we create from the heart, we participate. That’s what this transition feels like to me. Less about forcing the next chapter and more about being in relationship with it. Creating with life rather than pushing against it.

So maybe this moment isn’t asking us to have everything figured out. I believe that it is asking us to move forward with intention, to gallop forward with our hearts on fire, with love and passion for creation, not just for ourselves, but for the everyone to meet. To live in a way that brings more truth, more care, and more integrity into the world. To be willing to shine a light for those who are searching for answers around health, healing, and what’s possible, and to trust that each person carries their own inner wisdom and timing.

That feels like the true spirit of this moment. It is not a hard beginning, nor a clean ending. But as a meaningful crossing over, where we move forward together with our hearts full of love.