2025: Facing Our Collective Shadows & Finding Liberation
Friends, I've been sitting with some heavy truths about how the collective is showing up right now.
Just after the New Year, I went live to share what's been weighing on my heart about the shadows we're facing in 2025 and how we might find our way through together. (Watch the full episode here)
As the Queer-Spirit Guide and licensed therapist turned holistic wellness mentor, I want to speak plainly about what I'm witnessing when I look at the big picture.
We're at a crucial turning point where the shadows of greed, division, and environmental destruction are impossible to ignore – but there's also opportunity for collective liberation if we're brave enough to face these shadows together.
The Shadow of Corporate Greed & Poverty
The greatest shadow facing us right now is the staggering inequality and wealth hoarding by the collective’s richest individuals and corporations. While the Top 1% has seen their wealth soar by $42 trillion dollars in the last decade, most of which is hoarded in offshore bank accounts to avoid taxation, the bottom 44% of the world’s population earns still less than $7 a day.
When I say a billion versus a million, I want you to really visualize that difference. If you were to count to a million, one number per second, it would take you about 11 and a half days of non-stop counting. If you were to do the same for a billion, it would take you 31 years and 8 months. And, if you were to count up the 42 trillion mentioned earlier, it would take you 1.3 Million Years. The people swimming in billions don't need to be swimming in billions. Those resources could be reallocated to serve the collective good.
Here's the truth that breaks my heart: there is plenty of land, fresh air, water, and resources for all of us to thrive. But we've created systems that commodify these basic rights, turning them into products to be sold rather than birthright resources to be shared. Estimates show that Earth can currently support and feed 10-20 Billion people, but many of our current 8.2 billion are food insecure and/or in extreme poverty. Simply put, poverty and food scarcity exists because it isn’t profitable to fix or prevent it.
Breaking Down the Us vs. Them Mentality
One of our most persistent shadows is the "us versus them" mentality that keeps us divided. Throughout history, there has always needed to be an "enemy" – whether it was Black people, indigenous people, Hispanic and Latino people, trans and queer folks, or people of different religions. There's always someone to point fingers at and blame for our collective problems instead of those in positions of power.
But here's what I want you to remember: In the us versus them battle that's ensuing, those in power want to displace our attention onto each other instead of where the issues really stem from – the ultra-wealthy class who only see others as numbers or a means to an end. .
The enemy isn't your neighbor. It isn't the gay person down the street. The enemy is greed itself, and the systems that perpetuate toxic hierarchies.
The Climate Crisis & Conscious Consumption
Mama Gaia naturally changes over time, but we are exacerbating the most extreme changes, friends. We're seeing increasingly severe climate disasters, and they'll keep coming until we change course, leave the planet, or die. I like to use the metaphor of a train barreling 100 miles west when we need to go east – we can't turn around instantly without destroying everything. We need to slowly apply the brakes and gradually shift direction.
I'm loving the "under-consumption" trends emerging right now. Use what you have before buying more. Support small businesses and B corporations instead of contributing to corporate greed. However, be wary of greenwashing – companies slapping recycled materials labels and green logos on products without making meaningful changes. There are plenty of online resources that report and keep track of greenwashing so that you can better make informed decisions if you do have to purchase something.
Finding Our Way Forward
So how do we face these shadows and find our way through? Here's what I'm seeing:
Redirect Your Resources: If you have money to spend, put it where your values are. Research B corporations, support certified green companies, choose foods aligned with your energy and ethics.
Build Real Community: Find solidarity with your peers. Create mutual aid networks. Share resources. Those of us with privilege have a responsibility to use it to help liberate others.
Connect with Nature: Remember that we are part of nature, part of Mama Gaia's ecosystem. We need to earn our place by learning to live in harmony with all life. Recycle when able and try to reduce plastic consumption as much as possible.
Feel Your Feelings: We’ve long been taught that emotions are bad and unproductive. . But this shadow work requires us to feel it all – the grief, the anger, the fear. That's how we transform it.
Pursue Soul-Aligned Dreams: Instead of chasing society's one-size-fits-all definition of success, what if we followed our heart-rooted, authentic ambitions?
Working Together in 2025
I'm here to support you in this journey of collective liberation and personal transformation. If you're ready to dive deeper into this work, I invite you to:
Join me for Soul-Aligned Success coaching
Experience a ReAwakening Ritual
Participate in my free moon ceremonies throughout the year
This is sacred work we're doing together. It's far from comfortable, but it's necessary. We can create something beautiful when we face our shadows with courage and compassion.
If there is one thing I’d want everyone to know deeply it is this: there is no human being who is worth more than another human being. Period. We're all in this together, and together is how we'll find our way through.
With fierce love and unwavering hope,
Safrianna Lughna
The Queer-Spirit Guide
Ready to dive deeper into this work? Email me at guide@safrianna.com or visit safrianna.com to learn more about working together.
