Dear Friends,

2026 is off to a fascinating start. I’m surprised that it’s almost February already. I’ve been experiencing some deep shifts. It almost feels like something is intensifying within the collective. People in my field seem to be talking about the ‘year of the fire horse’ in Chinese astrology, which begins on February 17th:

“The Year of the Fire Horse begins on February 17, 2026, and concludes on February 5, 2027. This rare, 60-year cycle event marks a period of high energy, independence, and intense action, often associated with rapid, transformative change.”

I take things like this with a sizable pinch of salt, but I will say that astrology often does seem to synchronistically map onto my experience—and this is another case where that seems to be true. They say you can already feel the bubbling forth of the fire horse, and I am indeed often feeling intensifying fire so far this year. I’m feeling a strong sense of this being a big year for growth, building, and taking massive aligned action. At times it has felt like an alchemical cauldron is opening, with large ‘quantum leaps’ of growth being possible in 2026. Surf’s up! I’m excited to ride the wave.

Anyone else feeling similar shifts?

Concurrent with this shifting energy, there might be some distinctive shifts in my writing in the times ahead. Perhaps more fire, more directness, more focus on grounded earthly leadership. I’ve written some very spicy things in recent weeks; I haven’t decided yet how much of that writing I’ll publish. Let’s see what flows.

As today’s video alludes to, I’ve also continued to go through this gargantuan reckoning with Jesus Christ and Christianity. I’ll likely continue sharing more about that in the times ahead as well. For now, suffice to say that I am deeply grateful for Christianity and for being raised in the Catholic tradition. It feels like a heartwarming homecoming to continue deeply healing my relationship with the church. I love Christianity, and it feels like a renewal, re-wilding, and (nondual) revivification of Christianity may be key for the healing of Western civilization, of humanity, of Earth.

In this vein I’ve been deeply appreciating the work of Richard Rohr, Thomas Merton, C.S. Lewis, Thomas Keating, Cynthia Bourgeault, and Jacob Kishere—Jacob and I’s forthcoming album Christahuasca relates to these themes and should be dropping within the next month or two.

Today’s Video: Mapping JB’s Cosmology

Some weeks ago I recorded this 93-minute video mapping large portions of my current cosmology and ontology—my sense of what reality foundationally is and how it flows forth as everything we experience. I wanted to share it with you, so here it is. In the video at one point I discuss apokatastasis, which I have discussed elsewhere:

“Many Christians don’t realize that there is an ancient Christian idea—one that was taught by early church fathers and is arguably supported by the Bible—known as “apokatastasis.”

This idea refers to universal salvation—the redemption of all things. It is a belief that there is no permanent hell and that eventually all beings—even satan and the most fallen demons—will return Home to God and be redeemed.”

In the video I discuss apokatastasis as a potentially already-always-present reality of universal redemption that is gradually supervening, or making itself fully known. I also discuss many other threads and currents, including my understanding of Jesus Christ, nonduality, and the marriage of science and religion. Here’s a longer quote from the video:

“Anything that is not the purest Loving Grace, the purest Loving Wisdom, will eat you alive. And that being eaten alive, itself, is still part of the Grace. Because it shows you what is misaligned. It shows you, ‘Nope, that won’t work—to worship money, or to worship sex, or to worship acquisition of more things, or to worship consumption, or to worship gambling or porn or substances. Nope, that’s not it. That’s going to burn. That’s gonna hurt. Worshiping war, conquest, domination, power—nope, nope. Self-serving-ness, grasping—nope, nope. That’s gonna burn, that’s gonna torment.’

Only this self-dissolving, self-subsuming principle where the individual self is sanctified and subsumed into this Allness, this Supra-Cosmic Divinity that transcends and includes all and suffuses all with Grace, by whatever name—that seems to be the only thing that will not eat you alive. And that seems like another way that the Inmost Heart of Grace, Heart of Love, actually demonstrably shows us, ‘Yes, I am Home. I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. I am the Axis Mundi. No one comes to the Father except through me.’

I’m getting chills in the body again because there’s a deep, deep feeling in the Heart that Jesus was that and is that—that Christ incarnated in and as Him, in a way that was cosmically significant. And that’s not to say that he’s the only portal or the only access-point. I don’t think that’s what he was trying to say when he said, ‘No one comes to the Father except through me.’ He wasn’t saying you have to worship that exact face of Jesus Christ, per se. It’s just that no one comes to the Father—no one comes to inmost Essence—except through Divine Love, except through Divine Grace, except through that Purifying Fire, that all-consuming Christ Fire that he embodied, that he brought forth in a way that may be unique in human history.”

Hope you enjoy and receive something from the video, if you take the time to watch/listen here or on Spotify.

And I hope you’re doing well, my friend. We live in intense, tectonic times. I’ve definitely moved through some density in 2026 too. Offering great love and compassion to all my fellow sufferers out there. This life-journey is truly a wild trip. Keep the faith. Be good to all, yourself included. We can trust the Flow.

Love,Jordan

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jordanbates.substack.com/subscribe