Outlook for 2026 – Part 1

Originally posted in German on 28^th December 2025

vishaya, the year of coming face to face

by Heinz Grill

The coming year appears to be significantly different from the past.¹⁾For the signature of the past year please see the Outlook for 2025, parts 1 – 11. Although effects from the past reach over into the future and continue to have a wide variety of consequences, the existence of the spiritual sphere will nevertheless awaken new, completely unknown impulses that until now have been waiting remotely in the cosmos and were not visible or sufficiently perceptible.

In a very general and yet fitting description, the time that lies ahead can be described as a time of significant encounter between dualities and between extreme polarities. Two different realities emerge in the world, that will stand side by side as if irreconcilable. These different realities will present themselves as tower-like structures, each with their own signature. All those forces that were far more intertwined in previous years will emerge more clearly in the coming periods with their actual, colourful significance.

What opens up is space for objective observation, as the visible images of human reality with their contours can be better assessed. The blending of so-called good and evil will no longer exist as it did before, rather either the contour of what is unsound will be highlighted with forms of expression of evil, or the contour of what is productive with manifestations of development and of good. In 2026 the human landscape will open up like a territory that reveals its treasures far more than before. The realities of being human will begin to take on an outline.

In the traditional teachings of yoga there is, right to this day, a word that describes an object, a topic, an item or also a counterpart. This word is vishaya and it refers to what is actually concrete, visible, tangible, generally comprehensible. Phenomena in human existence that are polar and yet intricately woven together will become far better outlined and thus visible. Warmongers will become recognisable as warmongers and peacemakers will be experienced in their sincere mentality. Spirituality will be accompanied by a subtle, even sometimes appreciative awareness and those who want to annihilate spirituality will emerge like people who initiate rockfalls.

The paths in the world will divide into two great streams in the coming year. The stream on one side is rich in relationship, the stream on the other side seeks attachment. The tendency to suck out, to accumulate, with all its hidden egoism, which is present particularly in the flattering connections where people use each other, will reveal its nature more than ever, and some people’s physiognomy will actually become ugly, as in old films. The camouflage will no longer be able to be sustained in the next year as much as it has been until now.

The ugly and the beautiful stand face to face more clearly than in the past year.

The separating tendency will, however, clothe itself in the garb of the good with intuitive skill and yet will distance itself from the reality of a whole as if in a kind of ideological consumption of drugs. It is feelings that mislead people and yet stand out as if in a film. When people watched older films, they immediately knew who the baddies were and who the hero was. In 2026, appearances will reveal more what is inside.

Feelings, however, deserve very careful consideration in different fields: politics, business, faith, human interaction, sport and general social situations. One phenomenon of a negative kind will have a very dominating effect and even determine politics. This is group-based religious ideology, which does not show itself in clear rationality but in appropriated feelings.

Feelings from an ideological conviction give people an introject, falsely signalling to them that they are on the right side. Above all, it is feelings that will take people captive in the coming year, as they represent introjects that come from false mental pictures. As a result, many people will become estranged from reality in their understanding, through ideology and the alleged good. This phenomenon will be the case above all in the esoteric field and in new religious movements. Others who are impartial will have an external recognition of reality, while self-awareness will be difficult for those identifying with their feelings. This phenomenon is a mighty one and is emerging as an illusory reality which will characterise the year 2026.

A particular method, used by people who are devoid of content, empty and have failed in their lives, is to sow messages of fear. The fear and the gullability of many people predispose them to connect and yet not to be in connection. Paradoxically many people gather together in groups out of fear of the spirit in order to feel strong together.

The corona period brought a general traumatising for humanity, but it is not only this phase that had burdening after-effects. The many different ways of approaching spiritual goods has also brought separation and illness. Traumas of an unresolved kind and of unknown origin easily lead people away from their own centre and predestine them for compensation. The traumas are not processed but rather start to be deposited as an introject right inside the body. The result of these introjects, alongside illness, is the forming of ideologies. Ideologies will therefore not be products of chance but the consequence of unrecognised traumatisation.

Projections and introjections will have a significant presence in the coming year. Two big, different and incompatible groups of people will stand face to face: Those who take refuge in groups and others who courageously develop their individual position in life.

The ‘non-position’ will experience itself so strongly in its own intoxicated reality that it will have to project onto the ‘position’, or else remove the latter from its field of vision. It cannot tolerate another’s position that corresponds to reality. It might sound strange to say that non-existence, irrationality and failure can be introjected so strongly into one’s own existence that they emerge as the good ideology. The wolf in sheep’s clothing mentioned in the Gospels will remain and be at work for the year 2026. It could be compared with a phantasm, which rises up as a self to become a fully visible and tangible actuality and yet constitutes a pure, emotional reality. The ‘position’, by contrast, also experiences itself in existence, but as value and productivity. It gains honour. Thus, two great realities stand face to face.

The pole of productivity, truth and consciousness of reality become apparent on one side, while on the other side the introjection of ideology and fear spreads. They emerge like two different worlds in a dramatic play. It will become possible for many people to find a position in the sense of a synthesis between spirituality and work in the world. The coming year brings very favourable conditions for concrete and well-trained spirituality. The strengthening principle can be identified in its difference to the reducing forces for the first time and in the battle for their relationships, individuals will choose a healthy orientation and determine their future position.

Many projects and initiatives will come into being and these will be carried by individual skills. However, it will be a struggle that has its demands. 

On the one hand the coming year will show efforts for truthfulness and connection and on the other hand a high degree of black magic and energetic advantage-seeking. Just as some people can generate a positive energy or a sphere with a pleasant effect, many opposing forces can be seen, which build up an illusory justification for their existence precisely by robbing energy. Thus, black magic is also a theme for the coming year. ²⁾Black magic is an esoteric term referring to the use of spiritual powers, or abilities acquired through spiritual training, to harm others. It is a mechanism whose effect results from the abuse of spiritual powers.

For the first time, real soul-feelings for the heart centre, which is germanally anchored in the human being, will become perceptible through the experiences of life and through the accompaniment of solid meditation. This appearance is very positive and in a significant number of people it will bring about a capacity for uprightness, and not only that but even a burning flame for healthy and joyful activities.

A great temptation is presented by the many provocations and attacks that are to be expected from fanatical ideologies, psychopaths, fierce family attachments, excessive demands from people, economic sanctions and totalitarian political measures. It will be a great challenge to be aware of these and yet to let them hunger in their incapability through keeping a wise distance.

The heart chakra, the anahata-chakra, gives people a standpoint through a foundation of true content. All too easily, however, many people confuse this heart centre with pleasant emotions or superficial feelings of joy. True feeling from the heart will now also stand face to face with emotions. The outlook for 2026 therefore needs some explanation regarding real feeling from the heart centre so that it can be perceived in its indeed very subtle mood of warmth and love.

True spirituality must also encounter a more materialistic spirituality to a growing extent. The appearance of materialistic tendencies, projections and even fundamentalist tendencies within spiritual groups will unfortunately also accompany the coming year as a major issue, a vishaya. The fallacy, with its often narcissistic potential for self-aggrandisement, will temporarily assert itself very strongly and will overshadow many topics and many people’s efforts. How much spiritual substance, however, lives in groups and new religious movements? Like waves, they will tower up, break and disappear.

The coming time will be characterised in particular by the question of meaning and by the life-task that an individual develops. An example for this coming year is presented by the story of the Bhagavad Gita, which begins with a great battle and in which one individual, the student Arjuna, is inspired to the heights of yoga and thus is led into a position in relation to the world whole. ³⁾ German speakers can find more details about the battle to answer the questions of development, which takes place in every individual, in the book: „Erkenntnisgrundlagen zur Bhagavad Gita“, Stephan Wunderlich Verlag, 2024

In anthroposophy two poles will also become visible. On the one side are those people who directly strive to practically develop the thoughts of Rudolf Steiner and on the other are those who construct a kind of ideology with anthroposophy.

In yoga and in forms of meditation the differences in appearance between false, trance-like, very subjectively-focused meditation and the more rarely occurring concrete, clear, consciousness-forming orientations also emerge. The one pole will actually appear quite pathological and the other as an integratable social impulse full of hope for the future.

In all areas of life, on the one hand phenomena will be seen that become a constructive reality and on the other hand ones that lead to a deconstructive helplessness. Images and counter-images will become apparent. It is the year of vihsaya. Spaces and themes, object and phenomenon emerge as opposites. There has to be significant expression of these poles because those who enter actively into development must find their own true and even universally valid position within the different appearances in the world.

Hardness, condemnation and violence will appear on the one side and on the other side exceptionally good, rational, profound and reality-related spiritual impulses will come to be implemented.

The view of the world-political situation looks critical. A certain independence of countries will nonetheless become evident. Affiliation and globalisation cannot continue to unfold through an elitist wielding of power. The originality of the individual countries will receive a spiritual influx and this will come from the bottom upwards from the people, and through many conflicts and violent actions the value of independence will be worked out.

The greatest challenges, however, that will face individuals in the next year will be health-related demands. How to deal with trauma and anxiety must be considered very carefully. The path of health will be wide and very sensitive in the coming year, as individuals will very easily be able to weaken themselves through negligence and fall back into further illness, or strengthen themselves through development with meaningful, courageous efforts to build themselves up. The question of health is like a sensitive set of scales. Illnesses will emerge that threaten people’s survival.

AI will not fulfil the hope that the modern age has interpreted for it. Many people will turn away from it, decide upon a life that is as natural as possible and turn towards a greater appreciation for individual work and the ability to think.

The weather conditions will correspond to the course of human development. More details will be considered in the next articles.

Human relationships and their development also need very careful attention as they form the foundation for successful guidance of life.

Strong political provocation is to be expected. There are constant discussions over plans to bring the economy into collapse and it will depend on each individuality as to whether the machinations succeed.

In the business sector the three-fold order can be thought of in a new way, but not only in the business sector but also in all other, further fields. The three-fold order will attain a form for the first time in 2026, not from the top downwards but from the bottom upwards.

People will learn how to economise in a positive way in the next year.

A feeling for value has been lost in recent years. It is not the state system or other authorities that will replace these values, but from the bottom up, from simple efforts for friendship and connection, values of human togetherness will awaken anew in 2026.

A particularly interesting, newly emerging content for the consciousness will develop for relationships. A kind of vantage point will awaken enabling visions to be sensitively determined, and it will come as if spiritually from above, down into humanity.

One of the articles in the forecast for the year will answer the question: Where is Rudolf Steiner alive today?

A very beautiful light will be available for relationships in 2026.