HAVING THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE
Descriptions of the Nine Years
The One Year
One Years: The first one year begins at birth and ends on the first birthday (0-1).
It repeats every nine years (ages 9-10, 18-19, 27-28, 36-37, 45-46, 54-55, 63-64 and 72-73).
Numinous One Year: 0-1
Keywords: Birth, beginning, initiation, cultivating a new idea or vision, listening for guidance, brainstorming, taking baby steps and exploring the world, being the mother who nurtures and protects the child until the child can stand on his/her own. Warning: This is not a time for active manifestation but for self-nurturing, gentle exploration, and baby steps.
Lesson: I must be true to myself, even when others do not understand or agree with the changes that are happening in me.
The One Year is the beginning of the cycle. It is about bringing new energy and opportunity into your life. Like a mother, you have just given birth to a new being who needs your love, nurturing, attention and support. There is going to be a period of time in which the baby is dependent on you. He cannot eat or walk on his own. He cannot change his diapers. He needs constant attention.
The same is true for the new idea or vision of self that you are now bringing forth into the world. It is not ready to stand on its own. It needs nurturing and protection. For a time, you need to become the mommy and take care of the needs of the child. While that child will eventually grow up and lead a separate life, right now she needs you.
Nurturing means not having a lot of expectations or putting a lot of pressure on the child. It means letting the child grow organically. It means listening to the needs of the child and letting her tell you when she is ready to begin to separate, interact more with others and explore the outside world.
Similarly, your new vision or concept of self will need time to evolve. You will need to be with it, identify with it, and support it as it begins to find its voice and its shape. You will need to follow behind as it begins to take its first few baby steps. You will have to protect it from strangers who are harsh or critical.
If you are a good mother in year one, your new energy will be safely and firmly established in the world. However, if you are impatient and expect immediate results, you will put too much pressure on yourself and the new energy and vision of self will be undermined.
Your one year is a time for cultivating a vision of where you want your life to go in the next nine years. Getting in touch with your creative energy is essential in a one year. New—or previously ignored—aspects of self are emerging from within and seeking expression. This is a time for continued self-communion, for investigating new opportunities and beginning to take risks you were unable to take previously.
However, those risks have to be taken slowly, gradually and patiently or they will bring way too much stress and anxiety. In year one, you chart a new course for the next nine years and begin to take the first few baby steps forward.
Take your time to be present with yourself and explore the new directions that call to you. This is not a time to pin yourself down, make commitments you cannot keep or take on responsibilities that would burden you or hold you back.
Stay in the present. Explore, play, taste, dream, follow your joy and doors will open. Your path will unfold as you trust yourself.
There is nothing usual about a one year. Like year nine, this is a year of change and transformation. Much of what used to work for you in the previous cycle—your job definition, your relationships, your interests, values and beliefs—has begun to shift. In some significant ways, you are being challenged to cultivate a new way of approaching your life. This may result in changes in where you live, whom you live with, what you do for work and how you live. These changes begin to happen in your nine year and become more and more apparent as you come fully into your one year.
Outer changes may be pronounced or not in a one year. The biggest change is happening within. How you feel about yourself, your life, and your relationships is shifting and you may sense that outer changes eventually need to happen. It is important to take this shift seriously.
Forms that constrict or limit you should have begun to degrade and fall apart in year eight and nine. If you have remained attached to these forms when it is time for them to dissolve or be transformed, you can experience a great deal of frustration, or even pain in your life. When form outlives its usefulness it must be discarded. Old limiting habits created in fear must be relinquished for growth to occur.
Many of us fear change and hold on tenaciously to the past. That causes suffering. During the last two years of your life, you have been asked to let go of fear-based security structures that you no longer need and significantly limit your life and your growth. Hopefully you have been able to do that. If not, please don’t hold on any more. Let them go so that you can move on in your life. Bring the new energy in so that your life can shift in a more positive direction.
People who hold on when it is time for change to come may create outer events that force them to change, like an accident or health crisis. Perhaps this has already happened for you. If not, pay attention now to what needs to change or life may do it for you. Shiva, the god of destruction, is very good at freeing us from limited patterns that we are attached to. He shakes the ground and burns the buildings down. Then we have to rise like the Phoenix from the ashes.
Don’t wait for the fire to come. Let go now. Give yourself permission to create your life anew. That is what a one year asks from you.
What Not to Do in a One Year
Don’t put pressure on yourself to manifest or to be productive. Take the pressure off. This is a year for nurturing and baby steps, not for outward achievement.
Don’t try to pin everything down. That isn’t possible now. Instead, explore, play, dream, and nurture the vision.
Don’t waste time reliving the past. The old self has gone. The person you used to be has vanished. Someone new is being born within. Find out who that person is.
Don’t be too serious or solemn. Find the source of joy inside and begin to live out from that place.
Don’t try to be a ”responsible” adult. In a one year, you need to be a child. You need to learn to talk and walk and play and eventually find your way. You are not ready to take on burdens and responsibilities.
Don’t try to please others. You don’t know who you are or what you need. Listening to others may cause you to abandon the child when he most needs you.
Don’t pretend that you know when you don’t. Lighten up on yourself. Just be curious and willing to learn and to explore.
Affirmations for a One Year
Growth happens from the inside out. I am willing to trust the child within to explore the world without pressure to produce or expectation of results.
I am allowing the child to play, explore, and find his/her joy.
I am patient with myself and take the time to support the child in taking his/her first few baby steps.
I am gentle with myself and ask others for the time and space I need to nurture my new direction in life.
I rely on my spiritual practice to stay centered and to live in the present moment.
Journaling Questions if One is Your Current Year
What aspects of this number speak to you most deeply?
Are you in alignment energetically with this phase of your cycle or do you need to make some changes in your thinking or life structure to better align with the formation stage of your cycle. Please elaborate.
How did the opportunities/challenges of this number play out in your life in your last one year (9 years ago)? Are you handling them differently now?
What is the most important thing that life is asking you to learn right now?
Does this number correspond to your soul vibration or life path? (See Part 3 for more information). If so, it is likely a very important year for you.
2
The Two Year
Two Years: The first two year begins just after the first birthday and continues until the second birthday. It repeats every 9 years (ages 10-11, 19-20, 28-29, 37-38, 46-47, 55-56, 64-65 and 73-74).
Numinous Two Year: 10-11
Keywords: Learning, study, analysis, information gathering, connecting the dots, finding direction, planning, preparation, obtaining constructive feedback, continuing to trust inner guidance.
Warning: Over-analysis can lead to paralysis. Stay connected to your intuition to keep yourself balanced and to keep your creative energy engaged.
Lesson: A plan that does not balance heart and mind will not bear fruit. T
The two Year is about study, planning, preparation, research, training, learning the skills and information you need to begin to refine your vision and articulate it to others. In a two year, you begin to plot your course and study the terrain for your journey. You look at options, analyze alternatives, and incorporate the lessons from the past so that you don’t repeat your mistakes. You need to take your vision seriously and start preparing for its eventual implementation.
You may seek feedback from others, but plea se do this carefully, consulting only those whose input will be constructive and respectful. The creative idea/vision is still in its early, formative stages, and negative feedback from others can dampen your spirits or even cause you to give up too soon. Often that means keeping silent about your plans and protecting yourself from harsh and unnecessary criticism. On the other hand, you need to study and consult with others who are more knowledgeable and experienced than you are in order to be properly prepared.
In a two year, you separate the wheat from the chaff. You combine analysis with intuition in order to begin making a plan to move forward. In a two year, you look at both sides of the coin, compare one side to the other, role play different possibilities, play devil’s advocate, consider all the possibilities, accept and respect different approaches and perspectives as you gradually find what works for you.
The two year is about finding a clear direction. In order to move the energy out into the world, the vision or goal must be clear and the pathway to reach it must be plotted. As you begin to follow the course you have charted, the direction may need to be changed or refined. Obstacles will arrive and you will have to avoid them or push through them. The timetable you expected may not be realistic. You may have to slow down and adjust to the conditions at hand.
There may be times when you need to recognize that you are not adequately prepared for the journey ahead. You may need more knowledge, more experience, and more feedback from people who have expertise. You need to take the time to learn, to fill in the gaps, to deal with challenges or anticipate the obstacles that might arise.
Test the waters before you launch the boat. Build a model before you break ground. Consider and evaluate options and alternatives. Look at things from different perspectives. The more you know before you take action, the more likely you will be to succeed. Remember, a two year is about getting clarity and direction. It is about preparing for the journey.
You may not actually take the journey before your three year, but you will be ready when the time to act is near.
What Not to Do in a Two Year
Don’t be in a hurry to act or to manifest. It is not time for that. This is a time to gather information and to achieve mental clarity.
Don’t seek approval or validation from others. Guard your vision against criticism from others who do not understand. Instead, seek meaningful feedback from those who can support your vision and have more knowledge or experience than you.
Don’t try to teach or preach. Be content to be a learner. You have a lot to learn.
Don’t be afraid to experiment and try different approaches. Use your mind to evaluate the results. Use your heart to find out what feels right to you.
Don’t put a lot of pressure on yourself. This is not a time for “doing” or going into production. That will come later.
On the other hand, don’t get lost in daydreaming. This is a time to understand how the dream can become reality.
Don’t be lazy. Do your homework. Go to school. Actively prepare so that you are ready to act when the time for action has come.
Affirmations for a Two Year
I am taking the time to refine my vision and to understand what is necessary for it to become manifest.
I understand that this is not a time to act, but a time to prepare for action.
I am content to be a learner and I am willing to take the time and invest the energy in gathering the information obtaining the skills I need.
I know my primary purpose this year is to achieve clarity and find a direction. › In order to do this, I refrain from putting pressure on myself or having huge expectations of imminent success.
I am patient with myself and where I am in the creative process.
I use my mind to analyze the options and opportunities available to me. I use my heart and my intuition to tune into the choices that feel congruent with who I am.
Journaling Questions if Two is Your Current Year
What aspects of this number speak to you most deeply?
Are you in alignment energetically with this phase of your cycle or do you need to make some changes in your thinking or life structure to better align with the formation stage of your cycle. Please elaborate.
How did the opportunities/challenges of this number play out in your life in your last two year (9 years ago)? Are you handling them differently now?
What is the most important thing that life is asking you to learn right now?
Does this number correspond to your soul vibration or life path? (See Part 3 for more information). If so, it is likely a very important year for you.
3
The Three Year
Three Years: The first three year begins just after the second birthday and continues until the third birthday. It repeats every 9 years (ages 11-12, 20-21, 29-30, 38-39, 47-48, 56-57, 65-66 and 74-75). Numinous three Year: 20-21
Keywords: Relationship, synthesis, communication, sharing, networking, cooperation, giving and receiving support, accepting differences, learning from others, compromise, conflict-resolution. Warning: Relationships must be between equals who appreciate and respect each other if there is going to be mutual support and creative synthesis.
Lesson: The other person’s needs and wants are as important as my own.
The three Year is about synthesizing different perspective sand beginning to move forward into action. This is the first year in which you are beginning to actively implement your vision and carry it forth into the world. In the process, the vision will need to be tweaked to anticipate the needs and desires of others. In a three year you are actively making relationships and building alliances that will help you move forward.
Good communication skills and the ability and willingness to interact with a wide variety of people are essential. A three year is very much about networking, spreading the world, letting people know who you are and what you have to offer. Do not be afraid to tell the truth about your goals, but be open to the ideas of others, as they may help you see things
from a new and helpful perspective. So far you have been moving from the inside out in a creative process that solidifies the vision. Now, it may be helpful to see things from the outside, the way others might see them. Whatever you are offering to the world must be relevant and attractive to others. This is the time to be clear about the benefits others will receive from what you offer.
A three year often results in an important new relationship entering your life. That person (or these people) may collaborate with you personally or professionally and help to shape the direction of your life to come. While this is exciting and synchronous, it can also be challenging as you both encounter differences and experience conflicts. Living and/or working with another person requires you to accept and respect the other person’s ideas and experiences. You may have to adjust to that person’s idiosyncrasies, including differences in communication style, values and life rhythms. At the same time, they must adjust to you or a creative synthesis cannot be made.
Relationships offer you the possibility to grow as a person, to be honest with others, to learn to communicate clearly, to set healthy boundaries, and to give and receive support Having the time of your life mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Exploring this treasure trove of relationship helps us learn to have compassion for ourselves and others and to understand what it means to be a human being.
However, it is important for us to realize that most of us have not learned how to love ourselves and be clear about what we want. Often, we project our unworthiness onto others, making judgments about them and getting triggered by the judgments they make about us. Mutual projection and poor communication skills often derail our relationships and bring us more pain than joy.
In order to build healthy relationships with others, we have to be willing to learn how to love ourselves and see our patterns of self-betrayal. That way we can take the blame and shame out of our relationships and we can learn to take responsibility for our own thoughts, feelings, words and actions. Needless to say, this takes courage and willingness on our part and on the part of our partners, children, and co-workers.
Relationships are a crucible. The False Self must die in order for the True Self to be born in each of us. Commitment to becoming true to ourselves and giving others the space to do the same is crucial. To the extent that a three year brings new relationships into your life, you can be sure that many emotional challenges will arise. There will be opportunities to understand and to heal, to forgive and to tell the truth. If you are up for that, this can be a powerful year of psychological and spiritual growth. If you are not, it can be a difficult and painful year.
The upside of the three year is that it brings new energy and support into your life. The downside is that personality conflicts and poor communication can sabotage your relationship and prevent the new energy from expressing in a way that benefits both people.
What Not to Do in a Three Year
Do not isolate. Reach out and connect with others. Network, interact, dialog, and build new relationships and alliances.
Don’t try to do it all by yourself. This is a time for cooperation and collaboration.
Don’t insist on having your way all the time. You need to learn to listen to and value the needs and opinions of others.
Don’t lie or tell people what you think they want to hear. Communicate honestly and openly so that people know where you are coming from.
Don’t put people off or evade commitment. Give your relationships the time and the energy they deserve.
Don’t allow conflict to destroy the relationship. Resolve conflicts when they arise and try to understand and accept the other person’s ideas and experiences, even when they differ from your own.
Don’t project onto others. Take responsibility for your thoughts, feelings, words and actions.
Affirmations for a Three Year
I am actively communicating my vision to others.
I am reaching out and making new connections.
I am being authentic and allowing myself to be seen and heard.
I am listening to others and accepting what is real and true for them.
I am willing to cooperate. I am willing to negotiate.
I am improving my communication skills.
I am giving my relationship(s) priority time.
I am honest and trustworthy.
I am moving beyond selfishness and limited personal agendas to find areas where I can share and collaborate with others.
Journaling Questions if Three is Your Current Year
What aspects of this number speak to you most deeply?
Are you in alignment energetically with this phase of your cycle or do you need to make some changes in your thinking or life structure to better align with the action stage of your cycle. Please elaborate.
How did the opportunities/challenges of this number play out in your life in your last three year (9 years ago)? Are you handling them differently now?
What is the most important thing that life is asking you to learn right now?
Does this number correspond to your soul vibration or life path? (See Part 3 for more information). If so, it is likely a very important year for you.
4
The Four Year
Four Years: The first four year begins just after the third birthday and continues until the fourth birthday. It repeats every 9 years (ages 12-13, 21-22, 30-31, 39-40, 48-49, 57-58, 66-67 and 75-76). Numinous four Year: 30-31
Keywords: Practical accomplishment, focused work, building the foundation or structure of life, being grounded, taking responsibility, making commitments, showing up every day, moving toward your goal, implementing your vision.
Warning: Your dreams cannot become a reality unless you learn to show up for your life every day.
Lesson: There are no more excuses. It is time for me to show up and do my part.
The four Year is about the active implementation of your vision. It is about taking practical, concrete steps to manifest the idea or vision in the world. It is about finding a form that focuses the new energy. It may mean moving into production on a product or a service. In a four year, you build a structure for your life. You put down roots and build or buy a home or a business. You commit to a relationship or to having a family. You take on responsibilities not because you have to, but because you want to and because taking responsibility helps you to move toward your goal.
In a four year, your commitment becomes concrete and palpable. You learn to show up every day for the job or the relationship. You work hard and feel good about what you are able to achieve. Because of that you eventually succeed, even though there may be challenges or setbacks on the way. Even those who are most successful in life have had times when they have failed to manifest their dreams. But what sets them apart from others is the fact that they did not give up when they failed. They learned from their mistakes. They reinvented the vision and tried again.
This is a year when you will be focusing on meeting the physical challenges of life: the health and well being of your body, your business, your relationships, and your family. There is nothing esoteric or whimsical about a four year. It is a year of intense, practical work and daily routines help you stay focused and in a good rhythm. Take the time to eat well, sleep well, get exercise, and care for your body so that it can perform all the tasks you are asking it to do without getting exhausted. Conserve your energy so it is there when you need it.
Being productive requires that you live a balanced and disciplined life both physically and emotionally. You need to avoid lots of ups and downs that create stress and anxiety. Be moderate in what you say and do. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Don’t waste your time on distractions that squander your energy. Stay focused on what is important.
Leading a disciplined life will enable you to be productive and realize your goals. You will have the satisfaction of seeing the creative process bear fruit in your life. That will build your self-confidence and reinforce your belief that you can do anything that you set your heart and mind to.
Four years are good years for making decisions and commitments regarding work, career, relationships and family life. They are years when you are stabilizing your life.
What Not to Do in a Four Year
Do not remain idle. Do not day dream or be lazy. This is a year for action.
Don’t over-think or over-plan. Jump into the river and start swimming.
Do not try to be perfect. If you need to be perfect you will never get anything done.
Do not procrastinate. If you are scared, take baby steps toward your goal. Build your confidence with small successes.
Do not make excuses. It you don’t believe you can do it you won’t. It isn’t anyone else’s fault or responsibility.
Don’t sweat the small stuff. Keep your eyes on the prize.
Don’t dwell on your mistakes. Learn from them and avoid making the same mistake in the future.
Don’t be hard on yourself or others. Practice forgiving yourself and them too.
Don’t give up just because you have a bad day or a bad week. If something doesn’t work, try something different.
Don’t be rigid or headstrong. Adjust to the reality at hand. Having the time of your life
Affirmations for a Four Year
I am actively communicating my vision to others. › I am actively manifesting my vision.
I take small steps at first until I get confident in what I am doing. Then I gradually take bigger steps.
I focus on one thing at a time, so that I do not get overwhelmed by all the tasks I need to accomplish.
I pace myself so that I don’t rush, burn out and crash.
I see obstacles as challenges to overcome.
I do not give up when things get difficult. I persevere. I persist. I keep showing up
.I do my best and I know that it will be enough, even if things don’t show up the way I want them to.
I do whatever needs to be done. I am willing to get my hands dirty. I refuse to be a prima donna.
I forgive myself and learn from my mistakes.
Journaling Questions if Four is Your Current Year
What aspects of this number speak to you most deeply?
Are you in alignment energetically with this phase of your cycle or do you need to make some changes in your thinking or life structure to better align with the action stage of your cycle. Please elaborate.
How did the opportunities/challenges of this number play out in your life in your last four year (9 years ago)? Are you handling them differently now?
What is the most important thing that life is asking you to learn right now?
Does this number correspond to your soul vibration or life path? (See Part 3 for more information). If so, it is likely a very important year for you.
5
The Five Year
Five Years: The first five year begins just after the fourth birthday and continues until the fifth birthday. It repeats every 9 years (ages 13-14, 22-23, 31-32, 40-41, 49-50, 58-59, 67-68 and 76-77).
Numinous Five Year: 40-41
Keywords: Expanding consciousness, living outside of the box, psychological growth, self improvement, aspiring to greater understanding, taking risks, traveling to different countries and cultures, transcending false or limited beliefs, being authentic/unique, exploring your talents and gifts, pursuing educational goals, being free to explore life purpose, meaning, and spirituality.
Warning: Don’t let your fears limit you. Don’t sell yourself short. Don’t settle for less than you aspire to.
Lesson: I have to take risks and move through my fears if I am going to avoid stagnation and learn to think and live outside of the box.
5
The Five Year
The five Year is about growth, expansion of consciousness, individuation, creative expression, unconventional thinking, travel, taking risks, experimentation, living outside of the box, expanding the form or structure of your life so that growth can occur.
Whereas your previous four year was about creating a form that would consolidate, contain and shape your energy, this year is very different. The five year asks you to grow beyond the structure you created last year. If you do not take the time to explore new directions and expand the form, then you will feel constrained and limited by it. You will live inside a prison of your own making.
The five year reminds you that you have the key to the prison door and you can walk out into the light whenever you are ready. Readiness of course is the key. We are all limited by our fears and negative thinking. We all get stuck in the rut of past patterns. We all dig ourselves in and then have trouble extricating ourselves from dysfunctional patterns. In a five year, you are challenged to break free, to take risks, to explore new ways of thinking and being. Your capacity to do this has a lot to do with how successful your current nine year cycle will be.
The five year is the mid-point of your nine year cycle. In years 1-4, you learned to nurture, communicate, and manifest your creative vision. You brought an idea into the world and anchored it in physical reality. That is all appropriate and helpful. But ideas cannot remain static or they die out. They must grow and expand. As the content grows the form must expand to contain it. As you grow and individuate as a human being the structure of your life must change to accommodate who you are becoming. Think of it this way.
When you are a baby you wear baby clothes. But then your body grows and the baby clothes don’t fit any more. So you have to get bigger clothes. What is true for your body is also true for your mind and emotions. As you grow psychologically, you need new and expanded ideas, feelings and experiences. The old ones don’t work anymore.
Five is a growth year, so don’t get stuck in old patterns. Don’t rely on old ideas and behaviors. Routines and structures were helpful last year, but they will be limiting this year. Expand your consciousness, travel to a new place, take a class or go back to school, go on a spiritual retreat. Do something that challenges you and brings new energy, understanding and experience into your life.
If you take the time for self-expansion and improvement you will know how the structure of your life needs to change to accommodate your ongoing creativity and growth. Don’t let your creative projects go dead in the water. Cross the water to a different shore and when you return you will see them differently. You will breathe new life into the old form.
As your consciousness expands, you will better understand who you are and how you can authentically interface with the world around you. You will tune into what others need and what you are able to joyfully and enthusiastically give.
The five year is about spiritual renewal. It is a time for YOU to grow and change. If you take the time to do that, you return to the world as a change agent. You better understand your life purpose and direction. You know more accurately where and how to invest your energies. Taking time for yourself away from the world and the familiar structures of your life helps you to better understand how to be in the world as an authentic person.
When Jesus told us that our challenge was to be “in the world” but not “of the world,” he was cautioning us not to allow the needs of others to define us. Instead, we must know and define ourselves so that we can respond honestly to others and find ways to share our talents and gifts with those who need them. Of course, this is a lifetime process. It is not limited just to this year of your life. But in this year it is of primary importance.
This is a transitional year. Use this time well and you will come into your power and purpose in this cycle. The energy of the cycle will be renewed and sustained. Years six and seven will bring greater visibility and success. You will surpass limits and gain a new and more rooted confidence in yourself.
What Not to Do in a five Year
Don’t try to see the forest through the trees. Find the road out of the forest.
Don’t limit yourself. Don’t get stuck in your mundane patterns and routines.
Don’t be defined by what you do. Let who you are define what you do.
Don’t be rigid or allow your life to become boring and predictable. Be open to change.
Don’t let your fear and your need for security run your life. Take some risks.
Don’t settle for less than you aspire to.
Affirmations for a five Year
I am taking time to expand my consciousness.
I am willing to learn to live and think outside of the box.
I am willing to take some risks and have new growth experiences.
I am willing to let the structure of my life be more flexible so that I am less limited by it.
I am willing to make time for my spiritual growth and well being.
I am pursuing my educational or self improvement goals.
I am learning to see the big picture instead of getting lost in the details.
I am exploring my unique talents and gifts.
Journaling Questions if Five is Your Current Year
What aspects of this number speak to you most deeply?
Are you in alignment energetically with this phase of your cycle or do you need to make some changes in your thinking or life structure to better align with the action stage of your cycle. Please elaborate.
How did the opportunities/challenges of this number play out in your life in your last five year (9 years ago)? Are you handling them differently now?
What is the most important thing that life is asking you to learn right now?
Does this number correspond to your soul vibration or life path? (See Part 3 for more information). If so, it is likely a very important year for you.
6
The Six Year
Six Years: The first six year begins just after the fifth birthday and continues until the sixth birthday. It repeats every 9 years (ages 14-15, 23-24, 32-33, 41-42, 50-51, 59-60, 68-69 and 77-78).
Numinous Six Year: 50-51
Keywords: Social connections and support, nuclear and extended family, communities, compassion, service to others, the need to belong and be accepted, public approval, social image or mask, appearances, social graces/manners, cults or cliques, conformity to norms, modeling health, beauty and harmony, publicity, advertising, marketing, social media.
Warning: Seek community with others but don’t let your need for social approval cause you to conform to norms and values that you do not share.
Lesson: I need to look beyond appearances and see the person behind the mask.
The six Year is about joining in community with other people who share your values, beliefs and interests. This includes being part of a nuclear family and an extended family or spiritual community.
Whereas year five had a lot to do with exploring, reinforcing and refining your personal beliefs, year six is devoted to finding support and confirmation for those beliefs in a group of people. Like most people, you want to belong to something greater than yourself. You want to bond and have a shared experience with others.
Unfortunately, people sometimes bond in a way that excludes others and make the members of the group feel privileged or special. This can result in social norms that are rigid or harsh, as they are in many cults and some religious or political groups. These groups play upon the fears of their members and pump them up by condemning others or seeing others as less wise or less worthy. Often, these groups have a charismatic leader to whom people give away their power and often their money.
So the negative expression of the search for social connection is about conformity to group norms at the expense of one’s personal freedom. Indeed, in some groups, leaving is not an option, or the price one pays for leaving is social ostracism and public humiliation. In these groups, it is a “sin” to be different. Following the beat of your own drum is not possible.
On the other hand, positive bonding and social fulfillment happens in groups that are inclusive rather than exclusive. In these groups, you may buy into the norms but you also feel free to disagree with others and to be yourself.
When groups respect the right of individual members to have their own ideas and experiences, people are able to meet their need for belonging without sacrificing their uniqueness or their freedom.
Of course, everyone is different in terms of what he or she needs in a group experience, but the struggle in a six year is always about the tension between freedom vs. conformity. Some people have a stronger need for belonging than for freedom. Others cannot belong to a group unless they feel free to be themselves. Where do you stand? What is your experience?
Another aspect of six is the tendency to see people only through their social mask/public image or the roles that they play. Seeing only the appearance, not the substance, can be misleading. It is all too possible to judge the book by its cover and make superficial judgments about others that are untrue and uncharitable.
The six year is a year lived in the public domain. You are visible in your community. People know you at least superficially. That gives you a sense of place and a context for being. Another aspect of six is compassion and service to others.
Often, in spiritual or political groups, there are opportunities to volunteer to help others who are less fortunate. The great epiphany you experience in a six year is, as John Donne wrote, “No man is an island.” You do not live for yourself alone, but also for the survival, dignity and well being of others.
Rabbi Hillel asked “If I am for myself alone, who am I?” If our life does not include and benefit others, then it is not a generous or a spiritual life. But Hillel also asked “If I am not for myself, who is for me?” One does not live a spiritual life by ignoring one’s own needs for individuation.
Finding a balance between the needs of the individual (symbolized by the number 5) and the needs of the group (symbolized by the number 6) is one of the ongoing challenges of life. The art is to cultivate self knowledge and fidelity to self while reaching out to share with others and serve our fellow human beings with understanding and compassion.
The number six underscores and highlights your need for social acceptance. You may try to please others in order to gain their approval. You want people to like you and you learn to show up in the ways they want or expect you to, even though it might not be honest or authentic. Wearing a mask to gain social approval is one of the ways in which you can betray yourself. You may be successful in getting noticed and appreciated, but you give others a false idea of who you are.
While you might be able “to fake it” for a while, in the end you cannot show up as someone you are not. When you can no longer show up as people expect, they are disappointed and may even feel betrayed by you.
In this sense you need to be careful about the masks you wear and the promises you make. If you seduce others or make promises you cannot keep, you will earn their wrath, not their praise.
Because the number six has a lot to do with public acceptance and approval it also reflects who you choose as your role models—the leaders, singers, movie stars, sports heroes, etc. that you admire and want to be like. Much of the health, entertainment and glamour industry is built on our collective need to look and be like others. We spend a lot of money on diets and weight loss programs, cosmetic surgery, and a variety of programs and products that promise to help us look or feel better so that we can fit in, be noticed and get the attention and approval we all crave.
The desire to have health, beauty and harmony in our lives is all part of the domain of the number six. And a six year often involves some effort on your part to improve your image in the attempt to be noticed and attract others.
Marriage and family are also an important part of the domain of the number six. The family is the primary social unit of our society. In our families we learn to nurture and support others. We often sacrifice or postpone our own needs and desires to help our partners or our children grow and thrive.
In this sense, our families are the building blocks of the social network that we create in our lives, learning to share with and serve others in the larger communities where we live. A six year is a good year for public ceremonies like weddings, family gatherings, community events, fund raisers, etc.
In a six year, you put your best foot forward and your image is on the line. Because you are seen by the public, you will receive your share of praise and criticism and you need to have the inner strength and integrity to handle both.
What Not to Do in a Six Year
Don’t isolate. Cultivate your connections with your family, extended family, your church or spiritual group, and other groups where you feel safe and accepted.
Don’t get seduced by cults/cliques with high exclusivity and rigid norms that limit your freedom to be and express yourself.
Don’t get mesmerized by appearances. Look more deeply. See the person behind the role or mask.
Don’t be dishonest or inauthentic in the attempt to gain the attention and approval of others.
Do not try to please others in ways that are not congruent with who you are.
Don’t be seductive or insincere. Don’t make promises you cannot keep.
Don’t be self-centered. Find opportunities to serve others who are less fortunate.
Don’t play small or hold yourself back. Let yourself be seen and heard.
Don’t be afraid to follow the lead of people you admire and respect. But also be willing to play a leadership role if this comes naturally.
Don’t be too solemn or serious. Take time to have fun and to experience beauty and harmony in all its forms.
Affirmations for a Six Year
I am reaching out to others and finding groups where I feel safe and my needs for connection and belonging are met.
I am seeking groups that are inclusive, not exclusive.
I am looking beyond appearances.
I am aware that my attempt to please others in order to win their approval may lead to self-betrayal and/or betrayal of others.
I want to be with people who share my interests and values without judging or condemning others who are different.·
I am caring for my family.
I am becoming more active in my community.
I am willing to be seen, heard, and known by others.
I am cultivating compassion and taking advantage of opportunities to help and to serve.
Journaling Questions if Six is Your Current Year
What aspects of this number speak to you most deeply?
Are you in alignment energetically with this phase of your cycle or do you need to make some changes in your thinking or life structure to better align with the action stage of your cycle. Please elaborate.
How did the opportunities/challenges of this number play out in your life in your last six year (9 years ago)? Are you handling them differently now?
What is the most important thing that life is asking you to learn right now?
Does this number correspond to your soul vibration or life path? (See Part 3 for more information). If so, it is likely a very important year for you.
7
The Seven Year
Seven Years: The first seven year begins just after the sixth birthday and continues until the seventh birthday. It repeats every 9 years (ages 15-16, 24-25, 33-34, 42-43, 51-52, 60-61, 69-70 and 78-79). Numinous seven Year: 60-61
Keywords: Success, active and authentic creative expression, achievement, leadership, mastery, performing, teaching, sharing confidently and widely with others, motivating and inspiring others, abundance, prosperity, trust, spontaneity, grace, receiving attention and praise, public notoriety or fame.
Warning: You cannot achieve the recognition that you crave without confidence in yourself and trust in your creative process.
Lesson: It is time to confront the insecurity and unworthiness that fuel my narcissism, perfectionism and need to control.
Years 3-7 are the active years in your cycle. With hard work in year four, exploration of meaning and purpose in year five, and public participation in community in year six, you have laid the groundwork for success.
Your seven year thus brings fruition and achievement of all that you have worked for. The seven year is about achievement and mastery. It is the year when you shine and people are inspired by your example.
This happens naturally when you have confidence in yourself, when you trust your creative process and take advantage of the opportunities for self-expression that spontaneously arise in your life.
On the other hand, if you lack self-confidence, don’t trust the process, and don’t walk through the open doors in your life, you may experience great frustration and unhappiness. You may feel that success eludes you and people don’t understand or appreciate who you are or what you have to offer. However, if you are honest with yourself, you know that this is not someone else’s issue. It is yours. You are the one who is blocking your own success.
People who struggle in year seven come into it with a big ego agenda and rigid pictures of the way their work is to be offered and received. They frequently exhibit perfectionist thinking and behavior, turning down opportunities that could give them visibility because they are not glamorous enough or do not pay a high enough honorarium. They try to control what happens and this shuts down the creative process and aborts the spontaneous flow of energy from the inside out.
Another way of saying this is they do not follow their hearts but live in their heads trying to figure everything out. They often have a superiority complex, thinking that they are more talented than others. However, this “superiority” masks the fact that they feel “less than others” and unconfident inside.
Their lack of self worth and emotional neediness—which they compensate for by a narcissistic approach (It’s all about me.)—turn other people off. As a result, they do not get the praise and validation from others that they so desperately crave. Sometimes they may experience public criticism or even humiliation.
All of this would turn around if they could love and affirm themselves and share with others authentically without putting a lot of pressure on themselves to “perform” or on others to respond to their performance. By taking baby steps they would build self confidence and begin to trust their own creative process.
Perfectionism and egotism are the death knell of the creative process. The need to control actually creates what they fear the most: rejection and disapproval. They also live in a vicious cycle of victimhood, lack and poverty consciousness. Because they do not value themselves and trust the universe to support them they shut down the flow of abundance and continue to create a reality in which they do not have enough money or resources to thrive. Because they don’t feel as if they are enough, they never have enough.
The number seven in its natural flow spontaneously leads to abundance. When you trust in who you are and share easily and authentically with others, people tend to respond to you positively, even enthusiastically. You are guided to the right audience and the venues for your work even if they are not large or glamorous. Because you keep your expectations modest and feel gratitude for any opportunity to share, you take small concrete steps toward your goal and build self-confidence.
In this way the audience for your work can steadily and organically grow. Little successes lead to larger ones. That is what it takes to lead a life of success and abundance.
Your creative energy naturally flows from self to others and you feel supported by the universe in your self expression. The more joy and gratitude you feel for each opportunity to touch others, the more palpable that universal support feels to you. Indeed, your life begins to feel like a dance or partnership with the divine.
In year seven, people look to you as a teacher, a leader, a guide. You model for them the kind of joyful success that they too can achieve in their lives. Since your cup is full it is natural to allow its contents to flow out to others. By witnessing your trust in the universe they learn to stop trying to control their own creative process. They learn to put down their ego agendas and get out of their own way so that their talents and gifts can be expressed.
The number seven is about expressing your talents and gifts and helping others learn to do the same. This is an empowerment process. As a master, you model for others what they can do. You do not puff yourself up or make yourself special. There is no specialness in the universe. Everyone is worthy of love and has something to give.
For some folks, the seven year challenges them to understand what did not work so that they can learn from their mistakes, make corrections in their controlling, perfectionist approach, practice self forgiveness, and work on the core self-esteem issues that are necessary for creative success.
Those who have overbearing egos and are filled with hubris may have to be knocked down a peg or two so that they can learn humility. Self-centeredness and grandiosity rarely lead to a convivial life where our gifts and those of others can be easily given and received.
What Not to Do in a Seven Year
Don’t have rigid expectations of how your creative process will be received by others. Let go of your pictures of the way you think things should look and trust the process.
Don’t be a perfectionist. Take advantage of the opportunities that spontaneously arise even though they may not feed your ego.
Don’t close the door. If it opens it means you are supposed to walk through it.
Don’t seek validation from others. Share because it is joyful and you love to do it.
Don’t put pressure on yourself to perform or others to respond to you.
Don’t be a prima donna. You are not more important than others.
Don’t be a victim. Don’t feel sorry for yourself. If people aren’t appreciating you or your gifts, it means you are needy, have self-esteem issues and have not learned to love and value yourself.
Don’t live in lack and poverty consciousness. The universe will support you when you trust the process and learn to live in gratitude.
Affirmations for a Seven Year
I trust my creative process and say yes to the opportunities that arise to share authentically with others.
I surrender my expectations and show up with an open heart.
I trust my talents and gifts and express them joyfully.
I share as an equal not as someone who is special.
I am not afraid to shine. When I shine, I inspire, uplift and empower others.
I give freely without strings attached or thought of return.
I trust that when I do my best the universe will support me.
I live in gratitude.
I live in abundance and know there is enough for all of us.
Journaling Questions if Seven is Your Current Year
What aspects of this number speak to you most deeply?
Are you in alignment energetically with this phase of your cycle or do you need to make some changes in your thinking or life structure to better align with the action stage of your cycle. Please elaborate.
How did the opportunities/challenges of this number play out in your life in your last seven year (9 years ago)? Are you handling them differently now?
What is the most important thing that life is asking you to learn right now?
Does this number correspond to your soul vibration or life path? (See Part 3 for more information). If so, it is likely a very important year for you.
8
The Eight Year
Eight Years: The first eight year begins just after the seventh birthday and continues until the eighth birthday. It repeats every 9 years (ages 16-17, 25-26, 34-35, 43-44, 52-53, 61-62, 70-71 and 79-80). Numinous eight Year: 70-71
Keywords: Psychological adjustment, lessons learned, correction, healing, forgiveness, shift in energy from outward to inward, time to rest, recharge, find more balance, pain as a wake-up call, psychological death and rebirth, coming to peace and reconciliation.
Warning: You will find yourself in the throes of a healing crisis if you do not heed the message that pain has brought to you.
Lesson: It is time for me to heal, forgive and see how my life is out of balance.
After seven years, the active phase of the cycle has come to an end and in your eighth year your energy shifts direction and begins to move inward. You take time to reflect on what you have accomplished and to get perspective. You come to grips with any mistakes you have made and do your best to learn from them. You see how you could have done things differently and had more success and fewer struggles.
Yet you also recognize that you did what you could do with the consciousness that you had at the time and you forgive yourself and others. Gradually you accept the lessons that have come to you in the active phase of this cycle and you become reconciled to the results you have achieved. Having expressed yourself actively in the world, you understand now that it is time to rest and to recharge. Your cup has been emptied and now needs to be filled again with a new awareness and energy.
An eight year is often a time when you experience some kind of healing crisis. Things need to shift inside of you so that your energy can be restored and you can come into greater balance. Taking the time to heal and adjust is an important part of the eight year. Having given a lot of yourself to others, it now becomes necessary to allow yourself to receive the care and nurturing you need.
As you reflect on your accomplishments and challenges you may find it helpful to have the support of a mentor or therapist who can sit with you, listen deeply and help you forgive and come to peace with yourself and others. It is also a wonderful time to attend a spiritual retreat or be actively engaged in a spiritual practice.
During your eight year, you take the time to integrate your experience into the warp and woof of your life. Your outward activity slows down so that you can have time to internalize what you have learned. This is a process that requires patience. Pressure to act, decide, or move outward with your energy is counterproductive and will impede the internalization process.
Some of us have difficulty slowing down and taking time for ourselves. To help us, our soul may create some kind of illness, accident or other life-changing event that prevents us from being engaged in the world and forces us to rest and look within ourselves. While that event might initially seem tragic or be life-threatening, in retrospect we can see how it was necessary to get our attention and to help us re-focus our lives.
The themes of psychological death and rebirth are an essential part of the number eight. If the old patterns of thinking and acting are not voluntarily relinquished, if the need for healing is not recognized, then change may come from the outside. This is sometimes a painful way to learn but pain does get our attention. Pain is a wake-up call that tells us that we are out of balance and that something inside of us needs to shift.
Your eight year is successful when you are able to consciously accept your need for healing and re-balancing and when you take the time to go within and make the psychological adjustments that are necessary for your health and well-being. Being humble and asking for the help of experienced healing practitioners can make a big difference in your success.
This is not a time when you have to do it all alone. Help is available and nurturing and support are what you need. On the other hand, no one else is going to wave a magic wand and heal you. Healing happens from the inside out when you are ready and willing. Others can assist you in the healing process, but they cannot do it for you.
Healing and reconciliation in your eighth year make it far easier to let go of the past in year nine when you are asked to detach and get ready to receive the energy of the new cycle.
What Not to Do in an Eight Year
Don’t try to stay actively engaged in the world. This is a time when the direction of your energy needs to shift and move inward.
Don’t rush out like Don Quixote to fight the windmills and save the damsels in distress. Come back home and heal your wounds.
Don’t try to medicate or escape from your pain. Pain is a messenger that needs to be heard.
Don’t ignore your healing crisis. Take time to rest, re-balance and refocus your life.
Don’t resist the lessons your life has brought to you. It is time to accept your mistakes and learn from them.
Don’t try to pick up the pieces of your life and put Humpty Dumpty back on the wall. Let the old life die so that a new life can be born.
Don’t insist on healing by yourself. Find the help you need.
Don’t blame yourself or others. Practice forgiveness and find peace and reconciliation.
Affirmations for an Eight Year
I am willing to slow down, step back and take time for understanding and reflection.
I am taking the time to internalize what has happened and what I have learned during the last seven years.
I am facing the lessons life brings.
I am feeling my pain and heeding the message it brings.
I am opening up to the shift that needs to happen within me in order for me to create a more balanced life.
I am open to finding help from skilled healing practitioners.
I am reconciled to the past and ready to let go of it.
I am committed to my spiritual practice.
Journaling Questions if Eight is Your Current Year
What aspects of this number speak to you most deeply?
Are you in alignment energetically with this phase of your cycle or do you need to make some changes in your thinking or life structure to better align with the detachment stage of your cycle. Please elaborate.
How did the opportunities/challenges of this number play out in your life in your last eight year (9 years ago)? Are you handling them differently now?
What is the most important thing that life is asking you to learn right now?
Does this number correspond to your soul vibration or life path? (See Part 3 for more information). If so, it is likely a very important year for you.
9
The Nine year
Nine Years: The first nine year begins just after the eighth birthday and continues until the ninth birthday. It repeats every 9 years (ages 17-18, 26-27, 35-36, 44-45, 53-54, 62-63, 71-72 and 80-81) Numinous nine Year: 80-81
Keywords: Completion, detachment, letting go, with- drawing from the a airs of the world, entering the inner temple, moving into the state of chrysalis, the womb or in utero experience, getting ready to be born again. The last nine months of this year comprise the zero year.
Warning: If you do not detach and let go, you will hold onto the past and new energy will not be able to come into your life.
Lesson: I did the best I could with the consciousness I had. No regrets. I need to accept what happened, forgive myself and let go
The Nine Year is about completion, detachment and letting go. Ongoing forgiveness practice helps you to relinquish the past and move into a state of silence in which thinking and action slow down. In a nine year, you come to peace with all that has happened in your cycle and wipe the slate clean so that you are ready for new experiences in your one year.
Outward activity and focus are inappropriate for a nine year. Many people going into a nine year do not understand why they lack the motivation to do anything. They do not want to appear to others as lazy or irresponsible so they often try to remain active in the affairs of the world when they have little energy to do so. They spin their wheels, expending a lot of energy going nowhere and they can become very frustrated.
Don’t let that happen to you. Understand that this is not a time when you should be making new commitments or engaging in outward activity. You are like a bear hibernating for the winter, turning inward to reconcile yourself with the past and regenerate your energy.
Energy in a nine year is pulled in, contained, sealed off from the distractions of the world. Of course, you may be afraid that this state of limbo will last forever and that you will never emerge from your cave and reenter the world. However, when you understand your cycles, you learn to be patient and wait, knowing that the time of rebirth will come when you are ready. The old must die for the new to be reborn.
You began to experience the beginnings of this death/rebirth motif in your eight year. What defined your life for the previous eight years has now fallen away. You are like a cup that has been emptied of its contents, or a field that lies fallow and will not be planted till next year.
This time of resting and waiting is very hard for our ego to adjust to. We are people who define ourselves by what we do and the roles that we play. When we are stripped of these roles we feel uncomfortable, naked and exposed. That is why spiritual practice in a nine year is essential.
The first three months of the nine year are about detaching and letting go of the past. The last nine months of the nine year correspond to the zero year, which is symbolized by the in utero experience from conception to birth.
Another metaphor for the zero year is the chrysalis into which the caterpillar disappears when it is time for him to grow wings and become a butterfly. His time as a busy multi-legged creature moving slowly and deliberately over the earth has come to an end. When he emerges from the chrysalis he will not be able to walk any more. He will need to learn to spread his wings and fly.
The zero year is all about the transformation of consciousness. We move from a limited state to a less limited one. As the energy inside us expands, we give birth to a form and structure that is less limiting and gives us a new freedom and ability to explore the world. It is almost like moving into a new body, which is why the metaphor of the caterpillar and the butterfly is so poignant.
The danger that faces you in the nine/zero year is that you will not allow the transformation to happen. You will hold onto the old definitions of who you are or you will live in regret for what happened. You will get stuck in the past and feel unable to forgive yourself and others. You will stay emotionally attached to the energy of the old cycle and find it difficult to let go or surrender.
However, change will come whether you want it to or not. Either you will cooperate with your soul’s need to grow and transform or you will resist the inevitable, bringing unnecessary pain and struggle into your life. A caterpillar that tries to back out of the chrysalis becomes a gluey mess. He does not have legs anymore. Trying to return to the past is impossible. The only way through the chrysalis is out the other side.
Your choice is not whether or not you want to die and be reborn. Death and rebirth are inevitable aspects of life. Your only choice is whether or not you choose to resist change or learn to surrender to it.
A nine year is a time to re-enter the silence and listen for guidance. This is not a year of action, but of non-action and reflection It is a year in which the old self dies and the new self prepares to be born. The more you are able to let go and trust the transformational process, the easier it will be for the energy of the new cycle to manifest in your life.
What Not to Do in a Nine Year
Do not live in regret. Accept what happened. Forgive and let go.
Don’t hold onto the past or resist change. It will only frustrate you and delay your eventual transformation.
Don’t try to maintain your old life. It has run its course and served its purpose. Let it go. Don’t be afraid to sit with yourself at is what is called for.Don’t judge yourself for being inactive or for needing to take a break from the affairs of the world. This is appropriate and natural in a nine year.
Don’t look for something to do or somewhere to go. There is nothing to do and nowhere to go.
Don’t be afraid of the silence. It is your birthing chamber.
Don’t judge your emptiness. Come to God naked, empty, and without expectations.
Affirmations for a Nine Year
I am willing to let the past go and live in the present moment.
I am committed to my spiritual practice.
I understand that the old self is dying and the new self is being born and I am patient with myself as I go through the process.
I am willing to leave the affairs of the world behind for a time and enter the inner temple.
I know that there is nothing I need to do and nowhere else I need to be.
I am not resisting change but allowing everything to unfold naturally in its own time and course.
I understand that I am moving beyond old limiting patterns and gradually giving birth to a life that offers me greater freedom to be myself.
Journaling Questions if Nine is Your Current Year
What aspects of this number speak to you most deeply?
Are you in alignment energetically with this phase of your cycle or do you need to make some changes in your thinking or life structure to better align with the detachment stage of your cycle. Please elaborate.
How did the opportunities/challenges of this number play out in your life in your last nine year (9 years ago)? Are you handling them differently now?
What is the most important thing that life is asking you to learn right now?
Does this number correspond to your soul vibration or life path? (See Part 3 for more information). If so, it is likely a very important year for you.
0
The Zero Year
Your first zero year begins nine months before birth and ends at birth. Your next zero years begin as follows:
9 months before your 9th birthday (8 years, 3 months)
9 months before your 18th birthday, (17 years, 3 months)
9 months before your 27th birthday (26 years, 3 months)
9 months before your 36th birthday (35 years, 3 months)
9 months before your 45th birthday (44 years, 3 months)
9 months before your 54th birthday (53 years, 3 months)
9 months before your 63rd birthday (62 years, 3 months)
9 months before your 72nd birthday (71 years, 3 months)
9 months before your 81rst birthday (80 years, 3 months)
Because the last 9 months of your nine year are important for the incubation of the new energy that is coming in, we call them the Zero Year. You will want to pay particular attention to this 9-month period, so that you give yourself the time and space you need for detaching from the dysfunctional aspects of the previous cycle and opening up to the pure, unfettered energy that wants to embody within your consciousness.
Your zero year is like the 9-month period before your birth when you were nurtured in your mother’s body. Now you are the one who is pregnant with the new energy and you need to prepare for its birthing into this world.
The zero year is a time of gestation when your whole life appears to be in limbo. The doors to the outside world close and you are floating again in the amniotic fluid. You know that life must change because you are changing, even if you don’t know exactly why or how. This is not a time to be engaged in the affairs of the world. It is a time to go within and get in touch with the parts of you that want to be born in the new cycle that will begin in the next nine months.
The zero year is a pre-birth period. It helps you to establish the emotional, psychological, and physical safety you require to support and sustain the needed new energetic patterns in your life.
Still another metaphor for the zero year is the chrysalis into which the caterpillar disappears when it is time for him to grow wings and become a butterfly. His time as a busy multilegged creature moving slowly and deliberately over the earth has come to an end. When he emerges from the chrysalis he will not be able to walk any more. He will need to learn to spread his wings and fly.
The zero year is all about the transformation of consciousness. We move from a limited state to a less limited one. As the energy inside us expands, we give birth to a form and structure that is less limiting and gives us a new freedom and ability to explore the world. It is almost like moving into a new body, which is why the metaphor of the caterpillar and the butterfly is so poignant.
The danger that faces you in the nine/zero year is that you will not allow the transformation to happen. You will hold onto the old definitions of who you are or you will live in regret for what happened. You will get stuck in the past and feel unable to forgive yourself and others. You will stay emotionally attached to the energy of the old cycle and find it difficult to let go or surrender.
However, change will come whether you want it to or not. Either you will cooperate with your soul’s need to grow and transform or you will resist the inevitable, bringing unnecessary pain and struggle into your life. A caterpillar that tries to back out of the chrysalis becomes a gluey mess. He does not have legs anymore. Trying to return to the past is impossible. The only way through the chrysalis is out the other side. Your choice is not whether or not you want to die and be reborn. Death and rebirth are inevitable aspects of life. Your only choice is whether or not you choose to resist change or learn to surrender to it.
A nine year is a time to re-enter the silence and listen for guidance. This is not a year of action, but of non-action and reflection. It is a year in which the old self dies and the new self prepares to be born. The more you are able to let go and trust the transformational process, the easier it will be for the energy of the new cycle to manifest in your life.