4 Personal Year | Effort, Longer-Range Goals & Limitations
April 15, 2017
6 Personal Year | Home, Relationships & Responsibility
April 29, 20175 Personal Year | A Year of Unexpected Opportunities, Travel & Changes
In numerology, we believe we experience nine-year periods of time called Personal Year Cycles.
I call knowing your Personal Year number knowing the theme to your party. You don’t want to show up at the wrong party in the wrong outfit for an entire year! (seriously . . . !)
We all feel this shift in energy, don’t we? We get restless toward the end of the year, as the New Year’s Resolution frenzy get underway.
Numerologically speaking, there’s a very real energetic transition that happens for each of us from year to year.
We feel this energy whether or not we understand numerology—or even believe in numerology. When you learn the theme to each Personal Year, you can align with the energy of the year rather than push against it. Know your theme and you’ll find that you have much more success throughout the year. Or at least you’ll be able to extract deeper meaning about why things are happening and how to make sense out of it.
Also note that there are two schools of thought regarding how to understand and experience the Personal Year.
The first school of thought and the most “popular” is that the Personal Year is a 12-month cycle that’s a calendar year. It runs from January 1 – December 31 of any given year. Also, the energy related to your Personal Year intensifies around your birthday. It also comes to a crescendo during the month of September. Numerologist’s Hans Decoz, Matthew Goodwin and many others subscribe to this way of calculating the Personal Year.
The second mode of thought is that the Personal Year runs from birthday to birthday, somewhat like a Solar Return in Astrology.
If you know my work at all, you’ll know that I’m someone who simply attempts to point out the different schools of thought and then the ball is in your court. It’s up to each of us to determine method makes the most sense to us and feels right or correct. I have clients who absolutely insist that the birthday-to-birthday approach is what feels correct for them and for their personal experience. And I have clients who feel the same regarding the calendar year approach.
It’s like anything else in life. People can get really adamant about the correct diet (keto? paleo? vegan? gluten-free? vegetarian? and on and on). In Astrology, some belief that being born on the cusp makes a huge difference, some Astrologer’s don’t believe in that at all. Who’s right?
You can go to different doctors with the same condition and get different courses of treatment. You can study Pythagorean numerology, or subscribe more to Chaldean numerology, or other modalities.
I don’t mean to belabor it, but it might surprise you how many people contact me and leave comments insisting that their particular methodology is the only right way to do it.
If you subscribe to the birthday-to-birthday way of thinking, you calculate this way: Using your birth date, add the MONTH + DAY + YEAR OF YOUR LAST BIRTHDAY
Just know that you’ll change into a new Personal Year on your BIRTHDAY, meaning that you’ll also change which Personal Year you read for your Forecast! This mode of thinking is more confusing until you wrap your brain around it. 
So I just want to be clear. It’s up to YOU to determine what school of thought feels right to you. And it’s ends up being just that: HOW IT FEELS. Sit with it. Ponder it. Feel into it.
If you feel the Personal Year runs from birthday-to-birthday, the flow of it is a bit more wonky. Meaning: On your birthday, it switches gears and might feel as if it’s more of a dramatic or abrupt shift. And you’ll experience two different Personal Year number during a calendar year.
Remember also, when you’re in a Personal Year that has the same number as your Life Path, you’ll feel double indemnity from the slings and arrows of the year—you’re going to feel all the positives doubly. This also means that you’re going to be doubly challenged with the obstacles inherent in the year’s theme.
When you experience a Personal Year that is the same as your Life Path number (or another of your core numbers), the year offers you many experiences and opportunities to bolster where you might have a weak link that needs strengthening within that particular theme. This simply might show up as more intensity or more dramatic occurrences or experiences that revolve around the key themes of your year.
Calculate the Personal Year (calendar year method)
EXAMPLE:
Take the date of birth: April 27, 1990
Use only the MONTH and DAY:
April is 4: 4
Day is 27: 2 + 7 = 9
Then use the CURRENT YEAR (whatever it happens to be!)
2017 = 2 + 0 + 1 + 7 = 10; 1 + 0 = 1
Now add the month, day, and current year together.
4 + 9 = 13 = 4 + 1 (2017) = 5
In this example, you’re experiencing a 5 Personal Year.
5 Personal Year | A Year of Unexpected Opportunities, Travel & Changes
What does freedom mean to you?
More time? Money? A different job? Different marital situation? Getting your health back on track?
Freedom and change are your themes for the year and it can feel like a whirlwind—so many pleasures (and challenges), so little time! There are lots of ups and downs, so the key for this year is flexibility, adaptability, and focus—otherwise drama and trauma may also be a recurring theme.
Lots of unexpected opportunities are bound to come your way, so be open to trying new things.
It’s time to travel and tap into your sense of fearless adventure—not necessarily a time to make a long-term commitment. The key to this year is establishing and acting on some semblance of self-discipline, otherwise you’ll get to the next year feeling like this year has been one big hangover. If you don’t stay the course, you’ll end up with very little accomplishment to show for your time and energy at the close of the year.
It’s set up as a transition point for change, new decisions, and new directions.
It contains an energy that promotes opening up to something new and somehow infuses an imprint of sexiness to you—kind of like a pheromone. You think I’m kidding. Just wait and see! It’s time for exploration, travel, and tapping into anything you feel offers a sense of adventure and of pushing your own boundaries.
This is a time where you benefit from having accomplished the foundational work last year, because now you have things in place that serve as a solid launching pad. How can the challenges show up? If you don’t have things in place, the year can feel like a mental or physical tornado. Or alternately, you can hit your denial button and just force your way forward business as usual. Even though you know you’re missing something, even if you haven’t a clue what that something might be.
After the more practical energies of your 4 Personal Year, the energy of the 5 can feel intoxicating.
The year starts out with a bang right out of the chute. You’ll often be met with new people, new experiences, and new opportunities. Anytime you can opt to venture off your beaten track is favored in a 5 Personal Year.
This is a progressive time when you’ll be pushed to explore the sensual side of life.
This is a pivotal year—remember it’s mid-way through your 9 Personal Year Cycle and it’s a turning point for change and transition. Freedom is calling and you’re required to throw your hat into the ring. What’s your answer? There’s nothing like defining your sense of freedom to bring up some long-held issues surrounding this very theme. Therefore, the 5 Personal Year offers a plethora of opportunity to face your fears, dismantle restrictions, and rekindle your adventurous spirit.
This can be a year where uncertainty rules the roost and oftentimes that can feel disconcerting, if not downright unacceptable. Some of the caveats include excessive behaviors—sex, drugs, alcohol, too much travel, and all the rest of it. Or excessive behaviors on the opposite pole—overwork, under-eating, too much exercise (yes, there is such a thing!). You might feel the siren call of escape and opt for numbing or zoning out rather than focusing and reining in all the high-level energies you have access to right now.
Given the energy of the 5 introduces issues related to freedom, you’ll wrangle with issues and experiences related to restriction—this can show up anywhere you have trigger-points.
Where do you feel tethered, stuck or smothered? In relationship. In family matters. With your health. Are you doing anything remotely satisfying with your job or career?
If you’re someone with “rolling stone gathers no moss” tendencies, the 5 can challenge you to not go off the chain and get lost in an ocean of self-indulgence. You’re being called upon to stretch yourself, while also directing your energies in a way that’s focused and productive. The catalytic energy of the 5 Personal Year can have you reeling with overwhelm.
One of the biggest misconceptions surrounding the fun, frenetic, and fast-paced 5 Personal Year has to do with fear.
Oh yes, that. You’ll be asked over and over again to reach out of your comfort zone and dip your feet into fear-filled waters. If that’s too much for you, the 5 Personal Year can feel like a stagnant pool of water—complete with the stench and swarming insects. Or even more likely, you haven’t opened the door and walked outside to even know that the pool of water actually exists. Instead, you stay well within the lines of comfort, safely, and familiarity—even if it’s uncomfortable comfort, growth-stunting safely, and exasperating familiarly.
This is your time to soar and see the world as your oyster! As Tina Fey observes: “Say ‘yes’ and you can figure it out later.”
