The other night I found myself at a table for 12 on the Upper West Side of Manhattan at a holiday gift exchange. The topic of numerology—a sister science to astrology—came up, reminding me that 2016, a tumultuous year for so many, represents a nine-year.
A nine-year in numerology brings endings and completions.
If we look at the news from the last 12 months, we see that there were quite a few notable endings. Aside from the celebrity deaths of superstars like Prince, David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Sharon Jones, Carrie Fisher, George Michael, and so many others, we also saw our first African American president complete his second term (Ok, I know he’s not done until January 20th, but you get what I am saying).
Alongside the public stories that governed 2016, this year also brought to a head many interpersonal dynamics that needed to shift.
In my life, I have midwifed many endings, too. My husband and I bought a home in rural New York, ending a fifteen-year reign of exclusively living in cities. I also went through a profound transformational upheaval, shedding even deeper layers of personal patterns that had historically held me back. Consequently, by deepening my knowledge of myself and releasing a few roadblocks, I oddly learned so much about many others in my life who also faced radical endings. (Strange how that happens!) In the meanwhile, so many of my relationships shifted, some developing even more intimately and others creating more space.
In my professional life, I traveled to Asia by myself and spent nearly a month in Bali—a culmination of years of work to create not only success but also freedom and independence in my business.
2016 also brought a stark reality check on the vulnerability of my health. Though I am 37, being almost 20 years post-menopause brings severe consequences. I had to make major changes to diet, exercise, and hormonal supplementation once again. Fortunately, I am more on top of my health than ever before—and that’s saying a lot because I never really lacked in this area to begin with! But again, this represents an end of a cycle, because the same old same old just wasn’t cutting it.
While thankfully I didn’t lose anyone close to me this year, many of my friends did. By being with them through the trauma of death, I relearned the vulnerability of life.
All this to say, 2016 brought with it lots of tumult, and through the journey I became more aware of where I need to place my focus. The challenging road of 2016 brought incredible meaning, personal transformation, and precious concentration.
How about you? What ended for you in 2016? What came full circle for you this year? What did you release? What do you still need to release?
On a recent Facebook live post, I talked about the need to forgive 2016. To look it over, understand where it kicked your ass (and why it kicked your ass), and then forgive it. Remember, forgiveness doesn’t mean that what happened was OK—it just means that you won’t spend your time seeking revenge against it. The need for vindication keeps our ego caught up in a loop with the past, blocking our ability to be open to the present and the future. I highly suggest busting out a journal and listing out all of the reasons why you are angry with 2016, and one by one go through them and forgive. Forgive the misfortune, the letdown, the illness, and the regret. Forgive the loss, the pain, the frustration, and the disappointment.
And then get ready for 2017, a one-year in numerology which means that new beginnings abound. One-years restart cycles, so we are at the precious moment of another beginning, a new era if you will.
But before we arrive in 2017, we have one more new moon in 2016! The new moon at 7 degrees of Capricorn happening right beside Mercury, also in Capricorn and retrograde, occurs at 1:53 am ET on the 29th. Saturn, the ruler of this new moon, is in Sagittarius, making a nice angle to Uranus, suggesting that this new moon brings forth breakthrough. Jupiter, the planet of good luck, happiness and possibility, who’s currently reigning over Saturn in Sag, remains in a strong position, making a sextile (a confident and resourceful angle) to Saturn while simultaneously hanging out opposite Uranus. In plain English: we can expect beautiful support this new moon.
Mercury is retrograde, it’s the tail of 2016, and we still have work to do around completing before we can initiate. As a matter of fact, Mercury is retrograde until January 8th, suggesting that the first week of the new year offers us the chance to catch up with ourselves, as opposed to forging ahead.
The moment between the beginning and the end remains so relevant this year because we are transitioning from a nine-year (endings) and a one-year (beginnings). Apparently, the cosmos knew this too, because they granted us a year-end Mercury retrograde, where Mercury in the sign of Capricorn will bestow this new moon with its wisdom. Give yourself space to sit in this in-between.
Remember, Mercury in retrograde is nothing more than an invitation to tune in.
So let’s take full advantage of this opportunity, this moment, this precious space in time where the tail end of 2016 converges with the beginning of 2017 through the portal of a new moon in stoic, hardworking Capricorn. I believe that as we do one thing, we do everything, meaning that our ending of 2016 dictates our beginning of 2017. When we fail to digest our experiences and pull the wisdom out of them, we tend to unnecessarily repeat cycles or stay stuck in situations that we’d rather not.
Leave me a comment and let me know what cycles you are wrapping up in your own life. What are you hoping to begin in 2017?
So excited to see you in the new year!
Until then, all of my love,
Jenn
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