The Rose Garden: January Clarity

A one-minute practice to learn the theme of your year.

Welcome to The Rose Garden, your place to find small beautiful things in the Land of Oaks and Roses.

Untitled by Brianna Lance via Tappan

My sweet, beautiful baby boy turned three last week. Happy memories were made: mint chocolate chip ice cream cones, shiny Brio trains, blue balloons, the sound of little voices singing his name. At the same time, across the country, birthdays were celebrated in smoke, fear and loss. I’ve always had a hard time with this reality: one of us will always be enjoying while another one of us suffers. And vice versa.

I learned about this 1-minute numerology practice, which gave me freakishly accurate insight into understanding how seemingly different experiences are actually interconnected, not just in our own lives, but to each other’s too. If you’d like to give it a try, open ChatGPT, copy/paste this into the chat box and input your birthday: My birthday is x. What is my current personal year number based on my birthday and the current date?

Doing this taught me that 2025 is a 3 year for me. 3 years are about creativity and self-expression (here I am right?) They’re about making things, and putting them out into the world. They tend to be joyful. The last time I had a 3 year I launched a fashion business while enjoying every little detail of planning my wedding. And then got married! Last year was a 2 year for me. 2 years are about relationships and emotional growth. Last year is when I finally sat with my controlling parts, and figured out what they needed. I could go on about the accuracy of each of my years but the last one I want to highlight is 2022, which was a 9 year for me. 9 years are about endings, and detachment. They’re the years that things fall apart, burn. In addition to our personal numbers, there’s also a collective number each year. As a collective, 2025 is a 9 year for us. 9 years clear the way for the following 1 years when the cycle begins again as something new. My last personal 9 year is when I found myself moving into an Airbnb weeks before giving birth. It was my most agonizing year to date. And it cleared the path for 2023, a 1 year about new beginnings and independence.

I love how this concept illustrates us as moving parts on the same larger cycle. We’ll all eventually come to know the energy of each kind of year. Repeatedly. It’s just that it’s happening at different times for each of us. We’ll all know 9 years. They aren’t something we can protect each other against. If you talk to parents of adult children who tried, they’ll always tell you they regret it. And that’s because the seeds of new beginnings are planted in 9 years. It’s when our futures spend time in the deep, dark, nutrient dense soil long enough for them to sprout.

With much love,

Olivia

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