NINE NINE (ONE)

Today, consider what it means for the number 9 to both “disappear” in calculations, thus affirming and amplifying the numbers that remain. How could this metaphor illuminate a dynamic in your life that’s run its course? In what ways are you ready to quit playing small or for everyone else, and need to take up more space? Or maybe you’ve been spending too much time tooting your own horn and need to start singing the praises of others? Whatever it is, dig in today, when the energy is ripe for a fresh start!

Tarot Correspondences: The Wheel, The Magician

NEW MOON IN VIRGO

This new moon—the first in Virgo without an accompanying eclipse in years—comes right on the heels of something shifting. An ending and a beginning, within a larger cycle of endings and beginnings, and all rolled into one. Luckily, this practical moon is also grounding in the energy of emotional discernment, which will allow us to take next steps from a place that highlights the heart and the hands, but also our ability to choose what to work on wisely. Take action today in a way that affirms your current circumstances and future dreams.

Tarot Correspondences: Judgment, The High Priestess

The thirty-sixth week of a ten/one year (36+10 = 46, 4+6 = 10, 1+0 = 1) is weaving a web with the energies of 1, 3, 4, 6, 10, 36 and 46.

→ One is the number of the self and the start. It asks us to take stock of who we are right here, right now, at the beginning of a new year. A new cycle.

→ Three is the number of creation and communication. It’s the smallest digit to encompass the whole of the journey, which you can see in the shape of its numeral, 3, which curves from the beginning, to the middle, to the end.

→ Four is the number of steadfast support and sustenance. It rules the foundations, the roots, traditions and beliefs, systems and structures, and the spaces that house, contain, hold, or cocoon us.

→ Six is the number of growth and responsibility. It’s a nourishing, gentle energy. It hands you a tissue, it cleans up your skinned knee, it pours you a glass of water.

→ Ten is the number of rolling the dice, or spinning the wheel! It’s also the number of completion and aftermath, and what it takes to actually move on, start over, begin again, keep living.

→ Thirty-six is a number of crafty wisdom, logical liminality, and meeting endings with familiarity and grace.

→ Forty-six is a number of strategic starts, and generative growth, and finding comfort even when confined.

[Read more in 52 WEEKS: Numerological Food for Thought for the Whole Year]

Some questions to ask yourself:

A look at some patterns and how they pertain to the week ahead:

This week’s forecasts are pulled from “13 Legendary Adages With Meanings Everyone Should Know” by Chris Meyer of The Mind Collection. I originally introduced these last year, and when I revisited the list reading for my current cycle, it was spookily on point. How does your new one land?

To find your yearly cycle number, add the digits of your month and day of birth to 2026, and reduce until you reach a single digit. For example, the calculation for my birthday of July 7 looks like: 7+7+2+0+2+6 = 24, 2+4 = 6.

Please note that I reduce doubled digit numbers like 11 and 22 to their root numbers when working with yearly cycles, so please calculate and read accordingly.

Read for your Yearly Cycle, but also check out your prominent chart placements, like Life Path and Public Persona, as well for the collective 1-year.

Peter Principle:
In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.

This legendary adage is as simple as it is profound. The Peter Principle goes back to a semi-satirical book written by Laurence J. Peter in 1969. It explains why organizations from Sydney to Reykjavik are filled with incompetent workers in leadership positions. According to the author, there’s only one way to escape such a toxic promotion. Cultivate creative incompetence.

Law of Holes:
If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.

The Law of the Holes is an adage with a meaning beyond excavation. It’s a metaphor, of course. About the human tendency to keep making things worse even after we realize we’ve put ourselves in a precarious position. You may also be unsurprised that this is only the first of five laws pertaining to holes, which includes the assessment that once you do stop digging, you’re still in a hole.

Whitehead’s Dictum:
Everything of importance has been said before by somebody who did not discover it.

Alfred North Whitehead’s adage can be applied to many things, including philosophical truths or adages themselves. The English mathematician knew how much of today’s knowledge is built on ancient wisdom. That doesn’t mean our existence and any conversation about it are pointless. As [Meyer] mentioned in a post about practical philosophy books, wisdom has to be rediscovered individually.

Bullshit Asymmetry Principle:
The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than that needed to produce it.

Also known as Brandolini’s Law, the Bullshit Asymmetry Principle captures a circumstance we’ve all experienced. Those with an indifference to the truth are at an advantage. An argument is easily made. But dissecting a claim and verifying propositions and evidence is tiresome. And what if it’s part of the bullshitter’s plan to keep us busy refuting his nonsense? Or worse, an AI presents the nonsense as fact?

Muphry’s Law:
If you write anything criticizing editing or proofreading, there will be a fault of some kind in what you have written.

This adage is not to be confused with Murphy’s Law, the notion that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Muphry’s Law was coined by John Bangsund in a 1992 newsletter of the Australian Society of Editors. Cunningly misspelled, Muphry’s Law points the finger at something that still holds true in the age of the digital grammar police. Note that I’ve tried very hard not to sneak any ironic mistakes into this paragraph.

Benford’s Law of Controversy:
Passion is inversely proportional to the amount of real information available.

Consider the passion associated with controversial opinions and interpretations. Now imagine what happens if more and more evidence becomes available. The more we learn, the less room there is for personal emotions and feelings. The adage has its origins in the 1980 novel Timescape by astrophysicist and writer Gregory Benford. But perhaps he underestimated the Backfire Effect.

Lem’s Law:
No one reads; if someone does read, he doesn’t understand; if he understands, he immediately forgets.

Lem’s Law was coined by Polish writer Stanislaw Lem. At its core, the adage plays with the subjectivity of knowledge and the futility of any attempt to communicate it. How are you supposed to understand and discuss knowledge you don’t even remember not reading? To add to the confusion consider this: Lem coined the expression while writing a faux review about a book that didn’t exist.

Acton’s Dictum:
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

The first of our adages was famously coined by English historian and writer Lord Acton. It’s an absolute classic and points out the corruptive nature of power as a constant in the universe. The more powerful we become the more our morals are put to the test. A rare counterexample of steadfastness is Marcus Aurelius. The Roman Emperor and Stoic philosopher documented his struggle for virtue in Meditations. Absolute power, so it seemed, did not manage to corrupt him.

Sturgeon’s Revelation:
Ninety percent of everything is crap.

This adage is named after science-fiction author Theodore Sturgeon who coined it in defense of his genre. It may be true that most science fiction writing was low-quality garbage, he argued. But that applied to any form of art. Sturgeon’s adage may come across as pessimistic. But think about it this way: It also means that 10% of everything is pretty good. You just have to produce a lot of inferior material to get to the good stuff.