Personal year numbers are arguably my favorite part of numerology! They are an incredible tool that I use in my life daily, not just for myself but for my business as well, because anything can have a personal year number so long as it has an official start date. Personal year numbers help me get clarity on where my life is headed and even help me plan my business out more effectively. So get ready to learn the secrets to decoding the natural rhythm and energy of your life, you’re gonna love this!

Borrowing from some astrology lingo, I refer to this area of study as predictive numerology. Predictive astrology is the term used when we are looking at aspects between the natal planets (the ones in your chart) and transit planets (the ones always in motion in our solar system). While the term predictive insinuates that the practice is for the purpose of predicting future events-and it certainly can and has proven so time and time again-predictive astrology can also serve us by offering a gateway to uncovering past events when we look at past aspects and how they influenced our lives.

Much the same can be said of predictive numerology, it can help us get a glimpse into our future as well as gain clarity about our past. The building blocks of predictive numerology lie in understanding your personal year number, that is the foundation upon which everything else is built, so let’s get into it.

What is a Personal Year Number?

To understand what a personal year number is you first have to understand what global year numbers are. Each year is ticked off and numbered in our calendars, and the energy of that year’s number can give us important insights into the overall collective energy of the year. There are many different calendar systems out there, but the one I use (and more likely than not you use as well) is the Gregorian calendar, meaning that this current year is numbered as 2022. To find the vibration of this year you simply add together all of the numbers within it like so: 2+0+2+2=6.

So collectively our society is in a 6 year, which means that the overarching themes have to do with healthcare. 6 is the number of love, care and service to others, so on a larger scale these themes tend to impact healthcare and how our governments serve us. In the US alone this global 6 energy has led to harrowing legislation being pushed and approved in order to restrict children from gaining necessary gender affirming health care, abortion is likely going to be banned in many states, new health care restrictions for clients with covid are being rolled out often, and the legality of gay marriage is beginning to come into question.

So here we see how a lovely number like 6 can negatively impact a society like the US, however it’s also possible that, in other countries which use the Gregorian calendar, efforts are being made to support and uplift their citizens through social programs and services. Wherever your country falls on the spectrum, the overarching themes are health and service.

We also have personal year numbers which can tell us what the shape and color of our next year of life will be. For us, our personal year numbers begin and end on our birthdays. So if you were born on August 11th, you’ll start a new personal year every August 11th with the previous year's energy and themes ending on August 10th.

This is the way it is most widely done, but the method taught by Hans Decoz is a little bit different. According to Decoz you should always use the global year number for the current year in your calculations. For instance, the person who was born on August 11th had their last birthday (as I write this) on 8/11/2021, so the global year number was 5 (2+0+2+1=5). However, we are currently in the year 2022, so as of January 1st they would use the date 8/11/2022 for the calculation, meaning that from 8/11/2021-12/31/2021 they would be in a certain personal year number (6) and then from 1/1/2022-8/10/2022 they would be in another (7).

Though this isn’t the method I use, I can see the merit of it. Since we are experiencing a new global year number starting on New Years day, this method honors that shift in energy by suggesting that our personal year numbers should also shift on that day. The reason I don’t use this method however is because it is a personal year number, and a new year of our life begins on our birthday, not January 1st. With Decoz’s method you also miss out on experiencing a full year under a particular number, instead having it split in two.

And that’s what I love about personal year numbers, they always happen in 9 year cycles with each of the years 1-9 holding a specific type of energy inviting you towards different lessons. 1 years are about planting new seeds and 9 years are about the culmination and endings. To split those years in two and change personal year numbers on January 1st stymies the energy before it can truly set to work in your life.

So let’s get to the meat and potatoes and learn how to calculate your personal year number!!

How to Calculate Your Personal Year Number

If you read my article on life path numbers you’ll already be familiar with this type of calculation. What’s different here is that we want to add together the numbers of your most recent birthday, instead of using your birth year in the calculation.

Fun fact: your life path number is also your personal year number from your first year of life!

As always there are three methods you can use to calculate your personal year number, adding across, adding down and my method. All of them are correct and all of them will give you the same base number (the numbers 1-9), so it’s merely about preference.

Adding Across

In this method all you have to do is write out all of the numbers from your most recent birthday and put a + between each one. It’s pretty likely that you’ll get a double digit number when you do this, so simply add those two numbers together (and repeat if necessary) until you get one final single digit base number.

Adding Down

In this method you want to add together the numbers within each number first, meaning that you’ll add together the numbers within the month, the day and the year separately first. The goal is to have a single digit for the month, the day and the year. So the final equation is three single digit numbers added into one another.

Now in the example I use a November birthday since the Gregorian calendar month number for November is 11 and this is a master number in numerology. Any number that repeats such as 11, 22 or 33 should be honored and remained untouched. Why? Because these numbers hold more weight and a higher significance in numerology. Master numbers speak to lessons of wisdom and efforts made towards community aid and advancement, so if you see a master number leave it as is whether you’re using this method of calculation or any of the other ones!

My Method

My method comes from Dusty Bunker and Faith Javane in their book Numerology and the Divine Triangle. This method honors the month and day number much in the same way we normally honor master numbers, meaning that we don’t add them down. However, we do use the reduced global year number for the year in this calculation.

This is done for two reasons, one being that it is the overall energy for the year, so we are adding the global energy into our birthday. The other reason is that 4 digits is too many digits in numerology. I personally work with 3 digits quite often when working with numerology charts, and there is a time and a place for 4 digit numbers, but personal year numbers is not it.

So below you can see that we add together the month number as is, plus the day number as is, plus the reduced global year number from their last birthday.

The years 2020, 2021 and 2022 have all added down to single digit base numbers (4, 5 and 6 respectively) but 2017 and 2019 were a bit different. When adding together the numbers within the date 2017 it adds down to 10, so in the previous methods of numerology calculation (adding across and adding down) 2017 would be a 1 global year since 1+0=1. However, according to my method 2017 was a 10/1 year, meaning that 2019 was a 12/3 year. So for those personal year calculations it would have looked like this:

You may be wondering why I left out 2018 in the previous paragraph and that is because 2+0+1+8=11 and all numerologists will agree that 2018 was in fact an 11 global year since it is a master number and you know we love those!

Are you interested in getting a full numerology chart reading and learning more about yourself?

What Does This Mean for Me?

So now you should have your personal year number, either using my method or Hans Decoz’s method (whichever makes more sense for you), so let’s get into the fun stuff: learning about the 9 year cycles of numerology.

I love predictive numerology because it allows us to gain clarity about the past, present and future, but it also shows us how cyclical our lives are. We’ve lived through numerous 1 personal years and, though they may have been filled with different people and cities and dreams, each of them have shared a unifying energy. So once you master this simple calculation (I swear it’s simple it just sounds like a lot when you try to explain it) you’ll be able to map out the personal year numbers from every year in your life so far. You’ll be amazed at how things line up and how certain themes return again and again to be worked on and better understood.

1: This is the beginning of a new 9 year cycle in your life. This year is about focusing on you, your uniqueness, your individuality and what you need moving forward. This is the perfect year to be selfish, not in a cruel way but in a fulfilling way, a way in which all of your wants and needs are being met. In a 1 personal year you will be planting seeds for the next 9 years of your life, so make sure to plant as many seeds as possible because not every plant will make it to bloom.

2: This year is about forming relationships, so both romantic and platonic relationships will be strengthened in a 2 personal year. While you should definitely be rooting down and spending time with the people you love the most, this year is about relationships in a wider sense as well. You have a relationship to everything in your life (your car, job, favorite coffee mug). Your sense of intuition will also be more pronounced this year.

3: Simply put, 3 personal years are about growth. Since last year you focused your attention inward, it’s time to grow your circle outward now. Socializing and meeting new friends is a cornerstone of this year, but also learning and exploring new ideas with these new friends. Often times we go back to school or sign up for courses and certification this year because our thirst to learn more is guiding us. This is also a great year to put your creativity to work and see where it takes you.

4: The past three years have brought a lot of new and exciting things into your life, so this year is all about taking stock of what you have and rooting down further into it all. This is a good year to cut the fat and hone in on what is most important to you, so you can expect 4 personal years to have more cozy nights at home and more early mornings (or late nights if that’s when you do your best work). This is a year to focus on your sense of stability whether it be physical, emotional, mental or spiritual, or all of the above!

5: this year is all about change! Things get shaken up and moved around in a 5 personal year because this is when we reach the halfway point in our 9 year journey, so anything that isn’t working anymore, or anything that doesn’t serve us will need to be altered. Sometimes change can feel like chaos but ultimately it is about freedom, so open yourself up to the changes that are taking place and you’ll have space for so much more growth in the next few years!

6: Since this is the number of love and care, 6 personal years are about taking care of yourself and cultivating harmony and balance in your relationships. You need to make sure that you are taking good care of yourself first and foremost because there is a tendency to over exert ourselves for others. This comes from a good place-we just want to show love to those we love-but we cannot pour from an empty cup. Burn out can happen if we don’t lean into the energy of self care this year, so take care of ya body.

7: As opposed to the other odd numbered personal years, a 7 personal year isn’t about expanding outward and socializing with others. Instead the focus of this year is on getting answers and finding out the truth within ourselves. Sometimes we find out some hard truths that are difficult to swallow (usually this happens when we don’t adhere to the change that is necessary in our 5 personal years), but sometimes the truth is incredibly uplifting and life changing. This is a good year to hone your spiritual practice because a common question in a 7 personal year is “what is the meaning of life?” (hint: you get to decide what the meaning of life is, and you’ll get closer to that answer in a 7 year).

8: This is the year of success, it’s when the seeds that you planted in your 1 year truly begin to bear fruit, so it’s time to harvest and enjoy. Since the number 8 rules over manifestation and energy, the energy you put out this year is far more potent, so don’t be afraid to ask the universe to deliver on its promises (sometimes it’s just waiting for you to ask). Financial success is often common in this personal year as well. Basically, you’re going to reap what you’ve sown in years 1-7 at this time.

9: This is the year of culminations and endings, so projects and phases of life will be wrapping up in the next few months. A 9 personal year tends to have liminal energy, so while many doors will close you will also notice that many doors are starting to open. It’s not time to walk through those doors yet (because you need to tie up some loose ends) but the excitement of what is to come will be around every corner.

11: Sometimes we encounter an 11 personal year instead of a regular 2 personal year. These years tend to invite us into more challenging situations, but nothing we cannot or should not handle. Any trauma experienced in a master number year is not a result of the master number, they don't create trauma, they simply create challenges. Humans create trauma. So this is a year to gain elder wisdom through hands-on life experience. 11 has more outward energy than a 2 personal year, so we must engage with life fully and then call upon our deep sense of intuitive observation in order to make sense of the mess. You can always refer to the energy of a 2 personal year because they will share some similarities, 11 simply requires more action from you and offers a bigger reward.

22: Sometimes instead of a 4 year we experience a 22 year. The energy of 4 will still be there, inviting you to focus on your stability, but the energy of 22 is that of community building. So you will not be merely focused on building up your own foundations, but instead you will be inspired to create stable foundations that can support and uplift others. Like any master number year, 22 will offer up some challenges for you to overcome. These challenges will seek to inform you on what you should be building. It is common to start a business, project or program during these years because of that.

33: Sometimes instead of a 6 personal year we have a 33 personal year. 33 requires more from us because it invites us into the energy of the master healer. Oftentimes these years are peppered with ailments, not anything that is meant to harm you beyond repair (no human needs that in order to grow and learn) but 33 seeks to wake you up to your own gifts as a healer through inviting you to heal yourself. We all have healing gifts, some physical, some emotional, some mental and some spiritual. This year will guide you to understanding what yours are.