We can explore the future trends of a person’s life by looking at personal years. These show the various influences surrounding a person at any given time.

Personal Years and the Epicycle
              According to Chinese numerology, we live our lives in nine-year cycles. This is known as the Epicycle. Each year contains a different energy, and if we work with the energy, or tone, of the year we will progress smoothly and quickly. Conversely, if we fight the tone of the year, we will struggle all year long. It is a simple matter to determine what personal year you are in. You simply create a sum, just as we did to determine the destiny number, but instead of using the year of birth, we use the current year.

Personal Years       1       2       3      4      5       6       7       8      9

Examples how to calulate personal year
For example a young man born on July 22nd, 1973. In 2002 he experienced a 6 personal year. This is because the sum of month, date and the year comes to six:
                  7 (month)
                22 (day)
          +2002 (year)
          ----------------
             2031      and 2+0+3+1=6

As we lead our lives in nine-year cycles, the following year he will experience a 7 personal year as shown:
                  7 (month)
                22 (day)
          +2003 (year)
          ----------------
             2032     and 2+0+3+2=7

Here is another example, this time a lady born on July 9th , 1961. In 2001 she will experience a 1 personal year.
                  7 (month)
                  9 (day)
          +2001 (year)
          ----------------
             2017     and 2+0+1+7=10     further 1+0=1

If the sum is 11, 22 or 33 reduce it further to 2, 4 or 6. Personal years that reduce down to an 11, 22 or 33 have more power and potential than personal years that do not reduce in the same way.

Once we know the personal year someone is in we also know the energies that are surrounding this person at the time, and can interpret them to understand what is going on in his or her life.

1 Personal Year                                                                       TOP
Keywords: New starts Enthusiasm Energy

This is a year of new starts. You will have more enthusiasm and energy this year than you will have had for many years. Anything you start now is likely to remain important for a long time. You may start several new activities this year, but will have enough enthusiasm and energy to sustain them all.

2 Personal Year                                                                      TOP
Keywords: Patient Waiting

This is a slower, gentler year. In many ways it is a consolidation year. In a 1 personal year you can go shooting off in all directions. The 2 personal year brings everything back to more manageable proportions. The keywords for this year are “patient waiting”. These two words do not fit together very well; it is often hard to patiently wait. You will be tempted to push in an attempt to make things happen. This works in a 1 personal year, but is a waste of time and energy in a 2 year. This is a year to exercise patience, to trust your intuition, and to enjoy pleasant times with people you love. By doing this, at the end of the year you will find yourself pretty much where you want to be.

3 Personal Year                                                                      TOP
Keywords: Hard work
This is a pleasant, happy, carefree year, ideally, you will be able to have the whole year off to play and enjoy life. Unfortunately, this is unlikely to be the case, so you will have to work hard, even though most of your thoughts will be on pleasant, fun activities. This is a good year to spend time with old friends, to make new friends, to take up new hobbies and interests, or to play more attention to existing interests. You may have several short-lived interests come and go during the year.

4 Personal Year                                                                      TOP
Keywords: Hard work Goals achieved

After a year of fun, you will be wanting to get involved in something more serious. A 4 personal year is a year of hard work. If you set a specific goal for yourself at the start of the year, you will find that you will have achieved it by the end of the year. You will probably still be pleased that the year is over, but will also have something to show for it. If you have no specific goal in mind, you will find the tone of year to be serious, heavy, and restricting. This is why most people consider the 4 personal year to be the most difficult year of the Epicycle.

5 Personal Year                                                                      TOP
Keywords: Change Variety Expect the unexpected

This is a year of change and variety. After the seriousness of the 4 personal year you will be ready to do something exciting and different. This is the perfect year to change anything in your life that you are not happy with be it career, home, partner, or even country. You have to be prepared to expect the unexpected. Consequently, you are likely to find yourself doing things that you never thought possible. If you have always wanted to go bungee jumping, but never quite got around to it, this is the year to do it.

6 Personal Year                                                                      TOP
Keywords: Home and Family

This is the year for home and family. It is the perfect year to get married (or divorced). This is because the numbers simply “are”. They are neither good nor bad. Consequently, if a relationship is going really well, this is a wonderful year to make it permanent.
Conversely, if a relationship is foundering, this is the best year for the couple to part. Because it is also a year of family, it is an excellent year to have a baby and to spend time with loved ones. It is also a year when you will be involved in helping others in some way and deriving great pleasure from it. It is a good year for moving or for making alterations to your existing home. You may redecorate or beautify your house and garden in some way. Most of your thoughts and energies will be directed towards your home and the people you love.

7 Personal Year                                                                      TOP
Keywords: Learning Wisdom Inner development
A 7 personal year is a quieter, gentler year. You will want more time than usual by yourself to think about things, to learn, or to meditate. Many people carry on with their education in some sort of way during a 7 personal year. Even if this is not formal study, you will be learning and growing in knowledge and wisdom this year. It is an excellent year to make plans and to analyze things. Many people become interested in spiritual or philosophical pursuits in a 7 year. This year is a sabbatical year in many ways. You will be less interested in striving after material possessions and more interested in developing inwardly.

8 Personal Year                                                                      TOP
Keywords: Money Rewards
This is the money year. It is a year of hard work, but with a financial payoff. In this year you reap the rewards for all the hard work you have done over the last decade. If you have done little, you will receive little. Money matters will tend to go your way in an 8 personal year. If you buy something, you will buy it at a good price. If you sell something, you will receive a good price for it. Make sure to take a little bit of time off during the year to relax and unwind. Many people are inclined to overwork during an 8 year and can experience health problems as a result.

9 Personal Year                                                                      TOP
Keywords: Revaluation Letting go Looking ahead
This is the final year of the nine-year Epicycle. It is a revaluation year. You will be looking back over the last nine years and letting go of things that have outworn their use. It is never easy to let go of things, so this may be a painful and difficult task. You will also be looking ahead, figuring out where to go from here. During the year you will be given a number of false leads, but in the last three months of this year it will become much clearer as to where you want to go in the next nine years.