2016 is the numerology year of 9, and so far it’s been a powerful year for manifesting the energies of the number 9. Forgiveness and letting go are two of the biggest themes for the number 9, so are endings and making preparations for new beginnings.

On a personal level, there have been so many endings for me this year; I’ve let go of friendships that are emotional draining and unfulfilling, and bad habits that do not serve me anymore. I am also preparing for a move at the end of this month, ending my stay in the home I’ve lived in for the last 4 years and starting new.

On a global scale, we have seen so many heartbreaking news of the deaths of some of our beloved celebrities and role models, and also the senseless deaths of innocent victims of terrorism and prejudice. We have read about horrible acts of sexual violence, racism, sexism, intolerance and injustice, some from our own politicians, people whom we have entrusted the well-being of our countries to. Forgiveness is difficult, so difficult, in the face of all these issues, and yet perhaps it’s at the most difficult times that forgiveness is the most important thing you can do.

September is the 9th month of the year, and the 9th day of the month is the perfect time to talk about the number 9s in tarot and numerology and the lessons on forgiveness and letting go that they can teach you. I hope this helps to make a difference.

Forgive & Let Go

With the 9 of Cups

• Love yourself first! Self-love is the greatest love of all. Learn to love yourself, flaws and all. You are a wonderful person, unique in who you are and the path you’re walking. You don’t have to be perfect to be lovable, and you don’t need other people to validate you. Forgiving those who have done you wrong is an act of self-love. Realize that whatever they did to you was never about you, it was always about their own insecurities. Loving yourself means not giving them the power to hurt you anymore. Forgiving them means letting go of past hurts that are still causing you pain.
• Forgive yourself. You are human. Humans make mistakes. It’s part and parcel of life that you will make a mistake some time in your life, many times, in fact. Some mistakes may be irreparable, but what’s done has already been done. Try to fix it if you can, but if there’s nothing more you can do, move on. The important thing is that you learn from that mistake and you grow.

With the 9 of Wands

• Set boundaries. Remember the saying, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” Forgiveness doesn’t mean allowing others to hurt you again, it only means that you forgive them for being flawed human beings with issues of their own. Forgive them, let go of the hurt they caused you, but set firm boundaries and use your judgement so that you are not just letting people take advantage of you over and over again.
• Don’t build walls. Setting boundaries is different from building walls. You may have been hurt before and are afraid of getting hurt again, but if you build walls around you in an attempt to protect yourself from the bad things, you inevitably close yourself off from the good things as well.

With the 9 of Swords

• Let go of the things you cannot control. “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” If you can do something to change things, stop worrying and start making those changes. If you can’t change things, then there’s no use worrying about them. Your worrying doesn’t make anything better.

With the 9 of Pentacles

• Let go of toxic people. It’s their lives, not yours. They have their own paths, their own lessons to learn, and there comes a point after you have done all you can for them, that you just have to let them go and make their own decisions. If their decisions affect you and create drama and negativity for you, then it’s time for you to reevaluate their presence in your life. You’ll be much happier and healthier on your own than to be stuck in toxic and unhealthy codependent relationships.

With The Hermit

• Take time for introspection. The Hermit is a wise teacher, and he takes the time to withdraw from the mundane world every once in a while to look within himself for answers. It’s easy to say that you should forgive and let go, it’s much more difficult to be able to do it. Take your time to contemplate the things that had hurt you and ask yourself why they hurt. Try to understand the people that hurt you and their motivations, perhaps you’ll find that they were just flawed human beings making mistakes as well.
• Look at things from a higher perspective. Climb that figurative mountain and look down at the perfect imperfection of the world we live in. I once had an interesting discussion with some really wise friends about how everything in the world is happening just as it should be and that we can’t go wrong, no matter what. It’s true that we have so many problems that need to be fixed in our world; hunger, war, racism, greed… how do we even begin? But this could be all part of a higher consciousness and the intentions that we collectively put out into our world so that we, as soul beings, can experience the process of working through them. I loved this idea that we couldn’t go wrong, that we are here not because some higher power is testing us, but because our souls want to experience what it’s like to be human beings.

With the Number 9

• Understand the energies of the number 9. In numerology, people with the number 9 as their Life Path tend to be hard on themselves and their loved ones. Forgiveness and letting go are the biggest themes in their lives, and the most important lessons they need to learn. If you are a Life Path 9 or if you have the number 9 in your numerology chart, you may find that forgiveness is a difficult thing for you too, especially if someone you loved betrayed your trust. But there’s a reason that it’s a theme and also the most important lesson for the number 9. Once you learn to forgive and let go, so much weight falls off your shoulders and life becomes so much easier.

It takes time to forgive, and it shouldn’t be done lightly. These tips are here to help you get started, but you need to work through them on your own and with as much time as you need. My suggestion is to start with loving yourself and forgiving yourself first. Good luck!

If you would like to learn more about how to use numerology with tarot, please check out the Charting Your Future with Tarot and Numerology course.