by Jean Haner
Praise for Your Hidden Symmetry
“The wisdom Jean Haner presents in Your Hidden Symmetry has been valuable in my own life over the years. I highly recommend it as a way to love and accept yourself, as well as the way your life is unfolding. I’m delighted to contribute the affirmations in this book to support your journey!”
— Louise L. Hay, the New York Times best-selling author of You Can Heal Your Life
“Your Hidden Symmetry will help you to know yourself, accept yourself, and be true to who you really are. Jean Haner presents an ancient wisdom for living an authentic life. Her work is a gift to the world.”
— Robert Holden, Ph.D., author of Shift Happens! and Loveability
“Jean Haner’s book Your Hidden Symmetry will take you into the deepest recesses of your being, where you can begin to answer those questions such as ‘Who am I?’ and ‘Why am I here?’ With grace and wisdom born of an innate understanding of the human spirit, Jean will gently guide you down the path to profound self-understanding in this heartfelt book. Highly recommended!”
— Denise Linn, author of Soul Coaching and Sacred Space
“In Your Hidden Symmetry, Jean Haner draws on a little-known but powerful ancient knowledge to provide readers with invaluable clues to an authentic, rich, and meaningful life. Combined with the timeless insights of Louise Hay’s affirmations, the book will be an inspiring and unique addition to any seeker’s library.”
— Lorie Eve Dechar, author of Five Spirits
ALSO BY JEAN HANER
THE WISDOM OF YOUR FACE:
Change Your Life with Chinese Face Reading!
THE WISDOM OF YOUR CHILD’S FACE:
Discover Your Child’s True Nature with Chinese Face Reading
Both titles are available at your local bookstore, or may be ordered by visiting:
Hay House USA: www.hayhouse.com®
Hay House Australia: www.hayhouse.com.au
Hay House UK: www.hayhouse.co.uk
Hay House South Africa: www.hayhouse.co.za
Hay House India: www.hayhouse.co.in
Copyright © 2013 by Jean Haner
Published and distributed in the United States by: Hay House, Inc.: www.hayhouse.com® • Published and distributed in Australia by: Hay House Australia Pty. Ltd.: www.hayhouse.com.au • Published and distributed in the United Kingdom by: Hay House UK, Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.uk • Published and distributed in the Republic of South Africa by: Hay House SA (Pty), Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.za • Distributed in Canada by: Raincoast: www.raincoast.com • Published in India by: Hay House Publishers India: www.hayhouse.co.in
Cover design: Rhonda Dicksion • Interior design: Nick C. Welch
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private use—other than for “fair use” as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews—without prior written permission of the publisher.
The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Haner, Jean
Your hidden symmetry : how your birth date reveals the plan for your life /
Jean Haner.
pages cm.
ISBN 978-1-4019-4242-7 (tradepaper : alk. paper) 1. Natal astrology.
2. Birthdays--Miscellanea. I. Title.
BF1719.H36 2013
133.5’4042--dc22
2012049929
Tradepaper ISBN: 978-1-4019-4242-7
Digital ISBN: 978-1-4019-4243-4
16 15 14 13 4 3 2 1
1st edition, May 2013
Printed in the United States of America
For my mother, Phyllis Haner,
who saw the world through artist’s eyes and
who taught me how to see the patterns all around us.
CONTENTS
Introduction
PART I: HOW TIME AFFECTS WHO YOU ARE
Chapter 1: The Day You Were Born
Chapter 2: This Is Not about Numbers
Chapter 3: Your Main Personality
One: Innovator
Two: Mother
Three: Warrior
Four: Guide
Five: Center
Six: Father
Seven: Artist
Eight: Transformer
Nine: Lover
Chapter 4: Your Emotional Self
One: Fear/Courage
Two: Worry/Calm
Three: Anger/Action
Four: Waver/Adapt
Five: Absorb/Intensify
Six: Anxiety/Power
Seven: Denial/Pleasure
Eight: Retreat/Strength
Nine: Drama/Joy
Chapter 5: Your Life Challenge and Your True Calling
One: Wisdom of the Ancestors
Two: Divine Feminine
Three: Agent of Change
Four: Gentle Influence
Five: Centering Force
Six: Sacred Connection
Seven: Creation of Beauty
Eight: Deep Transformation
Nine: Fearless Heart
Chapter 6: 81 Combinations
Chapter 7: Your Elemental Nature
Chapter 8: Feeling Seen
Chapter 9: Louise Hay’s Affirmations for Your True Nature
PART II: HOW TIME AFFECTS WHERE YOU ARE
Chapter 10: Your Ten Decades and Four Gates
Chapter 11: Your Personal Seasons
One Year: Dream the Dream
Two Year: Build the Foundation
Three Year: Go for It
Four Year: Ride the Wind
Five Year: Eye of the Hurricane
Six Year: Own Your Power
Seven Year: Experience Beauty
Eight Year: Caterpillar in the Cocoon
Nine Year: Step into the Light
Chapter 12: Louise Hay’s Affirmations for Each Stage of Your Journey
PART III: WUWEI—ACTION WITHOUT EFFORT
Chapter 13: Louise Hay’s Hidden Symmetry
Chapter 14: Find Your Wuwei
Afterword: Moving Forward
Acknowledgments
About the Author
“Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire … can reach, the core of their reality; the person that each one is in the eyes of the Divine. If only they could all see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all of the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed … I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other.”
— THOMAS MERTON
INTRODUCTION
Call me silly, but I never cease to marvel that Louise Hay is my friend. As author of the international bestseller You Can Heal Your Life and founder of Hay House, she’s beloved by millions of people around the world. And she’s even more wonderful than you probably imagine. Whether we’re taking a walk through the wildflowers of Southern California, traveling to some far-flung location, or laughing over a meal together, being with her is just a pure joy and delight.
Over the past few years, we’d sometimes
talked about how we felt that we had a destiny together. But I never expected that a simple Christmas gift from her would actually reveal one aspect of that destiny: the surprise discovery that her affirmations are validated by Chinese medicine, which is what my own work is based on, and the manifestation of this book.
I remember it was one of those magical winter nights when the air is crisp and clear and the darkness seems to sparkle. Louise had cooked an amazing soup made from vegetables grown in her garden; it was so rich with love and nutrients, each taste was powerful medicine. We spread organic butter on bread and enjoyed a beautiful salad as we laughed and talked. As the evening came to an end and I headed out the door, Louise handed me her new calendar of affirmations for the upcoming year.
As soon as I got home, I sat down to look through the calendar, admiring the power of the deceptively simple affirmations. I could feel my energy changing as I read them, and I thought, Wow, imagine if everyone in the world would just read one of these every day!
I kept turning the pages, reading one affirmation after the other, just soaking in their healing energy. But as I read, it dawned on me that I noticed patterns in their messages. In fact, what was becoming clear was that each affirmation fit like a perfect puzzle piece into each aspect of what Chinese medicine teaches about the human spirit. I sat straight up in my chair—was this my imagination?
I ended up pulling the pages from the calendar and sorting them according to the patterns I knew so well. My mouth hung open as I ended up with neat stacks of the same size, each applying to one classic personality type, emotional challenge, and phase of time in the human life cycle. It was a complete and coherent match to how Chinese medicine treats and transforms people’s energy.
Chinese medicine is thousands of years old, and through century upon century of research, its creators and practitioners came to develop a very sophisticated understanding of how all life on Earth works. It’s like a map of how energy moves in a complex but perfect symmetry of harmonious and balanced proportions. You can place this map over anything to see whether it’s in co-herence. Acupuncturists use this chart to diagnose your physical well-being, but it can also be applied to any situation—to evaluate whether a business plan is complete or how a romance is proceeding, and most important, to see the patterns in your own personality and how the design of your life is unfolding.
I sometimes use this map to evaluate another teacher’s work, to see if it’s whole or if there’s anything missing in that particular system. But I’d never seen such a stunningly beautiful completion as I did that night, with Louise’s affirmations spread around me. And so Your Hidden Symmetry began to be born.
The purpose of this book is to help you discover how this energetic map uncovers the design concealed in your birth date, which is the hidden symmetry of your true spirit, and how to create a life in alignment with that design. Since your birth date not only reveals your inner nature, but the map for your whole life journey as well, this book will also guide you through every phase and year of your life in perfect harmony. Even if you feel you’ve lost your way, you can use this book to navigate back on course. It’s never too late.
In Part I, you’ll find how the timing of your birth influenced your overall personality, emotional self, and outer nature; as well as what you really need to be happy, your strengths and challenges in relationships, and your true calling in life. We’ll conclude with Louise’s affirmations that specifically support each of the nine personality types.
In Part II, we’ll turn to look at how you move through your own personal seasons and how you can ride the waves of time rather than “push the river.” You’ll discover the four important transitions in life, as well as the meaning and purpose of each decade and each individual year of your past, present, and future. This section concludes with powerful affirmations from Louise to help you align with the energy of any year you’re in.
Part III gives us a fascinating look at how Louise has embraced her own hidden symmetry to create a life of balance and flow, and how you can, too!
A Note about Pronouns
In this book, in order to avoid awkward “he/she” or “him/her” references, I prefer to use the neutral pronoun “they.” Interestingly, this was an accepted universal pronoun in the English language as early as the time of Chaucer, used for masculine and feminine, singular and plural. This fell out of favor in the 18th century, when the new rule was that “he” should be used for both men and women, and that certainly doesn’t seem to fit our times.
PART I
HOW TIME
AFFECTS
WHO YOU
ARE
“I want to sing like the birds sing,
not worrying about who
hears or what they think.”
— ATTRIBUTED TO JALAL AL-DIN RUMI
CHAPTER 1
THE DAY YOU
WERE BORN
All this spring, a bird sang outside my window. It began with the first stirrings of each dawn, and then that tiny bird sang with gusto through all the hours of the day, for weeks on end. You’d think it would be annoying to have that endless background music, but I loved it. It was a beautiful and intricate song, full of spiraling trills, but what was most fascinating was how clearly insistent it was. That bird believed its song with every cell in its body; it sang with its whole heart and soul, the truth of its being. It was obvious that it couldn’t not sing—it was purely and wholly involved in the rightness of the theme song for this time in its life.
As spring phased into summer, the birdsong trailed off and then disappeared. I guess it had been a courting melody, driven by the urgency to reproduce and continue the species. Maybe the bird went on to sing different notes as it was tending eggs, feeding chirping babies, teaching them how to fly, and then moving on to whatever was the next phase of its birdie purpose and plan in life.
This is how it is with every creature in nature: a bird, a bunny, a moth, a flower, a microbe, and all living things. They’re born with a unique purpose and plan, and they joyfully do what they’re here to do, in the rhythm of when they’re supposed to do it, without a doubt crossing their minds. Life just unfolds as it’s meant to. All living things do this but one, it seems. We humans are born; and as we grow up, we start trying to “find” ourselves by walking around and bumping into walls.
What if, just as for every other living being, there’s a harmonious design for who you’re meant to be and a plan for what to do in any stage? How amazing would it be to see all the pieces come together in the jigsaw puzzle of your life so that you could become your true self and move through the years riding the waves rather than fighting the current?
The Chinese have a word for the ordering principle of the universe: tao. Usually translated as “the way,” it is the nature of things, that invisible plan for how all life works. There’s an elegant symmetry to this way of being, a balance among its diverse movements that allows for all the gloriously juicy ways life takes form.
But you also have a personal tao, the hidden pattern of your true design and destiny. When you’ve experienced moments of synchronicity, you’ve had direct contact with your tao, attuned to your inner plan. What if you could always live in that kind of flow and sing your unique truth at every stage of your life with the same ease, vitality, and joy as that little bird? In the following pages, you’ll find out how!
Symmetry
I sometimes imagine them, those ancient scientists thousands of years ago, striding across the Chinese landscape, observing how the shadows moved across the hills; the ways each plant sprouted, bloomed, and faded; how animals were born, thrived, and declined. In my mind, I see them note all the intricate ways each season was different, and how night moved into day, even how hour to hour of each day held a different quality. Over and over, they gazed up to survey how the stars move in their natural journey across the night skies throughout the year. They watched the people in their villages as they moved through their lives, each stage with a cert
ain purpose and meaning, and studied all the various ways humans experience change over time.
Through the centuries of this kind of deep observation, these researchers developed a profound understanding of the patterns of nature, so subtly and intricately balanced, which are the foundation for all life on Earth, including human beings. And from this they created a sophisticated map of how everything on this planet works in perfect symmetry.
The word symmetry has different connotations. The first thing you may think of when you read that word is something that’s exactly the same on one side as on the other, like a grade-school Valentine heart cut from folded paper. Yet in physics, symmetry is defined as “immunity to change”—in other words, that an experiment should give the same results no matter where or when it’s performed. In fact, the concept of symmetry is considered so integral to the way life works that Albert Einstein used it as a fundamental principle when he developed his general theory of relativity, and it’s believed to be the core of the “theory of everything” that physicists are currently searching for.
And there’s yet another meaning for symmetry that signifies balanced and harmonious beauty of form, but doesn’t necessarily imply that all the parts are perfect mirror images. There’s a coherence to the form because of an inner order, an organizing principle. This is easily seen in the patterns of nature where there’s a congruency, an orderliness in the design and function of any living thing, as well as in the cycles of the seasons, times of day, and phases of life experience.
All three kinds of symmetry actually apply to the meaning of your hidden design. Each of your personal characteristics has two sides to it just like that Valentine heart, one representing a strength and the other its corresponding challenge, and together they form the perfect whole. The definition of symmetry as immunity to change also fits, as your inner design is one from which we can reliably predict and understand every aspect of your personality; your thoughts, feelings, and behavior; and what you need to be happy in life. Your makeup never changes; although you may express its qualities in different ways as you go through your life, they’re always rooted in the same meaning. And finally, in terms of balance and harmony of form, the patterns of your true nature have a coherent beauty to them, like your own personal mandala design.