Let’s look at this five thing for a moment. In Vedic numerology, the number five is all about teaching, balance, sacrifice and the physical body (let’s see…could that be the earth, perhaps?). In numerology, if you’re a five, then you may tend to ignore the needs of your physical body, abusing it and so forth (so if the earth is our body in this scenario…ah, yes…I see).

The karma of five is to be selfish, self-indulgent, unbalanced. Of course, where there’s “bad” karma, there’s also a “good” karma. In this case, it’s companionship with the physical body, balance, sacrifice, harmony, sharing, and teaching and living by example.

Do you see how fives balance on this fulcrum between selfishness and sacrifice? Have you noticed a lot of this in yourself lately? I experience it every day—the temptation to drive the car or ride the bike; whether or not it’s easier to take the recycling to the recycling center or have the trash guys pick it up; whether or not to eat that healthy meal grown from local resources or to get take out just one more time.

No doubt you too have been feeling this pull, this struggle between what seems to be two very disparate and opposite pulls.

Five is all about balance, so think of it this way: picture a see-saw. What’s the first thing that comes to mind? Probably, it’s the seat that’s either suspended in the air or the one that’s resting on the ground. Perhaps you’re remembering a time when some jerk of a kid jumped off the bottom seat, leaving you to crash painfully down to earth.

But you probably didn’t think of the center, the fulcrum, the balance. That’s human nature (or, at least, Western human nature)—we tend to be extremists. This is what the five is telling us. Instead of focusing on those extremes (we don’t necessarily have to kill ourselves being perfect stewards of the earth, but we can’t just give it all up for lost, either; that attitude is just as self-indulgent as extreme asceticism), we need to find a sustainable balance.

I’m going to guess, also, that you’re going through some great, individual struggle or upheaval in your life, be it a change in job, home, financial status or relationship. Maybe you’re even questioning your faith or your purpose in this life.

I have to say, it’s startling how many borderline suicidal people I’ve come across this year. Yes, this 2012 phenomenon is that common and that extreme—just know that even though you feel alone, we really are all in this together.

Here’s what I tell people (myself included): just make it through these next six weeks or so; it’s just the way this year is going.

We are experiencing the end of the world, but not the world in general—the world in specific. Our individual worlds are ending and I’m afraid it may get worse in the next few weeks before it gets better. If we can weather the changes we’re going through, then we all may just be okay. Not just okay. We may just become better versions of ourselves.

Hang in there. In the meantime, make plans for the solstice—be with friends, have good, indulgent food nearby, plan to rest and then, come midnight, plan to celebrate the manifestation and metamorphosis from five (balance and sacrifice) to six (protection and justice). Or, to put it (questionably) more poetically—we’ll have made it through the storm, bailing out all the water we could and, finally, when we’re bone weary and not sure we can pick up one more bucket, the skies will start to clear, the waves subside. There will be stillness and, at long last, peace within us, peace around us, and peace between us.

Editor Lynn Hasselberger

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