This second cycle continues the growth of the first. The concepts and associations of ideas and emotions that began in the first cycle begin to be discovered with awareness. Physical changes also prepare the growing personality for the next stage: the thymus gland decreases rapidly in size, allowing the development of the sense of right and wrong and social responsibility. A sign of this is the losing of the milk teeth and emergence of adult teeth.

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The child learns to create and inner world of its own. It is a world of vivid imagination.​ Age nine can bring a sudden sense of aloneness for the child, as they begin to leave the world of childhood innocence and connection, realising the ultimate aloneness that all humans must face.

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It is a time of inner expansion. The child begins to experience abilities in the broader sense of the outside world. They learn to share and interact, controlling instincts in favour of group dynamics. The habits learned in the first cycle are now part of the character of the growing child.

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Puberty and adolescence begin. A girl's first blood experience and how it is responded to can become a powerful influence on what she thinks being a woman entails. Sometimes it is already evident, from the first cycle, the direction of interest and activity the child will take in maturity. The inner self begins to talk, as a way of holding onto their identity.

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Exercises:

 

What were the major events that happened in this time period?

Did you move house, school, lose family members? What impacted you?

What was expected of you? What were the family dynamics?

What family rhythms were there? Was there religion or spirituality present?

How did you experience that?

How was school for you? Socially and academically?

What happened at age 9-10?

What was your inner experience of these years?

What is the story of your menarche (first blood)? What did it teach you about being a woman?

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Write a letter to your 14 year old self, acknowledging her experience and sharing the gifts that you now know about yourself.

 

After completing the prompts, divide a page into two columns. The headings for each column should be ‘negative’ and ‘positive’. In the ‘negative’ column, write a list of negative experiences, emotions, themes, actions and reactions from this septennial. In the ‘positive’ column write the positive experiences, themes, actions, gifts, relationships from this septennial.

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Then, take a few moments with your eyes closed to feel into the negative list, considering each item you have written down. Then do the same for the positive list. Now, allow the two lists to merge – try to sit above or apart from the two lists and allow them to merge into one list, being, or energy – however you like to think about it. From this place, ask for a seed image to emerge, which represents the summation of this septennial, of the two lists and the merged lists.

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Your seed image may appear in your mind visually, or as thoughts describing the image, or in another way. Go with the first image that arises and open your eyes and draw it on the next round piece of paper.