What is numerology?
Numerology turns your date of birth and your name into numbers and reads your character and the course of your life from what those numbers mean. The most used is the Life Path Number, worked out from your date of birth, which is said to show the character you were born with and the theme of your life.
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1.A short history
Numerology is said to go back to the ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras and his idea that “all things are number”. The method widely used today, taking numbers from the date of birth and the alphabet, is said to have been set out in the early 20th century by the American L. Dow Balliett and others, and to have spread from there. There is also a strand called “Kabbalah numerology”, linked to Jewish mysticism.
2.How to work out your Life Path Number
Add every digit of your date of birth one by one, and keep adding until you have one digit.
Example: born on May 15, 1990 1 + 9 + 9 + 0 + 0 + 5 + 1 + 5 = 30 → 3 + 0 = 3
If you reach 11, 22 or 33 along the way, stop there and keep it as a master number. A master number keeps the nature of its root number (11 → 2, 22 → 4, 33 → 6) but is said to carry a stronger power or mission.
3.What the numbers mean
| Number | Keyword | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The pioneer | A leader who opens their own path, with the power to start things |
| 2 | The peacemaker | Sensitive to others’ feelings, puts people at ease |
| 3 | The communicator | Cheerful, good at talking and self-expression |
| 4 | The builder | Earnest and hard-working, builds up step by step |
| 5 | The adventurer | A doer who enjoys freedom and change |
| 6 | The nurturer | Loving and caring towards others |
| 7 | The seeker | A person of intellect and intuition who thinks things through to the core |
| 8 | The achiever | Drives towards goals and gets things done |
| 9 | The humanitarian | Broad-minded and compassionate |
| 11 | The intuitive | Sharp intuition and deep sensitivity |
| 22 | The master builder | Can turn big dreams into reality |
| 33 | Unconditional love | A kindness that embraces others |
4.Other numbers
- Birthday Number: the day you were born (1 to 31) reduced to one digit. It shows the talents you were born with.
- Personal Year: the current year plus your birth month and day. It shows the flow of the year in a nine-year cycle: 1 is a year of beginnings, 9 a year of endings. Years that pass through 11 or 22 are usually still reduced to 1 to 9 (some schools read them as master numbers).
- Name numbers: turn the letters of your name into numbers, with A, J, S = 1, B, K, T = 2 and so on (the Pythagorean system), and add them. All the letters give your Destiny (or Expression) number, the vowels only your Soul Urge, and the consonants only your Personality, the impression you give. Y is usually counted as a consonant, but some schools count it as a vowel depending on the letters around it.
5.Compared with Eastern methods
Numerology reads character from the date of birth, like Eastern Four Pillars of Destiny and Sanmeigaku. But where the Eastern methods read the year, month and day of birth in fine detail through the eto and yin-yang and the five elements, numerology reduces everything to one number and reads it simply. Comparing both results lets you see yourself from another angle.
6.FAQ
Why do books give different Life Path Numbers?
Some add up every digit of the date of birth at once, while others reduce the year, month and day to one digit each first and then add them. The two methods can differ in whether a master number (11, 22, 33) appears.
How is numerology different from Japanese name divination?
Numerology is a Western practice that turns your date of birth or the letters of your name into numbers such as 1 to 9. Japanese name divination (seimei handan) is a Japanese practice that works out five grids from the stroke counts of the kanji in a name.
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