The winning lottery numbers flashed before my eyes. They triggered a physical reaction. Like a Neanderthal suddenly focused on a wooly mammoth in his path. Five numbers matched perfectly. The sixth seemed right at first glance. But no, it was 27. My pot of gold had to be 26. Flash forward years later.
Two plus six is an eight. Turns out, it’s also my life path number. My partner did some more paperwork and said five is my destiny number.. My puzzled expression was evident to her. Our everyday world is numbers but I was clueless as to their significance.
We humans love to experience coincidences. A momentary exhilaration that happens when we turn left at the corner and run face to face with a high-school sweetheart. Had we noticed that at that moment the time was eleven minutes after eleven, we’d have begun to understand the relationship between numbers and events. I wanted to explore this.
Numerology has deep roots in history alongside astrology. I learned that everyone has a life path and destiny number. We already know what birth sign we are born under. My being a Taurus makes perfect sense. This Zodiac sign describes a person that is generally good with finances, loves rewards, material goods, tactile and revels in excess. I have potential negative traits as well, but let’s not get too personal by going there in this article. If we’re comfortable reading our horoscope derived from our planetary symbols, what does numerology have to say about us?
The earliest documented relationship between numbers and events is found in the ancient Jewish tradition of Kabbalah. Written documents from 100 A.D. are early sources. This discipline has evolved and been adapted by others with many different interpretations of its symbols. It is associated with mysticism, not the English word “cabal” that has a conspiratorial or evil meaning. There is early evidence of numerology in Egypt, China, Rome and Greece. The credit for modern-day numerology is ascribed to the Greek philosopher and mathematician, Pythagoras, born in 590 B.C. He didn’t invent it, but his theories revolved around numbers that expressed our universe. The term “numerology” originated with Dr. Julia Stenton, born in 1862. In the early nineteen hundreds there was a temporary spurt of interest in this metaphysical science. Numerology’s popularity now has surged forward as complementary to astrology and predicting events.
My date of birth meant something. I was a unique individual, yet my planetary sign described some characteristics in common with friends born under the same sign. Human beings invented the astrological signs and each one has a corresponding number. Starting with Aries as one, we’d conclude with Pisces a twelve. I learned that twelve is a special number. A short list of associations with this number includes; months of the year, inches in a foot, Jacob had twelve sons, Jesus had twelve disciples, we have twelve pairs of ribs, and our time is measured in two groups of twelve hours. Mathematicians have even more to say about numbers. I was very curious.
There are various forms of numerology in the world. The two most commonly practiced are Pythagorean and Chaldean. They’re quite different systems. In the hands of an experienced practitioner, both are valid. Chaldean is the oldest system and uses the name and date of birth of a person, however it uses the common name we are known by. Martin, my original birth name would not be used, Marty would. Also, because of ancient mystical and holy reasons, number nine is not assigned to any letter. The numerical values of the letters are unique to this system. Too complicated for me.
I wanted the easiest system to learn, Pythagorean, also known as western numerology. It uses our full original name and date of birth and assigns numbers one through nine to letters sequentially. Seemed like fun without having to be a mathematician!
Could I calculate my life path and destiny numbers without going to a practitioner? When you are as lucky as me, having a loving partner to explain it, it was simple. I didn’t have high expectations that this exercise was going to bring me closer to enlightenment. A bit cynical I suppose, that such generic interpretations are so formulaic they couldn’t connect to me. Yet it was associated with my date of birth, so I left room to be surprised. Online now to Google life path number 8 meanings and destiny number 5. There were lots of links to try so I went with the most visited websites. The sites were free too!
It didn’t take but ten minutes to read through two different numerological sites describing the attributes of my number 8. I read the appealing words along with the weaknesses described, I felt humbled. I read there was the high likelihood of financial security, goal oriented, ambitious about material possessions, tendency to suppress emotions, bossy, and needs to be more diplomatic. These descriptions hit very close to home. There’s more, but this gave me a sense of the accuracy of the values associated with my life path number. The 5 is my destiny number. Did it hit the mark? The meanings are pretty darn close…curious and desires change, adventures, opportunities to grow, intellectual, impulsiveness, also over indulging, detest routine and feeling tied down. The remainder provided behavioral traits to be conscious of, and improve on. I can’t argue with the numbers!
You’ve come with me this far in exploring numerology, why not stay the course. It’s fun and you can impress a friend with your new skills. Save this article for when you have a pen and paper handy to try it!
Your destiny number is associated with your original name at birth before any later changes might have occurred.
Here’s a chart with numbers 1-9 across the top and the alphabet going left to right below the numbers.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
A B C D E F G H I
J K L M N O P Q R
S T U V W X Y Z
Write out your original birth certificate first name, middle (if one), and last name and assign a number for each letter from the chart columns. For Martin, I got 419295. Harvey, 819457. For Rosenberg, 961552597.
Now add each name part separately and reduce down to a single digit.
Martin produced a 419295 that totals 30 and then reduces to 3. Harvey produced 819457 that totals 34 and reduces to 7. Rosenberg produced 961552597 that totals 49 and reduces to 13 (4 + 9) and further reduces to 1+3 and totals 4. Now add together each name part, 3 + 7 + 4 which totals 14 and reduce to a single digit 1 + 4 totals 5.
Wow! I did it and so can you!
Numerology is satisfying and feels good to stretch beyond our comfort zone. We can take pride in having explored our individual personality deeper. Numerology is another tool for personal inner growth. I found it helpful and constructive. You can count on that.
