Guide to Numerology

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Skeptics SA Numerology Page 1

The Skeptics SA guide to

Numerology

Numerology, (from the Latin numerus, num-

ber, plus the Greek logos, word), also knownas Arithmancy or Numeromancy, is essentiallya form of divination using numbers in vari-ous ways. It is based upon the primitive belief

that there is an occult relationship existingbetween numbers and letters and the whole

fabric and machinery of the cosmos (Rakoczi,1970, p 108).

Numerology claims to be the study of the

alleged magical properties of numbers, espe-

cially one to nine, each of which, like musicalnotes, is claimed to possess a unique vibration-al frequency. According to this belief system,

since an individuals birth date and name, aswell as all letters and words, can be expressed

as numbers between one and nine, these revealtheir essential nature, and their metaphysical

relationship to the numerical principles thatunderpin the cosmos.

The need to use mathematics to calculate an

individuals secret numerical value appears toconvince many that Numerology is a special

art, a superior form of divination. However,despite this pretentious pseudo-scientic

nonsense, Numerology is nothing more thanan elaborate form of deception, which relies on

human gullibility and self-delusion.

Numerology has three principal forms:

Chaldean: This system used the sounds, vi-

brations, of the numbers one to eightKabbalah or Cabbala: This system devel-

oped out of a stream of Hebrew mysticalteaching, and was based upon the Hebrew al-phabet of 22 letters. It was used to interpretthe mystical meanings of names only

Pythagorean or Modern WesternNumerology: Although claimed to origi-nate with Pythagoras, this system is probablymuch older. Few details of the Pythagorean

system survived, but modern Numerologistsmake the dubious claim that it was based ona belief that a relationship existed betweena cosmic system of numbers and the eventsin a persons life. The modern system, whichclaims to be based on these principles, hastwo basic forms: Names: this technique assigns each letter

of the alphabet a numerical value from oneto nine; the letters of a persons name are

added together and, if the nal numberis more than one digit, these were addedtogether until ultimately a single digit isreached

Birth Date: the numbers in a personsbirthdate are added together, if the -nal number is more than one digit, theseare added together until a single digit isreached.

Numbering originated in very ancient times

as a means of keeping an independent tallyof possessions. At rst it probably involved

counting on the ngers, or using counting

sticks or stones, to record tallies, however as

societies became more complex they needed

more sophisticated systems to keep track of

the movement of the Sun, the Moon and the

stars, not only for agriculture needs, but also

for determining the exact dates for religious

festivals so that they could be celebrated at the

same time each year.Over time individual numbers began to take

on special signicance. One came to represent

the number of the supreme deity, while Two

represented the dualistic nature of the uni-

verse, light and darkness, good and evil, day

and night, the male-female principles, the yin

and yang.

The number Three was an unusually mysti-

cal number, lled with spiritual essence. The

cosmos was believed to comprise three parts,

the heavens, the Earth and the waters, or the

abyss. Three was an important part in the Ve-

dic, Greek, Roman, Celtic, Teutonic and Chris-

tian religious traditions. Deities with a triune

nature became a common feature of many reli-

gious traditions including the Egyptian. Baby-

lonian, Persian, Hindu and Christian. Thus we


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nd that the Egyptians represented the su-preme deity, the Sun, in three separate forms,

while in Christianity we nd the concept of thedivine Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

Three became part of everyday usage, ex-pressed in such forms as high, medium andlow; up, down and middle, and even became

a basic part of language structure, so that toemphasize a particular point it was repeatedthree times, e.g. Churchills rst speech in par-liament What is our aim? I can answer in one

word. It is victory, victory at all costs, victoryin spite of all terror, victory, however long andhard the road may be.

To the ancients numbers had a fundamentallymystical signicance, thought to possess ametaphysical, creative principle from which

all things in the cosmos were formed. Othersbelieved that during the creation, their partic-ular deity had used mystical numerically basedprinciples; as Barrett (1801) observed,

All things, which were rst made by thenature of things in its rst age, seem to beformed by the proportion of numbers; forthis was the principal pattern in the mindof the Creator. (p 101)

Early humans noted the heavens followed aregular cycle, rising and setting after a precisenumber of hours, or days. In an imprecise andinsecure world the regular movement of theheavens provided a sense of security, for evenduring the harshest Winter it was understoodthat after a certain period of time the warmthof the sun would return and, once again life

would return to normal.

This heavenly sequence appears to have beenthe basis of the Macrocosm-Microcosm con-cept, the ancient belief that the Macrocosm,the great cosmos and Earth the Microcosmor small cosmos were inexorably intercon-nected, so that everything that occurred onEarth, was a reection of heavenly events.

Since the Macrocosm operated according tomystical numerical principles, it was assumedthe same principles had a profound inuenceon everyday human life.

The ancients did not believe in a random uni-verse, for them, everything that happened wasfor a reason. Thus, such important and signi-cant events, such as the time of birth and thenames they were given, were perceived as thesubtle reections of the mystical and universal

power of numbers, whose inuences wouldpersist throughout their entire life.

It is not known precisely when Numerologyevolved, but it appears that certain mysticsand scholars, believing that the mystical lore ofnumbers contained the secrets of the powersof nature, began quite early to use the magicalarts in an attempt to uncover these secret pow-ers. Thus, although Numerology is commonlyattributed to the Greek philosopher Pythago-

ras, it seems more likely that it evolved muchearlier, possibly in Mesopotamia. However,it was amongst the Greek philosophers andmathematicians that a form of Numerologyreached its zenith, in particular with Pythago-ras and his followers, who believed the entirenature and purpose of the cosmos could beexplained in the ratios between the rst tennumbers.

The Pythagoreans were preoccupied withdetermining the mystical principles underly-ing numbers that inuenced the operation ofthe cosmos. They understood that there was anatural numerical cycle of heavenly phenome-na and, on the Earth, they found evidence thatmany natural forms had a numerical basis, e.g.

the natural spiral patterns of certain shells.They made a series of discoveries concerningthe properties of whole numbers and wereparticularly interested in the numerical rela-tionships of harmonics. They noted that thesound made by a vibrating string was relatedto its length, and that by varying the length ofthe string, the notes could be changed in ac-cordance with a strict mathematical formula.

Eventually they linked mathematics with a

grand esoteric numerical design that pervadedthe whole of nature. This use of numbers todeal with philosophical concepts is now con-sidered to be a form of pseudo-mathematics,and has long been discarded by legitimatemathematicians.

Given the natural insecurity of humans, theidea that relationships existed between physi-cal objects, events and human beings, and thatit might be possible to use such information todetermine what events lay in their future, musthave been very appealing. It was this need thatled to the development of hundreds of forms ofdivination, of which Numerology was but one.

Because the principles underlying the Numer-ology taught by Pythagoras and his followers

were considered to be so sacred, they werenever written down, and, as a result, details


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of their numerological techniques were lost.

However other numerological techniquesexisted and in one form, the process of attrib-uting numerical values to strings of letters was

reintroduced in the Cabbalistic texts of me-dieval times. Then, in the twentieth century,

American author L Dow Balliett introduced

in a series of books comprising a great deal ofmetaphysical hot-air, what is often referred to

as the modern phase of Numerology.

She stressed the importance of cosmic vibra-

tions, no doubt based upon the Pythagoreanconcept of the music of the spheres, to whichhad been added more modern ideas. Ac-

cording to Cavendish (1967), Numerology issimply an extended study of vibration (p 75),

and Baillietts idea of a vibrating universe was

apparently purloined from legitimate discov-eries that the atoms in matter vibrated, and

appears to have been an attempt to attribute adegree of scientic respectability to what wasis really metaphysical nonsense.

Essentially there are two main approachesused in modern Numerological divination:

Adding the numerical values of the letters ina persons name

Adding up the numbers in an individuals

date of birth.

The rst method of numerical divination,Arithmancy, was based upon a belief that thename of a thing contains the essence of its

being (Cavendish, 1967, p 54). Like numbers,the letters of early alphabets were revered assacred; the sounds of each letter was believed

to contain certain magical numerical proper-

ties as well as its own unique cosmic vibra-

tion. It was believed that by adding up theindividual values of the letters in the namemost commonly used by an individual, includ-

ing their nickname, and constantly reducingthat number until a number between one andnine was obtained, one would be able to dis-

cern the hidden metaphysical characteristicsof that person.

Originally, the main use of Arithmancy was toestablish the degree of relationship betweenhumans and the deities, and, in particular,

which of two or more candidates were mostfavoured by the gods. Arithmancy also taught

that although a persons future was prede-termined, by allowing them to glimpse theirpossible future, they could take steps to they

could take steps to intervene, and, so changethe potential outcome of their life.

Widely practised in the Hellenic world, es-pecially amongst the Pythagoreans and thePlatonists, it too was attributed to Pythagoras,

however it appears that it too originated inancient Mesopotamia as a form of Chaldean

Numerology.

The second method, which was very similar,

used the numbers in a persons date of birth,adding them, and then reducing the total untila single digit number was reached. This nal

number represented the secret numericalcharacteristics of the individual, the stamp

which the mysterious forces that move the uni-

verse impressed on your character and destinyat the moment when you were born (Caven-dish, 1967, p 61).

One particularly nonsensical aspect of Nu-merology is the illogical concept of lucky

and unlucky numbers, the belief that certainnumbers, such as seven, are luckier than othernumbers, and that some, such as thirteen, are

unlucky. Although in any form of gamblingeach number has an equal chance of occur-

ring, people tend to play numbers which theybelieve are luckier than the others.

Such beliefs are especially noticeable amongstcertain cultural groups; for example the Chi-nese who consider the number eight especially

lucky. They will often pay large sums of moneyto purchase car number plates that contain aseries of eights. However, the numbers have

absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with sub-sequent events, as is evidenced by the follow-

ing newspaper report:

A Hong Kong businessman died whenhis Ferrari with the lucky number plate

888 crashed and burst into ames in asuspected road race. Chan Ki-wo is be-

lieved to have been racing at more than100km/h on a highway on Sunday. One ofthe few things to survive the blaze was its

lucky number plate LE888. (The Adver-tiser, 2007).

The validity of Numerology can be bestsummed up by columnist Ostrow (1996), who

wrote of her experience as a young woman

seeking to nd the cosmic signicance of hertroubled life. She consulted Rohinini, reputed

to be one of the most respected numerologistsin the world and who, her friends had assuredher, was, so accurate it was totally scary.


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He determined she was a nine a specialnumber that explained why she was havingso many personal problems. Her heart waspounding, and she felt chills in her spine as heexplained,

You are always searching for meaning.You feel frustrated because the meaning

of life keeps eluding you ... There is a lotof sadness around love for you becausereality never matches your expectations.

But he assured her, very soon, she would meeta tall, handsome man,

A man involved in money ... perhaps awealthy business tycoon. He will seek youout!

Oh Rohinini, how can the numbers

know so much about me? I asked whenthe awesome session had nished. I wastrembling. I wanted to kiss Rohininis fat,thonged feet. They just know, be saidearnestly.

He then explained how he had determined shewas a nine; he added her day of birth 26, tothe month and year of her birth to obtain thegure 36 which, when added together, gavethe number nine. However, as Ostrow pointed

out the nal total was actually 35, which, whenadded together, made her an eight, not a nine.Embarrassed he apologized and admitted she

was in fact an eight not a nine.

There was an awful moment of silence.Then he said: Look, it doesnt matterreally. I mean, ummm, eight and nine areon the same grid so in reality they have

almost identical traits. He quickly talliedsome new gures and said, That will be$45, Ruth, and pushed me out the frontdoor.

References

Barrett, F, (1801), The Magus or Celestial In-telligencer, London: Lackington, Alley, andCo

Cavendish, R, (1967), The Black Arts, London:Pan Books Ltd

Ostrow, R, (1996), Never count on the cos-mic,Sunday Mail, 4 August, p 157

Rakoczi, BI, (1970),Fortune Telling, London:Macdonald Unit 75

Unlucky Crash, The Advertiser, (2007), Tues-

day, 25 September, p 28

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Guide to Numerology