Numerology

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Numerorum mysteria (1591), a treatise on numerology by Pietro Bongo and his most influential work in EuropeTemplate:Sfn

Numerology (known before the 20th century as arithmancy) is the belief in an occult, divine or mystical relationship between a number and one or more coinciding events. It is also the study of the numerical value, via an alphanumeric system, of the letters in words and names. When numerology is applied to a person's name, it is a form of onomancy. It is often associated with astrology and other divinatory arts.Template:Sfn

Number symbolism is an ancient and pervasive aspect of human thought, deeply intertwined with religion, philosophy, mysticism, and mathematics. Different cultures and traditions have assigned specific meanings to numbers, often linking them to divine principles, cosmic forces, or natural patterns.Template:Sfnpm

Etymology

The term arithmancy is derived from two Greek words – arithmos (meaning number) and manteia (meaning divination). "Αριθμομαντεία" Arithmancy is thus the study of divination through numbers.Template:Sfn Although the word "arithmancy" dates back to the 1570s,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the word "numerology" was not recorded in English before c. 1907.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

History

Template:See also The practice of gematria, assigning numerical values to words and names and imputing those values with religious meaning, dates back to antiquity. An Assyrian inscription from the 8th century BC, commissioned by Sargon II declares "the king built the wall of Khorsabad 16,283 cubits long to correspond with the numerical value of his name".Template:Sfn Rabbinic literature used gematria to interpret passages in the Hebrew Bible.

The practice of using alphabetic letters to represent numbers developed in the Greek city of Miletus, and is thus known as the Milesian system.Template:Sfn Early examples include vase graffiti dating back to the 6th century BCE.Template:Sfn Aristotle wrote that the Pythagorean tradition, founded in the 6th century by Pythagoras of Samos, practiced isopsephy,Template:Sfn the Greek predecessor of Hebrew gematria. Pythagoras was a contemporary of the philosophers Anaximander, Anaximenes, and the historian Hecataeus, all of whom lived in Miletus, across the sea from Samos.Template:Sfn The Milesian system was in common use by the reign of Alexander the Great (336–323 BCE) and was adopted by other cultures during the subsequent Hellenistic period.Template:Sfn It was officially adopted in Egypt during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (284–246 BCE).Template:Sfn

By the late 4th century AD, following the Edict of Thessalonica in 380 AD and the subsequent enforcement of Nicene Christianity under Theodosius I, departures from the beliefs of the state church were classified as civil violations within the Roman Empire.Template:Sfn Numerology, referred to as isopsephy, remained in use in conservative Greek Orthodox circles, particularly in mystical and theological contexts.Template:Sfn

Some alchemical theories were closely related to numerology. For example, Arab alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan (died c. 806−816) framed his experiments in an elaborate numerology based on the names of substances in the Arabic language.Template:Sfn

Numerology is prominent in Sir Thomas Browne's 1658 literary discourse The Garden of Cyrus. Throughout its pages, the author attempts to demonstrate that the number five and the related quincunx pattern can be found throughout the arts, in design, and in nature, particularly botany.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Some approaches to understanding the meanings of the Qur'an (the book of Muslims) include the understanding of numerical meanings, numerical symbols and their combination with purely textual approaches.Template:Sfnm

Methods

Alphanumeric systems

Template:See also There are various numerology systems which assign numerical value to the letters of an alphabet. Examples include the Abjad numerals in Arabic, Hebrew numerals, Armenian numerals, and Greek numerals. The practice within Jewish tradition of assigning mystical meaning to words based on their numerical values, and on connections between words of equal value, is known as gematria.Template:Sfn

The Mandaean number alphasyllabary is also used for numerology (Mandaic: gmaṭ aria). The Book of the Zodiac is an important Mandaean text on numerology.Template:Sfn

Pythagorean method

In the Pythagorean method (which uses a kind of place-value for number-letter attributions, as does the ancient Hebrew and Greek systems), the letters of the modern Latin alphabet are assigned numerical values 1 through 9.Template:Sfn

Agrippan method

Agrippa's numerology table as published in Three Books of Occult Philosophy

Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa applied the concept of arithmancy to the classical Latin alphabet in the 16th century in Three Books of Occult Philosophy. He mapped the letters as follows (in accordance with the Latin alphabet's place-value at that time):Template:Sfn

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
A B C D E F G H I
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
K L M N O P Q R S
100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900
T VTemplate:Refn X Y Z ITemplate:Refn VTemplate:Refn HITemplate:Refn HVTemplate:Refn

Template:Reflist Note that the letters U, J, and W were not commonly considered part of the Latin alphabet at the time.

Angel numbers

Angel numbers, as defined by Doreen Virtue and Lynnette Brown in 2004, are numbers consisting of repeating digits, such as 111 or 444.Template:Sfnm Template:As of, a number of popular media publications have published articles suggesting that these numbers have numerological significance.Template:Sfn Doreen Virtue has since renounced the concept of angel numbers in a 2024 interview with The Cut declaring that, "It’s garbage. I regret it, and I’m sorry that I made them."Template:Sfn

English systems

Template:See also There are various systems of English Qabalah or numerology.Template:Sfn These systems interpret the letters of the Roman script or English alphabet via an assigned set of numerological significances.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn English Qaballa, on the other hand, refers specifically to a Qabalah supported by a system discovered by James Lees in 1976.

The first system of English gematria was used by the poet John Skelton in 1523 in his poem "The Garland of Laurel".Template:Sfn The next reference to an English gematria found in the literature was made by Willis F. Whitehead in 1899 in his book The Mystic Thesaurus, in which he describes a system he called "English Cabala".Template:Sfn

In 1952, John P. L. Hughes published The Hidden Numerical Significance of the English Language, or, Suggestive Gematria, based on his lecture delivered at Holden Research Circle on July 4, 1952.Template:Sfn A system related to the Spiritualist Agasha Temple of Wisdom was described by William Eisen in his two volume The English Cabalah (1980–82).Template:SfnmTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

William G. Gray proposes another system in his 1984 book Concepts of Qabalah,Template:Sfn more recently republished as Qabalistic Concepts.Template:Sfn This system includes correspondence attributions of the English letters to the positions on the Tree of Life. Michael Bertiaux described a system called Angelic Gematria in his The Voudon Gnostic Workbook (1989).<ref>Template:Harvnb. Republished as Template:Harvnb.</ref> David Rankine described a system of English gematriaTemplate:Sfn using prime numbers which he calls Prime Qabalah in his book Becoming Magick (2004).Template:Sfn

In modern culture, numerology continues to influence personal and public life. For example, Australian MP Sussan Ley credibly altered the spelling of her own name according to numerological advice, believing it would bring excitement to her life, a story widely reported in 2025.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Similarly, celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow have marked entry into a “9-year” numerological cycle signifying transformation and closure, with symbolic gestures such as posting rain imagery associated with personal renewal.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Scientific theories are sometimes labeled "numerology" if their primary inspiration appears to be a set of patterns rather than scientific observations. This colloquial use of the term is quite common within the scientific community and it is mostly used to dismiss a theory as questionable science.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The best known example of "numerology" in science involves the coincidental resemblance of certain large numbers that intrigued mathematical physicist Paul Dirac, mathematician Hermann Weyl and astronomer Arthur Stanley Eddington.Template:Sfn These numerical coincidences refer to such quantities as the ratio of the age of the universe to the atomic unit of time, the number of electrons in the universe, and the difference in strengths between gravity and the electric force for the electron and proton.Template:Sfn (See also Fine-tuned universe).

Wolfgang Pauli was also fascinated by the appearance of certain numbers, including 137 (a prime number), in physics.Template:Sfn

British mathematician I. J. Good wrote:

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See also

References

Citations

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Works cited

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Further reading

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