Category:Numerology
From Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers
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Numerology, Gematria, and Notarikon are terms that encompass several methods of scriptural interpretation, character analysis, divination, and prediction based on culturally accepted correlations between numbers, letters, human characteristics, life experiences, and predicted future events.
Numerologists who work in the Southern conjure style of hoodoo divination may derive numbers from the client's birth date or name, and can use these numbers to help evaluate a person's character and even to influence his or her fortune.
Additionally, lucky numbers for betting at games of chance may be generated from a client's dreams or through other numerological systems and given to the client by a numerologically gifted root doctor who is also a psychic reader.
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Traditions of Numerology
In some systems of numerology, each letter of the alphabet is assigned a number. Once this is done, names or other words are then spelled out as numbers. These numbers are added together to make a sum, and the digits of the sum can be added together or "reduced" until the final resulting number is interpreted through traditional symbolic ascriptions, such as the number 1 standing for individuality or unity, the number 2 for harmony in partnership, and so forth. Such numerical reduction is sometimes also known as "reductive addition," "reductive involution," or "numerical involution."
In other systems of numerology, each letter of the alphabet is assigned a number, the words are then spelled out as numbers, the numbers are summed (but not reduced by further addition), and all words whose numerological values work out to the same "root number" are thought to be related to or equivalent to one another in a spiritual manner.
In yet other systems of numerology, the symbolic meanings ascribed to the numbers are of no particular importance, but the numbers derived from names, words, dates, or other sources are used in working out lucky numbers to bet or gamble with.
Numerology from Names, Birth Dates, and Words
In one the most common and popular systems of Numerology, a number is assigned to each letter of the alphabet and then words, including names, are spelled out in the form of these numbers. Dates, already being numerical in nature, may be directly translated into numerical form and interpreted.
Variations in Numerology Due to Differing Alphabets
Since alphabets come in several types, such as Latin, Hebrew, Greek, Cyrillic, and so forth, the numbers assigned to alphabetical letters will vary by the alphabet that the reader uses. In English-alphabet numerology, for example, the letter A is linked to the number 1, the letter B to the number 2, and so on.
The Numerology of Names
Typically, when working out the numerology of names, all of the letters that make up a person's complete name are coded into numbers, which are added together. For example, in English-alphabet numerology the first name "Tom" is 20 + 6 + 13, for a total of 39.
Once the full name is encoded, the resulting name-number is then reduced to a smaller number by adding the digits together. Depending on the reader's system of practice, the number will be reduced either to a single digit (1 through 9) or to 1 through 9 plus 11 and 22 (the so-called "Master Numbers").
For instance, the number for the first name Tom, 39, reduces to 3 because 3 + 9 = 12 and 1 + 2 = 3. Likewise, a full name whose numbers total to 670 reduces to 13, which further reduces to 4.
Among those who use the "Master Number" system, a name with the number 56 would reduce to 11, but not to 2, because 11 and 22, as Master Numbers, are the only exceptions to the single-digit rule of reduction and have their own special meanings.
Once the name-number is determined, its significance to the person is then evaluated or read in terms of influences on his or her character or personality. For example, the first name Tom, with the numerical value of 3, is said to be a name that signifies spiritual integration, wholeness, good fortune, and financial expansiveness. However, if the person chose to spell his first name Thom instead, their name-number would be 20 + 8 + 6 + 13 = 47 and since 4 + 7 = 11, it would remain 11, a "Master Number." The meaning of the name when spelled this way would be highly mystical and spiritual, but not as inclined toward luckiness.
You probably have more than one name. First, there is your birth name, from which is derived what is called your "Destiny Number," that is, the number you were born with. Then there are nicknames or shortened forms of your name by which you may be known by for a few years or for your entire life. Additionally, some people adopt professional pseudonyms to further an acting, singing, or writing career, or for privacy on the Internet. Like nicknames, these alternative names may change over time or stay with you for life.
It is not uncommon for people to alter the spelling of their names or even to adopt entirely new names in order to align themselves with the meanings associated with numbers that they like. Likewise, those about to be married may wish to know how a change in name will affect the symbolic meanings associated with their identity.
Professional numerologists can assist clients in the process of renaming and marital name compatibility analysis, if desired. They can also work out the Destiny Number for unborn children, in order to assist parents in aligning their child-to-be with a number whose meaning is compatible to their own.
Further analysis of the name can be made by examining only the vowels, resulting in what is called the Soul Number, or only the consonants, resulting in the Dream Number. These numbers are rarely examined alone, but they often factor into an analysis of the Destiny Number when the adoption of an alternate spelling is under consideration.
Birth Date Numerology
Reducing dates to numbers is simpler than working with names or words, because each day, month, and year is already assigned a calendar number. For instance, May 12, 1947 is also expressed as 5-12-1947 and these numbers, when summed up, equal 11, making this the birth date of a mystically inclined or spiritually gifted person who, by further reduction of 1 + 1 = 2, is also an adaptable and considerate partner and team-member.
Predictions for the character of certain time periods may be made based upon numerology as well, by reducing dates to specific numbers.
Combining a numerical reading for the birthday date with an astrological reading for the same date produces an astro-numerical reading. This technique can help a gifted astrologer-numerologist to produce a complex and nuanced character reading, or to suggest areas of numerical strength (lucky numbers) and weakness (unlucky numbers).
The Personal Number: Name Plus Birth Date
Because many people are born on exactly the same date and many people may also share the same name, spelled the same way, most numerologists develop character analysis numbers and lucky numbers for clients from a combination of the full name and birth date, in order to determine what is called the Personal Number or the Personal Lucky Number.
The Numerology of Other Words and Numbers
Any combination of words and/or numbers may be subjected to numerological analysis. Your street address, telephone number, email address, the name of your favourite sports team, or your company or business name are all valid subjects for numerology.
For instance, the name of this group -- Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers -- works out to 8 + 3 + 2 + 7 + 1 + 6 = 27 = 9, a number that signifies humanitarian instincts, creativity, and an inclination toward doing good works. Furthermore, "Readers" = 7 (analytical, intelligent) and "Rootworkers" = 6 (responsible, artistic, community-oriented, and sympathetic).
Lucky Numbers for Gambling and Games of Chance
Lucky numbers for playing games of chance can be found by various means, including dreams, hunches, things you see during the day, birth dates, names, or clairvoyant reading. The use of lucky numbers is quite popular among players of the lotteries in which the players are allowed to select number-combinations they hope will win, but lucky numbers are also used by racetrack gamblers to help determine which races to play and which horse to bet on in a given race, and by casino bettors to select which table to sit at when playing games of chance.
Pet Names for the Numbers when Shooting Dice
The fondness that players have for certain numbers is expressed very well in the game of shooting dice, also known by the names of its best known variants, street craps and casino craps. In this game two dice are rolled, allowing for combinations ranging from 2 through 12. Pet names for these numbers are common among players who shoot dice, and each number may have several names, depending on whether the combination consists of a matching pair of numbers, such as 4-4, which is called the "hard way" or an unmatched pair of numbers, such as 1-3, which is called the "easy way."
- 2 (1-1) is called "Snake Eyes," because the spots on the two dice that comprise it look like a pair of small, beady eyes and because it is always a losing roll, thus feared as a snake might be. Another name for the 2 is "Loose Deuce."
- 3 (1-2) is referred to as "Ace-Deuce," "Acey-Deucey," or "Ace Caught a Deuce."
- 4 rolled as 1-3 is an "Easy Four." When rolled as a pair (2-2) it is a "Hard Four" or "Four the Hard Way," and is sometimes referred to as "Little Joe from Kokomo." This is because in African American accents of the South, the word "Four" is generally pronounced "Fo'" -- hence "Little Joe from Kokomo" is rhyming slang.
- 5 (2-3) is a "Fever Five" or "Little Phoebe." In casino craps it may be called "No Field Five" because 5 is not on the betting area called the field.
- 6 rolled the easy way (1-5 or 2-4) is an "Easy Six." When rolled the hard way (3-3), it is "Jimmie Hicks," "Jimmy Hix," or "Jimmie Hicks from the Sticks," all examples of rhyming slang.
- 7 rolled as 3-4 or 2-5 is a "Natural," a "Natural Seven," or a "Seven Out" and is an automatic win. When rolled as 6-1 it may be called a "Natural," but it is also sometimes called "Six Ace" or "Up Pops the Devil."
- 8 rolled the easy way (1-7, 2-6, or 3-5) is an "Easy Eight." When rolled as a pair (4-4), it is "Eight the Hard Way," an "Eighter from Decatur," a "Square Pair," "Mom and Dad," or "Ozzie and Harriet."
- 9 (3-6 or 4-5) is called a "Centerfield Nine" in casino craps because 9 is in the center of the betting area called the field. A 4-5 combination is called a "Railroad Nine" or "Jesse James" because the outlaw Jesse James, who robbed railroads, was killed by a 45 (4-5) caliber pistol. Other names for the 9 pronounce it as "neena," and include the rhyming names "Nina from Pasadena" and "Nina at the Marina."
- 10 the easy way (4-6) is an "Easy Ten." If rolled the hard way (5-5) it is a "Hard Ten" or a "Woman's Best Friend," which is both an example of rhyming slang and of a sexual double entendre. The 5-5 combination may also be known as "Puppy Paws" or a "Pair of Sunflowers."
- 11 (5-6) is called out as "Yo" or "Yo'Leven" because the sound of the word "eleven" might be mistaken for the sound of the word "seven"; "Yo" is an attention-getting expletive. An older term for Eleven is "Six Five, no Jive" because it is a winning roll.
- 12 (6-6) is known as "Boxcars" because the spots on the two dice that show 6-6 look like schematic drawings of railroad boxcars; it is also called "Midnight," as in 12:00 AM.
Lottery Numbers from Dreams
Numerological dream books are commonly used by folks to provide lucky betting numbers from what is seen in their dreams. Many of these "lucky number books" books also contain interpretations of the meanings of dreams as well as numbers to bet.
Gamblers who are deeply into dream-inspired number-play may also utilize "run-downs," "work-outs," or "system" numerology books in which new numbers for playing on subsequent days are derived from previous lucky dream numbers or from previously bet numbers that have hit lucky.
There are dozens of numerological dream books and run-down or work-out books available to the public. Some dream books include divinatory interpretations for the dream-images alongside the lucky numbers, while others only supply a string of numbers, which allows the authors to fit more dreams into the same number of pages.
Work-out and run-down books generally provide the reader with an array of classic and traditional numerological methods to transform today's winning number into tomorrow's preferred pick. Psychic readers, conjure doctors, and hoodoo rootworkers who prescribe spiritual supplies to clients may carry lucky number dream books and system books, and can instruct clients in their use.
Lucky Numbers from a Reader
Some hoodoo psychic readers are gifted to pick lucky numbers for clients. In doing so, your psychic reader may use any of the numerology systems outlined above to select the numbers, or may have devised a unique system of numerological work-outs that takes your name-numbers, birth date, address, telephone number, or even social security number into account during computation -- or may be derived by card reading, or clairvoyant visions, pendulum divination, or altar work and prayer.
Will They Hit?
No reputable hoodoo psychic will promise that the lucky numbers he or she selects for you are guaranteed to hit, but many clients do ask for numbers, and psychic readers who have a gift for this form of work are always glad to give them out, usually as part of a longer reading.
It is the custom that if the numbers a conjure or hoodoo hoodoo psychic reader gives out are played by the client and they do hit, the client gives a small tip to the reader and receives their next set of numbers in exchange, without paying a fee.
Chinese Lo Shu Square Numerology
In Chinese numerology, the numbers from 1 through 9 are laid out in a 9-cell magic square which has the property that the sum of the numerals in each row, column, and diagonal adds up to 15. This is is known in China as the Lo Shu Square. Lo Shu translates as "the Book of the River," a name that refers to the cultural tradition which holds that this pattern of numbers was first observed on the shell of a magical turtle who emerged from the Luo River during a great flood. Also known as "the Nine Halls Diagram," the Lo Shu Square is widely utilized for working out the numerology of names and dates, particularly birth dates.
Lo Shu Square divination is a popular form of character analysis, and in the hands of a skilled fortune teller it may also be used to determine not only the intrinsic character of people born on particular dates, but also the suitability of upcoming dates with respect to planned activities such as weddings, entertainments, and political events. It is also one of the tools used in the certain schools of Classical Chinese feng shui.
In European magic, the Lo Shu Square is called the Square of Saturn, and is symbolically aligned with the planet Saturn and the day of the week Saturday. It has also been called the Vitruvian Square and, as such, it may be used in conjunction with numerology to obtain both a character analysis based on a person's name and predictions about the future.
Sacred Numbers and Ritual Numbers
In quite a few religions, certain numbers have acquired a sacred or ritual quality.
Sacred Numbers from Many Cultures
These are examples of the sacred power of numbers in various cultures:
- 3: The Holy Trinity of Christianity
- 4: The four cowrie shells of obi divination
- 4: The four elements; the four fixed signs of classical astrology
- 7: The Seven Sacred Planets of classical astrology
- 8: The eight Ba Gua trigrams of the Chinese I Ching
- 12: The twelve Apostles of Christianity
- 12: The twelve Zodiac Signs of the classical astrology
- 16: The sixteen cowrie shells of diloggun divination
- 64: The sixty-four hexagrams of the Chinese I Ching
- 108: The one hundred and eight beads of a Buddhist rosary or mala
Sacred Numerology of Judaism
Gematria is a mystical form of numerology within portions of magical and Judaism, namely the Kabbalah and the Jewish grimoire tradition. In Gematria, a corresponding number is established to each letter in the Hebrew alphabet, and this each word can be assigned a numbercal value. Comparisons between words sharing the same number values, especially words in the Tanakh, are then made, to reveal what is believed to be God's hidden messages to humanity. One angel who is said to have taught gematria is Angel Raziel. One Jewish magical book that deals extensively with gematria is Sefer Yetzirah (The Book of Formation) which dates to Late Antiquity of the Medieval era and correlates the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet to elements, planets, and signs of the Zodiac.
Notarikon is a Kabbalistic form of numerology applied to the study of scripture whereby the letters that comprise individual words in the Bible are taken to be "notes" or indicators of the first letters of other words.
Temurah is a third form of scriptural numerology, and one only suitable to languages like Hebrew, in which no vowels are inscribed and thus words,, as written, are only comprised of consonants. Given this form of writing, temurah is essentially a substitution code. In atbash temurah, the first and last letters are exchanged, to make a new word. In avgad temurah, each letter is replaced with the preceding letter in the alphabet. In albam temurah, the substitution dervices from the fact that there are 22 letters in the Hebrew Alphave: the first letter is replaced with the twelfth, the second with the thirteenth, and so forth, up to the eleventh letter being replaced with the twnty-second, completing the cycle.
Sacred Numbers of Christianity
These numbers, some of which derive from Judaism, are of great importance in Christianity :
- 1: The unity of God
- 2. God's division of day from night and of water from land
- 3: The Holy Trinity
- 4: The Four Evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John)
- 5: The five wounds Jesus Christ suffered on the cross, the five foolish and five wise virgins
- 6: The six days on which God created the Earth
- 7: The seventh day of creation, when God rested; the seven seals and seven churches of Revelation
- 8: The eight righteous survivors of the Flood (Noah, his wife, and their children)
- 9: The nine choirs of angels
- 10: The Ten Commandments, the Ten Plagues of Egypt
- 12: The twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve Apostles
- 13: The thirteen people who dined at the Last Supper
- 40: The forty days of Noah's Flood, Moses' stay on Mt. Sinai, Jesus Christ's temptation, and the season of Lent; the forty years of Israel in the wilderness
Sacred Numbers of Lukumi and Santeria
In the African Traditional and African Diasporic religions of Lukumi and Santeria, each of the orishas is associated with one or more ritual numbers:
- The ritual numbers of Babalu Aye are 7 and 17.
- The ritual numbers of Eleggua are 3, 7, and 21.
- The ritual number of Obatala is 8.
- The ritual numbers of Ochosi are 3 and 7.
- The ritual numbers of Ogun are 3 and 7.
- The ritual number of Orunmila is 16.
- The ritual number of Oshun is 5.
- The ritual number of Oya is 9.
- The ritual numbers of Shango are 6 and 12.
- The ritual number of Yemaya is 7.
Credits
This page is brought to you by the AIRR Tech Team:
- Author: catherine yronwode
- Contributors: nagasiva yronwode, Lady Muse, Dara Anzlowar, Prof. C. D. Porterfield, Lara Rivera, Karma Zain
- Images: Unknown Artists; photo-edited by catherine yronwode
See Also
Divination
- Divination and Fortune Telling by Numerology, Lucky Numbers, and Lo Shu Square
AIRR Readers & Rootworkers Who Perform This Work for Clients
Pages in category "Numerology"
The following 11 pages are in this category, out of 11 total.
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