How the numbers are made
Every number is reduced by adding its digits until one digit is left. 1992, for example, becomes 1 + 9 + 9 + 2 = 21, and 21 becomes 2 + 1 = 3. The exceptions are the master numbers, 11, 22, and 33, which are kept as they are.
Names are turned into numbers with the Pythagorean letter values: A is 1, B is 2, and so on up to I at 9. J starts again at 1. So A, J, and S are all 1, and I and R are both 9.
The core numbers
Life Path comes from your full birth date, and describes the direction of your life and its main lessons.
Birthday comes from the day of the month you were born, and describes a particular talent you bring to that path.
Expression comes from every letter of your full birth name, and describes your natural abilities and how you tend to use them.
Soul Urge comes from the vowels of your full birth name, and describes what you want most, privately.
Personality comes from the consonants of your full birth name, and describes how others tend to see you at first.
Maturity comes from your Life Path plus your Expression, and describes what tends to come into focus later in life.
Your Personal Year number changes every year. It's your birth month and day added to the current year, and it runs in a cycle from 1 to 9.
The numbers at a glance
- 1, the initiator
- 2, the partner
- 3, the communicator
- 4, the builder
- 5, the explorer
- 6, the caretaker
- 7, the seeker
- 8, the executive
- 9, the humanitarian
- 11, the intuitive
- 22, the master builder
- 33, the teacher
Numerology and astrology
They're separate traditions, but each number from 1 to 9 has a traditional planet: the Sun for 1, the Moon for 2, Jupiter for 3, Uranus for 4, Mercury for 5, Venus for 6, Neptune for 7, Saturn for 8, and Mars for 9. When you calculate your chart here, your numbers are read against where those planets actually sit in it.
Facts about numerology
- Modern Western numerology is usually traced to Pythagoras, the Greek philosopher who taught that number is the basis of everything. The letter system named after him was formalized much later, in the early twentieth century.
- The Pythagorean system gives every letter a value from 1 to 9 in alphabetical order, so A is 1, I is 9, and J starts again at 1.
- The other main Western system, Chaldean numerology, uses values 1 to 8 and a different letter order. This site uses the Pythagorean system only, so results stay consistent.
- Master numbers, 11, 22, and 33, are kept as they are instead of being added down to a single digit.
- Your Life Path depends only on your birth date, so it never changes. Your name numbers come from the name on your birth certificate, not a nickname or married name.
- Adding the digits of a number repeatedly always gives the same result as dividing by 9 and keeping the remainder (with 9 in place of 0). It's sometimes called the digital root.
- Your Personal Year number changes every year, and the cycle runs from 1 to 9 before starting again.
- Numerology and astrology are separate traditions, but they have long been read together: each number from 1 to 9 has a traditional planetary association.
- There are two common ways to calculate a Life Path. Reducing the month, day, and year separately before adding them is the most widely used, and it's the one this site uses.
- Like astrology, numerology is a symbolic system for reflection. It hasn't been shown to predict personality or events.