By Anya Gascoine Marco

What is numerology? Do you have a favourite number? Do you wonder what significance your birthday has other than the astrological connection? Maybe youve read somewhere that the number of your house could have significant meaning on how comfortable you are living there.

When you studied Pythagoras at school, the teachers probably omitted to mention that he was one of the single most important figures in history when it comes to how we think about and integrate numbers into daily living. Numbers are not just part of mathematics and science; many believe that they have a significant impact on every aspect of life.

Numerology is a study of the impact that numbers have on our lives, and it is likely that your lucky number is linked to your own vibrational energies derived from your date of birth or your name.

Intrigued? Then read on

The term numerology makes this interesting esoteric science sound complex, but the basic principle is relatively easy and with a bit of know how you could gain a startling insight into what makes you tick and why you are the way you are.

In the same way that there is more to astrology than your star sign (e.g. ascendants, moon sign etc) by combining all the elements that make up numerology we can derive a deep and empowering knowledge of our individual personalities and the impulses that drive us.

How does numerology work?
The basic assumption behind numerology is fadic addition; this is the reduction of a series of numbers to a single number by adding them up until the single number is reached. For example, say your birthday is 10th May 1975. To reach your life path (also known as birth force) number, you need to add up all the numbers until you reach a single digit:

1+0+0+5+1+9+7+5 = 28 : 2+8 = 10: 1+0 = 1

So for this particular date of birth the life path number is 1.

You would do this with every core vibration to reach the number that holds the essence of that vibration.

Achieving numbers from letters is simple as well. Each letter of the alphabet is assigned a number between 1-9, see the table below:

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

Refer to this table to calculate the core vibrations that are derived from your name.

What are core vibrations?
Core vibrations are the energies that combined together make up the unique individual that you are. There are five recognised central vibrations, and then in addition to this there are far more in depth ways of gaining even more insight into your personality. For the purposes of an introduction however it is easier to understand and start to apply the five main vibrations. These are:

Life path (or birth force)
Birth Day
Expression
Hearts Desire
Personality

The Life Path/Birth Force essence is considered by many numerologists to be the most important, this is because the number that represents your life path contains the elements that drive you forwards. These are the elements that you are experiencing this life to learn, grow and build upon and are seen as the ultimate direction for you. Another reason why your life path number is so important is that many of us do not really understand what it is, and so blindly go through life with no understanding of what we want to do with it. We try one thing after another without success and wonder what on earth we should do with our lives. To put it simply, having an understanding of your life path number can give you the direction you need to find the right path.

Your life path is calculated from your date of birth as the example above, take each digit and add together until you reach a single number.

The Birth Day number is seen by some to be as important as the life path number, as it is this number that we understand ourselves as, and that most of our friends would recognise as. As it is described the birth day number is derived just from the date of the day we were born, from the example above it would be the 10th, reduced to 1 (1+0). When our birth day number and life path number do not complement each other, we often find conflict in our lives between where we think we should be and where we actually should be heading.

When they are both odd or even numbers, there is likely to be more harmony than when they are even/odd. This does not mean that both birth day and life path need to be the same number for an easy life, as this can often cause an excess! But by understanding the implications of both and being able to combine the two you will be able to lead a far more fulfilled life than if you favour one above the other.

The Expression, Hearts Desire and Personality numbers are all derived from the name given to us at birth, and provide further insight into our personalities. There is some argument over which name you should use to derive these numbers as each of these vibrations tell us a little bit more about how we express ourselves to others, what we really want from life and how our personalities shine. For many the name on our birth certificate is the name that should be used, however if you have used a different name, or are known by another name by everyone then it makes sense to use this.

Apply each letter from your name to the numerical table above and calculate each number as follows:

Expression adds each number from the entire name
Hearts desire takes the vowels related numbers from the name and adds them together (only include Y if there is no other vowel in the name)
Personality takes the constants related numbers.
Each number therefore has its own significance and essence, to give you an idea of what that might mean to you here is a summary of some common keywords associated with numbers:

1 leadership, individuality, single-minded
2 sharing, harmony, loving
3 creative, energised, expressive
4 stable, secure, orderly
5 fast moving, high energy, competitive
6 helpful, balanced, peaceful
7 wisdom, philosophical, psychic
8 forceful, powerful, judgemental
9 humanitarian, self-sacrifice, compassionate

This is Anya Gascoine Marco's wonderful introduction to the wonders of numerology, if youd like to find out more about each number or the core vibrations visit her fabulous website at www.innermoo.co.uk