Arithmancy

For the use of the word in the Harry Potter books, see Magic in Harry Potter § Arithmancy.

The ancient term Arithmancy (the subject of which also goes by the more modern name of numerology) is a form of divination and Fortune telling (but is not limited to this) based upon the qualitative meanings traditionally attributed and ascribed to natural numbers, both cardinal and ordinal, and depending upon context. This can also include assigning numerical value to a name, word or phrase, by means of alphanumeric correspondences, as in the English Qaballa, or a simplified version of ancient Greek isopsephy, or Hebrew/Aramaic gematria adapted to the Latin alphabet (e.g. "English Qabalah"). Arithmancy is associated with the Chaldeans, Platonists, Pythagoreans, and the Kabbalah. When arithmancy is applied to a person's name, it is a form of onomancy.

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.

Methods

Birthdate system

Here, numbers are used from a person's birthdate (the calendar day, month and year) to derive, through addition, their total life or birth number. For example:

May 28, 2020 = 5+28+2020 = 5+1+4 = 1 birth or life number

December 16, 1984 = 12+16+1984 = 3+7+4 = 5 birth or life number

September 9, 1980 = 9+9+1971 = 9+9+9 = 9 birth or life number

Each 'birth number' (1 through to 9) is considered to have a specific predictive meaning based upon the traditional meanings attributed to each of the nine numbers. The birth number is considered by virtually all practitioners to be the most powerful and to have the greatest personal significance for an individual's life and character. However, birth numbers are not limited to reading this single life number, and can include so-called fadic or fatalistic numbers, as well as predictive birthcycle numbers, of the calendar day, month and year.

Pythagorean method

In the so-called '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 (with I distinguished from J and U distinguished from V, which was not common before the 18th century) are assigned numerical values 1 through 9 as follows:

• 1 = A, J, S
• 2 = B, K, T
• 3 = C, L, U
• 4 = D, M, V
• 5 = E, N, W
• 6 = F, O, X
• 7 = G, P, Y
• 8 = H, Q, Z
• 9 = I, R

How to calculate

Based on these attributions, the numerical value of a word, sentence or name is calculated. If the result is greater than 9, that is, a compound number, the values of the digits in the number are added together until it is reduced to a single-digit number (known as its digital root). This is arithmetic modulo 9. For example: 56=5+6=11=1+1=2 (2 is the digital root of 56, as well as 65). In recent tradition, this reductive method was called Theosophic Reduction. In the tradition of Hebrew gematria it's called Mispar Katan Mispari (integral reduced value). An older and somewhat longwinded approach giving the exact same result was to divide by 9, or alternatively, deduct multiples of 9 from any compound total and so leave the digital root as a remainder; so, 56=6×9=54, with a remainder of 2 as digital root.

Here's how to calculate the single-digit number of a person's first name using the English alphabet so-called 'Pythagorean' alphanumeric key or gematria....

J O H N = 1 6 8 5 = 2 name number 1+6+8+5=29=2+9=11=1+1=2

M A R Y = 4 1 9 7 = 3 name number 4+1+9+7=21=2+1=3

S H E I L A = 1 8 5 9 3 1 = 9 name number 1+8+5+9+3+1=27=2+7=9

This single-digit number derived from the name is understood to represent a person's personality, life conditions and possible life experiences.

There is also a three number method or approach used to predict a person's personality from their name. This is by using the Heart (or inner) number, the Social (or outer) number, and the Personality (or expression) number.

The Heart number is determined by adding together only the vowel number values in a person's name until a single digit is reached. The Social number is calculated by adding together only the consonant number values in a name. The Personality number is determined when both vowels and consonants number values (in other words, all letter values) are used and summed to a single-digit number.

Name considerations

Whilst some practitioners only use the whole name given at birth (first + middle + last), others take as more important the name in current use, and specifically the first or personal name as being the most powerful influence or indicator of current personality and life characteristics. According to this understanding, arithmancy practitioners believe we are an expression or embodiment of our name. So with a change of name, the personality, and therefore the life lived, is understood to undergo a change in accordance with the characteristics and attributes of the new name number(s) taken.

Chaldean method

A lesser known method, more popular in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, is the so-called 'Chaldean' method; in this context, "Chaldean" is an old-fashioned name for the Aramaic languages. In the Chaldean method number 9 is not used in the calculations, at least in practice. It is left out because it is thought to be divine and sacred, and therefor unassignable. This method is radically different from the Pythagorean (as well as both the ancient Greek and Hebrew systems) as letters are assigned values based on equating Latin letters with letters of the Hebrew alphabet in accordance with sound equivalents (then number associations being derived via its gematria) rather than applying the ancient and well attested system of place-value used by the Hebrew gematria (although 'place-value' is almost universally interpreted in the ancient world according to units, tens and hundreds, which nonetheless have the same digital root as place value); in consequence of this there are several slightly different versions, there being disagreements over some of the letter-sound equivalents (it doesn't help matters that the Hebrew alphabet has only twenty-two letters whilst the modern English alphabet has twenty-six).

Here's a version favoured by Cheiro, a late 19th and early 20th century palmist, astrologer and occultist. The Hebrew-Latin sound-based gematria is as follows:

• 1 = A, I, J, Q, Y
• 2 = B, K, R
• 3 = C, G, L, S
• 4 = D, M, T
• 5 = E, H, N, X
• 6 = U, V, W
• 7 = O, Z
• 8 = F, P

Another version was favoured by Sepharial, a late 19th and early 20th century astrologer and occultist:

• 1 = A, I, J, Q, Y
• 2 = B, C, K, R
• 3 = G, L, S
• 4 = D, M, T
• 5 = E, N
• 6 = U, V, W
• 7 = O, X, Z
• 8 = F, H, P
• 9 = TH, TS, TZ

However, there are also several other versions of the Chaldean extant.

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) :

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	V	X	Y	Z	I	V	HI	HV

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

References

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