Numerorum mysteria (1591), a treatise on numerology byPietro Bongo and his most influential work in Europe[1]
Numerology (known before the 20th century asarithmancy) is the belief in anoccult, divine ormystical relationship between anumber and one or morecoincidingevents. 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 ofonomancy. It is often associated withastrology and otherdivinatory arts.[2]
Number symbolism is an ancient and pervasive aspect of human thought, deeply intertwined withreligion,philosophy, mysticism, andmathematics. Different cultures and traditions have assigned specific meanings to numbers, often linking them to divine principles, cosmic forces, or natural patterns.[3]
The termnumerologist can be used for those who place faith in numerical patterns and draw inferences from them, even if those people do not practice traditional numerology. For example, in his 1997 bookNumerology: Or What Pythagoras Wrought (Dudley 1997), mathematicianUnderwood Dudley uses the term to discuss practitioners of theElliott wave principle ofstock market analysis.
The termarithmancy is derived from two Greek words –arithmos (meaning number) andmanteia (meaningdivination). "Αριθμομαντεία" Arithmancy is thus the study of divination through numbers.[4] Although the word "arithmancy" dates to the 1570s,[5] the word "numerology" is not recorded in English before c. 1907.[6]
The practice ofgematria, 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 bySargon II declares "the king built the wall of Khorsabad 16,283 cubits long to correspond with the numerical value of his name".[7]Rabbinic literature used gematria to interpret passages in theHebrew Bible.
The practice of using alphabetic letters to represent numbers developed in the Greek city ofMiletus, and is thus known as the Milesian system.[8] Early examples include vase graffiti dating to the 6th century BCE.[9] Aristotle wrote that thePythgoraean tradition, founded in the 6th century byPythagoras of Samos, practicedisopsephy,[10] the Greek predecessor of Hebrewgematria. Pythagoras was a contemporary of the philosophersAnaximander,Anaximenes, and the historianHecataeus, all of whom lived in Miletus, across the sea fromSamos.[11] The Milesian system was in common use by the reign ofAlexander the Great (336–323 BCE) and was adopted by other cultures during the subsequentHellenistic period.[8] It was officially adopted in Egypt during the reign ofPtolemy II Philadelphus (284–246 BCE).[8]
Somealchemical theories were closely related to numerology. For example, Arab alchemistJabir ibn Hayyan (died c. 806−816) framed his experiments in an elaborate numerology based on the names of substances in theArabic language.[14]
Numerology is prominent in SirThomas Browne's 1658 literary discourseThe Garden of Cyrus. Throughout its pages, the author attempts to demonstrate that the number five and the relatedquincunx pattern can be found throughout the arts, in design, and in nature – particularly botany.[citation needed]
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.[15]
There are various numerology systems which assign numerical value to the letters of analphabet. Examples include theAbjad numerals inArabic,Hebrew numerals,Armenian numerals, andGreek numerals. The practice withinJewish tradition of assigning mystical meaning to words based on their numerical values, and on connections between words of equal value, is known asgematria.[16]
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 modernLatin alphabet are assigned numerical values 1 through 9.[18]
Angel numbers, as defined byDoreen Virtue and Lynnette Brown in 2004, are numbers consisting ofrepeating digits, such as 111 or 444.[20] As of 2023[update], a number of popular media publications have published articles suggesting that these numbers have numerological significance.[21] Doreen Virtue has since renounced the concept of angel numbers in a 2024 interview withThe Cut declaring that "It’s garbage. I regret it, and I’m sorry that I made them."[22]
The first system of English gematria was used by the poetJohn Skelton in 1523 in his poem "The Garland of Laurel".[26] 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".[27]
In 1952, John P. L. Hughes publishedThe Hidden Numerical Significance of the English Language, or, Suggestive Gematria, based on his lecture delivered at Holden Research Circle on July 4, 1952.[28] A system related to theSpiritualistAgasha Temple of Wisdom was described by William Eisen in his two volumeThe English Cabalah (1980–82).[29][30][31]
William G. Gray proposes another system in his 1984 book,Concepts of Qabalah,[32] more recently republished asQabalistic Concepts.[33] This system includes correspondence attributions of the English letters to the positions on theTree of Life.Michael Bertiaux described a system calledAngelic Gematria in hisThe Voudon Gnostic Workbook (1989).[34] David Rankine described a system of English gematria[35] usingprime numbers which he callsPrime Qabalah in his bookBecoming Magick (2004).[36]
Scientific theories are sometimes labeled "numerology" if their primary inspiration appears to be a set of patterns rather thanscientific 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.[citation needed]
The best known example of "numerology" in science involves thecoincidental resemblance of certain large numbers that intrigued mathematical physicistPaul Dirac, mathematicianHermann Weyl and astronomerArthur Stanley Eddington.[37] 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.[38] (See alsoFine-tuned universe).
Wolfgang Pauli was also fascinated by the appearance of certain numbers, including137 (a prime number), in physics.[39]
There have been a few examples of numerology that have led to theories that transformed society: see the mention of Kirchhoff and Balmer inGood (1962), p. 316 [...] and one can well includeKepler on account of histhird law. It would be fair enough to say that numerology was the origin of the theories of electromagnetism, quantum mechanics, gravitation. [...] So I intend no disparagement when I describe a formula as numerological.
When a numerological formula is proposed, then we may ask whether it is correct. [...] I think an appropriate definition of correctness is that the formula has a good explanation, in a Platonic sense, that is, the explanation could be based on a good theory that is not yet known but 'exists' in the universe of possible reasonable ideas.[40]
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Bertiaux, Michael (1989).The Voudon Gnostic Workbook. Magickal Childe.ISBN0-939708-12-4.
Bertiaux, Michael (2007).The Voudon Gnostic Workbook: Expanded Edition. Weiser.ISBN978-1-57863-339-5.
Besharati, Mohammad Reza; Besharati, Zahra (2022). "Reinterpretation of 'the Darkness of the Three" in Verse 6 of Surah al-Zumar, in Light of the Components of the Scientific Miracle of the Qur'an".Journal of Interdisciplinary Qur'anic Studies.1 (1):91–116.doi:10.37264/jiqs.v1i1.6.
Besharati, Zahra; Fakhari, Alireza (June 2023). "A Comparative Study of the Literal and Symbolic Meaning of the Numbers in Qur'anic Verses about Creation".Journal of Interdisciplinary Qur'anic Studies.2 (1):189–217.doi:10.37264/jiqs.v2i1june2023.9.ISSN2753-5711.
Carroll, Robert Todd (2003)."Numerology".The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions.Archived from the original on 5 June 2023.
Christie, Anne (2005).Simply Numerology. New York: Sterling Publishing Company.ISBN140272277X.
Good, Irving John (1962).The Scientist Speculates: An Anthology of Partly-Baked Ideas. Heinemann & Basic Books.
Good, I. J. (1990). "A Quantal Hypothesis for Hadrons and the Judging of Physical Numerology". In G. R. Grimmett; D. J. A. Welsh (eds.).Disorder in Physical Systems.Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0198532156.
Gray, William G. (1984).Concepts of Qabalah. Sangreal Sodality Series. Vol. 3. Red Wheel/Weiser.ISBN0-87728-561-6.
Gray, William G. (1997).Qabalistic Concepts: Living the Tree. Weiser Books.ISBN1-57863-000-2.
Hopper, V. F. (2000) [1938].Medieval Number Symbolism: Its Sources, Meaning, and Influence on Thought and Expression. Dover Publications.ISBN978-0-486-41430-0.
Hughes, John P. L. (1952).The Hidden Numerical Significance of the English Language, or, Suggestive Gematria. Holden Research Circle.
Hulse, David Allen (2000).The Western Mysteries: An Encyclopedic Guide to the Sacred Languages and Magickal Systems of the World. Llewellyn Publications.ISBN1-56718-429-4.
Halsey, W., ed. (1967). "Numerals and systems of numeration".Collier's Encyclopedia.
Jeffrey, L. (1961).The Local Scripts of Archaic Greece. Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0198132073.
Kalvesmaki, J. (2013).The Theology of Arithmetic: Number Symbolism in Platonism and Early Christianity. Center for Hellenic Studies.ISBN978-0-674-07330-2.
Lawrence, S. B. (2019).The Big Book of Numerology: The Hidden Meaning of Numbers and Letters. Red Wheel/Weiser.ISBN978-1578636778.
Stenger, Victor (2004)."Is the Universe Fine-Tuned for Us?"(PDF). In Young, Matt;Edis, Taner (eds.).Why Intelligent Design Fails: A Scientific Critique of the New Creationism. Rutgers University Press. pp. 172–184.ISBN978-0813538723. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 16 July 2012 – via University of Colorado.
Stratton-Kent, Jake (May 1988). "What is a Qabalah?".The Equinox: British Journal of Thelema.VII (2):59–61.ISSN0953-7015.
Virtue, Doreen; Brown, Lynnette (2005).Angel Numbers: The Angels Explain the Meaning of 111, 444, and Other Numbers in Your Life. Hay House.ISBN978-1401905156.
Walker, Julia. M. (1998).Medusa's Mirrors: Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, and the metamorphosis of the female self. University of Delaware Press.ISBN0-87413-625-3.
Iamblichus (1988).The Theology of Arithmetic: On the mystical, mathematical and cosmological symbolism of the first ten numbers. Translated by Robin Waterfield. Grand Rapids: Phanes Press.ISBN978-0-933999-72-5.
Iordanou, I. (2019).Venice's Secret Service: Organizing Intelligence in the Renaissance. Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0198791317.
Levy, David B. (2018). "Introduction". In Levy, R. I. (ed.).Essays in the History of Medicine. Sam Sapozhnik Publishers. pp. 15–98.ISBN978-1-387-79726-4.
Phillips, S. M. (2009).The Mathematical Connection Between Religion and Science. Antony Rowe Publishing.ISBN978-1-905200-85-6.
Shumaker, W. (1982).Renassance curiosa: John Dee's conversations with angels, Girolamo Cardano's horoscope of Christ, Johannes Trithemius and cryptography, George Dalgarno's Universal language. Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies.ISBN978-0-86698-014-2.
Thompson, Cath (2016).The Magickal Language of the Book of the Law: An English Qaballa Primer. Hadean Press Limited.ISBN978-1-907881-68-8.
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