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Seeing the Signs

A Great Little Book About Numerology

One of my first articles for Pagan Pages was a little essay about numerology. I wrote it on my fifty-third birthday, since I generally check my “numbers” for the coming year on my birthday. (I also do it on New Year’s Day, but that’s a more generalized reading). This year is a 7 year for me – which to a Tarot person like me says the Chariot – which says to me that I’ll be on the move, in one way or another – either a physical move to another place or some kind of esoteric move that rocks my world. Or maybe both!

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Recently, our wonderful editor, Jennifer Sacasa-Wright, sent me a bunch of books about various divination methods – over the next few months, I’ll be reading them and reviewing them. Since the timing is so perfect, I decided to read Numerology: Plain & Simple, by Anne Christie, which is part of the “Plain & Simple Series” published by Hampton Roads. The book boasts on both the cover and the title page that it’s “The Only Book You’ll Ever Need” – which can always be debated, especially among those of us who live to collect books – but I must say if you had to have only one book about Numerology, this would be the book to have.

Many years ago, when I was first learning about the Tarot, I naturally read books about numerology, since the Tarot is a numbered system of divination – as well as a pictorial one – and I wanted to know the way numbers worked. Most of the books I read on numerology were very superficial and stupid. I think one was subtitled, “Love is in the numbers!” or maybe that was its actual title. But I read everything. I took notes and I tried to apply my knowledge when I could.

It wasn’t until I read Mary K. Greer’s Tarot for Yourself: A Workbook for Personal Transformation that I started using numerology on a regular basis. And it was only using birth numbers. But her method gave me a way of seeing myself, my friends and family, and the world around me. I learned how to chart my life using numerology and Tarot cards – it’s interesting to see how the same lessons need to be learned over and over again.

Anne Christie uses the letter-number method. She provides a chart which goes from 1 to 9 and the letters are arranged in order underneath the numbers. Thus, A is 1 and I is 9 and M is 4 and Z is 8.

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One of the main questions is what name do you use? I’m the kind of person who uses all of my names, because I firmly believe that I am represented by all of those identities. Plus, it’s fun! So here’s my everyday name of Polly MacDavid (7+6+3+3+7+4+1+3+4+1+4+9+4=65/11/2)

All the numbers add up to 65, which reduces to 11, which is a power number. 11’s are always coming up in my life, anyway. 11’s and therefore, 2’s. 2 refers to personal feeling and are feminine. Their aura is dark green and their vibrational energy are the emotions. 2 is the number of the Moon. Its energy is caring and its sign is Cancer. Its keyword is feelings.

But if I use the name on my birth certificate – which adds a middle name – that changes the numbers so that they add up to 69 and reduce to 15 and then to 6. Which is Taurus, imagination, harmony, home, the planet Venus.

Plain old Polly adds up to 26, which reduces to 8. Plain old Polly is practical and persistent. Her vibration is the planet Pluto (brrr!). But she is self-sufficient and ambitious.

Anne Christie also has methods for choosing your personality number and your heart number. For your personality number, you use only the consonants in your first name; for your heart number, you use only the vowels. Imagine my surprise when I saw that the consonants and the vowel in my first name both added up to 13! Of course, that reduces to 4 but I was dumbfounded. I just love playing with letters and numbers like this.

She also has a way of checking your year number, using your birth numbers. According to her, the 7 year that I am going to be experiencing this coming year is going to be about relaxation and rest. Although I will be traveling – she said short trips – and not to “spend too much time worrying about the material aspects of my life this year” (95) – HA! That’s really funny. Well I guess I don’t need to worry about what I don’t have anyway, right?

There’s also a way to figure out what a particular month or day is going to be like. For instance, my personal number this coming year is going to 7. If I want to know what July is going to be like, I add 7 and 7 (since July is the seventh month), and get 14 and reduce it to 5. So what are 5’s like? They’re ruled by Jupiter, they’re about tolerance and expansion, their symbol is the Archer, and keywords are education, travel and creativity. You can do this for the day of the week or even the hour of the day. You have to use the 24-hour clock for predicting the hour of the day but it’s interesting to think in those terms. Each hour having its own personality and vibration.

The last thing she talks about is the Pythagorean number grid. I remember Pythagoras from high school mathematics and even number grids but this is something completely different. Christie says that this is “the simplest method” (138) but often the simplest methods are the best ones.

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After reading what she writes about the grid – the meanings of the numbers and their placement on the grid – I studied the grid itself. It seemed to me that it was a handy little meditation tool in and of itself. The numbers in each square and the lines of the grid work together in a very magical way.

This is really a fabulous little book. I highly recommend it. It says $14.95 on the back cover but there’s so many discount places on the internet nowadays, I am sure if you look around, you can probably find it for much less. And who knows? Maybe your local library can locate it for you. Check it out!

Until next month, Brightest Blessings!

Works Cited

Christie, Anna. Numerology: Plain & Simple. Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc. 2005, 2016.

Greer, Mary K. Tarot For Yourself: A Workbook for Personal Transformation. North Hollywood, Ca.: Newcastle Publishing Co., Inc. 1984