Tides and Cycles

Numerology is believed to be one of the oldest forms of occult lore. Its origins cannot be traced, but the Babylonians, the ancient Egyptians, and many other peoples are all thought to have held theories of the occult significance of numbers. This concept is closely related to astrology, and to the observation of numbers found in natural phenomena - the five senses, the seven colors of the spectrum, the 12 signs of the zodiac, and so on. Numbers were especially important to the Cabalists, both in ancient times and in the Middle Ages. The Cabala, the secret mystical lore of the Jews, contains a magico-philosophical science of numbers known as gematria, based on the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

Although there are some variations between the numerological systems that have come down to the present day, most seem to be based on the theories of the Greek mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras. He believed that the whole universe was ordered mathematically, and that as everything in it could be expressed in terms of numbers, numbers were therefore the key to the universe.

Numerology, which was also known as numeromancy or arithomancy, used to be practiced as a form of general divination; today its practitioners are mainly concerned with character analysis and potential. The basis of numerology is the belief that numbers - especially the primary numbers from 1 to 9 - exert an influence on every facet of our lives and personalities. Each person has numbers that relate to the significant events in their lives, the most important being the birth and the name number.