History

The man largely credited for the teachings of numerology and acknowledged as its father is Pythagoras. However, there is evidence to support the belief that numerology is an ancient tradition and has long been in use in China, Greece, Rome and Egypt even before the time of Pythagoras.

Pythagoras was a Greek mathematician and philosopher born on the Aegean Island of Samos at about 580 BC. Detail about his life and work are uncertain. He seemed to have migrated from Samos to Crotona (now Crotone) in Southern Italy. A religious brotherhood centering in Pythagoras was formed. It was their belief that the knowledge of mathematics was the essence of all things and the key to the comprehension of the universe.

The basic principle on which numerology is founded is that reality is mathematical. Numerologists believe that everything has a corresponding equivalent in numbers and that these numbers have specific meanings. The meaning of a word or name is revealed through number values.

Modern numerologists have adopted the Pythagorean system. In this system, letters are converted using the numbers 1 to 9. Natural addition is used. This is the process where one keeps adding two or more numbers together until they are reduced to single numbers.