It is because of this that numbers make an appearance in many of the esoteric arts of divination, in particular those of astrology due to the central role they play in the calculations regarding date and time of birth. Numbers are used in an attempt to interpret the fortune – and future – of mankind, be it for it for the purpose of anticipating a young woman’s future husband, the destiny and fortune of kings, or the fate of nations.
Ancient Arts
To find the ancient path that numerology has followed over the centuries, the past has to be delved into, going back as far as the ancient Chaldeans and Egyptians, who were the masters of analysing and applying the secret meaning of numbers to everyday life. The Chaldeans, without the benefit of instruments, determined the length of the planetary cycles; a fact modern science only proved in later years. The ancient Hindu searchers discovered the precession of the Equinoxes, calculating that every 25 827 years, an Equinox occurs, and the Babylonians, skilled in the arts of astrology, astronomy, mathematics and magic, employed numbers in their everyday quest to discover the hidden secrets of the universe.
Primary Numbers
The most famous numerologist was the 19th Century clairvoyant and palmist, Count Louis Hamon (1866-1936), better known as Cheiro, author of numerous books on the topic, including the ‘Book of Numbers’ and ‘The Language of the Hand’. Cheiro based his principles of numbers on the ancient Chaldean alphabet, who believed that the numbers 1 – 9 are the basis of all calculations. Beyond the number 9, all other numbers become repetition, for example the number 10 is simply 1 with a zero attached, the number 11 is simply 1 and 1, and thus become 2, and