The Ultimate Numerology Manual: FAQ-Based

By switching from "dark theme" to "light theme", or possibly to a browser with more elaborate print settings. The print settings on Cult of Cupid should force a "light theme" in printing, but this does not work on at least some of the mobile phone adblock browsers.

Your browser is set to "dark theme". This site was developed years before the (badly needed) concept of "dark theme" came about. Although everything should be readable/discernible, there still are a few areas of Cult of Cupid where fully dual-compatible color schemes should be introduced. In time this will likely be done.

Numerology to identify character traits and their compatibility to others. That's it, by the way. As far as I've seen numerology is not even remotely applicable in any other situation.

Doing numerology calculations can be time consuming with not seldom mistakes slipping in, especially when trying to calculate compatibility based on a large amount of numbers. In fact, no-one before has ever even attempted to compare as many numbers as Cult of Cupid, because with this site you can now do in 20 seconds what used to take 20 minutes.

As long as you fill in the correct input data, calculations are guaranteed 100 percent accurate. Still have regularly seen individuals filling in wrong data, but I guess people are going to be people. Make sure you double check when in doubt.

The work of Glynis McCants really. Initially I laughed off the whole subject of numerology, but after giving McCants a chance and listening to a radio show she was on in January 2006, people who called in sounded very impressed with her analyses. I bought her book and was absolutely blown away with the accuracy of numerology, so much so that I became a little scared about people learning about numerology and knowing my weaknesses. I got over that and kind of set out on a personal quest to figure out if numerology truly is accurate. It took until mid-2014 for me to run into a skilled PHP programmer who could digitalize my numerology model (really McCants' with a few additions). The result you see on this page, on which much more can be found, of course, than just McCants' numerology model.

Nothing is stored and nothing can be tracked, even by the admins. Everything is gone the moment the calculations are finished, which takes a split second. There's no need for any storing of information and privacy is prime. Cult of Cupid is solidly in the Edward Snowden corner.

It's still hard to believe it actually works, but I'd even say it's relatively easy to spot people who have very compatible or very incompatible numbers with you. I certainly can't predict everyone beyond "incompatible", "compatible", and "natural match", but in cases where I strongly noticed certain specific characteristics (mainly related to my own number, a 2/11) and took a leap, the predictions were virtually always accurate, mindblowingly so. In any case, what certainly has never happened is that I mistook a 5 or 7 for 2. The difference is just too obvious. Maybe it will happen tomorrow though.

The bottom line is, this site has been created so you can judge for yourself. I'm not here to start a new religion, although I've heard there's a lot of money in that.

A ton!

• Gender
• Age
• Experience
• Looks
• Interests
• Parents
• Culture
• Level of education
• IQ
• Social circle
• Social status
• Economic status
• Short-term or long-term responsibilities in life
• Absence or presence of physical or mental handicaps
• Medication
• Drugs

Obviously, a 100 percent compatibility between a rich beautiful 19-year-old pilatus practicioner studying at Harvard and a dirt-poor opium-addicted PTSD-suffering 102-year-old Ukrainian veteran of World World II with one leg, one eye and half a brain who likes to collect antique weaponry is probably not going to be the most ideal of combinations.

Numerology falls in the spiritual domain, along with concepts as reincarnation and destiny, but that doesn't mean that it should be disconnected from Darwinism and physical everyday reality. In fact, it might well be both that shape our reality.

One word can't be stressed enough in this case: vibe. Shut down rational thinking and just feel. Feel how a certain person makes you feel when you're around them. To be honest, I find it incredibly hard to describe what exactly you're paying attention to. If I find a way to properly do it, I'll add it here.

Mind you, it's possible to meet very different personalities and still be friends with them--but you'll still feel the difference in doing and thinking between the two of you. It just takes more time, effort, love, understanding, and shared interests to stick with each other.

I've been tweaking the influence of each number for over the course of a year until I was satisfied that the calculated percentage corresponded with the vibe between me and any new person I met. To this day, I still can't believe it keeps working and certainly haven't met anyone whom I suspected to be somewhere close to 80-90% to actually be around 40%. It continues to amaze me. With each new check I keep thinking, "This is it, this is the case that will break my model," but it still hasn't happened.

Well, "my" model? I've been using the one of Glynis McCants with a few additions. It seems that McCants came up with the system to compare the compatibility between numbers. Here it is:

I've been experimenting with this system for years and have to agree with it. From my own perspective as a 2 (11), with next to that a very strong 6 and 9 influence, I can get along with all numbers except 5s and especially 7s. It's actually so bad with 7s--with whom I coincidentally not have a single compatible number in my chart--that I'm quite scared of them. They usually annoy me within seconds, and, if I open my mouth too freely, without a doubt the other way around.

Ironically, I actually remember having one of the most wonderful conversations with a 7 Life Path, but right off the bat she made a number of statements that would have insulted most people big time. She was amazing, but a union like that would have required a ton of love, understanding, and/or shared interests to work in the long run.

While I don't have the opportunity to observe people nearly as frequently as professional numerologist Glynis McCants, I have observed the occasional groups of family, friends, and colleagues. It's quite interesting to see how natural match numbers quite harmoniously tend to gravitate toward one another. It's not a be-all end-all equation for good relations, but I'm quite sure that McCants system of compatibility is some kind of universal law that can be statistically proved. They should make a reality show on it. Put 15 persons in house with 90%+ compatibility (a lot of natural matches) and in a second house make sure that everyone is as incompatible as possible by throwing a few "bitch numbers" in there, a 4 (4 out of 9 incompatible), and especially a 7 (5 out of 9 incompatible). This second house is probably going to be madness.

You're asking for classified information here! Well, partially, when it comes to some of the details. I'm also quite certain that things need to be tweaked a little further in the future, mainly to iron out some of the exceptions.

Anyway, of the primary numbers the Life Path carries the most weight, followed by the Power Name and Soul Urge. While the Destiny number is generally considered a primary number, it carries considerably less weight in compatibility calculations than the Power Name and Soul Urge. To me, and also to McCants, it seems that the Destiny number is overshadowed by the Power Name number in terms of present-day personality. It's often the same as the Power Name number though, at least with persons who only have one first name and one basic last name.

The extra numbers only have an average influence of about 2% and in rare cases, when they completely contradict the primary and extrovert numbers, 5%. These numbers have primarily been added because I suspect they do carry minor influence and also because of the Breaking the Numerological Matrix case.

After reading the books of various well-known numerologists [1] it quickly became clear that the Life Path number, based on the full date of birth, is the only one universally agreed upon:

However, this provides us with only nine different personalities, and while there are most definitely strong similarities between people with the same Life Path number, there are usually also considerable character differences. Ignoring outside influences as age, gender, bring up, etc., this is where other numbers come into play, but which ones?

Personally I agree with Glynis McCants that the Power Name number, based on the nickname plus last name, and thus can be changed at will, has a very strong moderating influence on the Life Path. It's the first one I pay attention to after the Life Path. If the Power Name is a challenge, it could easily wreck a relationship even if the Life Path is a Natural Match. Unfortunately, only Hans Decoz and Glynis McCants include this number in their analyses. The system of numerology founder L. Dow Balliett is rather incoherent and better ignored, but she also attached considerable value to the present name. [3]

One example I'm personally intrigued with is UFC fighter Conor McGregor. If he's not in showbiz mode, I definitely like and respect him. However, most of the time when he opens his mouth, I find him unbelievably annoying. Checking the basic 7 numbers that McCants uses, and I agree are the most important, I find a 7 Power Name and a 5 for (Minor) Soul Urge, Destiny and Birth Date. That pretty much explains why he is so harsh and crude and sensationalist with his remarks, especially for a 2 Life Path. The 5 and especially the 7 are very incompatible with my numbers and I get universally annoyed by people who carry around a lot of these numbers. Looking deeper, it turns out that all numbers based on the first name and the full name, except destiny, are compatible or natural match with me. To me this is (another) strong indication that McCants is right when she claims the Power Name and Minor Soul Urge are the most influential outside of the Life Path. If the numbers based on full name and first name would be dominant, McGregor shouldn't make me cringe most of the time he runs his mouth. God, is he annoying when he does that.

Here's a break-down of all numbers used by Cult of Cupid. Keep in mind that often various different names are used for the same numbers [4]:

Type of no.	Explanation
Life Path:	"I am here in this life to..." The SWOT of life. Gives you a broad overview of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges.
Power Name:	"An important aspect of me under the present name is..." Based on the name you introduce yourself with when also mentioning your last name. This seems to be the most important number to reinforce or moderate the characteristics of the Life Path. It's basically an extension of the Life Path and very obvious to the people around you.
Destiny Soul: **	"What makes me feel fulfilled inside is..." This is the Soul Urge based on the vowels of the FULL name on the birth certificate and can never be changed.
Soul Urge:	"What makes me feel fulfilled inside is..." This is the (Minor) Soul Urge based on the vowels in the name you introduce yourself (nickname plus last name) with and will change when your name changes. It is unclear at the moment which Soul Urge, "Minor" Soul Urge or Destiny Soul Urge, is the most important and when. Personally I suspect the ordinary Soul Urge is the most obvious to recognize, which is also the opinion of Glynis McCants.
Destiny: **	"The more I have succeeded in mastering my Life Path the more it becomes important to focus on..." Same as with the Power Name number. It is unclear at the moment whether the Power Name (Minor Expression) or Destiny number (Expression) is the most important and when. To me it seems the Power Name number is the more obvious to see of the two.
Birthday:	"A special, minor aspect or talent of myself is..." This number also seems to reflect how you present yourself to others and can often initially mask the Life Path and Power Name numbers. The characteristics usually show up very quickly when meeting someone. The number is based on (the sum of) the day you were born - so excluding the month and year.
Destiny Persona: **	"The way I tend to introduce and express myself to people whom I don't know very well..." The Destiny Persona is based on the sum of the consonants of the full name on the birth certificate and can never be changed. It is unclear at the moment which Persona number is the most important and when. I suspect the regular Persona is more influential.
Persona:	"The way I tend to introduce and express myself to people whom I don't know very well..." This number, called Personality by Glynis McCants, is based on the sum of the consonants in the first and last name you introduce yourself with. It is unclear at the moment which Persona number is the most important and when. I suspect the regular Persona is more influential.
Attitude:	"An important number that tells me my attitude in life towards myself and others." Another moderating influence on the Life Path. The characteristics usually show up quite early when meeting someone. It is based on the sum of the day and month of your date of birth.
Nickname numbers	These are the Power Name, Soul Urge and Outer Personality numbers for the nickname, which is manner in which numerologist Dr. David A. Phillips used to break down names. While I suspect these numbers also have a minor degree of influence, the numbers based on the nickname plus last name seem more obviously influential to me.
Month-year and month alone	After I ran out of numbers to test with the Breaking the Numerological Matrix girl, I began to invent numbers to see when the stream of "Natural Matches" would finally end. I figured, if the day number (Birthday) and month + day (Attitude) number have a degree of influence, then most likely the month-year and month alone numbers somehow will also have a minor influence somewhere. So just for the heck of it, I ran them too. When these two were also "Natural Match", I gave up on trying to get "Compatibles" or "Challenges" with this particular person. In hindsight, turns out that these are Pinnacle Numbers that have a kind of "lifeline" purpose. I don't deal with these.

The primary focus of Cult of Cupid is on the Life Path and the Power Name number, which combined appear to have a dominant influence on the personality. The number 3 is the (Minor) Soul Urge which appears to play an important role in the direction people take in life. Birthday, Persona (Outer Personality) and Attitude all are relatively superficial and extrovert numbers. The Destiny number, based on the full birth name, appears less apparent in a person's behavior. The same appears to be true for the Full Soul Urge, at least when a person's nickname and last name differ from the full birth name.

First look at the answer of the previous question to gain insight into what the key numbers are and what they represent. More detailed calculations here will be demonstrated based on the following example:


Pick the name you use to introduce yourself to others ("Hi, I am...") or use the first name everybody knows you by. In this example the name has been labeled with an asterisk (*).

Write down this name and look at the following oversight. With the vowels, write the corresponding numbers below the name. With the consonants, write the corresponding numbers above the name. Or vice versa.


Keep in mind that the letter Y is a special case. Whether it's considered a vowel or consonant depends on its location in the name. Below the reader can find a quick oversight explaining when to count the Y as a consonant or vowel:


As for Dutch visitors of the keep, keep in mind that the Dutch IJ should be calculated as a Y; not a separate I and J!

All done? Below you can find an oversight which key numbers to calculate and how to do it, all based on the above example:

It has been included for people to experiment with, mainly for the Dutch, where the "y-as-ij" combination is quite common. While before the age of computers, in older writing styles, the "i" and "j" were still generally connected, even in case of "ij", this is seldom the case anymore. Certainly digitally (and really already with typewriters) there exists a very clear distinction between the "ij" and "y". I have a name like this and always write, type, or spell the "i" and "j" separately. So that got me wondering if the "y" and "i+j" both have a degree of influence.

In my case it is very hard to tell which version is dominant. As usual, I'm an extreme case. My Life Path is a 29/11/2, with the next nine most important numbers consisting of six 6s and three 9s--an unusually focused and limited range. Reportedly the 9 in 29 of the Life Path also imbues one with 9-like qualities in life. Now, if I calculate all my numbers via "i+j", all numbers are still in the 6-9 range but now with seven 9s and two 6s. Power Name, Soul Urge, Destiny, Persona, Attitude, Full Persona, and Full Soul are all 9s.

It must be said, the classical manner of "ij-is-y" seems to be accurate enough, especially because the Soul Urge is already a 9 at this point. But I've been involved in a rather extreme amount of big picture humanitarian work in my still rather short life. My whole being is strongly pulled into that direction in order for me to feel satisfied. I strongly consider the possibility that I'm somewhere in between a "y" and a "ij", and therefore the option has been added, so that others can experiment in the same manner and maybe provide more clarity some day.

It also doesn't hurt to prominently demonstrate that the "y/ij" issue has been programmed properly. And who knows, somebody might have a name out there like Meiji (can't come up with anything else at the moment) in which the "ij" combination most definitely shouldn't be calculated as "y".

Good question. I was wondering about that myself, which led me to the Breaking the Numerological Matrix situation. McCants has also brought it up in the mean time, believing any name change is followed by a degree of personality change.

Considering the apparent influence of the Power Name and Minor Soul Urge numbers, with a more superficial influence of the Persona (Outer Personality) number, one would expect, if numerology were accurate, that the person who changes his name after marriage indeed also undergoes a degree of personal change.

I'm not really sure what to believe at this point. Considering there are plenty of married couples in the world, I would love feedback on this issue. There's nothing better than this site to carry out a large scale test on this aspect.

One certain thing is that there can be tremendous love even with the lowest of compatibilities. The tricky aspect is to make it work and in that case numerology can still help out to properly and successfully deal with the cards you've been dealt.

The chance for a 100% match is discussed in Cult of Cupid's Breaking the Numerological Matrix article. It's about 1 in 330,000 for singles and 1 in 40,000 for married couples. Keep in mind that married couples, siblings, individuals with no additional names or separate birth names, and twins in particular all score statistically higher than average U.S.-based single persons among each other. That also goes for the possibility of having a 100% match.

Below I made a first quick attempt to plot a chart that gives users an indication what the approximate probabilities are per numerological compatibility. Give it some time and it will probably be improved a little.

If we look at the data in a cumulative and probably more practical manner in most cases, probabilities approximately are as indicated below. These percentages primarily go for singles with middle names. Married couples, especially with one partner having at least one middle name, will have slightly better chances.

Compatibility score	Approximate global, random probability
100%	0.000014% - 1 in 700,000 (estimated) 0.001% - 1 in 100,000 (similar last name)
99% or higher	0.0022% - 1 in 45,000
98% or higher	0.018% - 1 in 5,500
97% or higher	0.067% - 1 in 1,500
96% or higher	0.15% - 1 in 650
95% or higher	0.3% - 1 in 333
94% or higher	0.5% - 1 in 200
93% or higher	0.8% - 1 in 125
92% or higher	1.10% - 1 in 90
91% or higher	1.75% - 1 in 57
90% or higher	2.6% - 1 in 38
89% or higher	3.5% - 1 in 28
88% or higher	4.5% - 1 in 22
87% or higher	6.0% - 1 in 17
86% or higher	7.2% - 1 in 14
85% or higher	9.0% - 1 in 11
80% or higher	20% - 1 in 5
75% or higher	33% - 1 in 3
70% or higher	49% - 1 in 2
65% or higher	67% - 2 in 3
60% or higher	80% - 4 in 5
Lower than 60%	20% - 1 in 5
Lower than 55%	10% - 1 in 10
Lower than 50%	3% - 1 in 33
Lower than 45%	0.5% - 1 in 200
Lower than 40%	0.1% - 1 in 1000
Lower than 35%	0.01% - 1 in 10,000
30%	<0.00025% - <1 in 40,000

Additional information on how to get a 100% compatibility that might come in handy at some point:

Date of birth numbers	1/27. Each has a 1 in 3 possibility, so 3 x 3 x 3.
Date of birth extra numbers	1/90, although I've seen 150-170 ranges as well as 80-90 ranges. When only running both full birth names and dates, the average 100% lock is roughly 1/1350, so I settled on 90 (x15) for the time being.
Full birth name	1/15 over a rather extended test sample.
First name / nick name	1/32 on average. Based on: Cult of Cupid group tests with 800 popular Dutch and English first names, with dates of birth, last names and full birth names all locked into "natural match". Name length didn't seem to matter.
Nick name + last name together	I calculated an average of 1/270, but lowered it to 250 just to be certain. The spread went from 200 to 345.
Both the same last name	1/5. When everything else is "natural match", 1 in 5 on average will provide a couple with a 100% rating. Based on: Cult of Cupid group tests in which dates of birth, first names and full birth names were all locked into "natural match" and random last names were provided to the couple (always the same for both).

Cult of Cupid's uniquely-developed group analysis can make 19,900 individual compatibility calculations in about 10 seconds, calculations that would manually take one person working full-time for more than two years. It also calculates the average percentage of the entire group and of each individual within the group, listing everything in an orderly table. To make the group function even more valuable, it is possible to click on each combination and get an entire compatibility table. This means that when an individual has backed up the entire JSON code off-line, it will be very easy to bring forth the entire table for another round of in-depth analysis. This saves mountains of time compared to filling in the data per two individuals on the compatibility page.

To summarize, group analysis has been developed for the following reasons:

• Quickly analyze pairs within a group.
• Compare numbers and averages of one group with another and figure out differences in social cohesion (good for statistical, scientific research).
• Compare groups of friends, lovers, or otherwise carefully selected individuals with the the global average probability spread, which would be ideal for statistical, scientific research.
• Figure out who should best work together or keep their distances at school or work (if friction is spotted).
• The "fascist function": find individuals who best to remove from a group (if they cause friction) or include based on their individual group average.
• Quickly set up test groups for scientific and entertainment purposes to predict and see how well they get along.

With group analysis, it is recommended to back up the JSON code BEFORE starting calculations, just in case something goes wrong and the data is lost.

One thing that often goes wrong is clicking the "back" button in the browser instead of the "Close" button in the table after the table has been expanded to full-screen. This takes site visitors back to the page BEFORE they clicked on the group page, erasing all JSON data in most browsers (not in Firefox). So, click on the "Close" button after having expanded the group table to "full-screen" - not the browser's "back" button!! And back up the JSON code before doing any calculations.

Traditional personality tests tell you who you think you are, or who experts think you are. While often quite accurate, these tests are based on subjective interpretations and require a considerable degree of self-awareness. It's also not unusual for outsiders to have completely different views on the personality than the test subjects themselves. Or no matter the amount of tests, subjects still have no clue what to focus on in life. Story of my life, right here.

The idea behind numerology is that it objectively and in broad lines tells people who they are; where their strengths and weaknesses lie. For examples. 2s are very sensitive, 3s are excellent communicators, 4s are very practical, 5s need constant stimulation, and so on.

The strengths of each number can be put to use in many different situations and often certain talents still need to be developed. Strengths and weaknesses are also heavily influenced by genes, gender, health and sickness, accomplishments, social and financial circumstances, and more. A 30-year-old 2 who is a multi-millionaire football player might be much more confident than an obese, balding 50-year-old 8 who works at McDonalds, but in case social and other circumstances are similar, we should be able to statistically demonstrate that in the vast majority of cases the 2 is much more sensitive to angry emotions and is more of a peacemaker and diplomat than the 8.

While numerology still needs to be statistically proved, it doesn't necessarily need to replace traditional tests. They can easily supplement each other.

As explained, my first introduction to numerology was through Glynis McCants. One of the things I noticed is that, again and again, she would state that the western version of numerology is descended from Pythagoras. Considering Pythagoras is a famous Greek mathematician, this heritage instantly generates a degree of credibility and interest. After buying McCants' book, and later the books of half a dozen other numerologists, I looked for sources on the origin of numerology, but was unable to find them.

As it turns out, modern numerology has more or less been invented by Mrs. L. Dow Balliett. Her first published work dates to 1908 with the book The Philosophy of Numbers. Several additional books followed over the next decade. What she did was take the spiritual philosophies of the Theosophical Society and the Society for Psychical Research regarding reincarnation and the nature of reality and combine them with biblical theology and ideas of a 500 B.C. Pythagoras, whom she basically seemed to worship to a worrying degree. [5] She also aspired to copy her millennia-long deceased mentor by trying to set up a cult of her own, complete with copyrights of a flawed interpretive system of what she herself considered a basic law of nature. [6]

As for a brief summary of the secretive 500 B.C. Pythagorean cult, it discovered harmonic intervals of music: the octave (1:2), the perfect fifth (3:2), etc. The cult also rediscovered the "Pythagorean Theorem" - already in use by the Babylonians over 1,000 years earlier. Members of the cult are also credited with (reluctantly) discovering irrational numbers, numbers which cannot be represented as terminating or repeating decimals. The Greeks, with their heavy focus on geometry, were confused on how to handle the concept of the number zero.

In short, the Pythagoreans:

• recognized that all numbers could be broken down to a number between 1 and 9, not unlike numerology [7];
• assigned certain values to the numbers 1 to 9 [8];
• held the belief, especially after discovering the harmonic intervals of music, that everything in life is somehow related to numbers;
• believed in some form of reincarnation, as did Socrates and various other Ancient Greeks.

Quite possibly the Pythagoreans were breaking down birth dates into their most elemental numbers, but evidence for this is lacking. As far as we can tell the practice of breaking down birth dates was started by Balliett. Personally I suspect that Balliett or unknown persons who inspired her, read about these ideas of the Pythagoreans and came up with the idea to break down birth dates into typically numerological fashion. They noticed similarities between people with the same Birth Force/Life Path numbers and expanded the numerological practice to names. They also copied the ideas of Pythagoras about numerology and us basically living in a mathematical matrix.

Going through the work of Balliett it quickly became clear that her numerological ideas were quite crude and incoherent. Even after reading several of her books it's not clear which numbers she considers the most important, she doesn't break names down in a consistent fashion, and her description of the numbers 1 to 9 is very different from later authors. Simply put, much of her work is incoherent, riddled with references to Christ, Pythagorean "trinities", musical harmonies, colors, and alchemical ideas. In 1910 even the Theosophical Society had no idea what to think of her first book The Philosophy of Numbers:

"The author of this curious volume starts from a sound basis of reincarnation and she shows sometimes a felicity of illustration that is admirable. But when she comes to the practical application of her theories she is far less convincing. It would be interesting to know where she gets her attribution of numbers to the letters of the alphabet, an attribution that appears to be dogmatic and that she uses in a wholly fanciful way for the interpretation of the inner meanings of proper names." [9]

The first really practical numerology book was Numerology - The Romance in Your Name, written in 1965 by Dr. Juno Jordan. While Jordan came from the same circle as Balliett, and has been influenced by her, Jordan's book is much more practical and seemingly much more accurate. It doesn't differ much either from the work of McCants today, although McCants most certainly made a number additions, not the least of which a system to compare numbers. Still, Balliett's influence on McCants remains visible too: Pythagoras, reincarnation, the vibration of money, and the breaking down of city names and the like were all first introduced by Balliett. That doesn't make all of it necessarily untrue, but Balliett remains a very unfortunate character in the history of numerology.

So, did Pythagoras really figure out numerology first? That's a tough question to answer. Ideally we'd have more documentation on his exact teachings before making any definitive statements, but what is certain is that Pythagoras and his cult laid the foundation for modern numerology to arise. However, strictly speaking, credit for inventing numerology should go to Balliett. Or maybe for practical reasons she should be written out of history with credit given to Dr. Juno Jordan and really also McCants, whose works are much more coherent and much better represent the state of numerology as it is today.

Traditionally in numerology the Life Path numbers 11 and 22, which respectively break down to 2 and 4, are seen as very special Master Numbers. Supposedly people with these numbers are here for a higher purpose with tons of ability and creativity. Sometimes the number 33/6 is also recognized as a Master Number.

To be honest, the more I looked into the origin of the belief in Master Numbers, the less credible they seemed--and I'm saying that as a 11/2. First, the idea of 11 and 22 Master Numbers has been invented by a not-too-credible-nor-coherent L. Dow Balliett. She claims Pythagoras considered the number 11 the most perfect of all and attached value to the 22 because the Hebrew alphabet consists of 22 characters. [10] I've seen no evidence of the Pythagoreans attaching any special value to the number 11 (just 1 to 9, and reportedly the 10 as the "holiest" [11]) or to the Hebrew alphabet. And even in the case they did, there don't seem to be any sound arguments for incorporating the 11 and 22 in modern numerology as Master Numbers.

In addition to the questionable origins of the Master Number theory, a simple calculation reveals that 75% of all 2s have Master Number 11. Their Life Paths are either 11/2, 29/11/2, 38/11/2, or the rare 47/11/2. Only 20/2s are "pure" 2s.

What might well be true is that Master Numbers represent an unusually strong focus, which is actually also part of the traditional view on Master Numbers. For example, 22/4s are 4s with a very strong 2 energy, considerably different from the 31/4 and the 40/4. The same goes for differences between a 20/2 and 11/2, or a 51/6 and a 33/6. They seem to be the same numbers after breakdown, but might still be considerably different.

If this line of thinking is accurate, then, in my opinion, the 44/8 is another Master Number. In this case we are theoretically dealing with a very practical, down-to-earth, and organized mind-set, who might be a master at handling large projects. Ironically, modern numerologists seem to have forgotten that the 8 and 9 were also considered master numbers by Balliett, albeit simply for the reason that she considered higher numbers as more evolved than lower numbers.

Just to be clear, Master Numbers other than 11, 22, 33 and 44 don't exist. The highest achievable number before breakdown for the next 1,000 years is 48, which is for people born on 9/29/1999, and even a 55/10/1, born on 9/29/8999, is hardly a real Master Number because it breaks down to 10 first, just like 66 breaks down to 12 first.

Personally, I haven't been able to analyze nearly enough people to make any strong statements on Master Numbers or to what extent 31/4s differ from 40/4s and 22/4s. Many numerologists pay no attention to these numbers before final breakdown either, unless it's a Master Number. I suspect, but am not sure this is a mistake. Evidence is still anecdotal though. For now, I agree with Glynis McCants that the number of the final breakdown (1-9) is by far the most obvious to see in a person. And also that maybe the Power Name number, based on the present first and last name, is the second most influential number on a person's character.

In another observation, quite possibly numerologists kept the theory of Master Numbers 11/2 and 22/4 alive, because 2s are often unusually easy-going and spiritual, with the double 1 or Life Path 4, providing these 2s with a strong dose of practical, down-to-earth energy. The 33/6 is primarily considered creative, with the hyper-practical 44/8 certainly not associated with spiritual affairs. Still, tomorrow it might be a 44/8 who proves to the world that reincarnation exists. One never knows how numbers play out in a person's life.

Not really. For some time I was looking at the existence of the Fibonacci sequence in nature for evidence that some aspects of the natural world are based on very simple mathematics. I'm not so sure it's a good comparison. Yes, the Fibonacci sequence can be found in sunflower seed heads, pinecones, pineapples, cauliflowers, growth points on trees, various flower petals, and even human nucleotides, but these cases still constitute a very tiny aspect of the full spectrum of nature. I'm not really sure what to think about it. Maybe nature simply decided that 1 + 1 = 2, 1 + 2 = 3, 2 + 3 = 5 (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, etc.) would be the most optimal design for growth in these particular instances. Is it really more miraculous than the way our entire bodies, from the largest organ to the tiniest cell, perfectly fits together? There's no underlying intelligence/consciousness behind that? Maybe it's a little premature to dismiss that possibility.

For now my guess is that numerology is a hint to the illusionary nature of reality. Say what? Yeah, sorry, maybe I'm skipping a few steps here, but psychedelics tend to have that effect. I remember one of the earliest visions/experiences with Ayahuasca in which I was basically sitting inside a huge 3D box completely covered on the inside with holographic television screens. Each screen reflected one aspect of my life, with the serpent attached to the Ayahuasca brew flipping over and changing some of the screens. According to the serpent, all of life is a creation of myself with a few anomalies build in to remind me of the illusionary nature of the world I've been born into. Numerology and the Breaking the Numerological Matrix episode apparently are some of these hints.

In the mean time I've had endless visions and dictations along these lines. Only after these experiences did I hear Alan Watts' very similar views on the nature of reality. Unsurprisingly, next to his Zen buddhism practice, he was a very heavy tripper on LSD and mushrooms. Another year later I read the following description of Watts' friend, Harvard's LSD and mushroom guru Dr. Timothy Leary: "[On LSD I quickly realized that] everything within and around me is a creation of my own consciousness. And that everyone lives in a neural cocoon of private reality." [12] The non-reality of life seems to be a constant theme with all kinds of heavy duty psychedelics. I very much suspect it's true.

From Ancient Greece. Cupid is the Roman name for Eros, the Greek god of love, lust (homosexual and heterosexual), and beauty. Initially, by the poet Hesiod in 700 B.C., Eros was described as a primordial god. This version was still around 300 years later, when, in 400 B.C., Aristophanes, a well known contemporary of Plato and Socrates, wrote:

"In the beginning there was only Chaos [Void], Nyx [Night], Erebus [Darkness], and Tartarus [Abyss]. Earth, the Air and Heaven had no existence. Firstly, blackwinged Nyx laid a germless egg in the bosom of the infinite deeps of darkness, and from this, after the revolution of long ages, sprang the graceful Eros [Cupid/Love] with his glittering golden wings, swift as the whirlwinds of the tempest. He mated in deep Tartarus with dark Chaos, winged like himself, and thus hatched forth our race."

Within a few decades of Aristophanus' version, Eros/Cupid became a son of Aphrodite/Venus, the goddess of love. With his golden arrows he made both gods and humans fall uncontrollably in love with each other, while his lead arrows would awaken feelings of aversion towards a love interest. Cupid could be petty on occasion and made use of both types of arrows.

While Cupid was initially depicted as single, young, athletic youth, already in Ancient Greece he was increasingly turned into a chubby, playful boy of which many at the same time could exist.

The Erotes from ancient Greek mythology revolve around Eros (Cupid/Amor) and Aphrodite (Venus), respectively the god and goddess of beauty, love, hetero and homosexual sex, romance, and anything related to it.

The brothers of Eros - Anteros, Himeros and Pothos - also belong to the Erotes and represent various overlapping aspects of love: desire, rejection, absence, jealousy, retribution, etc.

While Eros was originally described by poets as Hesiod (700 B.C.) as a primordial god who created mankind, he and his brothers were later seen as the sons of love goddess Aphrodite (Venus) and god of war Ares (Mars). While Ares did not have any affiliation with the concept of love, it can be argued that he is an embodiment of untamed and very physical male sexual energy, with Aphrodite representing his more sensitive female counterpart.

The most closely related gods to the Erotes are Apollo and Dionysus (Bacchus), who respectively stand for artistry and partying. Apollo is linked to music, poetry, and sunlight. Dionysus is primarily affiliated with excesses involving wine, food, trance and psychedelic states, theater, and sex. Of course, alongside the physical attraction represented by Aphrodite and Ares, artistry and partying can also be considered aphrodisiacs.

Keep in mind that anyone is quite free to interpret the ancient Greek myths as they see fit, as they're just archetypes and symbolic representations of various aspects of nature and man.