Painting Souls by Numbers
Slade at Shift Your Spirits has a post and interesting comment thread going on how to calculate the meaning of your name with numerology. This involves assigning numbers to each of the letters in your name and then arriving at a "soul urge" number and and "expression" number for yourself. (Check out Slade's post for instructions for the numerology and interpretation chart, and be sure to read the comments!)
Slade and most of the commenters experimented with different variations of their name (first, full, given, chosen) to see how the results would differ depending on which name they used. I was curious about the difference between a given and a chosen name too. What insight is revealed when you compare the differences?
My given name is Angela.
Soul urge - 7 - introspection, analysis, spirituality
Expression - 4 - limitations/restrictions, system, order
My chosen Wiccan name is Angela-Eloise.
Soul urge - 5 - freedom/variety
Expression - 6 - service to others/responsibility
It's really interesting to me that, according to this system, my given name indicates a person who looks inward for answers and whose expressions are restricted by some system of order. This is surprising given that I'm actually very extroverted in personality. But if I really think about it, I can see how this could be true. My Wiccan name appears to be more free and expresses itself as being devoted to others. Perhaps what the difference between the two reveals is that my Wiccan self is my real self finally finding a means or an avenue for soul-fulfilling outward expression. Does this suggest that the name we choose for ourselves is a truer reflection of who we are as as a person?
I interpreted "soul urge" and "expression" as similar to the way you use personal soul cards in Tarot. This is a technique I learned from my first tarot teacher. Again with numerology, you use your birthday to determine which cards in the Major Arcana reflect your personality and your soul. The personality card represents what a person projects to others, what others see, one's persona or mask. The soul card represents the real person beneath the exterior. So, I equated "soul urge" from Slade's exercise to the soul card and "expression" as the personality card.
To figure out your personal soul cards, you add the numbers of the day, month and year you were born, then add the numbers of the result. A person with the birthday of March 12, 1958 would be 3+12+1958=1973; 1+9+7+3=20. The first number represents a person's personality card, which in this case is Judgment (XX in the Major Arcana). Then you reduce the first number to a single digit - 2+0=2. The second number represents the soul card, which in this case is the Priestess (II in the Major Arcana).
For myself, I add the numbers of the day (29), month (4) and year (1967) I was born to get 2000. This is reduced to 2. When the first number you get is a single digit number, it means that there is no persona card, only a strong card of the soul - who you are and what you project are the same. In my case, I am a Double Priestess.
The soul of the PRIESTESS is expressed through love, service, peace, gentleness, harmony, and quiet meditation. The PRIESTESS blossoms with a simple life dedicated to metaphysical work. Cultivate a peaceful environment away from the limelight. The total bliss of samadi (unity of body, mind, and spirit) is available to the PRIESTESS who walks the inner path of spirit and service without thought of a reward.
It seems the numbers may be trying to tell me something.
You can learn more about Tarot and Numbers - and the meanings of your personal soul cards - in Chapter 8 of Susan Levitt's book Introduction to Tarot
Posted by Angela-Eloise at 9:15 AM
Comments
Hi Angela-Eloise, this is so cool!
My numbers (5/26/1973) add up to 2004, which is 6; so if I understand the math correctly, I also have a strong soul card; I'm simply the Lovers.
It also looks like the incidence of people with strong soul cards is severely restricted according to the year and millenium in which you're born. For example, everyone born in the 1800's would have had a persona card; people like you and I, with no persona card, could not have been born, because the numbers in the 1800's will never add up to less than 10. Only in the last half of the 20th century would you start getting people with strong soul cards. If I'm adding right, the first people with strong soul cards would have been born on Dec. 31, 1957.
Prior to that, the last person with no persona card would have been born on Jan. 1, 1600. (He was a theologian, a Calvinist, who believed in predestination, named Friedrich Spanheim; look him up in Wikipedia. :-) )
You gotta wonder whether the rising incidence of people with strong soul cards is linked to the sea change in spirituality and interconnectedness we're seeing these days.
Posted by: Jeff Lilly | March 14, 2007 10:08 AM
THAT's really cool Jeff. How on Earth did you figure that out?
By the way, here is the interpretation for your Lovers soul card:
The soul of the LOVERS has one task in life: self-love. When we love ourselves, we can mirror that love through others. To heal the earth, we can start by healing ourselves. The LOVERS soul can integrate many expressions of love to feel connection to all forms of life, be they human, animal, plant or elemental. In the Native American tradition, this connection to all things is referred to as "all my relations." Being an even number, 6 is the number of harmony, balance and peace. Cultivate moments for meditation and reflection. Six also symoblizes responsibility and dedication.
Posted by: Angela-Eloise | March 14, 2007 10:28 AM
WOW! Just reading the comment above. wow, I've suspected something along those lines but never looked to tarot as a reflection.
I think I've looked my soul card up before, it seemed familiar. Mine is 8, Strength.
Posted by: Steph | March 16, 2007 5:33 PM
Thanks for that info, Angela-Eloise! I think it's even more appropriate that my card is the Lovers, since I'm a Gemini. Isn't that card usually associated with that sign?
Frankly I still have a long way to go with self-love... but it's neat to have that direction laid out before me.
Posted by: Jeff Lilly | March 17, 2007 1:22 PM
You're welcome, Jeff. And yes, The Lovers card is associated with Gemini.
Posted by: Angela-Eloise | March 17, 2007 1:41 PM
this is really interesting...my bday is 1-7-1985. So I got 22. arent there only 21 cards in the majors?? What does that mean??
Posted by: angela | March 18, 2007 6:27 PM
Hi Angela-with-the-January-birthday, I think there are some Tarot decks that number the Fool as 22; but most place him as 0. So you shuold add 2 + 2 and get 4, giving you a strong soul card of the Emperor, with no persona card.
Posted by: Jeff Lilly | March 19, 2007 7:07 AM
Jeff is right, Angela. Using this tarot soul card method you would simply have one card - the Emperor.
The soul of the EMPEROR excels in a realm he can control. He does best to run his own business or do work which does not compromise his ideals. He does well to avoid situations where others tell him what to do or watch him as he works. The EMPEROR enjoys stability, patience, trust and perseverance but he needs to express those qualities in a vigorous manner. Participation is the key to the EMPEROR's happiness. He needs to be a leader, not a follower, even if the only person he leads his himself. This archetype is a powerhouse, so be conscious that the energy is used for healing purposes, not to dominate others.
Steph, here is the info on your soul card - Strength:
The soul of STRENGTH can be determined by examining the horoscope. The STRENGTH card applies to one with a fiery personality and many of the fire signs: Sagittarius, Aries, and especially Leo the lion. The STRENGTH soul is fortunate to be gifted with courage, perseverance, and fortitude. Cultivate an altruistic spirit and use your power to aid others.
Posted by: Angela-Eloise | March 19, 2007 8:44 AM
Help!
My Birthday is 7-23-1969, which equals 1999. Add these digits and you get 28... So do I reduce the numbers further 2+8=10?
Does this make me a 1 with, nothing else? Or am I a 10 and a 1, or just a 1 -- I can't figure it out!
Posted by: Slade | March 19, 2007 9:11 AM
Slade, 10 indicates your personality card - the Wheel of Fortune - and that reduces to 1, which is your soul card - the Magician. Remember, the personality card represents how you show yourself to the world and the soul card represents the true you underneath.
This is a very lucky and charmed combination. As the Magician you can work magick and make all will-powered events come true and the ever-evolving Wheel of Fortune turns in your favor. With the Magician as your soul card, you are best suited to cultivating a path of spiritual development and pursuing the magickal arts. (I think you are on your way, no?)
Posted by: Angela-Eloise | March 19, 2007 9:24 AM
Thank you!
I was close...
By the way, if you read my latest post, yesterday Stop Feeling Like a Failure, I described myself as the Magician...
Although this card has always been one I most identify with, I don't know that I have written about it at all.
The brief metaphor of the Magician was one of those that come through and feel to me -- as I'm writing -- to be breaks in what I'm willfully choosing to say.
Most people reading my posts would not spot them, but I can go through my posts and the little "purely channeled" parts are almost hi-lighted... I have learned to let them through and not edit them out, because they usually show their significance or they will resonate for someone else.
I was kind of thinking "Why the hell am I this Magician for a second...?" The allusion is brief in the midst of a long rant, and does not repeat.
Now I know...
Posted by: Slade | March 19, 2007 10:26 AM
4/25/1980 (Yes, a Taurus... doing spiritual stuff... quit gawking. ;) )2009 becomes 11, then 2.
Personality = 11 = Justice, the card of adjustment. (Either the adjustment can come from within, or from without, but it must come.) That seems to be a pretty taurean concept.
Soul = 2 = High Priestess, or the female Hierophant. Since gender doesn't matter to the soul, it shows the qualities of the Hierophant in a giving nature, rather than a receiving nature... (Sorry, I skipped over this card as I was studying them these past few days.) It represents knowledge, whether it is hidden or plain. In fact, it is both hidden and plain.
Going over my notes on my full name, back over on Slade's blog, with a soul number of 1 (oddly, my birthday ends up as 11, since doubles aren't normally reduced) I find the Magician taking up the primary position, the Hermit taking up the position of Expression, with a Foundation of Strength.
Hey Jeff, remember what you told me about being the Hermit? It was already there, simply waiting to be made plain.
Thank you, Angela-Eloise. You've helped piece together another portion of the puzzle.
Posted by: Adam | March 19, 2007 11:18 AM
You're welcome Adam! Glad to be of service. ;)
And I too am a Taurus doing spiritual work. We can be gawked at together. In fact, my birthday is just 4 days after yours. Let's remember to celebrate together.
Posted by: Angela-Eloise | March 19, 2007 11:35 AM
I'm so very glad my reading was helpful, Adam. If you remember, I didn't use actual cards -- I did a meditation, and the cards appeared in the meditation! That was completely unexpected, and I had no idea whether it would be any help at all...
Slade, it is so obvious that you are a Magician -- at least, it's obvious to those who read Shift Your Spirits! I wonder if your persona card is more at work in your PageCoach venture?
Posted by: Jeff Lilly | March 19, 2007 12:17 PM