by S D Anugyan
When just a young lad at the Findhorn Community in Scotland I had the good fortune to meet someone who was adept at Tarot, and he initiated me into a way of comprehending the cards. His approach was numerological, that if you understand the numbers, then you understand the root meanings. This approach opened up so much for me, enabling me to adapt easily to different systems. I even got good at reading beer mats in pubs.
Here follows, in brief, a summary of the meanings ascribed to the various numbers. Other brands are available:
1 Unity, beginning
2 Balance, duality, relationship
3 Expression
4 Stability, foundation
5 Creativity, freedom
6 Harmony
7 Spirituality
8 Power, transformation
9 Completion
10 Archetype, repetition
11 Initiation
22 Master Builder
The number 10 might need some explaining in this system. As 1 + 0 it should be 1, a new beginning, but in Tarot this implies a particular cycle is continuing on, perhaps for too long.
The Ten of Swords, for example, in the Rider deck shows a man pinned to the ground by ten swords in his back. It portrays a mental process, that of Air represented by swords in Tarot, having gone too far; a certain pattern of the mind has been completely and utterly defeated.
Similarly, Ten of Wands is a man who can’t see where he is going because of the ten sticks he is carrying in front of him. Wands, representing the Fire element, are about spirituality which can become burdensome and stuck if accumulating too much ‘stuff’.
The benign exception is with the Ten of Pentacles, representing Earth, where repetition can be part of tradition, something practical and rich on all levels. (See my blog post The Divine Marketplace for more on this.)
My own interpretations and understandings evolved over time, but always in deference to the above simple summary. Three other basic understandings can be observed:
- Even numbers are stable, odd ones have movement. For example, 6 is seen as ‘harmony’ because it is a perfect balance of 2 x 3, even and odd.
- Multiples of 11 are always considered special and not condensed necessarily to their sums e.g. 22 can become 4 as is normal in numerology, but as it’s a multiple of 11 is an entity in itself, a special one so that the brick-like 4 becomes energetically that of the master builder.
- Repetitions of numbers, being special, also don’t require reduction. For example, 333 can be taken as itself rather than just 3 + 3 + 3 i.e. 9.
I loved this way of working and found it could be applied not only to Tarot, but also to astrology and various other things. It was a universal language, transcending cultural or national bias. One example would be the number 13, considered unlucky in western culture, but actually as it’s numerologically 4 (i.e. 1 + 3) it’s actually quite a stable number, with nuances/characteristics of both 1 and 3, unity and expression. This makes it a rather positive, interesting number to have around.
Over the years I came to understand I could ‘chat’ with the universe by playing with numbers. For example, if I owed someone about £110 pounds I would pay them £111. The next I knew, I would get a payment into my account from a different source of, say, £22. One could interpret this as my saying, ‘I wish to express (1 + 1 + 1 = 3) powerfully that I am listening. The universe responded by saying, ‘I hear you and this is just to reassure you with the Master Builder number that you will be all right, and assets will increase healthily.’
I can use numerology thus to balance my life as needed. If things are getting ungrounded, I may ‘put a message out’ by ensuring a grocery bill comes to 4 e.g. £31. If things are too staid, I’ll aim for 5 to liven things up e.g. on eBay I’ll select an item that amounts to £14 (1 + 4 = 5) rather than a cheaper option of £13.
The one number I do tend to be wary around though is 5. This might surprise people, it being ‘creativity and freedom’ – the stability of 4 plus the extra unity of 1 providing movement and excitement. It can be unpredictable however, with a danger of freedom without responsibility.
Think of the American Pentagon or the pentagram associated, perhaps unfairly, with dark magic. There is also an ambivalence, to my mind, in Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man in that while many see an idealised representation of the human form, I see a helplessness, the five extremities of the limbs and head restricted to movement within a circle, like a body upon a slab. The arms and legs may move but they don’t leave the circle. One also sees in the Tarot the fives often showing conflict but also excitement and drama.
Thus it was one day not so long ago I was at the local train station for a relaxing day out alone. After paying, and picking up a few magazines, I headed towards the platform and was distracted by the charity bookshop before it. I went in and this time found not only the usual thrillers and romance paperbacks but an extraordinarily beautiful copy of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. It was an exact replica of the original first edition.
Delighted with my find, I paid then went to get my train – which wasn’t going anywhere. I’d never known this train to fail, and I was a frequent traveller on it, but this time things went completely wrong. After some time we were informed there were taxis available, provided by the train company, but as the whole point was the journey itself – along the estuary, across viaducts, and along green lush corridors of vegetation to quaint little villages and stations – I chose to return to the ticket office and get my money back. After a bit of fuss, because I’d paid for another ticket at the same time, I got my refund and a receipt – for £5.55.
I had to laugh, but the universe wasn’t finished with its little joke. After dealing with a bellicose taxi driver, I was grateful to get back home with some interesting reading material, including the Walt Whitman. Later in the evening, I settled down to watch the TV show ‘Dickinson’, which I’d been really enjoying. This episode began with the famous poet Emily Dickinson settling down, blissfully happy, with her brand new copy of…’Leaves of Grass’ by Walt Whitman. Not only that, but it was the exact same edition as mine, a facsimile of the original.
So there you have it. The number 5: creative, unpredictable, dangerous, and very funny.
I have countless examples like this, with different numbers, but the one I’d like to end on is with a number whose significance is only recognisable normally to meditators.
A few weeks ago I wanted to send a couple of my books to Bhagawati, in Indonesia. When I went to the local post office, they quoted an outrageous price to me. As I’d researched the cost online before, I questioned their arithmetic. They checked, and realised the parcel could be sent cheaper. The new price was more what I was expecting, but it was only on leaving the post office and I checked my receipt, I saw exactly what the number was: £10.80. (The 108 being significant, of course, for the number of beads in a mala.)
There is a danger, as with anything like this, of becoming overly obsessive. But this is only Class 101, an introduction, as in the first year of university – a time where you flirt, make mistakes, have fun, don’t take things too seriously. In the second year, as a sophomore you can perhaps start going a bit deeper and exploring the Golden Mean, fractal numbers and other divine communiqués. But for now, just enjoy the game. Maybe change your PIN to a number that is positive for your financial well-being, to support yourself through college?! Invite a specific number of guests for dinner to invoke a particular energy? As I say, just have fun with it, explore, and don’t take it too seriously.
Yet another anecdote presents itself, even as I come to finishing this essay. Yesterday I was at a beautiful little village here in Devon, waiting for a bus with a friend who was seeing me off. As we were waiting, I told him I was writing an essay for Osho News about numerology. I didn’t tell him the title but at that moment a bus came round the corner that wasn’t my bus and wasn’t on the schedule. Its number? 101.
The universe is listening, and it’s certainly got a sense of humour.
Featured image Photo Ryoji Iwata on Unsplash
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