What is Numerology?
In its simplest form numerology manifests in the way many cultures, and individuals, consider certain numbers to be lucky or unlucky. For example:
- Four is considered unlucky by the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean because it sounds like the word for “death”.
- Seven is considered lucky by many cultures, but not the Chinese as it has connotations with the dead (eg the Festival of the Hungry Ghosts is in the Seventh Lunar Month).
- Eight is considered lucky by the Chinese and Japanese, because it sounds like the word for “prosper”.
- Thirteen is considered unlucky by most Western cultures, because Judas Iscariot, the disciple and betrayer of Jesus, was the thirteenth man at Jesus’ Last Supper. The belief is so strong that 13 is sometimes omitted as a house number or floor number in a building. However, thirteen is considered lucky in Italy. It is also considered lucky in China, because it sounds like the word for “sure life”.
Interestingly, these generalized meanings are culturally dependent. This suggests that rather than being intrinsic, the significance of numbers depends upon the context of consideration, and that this contextual significance has been created by eons of consistent association. (more…)
