It's no secret that I'm a monumental math geek. I giggle when my sales receipt comes out to $11.11, and I can't tell you how moved I was when my son was born not only on a day of all prime numbers but at exactly 3:14.
As with many divination techniques, numerology is only as valid as the power and attention you give it. Unlike other methods, though, you don't necessarily need specific tools to use it. For instance, every morning I work a sudoku puzzle. As I solve for specific numbers, I write them down in order, and that gives me something of a clue about what my priorities are for the day or sometimes an insight on a specific event. Numbers can tell stories just as easily as cards if you know the language.
Let's say that my sudoku is solved in order as 8, 2, 5, 6, and 7. (Once it's easy to solve and I'm just filling in numbers, it's not important to keep track of them.) As a heads-up for my day, it could indicate that I should work on business stuff first, then try to have lunch with my husband (or at least a nice conversation), then maybe take a little "me" time with a bath. Finally, I should end the day with some quality time with the kids - maybe make a nice meal or snuggle on the couch while watching a movie - and then round out my evening with some deep meditation.
Or, it could also tell me a story: 8 and 2 tell me that a business arrangement is going to come up that involves my husband. That's not out of the question since we do a little web hosting freelance on the side. 5, 6, and 7 suggest that an indulgent meal in the evening with the family will bring about a sense of spiritual peace and awareness.
These numbers can be found anywhere. While adding values together can make them make a certain amount of sense, what the numbers are as a string are also telling. One of the first phone numbers I ever remembered was 826-0314. I spent hours focusing on how it was "magnitudinous palindrome" - half of 8 is 4, half of 2 is 1, half of 6 is 3, so if you added a factor of 2 in a limited sense, it was the same forwards and backwards... And the meanings! 826 to me meant that "a healthy business supports a good relationship and a happy family", but 314 meant that "being reckless and individualistic just make for unnecessary hard work". The zero in the middle meant that you could have one or the other, and that was an important choice to make. The digits all added together equal 24, which equals 6, and that meant to me that it was also a riddle to be solved for the ultimate question of how to have a happy family.
For a math-head, numerology is a natural extension of the number manipulation habit. Part of the fascination with numbers comes from the idea that math as an system of absolute values (expressible in a variety of ways) is truly the language of the universe. All things can be expressed mathematically, and numbers never change. Humans do, animals do, the air that we breathe even does, but numbers are always the same. This is comforting, a steady rhythm of consistency in an ever-evolving world. Being able to see the deeper messages in those numbers just adds to the beauty and brings it all full circle.
(Get it? Circle? Math? Tee-hee!)
And, why yes, I'd love to help you with your algebra homework.