Angel numbers seem more popular than ever. However, while many might know what they are used for, they might not necessarily know their history.
According to popular lore, angel numbers are often credited to the New Age community, though they have been used for centuries before this group took them up.
Experts suggest that it is not entirely clear when angel numbers were used for the first time – though it is safe to say that it was one person who should be credited for heavily influencing their “invention.”
History suggests that angel numbers originated from the invention of numerology and a historical figure named Pythagoras. During the sixth century B.C, Pythagoras was responsible for developing one of the most widely used forms of numerology.
From his invention, angel numbers such as 555 were associated with change, redemption, passion, and having a purpose in your life that requires you to move closer to God.
Experts agree that the Christian Bible has attached a spiritual significance to some numbers. This has led some to inquire whether Christian teachings also inspire the meanings retained in angel numbers.
The Origins of Angel Numbers
Since the beginning of time, people have argued that specific numbers hold or communicate particular value or meaning over other numbers and number sequences.
This process is called Numerology. While some cultures arrive at these conclusions using different methods, the overall intention is to determine how numbers help us connect to a higher power in some kind of unique way.
More recently, the concepts of Numerology and angel numbers have been used interchangeably. When the term “angel numbers” is used, it refers to when the viewers see anything from a single-digit to a quadruple-digit number.
The number – a divine message sent from your angels, spirit guides, or Ascended Masters – will need to stand out and keep you on track (or bring you back on track) concerning your life.
The Invention of Numerology:
One of the numerology elements – what was eventually known as Pythagorean Numerology – was first invented in the sixth century by mathematician, philosopher, and metaphysician Pythagoras.
Born in Greece in approximately 569 B.C., Pythagoras and his followers were mathematics, music, and philosophy students. They also became interested in number mysticism after discovering that you will constantly get a square number when a certain number of odd numbers are added together.
After discovering this exciting fact, Pythagoras and his followers concluded that everything on earth could be described using numbers and measurements. The entire universe could be reduced to a numerical value. Over time, this discovery led to the Fibonacci Sequence.
After making the initial discovery, Pythagoras created Numerology, where he and his followers began additionally describing the number in non-numerical value – they did so based on intuition and mysticism.
For example, while odd numbers were considered masculine, even numbers are imagined feminine. Or, while two represent both duality and female, the number three is male.
While working with numbers fell by the wayside after Pythagoras’s death, it was revived around the first century A.D. and then again in the 1800s by L. Dow Balliett, who published a series of texts using Pythagoras’s theory.
In her text, she argued that numbers had vibrations, music, and colors like all things in the universe. She maintained that if you were looking to live your life harmoniously, you had to live your day-to-day life – whether speaking, behaving, eating, sleeping, etc. – in harmony with your life path.
While Balliett, like many numerologists, argues that vibration is a result of the movement of subatomic particles, there are not a lot of studies to support this claim. As a result, the study of Numerology came to be labeled a pseudo-science.
The First Use of the Term “Angel Numbers”
While Numerology has long existed, the term “angel numbers” is relatively new and came to popularity at the dawn of the New Age movement.
The term was popularized by Doreen Virtue, who claims that in a past life, she studied under Pythagoras. After putting forth that claim, she began publishing a series of books and card decks, popularized the Numerology theory of Pythagoras, and coined the term “angel numbers.”
Doreen Virtue argues that everything in the universe has a vibrational frequency that can be used to decipher messages from the divine – especially when they show up in numbers.
She maintains that when a number or a set of numbers stands out to you, you need to pay special attention because those numbers (or the sequence of numbers) are an indication that there is something your angels, spirit guides, or Ascended Masters want you to identify or learn (especially about what you are thinking and doing in that very moment).
While Doreen Virtue began her career as a New Age Numerology teacher, she has since denounced her work and started following the Christian path.
While this does not make her work invalid, it only means that she has since transferred her knowledge into her new Christian community. Instead, she uses Christian vocabulary to describe the meaning and purpose of numbers.
