Your Life path number is derived from your birth date, and it is the most important number in your numerological chart. Life Path Number describes the nature of your life journey, the road you are traveling. It describes your traits and who you are at birth, and outlines the opportunities, challenges, and lessons you will encounter in this lifetime.


How To Calculate – Life Path Number

You will find that there are a few variations on how some people, and websites, calculate your Life Path number. Most of the time, the results will be the same, however, when we come to the point of determining whether or not your number is a master number, it is then that these methods of calculations differ.

The method used by myself, and on this site, relies on the idea that your Life Path is based on 3 cycles ... and so it is sometimes called the 3 Cycle method. Some also refer to it as the "old" or "traditional" method of calculating your Life Path number, and others refer to it as the true Pythagorean method. For me personally, it is the preferred method, as it is more strict and more selective in determining whether or not someone falls into the category of a master number, resulting in a much more realistic statistical distribution of numbers ranging from 1 to 9, and 11,22, and 33. Using any of the other methods, I have found that there is an abnormal number of people having a master number versus its single digit counterpart.

More importantly, this method is the only one that uses the actual Cycles or Periods in your life to find your Life Path number. It is the only method where the numbers within your numerological chart (Pinnacles, Challenges and Cycles) relate directly to one another and to the Life Path number as well, providing a consistent analysis throughout your entire chart.

The numbers representing your Month, Day, and Year of birth are used to calculate your Pinnacles, Challenges, and are ultimately responsible for each of your 3 Cycles. It is these Cycles that are added together to form your full life cycle … or your Life Path.

I find that the simplest way to explain something is to use examples. If you are not too sure you can double check with my Life Path calculator or feel free to drop me a note below.



Example Calculation 1:
Date of Birth – December, 30, 1989 = 12 / 30 / 1989

3 Cycle Method
[i] (1 + 2) + (3 + 0) + (1 + 9 + 8 + 9) = 3 + 3 + 27 = 3 + 3 + 9 = 15 = 6 (your 3 Cycles are 3, 3, and 9)

Other Methods
[ii] 12 + 30 + 1989 = 2031 = 2 + 0 + 3 + 1 = 6
[iii] 1 + 2 + 3 + 0 + 1 + 9 + 8 + 9 = 33/6

From the above example, using the 3 cycle method, you need to reduce each number of your birth date (day, month, and year) separately, into a single digit number, THEN you add the final three numbers together and the result is reduced again to find your life path number.

Each of the 3 numbers ... 3, 3, and 9 in the above example [i] ... represents a cycle or a period in your life. Using other calculation methods, you are not taking into account these 3 cycles, and are also not taking into account master numbers withing the calculations themselves.

Using the other methods [ii] and [iii], our results vary giving us both 33 and a 6, introducing inconsistency and a statistically abnormal number of people having master numbers.

The next examples show how to handle master numbers within the calculations themselves.



Example Calculation 2:
Date of Birth – July, 29, 1964 = 7 / 29 / 1964

3 Cycle Method
[i] 7 + (2 + 9) + (1 + 9 + 6 + 4) = 7 + 11 + 20 = 7 + 11 + 2 = 20 = 2 (your 3 Cycles are 7, 11, and 2)

Other Methods
[ii] 7 + 29 + 1964= 2000 = 2
[iii] 7 + 2 + 9 + 1 + 9 + 6 + 4 = 38 = 11/2
[iv] 7 + 2 + 2 = 11/2 (if we reduce the day number in the calculation to it's single digit)

Notice in this example ... calculation [i], that I have not reduced the 11 to a 2. This is because 11 is a master number. If at any time in the calculation you encounter a master number (11, 22, or 33) you DO NOT reduce that number any further. Using the other methods we again get varying results, and an abnormally high number of people thinking they have a master number 11 life path.



Example Calculation 3:
Date of Birth – May, 18, 1970 = 5 / 18 / 1970

3 Cycle Method
[i] 5 + (1 + 8 ) + (1 + 9 + 7 + 0) = 5 + 9 + 17 = 5 + 9 + 8 = 22 (your 3 Cycles are 5, 9, and 8 )

Other Methods
[ii] 5 + 18 + 1970 = 1993 = 22
[iii] 5 + 1 + 8 + 1 + 9 + 7 + 0 = 31 = 4

In this Example 3, we see that using the 3 Cycle method the result is a master number, whereas using the other methods the result can be either a 22 or a 4.



Example Calculation 4:
Date of Birth – November, 29, 1901 = 11 / 29 / 1901

3 Cycle Method
[i] 11 + (2 + 9) + (1 + 9 + 0 + 1) = 11 + 11 + 11 = 33 (your 3 Cycles are 11, 11, and 11)

Other Methods
[ii] 11 + 29 + 1901= 1941 = 15 = 6
[iii] 1 + 1 + 2 + 9 + 1 + 9 + 0 + 1 = 24 = 6
[iv] 2 + 2 + 2 = 6 (if we reduced all 11's to their single digits)

Again, our result using the 3 Cycle method gives us a master number 33, while the other methods give us a 6. I chose these examples on purpose ... usually this works out the other way around, where the other methods result in a master number and the 3 cycle method does not (like in Example Calculations 1 and 2).

For those who feel that my preferred method of choice is somehow incorrect ... and this would include mostly those for whom the 3 cycle method does not produce a master number ... let me state that I have myself used the second method in the past exclusively, and it was only after much deliberation that I converted completely to the 3 cycle method, or the TRUE Pythagorean method, as it is most commonly called. It is by far the best method of calculation for your life path number.

If you have any thoughts that go against this, please look through ALL the comments on this page, and on this website as this topic has been discussed previously on several occasions, and the result of those discussions has made my decision ever stronger.

Also keep in mind that most professional numerologists use this method exclusively, and see the other methods as being incorrect. For more information feel free to examine some of the following material:

http://www.thedreamtime.com/category/numerology/ - Bret Simpson

http://www.numerology.com/numerology-news/life-path-number - all the readings I provide on my site are based on the work of Hans Decoz, author on this website

Book by Mathew Goodwin on Amazon.com - Numerology the Complete Guide, Volume I: The Personality Reading