Is numerology a legit divination practice, or is it something frivolous altogether? Here’s what happened when I went for a consultation…
I consider myself a curious person. Personality tests, tarot reading, oxygen therapy… anything that’s a little ‘woo-woo’, I’m up to try it out. So when my friend An Ding asked if I’d be keen to meet for a numerology consultation with a practitioner in Singapore, I said yes.
“By the way, he’s a 52-year-old uncle, so don’t expect him to be eloquent,” she jokingly warned me. I gave her my birth date (it’s sometime in October – that’s why I’m such a ghoul IRL) and waited for her confirmation. However, I didn’t find out anything before our meeting because I wanted to be enlightened (and surprised) later.
A quick Google search throws up different definitions of numerology. But the meaning I found in Cambridge Dictionary best describes my experience. According to it, numerology gives individuals a life path number reached by a calculation involving the date of birth, which is used to better understand human behavioural patterns. In my case, it looked back into my past and dove into my personality traits, which we’ll get to later.
Today’s episode is brought to you by the number…
There was some back and forth between the three of us before we finally fixed the meeting date and time. Was I excited? You could say that – mainly because I wanted to know how accurate the whole thing was. Would it be like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, which isn’t the best representation? (That’s my unpopular opinion about MBTI.) I was prepared to take down notes and ask questions if necessary.
Alex Toh, the consultant, gave me a brief background: he started doing numerology out of self-interest and has been dabbling in it for over 20 years in Singapore. “For me, it’s more on the application and potential, not so much on the accuracy of the prediction.”
Basically, I should keep my expectations low. He gave me an overview of my reading, which was mapped into a “big five personality model”. According to Alex, I’m low on openness and high on conscientiousness; I value inner experiences, and I’m self-determined and self-sufficient. He also said I might be a little “neurotic”, based on my numbers. That’s when I started questioning myself. It felt like I had some sort of existential crisis after seeing the text.
“Since you’re sceptical and guarded in nature, it’ll be more productive to have a general understanding of your areas of interest and the direction during our meetup,” he explained. Colour me intrigued.
The head doesn’t want what it wants
Alex and I met on a Tuesday evening at Funan, with An Ding as our facilitator. We got light bites, sat down, and made small talk before he produced a piece of paper with my calculations. The notes caught my attention, though I didn’t want to get ahead of myself. An Ding encouraged me to ask questions to understand everything better.
Right off the bat, I noticed a lot of nines and ones in my chart, together with a couple of sixes and twos. All that added up to six, which summed me up as a person. According to Alex, the ones referenced my weak side.
“Did you have a minor yet significant accident or surgery involving a small metal object?” he asked. Fortunately, I hadn’t experienced anything. He explained that the number connected my head to the groin area, supposedly signifying bad health. Alex mused that perhaps it was more of a psychological effect, as most of the number ones were in my head region.
“It could also mean the separation from your primary caregiver, since one is about attraction (metal), and double ones in the early days could be just that,” he added.
This struck me – I didn’t tell him about my growing up years, but he hit the nail on the head. See, my maternal grandmother raised me while my parents worked. After she passed, my sister and I became latchkey kids. After school, we returned to an empty house and were essentially left to our own devices. This led us to be independent from a young age. Alex suggested this situation may have contributed to the ones.
Now that I think about it, the head thing makes sense. I tend to overthink, which has proven detrimental at times. Alex explained that our intelligence is divided into the head, the heart, and the body. Based on his reading, he deduced that I’m most centred around the head, not so much on the heart and body. Besides overthinking, I’m not good at accessing and expressing my emotions.
“It has to be activated,” Alex said. I heartily laughed at this assessment because it was true, although I’m working on it. He advised me to “interact and participate” in the other intelligence areas and not just rationalise things.
Who’s afraid of negative numbers?
Next, we dove into my character specifics. NGL, I felt personally attacked by the first sentence – “he can plan, but doesn’t bother to execute”. Ouch! To be fair, this is correct. I’ve got passion projects I’m keen to take on, but till now, I haven’t executed them. That’s probably my thinking side on overdrive while my self-motivation is nought.
Alex elaborated on the numbers outside the inverted pyramid, which symbolise how I portray myself to the outside world. The sole number one means independence, while the number nine paints me as a risk-taker. There’s also the number five, which signifies a determination to the extent that I’d do things independently if needed.
These are good traits, but he urged me to self-reflect on which aspects of myself I can improve upon. “Try to do things fast and make mistakes. Indirectly, you’ll discover something else,” Alex said.
I was also fascinated by the single traveller statement. While I’m not opposed to going overseas alone, I’ve only ever done it for work previously. It was only last year that I made a trip to Melbourne by myself to visit my close friend, C. Normally, I’m open to travelling with anyone, but after a past mishap, I’m more selective about who I travel with.
I shared with the group an anecdote about a Japan vacation with a few friends in 2017. Long story short, I covered most of a friend’s expenses even though we agreed to set aside a tidy sum for the trip.
This narrative has plagued me for so long. Alex made me realise it’s probably tied to my number five facet, spinning it into me being stubborn in response to unexpected plan changes. “Don’t be overly attached to the plans,” he remarked.
A new calculation enters the picture
Meeting Alex left me with more things to ponder about. Just when I thought I’d gotten enough insights, An Ding informed me she’d also been learning numerology through an introductory course in Singapore recently. This time around, the calculation involved your phone number. This piqued my interest, so I asked her to do one for me. She texted me a few minutes later with the results, declaring: “This is quite accurate!”
I smiled when I looked at her explanations. The findings she jotted down are things I’m aware of. The bits about insomnia and illnesses? On point. Even though I’ve been endeavouring to get at least seven hours of sleep every night, I still have work on my mind. Of course, being a writer means I’m sedentary for the most part, which shows up in my neck and shoulder aches and declining posture.
Even though her calculations weren’t as detailed, I understood the gist of it. In a sense, I’d like to think An Ding’s results correlate with Alex’s analysis. There were strengths and weaknesses that I knew of, and there were blind spots I never even thought of.
So, is it ‘woo-woo’ or ‘very ooh’?
It’s been months since the consultations, and I’m still thinking about them. As someone who enjoys discovering things about myself, some truths are a little hard to swallow. Am I really that stubborn? Well, I know the answer to that. But I’m more cognisant of other things, like being sceptical, after meeting Alex. An Ding’s assessment is like the cherry on top.
While we wrapped up our meeting, Alex concluded the final number six was also my Enneagram type. That’s another personality model I wanted to check out, so I became obsessed with learning about my type. I’m going to sound like a broken record, but I agree with those assessments too.
So, is a numerology consultation in Singapore worth it? Or is it just another frivolous practice? I’d say keep an open mind. I was reminded of that before and during the meeting, and I came away with more things about myself to reflect and work on. As Aristotle said: knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom. It’s time for me to wise up.
