Most numbers in your chart are about you. The Generation Number is not. It is about the group you arrived with, and it explains why people born within a few years of you tend to want similar things and worry about similar things.
It is useful in two places: understanding why your parents see the world differently, and understanding why a younger colleague reacts to work in a way that makes no sense to you.
How to calculate your Generation Number
Add the digits of your birth year.
- 1
Write out your four digit birth year.
- 2
Add all four digits together.
- 3
Reduce the result to a single digit.
Example for 1990
- 1 + 9 + 9 + 0 = 19
- 1 + 9 = 10
- 1 + 0 = 1
Generation Number 1
Reading it well
Treat this number as background rather than foreground. It is the water you swim in, not the shape of the fish. Nobody is defined by their Generation Number, but it does explain the assumptions you never questioned because everyone around you shared them.
It is also the number that shifts most slowly. A generation number runs for roughly nine years before the cycle turns over, which lines up reasonably well with how people talk about generational cohorts.
Questions about the Generation Number
Is the Generation Number personal at all?
Only partly. It describes shared conditions rather than individual character. Read it alongside your Life Path Number, which is where the personal part lives.
Read next
- Core numbersLife Path NumberThe single most used number in numerology. It comes from your full date of birth and points to the direction your life keeps pulling you toward.
- Core numbersAttitude NumberYour birth day plus your birth month. It explains the impression you give off before anyone actually knows you.