Convert every letter of your full birth name into a number and some values between 1 and 9 will not show up at all. Those are your Karmic Lesson Numbers.
The idea is straightforward: the letters of your name carry the abilities that came with you, and the values missing from it are the ones that did not. They tend to be the areas where you feel behind other people for no obvious reason.
How to calculate your Karmic Lesson Number
You are looking for gaps rather than totals.
- 1
Write out your full birth name.
- 2
Convert every letter to its number using the Pythagorean chart.
- 3
List which of the numbers 1 to 9 appear at least once.
- 4
Any number from 1 to 9 that never appears is a karmic lesson.
Example for the name JOHN LEE
- J = 1, O = 6, H = 8, N = 5
- L = 3, E = 5, E = 5
- Present: 1, 3, 5, 6, 8
- Absent: 2, 4, 7, 9
Karmic Lessons 2, 4, 7 and 9
What each lesson asks for
Lesson 1: build independence. You wait for permission you do not need.
Lesson 2: build patience and cooperation. You would rather do it alone than negotiate.
Lesson 3: build expression. You have more to say than you say.
Lesson 4: build discipline and order. Plans stay plans.
Lesson 5: build adaptability. Change costs you more than it costs most people.
Lesson 6: build responsibility for others without resenting it.
Lesson 7: build depth and trust in what you cannot measure.
Lesson 8: build confidence with money, scale and authority.
Lesson 9: build a wider view than your own circumstances.
Having many lessons
Short names produce more karmic lessons than long ones, simply because fewer letters cover fewer values. That does not mean people with short names have harder lives.
Read the number of lessons as a measure of how much is being built rather than inherited. It says something about the shape of the work, not about the difficulty of the life.
Questions about the Karmic Lesson Number
Should I use my birth name or my current name?
Use the full birth name. Karmic lessons are considered to be what you came in with, so the name you did not choose is the right one.
What if I have no karmic lessons?
It happens with longer names that cover all nine values. It suggests a broad base and less obvious struggle, which some numerologists read as a life where you have to find your own direction rather than being pushed into one.
Read next
- Karmic numbersKarmic Debt NumberFour specific numbers, 13, 14, 16 and 19, each said to carry an unfinished pattern that keeps presenting itself until it is dealt with.
- Birth gridMissing NumbersThe digits that never appear in your date of birth, and the specific skill each one asks you to build on purpose.
- Name numerologyName NumberThe total value of the letters in your name. It describes the vibration you carry into every room you walk into.