Chaldean numerology
The older system — values assigned by sound rather than alphabetical order, and no letter ever carries a nine.
The Chaldean table
| Value | Letters | Pythagorean equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A I J Q Y | A J S |
| 2 | B K R | B K T |
| 3 | C G L S | C L U |
| 4 | D M T | D M V |
| 5 | E H N X | E N W |
| 6 | U V W | F O X |
| 7 | O Z | G P Y |
| 8 | F P | H Q Z |
| 9 | not used — held sacred | I R |
Calculate a name in Chaldean
Where it comes from
The system is named after the Chaldeans of ancient Babylon, though the table in circulation today reached the West through nineteenth-century occult writing rather than any surviving Babylonian document. Its actual pedigree is much shorter than the name implies — worth knowing, given how often it is sold as the more ancient and therefore more authentic option.
The missing nine
No Chaldean letter is worth 9. The number was treated as sacred and held apart from ordinary correspondence, so it enters a reading only as a total. When a Chaldean name adds up to 9, that 9 was produced by the sum — never carried in by a single letter.
Why the results differ
Take any name and the two systems will usually disagree, because the tables share almost no assignments. In Pythagorean, S is 1 and C is 3; in Chaldean, both are 3. Neither is checkable against reality, so the honest position is that you are choosing a convention, not discovering a fact.