Learn about itLearn onlyLiving tradition
This page describes the practice. There is deliberately no automated reading for it — see the notes below.
Background
Gematria assigns a numerical value to a name, word or phrase, usually by the standard values of the letters. The Hebrew alphabetic numerals it relies on were adapted from Greek numerals in the last centuries BCE.
How it works
The values of the letters (alef = 1, bet = 2 … tav = 400) are added, and words with the same total are related to one another in interpretation.
Notes and limits
Culture: Gematria is primarily a method of Jewish textual interpretation and Kabbalah rather than fortune-telling; it is described here in that light.
At a glance
- Also called
- גימטריה, Hebrew gematria
- Traditions
- Jewish, Kabbalistic
- Regions
- Middle East & Persia, Europe
- You need
- Name
- Price
- Free