Notes

〔Bill Cipher ; Slytherin1 ― History of Arithmancy ; 300 words〕

Practitioners of Arithmancy are called Arithmancers; one of great historical importance is Bridget Wenlock, who discovered the magical properties of the number seven in the 1200s! This was first developed around 580 B.C.E. by the Greek mathematician and philosopher, Pythagoras often affectionately called the "Father of Numbers". It was his determination that numbers were at the essence of all things and that through mathematical equations you could successfully predict the life path of someone based on their date of birth, or the vibration of their numbers. He taught his students that nothing could exist without numbers and the connectivity of all things could be explained with numbers. During these archaic times, the Greeks assigned values to letters in names of battle combatants to foretell the outcome of battle.

This developed into a system recognizable by witches and wizards all over the world today by the Chaldeans in Arabia, during the ninth century. In this early time, the alphabet was divided into three parts, each part composed of seven letters which they attributed to the then known of seven planets. This is known as the "Chaldean" Method, of historical import but largely left to the side for the more accurate Agrippan Method. The most basic distinction between these two methods is the presence of the number "9". In the Chaldean Method, the number is excluded while in the Agrippan Method, it is included.Similar to astrology, arithmancy offers practitioners a system for determining favorable and unfavorable days for any individual. As a general rule, favorable days are supposed to be those that correspond to a persons Expression (or Destiny) number. An "eight" personality, for example, would be advised to schedule important events like starting a business or getting married so that they occur on the 8th, 17th, or 26th of the month.