What Is a Life Path Number? – The Numerology Behind Your Birth

Life Path Number

The life path number is the basis for your personality. It indicates the direction that your life will take and it gives you a peek into your life’s purpose. It also tells you about the challenges and obstacles that you will face in your life.

You can see why the life path number is so important to numerology. Now let’s look at how to calculate it.

Calculating Your Life Path Number

Calculating your life path number is simply breaking down your birthday as you would any other date in numerology.

We’ll use December 12, 1955, for the first example.

Start with the month and you get 12. Add the 1+2 together to get 3.

Next, take the day and reduce it to a single digit. Add the 1+2 together and you get a 3.

Then, reduce the year to a single digit. Add 1+9= 10+5= 15+5= 20. 2+0=2.

Finally, add the three digits together. 3+3+2= 8. Your life number for this date would be 8.

In our next example, we’ll look at how to reduce a date that has master numbers (11 and 22) in it.

The birthday we’ll use for this example will be November 22, 1999.

Start with the month which gives you an 11. 11 is a master number so we don’t reduce it further.

The day is 22, also a master number, so we keep it as a 22.

Then we calculate the year. 1+9= 10+9= 19+9= 28 2+8= 10 1+0= 1

Adding all three together 11+22= 33+1= 34 3+4= 7. In this example, your number would be 7.

Now that we’ve determined our life path number, we can look at the meaning of the different numbers.

I believe that this technique is the most accurate for determining your life path number. If you look at some other blogs and people on social media, you’ll run into a lot of different ways to come to a life path number. They don’t understand that your life is supposed to be in three cycles. Each of these cycles is represented by the month, day and year of your birth.

Knowing these cycles will allow you to get even more information about your life and makes your number even more unique to you.

Life Path Number Meaning

Number 1. The Leader. Those with a life path number of 1 have come to this plane with the skills and abilities needed to become leaders. Many of our greatest leaders have the life path of 1. It’s also common for generals, CEOs, and religious leaders to have a life path of 1.

The 1 is a strong vibration that leads you toward individuality and a need for self-advancement and innovation. Innovative ideas come to you regularly and your natural leadership allows you to get them in motion with ease.

When staying on the positive side of 1, you are able to find advantages in situations that others would avoid. You thrive in the face of challenges and adversity. Your ambition makes you great at self-promotion.

The disadvantages of 1 are a tendency toward being self-centered and egotistical. Life path 1 people can also be very unhappy when they’re stuck in a position where they are supposed to be followers.

Characteristics: Innovation, Creativity, Natural Leadership, Courageous

Number 2. The Peacemaker. People with the life path number 2 come into this world with an understanding of how to listen, mediate and fix others problems. Life path 2 people are often natural diplomats and many of the top diplomats in history have been 2s.

2 is a strong vibration that makes you sensitive to the feelings and needs of others. You bring a high level of patience with you as well, making you ideal to bring lasting changes to society.

The positive side of 2 allows you to see all sides of an argument so you can help others reach a middle ground in their disputes. They also make you an honest and open person in everything that you do.

The disadvantages of 2 come from your sensitivity and need to belong to a group. Indecisiveness is a trait that can take over life path 2s. Seeing all sides can make it difficult to choose one direction. Living on the negative side can also bring feelings of uneasiness and pessimism.

Characteristics: Intuitive, Diplomatic, Idealistic, Patience

Number 3. The Communicator. Life path 3 comes with a strong vibration of creativity and communication skills. They enter this plane with a desire to express themselves. This often leads life path 3s to endeavors like acting, writing and public speaking. The entertainers of the world tend to be life path 3s.

3 tends to lead toward an enjoyment of today without a care for tomorrow. You find creative pursuits very easy to master and should make a move in that direction if you feel like it’s for you. Ignore those that will try to convince you to find a more practical path.

The positive side of 3 makes easy to get along with and worry-free. You’re welcome in any social situation because you can make anyone feel at home around you.

The disadvantages of 3 come from being very sensitive. The highs that you feel when you’re happy are mirrored in the lows that you can feel when you’re down. Eventually, you’ll bounce back but you should try to control your mood swings if you can.

Characteristics: Positive, Joyful, Creative, Artistic

Number 4. The Builder. Life path 4 is the builder, you’re grounded and provide structure for those around you. You come to earth with the ability to plan, build, and make things work. The best among life path 4s are those people that conceive of plans and constructs that form society itself.

4 are able to take orders and carry them out or lead and develop the community around them. They’re dependable and able to come up with ideas that others could never conceive without them.

The positive aspects of 4 come from their stability and willpower. They have the ability to reach great heights and can rise to fame and wealth if that is something they choose for themselves.

The disadvantages of 4 come when their stability and perseverance grows into stubbornness. Narrow-mindedness needs to be avoided or it can take over your view of the world.

Characteristics: Stability, Security, Planning, Hard Working

Number 5. The Free Thinker. Life path number 5 is the path of freedom and change. You come into the world with the skills needed to leave lasting change on this plane. Constant change and improvement mark your path.

5 is the free spirit, they dislike structure and see it as too constraining. They tend to live for today and don’t fear what may be coming down the road. Instead, they are often found following where ever the path may take them.

The positive side of 5 comes from compassion and an adventurist nature. The versatility of a 5 makes them well suited to a number of jobs, but they’re best when they’re in a job that lets them travel a lot or in something like sales where they can interact with a wide variety of people.

The disadvantage of 5 comes from falling into excess. Excess in drinking, relationships, and other parts of life can bring you down faster than you realize. Restlessness can also cause many changes in relationships and getting bored easily.

Characteristics: Compassion, Curiosity, Fun, Flexibility

Number 6. The Nurturer. Life path number 6 is the maternal or paternal nurturer. They come into this plane with a nurturing instinct that dwarfs other life paths. This is the most domestic life path as well with most of their lives focused closely at home.

6 is the homemaker and caregiver at work or in the home. 6 life paths also tend to draw others toward them with the sheer power of their personalities. A life of service is often one of the ways that 6 can find the most happiness.

The positive side of 6 comes in their love, caring, and compassion. Conservative values are deeply ingrained in a life path 6 and they are very loyal in relationships.

The disadvantages of 6 come when you become self-riotous and judgmental of those that you don’t feel are as selfless as you. Understanding that others are contributing in their own way can help keep these feelings at bay.

Characteristics: Responsibility, Supportive, Family-Oriented, Loving

Number 7. The Philosopher. Life path number 7 is a spiritual path with a tendency for deep reflection. You come to earth with all the traits needed to make you a great thinker, analyst, and investigator. Your love of solitude means that you have plenty of time to ponder the deeper thoughts that others ignore.

7s are intellectuals that spend long periods of time in their own heads. They excel at detecting insincere people and tend to stay away from them if at all possible. Staying far from modern life can often make them happy as well and they do well in areas that don’t have a lot of people.

The positive aspects of 7 are a higher awareness and different point of view than most other people. Careers in which you can be alone most of the time are great for life path 7s.

The disadvantages that come with 7 are mostly focused around being alone and introverted. You should strive to get out and participate in the world around you occasionally as it’s easy for you to get sucked into your own head a miss the lighter things in life.

Characteristics: Analytical, Intuitive, Scientific, Studious

Number 8. The Executive. Life path number 8 is a path of material gain and leadership. You’ve come to this plane with the burning desire to achieve material gain and advance your goals. Power, control, and money are all important to you.

8s are ambitious, goal oriented, and hard working. You also have the ability to judge others which makes it easier for you to surround yourself with people who can assist you in furthering your goals.

The positive aspects of 8 are in their ability to develop a plan and see it to the end, often winning great wealth and power along the way. Those traveling the positive side of 8 will find monetary gains where others have failed before.

The disadvantages of 8 come from their goal-oriented mindset. It is easy for them to become workaholics which can drive a wedge between them and their loved ones.

Characteristics: Giving, Influential, Natural Leader, Planner

Number 9. The Humanitarian. Life path number 9 holds the energy of completion and resolution. They come to earth with the mindset of generosity and compassion, they are the humanitarians of the world. Material gains are not important and they possess a giving attitude.

9s are versatile and can find success in a wide array of pursuits. They use this to fill their desire to do good and help those in need. To truly be fulfilled, 9s need to be involved with some sort of humanitarian effort.

The positive aspects of 9 are in their giving nature, innate leadership ability and their ability to make friends easily. It’s even said that they possess a commanding presence which draws others to them and their cause.

The disadvantage of 9 is how easy it is for them to lose themselves in their work. This can lead them to giving away too much and often makes relationships with others difficult that don’t understand their generous nature.

Characteristics: Humanitarian, Generous, Idealistic, Romantic

Master Life-Path Numbers 11 and 22

Life path numbers 11 and 22 are a much more powerful version of their base life path, 2 and 4 respectively. Make sure you read over the appropriate number because they make up the base of the master numbers.

If you are one of the master numbers then you will experience a much stronger pull to succeed and achieve. This drive can make you nervous with a feeling that where you are is never good enough.

Number 11. The Visionary. 11 is the most intuitive of all of the life paths. This means that they have a very clear understanding of those around them. Often they can even feel as if they have psychic abilities as they seem to know things without ever being told about them.

11s are very spiritual. They often confront great pain in their lives just to come out even more understanding and connected to their spirituality.

The positive parts of 11 are in their intuition, commitment to relationships and their ability to finish projects that they start.

The disadvantages of 11 come when they get overwhelmed from their gifts. This can lead to indecisiveness and nervousness. The other downside is that life path 11s don’t normally fully come into their own until later in their lives.

Characteristics: Intuitive, Gifted in the Metaphysical, Sensitive, Patient

Number 22. The Master Builder. 22 is perhaps the most powerful of all life paths. The master builder has a unique ability to take ideas and manifest them into reality.

22s are concerned with sharing their gifts with the world as a whole. Because of this, they often rise to great heights in society and fame.

The positives of 22 are in their practical nature and their drive to create something that truly changes society.

The disadvantages come from being overwhelmed with their gift, a fear of failure, and can come off as insensitive and overbearing.

Characteristics: Masterful Ability to Create, Stable, Dependable, Productive