In this second part of our deep dive into the Expression, we’ll take a look at the things you might not find in the Expression Number alone and explore some of its deeper secrets.
You might know two people with the same Expression Number that have completely different personalities and ways of expressing themselves. It happens often. They might share some characteristics, but their differences may range anywhere from minor to extreme.
Sometimes this causes people ignore Numerology, because they think it doesn’t work. But by looking at the hidden numbers in the Expression, it becomes obvious that it does work and clearly explains why two people who share the same Expression can be so unlike one another. And these differences aren’t always caused by one’s early life circumstances or genetic heritage.
In the last post, you’ve seen how easy it is to have different Heart’s Desire numbers or Personality numbers and still come up with the same Expression. And we also briefly shared how the Expression Subtotal (the unreduced sum of all the letters) can also color the Expression. So let’s start there.
Expression Subtotals
Say someone’s letter values in their name add up to 36/9 before reduction and another person’s sums to 45/9. Some aspects of their character will be similar, in other words it’s likely that they are both able to bounce back quickly from disappointments, which is a typical characteristic of 9. But the person with the 36/9 is likely to be far more social and protective, while the 45/9 will probably far more serious and changeable in their behavior. They are even different if the numbers are reversed: the 63 is likely to put family responsibilities before their social life, while the 54 may be very charismatic but extremely sensitive to any limitations they encounter. As you can tell, there is a lot to the subtotal, far more than can be covered in a blog post like this. We will get into these variations at some point in the future.
The Cornerstone
Another difference can be seen through the Cornerstone, which represents the first, and sometimes the most lasting, impression one makes on others. Say one fellow goes by Bob and another goes by Robert, and they both have an Expression of 8. Can you guess which one is going to impress people as being more friendly? Obviously, the B=2 Cornerstone person leads with a more togetherness-oriented attitude, while the R=9 may appear to be more focused on achieving an objective, at least when you first meet them.
But we really need to jump into something that gives us important information about a person’s motivations and “default” behaviors. In order to do this, we create the Inclusion Table, which is also called the Intensity Table. Many early 20th century Numerologists called it the Karma Table, because they were into using a lot of terms and ideas from Indian metaphysics.
The Inclusion Table
To make the Table, we create a grid with 9 spaces as follows:
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 7 | 8 | 9 |
The numbers in the boxes are for reference only. What we do is to look at the full name, and in each box, we count each time that number appears in the name. Let’s take a name like Edward Longfellow. This name’s numbers are 5,4,5,1,9,4,3,6,5,7,6,5,3,3,6,5. This name shows one 1, so we put 1 in the upper left corner. There are no 2’s so we put a 0 in the center box of the top row. There are three 3’s so the top right box is marked with a 3. We have two 4’s so 2 goes in the leftmost box of the middle row. Continuing on, there are five 5’s, three 6’s, one 7, no 8’s and one 9, so his table should look like this:
| 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 2 | 5 | 3 |
| 1 | 0 | 1 |
We call this the Inclusion Table, because it shows how many of each of the 9 numbers is included in the name. I’ve recently started calling it the Intensity Table, because it measures the contribution of each of the 9 numbers to the Expression. The numbers in the boxes should be equal to the number of letters in the name. The sum of both is 16.
This table is used in many different ways; an entire book could be written about it. The most basic method starts by determining the name length.
Short Names have between 1 and 12 letters.
| Number | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| Average | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Medium Names have between 13 and 23 letters.
| Number | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| Average | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Long Names are all names with more than 23 letters.
| Number | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| Average | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
Our fictional sample person has 16 letters (medium length) in his name, so his actual table itself should look like this:
| Number | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| Average | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Sample Count | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
The average is the most important thing to pay attention to when you are learning how to use the table. That’s because we grade the intensity of the numbers based on the relationship between the count and the average.
There is a special rule about 5 however; when rating the strength of 5, we always subtract 2 from the count, because the letters E, N and W are so common in the English language that almost everyone would have an overabundance of 5’s in their ratings.
It should also be mentioned that having no 7’s is fairly common in most of the western world, where we are taught to rely on our skills and connections when trying to achieve anything, rather than invisible forces. In extreme cases it can be a sign of lack of faith in others or in oneself, or radical atheism.
Power, Useful and Lesson Numbers
Power Numbers are any of the numbers that has a count of greater than the average + 1. These numbers often point toward a special talent or ability. Sometimes a number becomes far greater than average, possibly + 3 or more. If this is the case, that number will be overabundant, and show itself more strongly than anything else in one’s character.
Useful Numbers are any of the numbers that have counts that are equal to the average or equal to the average +1. These are personality characteristics, skills or abilities that a person usually depends on, or helps them do what needs to be done.
Lesson Numbers are any of the numbers that have counts which are less than the average -1. In short names, they can be any number below average. These are often the most important ones in the chart, because anyone’s lesson numbers may be the departments of life with which they struggle or need the help of others to balance whatever that number concerns.
In our Sample Person above, having no 2’s means that he may find cooperation and relationships to be difficult, and constantly struggle to “get it right” when it comes to choosing partners. Having no 8’s (which is fairly common) usually means a lack of concern about money and power or an overwhelming ambition to gain them, since either can result from a fear of effectiveness or poverty. 1 and 9 are also lesson numbers, so there may be issues with self-confidence, and less of a desire to “break the rules” or do things his own way. Of course, these are extreme examples because this is a fictional person.
Another way of looking at the table has to do with the Pinnacles, LifePath Cycles and Personal Years. Any of the cycles which have a value that is the same as a Lesson Number usually shows a time that is challenging, where the only option is to “rise to the occasion.”
Secret Desires = Useful Numbers
From this chart we also extract some special numbers hidden in the Expression. The first of these is the Secret Desire. People often have more than one, especially if the name is of medium or long length. The Useful Numbers that have a count of Average +1 can be counted as Secret Desires. They are one’s passions, even when they are not expressed.
You can see from the above table that 3, 5 and 6 are all Secret Desires, even after removing 2 from the count of 5’s in his name. This could mean that he is a person who tries to communicate (3) in a fun (5) but fair and balanced (6) way. He might find a creative way (3) to communicate (3) an inner conflict between his need for freedom (5), and his passion for responsibility, family and position (6).
The Reactive Mind
Another number hidden in the Expression is one I like to call the “Reactive Mind”, and it shows how a person reacts when confronted with an emergency or problem. To find it, we subtract the number of Lesson Numbers from 9 (the number of boxes in the table. Our sample chart has 4 Lesson Numbers (1,2,8 and 9) which means his Reactive Mind number is 5. This often shows someone who will stay busy but doesn’t get much accomplished, when an emergency happens. It is sometimes a sign of inefficiency.
The First Response
This Hidden Number shows the immediate response to unpleasant surprises or things that one doesn’t like to do. For this one we need the Major Key (the reduced sum of the letters of the first name) and the Birthday Number, so let’s say he was born on the 23rd of the month. Edward=5+4+5+1+9+4 = 28, 2+8 = 1. So the Major Key= 1, and the Birthday Number is (2+3) 5, so the First Response number = 6. This would mean that he would feel responsible for “fixing” it, whether it’s his problem or not.
Summary
You can see that the Intensity Table and the Hidden Numbers we derive from it mostly focus on choices and redponses, even when they are combined with Numbers from the LifePath.
They hold important keys to analyzing the character of an individual and distinguish between the overall behaviors of 2 people with the same Expression Number. Needless to say, when we are working with the Personal Days, Months and Years, as well as the LifePath Cycles and Pinnacles, that they become extremely important for getting a clearer view of how someone might respond to any situation, and also the best possible affirmations and intentions to use when doing manifestation work.
These hidden numbers can help guide us toward the most effective way of dealing with the challenges, opportunities and risks that we all face in our careers and daily life.
In the next post on the Expression, we’ll explore the secrets of the Personal Alphabet, and how one’s names create their own time-cycles or phases, with an introduction to exploring the letters themselves according to their form, which will be exciting!
