Numerology: The Soul Urge

THE SOUL URGE

The Soul Urge number—also called the Heart’s Desire—indicates what motivates you down deep into your core.

This is the number that reveals to you what drives you from a soul-level. How do you follow your heart? Knowing this number is crucial to define what you’ll want and need in order to feel a deep sense of satisfaction and gratification.

This is a great number to know and understand because it might explain some of those irrational thoughts and feelings you come up against—those feelings you just can’t explain, yet you feel with great intensity. How surprising they are to you will depend on how in alignment your Soul Urge number is with the rest of your core numbers.

This is also a good number to know for understanding yourself in intimate relationships. Choosing a partner with a Soul Urge number that’s compatible with yours often points to a more successful and satisfying relationship.

I also find the Soul Urge number to indicate your soul’s greatest point of learning and development in this lifetime.

Here’s the complicating factor. Numerologists don’t necessarily agree on how to arrive at this number.

Of all the core numbers, this is the number that is the most perplexing—if not frustrating—to determine. The calculation is based on adding together the vowels in your full name.

Vowels are A, E,  I,  O,  U—and here’s where it gets sticky—and sometimes Y. And sometimes W.  Different numerologists believe different things.

Reminder: The type of numerology I work with is Pythagorean.

Dr. Juno Jordan (and others) will tell you that the “y” never enters into the calculation (Dr. Juno Jordan, Numerology: The Romance In Your Name).

Lynn Buess (and others) contends that the “y” is always used in calculating the Soul Urge number (Lynn Buess, The Heart of Numerology).

Hans Decoz (and others) will show you that the calculation rests on the “y” being considered a vowel by the way it sounds. 

The energy of the “y” is vacillating. Numerology, after all, is really all about vibration and frequency, so discerning the sound that the vowel brings to the name is key to this formulation.

When using the “y” to calculate the Soul Urge, understand that the “y” is considered a vowel when it’s the only vowel sound in the syllable. Hans Decoz states:

 “When the letter serves as a vowel, and in fact sounds like one, it is a vowel.  … Examples of both of these cases are such names as Lynn, Yvonne, Mary, Betty, Ely, and Bryan. However, if the Y does not provide a separate vowel sound, as when it is coupled with another vowel, it is considered a consonant. In names such as Maloney or Murray, the Y is a consonant, because the vowel sound depends upon the long E in Maloney and the long A in Murray. In general, the Y is a consonant when the syllable already has a vowel.  Also, the Y is considered a consonant when it is used in the place of the soft J sound, as in the name Yolanda or Yoda.”

A numerology software program I use makes this statement when it asks if a “y” is a consonant or a vowel: “This Y is a vowel if it follows A, E, I, O or U and sounds as one sound (as in Hayes) or there is no other vowel in the syllable (as in Ken-ne-dy) or it is pronounced as a vowel (as in Yves). Otherwise, it is a consonant.”

What’s a person to do?

All you can do is choose a way of calculation that feels right to you. 

Sorry to say it, yet it’s true. I’ve grappled with this personally and I don’t know another numerologist who hasn’t had to wrestle this alligator. You must choose what resonates with you and the only way to do that is to experiment. Try out both ways and see what feels right. As you gain experience, you’ll come to terms with the way you feel is the correct way to manage the “y.”

And if you’re getting your calculations through a numerology calculator that’s a computerized software program or App, then you definitely must choose whether or not the “y” is or is not included in your calculation. This is chosen in the “settings” for the software program.

Otherwise, you must do it manually each time. Doing it by hand is fine if that’s what you want to do. Yet it won’t help you if you’re printing out a computerized numerology report. Sometimes an App or program will ask you what your choice is each time a potential vowel shows up so that you can make the determination manually each time the software program or App makes a calculation.

The obvious point to make here is that the whole “y” issue isn’t an issue when calculating everyone’s Soul Urge number—it’s only an issue when a person has the letter “y” in their name. That kind of falls into the “no duh” category, yet I’ll mention it anyway. Having to make a decision about how to categorize a potential vowel isn’t always an issue. It’s only an issue when the name contains one or more “y’s.”

I find that if you’re on the fence about how the “y” should be calculated, do it both ways (calculating the “y” as a vowel and then as a consonant) and then feel into it and see what resonates most directly with you.

Moreover, most numerologists I have studied don’t consider the “w” to be a vowel, yet on rare occasions, I have seen it placed as a vowel. Again, this is up to you and yet my purpose is to provide you with a basic overview of general numerology practices. I have never personally considered the “w” a vowel under any circumstances.

I also find it intriguing that the letter “y” translates into the number 7—a number that’s intrinsically internal, spiritual, and probing.

>>Want to know how to calculate the Soul Urge number? READ MORE