Business astrology: name numerology and best launch dates
One free check for a small business: what your business name adds up to in numerology, what the sky looked like on the day you opened (or will open), and the next good launch dates by the old rules of electional astrology, with reminders on the day.
What the check gives you
- Your name's numbers. The Pythagorean expression (or destiny) number, soul urge and personality, and the Chaldean compound and root, with every letter's value shown so you can check the sums by hand.
- Your launch-day chart. With a date: the Sun and Moon signs, the Moon's phase, whether Mercury was retrograde, and where Jupiter and Saturn stood. With a time and a town too: the rising sign and the Midheaven.
- The next good launch dates. Three days in the coming 90 that pass the old electional rules: the soonest one, and the two that best suit your kind of business, each with its reasons in plain words and, with a town, the best hours to open the doors. Every other day that passes is listed too. If you are already open, read them as good dates for a relaunch, a new product or signing a lease.
- Reminders. A calendar file and, on phones that allow it, a reminder on the morning of each date. An open business also gets its next business birthday, with a note on its year ahead.
How business name numerology works
Numerology gives every letter a number, adds up the letters of a name and reduces the total to a single digit by adding its digits together. Two traditions do this differently, and this check shows both.
The Pythagorean table is the one most modern numerology books use. It runs A to Z through the numbers 1 to 9 in order. The whole name gives the expression number, also called the destiny number; the vowels alone give the soul urge, what the business cares about at heart; and the consonants alone give the personality, the first impression it makes. The totals 11, 22 and 33 are kept whole as master numbers. Numerologists differ on Y; this check counts it as a vowel only in a word with no other vowel, as in Lynx.
| Number | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Letters | A J S | B K T | C L U | D M V | E N W | F O X | G P Y | H Q Z | I R |
The Chaldean table was made popular in English by the palmist Cheiro (William John Warner) in Cheiro's Book of Numbers, first published in 1926. It gives letters values by sound rather than order, uses only 1 to 8 (no letter is given 9), and pays attention to the total before it is reduced, which Cheiro called the compound number. He tied each root number to a planet: 1 the Sun, 2 the Moon, 3 Jupiter, 4 Uranus, 5 Mercury, 6 Venus, 7 Neptune, 8 Saturn and 9 Mars.
| Number | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Letters | A I J Q Y | B K R | C G L S | D M T | E H N X | U V W | O Z | F P |
The two tables often give a name different numbers. That is normal: they are different traditions, not a right answer and a wrong one. Digits and symbols such as & are not counted. Numerologists differ on them; some spell a number out as a word, and if your business says "and" out loud, you can try the name with "and" spelled out.
What each number means for a business
The traditional reading of each root number, put in business terms. The same number shows up in the expression, the soul urge and the personality; the expression number is the one most people mean by "my business name number".
1 The pioneer
New ventures, leadership and going first
Numerology gives 1 to beginnings, independence and leadership. Read as a business name, it suits a founder-led business, a first of its kind, or a brand that wants to stand apart from the crowd. The same tradition notes that a 1 can feel like a one-person show, so it reads best when the owner's drive is matched by a team customers can see.
2 The partner
Partnership, service and patience
2 is the number of cooperation, partnership and tact. As a business name it suits work built on relationships: client services, counseling, mediation, or a business run by two partners. Growth tends to come through referrals and trust rather than noise, and the tradition's note is that a 2 can be too quiet to be noticed, so it asks for steady, visible care.
3 The communicator
Creativity, words and good company
3 is the number of self-expression, joy and communication. It suits creative studios, marketing, events, entertainment and hospitality, any business where personality and conversation bring people in. Numerologists say 3's energy scatters easily, so it reads best with a clear focus.
4 The builder
Order, reliability and solid foundations
4 is the number of structure, hard work and dependability, the four corners of a building. It suits trades, construction, bookkeeping, logistics and any business whose promise is that the job gets done right. Tradition reads 4 as slow to build and hard to shake, and its only caution is rigidity.
5 The trader
Change, movement and the public
5 is the number of freedom, variety and movement. It suits sales, travel, media, marketing and businesses that meet many people or change with the seasons. Numerologists read 5 as quick and adaptable, and its caution is consistency: customers like to know what they will get.
6 The caretaker
Care, home and community
6 is the number of responsibility, care and harmony, linked with home and family. It suits home services, food, beauty, health and care, teaching and family businesses, anything where customers feel looked after. Tradition reads 6 as loyal and trusted, and notes that it can give so much that the business forgets its own needs.
7 The specialist
Expertise, research and depth
7 is the number of analysis, study and inner wisdom. It suits specialist and expert work: research, technology, consulting, crafts done to a high standard, and spiritual or wellness practices. Numerologists say plainly that 7 is not the classic sales number. It draws people who value depth, and its caution is seeming distant or exclusive.
8 The executive
Commerce, money and authority
In modern numerology 8 is the number of commerce, money, management and authority, which is why it is the number many people hope for in a business name. It suits finance, real estate, larger trading businesses and anything built to scale. Cheiro, writing in the Chaldean system, gave 8 to Saturn and read it more soberly, as success that comes through effort and time.
9 The humanitarian
Completion, generosity and reach
9 is the number of completion, compassion and broad reach. It suits businesses with a mission: nonprofits, education, the arts, healing work and anything that serves people far and wide. Tradition reads 9 as generous, and its caution is that money can flow out as freely as it flows in.
11 The inspirer
Inspiration and intuition, a master number
11 is the first master number, kept whole because numerologists read it as a doubled 1: inspiration, intuition and a sense of calling. As a business name it suits teaching, healing, design and brands that want to inspire. It still carries the 2 it adds up to, so partnership and patience matter too.
22 The master builder
Big plans made real, a master number
22 is called the master builder: large, practical plans made real. As a business name it suits ventures that aim to build something big and lasting, closer to an institution than a single shop. It carries the 4 it adds up to, so tradition still asks for patience, structure and hard work.
33 The master teacher
Service, teaching and care, a master number
33 is called the master teacher, a doubled 3 read as compassion, service and creative care. As a business name it suits teaching, healing and caring work done for others. It carries the 6 it adds up to: care, responsibility and community.
Your business birth chart
Astrologers cast a chart for the moment a business began and read it much like a person's birth chart. They differ on which moment counts: the day a company was incorporated, the day the doors first opened, or the first sale. Use the one that feels like the start to you.
- The Sun is read as the core character of the venture.
- The Moon is the thread of how things unfold day to day and how the public meets the business. Electional astrologers treat it as the most important factor in any beginning, and its phase matters: a growing Moon is preferred for a start.
- Mercury is the planet of trade, contracts and messages. Tradition counts any retrograde planet as weakened, so Mercury retrograde at opening is read as a note to double check paperwork.
- Jupiter and Saturn, the slow planets of growth and of structure, describe the climate a business was born into. They stay in one sign for a year or more, so every business opened that season shares them.
- The rising sign and Midheaven need the opening time and the town. The rising sign is read as how the business meets the world, and the Midheaven as its public reputation.
The best date to launch a business, by electional astrology
Choosing a moment to begin something is called electional astrology. Its rules go back to the Greek astrologer Dorotheus of Sidon, whose fifth book is about beginnings, and to Sahl ibn Bishr's On Elections in the ninth century. This check searches the next 90 days, one local day at a time, and keeps the days that pass every rule below.
- Mercury direct. Mercury, the planet of trade, must be moving forward, and not within three days of a station, when it seems to stand still. Modern astrologers treat the days around a station as the most unsettled, and tradition counts a retrograde planet as weakened.
- A waxing Moon. From about two days after the new Moon, once the Moon is clear of what old writers called the Sun's beams, until about a day before the full Moon. A venture meant to grow is started while the Moon grows.
- The Moon out of Scorpio and Capricorn. These are the Moon's fall and its detriment, the two signs where tradition calls it weakest.
- No hard contact from Mars or Saturn. Mars and Saturn are the two planets the old astrologers called malefics. On a good day the Moon makes no conjunction, square or opposition to either, within five degrees, between 8 am and 8 pm. A planned opening with a time is held to the same five degrees from that time until 8 pm the same day, or at that moment alone when it is 8 pm or later, since tradition minds most the contact the Moon is heading into. So an opening at any time between 8 am and 8 pm on a good day passes this rule.
- Bonuses for your kind of business. These choose the two best-fitting dates. A weekday ruled by a planet that suits the work counts: Wednesday for Mercury (trade, writing, online), Thursday for Jupiter (growth, finance, counsel), Friday for Venus (beauty, creative work, food), Sunday for the Sun (leadership, vitality) and Monday for the Moon (the public, nourishment). With no kind chosen, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday count. So does the Moon in Taurus, where tradition calls it exalted, in Cancer, its own sign, or in a sign of the planet that suits your work.
- The best hours. With a town, each date also lists its best planetary hours when it has any, counted from your own sunrise and sunset, for opening the doors or pressing launch: the hours of the planet that suits your work, all between 8 am and 8 pm, so opening at any time inside one passes the four rules above.
The check always shows the soonest day that passes every rule, then the two that best suit your kind of business, and lists the other passing days below them, so a plainer day that comes sooner is never hidden. If fewer than three days pass, it says so: a Mercury retrograde can take three weeks out of the search.
Before you settle on a name: the free practical checks
Whatever the numbers say, these four checks matter more for a new business name, and all of them are free.
- Trademarks. Search the USPTO trademark database for the name and close variations in your line of work. Outside the US, search your own country's trademark office.
- Your state's business name registry. Your Secretary of State's business entity search shows whether a company already holds the name in your state, and your county may handle "doing business as" names. The SBA's guide to choosing a business name walks through the steps.
- The domain. Check that the web address you want is free at any domain registrar before you print anything.
- Social handles. Search the name on the platforms your customers use, so the handle matches the sign over the door.
What this can and cannot tell you
Numerology and electional astrology are old traditions of meaning and timing. They are not business, legal or financial advice, and they cannot promise success. Controlled studies have not found that astrology predicts outcomes, and no one has shown that a name's numbers change sales. A business rises or falls on its offer, its customers, its money and the work that goes into it.
Used well, a check like this is a prompt to think: about what your name says, and about choosing a launch day on purpose rather than by accident. If your date is set by a lease or a season, keep it. Some owners hold a soft opening on a good date and the big day when it suits everyone.
If you would like a person to talk it through with, a career and money advisor can help, and your own free birth chart is right beside it.
Chat with a career and money advisor Free: your own birth chart
Questions people ask
How do I work out my business name number?
Give each letter its number and add them up. In the Pythagorean table A, J and S are 1, B, K and T are 2, and so on up to I and R at 9. Add the letters of the whole name, then add the digits of the total until one digit is left, keeping 11, 22 and 33 whole as master numbers. That is the expression or destiny number. The vowels alone give the soul urge and the consonants alone give the personality. This check shows every letter and every sum, so you can do it by hand and get the same answer.
Pythagorean or Chaldean: which should I use?
They are two different traditions, so they often give different numbers for the same name. The Pythagorean table is the one most modern numerology books use. The Chaldean table, made popular by the palmist Cheiro in the 1920s, gives the letters different values, uses only 1 to 8, and pays attention to the total before it is reduced, which he called the compound number. Neither is more correct; this check shows both, and many people simply look at where they agree.
What is a business birth chart, and which date should I use?
A business birth chart is a chart cast for the moment a business began, read much like a person's. Astrologers differ on which moment counts: the day a company was incorporated, the day the doors first opened, or the first sale. Use the date that feels like the start to you. A time and a town add the rising sign and Midheaven, which a chart turns on.
What is the best day to launch a business, according to astrology?
Electional astrology, the old art of choosing a moment to begin something, has a few rules most traditional astrologers agree on: start while the Moon is growing in light, keep the Moon out of the signs where it is weak, avoid hard contacts from Mars and Saturn to the Moon, and prefer Mercury, the planet of trade, moving direct. A weekday ruled by a planet that suits the work, such as Thursday for Jupiter and growth, is a bonus. This check searches the next 90 days for days that pass all of those rules.
Should I avoid launching when Mercury is retrograde?
Tradition counts any retrograde planet as weakened, and modern astrologers watch Mercury retrograde, which comes three or four times a year for about three weeks, for contracts and messages that go astray. That is why this check leaves those weeks out, along with three days either side of each station. If your date is fixed by a lease or a season, it is a note to double check paperwork, not a reason to cancel.
Can numerology or astrology tell me whether my business will succeed?
No. These are traditions of meaning and timing, not forecasts, and controlled studies have not found that astrology predicts outcomes. No one has shown that a name's numbers change sales. Success comes from the offer, the customers, the money and the work. Use this as a reflective check, and do the practical checks, like trademark and name registration, with real care.
What do you keep, and for how long?
The business name, its kind, the launch date and time if you gave them, the town name and time zone, and the computed results, for about six months, or a little past the next business birthday when that comes later. Nothing about your own birth. Every result page has a button that deletes it at once, together with any reminders still waiting. If you turn on reminders, the notification address your browser makes for them is kept too, with a record of each reminder sent for up to 30 days; it carries no name and is deleted within a day once it has no reminder left to receive.