Angel Numbers

Catholic Living Spirituality
#1

How should a Catholic approach something like angel numbers?

If you don’t know what it is, basically it’s supposedly a way that angels communicate with you by giving you signs through re-occurring numbers; numbers that supposedly have meaning behind them. For an example, if you go into your room and turn to your clock and see 444, it means the angels are communicating a message of love to you. 10 or sequences of 0 means power or something like that.

To me, it sounds like a form of fortune telling and I know the church is very much against this. Also, I’m aware there is a sort of new-agey sub-culture revolving around angels.

The reason I ask about this is that my sister has it in her head that angels are communicating to her in this way. She’s been talking to this non-denominational christian friend who is also a believer in this sort of thing.

Thoughts?

#2

That does sound very New Age and thus should be avoided, as it can open one up to demonic influences. When explaining this to someone, take something of an agnostic approach (not meaning one maintains that God cannot be known, but referring to how the thing itself is thought of). Let’s say we don’t know whether this practice is good or not. If it is good (or neutral), it’s harmless. But if it is bad, it’s very very bad, it’s very much harmful. It’s not necessary to do it. Therefore, we shouldn’t risk something very much harmful for the sake of something unnecessary. If one really desires communication with angels, he should pray for the intercession of the Archangels and his guardian angel and leave it at that.

-ACEGC

#3

No.
Angels are here to help us. Listen to the promptings of your guardian angel to do good, and don’t read too much into things.
It seldom turns out well to do that.
Pray with love, humility and compassion for others. All will be well.

#4

If an angel wants to tell you something, you’ll know about it. Remember the Annunciation for instance. The Angel Gabriel had a message for Mary and he told her. There were no signs and symbols just an appearance and speech.

#5

Sounds like the new age stuff I used to practice in my years away from the Church. During that time, I even attended a day-long event with Doreen Virtue, the woman who assigned those numbers their meaning. While I don’t doubt her belief in what she teaches, being in her presence and hearing her do “live readings” about the angels in the room – even when I absolutely believed in this stuff – convinced me this was mostly made up.

Anyway, this number thing is a sort of numerology – that numbers are inherently endowed with spiritual meaning. The Church is absolutely against this.

Here is what is written in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

Divination and magic

**2115 **God can reveal the future to his prophets or to other saints. Still, a sound Christian attitude consists in putting oneself confidently into the hands of Providence for whatever concerns the future, and giving up all unhealthy curiosity about it. Improvidence, however, can constitute a lack of responsibility.

**2116 **All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to “unveil” the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.

2117 **All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one’s service and have a supernatural power over others - even if this were for the sake of restoring their health - are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion. **These practices are even more to be condemned when accompanied by the intention of harming someone, or when they have recourse to the intervention of demons. Wearing charms is also reprehensible. Spiritism often implies divination or magical practices; the Church for her part warns the faithful against it. Recourse to so-called traditional cures does not justify either the invocation of evil powers or the exploitation of another’s credulity.

The part I made bold is the part that relates to what you’re talking about with numbers. Assigning a particular spiritual meaning to each number is a way of trying to control, as it were, the action of God’s angels.

Stay away from this. Not only is it dangerous for the soul, the number meanings Virtue invented are juvenile. And from experience, I can tell you that if you start looking to numbers for messages from God, you start to get really confusing messages. We should look to His Word, His Church, and prayer to hear God’s voice.

#6

Sorry but that is just nonsense.

#7

That’s divination, and the Church condemns it in the strongest terms.

It’s addressed in the Catechism 2116 (quoted earlier, but I’ll repeat it)

2116 All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to “unveil” the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.

(2117 actually addresses a different, though closely related topic)

#8

I am fascinated with numbers,dates and patterns,but I do not believe that is any indication angels are attempting to communicate.
Years ago quite a few members of my family became obsessed with the 11:11 phenomena(looking at digital clocks at 11:11) which is merely the power of suggestion.

#9

I always laugh when I see 11:11 on the timepiece. My daughter used to say that it was “sticks o’clock.”

:smiley:

#10

Then my sister will most likely make the connection with numbers used in the bible (666 and the like); since there is “biblical evidence” for it, it must be true. I know the bible uses numbers for symbolic reasons but she thinks numbers have more meaning to them than the biblical authors obviously intended, I think :shrug:

#11

**2117 All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one’s service and have a supernatural power over others - even if this were for the sake of restoring their health - are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion. **

Whats strange to me about this, is the fact that there IS a warning against it in the first place…this means these things are indeed possible for people to do, yet anytime we hear of ‘faith healers’ and others like that, most people call them fakes and wont even admit they do heal people…??

This seems to indicate it is possible to heal someone thru some kind of magic though, if it wasnt even possible, I doubt there would be the need for a warning either…very interesting!

Im assuming these powers are coming from Demons, its strange they would dole out this power in order to heal someone though.

#12

That addresses a different issue than the topic of the thread.
It is related, but still not the topic.

Whats strange to me about this, is the fact that there IS a warning against it in the first place…this means these things are indeed possible for people to do, yet anytime we hear of ‘faith healers’ and others like that, most people call them fakes and wont even admit they do heal people…??
…

There is a warning against it. Yes, people do it, but they do not do it successfully.

This is like saying, “it is against Christianity to pray for healing to Zeus or Aphrodite or Isis…”

That does not mean that such prayers bring about healing.

Attempting to conjure demonic powers can indeed have an effect. It will not be the effect that the person desires.

#2117 is not about “faith healing.” Whether that is authentic or not, the term “faith healing” means praying to God for healing. Can that be faked? Yes. But that is NOT the issue being addressed in 2117.

We have to read the words in the catechism and understand what issue those words are addressing. We cannot take those words and apply them to something else.

#13

I know that this forum is kind of old, but I’m just throwing this out there. You could say that the difference between the Bible’s SYMBOLIC meanings of numbers are different from the LITERAL meanings associated with the angel numbers. The Bible is using numbers to help us understand God’s word, while the fake angel numbers are used to try to send us specific messages in a way that is inconsistent with the ways angels have always communicated with people.

Perhaps this has already been sorted out in your life but I hope it helps you and others as well :slight_smile: God bless!

#14

While I don’t know exactly what you mean here: still, there are no “fake angel numbers” sending us messages. The entire topic of angel numbers is just superstition.

#15