To calculate your personal year, add the digits of your birth month and day and reduce them to one digit. Then add the digits of the year you want, add the two results, and reduce again, unless the total lands on 11 or 22. You need no birth year, birth time or name.
How do you calculate it step by step?
- Write your birth month and day as digits. For 29 November, that is 1, 1, 2 and 9.
- Add them and reduce to one digit: 1 + 1 + 2 + 9 = 13, then 1 + 3 = 4.
- Add the digits of the year: 2 + 0 + 2 + 6 = 10.
- Add the two results, then add the digits of the total until one digit is left. If the total, or a digit sum of it, is 11 or 22, stop there.
- M1
- M1
- D2
- D9
- Y2
- Y0
- Y2
- Y6
Birthday: 1 + 1 + 2 + 9 = 13, then 4. Year: 2 + 0 + 2 + 6 = 10. Then 4 + 10 = 14, then 1 + 4 = 5.
The personal year for this birthday in 2026 is 5.
In step 3 the year's digits are added as they are, so 2026 counts as 10. Your birthday adds its reduced single digit; the year adds its digits unreduced.
What if the final total lands on 11 or 22?
This applies only to the final total in step 4. The birthday in step 2 always reduces to one digit, even when its digits add up to 11 or more. If the final total, or a digit sum of it, lands on 11 or 22, stop there: 29 becomes 2 + 9 = 11 and stays 11. A total of exactly 11 or 22 can be kept as a master number. From 2026 to 2099 the final total is never more than 29, so it can reach only 11 or 22. A master number still has a single digit: 11 reduces to 2, 22 to 4 and 33 to 6, and NinePath keeps both.
- M0
- M3
- D0
- D7
- Y2
- Y0
- Y2
- Y6
Birthday: 0 + 3 + 0 + 7 = 10, then 1. Year: 2 + 0 + 2 + 6 = 10. Then 1 + 10 = 11, kept; it reduces to 1 + 1 = 2.
The personal year for this birthday in 2026 is 11, with 2 as its single digit.
Why do calculators give different personal years?
Two differences in method can explain it, and neither is a mistake.
The first is the order of adding. One possible way adds all eight digits of the birthday and the year at once. That reaches the same single digit, but it can skip past 11 or 22.
| Way of adding | Working | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Birthday first, then the year | 1 + 10 = 11 | 11, single digit 2 |
| All eight digits at once | 0 + 3 + 0 + 7 + 2 + 0 + 2 + 6 = 20, then 2 | 2 |
The second is when the new number starts. With the steps above, the number changes when the year number changes, on 1 January. Another possible rule starts the new personal year on your birthday instead, so the two can differ for part of the year.
Pick one way and use it every time. Then this year's number and last year's can be compared.
What this means for your day
For your day
Do
Reduce your birth month and day first, then add the digits of the year.
Don't
Don't compare numbers that were added in two different orders.
Questions people ask
Do I use my birth year to calculate my personal year?
No. Only your birth month and day are used, together with the year you want to look at.
Can I calculate my personal year for another year?
Yes. Put that year's digits into step 3. For 29 November in 2032, 4 + (2 + 0 + 3 + 2) = 4 + 7 = 11.
What personal year am I in?
Follow the four steps with this year's digits. In 2026 the year adds 10 to your birthday digit, and in 2027 it adds 11.
Sources
- Ariel Yvon Taylor, Numerology Made Plain (Laird & Lee, Chicago, 1926), Library of Congress copy on archive.org. Page 68: the yearly number is found by adding the month and day of birth to the digit of the year.
- Wikipedia: Digital root. Repeated digit sums equal the remainder after dividing by 9 (or 9 when the remainder is 0), so any order of adding ends on the same single digit, and 11 and 22 are not always reduced in numerology.