Numerology is nothing less than a tool which aids us towards psychological self awareness.

A little remembered music teacher, living in Atlanta City, came to some startling conclusions. In her studies of harmony, Mrs L. Dow Balliett came to realize that the letter name applied to each note had the same vibratory qualities as the note itself. It was this simple observation, she later claimed, which led to her interest in the application of numerical science. The handful of books which she published on the subject essentially defined the modern method of relating names and numbers to acquire insight to the character and personality of the individual. It should be well noted, that no such system existed before the time of Mrs L. Dow Balliet. Any individual, or organization, claiming otherwise is at best misinformed, and at worst deliberately misleading. Around the turn of the century (from 1800 to 1900 A.D.) Mrs. L. Dow Balliett combined Pythagoras' work with Biblical reference.[1]
Her ideas could easily have been quickly forgotten, but for the efforts of one of her students.


Dr. Julia Seton (Sears) (1862-1950) was an influential humanitarian, suffragette and lecturer in New Thought who toured the English speaking world extensively. Dr. Julia Seton (Sears), the founder of the Church and School of the New Civilization, was an important figure in the development of the New Thought movement from the esoteric- metaphysical point of view, and exercised a considerable influence over Fenwicke and Ernest Holmes, founder of the Religious Science movement.
Born in 1862 in Decatur, Illinois. She trained to be a medical doctor in Boston, and returned to Colorado to practice medicine. (She had visited Colorado as a sickly child and was healed of tuberculosis.) She was a dynamic attraction at the San Francisco World Fair. She set up several New Civilization Centers all over the world. For twelve years between 1902 and 1914 she was married to Franklin Warren Sears[2] whom she instructed in New Thought philosophy. He later branched out as a New Thought teacher and writer in his own right after which the couple divorced and went their separate ways. In 1937 she started the New Civilization Center in Ocala, Florida. Seton was actively creating a New Civilization City Foundation, a non-profit association for all humanity.

Dr. Seton twice lectured her way around the world, speaking in America, England, Australia, New Zealand and other English-speaking countries or communities. Every¬where, the masses followed her. She rented the Strand Theater in Los Angeles and filled it to capacity night after night. She was instrumental in bringing Fenwicke Holmes to the New Thought Alliance in Boston, where he gave a speech, and through her influence he found himself a special lecturer at the League for the Larger Life, an organization of New York and Brooklyn leaders and writers. Julia Seton liked to write poetry and she encouraged Fenwicke in this area also.

Julia Seton wrote a number of book including Freedom Talks (1906); The Science of Success (1914); Destiny, a New Thought Novel (1917); Fundamental Principles of the New Civilization (1914), The Key to Health, Wealth and Love (1917); Songs for the New Day (1953). Seton died in Ocala, Florida on April 25, 1950.

It was she who brought Mrs. Balliett’s ideas to a world-wide public. She also wrote several essays on the subject, and it is her book “Symbols of Numerology” which is credited with giving the Science of the Vibration of Names and Numbers its modern name.

Whilst Dr. Seton, and many other of Mrs. Balliett’s students, wrote influential books on the subject, it was Dr. Seton’s daughter, Dr. Juno Jordan who gave Numerology it’s scientific footing.
Juno Jordan (1884-1984) turning her back on a career in dentistry, Dr. Jordan studied psychology and founded the Californian Institute of Numerical Research with the intention of testing and perfecting the system. The Institute continued for twenty five years, closing only when the research body had convinced themselves that the theory was robust, the methods accurate and the interpretational guidelines valid. The results were published in Dr. Jordan’s seminal work “The Romance in Your Name”.

Numerology is nothing less than a tool which aids us towards psychological self awareness.

[1] Ruth A. Drayer's book, Numerology, The Power in Numbers (Square One Publishers)
[2] A Pioneer In The Field Of Self-help

"It is not the thing itself but it is our attitude towards it, or the use we make of it, which determines its effect upon us." ~ Dr. Franklin Warren Sears