What Will 2020 Bring You?
Using numerology to predict — and understand — the new year.
By Elle Carroll
Art: Maria Karambatsakis
Time is a construct, nothing is real, and birds are surveillance drones.
In other words, facing the great unknown can be freaky — a fact we’re reminded of every year when the clock strikes midnight on January 1st. Remember at the end of 1999 how worried everyone was that the internet was going to break and that the power grids were going to spontaneously combust the moment the calendar shifted to 2000? Y2K, baby. Good times.
This upcoming year won’t be quite as momentous — or catchy named — as the dawn of a new millennium, but our crippling anxieties about the future are still as present as ever. Only time will tell what 2020 has in-store for us — but the numbers can sort of give us a hint, too.
Numerology, the belief that numbers possess a certain divinity or fortune-telling ability, can be used to intuit what 2020 will bring for us — if you believe in that sort of thing.
Numerology operates on the assumption that mystical relationships exist between certain numbers and certain events. And it breaks down into three primary forms.
There’s Kabbalic, which stems from Hebrew mysticism and the Hebrew alphabet, and aligns people’s first names to a set of mystical numbers that illuminate life paths. There’s Chaldean, which originated in Mesopotamia in tandem with astrology, and reveals people’s inner and outer qualities.
The most popular type is Pythagorean, developed by the Greek philosopher Pythagoras of Samos. In short, he believed everything was numbers and could be evaluated as such.
“To Pythagoras, all things could ultimately be broken down into a mathematical construction that could then be expressed in geometric or other forms of mathematical expression. But Pythagoras went further by considering mathematics to be the fundamental substance of the universe,” writes Andrew B. Newbergy in Principles of Neurotheology.
Aristotle, who was born about a century after Pythagoras, was predictably skeptical of the whole thing. Sure, developing a major tenant of geometry (a.k.a. the Pythagorean theorem) was all fine and good, but deciding numbers were the be-all and end-all answer to everything in the universe was pushing it.
He took Pythagoras’ followers to task in Metaphysics, writing, “The so-called Pythagoreans, who were the first to take up mathematics, not only advanced this subject, but saturated with it, they fancied that the principles of mathematics were the principles of all things.”
More contemporary incarnations of numerology are a veritable melting pot of all three. And while numerology spent a few centuries in the blasphemy side of history, most world religions never altogether abandoned the idea of numbers being imbued with sacred power.
Sacred numbers show up across monotheism, especially in the Judeo-Christian sense. They include 12 (symbolizing the tribes of Israel), 10 (the commandments and plagues of Egypt), and 7 (deadly sins and cardinal virtues; God's day of rest in the creation story).
Plus, there are all the secular meanings people assign to numbers, like 7 (luck), 69 (yes, that one), 420 (anything related to weed), 13 (unlucky), 11:11 (wish making). Whether or not you buy into numerology, numerical significance is everywhere.
Three, especially as it manifests in trinities, is particularly relevant to world religions. Hinduism has a trinity of gods called the Trimurti (consisting of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva), and the Bhagavad Gita names 3 paths to salvation. Judaism recognizes the 3 patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob). There are also 3 Shabbat meals and 3 daily prayers.
Christianity really goes all-in with 3, starting with the holy trinity, and then putting it all over Jesus' story. Three magi at the nativity, 3 years of ministry, the 3 temptations of Jesus by the devil in the Garden, Peter's 3 denials of Jesus, and Jesus' 3 falls while carrying the cross to Golgotha where he is one of 3 people crucified. Add to it the 3 days and nights he spends buried in the tomb, and yeah, as you can see, 3 is a pretty big deal for the believing type.
As for the numerology of 2020, the dawn of a new decade? What, pray tell, do the numbers divine for us?
Well, it’s not as easy to research as you’d think. Kabbalic numerology only runs from 1 to 9, as does Pythagorean numerology (although it makes an exception for “master numbers” — 11 and 22).
But there are other numerological ways to interpret the upcoming year.
Angel numbers work, although the concept is closer to astrology and pop mysticism than religious doctrine.
The basic premise goes like this: Angels are apparently trying to communicate with us all the time, and one of their preferred methods of communication involves inserting recurring sets of numbers into our lives. The places where these numbers can appear are seemingly limitless: the time on a clock, license plates, price tags, flight numbers, whatever. Interpret it, and you’ll get the message.
As for the so-called message of the recurring digits 2-0-2-0? According to the mysticism website The Secret of the Tarot, the number 2020 indicates that angels are going to support you in achieving your goals and realizing your true potential.
It also has other numerical meanings including being a call to maintain calm, trust, and integrity in relationships; to create positive change; to see the bigger picture; and to pursue your dreams with intention.
Beyond that, 2020 is the Year of the Rat in the Chinese zodiac. The first of the 12 yearly animals in the Chinese calendar, the Rat represents “a new day” and is commonly associated with the midnight hours. Children born under this sign should be energetic, optimistic, likable, but also poor communicators and prone to hoarding. Famous Rats in history include George Washington, Galileo, Leo Tolstoy, Pope Francis, and Shakespeare.
2020 is also a leap year, as well as the first year of a new decade we don’t yet have a name for since “the ‘20s” is already taken. In optometric terms, 20/20 also refers to normal vision sharpness and clarity.
You can also find the 2020 — or 2,020 — in a slew of records, measurements, statistics, and other reports from throughout history. They don’t exactly have any numerological significance to the upcoming year, but it’s interesting, nonetheless, to see where else the four-digit figure has cropped up and for what reason.
Check out more random things that relate to the number 2020:
Ticket prices: At the upcoming 2020 summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, tickets will be sold to locals for 2,020 yen.
First names: According to the 1990 U.S. Census, the name A’isha was ranked 2,020th in popularity among American Muslim women, out of a total of 4,275 names.
Magazine ads: In 2007, British Vogue ran a total of 2,020 pages of advertising in its issues throughout the year, charging an average of $20,000 a page.
Land size: Monaco, the second-smallest country in the world, has an area of 2.020 square kilometers.
Guns: In the late nineteenth century, arms manufacturer Remington produced only 2,020 units of its Remington Model 1890 revolvers.
Career bests: Former professional football player Tom Rathman finished his eight-year career as a fullback for the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Raiders with 2,020 rushing yards.
Lengths: The Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge in Washington state — the second-longest floating bridge in the world after the Evergreen Point Bridge, which is also in Washington — runs for 2,020 meters, connecting Seattle to Mercer Island.
Elevations: Just south of the Tropic of Cancer, the central Mexican town of Charcas has an elevation of 2,020 meters. Also, sitting at 2,020 meters above sea level is a peak called Petros located in the Ukranian mountain range of Chornohora.
Populations: The town of Jones Creek, Texas, famous for being the first location where colonizer and so-called “Father of Texas” Stephen F. Austin settled, had a population of 2,020 during the last U.S. Census.
Military benefits: If a service member of the U.S. Army dies while on active duty, their surviving children, or dependents not including their spouse, will receive $2,020 each year per the Department of Veteran Affairs’ death pension policy.
Asteroids: Vredefort crater hit Earth about 2.020 billion years ago, and many believe it is responsible for introducing deposits of gold into the planet’s crust and mantle.
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