When the 4 or the 8 is the Single Number of your day of birth — as in the 4th, 8th, 13th, 17th, 22nd, 26th, or 31st — you’ve chosen that number in the wiser state of grace between incarnations. Your Higher Self, realising there are heavy karmic debts to be balanced — which have been delayed or procrastinated over for too many lifetimes — chooses the magnetic birth channel of the 4 or the 8 to ensure these long overdue karmic obligations are faced and finally worked through. Think of it as the decision of a student who has continually postponed studying for an exam, and as the deadline draws near, recognises it’s time to get serious and make up for the dilly-dallying. No more stalling; it’s time to study hard.

 

Naturally, we can’t avoid our birth day. If you have the 4 or the 8 (or both) you have no choice but to play that particular karma out in the present life. Therefore, you might think it unwise to try to remove any further 4 or 8 influence from your life because its purpose for is so spiritually sound. But this isn’t necessarily true.

 

The Single Number of the name being a 4 or an 8 is an entirely different matter, since you don’t choose your own name at birth. Your parents choose your name and you bear it, for better or for worse. So, to change the spelling of the name to equal a more fortunate Single Number is not unduly interfering with Karma. It’s a free will choice — and a sensible way, if this your desire, to make your path smoother. You will still be playing out the karma, just with less drama.

 

If 4 or 8 is your Single Number birthday, care should be taken to avoid 4s and 8s in all other ways, such as addresses and phone numbers that reduce to the Single Numbers 4 or 8 and to avoid taking important action or planning significant events on dates equalling either of these two numbers — 4th, 8th, 13th, 17th, 22nd, 26th or 31st. Most people can handle the 4 or the 8 alone. It’s the combination that becomes extra challenging.

 

Let’s consider the two numbers separately, since there’s a degree of difference between them. First, the 8.

 

If your birth number is 8, you’re more susceptible to a more pronounced ‘fatalistic’ vibration, more a ‘child of Fate’. You can be just as strong of character, devoted, hard-working and self-sacrificing as others (and frequently even more so), but may feel you don’t receive the rewards you’re entitled to or the recognition you deserve. For you, the road to success is a hard one, strewn with obstacles. Although you often manage to rise to a position of high authority, it burdens you with stressful responsibilities, great anxiety, and long hours. The 8s not infrequently manage to accumulate wealth; in fact, the accumulation of wealth at some time in your life is a definite part of the 8 influence. But the wealth may not bring any real or lasting happiness. In addition, 8s are often required to pay too high a price for love, which almost invariably brings with it suffering of some kind.

 

Under the law of magnetic attraction, 4s and 8s seem to be irresistibly drawn together in all kinds of relationships. The combination cannot be called fortunate, at least not in a worldly sense, although it’s common for 4s and 8s to demonstrate a deep devotion to one another (or one of them does, to an almost fanatical degree, even when the other doesn’t). A matter of “for better or for worse”, especially during times of illness or misfortune. Some of the greatest examples of self-sacrifice in history are found when 8s and 4s form partnerships. The most pronounced aspect about this combination is sacrifice of some kind. Yet, great good can come from such suffering, the couple can create unusually gifted children — or produce the legacy of classical music, poetry, memorable books, plays, and so forth.

 

If, as an 8, you find the numbers 4 and 8 continually influencing your life negatively, you should avoid these numbers whenever possible, by changing the spelling of your name (if it equals a 4 or 8), addresses, telephone numbers, and the like, which reduces to a 4 or an 8, for example, 17 reduces to an 8 (1+7), 13 reduces to a 4 (1+3). Avoid keeping important engagements or planning significant events on the 4th, 8th, 13th, 17th, 22nd, 26th, or 31st; choose the 6th or the 24th day, but not the 15th.

 

Of course, you may not be able to avoid all relationships with other 4s or 8s; you do have karma to balance. Most of your close friends, associates and relatives will usually be a 4 or an 8 by birth, or have names that equal either of these numbers.

 

The 4-8 vibration is increased if the 8 is a Capricorn or an Aquarian, since 8 is the number of Saturn (ruler of Capricorn) and 4 is the number of Uranus (ruler of Aquarius).

 

Note well: Some 8s may prefer to carry out the full meaning of the 8, not fearing the consequences, because they feel that forewarned, they can handle the negative aspect of the 8 — and they wish to increase the power of wealth, stability, responsibility, and so forth that the 8 brings. If such a path is chosen, they should try to do everything important on the 8th, 17th, and 26th, and if the birth number is 8, they should change the spelling of the name to likewise equal a single 8 (but not so that it equals the Compound 26). In doing this, they’ll greatly increase their chances for material success, but they will lead curiously fatalistic lives.

 

However, those 8s who choose to increase the power of the 8 in their lives must take care to avoid the number 4 whenever possible, because it’s the combination of these two that brings strong magnetic negative influences to bear upon them.

 

This is why 4s should not, under any circumstances, increase the power of the number 4, since a double 4 equals an 8. They should avoid, once again, the combination of these two numbers. 

 

According to the Chaldeans, the number 4 as a birth influence is not quite so heavy an influence as the birth number 8. People with a 4 birth number will find that the 4th, 13th, 22nd, and 31st days of the month are of major significance in both their business and personal affairs — both positively and sometimes negatively. Their own addresses and phone numbers etc and the birthdates of people close to them — especially family, since the 4-8 combination greatly influences group family karma — will reduce to 4s or 8s far more than can be attributed to coincidence.

 

A rare few who have chosen the number 4 as the birth channel are illumined souls who have erased all past Karma by balancing it in previous lives, and have incarnated in the present to “rescue” a Twin Self who has become — or in danger of becoming — a fallen angel. In such cases, the 4 vibration is chosen to help keep this person on the path of light; to lessen the temptation to form new, negative karma, thereby also becoming a fallen angel in the attempt to rescue the fallen other half of the Self. In this instance, the 4 is an extremely protective influence — and in all other cases (which form the majority of the 4 people) the 4 is not so much to be dreaded as to be recognised as a helpful means to discipline one’s self in the present incarnation, which is not a negative situation, but quite positive in a spiritual sense.