Angel Numbers
Mark Honeychurch - 31st August 2026
Angel Numbers are patterns you may notice when looking at the numbers around you - maybe the digital readout on your oven’s clock, a number plate of a car on your street, or the total of your dinner bill at your local Indian restaurant. These special numbers are supposed to be sent by your angels to guide you in life. Most of the number patterns you’re meant to look out for are pretty simple - either the same number repeating, like 2:22 or $88.88, or a simple run of numbers, such as RKH123. The numbers are meant to have significance, letting you know about your life, in a kind of fortune telling way.
For the repeating numbers, there’s an established idea of what each digit means if you see it repeating. Repeating 1s mean new beginnings, 5s mean there’s change coming, and 8s mean abundance. It’s all pretty boring stuff, really, the kind of generic platitudes a palm reader or tarot reader might tell you.
For the non-repeating patterns, there’s a similar set of explanations - although these do have some connection to the nature of the pattern itself. For example, a sequential rising (e.g. 567) is related to progress, whereas a sequential falling pattern (like 5432) is a reminder to let go of something. Palindromic numbers, such as 1001, are apparently a sign for someone to self-reflect. If you see your birth date (day and month) somewhere, like in a serial number, it means you need to re-align with your core purpose. Of course, people can and do make up any old nonsense for different number sequences, and the internet is filled with silly images, many of them badly AI generated, explaining what certain numbers mean:
So, where did these explanations come from? Although there are some places on the internet that will tell you that Angel Numbers and their meanings are ancient, by now the message has been well and truly disseminated that Doreen Virtue, a New Age author, came up with the idea of Angel Numbers and started writing about them in the early 2000s. This was after a few years working as a tarot card reader, so I guess I’m not overly surprised that Angel Numbers seem a lot like Tarot cards in their vagueness.
Doreen’s major books on Angel Numbers were “Angel Numbers: The Angels Explain The Meaning Of 111, 444 And Other Numbers In Your Life” and the updated, pocket version “Angel Numbers 101: The Meaning of 111, 123, 444, and Other Number Sequences”. However she’s also written a lot of other books on angels (Angels of Abundance, The Miracles of Archangel Gabriel, Angels 101, Solomon’s Angels, Goddesses & Angels, Angel Astrology 101, Saved By An Angel, The Angel Therapy Handbook), as well as topics such as tarot, oracle cards (a bit like tarot cards, but less edgy), astrology, flower therapy, crystals, chakras, lightwork, magic, indigo children, past life regression, fairies, mermaids, unicorns, food cravings, vegetarianism and veganism. It seems like she’s been a prolific writer since the 1990s, able to churn out books on a range of different self-help topics at an impressive pace.
When looking for the above book cover, it was obvious that a lot of people have jumped on the Angel Number band-wagon, from books by Kyle Gray, April Wall, Coty Brown, Melissa Smith, Remington Donovan, Fortuna Noir and Mystic Michaela (damn, how many of those are pseudonyms!) to colouring books, card decks, necklaces, clothing and more.
While looking for skeptical information on the topic, I did like this interview with a Vedic Astrologer who was having none of this new-fangled nonsense, and spent the entire article explaining how stupid Angel Numbers are, reminding people that if they wanted to know their future the only good way to do it is to get your birth chart made up by a Vedic Astrologer.
And, of course, many Christians are up in arms about the idea that this form of divination has anything to do with angels, God or Christianity. Interestingly one of those people who’s warning Christians about Doreen Virtue’s Angel Numbers nonsense is Doreen Virtue! Apparently Doreen had a revelation in 2017 that her work on Angel Numbers was demonic, after she found God in Hawaii and was baptised. She then promptly disowned Angel Numbers, along with everything else she’d published. These days she makes videos and appears on podcasts warning people about her previous work, like this appearance on the Servants of Grace podcast:
https://servantsofgrace.org/biblical-truth-angel-numbers-doreen-virtue/
Her YouTube channel not only warns people about her own books and ideas, but also the evils of fake Christians, feminists, Oprah Winfrey, yoga, Steven Spielberg’s new movie Disclosure Day (I may write a review of this soon, if I have the mental energy for it), gnomes, Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret, The Telepathy Tapes, vision boards, dream catchers, heart-shaped rocks, massages, Taylor Swift, Deepak Chopra, Bill Gothard, Hobby Lobby, Barbie, Scientology, Led Zeppelin, Reiki, Myers-Briggs, Mormonism, ChatGPT, essential oils and psychics:
https://www.youtube.com/@Doreen_Virtue
It’s interesting that there are quite a few things in that list that skeptics would agree are dangerous (although for very different reasons), some of which we’ve published articles on in the past. I also find it fascinating that the list of topics she’s covered in her warning videos is even more expansive and prolific than the list of topics she wrote about and promoted in her former life as a New Age author. She truly does have an opinion on pretty much anything and everything in life, and it turns out that most of it is deceptive, dangerous, ungodly, or even demonic.
Doreen really does seem to be serious about her warning to not pay any attention to the old Doreen Virtue, even if it risks hurting her profitability. Her Goodreads page carries a warning to not read her old books:
Please do not buy my old books or cards, as I have repented and denounced them after Jesus saved me and opened my eyes to new age deception.
As well as making videos, Doreen’s still writing books. It’s just that now they have much more uplifting Christian titles, such as “Deceived No More: How Jesus Led Me out of the New Age and into His Word” and “Sweet Dreams Scripture: Bible Verses and Prayers to Calm and Soothe You”.
I think I much preferred the old Doreen. She was less of a downer, and wrote books like “Don’t Let Anything Dull Your Sparkle: How to Break Free of Negativity and Drama”. It honestly sounds like it might be a fun read, and I may have to find a copy - be prepared for a possible review of “Don’t Let Anything Dull Your Sparkle” in a future newsletter, along with an honest conversation about whether Doreen’s techniques (such as avoiding drama, balancing my Yin and Yang, and breaking my histamine-addiction cycle) protected my sparkle from being dulled.
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