In this guide

A Roman numeral is a counting tool. A Hebrew letter is a door. Kabbalistic numerology tables (gematria charts) map each of the 22 Hebrew letters to a specific number, then use those values to decode hidden relationships between words, phrases, and divine names. The system rests on a single conviction: that language and number are the same substance, and that the Hebrew alphabet was not invented but revealed.

The oldest complete gematria table appears in the Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Formation), a text composed between the 2nd and 6th centuries CE. It assigns each letter a numerical value, a planetary body, and a part of the human body. The table is not a reference tool. It is a creation myth written in arithmetic.

What a Kabbalistic Numerology Table Actually Contains

The standard table runs 22 rows and three columns: letter name, written form, and numerical value. The first nine letters (aleph through tet) carry values 1 through 9. The next nine (yod through tzadi) carry 10 through 90. The final four (koph, resh, shin, tav) carry 100, 200, 300, and 400.

Five letters have a second form used only at the end of a word: kaph final, mem final, nun final, peh final, and tzadi final. Their numerical values are 500, 600, 700, 800, and 900. Some tables include them. Others omit them, since the final forms are graphic variants, not separate letters.

The table is not a cipher. It is a map of how the sephiroth (divine emanations) compress themselves into language. Aleph is 1, which is Kether (the crown). Beth is 2, which is Chokmah (wisdom). The table mirrors the Tree of Life in base-ten arithmetic.

Where the Tables Come From: The Sefer Yetzirah and Its Successors

The Sefer Yetzirah does not use the word gematria. It describes how God created the universe by “engraving” 22 letters and “combining” them with the ten sephiroth. The text gives each letter a “house” (a number), a “gate” (a month or direction), and a “bond” (a bodily organ). The table is implicit. Later commentators made it explicit.

Rabbi Abraham Abulafia (1240–1291) built the first systematic gematria tables for meditative practice. His Chayei ha-Olam ha-Ba (Life of the World to Come) includes letter-combination charts that the practitioner recites while rotating the head and breath. The table was not for calculation. It was for ecstasy.

The most widely reproduced table in Western occultism comes from the Sopher Yetzirah translation by W. Wynn Westcott (1893). Westcott, a co-founder of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, appended a gematria chart to his edition. That chart became the standard reference for English-speaking occultists and remains the table most commonly found in print today.

How the Table Is Used: Three Operations

The table serves three distinct practices, and confusing them is the most common error beginners make.

Gematria calculates the numerical sum of a word or phrase, then finds other words with the same sum. The classic example: the Hebrew words echad (one, value 13) and ahavah (love, value 13) share the same total. The table makes the connection visible. The practitioner does not invent the link. She discovers it.

Notarikon uses the table to extract acronyms. The first letter of each word in a phrase is taken as a new word. The table provides the numerical value of that word, which then connects to other texts. This is how the Tetragrammaton (YHVH) was expanded into 72 angel names in the Sefer Raziel.

Temurah permutes letters according to fixed substitution tables. The Atbash cipher (first letter swapped with last, second with second-last) is the best known. The table gives the numerical anchor: aleph (1) becomes tav (400), beth (2) becomes shin (300). The substitution is not arbitrary. It is arithmetic.

What the Table Does Not Show: The Missing Values

What the Table Does Not Show The Missing Values

A standard gematria table stops at 400. The number 500 and above appear only in the final-letter column. This creates a practical limit. The highest value a standard letter can produce is 400 (tav). Words that sum above 400 must be reduced.

Reduction methods vary. The simplest is mispar katan (small number): drop the zeros and add the digits. The number 456 becomes 4 + 5 + 6 = 15, then 1 + 5 = 6. Some tables include a reduction column. Most do not.

The mispar gadol (large number) method assigns each final letter its full value (500–900). This is the system used in the Zohar. It produces larger totals and different correspondences. A table that omits the final forms cannot be used for Zoharic gematria.

Symbolism Embedded in the Number Sequence

The table is not neutral. The order of the numbers carries meaning.

Aleph (1) is unity, the point before division. Beth (2) is duality, the first split. Gimel (3) is the bridge between the two. The table enforces a cosmology: creation proceeds from one to many, from simple to compound, from abstract to concrete.

The number 10 (yod) is the first compound number, the seed of the Tetragrammaton. The number 100 (koph) is the first three-digit value, the completion of a cycle. The table mirrors the decimal system because the sephiroth are ten.

This is not coincidence. The Sefer Yetzirah states explicitly that the ten sephiroth are “ten and not nine, ten and not eleven.” The decimal structure of the table is a theological claim. The universe is base-ten because the divine emanations are ten.

Notable Figures Who Built on the Tables

Rabbi Moses Cordovero (1522–1570) systematized gematria in his Pardes Rimonim (Orchard of Pomegranates). He classified gematria into four types: absolute, reduced, ordinal, and integral. His tables include multiple reduction columns and cross-references to the sephiroth.

Rabbi Isaac Luria (1534–1572) introduced the concept of tikkun (repair) into gematria. His tables include the value of the letters before and after repair, showing how a word changes when its spiritual defect is corrected. The table becomes a diagnostic tool.

Eliphas Levi (1810–1875) adapted the Hebrew gematria table for the Tarot. His Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie maps the 22 letters to the 22 Major Arcana, using the numerical values to assign card order. The Fool is aleph (1). The Magician is beth (2). The table becomes a divination system.

Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) revised Levi’s table in The Book of Thoth (1944), reassigning several cards to different letters. His table is controversial. Traditional Kabbalists reject it. Golden Dawn practitioners use it. Both sides agree on the base values. The disagreement is about which card matches which letter, not about the numbers themselves.

Common Misconceptions

“Gematria is Jewish numerology.” It is not numerology in the Greek or Chaldean sense. Greek isopsephy (the system that gives 666 as the number of the beast) assigns values to letters but does not treat the alphabet as a creation tool. Kabbalistic gematria assumes the letters are the building blocks of reality. The table is not a calculation aid. It is a diagram of how the world was made.

“The table works for English.” It does not. English letters have no fixed numerical values in Kabbalistic tradition. Attempts to create English gematria tables (A=1, B=2, etc.) are modern inventions with no textual basis. The Hebrew table is tied to the Hebrew alphabet. Substituting English breaks the correspondence.

“All Kabbalists use the same table.” They do not. Sephardic and Ashkenazi traditions differ on the value of the final letters. The mispar ha-kellali (total value) method used in some Hasidic circles adds the digits of a word’s value without dropping zeros, producing different results. The table is a tool, not a dogma.

“The table is complete at 400.” It is not. The Sefer ha-Bahir (12th century) includes values up to 1000 by assigning the letter tav (400) multiplied by 2.5. The Zohar uses values up to 1000 regularly. The standard table is a simplified version for beginners.

FAQ

What is the difference between gematria and Kabbalistic numerology? Gematria is the calculation method. Kabbalistic numerology is the interpretive framework that reads meaning into the results. The table serves both.

Do I need to read Hebrew to use the table? Yes, for serious work. The table is a reference for Hebrew words. Using transliterations introduces errors because transliteration is not standardized.

Why does the table stop at 400? The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters. The highest standard value is tav at 400. Higher values require final letters or reduction methods.

Can I use the table for English words? No. English gematria tables are modern inventions with no authority in Kabbalistic tradition.

The gematria table is not a calculator. It is a map of how the 22 letters and the ten sephiroth generate the world. Every number on the table is a door. Every letter is a room. The practitioner who learns the table does not memorize facts. She learns to read the architecture of creation.

For a deeper look at how the sephiroth structure the table, see our guide to the Tree of Life. The glossary of Hebrew letter meanings gives the symbolic value of each letter. And the full numerology hub connects gematria to its sister systems in Greek isopsephy and Arabic abjad.