Angel Numbers is the numerology TikTok trend loved by Kylie Jenner and Chris Brown... but does it all add up?

Ever noticed the same sequence of numbers pop up on your receipts, on your alarm clock and in random telephone numbers?

It’s the universe trying to tell you something! 

At least that’s the theory behindangel numbers, which are huge on TikTok (the hashtag has been used 315.5k times) and were the subject of a recent New York magazine article that went viral. 

So, £9.99 was not just the total of your over-priced latte and toastie, it was your guardian angel whispering you an important message.

Confused? To understand angelnumbers, you need to tackle ‘numerology’ first.

This is the belief that certain numbers hold mystical relevance, and it has been knocking around for yonks.

Pythagoras, for example, born around 570 BC, spoke of how 10 was

perfect number, which held the key to understanding the cosmos.

Numerology has now found a fandom among Gen Z, perhaps not surprising given that 70% of 18-24 year olds believe in at least one pseudoscientific discipline.

Back to angel numbers. They started in 2004 with Doreen Virtue – a then 46-year-old ex-psychotherapist turned New Age ‘teacher’ based in (quelle surprise) California.

Virtue kept seeing special numbers – specifically 111 and 444 – repeated across things like bills and phone numbers.

She decided they were miraculous messages from angels.

Virtue’s method for deciphering? Who knows. But she published a book, Angel Numbers: Angels Explain the Meaning of 111, 444, and Other Numbers in Your Life alongside co-author Lynette Brown in 2005.

Seeing 333 everywhere? That means you are being called to recognise your life’s purpose.

For 444, you’re on the right path, even if you don’t know it yet. Get down to the casino if you’re seeing 888, as that represents abundance.

And if you’ve got 777, lucky you, for that is the most sacred of all angel numbers – and spiritual evolution is surely upon you.

This is all according to Virtue’s book, a 300-hundred-page glossary decoding the hidden meanings behind every three-digit combination possible (a sequel decoding four-digit sequences followed in 2008). It currently has 853 five-star ratings on Goodreads.the line

So why are angel numbers back on our radar? TikTok, of course, where #angelnumbers videos have racked up millions of views between them.

They’re mainly ‘angel number explainers’, where 22-year-old gurus make announcements such as ‘I’m a qualified spiritual coach and I’ve studied over a thousand angel numbers’.There are celebrity endorsers too. Kylie Jenner has been seen flaunting a necklace with 222 inscribed on it. 

Unfortunately, numerology.com reports that this means your life is out of balance. 

The Hills’s Kristin Cavallari is so committed that she wears her angel number on her skin; 1111 is tattooed on her bicep, which supposedly means that you could be entering a new phase of your life or embarking on a journey.

 Chris Brown included the same sequence in a confusingly named song last year, called Angel Numbers/Ten Toes.

Want to accessorise with your preferred angel number? There are countless options, although why not make like Jenner and go for a necklace – Abbott Lyon sell them for £79, and you can personalise yours by choosing up to four angel numbers.Plot twist! Virtue, the creator of angel numbers, has decided they are bull***t. 

Having moved to Hawaii and converted to Christianity in 2017, she has denounced angel numbers as a ‘new age deception’ and references the Biblical teaching which says that interpreting omens is detestable to God.

Her personal website now asks others not to sell her old work. But the mystique around angel numbers has continued unabated, with one popular TikTok influencer saying, ‘The angels are still using those numbers to communicate with you regardless, even though the woman who coined the term doesn’t align with them anymore.’ We are not 100% - or even 444% - convinced.