Lucky Number Calculator
Calculate the numbers that support you personally, based on your Chinese birth year, and see where those numbers get used in practice.
Your personal numbers
How to use it
- Enter your date of birth.
- Read your base number and your element number.
- Check where to apply them — addresses, phone numbers and floors.
Where numbers actually get used
Number theory in feng shui is not abstract. It attaches to a small number of concrete things that people actually choose.
- House numbers. The number on the door is the base number of the home and interacts with the occupant's kua. This is the most important application — see our house number guide.
- Personal phone numbers. The final two or three digits are traditionally matched to your kua.
- Floor numbers. In a multi-storey building, the floor you live on is treated as a number you live with continuously.
- Personal numbers such as a lucky licence plate, a bank account number, a business phone.
Two people sharing a home often have different numbers. Where that happens, the house number is the shared element, and it is the one worth getting right.
Good numbers and difficult numbers
The traditional classification runs from one to nine, with five as a special case because it sits in the centre palace and has no direction.
| Number | Character | General use |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kan, water | Strong and generally helpful |
| 2 | Kun, earth | Mixed; paired with the right person, capable |
| 3 | Zhen, wood | Traditionally one of the more difficult numbers |
| 4 | Xun, wood | Traditionally the most difficult number |
| 5 | Centre | No direction — neutral, and the base of the eight |
| 6 | Qian, metal | Strong for authority and wealth |
| 7 | Dui, metal | Mixed; strong for sociability |
| 8 | Gen, earth | Strong for wealth, especially in the current period |
| 9 | Li, fire | Strong for visibility and long-term fortune |
Notice that four is the number most often described as difficult, and that this is a cultural pattern as much as a feng shui one — it comes from the Chinese homophone for death. There is no classical basis for avoiding the number four in feng shui itself, only a linguistic one, and it is the reason so many buildings skip it on floor numbering.
Matching a number you cannot change
Most people cannot change their address or their phone number. So what do you do with a difficult one?
- Do nothing dramatic. A number is one layer among many. It is not worth moving house over.
- Pair it with your element. Add objects and colours of your own element to the corner or the space associated with that number. This is the standard classical remedy.
- Use the personal layer. Your own kua number and the number's own trigram often differ, and the mismatch is where the effect lies. A four for a kua nine is not the same as a four for a kua three.
- Adjust the digits you can. People with a business address that ends badly frequently add a digit or use an extension number to bring the tail into a better range.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find my lucky number?
Enter your date of birth above. The calculator derives your base number from your Chinese birth year, applies the kua rules including the reassignment of five, and pairs it with the number of your personal element.
What is my feng shui number?
Your feng shui number is your personal kua number — the number derived from your Chinese birth year and gender. You can see the full derivation with the eight mansions calculator.
Is 4 really a bad number in feng shui?
It is a difficult number in the traditional number-virtue system, where four is associated with conflict and litigation. But the reason it feels especially unlucky in Chinese culture is linguistic — it sounds like the word for death. In feng shui proper the classification of four is mixed rather than disastrous, and the effect depends heavily on the occupant's own number.
Should I pick a specific house number when buying?
It is worth doing if you have the choice and the price difference is small. Look for a number that matches your kua or the kua of the household, and avoid a number that clashes badly with it. But a good layout, a good facing direction and good light beat the address number every time. See our house number guide for the full decision framework.