The Growth Number... you see it all around this blog and hear it in my videos, but what is it, REALLY??
Short answer: It is the final number the first name reduces to.
In-Depth (and more exciting) answer: The Growth number represents the keys to advancing along your life's journey. Whichever number your (or your little one's) name reduces to has its own characteristic traits, so learning your (or your little one's) number can help identify which latent traits to encourage and develop. The Growth number is separate from the Core Numbers (Life Path, Expression, Soul Urge, and Birthday/Sub-Lesson), yet it interacts closely with each. Given that the Growth number is derived from the first name, it is included in calculating the Expression and the Soul Urge. That means, the name(s) you choose affect 50% of the Core Numbers! And those are just the Core numbers: the full name (First + Middle + Last) determines Karmic Lessons (or potential weaknesses), the Secret Self, the lesson that comes at Maturity, Temperament, Effectiveness, the relation to the material and spiritual realms, and the Essence characterizing every year of life. To say that the name you choose is a big deal almost feels like an understatement...
Returning to the Growth Number (the energy of the first name, only), you can think of it as your superpower. Due to the fact that this is the only aspect of a chart that carries, exclusively, the positive expression of a number, it can balance out conflicts, debts, or weaknesses in other areas of the chart. If your child is born on a day that gives the 1(19) Life Path-- meaning it carries the 19 Karmic Debt--, then using a first name with a 1 Growth number will help to balance out the potential difficulties specific to the 1 energy, for example. (I specifically take all this into consideration when working with expecting parents in a consultation to create a list of names and in my Baby Naming Report for names that are already chosen, available here.)
I want to be clear in saying that, yes we have all the positive aspects of our Growth number within us, but they need to be cultivated! It is in cultivating them that we see progress in learning what we (individually) came here to learn and, simultaneously, encounter less resistance.
To calculate the Growth number, first convert all letters of the first name to their corresponding numbers (see chart below).
Next, add them all up! If you have a single digit, that's it! If you get a double-digit number, check to see if it is an 11, 22, or 33: if so, you're also done. Let's say you have calculated your Growth number and you have a double-digit number that is NOT 11, 22, or 33. Simply, you continue to reduce (by adding the two digits together) until you do get to a master number (11, 22, 33) or a single digit- whichever comes first. Here are two examples:
Here, we get to the 11 Master Number, so we stop. Kaitlyn carries the 11 Growth Number.
Here, we continue to reduce until we get to a single digit. In this case, Michelle reduces to the 4 Growth Number.
To learn more about each Growth Number, and to see a list of names (boy, girl, & gender neutral), check out the links below: