For people today, numbers are part of a mathematical system, a logical system of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. In the earlier days though, numbers often served a much more subtle purpose. They were symbols and mediators of secret messages.

The formation of number concepts for coping with everyday computing tasks had already been practiced during the Neolithic Age according to historians. Specific numbers and complex calculation systems, such as negative or fractional numbers were not discovered until after the birth of Christ. 

The magical significance of numbers can be traced back to Astrology. During the second and third millennium B.C., the Babylonians and Egyptians had developed a certain number system giving them a deeper meaning because of the regularity in the process of natural development. In Mesopotamia, the number 30, for instance, served as the symbol for the Moon God since local scholars taught the common people that it would take exactly 30 days for the moon to orbit the earth.

In ancient cultures, celestial bodies were often associated with certain gods and certain characters. When they learned about the existence of a logical connection between planets and numbers, more and more digits could be linked to a certain symbolism associated with characteristics of planetary rulers. 

There were sacred numbers, numbers connected to lucky or unlucky events, such as the number 13. The reason why the number 13 is considered the number of bad luck lies deep within the roots in tradition of popular belief. The number 12 was considered the figure of perfection in many ancient cultures as it takes 12 lunar cycles to complete one year. 

The Jewish Religion came up with a different meaning for the number 12. At the beginning there were twelve tribes in Israel whose founding fathers were the 12 sons of Jacob. For the Jewish people, the number 12 symbolizes all the people as a whole, and it is therefore considered a sacred number. 

Since the number 12 is considered the number that completes, then 13 can only be the number that causes disorder. Indeed, according to popular belief, the number 13 presents itself as an unlucky number. People are told to never invite 13 guests, to avoid hotel rooms with the number 13, to avoid flights and trains that are in connection with that number.

Occultists referred the relationship of numbers to planets, elements, metals, colors, letters and names to aid them in deciphering a hidden world order. The knowledge of such dependencies enabled the medieval magicians to access such order.

The number was the one attribute that would put the nature of things in order according to ancient spiritual life. The idea that numbers would help us get a better understanding of cosmic laws, dates back to the school of Pythagoreans. The Greek philosopher Pythagoras saw the numbers one, two, three and four as sacred numbers. The number one represents deity, the source of all being. The one develops the two, the symbol of life. The numbers three and four were signs of time, transitory, physicality and matter. 

Jewish secret teachings from the 13th century, known as the Kabbalah, had developed a special magical number system.  According to Jewish belief, God created the world according to the law of numbers. Because each Hebrew letter has always been assigned to a number, the Kabbalists soon expressed names and words in the checksums to their number values.

The art of name interpretation was born. This kind of interpretation of names and terms according to their secret numeric value is called Gematria. The Bible exegesis, which focuses on text interpretations of the Old and New Testament, looks for words with the same numerical values, to analyze and decode possible messages to the people.