Life path number API reference
Updated
The life path endpoint of API for Astrology (apiforastrology.com), POST /v1/western, returns the Western (Pythagorean) numbers. You send a name and a birth date. You get the life path, expression, soul urge, personality, maturity and birthday numbers, with the challenges and pinnacles. Master numbers 11, 22 and 33 are kept as they are.
Call POST /v1/western with a name and a birth date. John Doe's life path is 6 and his expression number is 8. Names use Pythagorean letter values here, unlike the Indian name number. The Chaldean vs Pythagorean guide shows both letter tables. Life path number math explains why calculators can disagree.
The Western (Pythagorean) numbers: life path, expression, soul urge, personality, maturity, birthday, karmic debt and lessons, challenges and pinnacles.
1 endpoint. Paths are relative to https://apiforastrology.com/api/numerology. Send your API key in the Authorization: Bearer header (see authentication). No key yet? Get a key. To send test requests from the browser, open the interactive reference.
Overview: Western numbers.
Western numbers
POST /v1/western
The Western (Pythagorean) numbers: life path, expression, soul urge, personality, maturity and birthday. It also returns karmic debt, karmic lessons, hidden passion and balance. It returns the four challenges and the four pinnacles, with ages, years and which one is current, and the three life cycles (early, middle and later years) the same way. It also returns the personal year, month and day. Master numbers 11, 22 and 33 are kept in number; digit is the same number reduced to 1-9. basis states each method where books differ. Use the full name from birth.
Uses 3 reading credits. On live keys a successful response uses them from your monthly reading credits, and no calls. Test keys answer for the sample people only, and it counts as 1 test call. What reading credits buy.
Cost: 3 reading credits on a live key, 1 test call on a test key.
Required inputs
| Name | In | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| name | body | Full name from birth, in English letters (A to Z). The Western numbers use every word of it, so a nickname or a married name gives different numbers. Spaces, dots, hyphens and apostrophes are allowed. Other scripts are refused, because the spelling changes the number. |
| birth_date | body | Date of birth, YYYY-MM-DD. The calendar date is used as it is, with no time of day. |
Optional inputs (3), with their defaults
| Name | In | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| as_of | query | The date to read the personal year, month and day (and the current pinnacle and life cycle) for, YYYY-MM-DD. Defaults to today. Echoed back in as_of. |
| lang | query | Language of the readings and names: en, hi. Codes stay in English. |
| detail | query | Length of the readings: standard (the default, short, for app cards) or expanded (about three times longer, for reading in full). A passage with no long form yet comes back at standard length and is listed in localization.fell_back_to_standard. |
Main response fields
input(object): holds name, birth_date.system(string)about(string)basis(object): holds letters, masters, life_path, name_numbers, y, personal_year, pinnacles, life_cycles, karmic_debt.life_path(object): holds total, number, digit, karmic_debt, parts, about, reading.expression(object): holds total, number, digit, karmic_debt, words, about, reading.soul_urge(object): holds total, number, digit, karmic_debt, words, about, reading.personality(object): holds total, number, digit, karmic_debt, words, about, reading.maturity(object): holds total, number, digit, karmic_debt, about, reading.birthday(object): holds day, number, digit, karmic_debt, about, reading.karmic_lessons(object): holds about, numbers.hidden_passion(object): holds numbers, count, about, readings.balance(object): holds initials, total, number, about, reading.challenges(object): holds about, items.pinnacles(object): holds about, as_of, items.life_cycles(object): holds about, as_of, items.personal(object): holds as_of, year, month, day.not_computed(array)not_claimed_karmic(string)not_claimed(string)localization(object): holds lang, detail, fell_back_to_en, fell_back_to_standard.
# John Doe, born Aug 15, 1990
curl -X POST "https://apiforastrology.com/api/numerology/v1/western?as_of=2026-10-01" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $ASTROLOGY_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"name":"John Doe","birth_date":"1990-08-15"}'{
"input": {
"name": "John Doe",
"birth_date": "1990-08-15"
},
"system": "pythagorean",
"about": "These are the Western numbers. They use the Pythagorean letter values, where A is 1, B is 2 and so on. The numbers 11, 22 and 33 are master numbers and are…",
"basis": {
"letters": "Pythagorean letter values (A=1 ... I=9, J=1 ...).",
"masters": "11, 22 and 33 are kept; `digit` is the same number reduced to 1-9.",
"life_path": "Month, day and year are reduced one by one, then added.",
"name_numbers": "Each word is reduced, then the words are added.",
"y": "Y counts as a vowel when neither letter beside it is a vowel.",
"personal_year": "Counted on the calendar year, from January 1.",
"pinnacles": "The first ends at age 36 minus the life path digit; each later one lasts nine years, and the fourth for life.",
"life_cycles": "Month, day and year, each reduced (masters kept). The first cycle ends with the first pinnacle, the second 27 years later, and the third runs for life.",
"karmic_debt": "Karmic debt is looked for in six numbers: life path, expression, soul urge, personality, maturity and birthday. Pinnacles, challenges and life cycles are not…"
},
"life_path": {
"total": 15,
"number": 6,
"digit": 6,
"karmic_debt": [],
"parts": {
"month": 8,
"day": 6,
"year": 1
},
"about": "Your life path number comes from your full birth date. It shows the main road your life tends to follow.",
"reading": "Your road tends to center on caring for others. Family, home and community often matter most to you."
},
"expression": {
"total": 8,
"number": 8,
"digit": 8,
"karmic_debt": [],
"words": [
20,
15
],
"about": "Your expression number comes from every letter of your full name. It shows your natural talents.",
"reading": "You have a natural gift for business, managing and handling money."
},
"soul_urge": {
"total": 17,
"number": 8,
"digit": 8,
"karmic_debt": [],
"words": [
6,
11
],
"about": "Your soul urge number comes from the vowels in your name. It shows what you want deep inside.",
"reading": "Deep inside, you want success and to be respected for what you achieve."
},
"personality": {
"total": 9,
"number": 9,
"digit": 9,
"karmic_debt": [
{
"number": 14,
"reading": "14 points to a lesson about balance. Too much of anything, from food to freedom, tends to cost you."
}
],
"words": [
14,
4
],
"about": "Your personality number comes from the consonants in your name. It shows how people see you before they know you well.",
"reading": "People tend to see you as open-hearted and generous."
},
"maturity": {
"total": 14,
"number": 5,
"digit": 5,
"karmic_debt": [
{
"number": 14,
"reading": "14 points to a lesson about balance. Too much of anything, from food to freedom, tends to cost you."
}
],
"about": "Your maturity number adds your life path and expression numbers. It shows what tends to grow stronger after about age 35.",
"reading": "After about age 35, you tend to want more freedom and change. New places, people and ideas often keep you growing."
},
"birthday": {
"day": 15,
"number": 6,
"digit": 6,
"karmic_debt": [],
"about": "Your birthday number is the day of the month you were born. It shows one special gift you carry.",
"reading": "You tend to have a special gift for caring for others. You may be good at looking after people and making any place feel like home."
},
"karmic_lessons": {
"about": "Karmic lessons are the numbers from 1 to 9 that no letter of your name gives. They show skills you may need to build on purpose.",
"numbers": [
{
"number": 2,
"reading": "No letter gives 2. Patience and working closely with others may need practice."
},
{
"number": 3,
"reading": "No letter gives 3. Sharing your feelings and ideas out loud may need practice."
}
]
},
"hidden_passion": {
"numbers": [
5,
6
],
"count": 2,
"about": "Your hidden passion is the number that appears most often in the letters of your name. It shows a strong drive you may not talk about.",
"readings": [
"5 is about freedom, change, travel and trying new things.",
"6 is about care, family, home and taking responsibility."
]
},
"balance": {
"initials": "JD",
"total": 5,
"number": 5,
"about": "Your balance number comes from the first letter of each part of your name. It shows how you tend to handle hard times.",
"reading": "5 is about freedom, change, travel and trying new things."
},
"challenges": {
"about": "Your four challenge numbers come from your birth date. Each shows something you may have to work at during part of your life.",
"items": [
{
"id": "first",
"number": 2,
"name": "First challenge",
"reading": "Not taking things too personally."
},
{
"id": "second",
"number": 5,
"name": "Second challenge",
"reading": "Handling freedom wisely and not rushing from one thing to the next."
}
]
},
"pinnacles": {
"about": "Your four pinnacles are long stretches of your life. Each one has its own number and its own focus.",
"as_of": "2026-10-01",
"items": [
{
"id": 1,
"number": 5,
"digit": 5,
"from_age": 0,
"to_age": 30,
"from_year": 1990,
"to_year": 2020,
"current": false,
"reading": "5 is about freedom, change, travel and trying new things."
},
{
"id": 2,
"number": 7,
"digit": 7,
"from_age": 31,
"to_age": 39,
"from_year": 2021,
"to_year": 2029,
"current": true,
"reading": "7 is about study, thinking deeply and looking inward."
}
]
},
"life_cycles": {
"about": "Your life cycles are three long stages of your life: your early, middle and later years. Each stage has its own number and its own mood.",
"as_of": "2026-10-01",
"items": [
{
"id": "early",
"number": 8,
"digit": 8,
"from_age": 0,
"to_age": 30,
"from_year": 1990,
"to_year": 2020,
"current": false,
"name": "Early years",
"reading": "8 is about ambition, money, managing people and real results."
},
{
"id": "middle",
"number": 6,
"digit": 6,
"from_age": 31,
"to_age": 57,
"from_year": 2021,
"to_year": 2047,
"current": true,
"name": "Middle years",
"reading": "6 is about care, family, home and taking responsibility."
}
]
},
"personal": {
"as_of": "2026-10-01",
"year": {
"number": 6,
"about": "Your personal year number shows the theme of this year for you. It changes on January 1.",
"reading": "A year for home, family and duties. People may lean on you.",
"do": "Give time to your home and family. Help the people who lean on you, and plan what you can do for them. Fix or improve something at home. Spend time with your…",
"avoid": "Avoid taking on every duty yourself. Try not to give advice or help where it is not wanted. Do not forget your own rest while you care for others. Avoid…"
},
"month": {
"number": 7,
"about": "Your personal month number shows the theme of this month for you.",
"reading": "This month tends to favor rest, study and thinking things over. You may want more quiet time than usual. It is a good time to read, plan and look inward,…"
},
"day": {
"number": 8,
"about": "Your personal day number shows the theme of this day for you.",
"reading": "Good for work, money and big decisions."
}
},
"not_computed": [],
"not_claimed_karmic": "Karmic debt and karmic lessons describe patterns to work on. They are not a claim about a past life.",
"not_claimed": "Numbers describe tendencies, not fixed events. Use them as a guide, not a rule.",
"localization": {
"lang": "en",
"detail": "standard",
"fell_back_to_en": [],
"fell_back_to_standard": []
}
}Example from a real call for John Doe, born Aug 15, 1990. Long lists and texts are shortened.
Parameters, schemas and a test request in the interactive reference. Feature: Western numbers. Free tool: Life path number calculator.
Where the rules come from
The Pythagorean letter values, 1 to 9 in alphabet order, match the table in L. Dow Balliett's The Philosophy of Numbers (1908). The life path reduces the month, the day and the year one by one, then adds them. The same steps appear in L. Dow Balliett's The Philosophy of Numbers (1908).
Related pages
- Features: Western numbers.
- Used for: Numerology apps.
- Free tools: Life path number calculator.
- Guides: Quickstart, Conventions, Errors, Changelog, Chaldean vs Pythagorean numerology.