22Master number

Reaching 22 takes a date of a particular shape. September 9, 2002 is one: the year comes to 4, so 9 + 9 + 4 = 22, and adding each digit separately gives 22 as well. Many dates arrive by one route only, which is why a calculator that shows both routes can print 22 beside a 4.

Taylor in 1926 calls 22 the highest vibration of all and justifies it by addition: the Trinity, 7 planets and 12 signs of the zodiac. Balliett in 1905 treats it as 11 better suited to the world and credits the group with great philanthropy. Coffman in 1927 reserves the unreduced form for spiritual matters and brings it down to 4 everywhere else. Sepharial's 1911 list for name totals stands apart with chastisement, penalty and hurt.

Modern books speak of a master builder and of large plans brought down to practical detail, an idea visible in Taylor's line about making inspiration practical. Taylor also says the vibration abounds among clerks and bookkeepers, which the book puts down to unused potential, and a reader may prefer the simpler explanation that plenty of dates add up to 22. Balliett credits Pythagoras with a mystical view of 22 on account of the Hebrew alphabet and gives no source for it.