7

Walton's sample for the birth date sum is December 19, 1884. December is the twelfth month and comes to 3, the 19th comes to 1, and 1884 totals 21 and so 3, which leaves 3 + 1 + 3 = 7. He says the result shows the strength of the soul, a claim that belongs to his own system.

The early American books agree that 7 withdraws, and they part ways on whether that is good. Balliett in 1905 draws the numeral as a person bent under a pack of memories and afraid of having it searched. Walton calls the number obscure and short on expression. Cheasley in 1916 is gentler, listing rest, reflection, worship and dim lights, and Taylor in 1926 writes of wisdom and a wish for perfection. Sepharial's three words of 1911 come from his list for name totals.

Agrippa's 1651 English reports a Pythagorean name for 7 as the vehicle of human life, because it holds body and soul together. Modern writers turn these older images into the seeker, the analyst and the person who needs time alone. Nearly everybody enjoys some solitude, which makes that description easy to agree with, so the sharper question is what actually happens to an empty afternoon.