Angel Numbers and Why We See Patterns

We've been seeing 666 everywhere lately. As horror fans, our minds naturally go straight to the obvious reference. We also see 11:11 a lot and knowing that's an angel number, we started wondering — could 666 be one too? It is, but the meaning surprised us.

In this episode, I talk about the history of numerology from its origins with Pythagoras in the sixth century BCE — who believed numbers were the fundamental building blocks of reality — then moving to the late 19th and early 20th century, Sarah Joanna Dennis Balliett, arguably the mother of modern day numerology, is believed to be the first to use numbers as a personal guidance tool. And finally to Doreen Virtue, the New Age author who popularized the term angel numbers in the early 2000s before publicly denouncing the practice as sinful.

Madelyn discusses the psychology behind why we see patterns — not what angel numbers mean, but why we see them repeatedly. She walks through pattern recognition, confirmation bias, and apophenia — the brain's tendency to find meaningful connections in random data. It's the same cognitive process that makes you see recognizable shapes in clouds, or suddenly notice red cars everywhere the moment you decide you want a red car. We had our own experience recently when we decided to move and began seeing moving vans and pods everywhere.

Understanding the psychology of why we see patterns doesn't dismiss numerology or make the experience less meaningful. We all see patterns. It's not about what they mean, but what they mean to you.