Calculating Your Guardian Angel from Your Birth Date: Method

What is calculated, and what is not

According to the Kabbalistic and esoteric tradition, two angels from the list of 72 are associated with a person: that of their date of birth and that of their time of birth. Many sites call them “guardian angels”; we prefer to speak of the “birth angel” and the “hour angel”, for a simple reason: the guardian angel of Christian theology is not an angel chosen by calculation.

The Catholic Church does not recognise this system (it retains only Michael, Gabriel and Raphael) and does not say that each person has one particular angel, only that each is surrounded by the protection of the angels. This page is a set of instructions, not an assertion. For the origin of the system, read our introduction to the 72 angels.

First method: reading the table

The simplest method is to look up your day and month in the table of the 72 periods, further down this page. Each line gives the number of an angel, its name and its five-day period. Your year of birth plays no part: only the day and the month count.

First example: a person born on 4 July finds the line “22, Yeiayel, 4–8 July”. Second example: 25 December falls in “56, Poyel, 21–25 December”.

Second method: calculating the number

If you prefer to calculate, here is the method, in three steps.

1. Day number. Count the days elapsed since 21 March, counting 21 March as 1. To go faster, add your day of the month, minus 1, to the day number of the 1st of your month given in the table below.
2. Division. Divide this number by 5.
3. Rounding. Round up to the next whole number: this is the number of your angel.

Example 1: 14 March. 1 March carries the number 346, so 14 March carries 346 + 13 = 359. Divide: 359 ÷ 5 = 71.8, rounded up to 72. The angel is No. 72, Mumiah, who rules from 11 to 15 March.

Example 2: 15 August. 1 August carries the number 134, so 15 August carries 134 + 14 = 148. Divide: 148 ÷ 5 = 29.6, rounded to 30. The angel is No. 30, Omael, who rules from 13 to 17 August.

Example 3: 1 January. The day number is 287, and 287 ÷ 5 = 57.4, rounded to 58: Yeialel, who rules from 31 December to 4 January.

Special case: day numbers 361 to 365 (16 to 20 March) would give an “angel 73”, which does not exist. By convention, they are attached to angel No. 72. Example: 18 March, day 363, 363 ÷ 5 = 72.6, rounded to 73, brought back to 72. This is a widespread convention, not a universal rule.

Leap years

Leap years add a day, 29 February. Our table rests on calendar dates rather than on the number of days elapsed since the equinox, which simplifies things greatly: a person born on 1 March of a leap year falls in the same line as one born on 1 March of an ordinary year. Only 29 February raises a question, and authors differ:

• attach it to the angel of 28 February (this is our convention: Rochel, who then rules from 24 to 29 February);
• shift all the following periods by one day in leap years;
• lengthen one period of the list by a day, so that it lasts six days.

No single solution stands out, because the list was fixed at a time when years were counted differently. Example: a person born on 29 February 2000 is attached to Rochel according to our pages.

The hour angel

Each angel also rules over a twenty-minute slot of the day. The first rules from midnight to 00:20, the second from 00:20 to 00:40, and so on until midnight.

1. Convert your time of birth into minutes since midnight (hours × 60 + minutes).
2. Divide by 20 and keep the whole part.
3. Add 1: this is the number of the angel.

Example 1: 14:35. We count 14 × 60 + 35 = 875 minutes; 875 ÷ 20 = 43.75, whole part 43, plus 1: the angel is No. 44, Yelahiah, who rules from 14:20 to 14:40.

Example 2: 23:50. We count 1,430 minutes; 1,430 ÷ 20 = 71.5, whole part 71, plus 1: No. 72, Mumiah, who rules from 23:40 to midnight.

Which time should you use? Authors differ. Some use the time written on the birth certificate, others local solar time, which differs from legal time. In France, legal time is one hour ahead in winter and two hours ahead in summer compared with universal time, whereas solar time depends on longitude. Example: a birth at 08:10 in summer gives No. 25 (Nith-Haiah) if you take the time displayed, and No. 22 (Yeiayel) if you subtract an hour to return to winter time. Choose one convention, note it, and keep to it.

If the time of birth is unknown, or if the result seems uncertain to you, rely on the angel of the date alone.

Table of the 72 ruling periods

These dates follow the most common calendar: angel No. 1 rules from 21 to 25 March, then five days per angel. For 16 to 20 March, see above.

Limits and common sense

This method produces a name, not a truth. Other calendars, aligned with the signs of the zodiac with a few periods of six days, give different angels for the same dates, and nothing allows us to say that one is “the right one”. If you find two different angels on two sites, simply keep in mind that these lists are conventions.

Read the page of your angel as a mirror: a psalm, a theme, an exercise in reflection. These pages do not replace medical advice, legal advice or psychological support, and they contain no promise. See also the guide to the 72 angels.

Frequently asked questions

Also read

The meanings mentioned belong to tradition and symbolism. They are neither promises of results nor medical advice. Back to Guide to the 72 guardian angels.