Grid line 1-2-3

Meaning

The line 1-2-3 is the left column of the birth grid in David A. Phillips’s layout. It climbs from 1 at the bottom, through 2 in the middle, to 3 at the top. Each digit has its own plane: 1 the body, 2 the soul, 3 the mind. The column thus links doing, feeling and thinking, through the first three numbers.

When all three cells hold a digit, the line is full. Phillips names it the arrow of the planner. The tradition reads a mind that likes to see the steps before taking them. Such a person organises, sorts and prepares, and is often the one who draws up the plan others follow. The gift shines when the plan leaves room for change, and when planning leads on to action.

An empty line 1-2-3 does not occur in practice. Every year from 1000 to 2999 begins with a 1 or a 2, so the date always holds at least one of the three digits. Ulune’s code finds the line full on about 19% of dates from 1900 to 1999 and about 24% from 2000 to 2099. It is the most frequent full line from 2000 to 2099, and the second, after 1-5-9, from 1900 to 1999.

A partial line, with one or two of its digits, says little alone. The year always gives the 1 or the 2. The rest must come from the day, the month or the year’s last digits.

In practice

Take a made-up birth date, 23 September 1994. Its digits are 1 2 3 4 9 9 9. The left column holds a 1, a 2 and a 3: the line 1-2-3 is full, and Ulune lists it as “full: an arrow”.

Now take 15 June 1990, with the digits 1 1 5 6 9 9. The left column holds only the two 1s. The line is partial, shown with a dash.

Across traditions

The Lo Shu square is laid out 4 9 2 / 3 5 7 / 8 1 6. There, the digits 1, 2 and 3 do not stand on one line. The 2 is at the top right, the 3 on the middle left and the 1 at the bottom centre. So the Lo Shu view of Ulune has no line 1-2-3.

For 23 September 1994, the Lo Shu shows another full line: the top row, 4-9-2, which adds up to 15 like every Lo Shu line.

How Ulune calculates it

Ulune counts the digits of the local date of birth, day, month and year, with the zeros set aside. The line 1-2-3 is full when the date holds at least one 1, one 2 and one 3. It would be empty if the date held none of them, which no four-digit year from 1000 to 2999 allows. Otherwise it is partial, shown with a dash. A repeated digit counts once. It is the left column of Phillips’s layout, and it appears only in that layout.

Correspondences