13
Is Friday the 13th like any other day to you? Is it a good omen or a bad one? Would you schedule an elective surgery, buy a house, bravely go about your normal business, or be more likely to call in sick and hide under your bed? Friday the 13th has been the ultimate bad luck day for only a century or so now. However, Friday has long been considered ill-fated, due in part to Christ dying on a Friday. As well, the number 13 has a long dismal history of foreboding and evil fortune. For example, there were 13 people at the Last Supper. The number 13 shakes things up, as opposed to 12, whose essence is considered perfect and complete.
The number 12 strikes a chord of dignity and balance. There are 12 Disciples, 12 Olympians, 12 lines in a cube, 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 hours of day and of night, 12 eggs in a dozen, 12 ribs in a human, and so on. Adding one more to make 13 creates an element of mystery, of the unknown, and throws things off balance. We can’t control the tone of chaos created by 13. Still, in ancient cultures it was often a holy number and much revered.
How about it? Let’s give 13 some love.
Our calendar year has 12 months, but perhaps it should have 13 months of 28 days each as it did in the olden days. Within a solar year there are 13 full moons, and 13 dark. Thus, we have blue moons (two full moons in a month) to account for the natural moon cycle.
A woman generally has 13 moon cycles per year.
Some important United States’ symbols honor the number 13. There are 13 horizontal stripes on the flag, and the Great Seal is depicted with items in clusters of 13, including 13 stars. The dollar bill has a ton of symbolic references to 13, including 13 steps on the pyramid and 13 letters in each Latin phrase.
There were 13 colonies and of course 13 stars on the first U.S. flag.
13 was sacred to the ancient Egyptians, and the ladder of eternity a soul had to climb contained 13 rungs.
In Norse mythology Loki was the unlucky 13th guest, bringing turmoil and destruction, but think modern Loki portrayed by Tom Hiddleston—pleasant sigh.
Esoteric studies often contain increments of 13, such as the 13 attributes of mercy, and the 13 circles in the archangel Metratron’s cube. Here 13 represents the bonding of the many into oneness.
In numerology, 13 is a powerful karmic number. It forces upheaval so that outdated, ill-serving structures can fall and be rebuilt.
The 13th Tarot card is Death, meaning drastic change, renewal, and rebirth.
In mathematics 13 is a fascinating Fibonacci number, a sequence wherein certain numbers are the sum of the two preceding numbers (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34…)
The 13th Runic letter is Eihwaz, associated with horses, movement, and the journey in the spheres of Yggdrasil, the Tree of Life.
M is the 13th letter of the alphabet and denotes such marvelous wordsmithing toys as mellifluous, marshmallow, and medieval. What “m” words do you like?
Prohibition was over after 13 years. So if Friday the 13th inspires you to have a nip, go for it!
I hope you enjoyed looking at reasons to love 13.
Cheers & Happy Reading!
Flossie Benton Rogers, Conjuring the Magic in Romance
Thank you for an informative, interesting post, Flossie! Good for a #Thursday13 promo.
I am pleased you found the 13 post informative, Carmen. Thank you!
What a great in-depth look at the number 13, Flossie. I loved this post!
I’m not overly superstitious about it, but I admit I wouldn’t do anything major like buy a house or plan surgery, LOL. Happy Friday the 13th!
As I wrote the post, Mae, I couldn’t help thinking of your favorite number 12.
There was definitely a lot of good stuff in here on the number 12, too! 🙂
Great post. I learned a lot I didnt already know. I am superstitious but The 13 doesn’t bother me much i would not plan a surgery or have one todayor make any major desicions.
I’d love to hear some of your favorite superstitions, Cathy.