Why Friday the 13th is a Very Lucky Day, Indeed

When the 13th day on the month lands on a Friday,
the culturally unfavorable attributes of each are
multiplied by infinity. Friday, the day of original sin,
the day Jesus died, the day of public hangings, in
combination with 13, the number of steps on a
gallows, the number of coils of rope in a hangman’s
noose, the number of the Death card in the tarot
deck, is indubitably designated as a day of portent
and doom.

The pitiful suicide note of a window washer
that was found with his body in a gas-filled room at
his home and quoted in a 1960 issue of the Yorkshire
Post, underscores its powerful, popular reputation, "It
just needed to rain today — Friday the 13th — for me
to make up my mind." Poor sod.

But up until the patriarchal revolution, both Fridays and
13s were held in the very highest esteem. Both the day
and the number were associated with the Great
Goddesses, and therefore, regarded as the sacred
essence of luck and good fortune. Thirteen is certainly the
most essentially female number — the average number
of menstrual cycles in a year. The approximate number, too of
annual cycles of the moon. When Chinese women make offerings of moon cakes, there are sure to be 13 on the platter. Thirteen is the number of blood, fertility and lunar potency. 13 is the lucky number of the Great Goddess.

Held holy in Her honor, Friday was observed as the day of Her special celebrations. Jews around the world still begin the observance of the Sabbath at sunset on Friday evenings when they invite in the Sabbath Bride. Friday is the Sabbath in the Islamic world. Friday is also sacred to Oshun, the Yoruban orisha of opulent sensuality and overwhelming femininity, and Frig the Norse Goddess of love and sex, of fertility and creativity. Her name became the Anglo-Saxon noun for love, and in the sixteenth century, frig came to mean *to copulate.*

Friday the 13th is ultimately the celebration of the lives and
loves of Lady Luck. On this, Her doubly-dedicated day, let us
consider what fortuitous coincidences constitute our fate. The
lucky blend of just the right conditions, chemistries, elements
and energies, which comprise our universe. The way it all works.
The way we are. That we are at all. That, despite whatever major
or minor matters we might think are unlucky, we have somehow
managed to remain alive and aware. This Friday the 13th, let us
stand in full consciousness of the miraculousness of existence
and count our blessings. Knock on wood.