Lucky for some… let’s look at Friday 13th…
I love finding out about the base of superstitions over centuries and this superstition actually contains two!!
Friday…
Friday (Freya’s Day) has since biblical times, been regarded as the unluckiest day of the week, ever since Adam & Eve were thrown out of the Garden of Eden! The Bible continued this theme with the start of Noah’s Great Flood, and the final dig at Friday became Good Friday, when they crucified Jesus, and it became a day of abstinence! Friday’s deathly position continued as ‘Hangman’s Day’ through the centuries, as criminals were executed on a Friday, nicely before the weekend! Because it became known as a day of endings, superstitions began to arise regarding Fridays and especially around new beginnings: don’t begin a marriage, a new journey, project or job! People wouldn’t move house on a Friday – Friday flit, short sit!! I came from a fishing community; fishermen had to face up to the elements so would never tempt fate & set sail on a long trip on a Friday! Maybe this is also why Friday was the day to eat fish and abstain from meat! Even Chaucer wrote “And on a Friday fell all this mischance’! Did you know there are even superstitions about cutting your nails or hair on a Friday – bet that come from the witchcraft trials as there is a lot said about what witches can do with your cast-off hair and nails!
Number 13…
Then we come to the number 13. It is said that the 13th day of any month is the unluckiest day of all to embark on a new enterprise, or marriage, or to set out on a journey…just like Friday! It has been associated with bad luck for hundreds of years. Scandinavians believe this because Loki was their 13th Mythological demigod, who caused the world to be plunged into darkness! Christians have always thought 13 unlucky following 13 people at the table of the last supper on the 13th and the 13th person at the table was Judas the traitor… with Good Friday the next day! As a waitress, it was always seen as unlucky still to have 13 people at a table so we always set an extra place! Many buildings don’t have a 13th floor or even a room 13 and some airplanes refuse to have a 13th row! It is even said that you are cursed if you have 13 letters in your full name…how long did they work on this to make the crime fit the bill… but Charles Manson, Adolfus Hitler and Theodore Bundy to name a few! Folklore even put 13 steps to the gallows, though it is also said 12 up, and 1 down! Now put that with Hangman’s Friday…are we getting the gist?
And so, to Friday 13th – the unluckiest day of all…
The origins of this superstition is set around Friday 13th Oct 1307. It was believed the Knights Templar protected the Bible’s Holy Grail and they also became the 1st ‘Bank’ carrying ‘paper’ money between countries for safety as they spread the good word! Philip 1V of France got into debt with the Knights after war with England, conspired with Pope Clement V, and on this Friday 13th, charged the Knights Templars with Satanism, sentenced them to death and ceased all their monies, scattering escapees to the far corners of the world to avoid torture and death!
With all the superstition over ‘Friday’ and ‘13’, put them together and you have…the unluckiest day ever! Or is it? Maybe witchcraft has a lot to do with this, and their fear back then of witches and wild women in a male society. There are 13 moons a year, which mean women menstruate 13 times a year (this really scared men back then!). Covens had 13 members and worshipped the Moon. Friday was named after Freya, which means ‘lady’ in Norse, and she is the Goddess associated with love, sex, beauty, fertility, gold, war and death, all things that give women power to be who they want to be and not to be messed with, hence why Friday is also known as Witch’s day!
On a good note, any baby born on Friday 13th is said to be a lucky baby, as he/she will prosper in anything they do.
Turn around your finances on Friday 13th…
Here is a good luck spell for Friday 13th…perform every time this comes up in your calendar…
Remember the saying “Find a penny, pick it up and all day long you’ll have good luck”? We are going to take 13 pennies (copper carries speed), bury them in the garden (or ground near your home) and simply say as you do:
The 13th is lucky on this Witch’s day so these 13 pennies will bring it my way.
I cast this spell for money today, as will work best now, so I say
These 13 little pennies out my purse today, will bring new money come what way
This will harm none in any which way, as it is lucky to be done on this 13th day
Not so bad now, is it??
A wishing stone
To add happiness to your luck spell, select a stone from a beach or woodland walk, doesn’t matter what type, just a nice wee stone that charms you (we will be using natural flint in the shop).
Cleanse the chosen stone in the happy home or lavender incense. Now hold in your writing hand and visualize your wish for the family and see it being inscribed on the stone. The crystal is going to become your wishing seed. When you bury your pennies in the garden, you can bury the stone alongside. As you bury it, simply say:
Like a seed, my wish will grow, for the good of all I know,
This I need and do deserve, so my symbolic rock will serve and
Bring my wish indeed to me, this is my will so mote it be
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