Witches + Friday the 13th
Friday the 13th happens at least once every year, but can happen up to three times. In 2020 we have had two, including today, November 13. Nowadays, Friday the 13ths is almost a mini Hallowe’en for horror enthusiasts and the spooky-inclined. Despite the joy that it brings a lot of us weirdos, there are a lot of people who are genuinely afraid of Friday the 13th.
In recent years, Friday the 13th has become a lucky day for witches, and is celebrated as a kind of mini holiday. This is definitely an evolution because of the correlations between superstition, bad luck, and witchcraft. But how exactly did all of this start? Why do we witches celebrate Friday the 13th with such vigor now?
Let’s talk about Friday the 13th for a minute.
Ultimately, there is no solid explanation as to why it’s been deemed unlucky. Friday by itself is considered unlucky, as is thirteen. Generally it’s been accepted that it’s for largely biblical reasons, from Friday being the day that Adam was tempted by Eve, to being the day that Jesus Christ was crucified. Friday also gained the unfortunate reputation as the Hang Man’s Day, because of Fridays being the day that criminals were hung. The number thirteen has been seen as an unstable number since ancient times, being just past the number of perfection, 12. Twelve is seen as a divine number (12 hours in the day, 12 tribes of Ancient Israel, 12 signs of the Zodiac), but thirteen skews that just a little bit. Just enough to be unnerving in some eyes. There’s also some thoughts that the number thirteen is unlucky because that was the number of people at the Last Supper, with Judas leaving the supper first, resulting in the death of Jesus Christ. A lot of “thirteen is unlucky number” ideas circle back to the Passion of the Christ, while simultaneously holding a bit of antisemitism, as 13 is a spiritually significant number in Jewish culture (some day we’ll talk about all of the antisemitic overtones in the history of witchcraft). Still, there’s ultimately no solid, agreed upon answer when it comes to how these superstitions arose and became ingrained in our society’s lexicon.
Then, there’s the connections to witches.
Some have speculated that Friday was the day that witches convened for their Sabbats, likely because during various witch trials, some women confessed to meeting with their covens on Good Friday (which certainly would have been seen as a Satanic affront to the Christian holy day). Traditional witch covens are seen as having thirteen members, though there isn’t really any concrete historical information behind this claim. Again, it’s likely a parallel to Christian imagery, with there being thirteen people at the last supper. Most connections between witches and Friday the 13th aren’t really substantiated in any strong way. Most connections were created through a Christian lens to strengthen ideas that witches were devil worshiping ghouls who inverted anything to do with Christ.
In the 1950s and onward we start seeing these ideas embraced and fully utilized by modern witches. In Wicca and similar witchcraft-based religions, thirteen is the ideal number of a coven. In witchcraft in general, a lot of covens do aim to have thirteen members (usually made up of twelve members and one leader). The generally held reason for this is that there are thirteen lunar cycles in a year, which is significant within witchcraft. However, a lot of these ideas do stem from Margaret Murray’s writing, which also popularized the use of the word coven within the English language.
In contemporary witchcraft, there are a lot of Friday the 13th correspondences that make it magical.
As witches, we can associate a lot of great, and magical, things with Friday the 13th. Friday is ruled by Venus, the planet of love, harmony, and money. It’s a good day for self-care, self-love, and to make for some great Venusian-style hedonism. Wear green, or pink. Indulge in fruits, in lovely scents, in baths and naps. Think an earthier, self-focused Valentine’s Day (but every day of the week). Alchemy Works has a pretty decent correspondences list for Venus. Fridays are named after Freyja, the Norse goddess of love, beauty, sex, fertility, battle, and death. She’s not dissimilar from Venus (the goddess or the planet) in a lot of her associations. Freyja is often depicted riding in a chariot pulled by two cats. In the tarot, number 13 is assigned to the Death card, which represents change and transformation. Incidentally, the Death card is associated with Scorpio, and as I write this we are in the astrological season of Scorpio, and we are just about to shift into the New Moon in Scorpio. In numerology, the number 13 is associated with change and transition.
It’s these kinds of correspondences that encourage us witches to celebrate Friday the 13th as a witchy little holy day. While a lot of the superstitions around our practices come from fearful and archaic places, we have found ways to reclaim and redefine these superstitions for ourselves. A lot of the things that we practice as witches started off as protection against witches, or were created to encourage people to be afraid of witches. Being able to reclaim the mythology, the folklore, the history, and practices for our own magical purposes is rather empowering, especially when you consider that these practices were often started to be largely anti-female, anti-trans, anti-gender non conforming, antisemitic, and anti-marginalized people. Part of witchcraft is transmutation, and reshaping histories for our own magic is a special type of alchemy.
This Friday the 13th in Scorpio (on a Dark Moon, no less) calls for shadow work, exploration, sensuality, consideration of change and transformation. Work with familiars. Have a bath in the dark. Enjoy the company of dark crystals like obsidian, onyx, or jet. Shape shift. Breathe. Enjoy this Friday the 13th and all those to come!
Sources
Encyclopedia of Witches & Witchcraft (Guiley, Rosemary Ellen. 1999)
Encyclopedia of Magic & Superstition (Octopus Books Ltd. 1974)
The Dictionary of Omens & Superstitions (Waring, Philippa. 1978)
Cassell Dictionary of Superstitions (Pickering, David. 1995)
A Witches’ Bible: The Complete Witches’ Handbook (Farrar, Janet and Stewart. 1981, 1984)
Alchemy Works
Tarot.com
Numerology Secrets
Wikipedia
