Friday The 13th

Today is Friday the 13th, the first of three such Fridays in 2012 (the next two are in April and July). Understandably, this type of Friday is looked at with just a little bit of apprehension. All of this superstitious dread has been reinforced by horror movie franchises such as, what else, Friday the 13th. The more extreme cases have a phobia for Friday the 13th, scientifically termed friggatriskaidekaphobia (good luck trying to pronounce it; I didn't bother).

The exact origins of Friday the 13th seem to be disputed. The Wikipedia entry is more extensive, but I'll summarize it here. Apparently, Friday had been considered an unlucky day as far back as the Renaissance. The Wikipedia article also states that the number 13 was considered irregular in numerology, so it wasn't a good number. So the combination of a Friday and the 13th day of the month could be considered an especially unlucky day. In The Da Vinci Code, author Dan Brown mentions that Friday the 13th started its notorious reputation for bad luck when King Phillip IV of France ordered the arrest of the Knights Templar on October 13, 1307 (a Friday), signalling the downfall of the once powerful militant order. However, scholars dispute this because there are indications that the Friday the 13th superstition may have started within the 20th century, or the 19th century at the earliest.

Although Friday may have been considered unlucky at one point, it's probably not as true today as it was in older times, as evidenced by the TGIF (Thank God It's Friday!) Facebook posts of many stressed out office workers at the end of the work week. As to the number 13, in some numerology circles, the number 13 is actually a mystical number, the number of a master or guru. For example, in the case of the 12 Apostles, Jesus could be considered the 13th member, the Teacher of the 12.

Whatever its origins, there is no disputing that people react to Friday the 13th in one way or the other. Is it really an unlucky day? I would say that it depends on one's mindset. The Friday the 13th superstition can be considered as a type of meme, "an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture" as per the Merriam-Webster definition. In short, it's a collective "if everyone else is doing it, I'm doing it, too" attitude.

In the occult world, such a strong belief in the unfavorable influences of Friday the 13th can already be called an egregore. An egregore is a collective thoughtform that has become so powerful that it tends to influence the actions of people to achieve the thoughtform's intended goal. When you think of something, you give energy to it. So if you subscribe to a certain belief, then that belief gets more powerful especially when many people also subscribe to the same belief. Given enough energy, the thoughtform acts like an autonomous computer program, acting to achieve the intended results even without anyone's conscious direction.

In the case of the Friday the 13th superstition, one unfortunate by-product is that if you believe you'll be unlucky on this day, then it will tend to manifest, with the egregore "helping" you along in that department. But on the flip side, because it is a thought form, you can choose to not believe or not follow and get along just fine. Of course, you'll need to overcome many years of social programming, but it's indeed possible.

Friday the 13th need not be unlucky. For example, the Olsen twins were born on a Friday the 13th, yet they have a successful acting career and their business flourished so much that they're already billionaires. In short, Friday the 13th, or any belief for that matter, is only as powerful as the importance that you ascribe to it.

You may ask, how can you prevail in the face of the collective thoughts of millions of people? For one, do not underestimate the power of one's will. And second, it's all about karmic entitlement. Master Choa Kok Sui said that good karma supersedes bad feng shui. If it can trump bad feng shui, then any unfavorable situation or thought form should not be a problem. If it's not in your karma, it won't happen to you.

Don't forget the role one's subconscious plays in all this. You may say that you don't believe in a particular situation, but if deep inside your subconscious you actually believe it, then you're still bound to attract what you don't want.

We are all swimming in a sea of thought forms and intentions. Some of them are good, some of them are bad. But this is where one's will comes in, so that one is not pulled hither and thither by these restless tides.

So simply enjoy this day, and Thank God It's Friday!