Friday the 13th

Ah--Friday the 13th!!

In addition to the what's written above, Caroline Casey tells the story of how in pre-Christian times, Friday celebrated Freya, the Norse goddess of love and sex.

Since Freya was also connected to fertility, and the menstrual cycle centered around the 13 lunar months in a year, the day 13 fell on Freya's day was the day the 'pagans' put down their farm tools and made love all day!

Upon the introduction of Christianity, the priests were dismayed with this custom and in order to put a stop to it, made out that the day was unlucky.

Other reasons include: the fact that 13 witches make a coven; and again, from Norse myth, the god of mischief, Loki, crashed a party in Valhalla and caused the death off the god of joy; when a meeting was convened for the 13 tribes of Israel, only 12 tribes were able to meet as the 13th one were killed en-route; and then there is Jesus sitting down for the Last Supper with his 12 disciples and the subsequent betrayal.

Another likely story is the mass arrests of the Knights Templar by King Philip IV of France on the charges of heresy and blasphemy, among other things. The king was greedy and in perpetual need of a top-up for the royal coffers, so it would appear that Philip was more interested in the legendary wealth the knights had accumulated over two centuries of crusading and marauding.

For me, I'm just relieved that Mars goes direct at 15° Aries from 7:35pm EST, after being retrograde (tracing a backwards path in the sky) since September 9th.

The forward movement should bring a new burst of energy and dynamism to projects and relationships, although watch out for possible bursts of anger as well. A planet's energy is the strongest on the day the planet turns direct. Mars will go past the point it first retrograded from at 28° Aries on January 2, 2021.

What does Friday the 13th mean to you? Is it a lucky day or an unlucky day?