Superstition and Christian folklore tells us that the number thirteen is an evil number. It is bad luck and it is something to be avoided.
Why do some people fear the number thirteen and why do some people embrace it as a lucky number? The answer rests in history, customs, Pagan religions, and the occult.
1. Tarot
In the Tarot deck, the Death card is numbered thirteen. Many people believe that this card is evil and represents physical death, but that simply is not true. The card represents an ending, yes, but it is an ending to a pattern, an event, a habit, or even a love affair. It rarely represents a literal death of a person.
2. The Last Supper
According to Christian mythology, thirteen people sat at the table for Christ’s last supper. Because this event ended in betrayal and the death of Christ, it is considered unlucky to have thirteen people sit at a table or being in a room together.
3. Lunar Month
There are thirteen lunar months in the year. Given that Pagans worshipped the moon, a moon goddess or god, the moon was tied to the number thirteen and linked to what Christians labelled as evil.
4. A Coven of Thirteen
According to folklore, namely Christian folklore, witch covens were made up of thirteen practitioners. While some modern day covens keep their numbers at thirteen to represent the cycles of the moon, there are numerous covens throughout the world that number from two on up. Some online covens have been known to number into the hundreds, if not the thousands.
5. Necromancy
Necromancy, a practice associated with the occult, is given the number thirteen to represent death. In this respect, thirteen is viewed as a magical number that allows certain people the ability to converse with the dead.
