The Furious Spinner

I love Friday the 13th. Friday is the goddess Freya's day. Or Venus's day: dies Veneris. Freya's day is even more special when it is the 13th, her sacred number, the number of moons in a year.

The idea of eating fish on Friday is most likely a wholly pagan one. Fish are sacred to Aphrodite (and Venus) and were seen as fertility symbols. (And "aphrodiasiacs.) Reminds me of fish-tailed goddesses. Makes me think of goin' with the flow—but watching out for waterfalls. Makes me think of Delphi, whose name means "fish" and "womb." I remember standing in Delphi, in the ruins, feeling as though I was at the center of something, even though I didn't know or understand what. It was cold and I sat in an olive tree to keep warm. I remember leaning against a Doric column, tall and solid and made a thousand years or more before I was born. I remember feeling distant, as I often did at historical places, because I knew more was happening than I could understand. Everything seemed just out of my reach. But I breathed the same air the Pythia breathed, didn't I? Haven't we all?

On the ride home to Athens—I know you've heard the story before—the bus went too fast around mountainous hairpin curves. I wondered if we would go over the abyss. An old Greek woman murmured prayers and held my hand. At least I think they were prayers. Maybe she was imparting wisdom to me that I still don't understand. Maybe she was telling me her life story. Maybe she was the Pythia trying to tell me what she knew, what she had seen. Won't someone please listen? Maybe she was an Old Mermaid, letting me know that all would be all right. You will suffer, my child. You will have hard times. The world will change. But you will find a man who will love you, not like this man who sits next to you now. He is nothing in your life. And you will tell stories. This place of dolphins, this place at the heart of the world, will swim in you for all time. It is the Old Sea. And you will see. We are everywhere. Laugh or weep, my child; we are always in your tears. Possibilities are infinite. There will be so much beauty and love in your life. Listen, listen. My child, my child. Love, love, love.

What else did you say? Mother, mother? What else?

She got off, somewhere in the mountains. I didn't want to let go of her hand. Then our ride continued. It was the longest bus ride in history. It snowed and snowed and snowed. All of Olympia, all of Greece, seemed covered in white. And it was so cold. I thought it would never end.

On the way back to the United States, our plane fell through the sky. I knew I was going to die. I was certain of it. And it was not comforting. It was terrifying. And I put my arms around the man who would become nothing in my life and waited to die.

I didn't die. We didn't. I was never the same.

And why should I be?

Old Mother, Old Mermaid, Pythia. I am ready now. Can you whisper to me again? I'm ready to listen. I'm ready to understand.

Aren't I?

May You All Walk or Swim in Beauty! 2 comments

2 Comments:

Speaking of Friday the 13th, I found this in The Skeptics Dictionary (SkepDic.com):

paraskevidekatriaphobia
A morbid, irrational fear of Friday the 13th. Therapist Dr. Donald Dossey, whose specialty is treating people with irrational fears, coined the term. He claims that when you can pronounce the word you are cured.

If you base your belief on media attention, superstition about Friday the 13th might be the number one superstition in America today. It appears, however, that only about 10% of us believe that Friday the 13th is an unlucky day (Zusne and Jones 1989, p. 244, put the number at 7%; Vyse 2000, p. 18, cites a 1990 Gallup poll that put the number at 9%, and a 2000 survey by American Demographics put it at 13%).

Friday may be considered unlucky because Christ is thought to have been crucified on a Friday, which was execution day among the Romans. Yet, Christians don't call it Bad Friday. Friday was also Hangman's Day in Britain. Some even think that Friday was the day God threw Adam and Eve out of the garden of Eden, which is unlikely since the concept of Friday hadn't been invented yet.

Is Friday the 13th a particularly unlucky day? It could be...if you believe it is. Some prophecies are self-fulfilling.

friggatriskaidekaphobia
A morbid, irrational fear of Friday the 13th.

Friday is Frigga's Day. Frigga (Frigg) was an ancient Scandinavian fertility and love goddess, equivalent to the Roman Venus who had been worshipped on the sixth day of the week. Christians called Frigga a witch and Friday the witches' Sabbath; modern Wiccans are happy to oblige.

See also paraskevidekatriaphobia and triskaidekaphobia.

Have a Friggin' Happy Friday the 13th. (Should I be ducking?)

By kevin, at 7:45 PM  

Love it, love it, LOVE this blog entry, Kim. I have never been able to figure out why Freya's 's own special day is bad luck if it falls on the thirteenth day of the month. Thirteen moons in a calendar year - how can thirteen be considered an unlucky number? It's Lady Moon's own number and therefore a fine number for any day to wear! Hugs and BB, Cate

By kerrdelune, at 10:33 AM  

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