Standing in line to get on a plane, there was a brief flurry of conversation between strangers about the date. I was traveling by myself up to Portland, happy to end a very hard week with a change of location. I really don’t remember how the conversation started, but suddenly several people were talking about the fact we were flying on a date that is seen as unlucky.
Part of me loves that there are still pockets of superstition in the fabric of modern life. As one woman pointed out, we were at gate fourteen, between gate twelve and fifteen. At the Oakland airport, there is no gate thirteen. I like that the power of the number thirteen is somehow still recognized, if even thru a dark mirror. I sensed that launching into why thirteen came to be so maligned and how Freya is connected to Friday would take this casual conversation to a place these nervous strangers wouldn't really want to go. Instead, I smiled and said “For me, thirteen has always been a lucky number, I like it”. A guy with a baseball cap said “Yeah, for me too”. And then we were boarding the plane.
It’s been a long week, a week of looking at projections, my own and others, and a week of delineating between normal gossip and words calculated to do damage. It has been a week of looking in a dark mirror, and seeing how power and energy can be twisted into shapes that cause pain, and of asking "why?". It’s been a week of taking responsibility and holding myself and others accountable. Of course this week ended with a Friday the thirteenth. This week, nothing has been simple.
I’m glad to get out of town.
7 comments:
nice blog, c.k.
Friday 13th is magical.
It gives me a chance to get to grips with the dominant culture's misperceptions and rise above them.
Love,
Terri in Joburg
yes,aquila....this week I really got this. Misperceptions and projections were the theme of the week. There is power in Friday the 13th!
I was born on Friday the 13th, so it has always been my lucky day. Cheers!
I hope you are by now enjoying a lot of rest and renewal. Sounds like you've really needed it.
Love,
Beth Owl
So far my all-time favorite day to fly was Sept 11, 2002. The airport was almost deserted, so was the plane, and it took me half the flight before I realized it was the first anniversary of that fateful day. My next thought was, "I'm going to fly on this day every year!"
There's something about meeting superstitions head on that is incredibly powerful and liberating. It's not about flaunting our disregard of Fate or acting from a place of hubris. It's about seeing and acknowledging the energy, and riding it with a clear but slightly different intention. In aikido we call it "irimi," an entering motion. Hard to explain, but that's where I go with the whole Friday the 13th thing, too. Sure, ooga-booga, and also, what an auspicious day to set powerful things in motion.
Love to you,
Anne
It's just a matter of perspective. In Asia--at least in China and Japan--four is the unlucky number. Many hotels and office buildings have no 4th floor, and you'd be making a major faux pas if you gave someone four of anything as a gift.
The reason? The word for four--written in English as "shi"--is a homonym for the word for death, also written in English as "shi."
I find that I prefer three or five of something to four. But I think my bias is aesthetic--an odd number looks more interesting and dynamic--rather than superstition.
Post a Comment