Friday, 13 September 2019

Friday 13 & Luck, then a Full Harvest Moon & Peace


I've seen a lot of chat on social media about there being a full moon coinciding with Friday 13 today. Well, technically, if you live in England, the full moon is tomorrow - Saturday 14 September - at 5.32 in the morning. However, our American witch cousins across the pond will be enjoying the full moon on the 13th due to the time zone differences.

I've also seen a lot of social media chat about what this timing means and what is the best magic for witches to do. Here's my pennyworth.

Full moons are always a good time to do magic. There seems to be more energy around to make spells work when the moon is full. That is one of the reasons covens try to meet then. Another reason is that if you are meeting outdoors in the woods at night, having a full moon to light your way means you won't be tripping over tree roots in the dark on the way to the esbat. Nice and practical really.

This full moon is called a harvest moon. That has another practical meaning, as farmers could use the bright moonlight to help them finish bringing in the harvest after sunset if they needed to.

How about Friday 13? Well, I've blogged a lot about that over the years. Statistically, there is no reason to see it as being more unlucky than any other day, but personally I've had some disastrous Friday 13ths, including medical emergencies, breaking an expensive camera lens and nearly losing my entire blog. I'm cautious about it. I backed my blog up and I won't be doing anything extra risky today. Having said that, a lot of witches regard Friday 13 as being a lucky day for those in the Craft. Belief is an important part of magic, so there's nothing wrong with that.

But what will I be doing magically? Well, I'm a solitary practitioner these days so I won't be meeting up with my coven. What I usually do at the full moon is light a candle and make a wish. I often take part in the Peace Fires initiative. This month, it is on the 14th that people are being asked to share a flame and pray for peace, so I'll do that tomorrow.

Tonight, my wishes won't be so pacifist. I reckon Friday 13th can certainly be unlucky for some, and there's a few politicians who I think could take any bad luck for the good of the rest of us. I might just be getting out my poppet-making kit and making a pair to represent a certain political leader and his wormtongue adviser. I'll stick their faces on from pictures cut out from the paper, then visualise them falling from power, with help of the tarot Tower card...

Do I believe the curse will rebound on me? No. I'll be careful about that. I've also blogged in the past about attitudes to cursing.

Photos: Top: the moon; middle: moon and hare exhibit at The Museum of Witchcraft and Magic; bottom: my books with candles and poppets.

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