Unlucky 13
NUMBERS
In general in Europe and the Middle East world, odd numbers were attributed special powers and meaning, while most even numbers were considered neutral and not very useful in magic and superstition. Below are the most ‘powerful’ numbers, which recurred often in rituals or had special lucky or unlucky meanings.
One
The number one was used to represent God. It was attributed great importance since it is the fundamental unit making up all other numbers: indivisible and all powerful. It was and still is considered lucky to live in a house whose street number is one, and it is also considered very lucky to be born on the first day of the month. In China, however, the word for the number one resembles the sound of the word for ‘loneliness’, so it is considered unlucky.
Three
The number three is one of the most powerful numbers, recurring in very many religions across the world. The Ancient Greeks, and in particular Pythagoras and his followers, thought it was the most perfect number since it contained within it everything: the beginning, the middle and the end of all things. It was the Pythagoreans who first began to see magic in the equilateral triangle, and this symbol was used in magic rituals for centuries to come, seen as embodying the special power of three. The equilateral triangle also figures prominently in the iconography of Masonic secret societies, where it is sometimes shown with an eye in the middle, as appears in the US dollar bill – much to the delight of conspiracy theorists. Two equilateral triangles placed adjacent to each other were often used in rituals aimed at fighting evil forces.
Christians took the special meaning of the number three in their conceptualisation of the Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Trinity is not unique to Christianity: it is also present in Hinduism (in the Trimurti – the Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva), in Buddhism (where the Buddha appears in three forms) as well as in many African societies and ancient Latin American societies where the Trinity often appeared in the shape of father, mother and son.
Following the special powers of the number three, popular superstition sees both positive and negative things happening ‘in threes’. Breaking things around the house was thought to happen in threes, so especially in the nineteenth century it became common to break two less valuable objects following a breakage in the household, to prevent other more valuable things from being damaged. Three candles burning in a room were seen as omens of death, as were three distinct knocks heard in the room of a dying man or woman. It was thought that deaths and accidents would come in threes. A much earlier superstition, dating back to the fourteenth century, suggested that the third time is lucky when people attempted things unsuccessfully, or played games. In rituals, gestures were often repeated three times: spitting three times was thought to ward off evil, and many treatments in folk medicine were to be taken three times, or in multiples of three, to ensure a rapid cure.
Four
Although it is an even number, the number four was also considered holy by those involved in numerology and mysticism. For Christians the number four is sacred because of the four gospels. In the Jewish tradition the number four corresponded to the Tetragrammaton, the four-letter word denoting God, which was considered so sacred that it was never spoken out loud – although it appears in the Hebrew Bible 6,823 times. In China and Japan the number four is considered unlucky because it resembles the sound of the word ‘death’ in both languages. Hospitals therefore never have a fourth floor, and most people try to avoid licence plates with that number or house numbers bearing the number four on them.
Five
Five was considered a magic number in many places and by various civilisations. From the Maya to the Ancient Egyptians to the Pythagorean Greeks, five was seen as a powerful number. The five-pointed star was a universally revered symbol and for the Pythagoreans as it represented light. The pentagram – a five-pointed star with a pentagon in the middle – was used as a deterrent against evil forces and spirits. In the past it was a symbol of knowledge and wisdom. In its upside-down form the pentagram is a symbol of evil and of the Devil (the two points suggesting the Devil’s horns), and it is now often used in films to denote black magic and satanic rituals.
Seven
In the ancient (and later the medieval) world, there were thought to be seven planets including the sun and the moon, seven phases of the moon, seven metals, seven ages of man, seven deadly sins, seven graces and seven virtues. God created the earth and all its creatures in six days and the seventh day was a day of rest, so particularly sacred. The number seven also corresponded to twice the number three and the number one, which made it a particularly holy number, as did the fact that it was indivisible. In Christianity there are seven sacraments.
There are many superstitions surrounding the number seven. If one’s date of birth can be turned into a number that is divisible by seven, one will lead an exceptionally happy life. Breaking a mirror brings seven years of bad luck. It is particularly unlucky to get married on 7 April or 7 December. The seventh child of a seventh child will have psychic powers. An infertile woman can become pregnant if she wraps her husband’s belt seven times around a tree. To wash one’s hair on the seventh day of the lunar cycle brings problems with the law to one’s home. To dream about the number seven is an omen that one is about to meet one’s future husband or wife.
Eight
In China, eight is the luckiest number of all because the sound of the word ‘eight’ in Chinese is very similar to the word for ‘lucky’. There are several western superstitions surrounding this number, and their origins are mostly obscure. It is said to be unlucky to give a friend or a loved one a bouquet made up of eight flowers. Washing one’s hair on the eighth of the month ensures that one will reach a ripe old age. To dream of the number eight is a sign that one is about to lose money.
Nine
The number nine was considered particularly powerful, and many rituals and spells called for things to be repeated nine times. The number nine is composed of three times the number three and it also corresponds to the number of months in the human gestation period. Nine was sacred to the Norse. There are various superstitions involving the number nine. It is lucky to find nine peas in a pod. Tying nine knots in a loved one’s hair will bring them to you. To live in a house whose street number is nine causes longevity. A young man who wishes to marry should count ninety-nine stars in the sky for nine consecutive days and he will find a wife. It is extremely unlucky to find the card representing the nine of diamonds on the street. Washing one’s hair on the ninth day of the month brings a happy marriage. A cat is thought to have nine lives. Getting married on 9 December is unlucky. To dream of the number nine is a sign that a child is on its way.
Thirteen
The number thirteen is often considered unlucky because there were thirteen people at the Last Supper. Superstition has it that it is very unlucky to have a dinner party with thirteen guests. Many hotels do not have rooms with the number thirteen, and many tall buildings don’t have a thirteenth floor. It is supposedly unlucky to live in a house whose street number is thirteen. Friday the thirteenth is considered an extremely unlucky day, but this belief only dates back to the nineteenth century and belongs mostly to the British Isles and North America – in southern Europe it is Friday the seventeenth that is considered unlucky instead. Friday is the day that Christ was crucified, which explains the superstitions that arose around that day of the week. Washing one’s hair on the thirteenth of the month will bring a male child, and the thirteenth card in the major arcana of the tarot deck is the card for death.
According to Revelation 13:16–18, 666 is the ‘number of the beast’. The famous fire of 1666 in London gave the number of the beast a particularly frightening resonance.