Superstitions True and Untrue: The Real Meaning of Number 13

Symbolism

• Number that cleans and purifies.
• The number 13 brings the test, the suffering and the death. It symbolizes the death to the matter or to oneself and the birth to the spirit: the passage on a higher level of existence.
• For the superstitious, this number brings the bad luck or the misfortune.
• For the cabalist, the number 13 is the meaning of the Snake, the dragon, Satan and the murderer. But it is also for Christians the representative number of the Virgin Mary, she whose mission is to crush the head of Satan.
• Number in relation with the cross and also to the family, since by reduction we obtain four: 1 + 3 = 4.
• It is the element of too, that which makes pass from a cycle to another with what this change implies of anxieties by the arrival of a new unknown cycle.
• Represents the eternal love illustrated by Jacob and his twelve son, Jesus-Christ and his twelve apostles.
• If we consider 13 as a wheel to 12 rays, that is to say as 12 units around a center, it is beneficial. If we take it as prime number, it is maleficent. It is especially maleficent when we are at table and when one believes in his power. But, as observed judiciously Grimod: "The number 13 is to be feared only insofar as there would be to eat only for twelve."
• If we represent 12 under the form of the Zodiac, 13=12+1 is the number of the eternal return. The 13th hour is also the first, just like the 25th or the 37th.
• According to R. Allendy, this number "represents a principle of activity 3 exerting in the Unit of a whole 10 which contains it and which makes it produce only one cycle of perpetually identical renewal (1 + 3 = 4). Or it is the mechanism of its organization which submits the Universe to a permanent mode of oscillations and which leads it to specialize in nature."
• The image of the creature kneeling ahead the Throne of God, the Holy Trinity Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is symbolized by the number 13: the 1 ahead 3.
• It is "the manifestation of the good or bad generating power", according to R. Schwaller.
• Number representing the Son of God, according to Abellio.
• The thirteenth mystery of the Tarot does not have a name. It marks the uncertainty, the hesitation, the fickleness or again a transformation, the end of something (the death) and a renewal, a rupture, that is to say a very important change.

Bible

• The thirteen guests at the Last supper of the Christ.
• To chapter thirteen of the Gospel of Saint John, during of its Last supper with his disciples, Jesus declares that one of then will betray him. And after the announcement of the treason of Judas, Jesus prophesies the Peter's denial.
• The thirteenth chapter of the Revelation is reserved to the Antichrist and to the Beast.
• In 13th psalm, it is written: "The fool has said in his heart, There is no God".
• The mystery of the Seven Churches of the Revelation presents the winner of 13 rewards on the whole.
• The thirteen sons of David which were born when he was to Jerusalem. (1 Ch 3,5-9)
• It is the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, named Adar, that the people celebrated the victory of Judas Maccabaeus on the army of Nicanor to Adasa. (1 M 7,43-49)
• A decree of Jew extermination was decided by Haman during of a convocation addressed to scribes the thirteenth day of the first month. (Est 3,12)

General

• The apostle James says the Minor directed the Church of Jerusalem during thirteen years.
• The thirteen ecclesiastical titles of the sacerdotal hierarchy of the Roman Church.
• The father of Job had thirteen children, according to visions' of Ann-Catherine Emmerick
.
• The celebration of the Epiphany takes place the thirteenth day after the nativity of the Lord. The number 13 is called theophanicus for this reason.
• We find often the number thirteen associated with the Blessed Virgin Mary. Her Assumption occurred a Friday 13, in August, at 3 o'clock of the evening, according to visions of Mary Agreda. However, according to revelations of Mary Jane Even in 1994, the Virgin would have died on August 13 and would have resuscitated two days later, that is to say on August 15 to be then received Body and Soul in the Sky. Also, the first and the last appearance of the Virgin Mary in Fatima occurred respectively on May 13 and on October 13, 1917 and it is on July 13, 1917 that the children of Fatima had their vision of the Hell, showing thus that the thirteen is also closely in relation to the suffering and to the death. Still today, in the end of time, the Virgin appears to some seers and clairvoyant only the 13 of each month. The 13th day of the month in the Christendom would be thus particularly dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Moreover several received particular messages tend to show it as it is the case of following messages. In one of messages given to a privileged soul of Quebec, Our-Lord recommended that the 13 of each month is in the honor of his Mother and established in each family. In another message given by the Virgin Mary to Sister Lucy of Fatima the 1st May 1987 for the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the day when she appeared her to Fatima on May 13, 1917, She asked her to celebrate the 13 of each month by songs and the praises in spirit of repair and of expiation. Remind also that it is on May 13, 1981 that occurred the attack of the Pope John-Paul II, in the Saint-Peter place. What saved him from the death, it is that he turned the head to look an engraving of Our-Lady of Fatima at the same moment where the ball of the gunner passed. The France, devoted to Mary since Louis XIII, celebrated her by processions.
• According to visions of Maria Valtorta, during the descent of the Holy Spirit on apostles in prayer in the upper room (Cenacle), the Fire of the Holy Spirit, then in form of sphere very shining above the head of Mary, was shared in 13 very shining melodious flames to go down on the 12 apostles and the Virgin Mary.
• The value of the letter M of Mary, center of the Latin alphabet, is 13. Likewise 13 words compose the invocation to the Virgin on the Miraculous Medal: O Mary, conceive without sin, pray for we who have recourse to you.
• For believer, Friday 13 (of the month of nisan) is the day where the Christ is dead on the Cross; it is also a Friday 13, day placed under the sign of Venus, that Eve, tempted by the demon, made eat an apple to Adam, what entailed their expulsion of the terrestrial Paradise. God being indeed rested the seventh day of the Creation, first Saturday (Sabbath of the Jews) was this day. The next week there had therefore a Friday 13, day of the original sin, since they was redeemed an other Friday 13, that the death of the Christ. Particularly the Jewish Passover was the 14 of the month of nisan, and the Crucifixion took place the day before the Sabbath of Passover, therefore a Friday 13.
• In the visions of Maria Valtorta, Jesus speaks about the thirteen veins of the humanity by which are distributed the divine graces, first by Himself, and then by His 12 apostles, choose by Him to represent the whole humanity and in which all the humanity is gathered in His 12 apostles.
• Some authors tell that Jesus would be born in a year counting thirteen months. When Hebrews celebrated their first Passover, they abandoned the solar Egyptian calendar and adopted the lunar calendar. Thus, to maintain the correspondence between the month of Pescha and the beginning of the spring, they had to introduce all the three years approximately a thirteenth month into the year.
• On the Miraculous Medal, the M of Mary surmounts the Holy Cross of Christ, this one being associated to the number 13. And the letter M is also 13th letter of the alphabet.
• The 13th glorious mystery of the Saint Rosary refers directly to Pentecost.
• According to the Rule in the Order of the Saint Saviour, given by the Christ to saint Brigitte of Sweden (who lived from 1303 to 1373), in the monastery, thirteen priests have to sing daily the mass and the office of the ecclesiastical year.
• The Jewish Faith states thirteen articles that are called fundamental dogmas of the Judaism. They were formulated by Maimonid.
• The Witnesses of Jehovah have 13 fundamental doctrines, without speaking their internal rules.
  1. The bible is the inspired word of Jehovah
  2. Jehovah is the only true God
  3. Jesus-Christ is the fathered unique son of God
  4. Satan is the "chief of this world"
  5. The Kingdom of Jehovah and the Christ will replace all human governments and will be the only government of all the humanity
  6. Since 1914 we live the "time of the end"
  7. A only path leads to God, all the other religions are not approved by Jehovah
  8. The death is a consequence of the sin of Adam
  9. Only 144000 go to the sky
  10. The others will live eternally on the earth under the Kingdom of Jehovah
  11. Respect the authority of this world, if they don't hinder their works
  12. Refuse the blood: transfusion and foodstuff
  13. Do the will of Jehovah
• The 13 is the number of skies for the Aztecs, and the hair of the Ancient of Days had thirteen buckles and his beard thirteen wicks. The ancient Mexico divided also the time in cycles of 52 years divided themselves in four periods of thirteen years. They had also a week of thirteen days. Thirteen was also, for the Aztecs, a time number, which represented the completion of the temporal series.
• The sacred cord of Druids has thirteen segments.
• The thirteen evil spirits according to the Cabal.
• The thirteenth in a group appears in antiquity as the most powerful and the most sublime. For example, Ulysses, the thirteenth of his group, escapes the appetite devouring of the Cyclops.
• For the superstitious ones, Fridays 13 are real nightmares: if that day there are 13 guests to the table, that precedes a death in the year (to be 13 to table would carry misfortune); to see a black cat Friday 13 carries misfortune; it is preferable not to exit that day, but in the opposite case, if one leaves by a door, it is always necessary to enter by the same door. The superstition of Friday 13 was also revivified in this era of the computer by some viruses introduced into the computer systems appearing only the day of Fridays 13. The fortune teller on the other hand predicts better the future on Friday 13. In France, as soon as there is a Friday 13 to the calendar, the National Lottery organizes a special drawing because some choose that day to bet the money. But for some, less credulous and more prone to the optimism, the number 13 is a lucky number on which they hope to make a success of what they do or to try their chance. For example, one of these succeeds to convince the British navy to dissipate fears of superstitious sailors who refused to go up a ship a Friday 13. It was indeed decided that they would proceed to the launching of a new ship on a Friday 13. This ship was baptized the H.M.S. Friday. It was controlled by the Friday Captain and took finally the sea a Friday 13. They never see again the ship and the crew.
• For the Mayas, the time is divided into several cycles beginning with the birth of Venus. And the cycle in which we are would have begun August 13, 3114 before J.-C. and would end on December 22, 2012. According to them, this date corresponds to the fifth and last cycle of the Earth, what would end to the destruction of the world.
• One tells that Philip II, king of Macedonian from 356 to 336 before J.-C., had the misfortune, during of a procession, to add his statue to those of the twelve major gods of the Greek mythology. He was assassinated few time after while he was going to combat against Persia.
• Number in relation with the moon: it covers on the average thirteen degrees per day and there are thirteen lunations in the year.
• The Creation would be divided into thirteen dimensions and levels: in the first dimension, there are 13 levels; in the second dimension, there are 12 levels; in the third dimension, there are 10 levels. And so on until the thirteenth dimension, which is the dimension of the portal, which is the Dimension of the Christ. And there, there is one level.
• The Sumerian used a zodiac including 13 constellations and 26 main stars.
• The shield of the old Slav divinity Prono was decorated with thirteen white points.
• The thirteen cords of the harp in Japan.
• The thirteen gates of the human body of the woman: 2 eyes, 2 ears, 2 nostrils, the mouth, 2 breasts, the navel, the anus, the urethra and the vagina.
• Some advance that the Universe created is governed by thirteen fundamental constants of the physics which are amongst other the speed of the light, constants of Planck, Boltzmann and Eddington, the load of the proton, the mass of the proton and the electron to the rest, etc. But this is far to make the unanimity for all seekers and scientists.
• In none of the most modern American buildings there is a 13th floor et bedroom number 13. They has also taken the practice to proscribe the number 13 of the numbering in some streets. No more 13 also for some airlines and to the automotive race departure.
• It had been formed in Bordeaux, at the 19th century, a society of 13. These jolly fellows organized banquets Friday of each week and committed all their businesses a Friday. The feast of the society was celebrated 13th Friday of each year. Before sitting down at table, they never omitted to reverse the salt boxes.
• To the historical viewpoint, there had: 13 primitive cantons in Switzerland, 13 States primitive in the USA, 13 Länder of the Federal German Republic.
• The Apollo-13 capsule of the NASA is the only Apollo not to have succeeded to land on the Moon. This mission, which proceeded from the 11 to April 17, 1970, was already at midway of the Moon when an explosion occurred in an oxygen tank and paralyzed a part of instruments. The capsule had then to return on the Earth as soon as possible.
• The relationship between the volume of the Earth and that of the Sun is approximately 13 times a power of 10, that is to say 1 / (13.01 x 10E5) to be precise.
• The card deck includes 13 hearts, 13 spades, 13 squares, 13 clovers.
• Weight of the soul in ounce.
• Birthday of marriage: lace weddings.

Gematria

• Fischer calls thirteen the Jehovah factor since some words of the Hebraic language have been inspired by the essence of Jehovah whose numerical value is 26, that is to say equal to 2 x 13. The following words have all a numerical value (gematria in "N") whose common factor is 13: Moses, 351 = 27 x 13; Joseph, 156 = 12 x 13; Isaac, 208 = 16 x 13; Abraham, 104 = 8 x 13; Torah, 611 = 47 x 13; Jacob, 182 = 14 x 13; Israel, 546 = 42 x 13; Sinai, 130 = 10 x 13; month, 312 = 12 x 26 = 12 x 2 x 13; the divinity written in Hebrew, aleph, he, beth, he, 1+5+2+5 = 13. By using the gematria in "n", the following words have also common the factor 13: Elohim written in Hebrew, aleph, lamed, he, yod, mem final, 1+12+5+10+24 = 52 = 4 x 13; Amen written in Hebrew, aleph, mem, nun final, 1+13+25 = 39 = 3 x 13. It is also the numerical value of word "one", aleph, heth, daleth, 1+8+4=13, and love, aleph, he, beth, he, 1+5+2+5=13, in Hebrew; and the numerical value of the name of Jesus in Hebrew, yod, he, waw, shin, ayin, is 10+5+6+300+70 = 391, given 13 by reduction. In the Ostervald Bible, the Old and the New Testament count 1040 chapters for the whole of 66 books. And 1040 = 80x13. More, always in Ostervald Bible, the Old Testament counts 780 chapters for the whole of 39 books. And 780 = 60 x 13.
• The number 13 would be in a certain manner in correlation with our Earth planet which is called in Hebrew Eretz and that is written aleph, resh and tzade. The letter tzade put at the end of a word has not 90 but 900 as value. The numeral value gives therefore 1+200+900=1101. This number, interpreted in the mathematical base two (binary) is equivalent to the number 13 in the decimal base.
• The numerical value of the Hebrew word BEV, meaning chaos, gives 13.

Occurrence

• The number 13 is used 28 times in the OT and it is never used in the NT.
• Numbers 17, 22 and 120000 are used 13 times in the Bible and the number 120 is used 13 times in the OT in its cardinal form.
• In the Gospel of Saint John, Jesus uses on the whole 13 comparisons or titles to designate who he is really:
1. I am the Bread (Jn 6,35 and 6,48 and 6,51)
2. I am the Light (Jn 8,12 and 9,5)
3. I am the Gate (Jn 10,7 and 10,9)
4. I am the Good Shepherd (Jn 10,11 and 10,14)
5. I am the Resurrection (Jn 11,25)
6. I am the Way (Jn 14,6)
7. I am the Truth (Jn 14,6)
8. I am the Life (Jn 14,6)
9. I am the Vine (Jn 15,5)
10. I am the King (Jn 18,37 and 19,21)
11. I am Son of God (Jn 10,36)
12. I am in the Father (Jn 14,10 and 14,11 and 14,20 and 17,8)
13. I am (Jn 8,24 and 8,28 and 8,58 and 13,19)


• The word star (or star) is used 13 times in the Koran. The words sickness, tear, dragon and the term "Son of God" are used 13 times in the NT. The words carnal and treason are used 13 times in the Bible.
• In the Bible, 26 numbers (written in their cardinal form) are multiple of 13.
• In the New Testament, 8 chapters possess 13 verses on the whole. And always in the New Testament, only 13 different numbers are equal or higher than 2000.