I have been thinking a lot about what to write for this years Friday the 13th all week. I will be honest, at the beginning of the month I was excited to write this blog, but as I watch the North Bay consumed by fires and the thousands of people who have lost their homes, talking about Friday the 13th does not feel quite as exciting to me as it did last week.

As a self identifying Witch, Friday the 13th for me has been less about superstition, and more about claiming one's own feminine power.

Before Christianity and bible belt god fearing people turned the day Friday, and the day Friday the 13th into an "unlucky" or unholy day, Friday the 13th was about honoring the Dark Goddess, Divine Feminine, and the 13 Lunar cycles of the year.

Women have always had a strong relationship to the Moon as our menstrual cycles are a part of the 28 day lunar cycle every month.

There are 13 Moons in a year, and 13 periods for a woman if a woman is having a "normal" ovulation cycle.

The Moon is associated with the feminine for this reason as this connection between the Moon and a woman's cycle is a symbol of all creation.

The Waning and Waxing cycles of the Moon have a lot to do with this symbol of death, rebirth, and transformation.

The day Friday is looked at as the planet, and goddess Venus's ruling day.

It is a perfect day to do spells around love, luck, intimacy, and good fortune.

When it comes to superstition around Friday the 13th being an unlucky day, and the amount of coincidental evidence, I can't help but think to look at this "bad" luck as not yet another symbol of the Goddess that has been grossly misrepresented.

The Dark Goddess who rules this day is not about spreading good or bad luck. But she is about death and rebirth.

If someone dies on Friday the 13th, or experiences loss or misfortune, is it not another symbol of this cycle being represented?

Women were regarded highly in the beginning of goddess worshiping religions for being able to bleed without dying and being vessels of creation.

But we know as women, a part of us feels like it is dying every time we menstruate. What is known as PMS can drive a woman crazy for the days leading up to menstruation. We feel a large amount of empathy for humanity and experience high levels of sensitivity to everything going on around us.

This is because we are about to experience a birth, and a death, and our hormones are preparing us for this cycle. This should be looked at as a strength and a magical time for us as it is when we are at our most intuitive and psychic parts of ourselves.

Friday the 13th should be a day about honoring this cycle and paying homage to the archetype of the Triple Goddess, the Dark Goddess.

When we pay homage to Gods or Goddesses that represent certain experiences on Earth, it can be our way of expressing gratitude and understanding for the cycle of all life here.

Through ritual we can heal parts of ourselves that may feel depleted or like they are not respected in the every day world.

The fact that women experience this deep, psychic, and emotional experience every month and are expected to keep it a secret and treated as something rather foul is happening to them has been nothing short of oppressive and only has contributed to sexism and abuse towards women.

If there is one magical day that should be dedicated to women and feminism, Friday the 13th is it, and it should be regarded as a powerful day that should be honored through offerings and ritual.

With the wild fires burning in Northern California this week growing stronger as we approach Friday the 13th, as painful as it is, this is another symbol of the cycle. Through the spirit of death, we experience rebirth.

We are forced to move with the ebb and flow of this cycle, and we always know when one thing ends, another begins.

What can be deemed as "unlucky" can be put into perspective through many comparisons, there almost always can be a silver lining somewhere.

As you go into Friday the 13th, try not to look at whatever happens to you as "good" or "bad" luck, but rather as a sign of what side of the cycle you are on. If you have a string of coincidental bad luck on Friday the 13th, it could be the universe letting you know it is time to make some changes in your life, to move on from patterns or behaviors that are no longer serving you.

If this is a day like any other day, chances are your living in line with the ebb and flow of the cycles.

I recommend we all take time to honor the Dark Goddess and Venus tomorrow with a ritual and altar.

I am looking forward to carving pumpkins with friends and doing tarot readings after a long and depressing week here in the Bay Area.

Here is a list of Vegan things you can use on your Altar to honor the Dark Goddess tomorrow: