Greyhorn Pagans

  Long considered a harbinger of bad luck, Friday the 13th has inspired a late 19th-century secret society, an early 20th-century novel, a very popular and successful horror film franchise and not one but two unwieldy terms—paraskavedekatriaphobia and friggatriskaidekaphobia (try saying that 10 times fast)—that describe fear of this supposedly unlucky day.   While Western cultures have historically associated the number 12 with completeness (there are 12 days of Christmas, 12 months and zodiac signs, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 gods of Olympus and 12 tribes of Israel, just to name a few examples), its successor 13 has a long history as a sign of bad luck. Starting with the Norse story about the 12 gods having a dinner party in Valhalla. The trickster god Loki, who was not invited, arrived as the 13th guest, and arranged for Höðr to shoot Balder with a mistletoe-tipped arrow. Dossey: "Balder died, and the whole Earth got dark. The whole Earth mourned. It was a bad, unlucky day....

There is a negative connotation on Trickster deities, that need not be there. The result of this mindset is due to the influence of the devil and Christianity . Trickster deities such as Veles , Hermes , Reynard , Prometheus , Odin , Loki , Puck , and more. They master magic , invent alphabets , find and bring back gifts for the gods and their people. Puck is a romantic and will matchmake lovers who catch his eye, Loki brought back Gullinbursti , Mjolnir and other great gifts that the gods use, Prometheus gave man fire and crafts , Hermes the alphabet and much more.  T he " Trickster " category is a broad and complex one, that is more of a means to simplify a deity than to outright explain it. None of these deities as tricky as they may be, are evil. Most were in fact beloved by their own people and still are. They are teachers , guardians , romantics , and helpfully cunning . To allow " Trickster " to be a negative is to ignore 10's of thousands of a years o...