Perhaps none of the existing numbers caused the appearance of so many signs and superstitions that predict misfortune. This is the fateful number 13, which is also called the "damn dozen."
Thirteen refers to a positive integer between 12 and 14. And it is almost always superstitiously called a damn dozen. Currently, researchers can not develop a consensus on the origin of the negative attitude to the number 13 and the history of its name. According to one of the hypotheses put forward, a damn dozen can be considered bad only because it is more than 12 (the number that is sacred among different nations). In turn, 12 are considered the ideal number, because in the year only 12 months, only 12 signs in the zodiac, there are 12 gods on Olympus, there were 12 apostles in Jesus Christ.
According to the existing biblical tradition, which is indirectly connected with the number 13, Judas (the apostle who betrayed Jesus) sat on the table at that thirteenth evening. In the nineteenth century, the most common sign was that there should not be 13 (a damn dozen) invited guests at the reception. If this happens, then within a year one of them will die.
According to the next version, the fear of this number is partially due to the fact that the Jewish calendar in some years includes 13 months, and the Gregorian and Islamic always count twelve months a year. Indeed, Jewish religion is still hidden from prying eyes, which adds to everything connected with it additional mystery and understatement.
What the magic of this number is based on, people still cannot understand, but its negative impact is regularly confirmed in life. Probably due to the fact that a hell of a dozen have such bad features, many Western hotels lack number 13 rooms. There is no place with this incomprehensible number in the opera houses of Italy, and you will never be thirteen in a decent house at the table.
At the same time, you can see that 13 has not only negative, but also positive properties. From ancient times, it was noticed that the thirteenth was considered the most powerful and strongest in the group. Plato and Ovid say that this was Zeus in the company of twelve celestials, whom he led as the thirteenth, standing out with strength and power. From the gluttonous Cyclops escapes the only Ulysses, who was the thirteenth among his comrades. Thirteen Buddhas is in the Indian pantheon. A state formed under the obvious influence of this number, the United States of America, is one of the powerful powers.
13 in the numerical symbolism of the current occultists is an active principle: the three in unity with the ten, embracing it and, thus, limiting.
They claim that it corresponds to a dynamic and organized system, which at the same time is not universal. Thirteen, in some respects, is considered the key to understanding and manipulating some particular whole. By other mystics, a damn dozen are interpreted as a universal force, which can be both evil and good.
