Friday the 13th, November 2026: Where the Superstition Comes From and Why Many Witches Treat It as a Lucky Day
Friday the 13th falls on November 13, 2026. Where the superstition really comes from, why the Templar story does not hold, and why many witches treat the day as Venus's.
Friday, November 13, 2026 is the third and last Friday the 13th of the year, and the next one does not come until August 2027. This guide explains where the superstition actually comes from, which popular origin stories hold up and which do not, and why a good number of modern witches treat the day as a lucky one tied to Venus and the goddess Frigg. It does not claim the date has any power of its own, lucky or unlucky.
Contents
Friday the 13th falls on November 13, 2026, the last of three in 2026; the next is August 13, 2027. Separate beliefs about unlucky Fridays and the number thirteen merged only in the nineteenth century and were popularized in the early twentieth, including by Thomas Lawson's 1907 novel Friday, the Thirteenth. The link to the Templar arrests of 1307 is a modern retelling. Many practitioners reclaim the day because Friday is named for Frigg and ruled by Venus, and use it for love and self-worth work. Neither the bad luck nor the good luck is measurable.
November 13, 2026 is a Friday and the last Friday the 13th of 2026; the next falls on August 13, 2027.
Source/tradition: Gregorian calendar
The English name Friday comes from Old English Frigedaeg, the day of the goddess Frigg; the Latin dies Veneris names it for Venus.
Source/tradition: Oxford English Dictionary, etymology of Friday
The combined Friday-the-13th superstition is documented only from the nineteenth century and was popularized by Lawson's 1907 novel.
Source/tradition: Edwards, Life of Rossini (1869); Lawson, Friday, the Thirteenth (1907)
Friday and the number thirteen were each considered unlucky in English-speaking folk belief.
Source/tradition: Opie & Tatem, A Dictionary of Superstitions (1989)
Practitioners use Friday the 13th for Venus work: love, beauty, friendship and self-worth rituals.
Source/tradition: Contemporary witchcraft and planetary magic practice
The superstition began with the arrest of the Knights Templar on Friday, October 13, 1307.
Source/tradition: No pre-twentieth-century source makes the link; Barber, The Trial of the Templars (2006)
Friday the 13th measurably brings bad or good luck.
Source/tradition: Scanlon et al., BMJ (1993) and later studies show no consistent effect
VERIFIED = verifiable in scientific or official sources · TRADITIONAL = historically or culturally recorded · LIVED PRACTICE = widely practiced, experiential knowledge · NOT PROVEN = spiritual interpretation, not scientifically established.
Quick answer
Friday the 13th falls on November 13, 2026, the last of three in 2026; the next is August 13, 2027. The fear of the date as a combination is surprisingly recent: separate beliefs about unlucky Fridays and the number thirteen merged in the nineteenth century and were popularized in the early twentieth, including by Thomas Lawson's 1907 novel Friday, the Thirteenth. The popular link to the arrest of the Knights Templar in 1307 is a modern retelling. Many practitioners reclaim the day because Friday is named for Frigg and belongs to Venus, and use it for love, beauty and self-worth work. Neither the bad luck nor the good luck is measurable.
November 13, 2026: the date and the sky
In 2026 the calendar produced three Friday the 13ths: February 13, March 13 and November 13. That happens whenever a common year starts on a Thursday, because February and March then begin on the same weekday. After November, the next Friday the 13th is August 13, 2027, a gap of nine months that makes the November date feel more like an occasion than usual.
The sky on the evening of November 13, 2026 is quiet. The new moon falls on November 9, so by Friday the moon is a thin waxing crescent, a little under a fifth illuminated, setting in the early evening in the southwest, in Sagittarius. For practitioners who follow lunar timing, a waxing crescent is traditionally a time for beginnings and for work meant to grow, which suits a day many people use for attraction and self-worth. The full moon, the Beaver Moon, follows on November 24.
Where the fear of Friday the 13th actually comes from
Two separate superstitions had to exist before they could be combined. The first is a wariness of Friday. In Christian Europe, Friday was the day of the crucifixion and a weekly fast day, and there are scattered medieval and early modern sayings about not starting a journey, a voyage or a new job on a Friday. Chaucer, in The Canterbury Tales in the late 1300s, already has a narrator remark on misfortune arriving on a Friday. The second is a dislike of the number thirteen, which in English-speaking countries attached most strongly to thirteen people sitting down to dinner, a fear usually traced to the Last Supper with its thirteen at table.
Folklorists who have searched for the combination, Friday and the thirteenth together, find almost nothing before the nineteenth century. One of the earliest clear references is in Henry Sutherland Edwards's 1869 biography of the composer Gioachino Rossini, who died on Friday, November 13, 1868; Edwards notes that Rossini considered Fridays unlucky and thirteen an unlucky number. By the early 1900s the combination was established in the United States, helped along by the stockbroker Thomas W. Lawson's 1907 novel Friday, the Thirteenth, about a Wall Street panic engineered to happen on that date. The Friday the 13th horror films from 1980 onward did the rest.
America also produced the most organized resistance to the superstition. In 1881 a Civil War veteran named William Fowler founded the Thirteen Club in New York, whose members dined thirteen to a table on the thirteenth of the month, walked under ladders and spilled salt on purpose. Several presidents were invited to join, and the club lasted for decades.
The Knights Templar story: what happened in 1307, and what did not
The most widely repeated origin story online is that Friday the 13th became unlucky because on Friday, October 13, 1307, King Philip IV of France ordered the arrest of the Knights Templar across his kingdom. The date is real. The arrests happened, and they led to trials, confessions under torture, the dissolution of the order in 1312 and the burning of the last Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, in 1314.
What is missing is any link between that event and the superstition before the twentieth century. No medieval or early modern source treats the date of the arrests as the origin of bad luck on Friday the 13th, and the connection appears to have been popularized in the late twentieth century, most visibly by The Da Vinci Code (2003). Historians of the Templars such as Malcolm Barber tell the story of 1307 in detail without ever mentioning the superstition. It is a good story attached to a true date after the fact, which is worth knowing if you ever hear it presented as the secret history of the day.
Origin stories for Friday the 13th and how they hold up
| Claim | What the record shows | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Friday was unlucky in medieval Christian Europe | Scattered sayings about Fridays, including in Chaucer | Partly supported, as a separate belief |
| Thirteen at table is unlucky because of the Last Supper | Common belief in English-speaking countries by the 1700s–1800s | Supported, as a separate belief |
| The combination is old | Almost no references before the 1800s | Not supported |
| It started with the Templar arrests of 1307 | Date is real; link to superstition appears only in modern retellings | Not supported |
| Thomas Lawson's 1907 novel spread it | Novel is real and widely read at the time | Supported, as one popularizing factor |
Friday and the goddess: Frigg, Venus and the name of the day
The English name Friday comes from Old English Frīgedæg, the day of Frigg, the Germanic goddess who was wife of Odin, queen among the gods and associated with marriage, the household and foresight. The Germanic peoples who adopted the Roman seven-day week renamed its days after their own deities, matching them to the Roman ones, and Frigg took the place of Venus. In Latin the day was dies Veneris, Venus's day, which is why it is vendredi in French and viernes in Spanish. Scholars still debate how far Frigg and the Norse goddess Freyja were once a single figure, and the name of the day is sometimes linked to either.
This is the root of the modern reclaiming. In the planetary scheme used by astrologers and ceremonial magicians since antiquity, each day of the week is ruled by one of the seven classical planets, and Friday belongs to Venus: love, beauty, pleasure, art, friendship and the value we place on ourselves. For many contemporary witches, a day named for a goddess of love and household foresight, paired with a number they associate with the moon, is a reason to celebrate rather than to stay home. That view is a modern interpretation, but it rests on real etymology.
Thirteen in witchcraft: moons, covens and a myth worth retiring
Thirteen turns up in witchcraft for two main reasons, one astronomical and one historical. The astronomical one is simple arithmetic: a year holds about 12.4 lunar cycles, so some calendar years contain thirteen full moons rather than twelve. That makes thirteen a lunar number for practitioners who work with the moon, and a common explanation for why the number is associated with women's cycles and with goddess traditions.
The historical one needs a correction. The idea that witches met in covens of thirteen comes largely from the Egyptologist Margaret Murray, who argued in The Witch-Cult in Western Europe (1921) that the witch trials had uncovered a surviving pagan religion organized in groups of thirteen. Historians of the trials, from Norman Cohn in the 1970s to Ronald Hutton, have shown that her evidence was selective and her thesis does not hold. Early modern witches did not meet in covens of thirteen. Gerald Gardner and the Wiccan movement of the 1950s took up Murray's number, which is why some modern covens still aim for thirteen members. That makes thirteen a real part of modern witchcraft, but not an ancient one.
Temple Tip
If you want to reclaim the day, pick one thing Venus rules and do it deliberately. Light one candle at dusk, name one thing about yourself you value and have neglected, and give it an hour: a letter to a friend, a piece of music, a long bath, a sketch. A small act done fully says more than a big spell done out of obligation to the calendar.
Does anything measurable happen on Friday the 13th?
Researchers have looked, partly as a joke and partly in earnest. A widely cited 1993 paper in the British Medical Journal, by Scanlon and colleagues, compared traffic and hospital data in one English region on Friday the 13th and Friday the 6th and reported more accident admissions on the 13th. The authors themselves were playful about it, the sample was tiny, and later studies in other countries have found either no effect or effects that disappear once you account for weather, season and how many people stay home. Some insurance data have even suggested slightly fewer claims, possibly because cautious people drive less.
The honest summary is that Friday the 13th has no measurable effect on accidents, markets or luck that holds up across studies. What is measurable is that a noticeable minority of people report anxiety about the date and change their plans, which is a real effect of the belief rather than of the day. That is also the reason reclaiming the day can be a useful practice for people who were raised to fear it.
How practitioners use the day
Among contemporary witches, the most common approach is to treat Friday the 13th as a Venus day with extra weight. That usually means love and attraction work, self-worth and beauty rituals, friendship spells, and offerings to Venus, Aphrodite, Frigg or Freyja, depending on the practitioner's path. Others use it for protection, leaning into the old reputation, or for deliberately breaking a personal superstition, such as the ladder or the black cat, as the Thirteen Club did in the 1880s. Our piece on black cat and cat symbolism covers how the cat picked up its bad name in the first place.
Numerologists add their own reading. Thirteen reduces to four, the number of structure and work, and in the modern numerology system 13 is counted as a karmic debt number, which we explain in karmic debt numbers 13, 14, 16 and 19. Astrologers point back to Venus: if you know where Venus sits in your own chart, our guide to your Venus sign gives a more personal focus for the day than the date alone.
Quiz: how do you want to spend this Friday the 13th?
Five quick questions. The result suggests a way to spend November 13 that fits how you feel about the day.
Voices from practice
Practitioners who reclaim Friday the 13th often describe it as one of the easiest ways to show friends and family that witchcraft is not about fear. A candle for Venus and a dinner with friends reads very differently from the horror-film version of the day.
People raised with the superstition commonly report that deliberately doing something on the date, starting a project, booking a trip, walking under a ladder, loosened its hold more than any amount of reasoning did. Many say they now look forward to the next one.
A frequent note from experienced practitioners is that the date works best as a reminder rather than a power source. They use it to do Venus work they had been putting off, not because the thirteenth adds anything that another Friday would not.
What we don't promise
We do not promise that Friday the 13th is lucky, unlucky or anything in between. Studies have found no reliable effect of the date on accidents, markets or personal fortune. We do not promise that a Venus ritual or candle will bring a partner, repair a relationship or change how anyone feels about you; love work is a way to clarify what you want and to act on it, and it should never try to override another person's will, a point we make at length in our piece on love spells and consent. And a candle is an open flame: burn it in a stable holder, away from curtains, pets and children, and never leave it unattended.
Practically: how to work with this
A simple evening practice for November 13, 2026.
- Mark the date. Friday, November 13, 2026. The moon is a waxing crescent in Sagittarius, four days after the November 9 new moon.
- Choose one focus. Love, friendship, self-worth, beauty or breaking an old fear. One focus, not five.
- Prepare in daylight. Clean the space you will use, set out one candle in a safe holder, and choose something beautiful to have nearby: flowers, music, a stone you like.
- Light at dusk. Friday belongs to Venus, and sunset is the traditional hour for her work. Light the candle and say plainly what the evening is for.
- Do one real thing. Write the letter, call the friend, take the bath, make the sketch, break the superstition. The act is the ritual.
- Close and record. Extinguish the candle rather than letting it burn out unattended. Write down what you did and what you noticed.
- Look ahead. The next Friday the 13th is August 13, 2027. Note what you want to have changed by then.
From our shelf
Venus Oil Candle, Refillable
Friday is Venus's day in the old planetary week, which is the whole reason some practitioners reclaim Friday the 13th. This refillable glass lamp holds dried rose and lavender in clean fuel and is made to be lit on purpose for one evening, not left burning as decoration. Ships within 3 business days, sizes from $25.95.
More in love & attraction and oil candles.
Frequently asked questions
When is the next Friday the 13th?
Friday, November 13, 2026 is the last of three in 2026, after February 13 and March 13. The next one after that is Friday, August 13, 2027.
Why is Friday the 13th considered unlucky?
Older, separate beliefs about unlucky Fridays and the number thirteen merged in the nineteenth century. The combination was popularized in the early 1900s, partly by Thomas Lawson's 1907 novel Friday, the Thirteenth, and later by horror films.
Did Friday the 13th start with the Knights Templar?
No evidence supports that. The Templars were arrested on Friday, October 13, 1307, but the link to the superstition appears only in modern retellings, not in historical sources.
Why do some witches think Friday the 13th is lucky?
Friday is named after the goddess Frigg and is ruled by Venus in the planetary week, and thirteen is linked with the thirteen full moons some years contain. Many practitioners use the day for love, beauty and self-worth work.
Do witches meet in covens of thirteen?
Some modern covens aim for thirteen members, but the idea comes from Margaret Murray's 1921 theory, which historians have rejected. Early modern witches did not meet in groups of thirteen.
Is Friday the 13th statistically more dangerous?
No reliable effect has been found. A small 1993 study reported more accident admissions, but later studies found no effect once other factors were considered.
Sources & further reading
- Edwards, Henry Sutherland. Life of Rossini. London: Hurst and Blackett, 1869.
- Lawson, Thomas W. Friday, the Thirteenth. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1907.
- Scanlon, T. J., R. N. Luben, F. L. Scanlon and N. Singleton. "Is Friday the 13th bad for your health?" British Medical Journal 307 (1993): 1584–1586.
- Barber, Malcolm. The Trial of the Templars. 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 2006.
- Murray, Margaret A. The Witch-Cult in Western Europe. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1921.
- Hutton, Ronald. The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft. Oxford University Press, 1999 (2nd ed. 2019).
- Opie, Iona, and Moira Tatem (eds.). A Dictionary of Superstitions. Oxford University Press, 1989 (entries on Friday and thirteen).
- U.S. Naval Observatory / NASA. Moon phase tables for November 2026 (new moon November 9, full moon November 24).