Happy Friday the 13th!

Fear of the number 13 is the most prevalent superstition in the Western world. We even have a name for it: triskaidekaphobia. It is quite common for even the most ordinarily rational and otherwise exemplary person to possess this phobia. Winston Churchill, for example, refused to sit in row 13 in the theater or on an airplane. Napoleon was also plagued by a dread of 13. Christopher Columbus, too, seems to have been afflicted. In the 1950s, the Columbiana, a group of Italian Columbus experts, concluded upon careful study of his ships’ logs and notes, that Columbus actually landed on the Western Hemisphere on October 13, 1492. The date, apparently, was deliberately changed to October 12, to avoid the imprint of such an evil omen. In some countries, there is often no Floor 13 in office and residential buildings, leaving the builders and elevator to deliberately eliminate Floor 13 altogether.

The day Friday is heavily charged with guilt and pain and death in the Judeo-Christian tradition. It was a Friday when Eve served the forbidden fruit and a Friday when Adam was expelled from Paradise. And it was on a Friday — Good Friday — that Christ was killed on the cross (after the Last Supper where 13 men were present).

When the 13th day of the month lands on a Friday, the culturally unfavorable attributes of each are multiplied by infinity. 13 is the number of steps on a gallows, the number of coils of rope in a hangman’s noose, the number of the Death cards in the tarot deck, so Friday the 13th it is indubitably designated as a day of portent and doom.

But is it REALLY?

Friday the 13th is also ultimately the celebration of the lives and loves of Lady Luck. On this, her doubly-dedicated day, let us consider what fortuitous coincidences constitute our fate. The blend of just the right conditions, chemistries, elements, and energies that comprise our universe. The way it all works. The way we are. That we are at all.

At Marker/iHAMMS, we don’t rely on luck or buy into superstitions. We believe hard work and striving to always please our clients is how we thrive. And when we please our clients, then they thrive. So, today, Friday the 13th, let us stand in full consciousness of the way we work and how we can work with you. You can rely on results with us, believe in our solid track record and trust in the facts that back up our success claims.