Happy (almost) Friday the 13th!

Some people think it’s bad luck, others consider it good. From a feminist perspective, this can be a powerful and positive day: 13 cycles of the moon in a year, related to women’s cycles; Friday is named for the Norse goddess of both love and war, Freya, and the French Vendredi is named after the Roman goddess of love, Venus. (I first learned this from Cooties zine in the mid-1990s. Kate, where are you?)

Regardless of whether you believe in good or bad luck, God, goddesses or nothing, I’d like to dedicate this day to Pele, the fiery volcanic spirit of Hawaiian mythology. I was inspired to make this collage upon visiting Hawai’i in 2004 and seeing the end of the road in Kalapana, where lava had flowed over the entire fishing village in 1990, destroying about 100 homes in two months and forcing all residents to evacuate.

I was also able to visit the current flow in the Kilauea crater, due to the generosity and patience of a local resident and hiker, and experienced first-hand the power of volcanic lava. The heat was so intense I could feel my arm hair and the rubber on my sneakers getting singed. We put an empty soda can in the flow and watched it explode!

Whether you believe fire is a spiritual, scientific or evolutionary element, the power to both destroy existing land and create new is amazing. It reminds me that good and bad can balance each other out in the end… even on Friday the 13th.