White Magic Friday: 23 Skiddooo!

Welcome to "The Gods Are Bored!" Look for our special Memorial Day Weekend Sale: Buy one deity, get another deity of equal or lesser value for free!*

I know exactly who started me down the road to Paganism. It was Robert Anton Wilson. And in keeping with his philosophy that there's no such thing as a coincidence, it was quite by coincidence that I learned of his writing and his line of thought.

Perhaps "line of thought" isn't the right phrase. I think he would have preferred "nebulous cloud of thought." He wasn't a linear kinda dude.

In his book Cosmic Trigger, Wilson talks about the number 23. And I've talked about it on this site before, and I've even run a photo of this guy here before.

EXHIBIT A: MICHAEL JORDAN, BEST NBA PLAYER OF ALL TIME

Here's the magical thing about the number 23. If you haven't noticed it before, after reading this you will start noticing it. Absolutely positively correct. Wait and see. It's gonna crop up all over the place.

There's all this complex numerology stuff about 23, because it's made up of prime numbers, and they add up to another prime number, etc. etc. and so on and so forth. But what Robert Anton Wilson noted (and Anne too) is that the minute you single out any number you're gonna find that number haunting you and taunting you.

Okay, so maybe it won't work for 4,273,849. But anything under 100, just trust me.

But you don't trust me. So here is the very true story of My First Encounter with the Number 23.

The very same day I read about the number 23 in Cosmic Trigger, I came home from work and got a phone call from Mr. Johnson. We were newly married at the time. He was on his way to the convenience store, and he asked me if he should pick up a lottery ticket. (We hardly ever played the lotto then, and we don't play it at all now.)

It was almost time for the lottery drawing. So I told him to plunk down a dollar on the number 023. He said he'd try, if they still were taking bets.

Readers, this is pinky swear truth. I turned on the t.v. 10 minutes later, and the winning daily number was called: 023.

Happy ending? Only in the movies, muchachos. Mr. Johnson just missed getting a ticket by a heartbeat.

It was some time after that, not too long I think, that Michael Jordan asked me what number he should choose for his Chicago Bulls jersey. He wanted to have a stellar career in the NBA, you see. So I told him about Cosmic Trigger, and Robert Anton Wilson, and the rest is history.

All right. All right. That last part isn't true. But the lottery thing is true. And it's also true that Jordan played his whole career as #23. Coincidence? I think not.

Put the number 23 to work in your life. Or don't. We at "The Gods Are Bored" aren't trying to tell you what to do.

FROM ANNE

THE MERLIN OF BERKELEY SPRINGS

5/23

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