For Those Who Fear Friday : Superstition: Friday the 13th is tomorrow, but fear not. A Northridge class teaches that 13’s bad reputation is unfounded.

Thirteen is one of the scariest numbers, but when it lands on a Friday it is considered the unluckiest of days and is enough to keep people home. But a Northridge numerologist is trying to ease fears about the odd number by teaching a class just after this month’s Friday the 13th.

“The number 13 is my favorite number,” said Freda Amsel, wearing a necklace with the number 13. “It always turns up in my life and has always meant good things for me.”

She was born on the 13th, and often flies on that date, requesting row 13 on the plane. The names of her three sons--whom she had well before she discovered numerology--all add up to 13 when translated into numerological terms. The addresses of homes significant in her life--her house of birth, first homes in New York and California, the home of her divorce and her present home--all add up to 13. And this year is significant because Amsel turns 58 (5 + 8 = 13).

“Even if the 13 denotes a negative connotation I hope people will see its positive side,” Amsel said.

But the superstitious may be delighted to know that this month’s Friday the 13th is the last one until September, 1991.

Cal State Northridge professor Eloise Klein Healy, an expert and author about mythology and legends, said the fear of 13 has always been associated with the unknown.

“Historically, it has been considered an extremely dangerous number,” said Healy, an English professor. “There are 13 witches in a coven, so it is associated with witches. It is affiliated with an outside religion and the magic of numbers. In history, people were afraid of the number 13 because they feared anything magical--like black magic. Look was happened to witches.”

Numerology is the study of positive and negative vibrations of numbers, made up by names and birth dates; a person choses to follow the vibrations for good or evil, Amsel said.

Amsel teaches her class at the Cosmic Connection Metaphysical Bookstore and Academy in Northridge, where owner Charlene Whitaker has read Tarot cards and astrology charts for nine years.

“The number 13 got a bad reputation because of this,” Whitaker said, flipping out the “Death Card” from her Tarot deck--cards used as an ancient form of fortune telling. The number 13 is on the card with a grotesque skeleton and a rising sun in the background. “This was never meant to be death as we know it, but transformation. It’s about destroying the old and making room for the new.” That, coupled with the death of Jesus Christ on a Friday made the combination ominous. He was the 13th one at the dinner table, Amsel pointed out.

“If we wake up thinking it is Friday the 13th and bad things are going to happen, then we look for bad things to happen,” Whitaker said. “Thought creates form.”

But 13 was very lucky for 13 bank employees in Clearwater, Fla., who bet $13 in the lottery on the Friday the 13th in April and won $9.3 million.

Other significant 13s:

* The “baker’s dozen” in Europe means if you order a dozen, you get 13. Historically, it relates to 12 months of growing and harvesting crops and the 13th is a new beginning of sharing.

* The New York Stock Exchange and many hotels and office buildings have no 13th floor.

* At 13, Jewish children become adults in bar mitzvahs or bas mitzvahs, another transformation, Amsel said.

“There are many misconceptions about 13 and the fears are passed on from generation to generation,” Whitaker said. “People consider it fatalistic, until they learn more about it.”

The New Age philosophy of the late 1980s has peaked and people put the metaphysical stuff they learned to everyday practice, said Whitaker, who has classes at her bookstore in tea-leaf readings, crystals, self-healing, spiritual development and meditation. Her brightly lighted, incense-scented store doesn’t carry materials about voodoo, black magic, satanism or witchcraft.

“A good psychic reminds you of who you are and what your values and priorities should be, thereby releasing you of fear and worry,” Amsel said. “Freed from your anxieties, you will be open-minded to directing your own course of action.”

Her classes are a bit of a history lesson. “In my class everyone is curious about the number 13 and even the most skeptical is fascinated by the information on the dollar bill,” Amsel said.

She pulls out a dollar bill and points to the 13 rows of bricks on the pyramid, a symbol from the secret group of Freemasons that included George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, as cited in “The Seal of the United States” by Paul Foster Case. The phrases “Annuit Coeptis” (He favors our undertaking) and “E pluribus unum” (From many, one) have 13 letters, the eagle carries 13 arrows in his left talon and the peace branch has 13 leaves and 13 olives, according to Case’s book. Although the country had 13 colonies to begin with, Amsel said the symbols are for a more spiritual purpose.

(Amsel’s next class on “The Mystery of Numbers” is scheduled at 7 p.m. July 25 at the Cosmic Connection, 9250 Reseda Blvd. Admission is $10.)

“The number is all or nothing at all,” Amsel said. “You can make it have enormous potential for attainment or complete destruction, but it is up to you.”

“Friday the 13th should be thought of like any other day,” Whitaker added.