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Fortuna, by Nigel Pennick

Fortuna: The Sacred & Profane Faces of Luck, by Nigel Pennick
Destiny Books, 1644116472, 144 pages, January 2024

Luck is a mysterious and capricious supernatural force thought to bring about success or failure by apparently random chance. While belief in luck may be relegated to gamblers and the superstitious, the concept is deeply embedded in Western culture. Luck was personified by the ancient Greeks as Tyche, and the ancient Romans knew her as Fortuna, the fickle and fearsome goddess of fortune and fate. “O Fortuna,” a Latin poem derived from the medieval manuscript Carmina Burana, which laments the vicissitudes of fate, was set to music by German composer Carl Orff in 1936, and the epic cantata has since appeared in several films, television shows, and commercials. Fortuna’s Wheel of Fortune appears in both the tarot and the syndicated game show of the same name, which holds the record as the longest-running game show in the United States.1

While Fortuna’s indiscriminate giving and taking is often perceived as mercurial and even cruel, her lighter and brighter side is known today as Lady Luck, and she is still alive and well in contemporary culture, from the four leaf clover marshmallows in Lucky Charms cereal to Felix Felicis, the alchemical Liquid Luck elixir Harry Potter downed in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Luck can simply mean being in the right place at the right time. But beyond the superficial veneer of pop culture, who is she, really?

In Fortuna: The Sacred & Profane Faces of Luck, Nigel Pennick, the prolific author of over sixty books, including Elemental Magic (2020), Magic in the Landscape (2020), The Ancestral Power of Amulets, Talismans, and Mascots (2021), and Runes and Astrology (2023), explores the origins and evolution of the concept of luck, from divination to gambling. This slim volume is a quick read, with just a little over a hundred pages, but it is packed with fascinating insights.

Contemporary consciousness tends to rationalize changes in fortune as nothing more than random occurrences, but, as Pennick says in the Introduction, “in the ancient worldview nothing happens by chance but is the manifestation of an act of divine will.”2 Feeling subject to the whims of the gods, ancient people sought to discern the divine will by interpreting signs and omens, which led to the rise of divination with various systems, involving objects with numeric values, such as dice and cowrie shells.

In the absence of the concept of mathematical probability, everything was believed to have been preordained by the divine. The belief in predestination was ripe for abuse, as it could be used to validate the unjust actions of people in positions of authority. “Many religions view the Creator in the form of an angry Bronze Age law-making warlord who decides how the natural world must behave and who issues the laws that define those behaviors,”3 Pennick says. The real power behind the scenes, however, was the goddess of fortune and fate.

In Chapter 2, titled “Lady Luck and the Goddess Fortuna,” Pennick explores the history of the Roman goddess Fortuna’s worship. Today, we tend to simplify her as the personification of luck, chance, and good fortune, but Pennick does her honor by fleshing her out as a complex goddess associated with many facets of life. She had a plethora of epithets, such as Fortuna Plebis, “of the People,”4 for she determined the fates of individuals. Many epithets include types of people and social classes, such as Fortuna Muliebris (“Women”), Fortuna Patricia (“Noble”), and Fortuna Equestris (“Horseback Riding”), which brings to mind knights in shining armor astride dashing steeds. The one that struck me as the most interesting was Fortuna Aucupium, meaning “Bird of Prey.”5 Although she was sometimes depicted as blind, this avian title seems to imply keen powers of perception and a shrewd eye for swooping down and snatching good fortune at a crucial moment.

“In Rome, the emperor Trajan (98-117 CE) dedicated a major temple to each aspect of the goddess, and on every January 1, offerings were made at the temples to ensure good luck and success for the coming year,”6 Pennick says. Fortuna’s accoutrements included a cornucopia, or horn of plenty, aligning her with the goddess Abundantia, the Roman goddess of prosperity; a ship’s rudder, which signifies her steering the fates of all mortals; and the vertically spinning wheel of fortune. On occasion, Fortuna appeared with wings, like Nortia, the Etruscan goddess of fate.

There were oracular shrines devoted to Fortuna in ancient Rome, which were located at Antium and Praeneste, in the modern day city of Palestrina. I was most intrigued by the Praenestine oracle of Fortuna, which is believed to have operated underground in a cave called “Antro delle Sorti” in Italian, which means “the Cavern of the Fates.”7 The oracle was thought to have been founded by an Egyptian priestess of the goddess Isis, and incorporated the use of wooden dice inscribed with letters, which may have been derived from Etruscan divinatory practices, and Pennick believes this oracle might have influenced the development of runic divination.

“The cubes were thrown into a silver bowl and drawn out one by one to produce a sequence of letters that were taken as the first letters of words,” Pennick says. “Interpretative skill depended upon determining what the sequence of letters stood for with regard to the question asked or the person asking it.”8 The Praenestine oracle had a revival in nineteenth century France, “when it was claimed that Charles Le Clerc used the oracle to attain prophecies for Napoleon Bonaparte.”9

Pennick then explores the history of dice as a form of divination in ancient Europe, which were originally made from the knuckle bones of sheep. He writes about the practice of gambling in ancient Rome and presents a table depicting the names and measurements of Roman dice. Chapter 4 is devoted to dice divination, complete with a chart of the divinatory meanings of possible throws.

One of my favorite chapters is on “Divinatory Geomancy,” in which Pennick gives a concise explanation of how to perform a geomantic reading and presents different methods for generating geomantic figures. Geomancy, which means “earth divination,” is a binary method of generating four-lined figures using odd or even numbers that traditionally involves making marks in the earth, although modern practitioners of the art may choose to throw dice or coins. There are a total of sixteen possible geomantic figures, and each has a Latin name with an oracular meaning and an astrological association.10

“An East Anglian technique for generating odd and even sequences uses potatoes,”11 Pennick writes. Using root vegetables sounds like the perfect way to perform an earth divination! I personally use a simple homemade deck of geomancy cards I created with blank index cards, on which I drew the geomantic figures with markers, but I love the idea of using potatoes to generate geometric figures.

“Each potato is different, for each has an indeterminate number of eyes, the places from which new growth takes place,” Pennick says. “To generate a geomantic figure, one must take four potatoes at random and count the eyes on each one.”12 A full reading requires sixteen spuds, so this might be a fun method to try if you have a sack of potatoes handy. 

The latter half of the book explores how the sacred art of divination devolved into the profane practice of gambling and became associated with the Devil. “Perhaps the ancient Jewish prohibition of divination, which was taken up wholesale and unthinkingly into the Christian religion when Christianity split off from Judaism, accelerated the desacralization of divination into gambling,”13 Pennick says. He believes that “the association of cards with the Devil is likely to be a cultural leftover from the centuries of religious fulmination against games and the religiously motivated laws that prohibited all forms of play and gambling for so many centuries.”14

I was fascinated to learn that, in medieval England, “Christmas was deemed to be the only time that games were allowed, and playing at other times was forbidden by law.”15 Hearkening back to the ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia, “the connection of gambling with misrule is overt in writings about carnivals and mythical lands, such as the Land of Cokaygne.”16

Pennick also reveals how fortune-telling and luck-drawing magic have intersected with gambling superstitions and dice cheat rolls. “Ancient crooked dice” might have been used for gambling cheats, “but they may well have been used at oracular shrines to skew the readings of those who came to ask questions.”17 This may have been a matter of self-preservation, especially when the interpreters of omens “had to deal with ruthless tyrants and a wrong answer might mean torture and death.”18

The stakes are high in illegal gambling as well, and the sacred caves where the ancients once consulted Fortuna for spiritual guidance were traded in for the Underworld gambling dens of organized crime, which were crowded with the lost souls suffering from addiction to these illicit practices. Since such risky behavior is a flirtation with death, it’s no wonder that many gambling charms incorporate images of human skulls to represent luck in the face of adversity.

“When we dice with Death, we can be sure that Death has the dice in a special grip and throws all the shots, and the dice are probably loaded,”19 Pennick writes.

Pennick’s impeccable scholarship and concise historical survey of divination and gambling has transformed my perspective of Lady Fortuna and the relationship between her sacred and profane arts. Whether you are a practitioner of divination and magic or a gambler hoping to boost your luck, Fortuna: The Sacred & Profane Faces of Luck will inspire your practice and be a boon to your personal library. Besides, with St. Patrick’s Day being just around the corner, it’s a great read for the month of March. May the luck of the Irish be with you!

Runes and Astrology, by Nigel Pennick

Runes and Astrology: Symbol and Starcraft in the Northern Tradition, by Nigel Pennick
Destiny Books, 978-1644116005, 223 pages, June 2023

I’m just going to say it: Runes and Astrology: Symbol and Starcraft in the Northern Tradition by Nigel Pennick is an absolute must have if there is even an inkling of curiosity about Northern Tradition runes and their kin. This book is an absolute treasure trove of insight, magic, and tradition and is worth every single penny. If a previous edition sits on your shelf, move it over and put this one beside it.

Nigel Pennick is an authority on ancient belief systems, traditions, runes, and geomancy and has traveled and lectured extensively in Europe and the United States. He is the founder of the Institute of Geomantic Research and the author and illustrator of more than 60 books, including Elemental Magic, Magic in the Landscape, and The Ancestral Power of Amulets, Talismans, and Amulets. His level of insight into this tradition is unparalleled, and that insight resonates throughout this latest book.

One thing I love about a good book is the introduction and the appendices. Runes and Astrology does not disappoint on either front. The introduction is well layered with history and practical application is evenly distributed throughout. I love it when authors set out their intentions for the rest of the book within the context of the introduction and that’s precisely what Pennick has done. Glorious.

The Table of Contents is neatly set out and covers the topics one would assume to find. There’s a chapter on basics which is extremely well written and very informative. Titled “The Basic Concepts”, this first chapter is anything but. Honestly, you could read this one chapter and you’d know more about runes and their history and use than most people. Starting with linking runes with the idea that everything exists simultaneously with everything else, Pennick states clearly that “nothing in existence exists separately – everything that is present in the universe is continuous with its surroundings and is the product of its own historical circumstances.”1

Pennick continues:

“Wherever we choose to look, there is nothing that exists now, or that has existed in the past, that is not the result of a multiplicity of events and processes, traceable back ultimately to the formation of the world eons agon. Because of this, it is only by studying history in the widest sense that we can begin to get some insights into the true meaning of anything.”2

By tracing the lineage of the runes and the system they are part of, Pennick explores the concept of using history as a way to understand how things became what they are currently. It’s a brilliant method of writing and gives rise to a whole new way of thinking about runes and their place within a divination system. Personally, I enjoy learning about the history of things, whether they are divination systems, magical paths, or ingredients. For me, knowing how we came to use such things is as useful as knowing how to apply them practically in today’s world.

There’s an excellent chapter about runes and their meanings, but for me the chapter to really get into is the chapter titled “The Runes, the Planets, and Their Cycles.” Connecting the runes to various planets in the context of their deeper meanings is fascinating. Pennick takes time to clearly explain the links made between the runes and the various planets and satellites generally accepted as rulers of both hours and days of the current way of timekeeping.

Pennick’s style of writing is both informative and descriptive and lends itself well to the topics covered in this book. I found it both a delight to read because of the easy style of writing and also very interesting as there is so much information present in each chapter.

Do yourself a favor and pick Runes and Astrology up. Even if you only have a passing interest in astrology or runes, this book contains so much information through both the individual chapters and the appendices that follow, you will be glad you have it on your shelf as a reference.

The Ancestral Power of Amulets, Talismans, and Mascots, by Nigel Pennick

The Ancestral Power of Amulets, Talismans, and Mascots: Folk Magic in Witchcraft & Religion, by Nigel Pennick
Destiny Books, 9781644112205 , 352 pages, May 2021

Nigel Pennick is the author of over 50 books on various esoteric topics and an authority on ancient belief systems, traditions, runes, and geomancy. His latest book, The Ancestral Power of Amulets, Talismans, and Mascots: Folk Magic in Witchcraft & Religion, doesn’t disappoint: this weighty tome is an absolute must have for anyone even remotely interested in those topics.

This book seems a bit intimidating at first due to its size, but please do not let that deter you from picking it up. Anything, and I mean anything, you ever wanted to know about talismans and amulets is in this book. Pennick provides a visual narrative as well as a written one, and that additional information is invaluable.

The amount of information in this book is staggering and thoughtfully presented. The table of contents clearly lists the various topics being covered and provides the reader with an opportunity to jump right into whatever strikes their fancy. For me, that chapter was “Animals and Their Images”. In this chapter, Pennick states:

“Animal amulets and mascots take three forms. There are amulets made from part of the actual animal, like a rabbit’s foot or toad bone; there are amulets made in the shape of a lucky animal, such as a pig or cat; and there are live animals that serve as mascots, especially for military units.”1

Pennick goes on to explain the significance of the pig, ram, cat, fox, dog, bear, elephant, and tiger. Not only is the information in this section incredibly useful, it’s also very current. There is a photo (Fig 23.4) of the mascot of Motörhead, War Pig which according to Pennick, is “an emblem of resistance”2.

This differs from the usual interpretation of the pig symbolizing luck and fecundity, and with the inclusion of War Pig, Pennick is able to capture the entirety of the symbolism behind the pig. This kind of well-roundedness is what makes this book so fascinating; it doesn’t just focus on one area that might be more relevant in today’s society. Pennick drills down into the very core of the subjects in this book and provides a vast array of uses, both past and present, that are more relevant than one might think.

Another chapter that truly resonated with me was Chapter 21: “Trees, Plants, and Seeds”. Having grown up on a farm surrounded by forests and growing our own food for part of the year, I found this section to be particularly relevant to me personally. Our forest was mainly cedar and oak trees and as children, my brother and I would quite often spend the majority of our time outside up in the boughs of one of the larger oaks. I’ve always felt an affinity for oak trees and still collect acorns for use in my own magic.

Pennick distills the essence of the mighty oak into knowledgeable bites that present the leafy giant in a very magical light, saying, “In the European tradition, the oak (Quercus robur) is the most powerful tree of them all, sacred to the sky god variously called Zeus, Jupiter, Taranis, Ziu, Thunor, Thor, Perun, and Perkunas”3

To me, this is a perfect example of what this book is: a reference tome to be pulled down and used when exact information is required. Honestly, I can’t think of another book that does this so well and with such precision. I’ve never heard of Perun or Perkunas until this book. #alwayslearning

While the actual structure of the writing might throw some people off due to its clinical directness, I find it to be in line with the information presented. This isn’t a how-to book: you will not find spells or meditations or any sort of magical direction here. This is a research book of magical items and while there is some information on how specific items have been used magically over the centuries, that isn’t the point.

Some people pickup books such as this with a view to bypassing some of the work they need to do to strengthen their own magic. This book won’t do that, as it is not meant to be a supplement to personal practice. The multiple page bibliography at the back of the book is a clear indicator that this is a reference book and not a practical magic volume. While there are some charms and incantations included in the various chapters, they are not meant as actual spells but as examples of what would be done or said at the time of the amulet being created or activated. This distinction is important.

This book is meant for those who have a genuine interest in the history around amulets, talismans, and mascots and who are willing to spend a bit of time in the investigative space. I found that I went down many a rabbit hole while reading this book, in that I would turn to the extensive bibliography at the back and be drawn into another book on the same topic and then all of a sudden it’s five hours later and my cats is squawking at me to be fed. That is the sort of book this is — beautiful and mind-opening.

I have made amulets and talismans my whole life; as a child I wasn’t aware of what I was doing until much later and now I’ve refined my practice. In reading this book, I understand more clearly why I make the things I do and why I am drawn to specific materials time and again. As Pennick says:

“The amulet is more than a mere “object” or “artwork”. It’s a transcendent communication between human beings and the powers of the natural world that manifest in myriad ways.”4

As witches, we have an innate need to create a symbol of our will: be it for protection, wealth, love, health, or any other reason. Having a tangible object to imbue with our will is how many of us ‘do’ magic. I will be keeping The Ancestral Power of Amulets, Talismans, and Mascots handy as a reference tool for many years to come.

Elemental Magic, by Nigel Pennick

Elemental Magic: Traditional Practices for Working with the Energies of the Natural World, by Nigel Pennick
Destiny Books; 3rd Edition, 1620557587, 144 pages, October 2020

Nigel Pennick’s Elemental Magic: Traditional Practices for Working with the Energies of the Natural World contains multitudes. There is so much depth and wisdom here for you to explore, experiment, and deepen your magic. I am truly blown away by Pennick’s ability to offer eloquent and clear breadth and depth within this slender forest-green handbook. I feel as if I have happened upon an essential tome for my magical practice as a person living through environmental crises. 

The time for this book is right now. Pennick is grounded, both in terms of his clear writing style and in his offering of foundational practices that will benefit both the burgeoning witch and the established practitioner. On the back cover, Pennick is named an authority on ancient belief systems, traditions, runes and geomancy. This book is an impeccable example of that authority. 

Pennick touches on the essential elements of the practicing magical person, and he is able to do so with clarity and brevity. What I loved about this book is that Pennick has taken the esoterica out of the transmission. He communicates accessibly so that we can enter into these practices and rituals. His clarity allows our intimacy with the earth and natural magic to foster the mystical and the ineffable.

This text is truly a practical reference for so many aspects of natural magic. Pennick touches deftly on the fundamentals: “Saturday is dedicated to the Roman god of aging and time, Saturn.”1 and “Fire symbolizes the lightest things of existence, the energy and spirit.”2 If you are a beginner, trust that this handbook is an instructive initiation.  

My favorite chapter, “The Magic of the Land,” surfaces the ensouled landscape. It talks about how “there are certain places in the natural landscape, whose spirit is more likely to be noted by human… they are all holy grounds, at which something intangible but nevertheless, real is present.”3 Reading this book reminded me how deeply woven I am into the fabric of the land, and that my intimacy with the natural world is a place where magic springs.

Elemental Magic can absolutely be read from start to finish. It also invites you to sit down, open to an unexpected page, and discover what awaits you. At one such moment with this book, I found myself reading about the crossroads and the labyrinth. Pennick says “Crossroads are good places to make magical ceremony.”4 He offers that labyrinths “create an anchor energy, their spirit is energized by human activity.”5

This is a book of a multitude of beginnings. Pennick gives you just enough information to pull you in, to spark your curiosity, to get you started in your communion and magick-making. And you get to find out for yourself what the tree, or the stone, or the labyrinth has to offer. It is beautifully constructed for a beginner who craves a broad overview. This book stands as an excellent resource and reference for the more established magical practitioner because it is organized so succinctly. It is organized in chapters that explore the plants, minerals, animals, the land itself.

One of my favorite practices offered was part of the “Magic and Action” chapter on making and charging a magical talisman. I invited a friend into this practice. First, we each created the talisman. We then followed Pennick’s protocol, including working with the astrology of the moment and lunar cycle. Both of us felt not only the pleasure of crafting our own magical tools but also the potency of the spell work.

One of my favorite things about this book is how much it is just a welcome beginning to having your own unique experience. Pennick is impeccable at walking that line between offering you his approach and perspective, promising you the richness of what is to come in your own intimacy with these practices, and truly leaving the space for you to discover the magic for yourself. 

Orienting towards nature is a vibrant and necessary practice so deeply needed in our lives, so often mediated through technology. Elemental Magic allows you to truly see and understand yourself as a part of the more-than-human world. It is an honor to have such easy access to these profound and fundamental principles. This book is light enough to keep with you wherever you go and helpful enough to make the carrying of it worth it. 

In particular, if you are a person of European descent who is seeking ways to reconnect with your lineage, use this book. For me, this book has been a continual reminder to go outside, to enjoy the song of the wind, to make magic exactly where I am, the sun on my skin, rooted in the dirt. 

Magic in the Landscape, by Nigel Pennick

Magic in the Landscape: Earth Mysteries & Geomancy, by Nigel Pennick
Destiny Books, 1620558799, 176 pages, May 2020

Magic in the Landscape: Earth Mysteries & Geomancy by Nigel Pennick is a history book about how magical practices and the routines of indigenous people are recorded in the present-day landscape – in this case, the landscape of Great Britain.  And though this is a book about looking to the past, with an introduction titled, “A Vanishing World in Need of Rescue,” Pennick makes it clear that his book is NOT an “attempt to reconstruct the past by creating a depiction of an ideal time when the writer perceives that the system under study was perfect or intake.” 1  Instead this book explores fragments of history where magic was present.

My favorite chapter came early on, Chapter two, “The Ensouled World,” where he talks about Land Wights, celebrated and offered autonomy in Iceland,2 and a haunting story about the DeLorean Factory (that classic sports car used as the time machine in the movie Back to the Future).  DeLorean’s are classic collectable cars because despite its slick appearance, the company was only around for three years before declaring bankruptcy.  According to Pennick, the DeLorean factory was constructed outside of Belfast in a field that was home to an enormous and aged hawthorn bush. The locals had long believed that bush had a soul of its own, yet it was cut down and dug up in order to build the DeLorean Factory.  Soooo why the did factory close after just three years?  Just a coincidence?  Pennick purports not.  About the subsequently abandoned factory, he says, “Blighted and derelict places where such establishments once existed are instances of the desacralized cosmos.”3

The violation of traditionally sacred spaces is a theme Pennick references frequently, whether it is highways being paved over an ensouled landscape or archeologists digging up sacred sites in the name of their research. Pennick makes a point that we may be unknowingly erasing a piece of not only cultural history, but of genuine magical presence. “If the sacred is not just a human construct, as some argue, but actually emanates from the power within the earth at particular places, then to dig there without traditional geomantic precautions runs the risk of destroying that power.”4

One part of this book which was unexpected, was Pennick’s thorough research on exorcisms and hauntings.  In the chapter simply titled “Boundaries” in the section titled Magic Circles and Conjuring Parsons, Pennick offers us many recorded examples of church ministers in small towns across England using magic to banish ghosts who were either haunting a site or haunting an individual parishioner.

“On January 9, [1965] [the Rev. William] Rudall made a secret journey to Exeter to visit the bishop…and having convinced him, was given official permission to ‘lay the ghost’.  When Rudell got back home, he worked out the astrological chart for the next morning and prepared his magical paraphernalia.” 5

The details Pennick has about these instances of “ghost-hunting’ in small-town English parishes are remarkable! Yet for me felt a little like a departure from the main trajectory of this book.  And that might be the thing: the main trajectory of this book might not have been what I was hoping for when I ordered it, not what I was hoping for when I picked it up, and not what I was hoping for as I devoured the first few chapters.

I absolutely love that Pennick is calling attention to the awareness of sacredness in the landscape – sacredness than might be inherent, such as an ancient tree or rock or even a scenic vista, or the sacredness of a Feng Shui inspired English garden planted in the late 1700’s — 200 years before Feng Shui was trending in the New Age community.6 I think it is also priceless to call attention to the ways in which modern development is literally plowing over ensouled landscapes, and in which common human secularized ignorance erases the filaments of magic offered to us by something vaster.  It is also priceless to consider that parish ministers practiced astrology, that Feng Shui’s influence over the West started much longer ago than most people think, and that forest spirits truly exist.

I guess my one disappointment though was that I wanted a little more of a “how-to” book.  I wanted to learn how to do something related to all the fascinating topics in this book.  This is not a criticism, but a praise in disguise.  For this book ignites the imagination and enchants the spirit in unexpected ways.

As someone who practices permaculture design – a spiritual philosophy of sustainable landscaping- it is inspiring to learn about how magical places and spaces have been understood in the past and in other cultures.  So now I might use those intentions, as well as sacred geometry and planet synergy in landscapes I’m working on, in hopes of infusing something sacred and enduring.  In the United States we don’t have the same history as Britain, yet the Native American people had profound magical sensibilities in their culture, so I can pay more careful attention as I stroll my neighborhood, knowing the land I live on once belonged to them.

Overall, Magic in the Landscape is a historical overview of different topics relating to the spiritual elevation of a place.  These topics span from the uplifting effects of scenic vista, beliefs that certain landscapes are home to magical beings, curiosity about spirits inherent in rocks, trees, fields and forests, awareness that the architecture of certain buildings contain magical intentions, the power of memorials and town commons to shape cultural narrative, and the craft of creating sacred space for safely interacting with the spirit world.