Nigel Pennick
Fortuna: The Sacred and Profane Faces of Luck
Fortuna: The Sacred and Profane Faces of Luck
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Excellent- More about Fortuna: The Sacred and Profane Faces of Luck
The culture of good fortune has evolved from sacred divination to modern gambling, with people seeking to divine the future, ensure protection, and draw the benefits of good omens. Nigel Pennick explores the many ways people have sought to do this, including dice, cowrie shells, bones, coins, cards, sticks, and stones. He also looks at medieval grimoires, lottery books, and dice books, and how gambling gave rise to specialized lucky charms, luck-ensuring rituals, and mascots. He reveals how divination and gambling are two sides of the same coin, with both looking to Fortuna in the quest for a better, richer life.
Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 144 pages
Publication date: 29 February 2024
Publisher: Inner Traditions Bear and Company
Some believe that our future is predetermined, while others assert that we have free will and our future can take many different courses depending on our actions. In ancient times, it was believed that the will of the gods determined people's lives, and divination or sacrifices to the gods could change or improve one's future. Of the deities devoted to luck and the future, the Roman goddess Fortuna is most famous, having two shrines in Italy where divination was conducted under her guardianship.
Tracing the history of the culture of good fortune from sacred divination to profane gambling, Nigel Pennick explores the many ways people through the centuries have sought to divine the future, ensure protection, and draw the full benefits from days of good omen. He shows how dice were originally considered sacred objects of divination and reveals the divinatory geomancy techniques and meanings of a dice oracle. In addition to dice, he looks at how cowrie shells, bones, coins, cards, sticks, and stones can be used to form meaningful patterns for interpretation and how these cultural divination practices were often accompanied by texts or oral traditions that explained the meanings of the patterns, such as the Chinese I Ching and the West African verses of the Sixteen Cowries. He also looks at medieval grimoires for fortune-telling, lottery books, and dice books.
Exploring how dice became a means of gaming and gambling, the author details the forms of trickery and "crooked dice" used in games of craps by cheating gamblers and the Dream Books or Policy Books that served as oracles for those who played the "Numbers Racket." He examines how gambling gave rise to specialized lucky charms, luck.
Weight: 248g
Dimension: 151 x 228 x 10 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781644116470
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