Pagan Festival Shout Out: Festival To Fortuna

May 25th is a sacred day of the Goddess Fortuna. is the Roman Goddess of Luck, Fate, and Fortune, as Her name implies. She was a very popular Goddess, and was worshipped under many epithets depending on the type of luck one wished to invoke or the circumstances in play. She had many temples in Rome itself, as well as having important cult-centers in Antium (the modern Anzio), a city on the west coast of Italy about 30 miles south of Rome, and Praeneste (modern Palestrina), about 20 miles south-east of Rome, both of which were cities of Latium, the land of the Latini tribes. Her many temples in Rome, and the various aspects of Her worship are a reflection of the manners in which She was honored: from personal Goddess, overseeing the fate of the individual mother, young man, or soldier, to a Goddess of the State, ensuring the fortune of the populace, the luck of the Emperor, or the glorious fate of the entire Roman Empire.

Fortuna had a very old temple in Rome on a hill between the Forum Romanum (the Roman Forum) and the Forum Boarium (supposedly the old cattle-market), near to the temple of Mater Matuta. Both temples had the same dedication day, the 10th of June, and each had a horseshoe-shaped altar before it of the earliest type. Fortuna's temple had a very old statue of gilded wood inside, also of an archaic type; and the altar and statue indicate that Her worship dates at least to the earliest days of Rome, if She is not an earlier Goddess of the Latins.

A ritual to gain Fortuna’s guidance: write a word of phrase on several slips of paper then place them in a bowl. At the end of the festival night, after midnight, reach into the bowl for a slip of paper to find your fortune. (The OrderWhiteMoon site suggests this ritual for gatherings. I am a solitary pagan so I modified the ritual for single observers of the festival.)


Fortuna Good Luck Spell:
Things you need:
-good luck petition
-good luck oil
-green candles
-a piece of green paper
-a small jar
-careful attention (enough to use liberally through out this ritual. Especially in the portion dealing with flames!)
Good Luck Petition:
-wormwood
-pine needles
-dandelion
-honeysuckle
-myrrh
-thyme
-rose
Put as many as these herbs in a green piece of cloth and tie it with
string.
Good Luck Oil:
-1 tablespoon dried
wormwood
-3 teaspoons ground nutmeg
-1/2 teaspoon powdered
mandrake root
-13 drops of pine oil
-1/4 cup olive oil
Place ingredients in a jar and stir it clockwise. Let it sit for 13 nights.
Cast a circle and light all candles but one green candle. Anoint that candle with a few drops of the good luck oil and say:
O GREAT GIDDESS FORTUNA
LADY OF LUCK
GODDESS OF FORTUNE
MASTER OF FATE
I CONSECRATE THIS CANDLE IN YOUR NAME AND HONOR
Now light the candle and ask the Goddess to take the form of Fortuna. Use
this invocation:
O FORTUNA
LADY LUCK
COME TO ME
GODDESS OF FATE GODDESS OF FORTUNE
I CALL UPON THEE
COME TO ME
ENTER MY CIRCLE
BLESS MY CIRCLE AND LIFE WITH YOUR MAGICK TOUGH
BLESS IT WITH LUCK AND FORTUNE
GREAT GODDESS FORTUNA
I INVOKE THEE
Now take the petition and burn it over the green candle and say:
(this is where the careful attention comes in. Please be very very careful with this burning part of the ritual! Use caution not to burn yourself or your altar! Our intent with the ritual is to call for GOOD fortune not the MISFORTUNE of burning down your sacred space! With that being said…carry on)
BY FIRE AND HERB
I CALL AND SUMMON THEE
ENTER MY CIRCLE HAIL
MERRY YE MEET
AND WELCOME
Drop it into a cauldron and let it burn. Now draw a money or fortune rune
on the paper.
Burn it over the candle. Let it burn and put the ashes of the paper and
petition into the jar. Hold the jar in your hands and say:
GREAT GODDESS FORTUNA
PLEASE BRING GOOD LUCK AND FORTUNE MY WAY. SO MOTE IT BE
Keep the jar with you and it will bring you good luck.

Fortuna had quite a few aspects, many of which had their own holidays and centers of worship; ThaliaTook.com lists all aspects for individual observation throughout the calendar year: Fors Fortuna, Fortuna Antiat, Fortuna of Antium, Fortuna Aucupium, Fortuna Augusta, Fortuna Balnearis, Fortuna Barbata, Fortuna Bona,Fortuna Brevis, Fortuna Conservatrix, Fortuna Dubia, Fortuna Equestris, Fortuna Felix, Fortuna Gubernans, Fortuna Huiusce Diei, Fortuna Liberum, Fortuna Mala, Fortuna Mammosa, Fortuna Manens, Fortuna Mobilis, Fortuna Muliebris, Fortuna Navirilis, Fortuna Obsequens,Fortuna Patricia, Fortuna Plebis, Fortuna of Praeneste, Fortuna Primagenia, Fortuna Privata, Fortuna Publica, Fortuna Redux, Fortuna Respiciens, Fortuna Restitutrix, Fortuna Romana, Fortuna Salutaris, Fortuna Tranquilla, Fortuna Virginalis, Fortuna Virgo, Fortuna Virilis,Fortuna Viscata, Sorores Antii.

In astrology the term ‘Pars Fortuna’ represents a mathematical point in the zodiac derived by the longitudinal positions of the Sun, Moon and Ascendant (Rising sign) in the birth chart of an individual. It represents an especially beneficial point in the horoscopic chart. In Arabic Astrology, this point is called Arabian Parts.
The procedure followed for fixing one’s Pars Fortuna in ancient and traditional astrology depended on the time of birth, viz., during daylight or night time (whether the Sun was above or below the horizon). In modern western astrology the day time formula only was used for many years, but with more knowledge of ancient astrology, the two calculation methods are now often used.

The formula for calculating the day time Part of Fortune (PF) is (using the 360 degree positions for each point):
PF = Ascendant + Moon - Sun
The formula for the night-time Part of Fortune is PF = Ascendant + Sun - Moon
Each calculation method results in a different zodiac position for the Part of Fortune.

Al Biruni (973 – 1048), an 11th-century mathematician, astronomer and scholar, who was the greatest proponent of this system of prediction, listed a total of 97 Arabic Parts, which were widely used for astrological consultations. Paul Vachier has prepared an Arabic Parts Calculator for all the Arabic Parts.