On Tyche, Goddess of Fortune

Tyche is a lovely lass, oft maligned by the unfortunate, yet turned to by the masses in times of trial. She is, in person, nice enough, yet pensive. There's something in her face that speaks of both a willingness to help and an inability to do so in all cases. She is a power under authority, and is as much a servant of the Fates as the rest of us are. She can be a mitigating force in all endeavors, bringing opportunities to escape doom, and yet she cannot tell you what those opportunities are. She has been accused of being fickle, but usually by those who think they deserve more than they get out of life.

I recently printed out a picture of the Lady Fortune carrying the babe Pluto and her cornucopia, with her Orphic Hymn on the side. I burned some Frankincense, as indicated by the hymn, and read the hymn aloud to her, seeking her aid in acquiring a paying position, something more reliable and better able to meet the expenses I've gathered over the years than the periodic windfalls I've been getting the last couple of months. She is sitting above my altar now, and within a week of petitioning her, two employers contacted me and scheduled interviews. Considering that in the last month and a half I've only had two interviews, I consider it fortunate to have these opportunities arise.

Yet in my line of work, this is the time of year that work picks up. The government's fiscal year begins in October, so between the last weeks of September and November, there are usually a large number of contracts awarded and support teams hired. In this economy, there are thousands of people available to companies with college degrees and specialized experience in particular fields, and the Human Resource departments of most corporations have their pick of the best at hand. Since I've never managed to complete college, my resume usually ends up at the bottom of a pile of potential candidates, despite ten years of experience in my field. It's annoying, I promise.

So there are constraints that Tyche works within, as there are for all spirits that we turn to in magic to accomplish our will. They all work within the bounds of Natural Law, leaving coincidence and synchronicity as their calling cards. Two interviews within a week of the conjuration is the kind of coincidence I've learned to interpret as a successful result.

It's interesting to me that I turned to Tyche for this operation. I've worked with Bune and the Archangels of the Planets primarily for the last few years for acquiring income and cash windfalls. I've been very successful with these spirits, and even in this dry spell I've managed to get everything I needed in spite of very ugly circumstances with their help.

It was Iamblichus who sent me to the gods. Kathy McDonald left an encouraging comment on my Iamblichus post from last week indicating her disagreement with my interpretation of the gods as the Intelligences of the planets. This drew my attention to the fact that I don't work with deities much. As a Christian, I give more weight to the Monad than any other deity, and I've never really been that interested in the personalities of the Names of God as they manifest within the different spheres beyond tapping into their vibration to aid in conjuring their relative spirits. I know the Monad, what interest have I in "lesser" manifestations of its glory?

Yet this pride is a weakness. I realize now that the Monad manifested as these deities on purpose. Tyche is the goddess of Fortune, as well as the Fortune of God. Likewise, Zeus is the god of Lightning, and the Lightning of God, Aries the god of War and the War of God. To truly know God, I need to know not only the details surrounding the chain of manifestation through the spheres, I need to know his personality a he expresses it through the gods and goddesses of the spheres.

I could go through the Sephiroth of the Hebrews, and get to know him through the Names of God revealed in each of the spheres, and I may do that at some point. It's more appealing in some ways to stick to the Judeo aspect of my Judeo-Christian heritage. Growing up, it was engrained in me that the gods of the pagans were demons, after all, and demons are servants of Satan, fallen beings of darkness and evil, right? I mean, that's what the evangelicals taught me.

But in my Work, I've learned to read. Literacy has ever been the enemy of those who would rule by exploiting ignorance. The Greek text of Paul that was included in the Bible that says the gods of pagans are demons doesn't say they are demons at all. It says they are Daimons. Messengers. Spirits. It is the weak faith of the immature Christians that Paul says makes him refuse to eat meat offered to pagan gods, not any intrinsic uncleanliness within the meat itself. He often says in his epistles that he would not have his brethren in Christ be ignorant, yet the doctrine of pagan gods as demons is entirely based on ignorance. Like all spirits, they are manifestations of divinity accomplishing their assigned tasks on behalf of their assigned sphere of influence, including their people. Tyche is as much a god of my own as she is of any pagan.