Fortuna is one of the oldest goddesses in Roman mythology. As a goddess of fortune, she is in charge of human happiness and opportunities. In Western deities, Fortuna often stands on a rotating flywheel with a horn symbolizing abundance and wealth in one hand and a rudder that dominates people's fortune in the other. Westerners believe that wherever Fortuna turns the rudder in her hand and the flywheel at her feet, they bring people's fortune. However, due to the uncertain direction, the flywheel under Fortuna's feet is also used to symbolize the impermanence of fortune and misfortune, and to punish those who are insatiable.
Fortuna is the goddess of fate in Roman mythology, whose name depends on the Latin word for "luck" - Fortuna. Unlike Jupiter, Juno, and other gods from Greece, the name Fortuna appeared in the Roman city-state long before Greek mythology had a significant impact on Roman mythology. She was one of the oldest goddesses in Rome. [1]
As the goddess who dominates fate, Fortuna's early image was designed as a woman holding a wheel. When the wheel rotates to the left, it represents the beginning of misfortune, while when the wheel rotates to the right, it represents a path to success or luck. Everyone will receive different opportunities or disasters in their lives. How to seize opportunities and face disasters is the key to success for people.
As time went by, the image of the goddess of fate also changed dramatically. The wheel originally held in the hand was embedded in the body, with the white scarf on the head representing happiness, and the black scarf wrapped around the lower limbs representing misfortune. The late image of the goddess is actually a more vivid representation of the principle of fate: everyone has their own wheel of destiny, which constantly rotates in everyone's heart, and success or failure may only be between their own thoughts.
Virtue and calm hermits bring us to the pinnacle of insight, through which hard-won insight enables us to see the inner workings of life and learn about the future destiny. From fate, we can see the suffering and death that everyone must experience. As a mystic, overcoming fate, transcending death, and seeking the eternal soul are their goals and challenges. But so far - through the tenth big card - we have not been able to overcome fate, so we must still humbly comply with its arrangements.
In ancient Greek mythology, there were some goddesses related to fate, and Tyche was one of them, the goddess of luck; Then, Nemesis, the goddess of revenge. Tyche and Nemesis are symbols of good luck and bad luck, as can be seen in Vatti's art work "Triumpho Di Fortuna". In ancient art, the symbol of Tyche is the rudder, which means that she controls the direction of people's lives. The "Horn of Abundance" in her hand is a symbol of prosperity. At that time, people believed that every city had a Tyche to protect it. The symbol of Nemesis is half lion and half vulture. Other goddesses associated with fate are Necessity, who is the goddess in charge of the wheels of Earth and the universe. The Roman goddess of fate Fortuna is a synthesis of these goddesses.
Fortuna
Fortuna
In Plato's "Republic," we see the journey of soul transmigration after death. The wheel of destiny of Necessity Fortuna is actually the central axis of the universe. Previously, we often mentioned that the ancients believed that the Earth was the center of the universe, and that the seven stars in the sky that could be seen with the naked eye circled the Earth in their respective orbits. These seven stars were known as the "Seven Planets" by people at that time, and they were: the moon, Mercury, Venus, the sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. [2]
Each planet moves in its own spherical orbit, forming a "ladder" connecting Earth and the heavenly kingdom from bottom to top. When the soul enters the universe and descends to the earth along the seven steps, it "puts on" the body on the earth, which is doomed to submit to fate and death.
In order to highlight the view that "the material world is controlled by fate and death," Plato added her three daughters, the Three Goddesses of Destiny, next to Necessity. Destiny is compared to one silk thread after another. Each silk thread under the control of the three goddesses is equivalent to the life of a mortal, so it can also be called the thread of life. The Lachesis of the Three Fates represents the beginning of the past and life, making silk threads; Clotho represents the present and recent stages of life, pulling and measuring the silk thread; And Atropos represents the future and the end of life, and she is responsible for cutting the silk thread.
In the Middle Ages, the universe was symbolized as a wheel, while Fortuna, the goddess of fate, was at the center of the wheel. One of the earliest materials related to this symbolic description was the "Consolidation of Philosophy" written by Boethius in 524.
Fortuna
Fortuna
The wheel of fate image of Fortuna, the goddess of fate, depicts four male characters floating and sinking on the wheel. Although the three daughters of Fortuna are not depicted here, the three male characters on the image truly reflect the life process under the control of fate. This image appears in the card diagram of the Wheel of Destiny in Viscanti Svozataro, one of the oldest tarot cards in history.
In the Wheel of Destiny card of Viscanti Swazataro, Fortuna is blindfolded at the center of the wheel, symbolizing ignorance and no reason. There are four male characters on the wheel of Fortuna. On the left is a man climbing a wheel, representing a budding state. The text behind him can be translated as "I will dominate". Represents the past, dominated by Lachese. The man on the top of the wheel sits, "I am in charge," representing the present, dominated by Croto. On the right side of the wheel, a man descends with the wheel, saying "I have ruled", representing the future, dominated by Atropos. At the bottom of the wheel, there is an elderly man lying on his back, called "I am no longer in control." This image represents the state of death, occurring after Atropos cut the line of life, and can also represent a departure from the control of fate. This fourth character implies that death is just the other side of the wheel of fate, a step towards reincarnation and the next round of destiny control.
"Reincarnation" is an important link in the philosophical theories of Plato and Neoplatonism. The views of Neoplatonists have been influenced by early Christianity, but early Christian theologians disputed the theory of reincarnation. In 553 AD, after the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire held a conference and declared that the theory of reincarnation was heretical, although the image of Fortuna's Wheel of Destiny was preserved, and its academic implication of reincarnation was clear, But medieval churches refused to acknowledge the symbolic meaning of this image's reincarnation.
However, there is evidence that many people in the 1st and 15th centuries still recognized the meaning of reincarnation in this image; 2. From the 12th to 13th centuries, the belief in reincarnation was once again spread to the West by the Spanish Sufis and Kabbalanists; 3. Samsara is also a part of the Catharine (pagan) faith. Although the Carterism was ruthlessly wiped out by Christianity in the 13th century, its ideology and cultural influence remained. Therefore, for any of the above reasons, Christianity found it necessary to reaffirm the belief that Christianity does not believe in the reincarnation of the soul. Therefore, they proposed this point again at the Lyon Conference in 1274 and the Florence Conference in 1438. However, in 1460, Ficino translated Plato's philosophical theory into Latin, which made many scholars realize for the first time that this great philosopher also believed in reincarnation, and thus the theory of reincarnation gradually became accepted by most people.
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