Working with Fortuna: Complete Guide to the Roman Goddess of Luck and Fate

Who Is Fortuna?

Fortuna is the Roman goddess of luck, fortune, fate, and the turning of life's wheel — one of the most widely worshipped deities in the Roman world and one of the most enduring divine figures in Western culture. Her name gives us the English words “fortune,” “fortuitous,” and “fortunate,” and her image — the blindfolded goddess turning her wheel, dispensing good and ill luck without regard for merit or desert — has shaped Western thinking about fate, chance, and the unpredictability of life for more than two thousand years.

Fortuna is not merely a goddess of good luck. She is the goddess of all fortune — good and bad, expected and unexpected, deserved and undeserved. She is the force that turns the wheel of life, raising some up and casting others down, with a blindness that is not cruelty but the absolute impartiality of fate itself. She does not favor the virtuous over the wicked, the deserving over the undeserving. She turns her wheel, and the wheel turns all.

She was worshipped throughout the Roman world in dozens of different aspects and epithets: Fortuna Primigenia (the firstborn, the original fortune), Fortuna Redux (the fortune that brings safe return), Fortuna Virilis (the fortune of men), Fortuna Muliebris (the fortune of women), Fortuna Bona (good fortune), Fortuna Mala (bad fortune). Each aspect addressed a different dimension of the goddess's vast domain over the unpredictable forces that shape human life.

Her primary sanctuary was at Praeneste (modern Palestrina), where the oracle of Fortuna Primigenia was one of the most famous in the ancient world — consulted by generals, emperors, and ordinary people seeking to know what fortune held in store for them.

Fortuna's Mythology and Iconography

The Wheel of Fortune

Fortuna's most famous attribute is her wheel — the Rota Fortunae, the Wheel of Fortune — which she turns continuously, raising those at the bottom to the top and casting those at the top to the bottom. This image became one of the most powerful and enduring symbols in Western culture, appearing throughout medieval literature and art as the central metaphor for the unpredictability of worldly success.

Boethius, writing in the sixth century CE while awaiting execution, gave Fortuna one of her most famous speeches in his Consolation of Philosophy: “This is my art, this the game I never cease to play. I turn the wheel that spins. I delight to see the high come down and the low ascend.” This speech captures the essential nature of Fortuna: she is not malicious, but she is absolutely indifferent to human preferences. The wheel turns. That is what wheels do.

Fortuna's Attributes

Fortuna is typically depicted with several distinctive attributes that together define her nature:

• The wheel — The Wheel of Fortune, which she turns continuously
• The cornucopia — The horn of plenty, representing the abundance she can bestow
• The rudder — The ship's rudder, representing her ability to steer the course of events
• The blindfold — Her blindness, representing the impartiality of fate
• The globe or sphere — She stands on a sphere, representing the instability of fortune — she can roll in any direction at any moment

These attributes together paint a precise portrait: she is abundant (cornucopia), she steers (rudder), she is impartial (blindfold), she is unstable (sphere), and she turns (wheel). She is the force that shapes events without regard for human wishes, that can give everything and take everything, that moves in ways that cannot be predicted or controlled.

Fortuna and the Stoics

The Roman Stoic philosophers had a complex relationship with Fortuna. They acknowledged her power over external circumstances while insisting that she had no power over the inner life — over virtue, over wisdom, over the quality of one's character. Seneca wrote extensively about Fortuna, arguing that the wise person neither fears her bad fortune nor is corrupted by her good fortune, because they have learned to distinguish between what is truly good (virtue, wisdom, inner freedom) and what merely appears good (wealth, status, health — all of which Fortuna can take away).

This Stoic engagement with Fortuna is one of the most sophisticated philosophical responses to the problem of luck and fate in Western thought, and it remains deeply relevant: how do we live well in a world where so much is beyond our control?

Fortuna's Symbols and Correspondences

• Primary symbols: The wheel (the Wheel of Fortune, the turning of fate), the cornucopia (abundance and the gifts of fortune), the rudder (steering through fate), the blindfold (impartiality), the globe or sphere (instability)
• Colors: Gold (abundance and the gifts of fortune), green (luck and prosperity), silver (the turning of the wheel, the moon's influence on fate), red (the vitality of fortune's favor)
• Element: All elements — she governs the unpredictable forces that move through all of nature
• Sacred day: June 24th (Fors Fortuna, her major festival, celebrated with boat processions on the Tiber); the first day of the year (she governs new beginnings)
• Archetype: The Wheel Turner, the Luck Goddess, the Fate Weaver, the Impartial Dispenser
• Offerings: Gold coins (the most traditional offering to Fortuna), green candles, cornucopia imagery, dice or other objects of chance, flowers (particularly yellow and gold flowers), honey, wine, the first fruits of any windfall or good fortune received
• Crystals: Citrine (abundance and good fortune), green aventurine (the luckiest crystal, associated with fortune and opportunity), pyrite (fool's gold — the shimmer of fortune), tiger's eye (seeing opportunity clearly), jade (prosperity and good luck across many traditions)
• Herbs: Basil (prosperity and good fortune), mint (abundance and the flow of money), bay laurel (victory and the favor of fortune), clover (luck), chamomile (attracting good fortune)
• Tarot: The Wheel of Fortune (her direct embodiment — the turning of fate, the cycles of luck), The Star (hope and the possibility of good fortune), The World (the completion of the cycle, the full turning of the wheel)

What Fortuna Governs

• Luck and chance — She governs all the unpredictable forces of luck, both good and bad
• Fate and destiny — She is the force that turns the wheel of fate; she governs the larger patterns of a life
• Abundance and prosperity — Her cornucopia; she governs the flow of material abundance and the gifts of good fortune
• New beginnings and fresh starts — The wheel always turns; she governs the possibility of a new position, a new chapter, a new turn of fortune
• Travel and safe return — As Fortuna Redux, she governs safe journeys and the fortune of travelers
• Business and commerce — She governs the unpredictable forces that affect business outcomes
• Acceptance and equanimity — Working with Fortuna teaches the Stoic wisdom of accepting what cannot be controlled while acting wisely within what can

How to Build a Fortuna Altar

• A wheel image or a small spinning wheel — her primary symbol
• A cornucopia or horn of plenty — filled with coins, fruit, or other abundance symbols
• Gold and green candles
• Gold coins — the traditional offering
• Citrine and green aventurine crystals
• Dice or other objects of chance — honoring her domain over luck
• Gold and yellow flowers
• A small ship's rudder image — honoring her role as the steerer of fate

Fortuna Rituals and Practices

The Wheel Turning Ritual

For times when fortune has been consistently bad and you wish to turn the wheel:

1. Light a gold candle. Place a gold coin and green aventurine on your altar.
2. Invoke Fortuna: “Fortuna, great turner of the wheel, I call upon you. The wheel has been in a difficult position for me. I ask you now to turn it. I am ready for a new position. I am ready for the wheel to rise. I offer you this gold as a sign of my faith in your abundance. Turn the wheel, Fortuna. I am ready.”
3. Physically turn something — a coin, a small wheel, a spinning top — as a symbolic act of turning the wheel of fortune.
4. Say: “The wheel turns. Fortune changes. I am open to what comes.”

The Abundance Invocation

For attracting good fortune, abundance, and opportunity:

“Fortuna Bona, good fortune, I call upon you. You who fill the cornucopia with abundance, who steer the ship of fate toward prosperous shores — I open myself to your gifts. I am ready to receive. I am grateful for what I have and open to more. Let your wheel turn in my favor. Let your cornucopia pour out its abundance into my life. I receive your gifts with gratitude and use them well. So mote it be.”

The Fors Fortuna Celebration (June 24th)

On June 24th, the ancient Romans celebrated Fors Fortuna with boat processions on the Tiber, feasting, and offerings to the goddess. Honor this festival with:

• A visit to any body of water — cast a gold coin into the water as an offering
• A feast with friends — Fors Fortuna was a festival of the common people, celebrated with communal joy
• Light gold and green candles and invoke Fortuna's blessing for the second half of the year
• Reflect on the turns of fortune in your life so far this year — both the rises and the falls — and practice the Stoic wisdom of equanimity toward both

The Stoic Fortuna Practice

Inspired by the Stoic philosophers' engagement with Fortuna, this practice cultivates equanimity toward the unpredictable forces of life:

Each evening, reflect on the day's events and ask:

• What happened today that was beyond my control? (Fortuna's domain)
• What was within my control? (Virtue, wisdom, my own responses)
• Did I respond to Fortuna's gifts and challenges with equanimity and wisdom?
• What would I do differently tomorrow?

This practice, done regularly, develops the Stoic wisdom that Fortuna cannot touch: the inner freedom that remains stable regardless of the wheel's position.

Fortuna in Modern Practice

Fortuna is the goddess for a world obsessed with control — with the illusion that if we plan carefully enough, work hard enough, and make the right choices, we can insulate ourselves from the unpredictability of life. Her wheel is the divine refutation of that illusion: the wheel turns. Fortune changes. What is up will come down; what is down will rise again. This is not pessimism — it is the most honest description of how life actually works.

Working with Fortuna is not about trying to manipulate luck or force the wheel to turn in your favor. It is about developing a relationship with the unpredictable forces of life — learning to work with them rather than against them, to recognize opportunity when the wheel turns upward and to maintain equanimity when it turns down, to offer gratitude for good fortune and to trust that bad fortune is not permanent.

Her blindfold is her most radical teaching: fortune is impartial. It does not reward virtue or punish vice. It turns. And in that turning, there is a kind of freedom: if fortune is truly impartial, then your worth is not determined by your current position on the wheel. You are not your luck. You are not your circumstances. You are the one who turns with the wheel — and who, with wisdom and equanimity, can find their center regardless of where the wheel has placed them.