A coin given awayWineIncenseThe first share of a gainA lot drawn and accepted
Invocation Approach
Tone
Brisk and courteous
Address
TycheGood FortuneLady of the City
Relationship
The lot that is drawn and then has to be lived
Warning
She is not justice and she does not owe you the good draw
Resonance
Those starting out gamblers merchants and cities
Symbols
WheelCornucopiaMural crownRudderThe dice
Mythology Summary
Tyche is Fortune, and in the Greek world she is above all a city's fortune: every city had its Tyche, the power that decided whether the year went well, and the Hellenistic age gave her a mural crown to say so. Her parentage is given several ways, since Hesiod lists an Oceanid of the name while Pindar makes her a daughter of Zeus the Liberator, and the inconsistency suits a goddess of chance. She carries the horn of plenty, the rudder and the wheel, and in the Roman world she becomes Fortuna. In the Greek East she is also paired with Isis and with the fortune of the king, which is a political development as much as a religious one.
Modern Practice
Tyche is called on at a beginning, at a gamble, and when a good thing has arrived that was not earned. Her practice is to name what was luck, to give a share of it away, and to keep the wheel in view.