Why have people become so arrogant skeptical of the existence of simple luck—not favor, not work, but pure, dumb luck—even though it’s among the organizing principles of the world, and can be bent in our favor?

My first husband was one of the luckiest people I’ve ever met. If he entered a contest with a blind drawing, the other hopefuls didn’t stand a chance. Not only did we score rush tickets to Hamilton in the first year of its Broadway run, our seats were so elite that a man sitting adjacent to us asked what publication we represented.

There was never any need to ask him how he acquired these things; all I knew and knew through him understood that in addition to whatever other spiritual gifts my ex-husband possessed, he was also a very lucky man. No one believed in my ex-husband’s luckiness more than my ex-husband himself.

It was essential for him to generate and maintain his luck because his identities often closed the door to opportunities for which he was perfectly qualified.

Yet in the last five or so years, you say that someone is lucky and not only will they scoff at you, they’re likely to smugly tell you that they are blessed, favored, and hard-working (as though these traits are antonyms of luck, or disprove its presence.)

For the record, luck, blessings, favor, and hard work are all separate things. Blessings are bestowed by entities other than yourself, often due to good works and stewardship—they are generally earned through actions. Favor is a type of influence or relationship with an authority that grants you access or permission that others cannot have. I’m sure you’re all plenty familiar with hard work, so I won’t belabor that point.

As Dr. Katrina Hazzard-Donald writes in Mojo Workin’: The Old African American Hoodoo System, rootworkers, conjure doctors, and other practitioners “continue to treat…the general condition of “luck” or lack thereof.” This is essential because “treatment of “bad luck,” though apparently unfocused, is particularly significant in that it addresses a general spiritual condition believed to influence overall aspects of an individual’s existence (p. 15).

Many writers and practitioners find a way to talk about traditional Hoodoo without ever mentioning the dominance of luck drawing. So too are the taboos associated with certain actions associated with drawing good or bad luck. Whether it’s fast luck, good luck, money luck, or to become lucky in love, luck is among the most common reasons people turn towards conjure and rootwork.

However we could all become luckier with a quicker turn around by honoring the intuitive signs we’re constantly being sent.

What TF is Luck?

Luck is a mercurial, changeable balance of events, and the cultivation therein is an understanding that events are not fixed, advantage is an energy, and that human life is an experience of entropy. A belief in luck is a belief in the ability to triumph regardless of a circumstance’s lack of clarity, certainty, and even its obvious survivability.

Luck is not easier to cultivate than blessings, favor, or hard work, it’s far more difficult to obtain. There are unfortunately people who are naturally prone to unluckiness. There are people who are naturally very lucky. From the outside, it is possible that both those people’s lives look the same due to the presence of blessings, favor, hard work, and of course the absence or presence of certain oppressions.

Luck can be made or it can be an essential feature of your human experience. It’s beyond our ability to “earn.” It surpasses the idea of value or worth. That’s part of what can feel so fucked up about luck.

In a deck of playing cards, luck and its opposite predominantly manifest in the Jokers and Diamonds. While the Jokers typify the topsy-turvy nature of luck itself, the Diamonds show us just how quickly luck can be gained and lost. They also show us what it means to strike while the iron is hot—speed is indicated as a facet of luck both in standard playing cards and within Lenormand’s Clover card.

Luck requires the ability to divine, intuit, or otherwise size up the opportunities for success one possesses. Only then can you enhance the roads that are open to you, and maximize the benefits those roads have for you by accepting what part of getting what you want has already been decided, and finding out what’s still up for grabs.

Second sight makes luckiness more likely by keeping you from beating your head on a closed door when a floor to ceiling window is letting in a sweet breeze on the other side of the room. If you want to make your own luck, if you want to get what you want, its best to throw your luck behind something winnable. Through intuition, we can know what that is and create reasonable goals, be they pragmatic, spiritual, or both.

What’s Possible When Anything’s Possible

Pulling the Jokers is often a complex process when I read for clients, because with the Jokers anything may happen. The Little Joker usually means that any malady could or has befallen you, the degree to which will be indicated by where and how that card falls. The Big Joker however says anything could happen and who knows where you’ll land.

When we’re standing in the whirlwind we have the freedom to do whatever we want, knowing it may be the difference between life and death, and also that it may not matter at all! Our goal is to do what will make a difference—and that is what I mean when I say that second sight makes luck more effective.

This is often a saving grace of The Little Joker, where the client is often aware of the corresponding circumstance. In a reading, The Little Joker gives me an opportunity to consider the entire landscape of a client’s experiences and opportunities so that they can find the most elegant way to navigate their present situation.

From there, a client is likely to seek a remedy that could ease their situation, either with myself, on their own, or with another practitioner. Yet without insight, it’s easy to get stuck in the chaos that the Jokers bring, or try to move on too fast with the Diamonds.

When I do a reading or have a session with a rootwork client, we are looking for long-term solutions to problems and opportunities to change the future in lasting ways. Luck is a small, yet important part of that process.

Luck is that tiny, essential spark that renews a flame that was burning out, or that you needed in order to explore a new path. It can neither be discounted nor counted on forever. It must be respected, maintained, and eventually surpassed—but it does exist.

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