The Language of Birds Some Notes on Chance and Divination

by Dale Pendell

Chance, the great beloved of gamblers, lovers, generals and kings, has long held sway over mortal affairs. Whether assuming the form of the goddess Fortuna and her ever-turning Wheel, or the abstract mathematic of 'randomness', Her favor is universally sought, and Her displeasure feared. To the devotee of Chance, Divination may be regarded as Her secret liturgy, providing glimpses of the unknown to those she esteems. Into the retort of the alchemist-poet, Pendell compounds portent, omen, oracle, and the art of prediction to distill The Language of Birds, a reverie upon the nature of the Goddess of Fortune and the sacred function of Chance.

Dale Pendell is the author of the Pharmako triad of books (Pharmako/Poeia, Pharmako/Dynamis, Pharmako/Gnosis), exploring the mystical poesis of psychotropic plants and the Poison Path.

Genres: Divination, Nonfiction, Magick, Folklore, Magic

Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Dale Pendell is the author of the award-winning Pharmako trilogy, a literary history of psychoactive plants.
He reads and distills the literature of pharmacology and neuroscience, of ethnobotany and anthropology, of mythology and political economics as they intersect with the direct experience of human psychoactive use.

He and his wife Laura currently reside in California.

Reviews

[Rodrigo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a poetic book, Dale Pendell explains what chance, luck, Fate and Destiny is, and how divination works, but not in a dry academic prose, but in a total poetic way, which gives the book its flavor and force. Dale also argues, our Universe is deterministic? Does chance exist? How's the soul involved in all this cosmic drama? And what about Free Will?

[Jon R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Divination poetics. Beautiful and substantive.