Who and what is Ananke? First, she is extremely potent among the powers of the cosmos. Plato cites only two great cosmic forces: Reason (nous or mind) and Necessity (ananke).17 Reason accounts for what we can understand, for what follows reason’s laws and patterns. Necessity operates as a “variable”— sometimes translated as “erratic,” “errant,” or

The Goddess embodies and symbolizes the powers of birth, life, and death (rebirth), and as such, the powers of fertility. She is the supreme regulator, and it is she who controls the seasons, the cycles of nature, and the movement of the sun, moon, and all celestial bodies.

An unpredictable “luck of the draw” plays its part in who we are. In Plato this random cause was named Ananke; the formidable goddess of necessity, she defied reason and, in Plato’s myth, governed the lots our souls selected. And it was called Tyche and Moira, who are personifications of fate. From Roman times into the Renaissance this principle