Madge the Fortune Telling Owl

Favourite Woodcuts: The Owl’s Almanac, 1618

What the hell is an almanac?

Sort of a handbook of useful information with a splash of magic. Used for predicting the weather, lucky and unlucky days, keeping track of the dates of Christian festivals, that sort of thing.

What’s the deal with the owl?

That’s Madge. Acclaimed author of almanacs.

What, more than one?

Well no actually, just this one.

And she’s an owl…?

Yes. A barn owl. What’s your point?

Where exactly does this come from?

It says on the front cover:

I don’t think any of that is real.

Suit yourself.

Why would an owl write one of these books?

“Why not an Owle prognosticate wonders, which are sure to happen this yeere, as for Astrologicall wizards to shoot threatening Calenders out of their inke-pots at the world.”

Can I just stop you there—

“Madge-Owlet fetches her predictions out of an upper roome in Heaven, where never any common star-catcher was garretted before.”

OKAY but I’m still confused. Who actually wrote this?

Spoil sport. Fine, it’s by Thomas Middleton.

The playwright? Shakespeare’s contemporary?

That’s the one. Born 1580, died 1627.

What’s the deal, what’s he trying to say?

He’s trying to say that almanacs are silly and that real social evils can be predicted without the stars.

Ah. So it’s sceptical tomfoolery. That’s why you like it.

Well yes, but also because it’s extremely cute. Look at that little ruff and gown!

She’s writing strange symbols, what’s going on with that?

The whole vibe of this frontispiece (title page) is that it’s parodying scholars who claimed to have discovered arcane secrets.

I see. So they don’t represent anything in particular?

They’re pseudo-astrological. You can see the signs for Mercury, Venus and Jupiter in there among others. The books and instruments on the wall behind her are also meant to evoke pictures of magicians in their studies, surrounded by knowledge. Compare with Doctor Faustus, for example:

He somehow looks calmer than her even though a demon is coming out of the floor.

It’s true, Madge does look like she’s having a flashback.

I’m impressed that she can write one-legged. And the moral of the woodcut is?

Don’t listen to anyone who says that they can tell you the future. Unless they are an owl.

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