This card can change your life, page 1/3The Wheel of Fortune stands for new challenges |
If the Wheel of Fortune card is drawn in a Tarot reading it means that new challenges and opportunities are on the horizon.
The Wheel of Fortune from the Arthur Waite Tarot deck is a symbolically profound card which is often misunderstood. The source of this confusion is probably its ambivalent meaning: it can suggest an irrevocable and uncomfortable task, but can also be a sign of a positive turn of fortune. The ambivalence of this card is compounded by a variety of astrological associations among the experts. One group sees its counterpart in Jupiter, which points to expansion and improved opportunity. The other sees its counterpart in Saturn, which indicates reduction and responsibility. However, the higher meaning behind this card boils down to common denominator of both interpretations. The Wheel of Fortune tells you that it is time to address a very specific issue, and this issue must be recognised and experienced.
The archetypal background of this card is not so simple at first glance, however a closer examination of its mystical numerological meaning and it symbolism will clarify some things.
The Wheel of Fortune is the tenth Major Arcana card, and the number ten stands for the beginning and end of all numbers. Ten symbolises closure and perfection. Ten also has a meaning in religious traditions: Christianity has the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament, Buddhism its Ten Precepts, and the Kaballah the Ten Sephirot.
The first thing one notices on the Wheel of Fortune is a simple wheel, which is held in place by three animal-like figures. Two of these figures have their roots in Egyptian Mythology. The Sphinx, standing at the top of the wheel, symbolises “Being,” the existing, the present. On the bottom left of the wheel is a golden snake, named Seth, which stands for the past. On the bottom right is a mythological creature, resembling a snake, with the head of a wolf or a jackal. This embodies the god Anubis and the principal of becoming, rising, the future. Anubis was in Egyptian Mythology the god of mummification, associated with the principles of preservation and passage.
But there are also symbols inside of the wheel, which are not clearly comprehensible if their meaning is not properly recognised. In the outer circle of the wheel are Hebraic and Arabic letters. Reading the Arabic from left to right, the word “Tarot” is revealed. The Hebraic letters spell the name of God: YHVH.