X The Wheel of Fortune - 'Win Some, Lose Some'
Inspired by The Hermit's teachings, The Fool is now not just wise, but humble enough to contemplate the vastness of what he still doesn't know and realizes that not everything is knowable. It may take several incarnations to even begin to understand the intricacies of the Universe. This is the moment 'The Wheel of Fortune' crosses The Fool's path. Suddenly, up is down and down is up. The Fool is faced with a new challenge: the unpredictability of Fate. Located at number 'X', The Wheel of Fortune sits right at the halfway point in the Major Arcana, at equal distance from the genesis of The Fool and the apotheosis of The World.
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| 'Wheel of Fortune' variations Left: The Field Tarot / Right: The White Sage Tarot |
THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE - Win Some, Lose Some
KEYWORDS
Destiny. Threads of fate. Good fortune. Lucky streak. Ups and downs. Breakthrough. Life cycles. Turning point. Reincarnation. Good karma. Games of chance.
Blockage. Reversal of fortune. Stuck in a rut. Misfortune. Setback. Unlucky streak. Unable to progress. Complications. Delays. Bad karma. What goes around, comes around.
THE LIGHT
'Win some, lose some.' This simple phrase captures the essence of the Wheel of Fortune perfectly. It's mostly viewed as a very positive, auspicious card and, for the most part, it is. However, it can by its very nature also end up being the complete opposite.
When we're down on our luck and this card appears, the Wheel turns it all around and we can count on things improving almost immediately. But if we're feeling on top of the world that same Wheel could spin again and take that good fortune away at any moment.
The consequences of the Wheel of Fortune's many turns are not to be interpreted as catastrophic or inherently destructive, however. That is mainly The Tower's job. The Wheel represent's life's typical ups and downs. Some would say these are predetermined by Fate and can therefore neither be controlled, nor avoided. This roller-coaster of constant gains and losses is necessary for maturity and for character building. A life of nothing but privilege and good fortune teaches us very little about the wide range of the human experience.
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| An intricate 'Wheel of Fortune' from the Mystical Moments Tarot by Catrin Welz-Stein |
This card can also be interpreted as an allegory for the concept of karma. What goes around, comes around. What we send out into the Universe will eventually find its way back to us, whether positive or negative in nature. Remember that the Wheel doesn't necessarily always turn at 180 degrees. It can move a few increments at a time or do a full turn and bring us right back to where we started. Depending on the spread, the karma aspect can be extended to the concept of reincarnation and represent the many lives that the soul has already experienced.
The Wheel of Fortune is a reminder that the hand of Destiny is constantly working in the background. No matter how carefully we organize our life, it will all have to be re-thought numerous times as the Fates rarely cooperate with the best laid plans.
Out of all the cards in the Tarot, the Wheel is the one that can test our skills as readers the most. It's important to trust our feelings, especially that initial rush of intuition during a reading, because the message in the Wheel of Fortune can be both subtle and obvious. It can be as small as finding a forgotten 20 dollar bill in our pocket, or as big as winning the lottery.
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| 'The Wheel of Fortune' variations Left: The Alchemical Tarot / Right: The Art of Tarot kit |
THE SHADOW
When interpreting the shadow side of the Wheel of Fortune it's more important than ever to pay attention to surrounding cards in the spread. When paired with cards like The Devil, The Tower, the Three and Ten of Swords or any of the Fives chances are high that complications, misfortune and obstruction is in the cards, pun intended.
As a general rule, a negatively positioned Wheel of Fortune is a sign of bad luck or of being stuck in unfavorable circumstances. Unless of course we've already hit rock bottom, in which case the only way to go is up. A shadow Wheel will not do a complete 180, however. Any improvement will certainly be welcome, but it will also be minimal.
Once again karma comes into play. This time as payback. The shadow Wheel of Fortune spins to teach us a well-deserved lesson. It's time to revert back into introspective Hermit mode and contemplate how we could have prevented this unfortunate turn of events. Sometimes we make or break our own luck by testing the limits of the Universe's patience.
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| The creepy side of 'The Wheel of Fortune' Left: Tarot of Vlad Dracula / Right: Tarot Del Toro |
LITERALLY
In a very literal sense, the Wheel of Fortune represents a wheel. It also represents games of chance, lotteries and bets that use a wheel as random game play.
TAROT ACADEMIA
In the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot system, the outer ring of the Wheel of Fortune is inscribed with two sets of characters. The Latin alphabet letters: 'T A R O', alternating with the four Hebrew letters that form the Tetragrammaton: יהוה, transliterated as 'YHVH' or 'JHVH', the unpronounceable, unutterable name of God. Within its inner circle, the Wheel features the alchemical symbols for Air, Sulfur, Water and Salt.
Why do all these emblems appear on this card and what is their significance? Tarot scholars differ widely in their analysis. I'm going to try and cover some of the academically accepted explanations in this section.
Let's start with the inner circle and the aforementioned alchemical symbols. These are pretty much universally acknowledged as a representation of the four elements: Air, Fire, Water and Earth. Elemental symbology is a constant throughout the Tarot. The Minor Arcana is traditionally divided into four elemental suits and in the Major Arcana elemental symbology can be observed in most of the cards, but there are three Majors where this elemental symbology goes into overdrive.
If we set off with the premise that The Fool is unnumbered, or numbered '0', making The Magician the first card in the Major Arcana, we notice a very interesting phenomenon. All four elements appear in some symbolic form or another in the first, the middle and the last card of the Major Arcana: The Magician, The Wheel of Fortune and The World. This repetition every 10 cards seems deliberate and is a powerful symbol unto itself of the cyclical, elemental nature of the Universe. It's also an allegory for the repeating cycles in the soul's evolution, which is what The Fool's journey actually represents. I'll develop more on this aspect when writing the card study for 'The World'. It will ultimately become quite clear that The Fool's adventure doesn't end there. Far from it. It actually resets and starts all over again. This time with the added wisdom acquired during the last completed cycle.
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| Contemporary variations on 'The Wheel of Fortune' From left: This Might Hurt Tarot, Sasuraibito Tarot and Modern Witch Tarot |
On the outer ring of the Wheel, we find another universally acknowledged emblem: the Tetragrammaton. There is no real disagreement on what the four Hebrew letters represent. It's clearly the unpronounceable name of the Jewish God.
The part of the Wheel that is most open to interpretation by scholars are the Latin alphabet letters 'T A R O' that alternate with the Hebrew characters in the outer ring. The scholarly debate covers a whole array of subjects. What the letters actually spell; the direction in which they should be read and finally which is actually the word's first letter.
Reading clockwise from the top, the letters spell 'TARO', or 'TAROT' if we complete the circle and end back up at the letter 'T'. Pretty self-explanatory, even predictable to have this word appear at least once in a Tarot deck. This can be interpreted as The Wheel of Fortune being an omen of what's to come. Located at the halfway point in the Major Arcana, it depicts the full shape of the path The Fool is on. It's obvious that it will be an endless journey, symbolized by the circular Wheel. This was already apparent in The Hermit when The Fool realized that it would take several lifetimes, several journeys, several incarnations to even begin to uncover the mysteries of the Universe.
Reading counterclockwise, however, the word becomes 'TORA' or 'TORAT' if we go full circle. Interestingly, 'Torat Moshe' - Mosaic Law, is another way of referring to the Hebrew Bible, specifically the first five books that are believed to have been written by Moses. This makes sense in conjunction with the Hebrew characters also present in the outer circle. This religious symbology can be an indication that a higher power, an invisible hand is fully in charge of spinning the Wheel. Non-religious people might see the hand of Fate at work. Atheists will chuck it all up to chance and the likelihood of its infinite variables.
Yet another way of reading those letters is to start at the bottom with the letter 'R' and to read clockwise. The word now becomes 'ROTA', the Latin word for 'Wheel'. This word is again self-explanatory and intuitive; it's a natural fit. The only question remains, why would it be upside-down? Probably as an allegory for the unstable, unpredictable nature of this archetype. Down today, up tomorrow.
The symbolism in The Wheel of Fortune is evidently not as simple as it first appears to be. A lot of thought seems to have gone into it. I leave you to decide for yourself which analysis you're most drawn to. For me, it's a bit of a mix of all of them. I'm not sure how deliberate any of this was for Arthur Waite and Pamela Colman Smith when they created this card, but every scholarly explanation blends together so well in the end, I'm not sure I even care what the actual symbolic intent might have been. Feel free to leave me your thoughts and comments on Instagram. I may even amend this section with your insights.
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| 'The Wheel of Fortune' from The Touchstone Tarot by Kat Black |
AN EXERCISE
Are you worried about which way the Wheel will turn regarding a specific event or situation? Shuffle your deck thoroughly. It might be a good idea to cleanse it or reset it before doing this exercise. My favorite way to reset a deck is to put all the cards back in order, focusing on removing old energy from each card individually. After a good shuffle, find the Wheel of Fortune and the cards immediately before and after it. These will shed light on the different ways the situation might unfold and how best to deal with each eventuality, so that you can mentally prepare for what may come.