THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE

Here is the ever-turning Wheel of Fortune, which carries men and their destinies up and down. This is the exoteric meaning of the Key, but the many symbols it depicts give it a much more profound and subtle significance.

The Serpent descending the Wheel is Typhon, the Egyptian god of evil, in one of his many forms.

Typhon is also used to represent the Life-force on its descent into manifestation. This is the same force that descends at the command of the Magician (Key 1), in the garden.

On the right side of the Wheel, the jackal-headed Egyptian god, Hermes-Anubis, is the symbol of intelligence ever aspiring to ascend, while evil is ever descending into darkness and disintegration.

The Wheel has three circles, of which the inner one is the creative force, the middle is the formative power, and the outer is the material world—the same symbolism as in the three tiers of the Hierophant’s crown.
The eight spokes are like the eight-pointed star in Key 17; they represent universal radiant energy.
This design is also repeated ten times on the costume of Key 0, the Fool.

The numbers of the four mystical animals in the four corners add up to 26, which is the number of Jehovah, IHVH. These are mentioned in the Bible (Ezekiel 1:10; Revelation 4:7). There is also a correspondence to the fixed signs of the Zodiac — the bull to Taurus, the lion to Leo, the eagle to Scorpio, the man or angel to Aquarius.

The Sphinx at rest at the top of the Wheel is Wisdom and the principle of equilibration—stability amidst movement, suggesting that we are not always governed by chance and fatality but that we have the power to change our lives.

This Card stands for the perpetual motion of a fluid universe and for the flux of human life within it.

Divinatory Meaning:
Success, unexpected turn of luck, change of fortune for the better, new conditions. Creative evolution within the laws of chance.

Reversed:
Failure of an enterprise, setbacks. New conditions require courage. You will reap as you have sown.

Dascent Deck