X. WHEEL OF FORTUNE  

Primary  principle-Chance, opportunity

Planetary correspondence-Jupiter

Description-This beautiful card is filled with the deepest meanings. The wheel at the center contains the knowledge of the Great Mysteries. The four Hebrew letters stand for the Divine name "YHVH -Yahweh or Jehovah.  The letters "TORA" stand for the first Five Books of Moses, which contain the Hebraic Laws of righteous living. When the letters are reversed, we find the name of the "taro(t)," this deck of cards so filled with Divine Knowledge passed through the ages. If we rearrange the letters, we come up with "ROTA," the Latin word for "wheel." The Wheel of Fortune is surmounted by a sphinx holding a sword. The sphinx implies that when the animal passions of the lion are dominated by the human mind, we hold great power in our hands. Both the wheel and the sphinx also remind us of the temporal nature of life, for they symbolize time. They tell us that "to every time there is a season," that life moves in and of a great Cosmic Cycle of creativity.

The four rods at the center of the wheel divide the circle into eight parts-four and eight are numbers of structure and physical creativity. The four alchemical symbols relate to the four directions, the four seasons, and the winds of change. There are four Living Creatures, as they are called, set in the corners of the card. These are the symbols of the fixed signs in astrology, the four elements they represent, and also of the four Gospels of the New Testament: Humanity-Aquarius-Air-Matthew, Eagle-Scorpio-Water-John, Bull-Taurus-Earth-Luke, and Lion-Leo-Fire-Mark. Thus we have the combined wisdom of Hebraic Law and Christian Love. A snake winds its way around one side of the wheel, representing the inherent sexual, creative urge of life. The Egyptian jackal-man is on the other side of the circle. He is a joker and represents the ability for us to be fooled by our body, mind, and desires into thinking that all there is to life is contained in the outer world of forms.

In the reading - Fortune reflects an unexpected course of events. Something is happening or will happen that will benefit the querent. It will be a surprise, something over which a person has no control. The circumstances of this surprise may have nothing to do with what the querent either deserves or has worked to achieve. Life is giving a gift. The querent must make the choice to accept what is offered even if he does not understand its meaning in light of the other events in his life. It is a gift that goes beyond reason and logic. It is a Gift of the Spirit, and change is inevitable.

Reversed-The querent may experience extreme bad luck. This may be very impersonal, as the querent may have done nothing to bring such a condition into his or her life, at least not consciously. This is a quirk of fate, a condition of collective and not individual karma, with no ready explanation possible. The person must accept what is offered and learn from the experience.

Exoteric meaning-The general experiences one has as one lives within the rhythms and patterns of the life around us.

Esoteric meaning-The process of becoming objectively aware of the patterns and rhythms of the world around you and the cycles of time within which we live. Life is alive! It has Its Destiny and you are part of it.