Tarot Card Meanings for

the Wheel of Fortune

A wheel is suspended in mid air, surrounded by magical beings.

In the four corners, winged creatures are studying books while on top of the wheel rests a sphinx with a sword and below are seen a snake and a human-like figure with the head of a jackal.

You may well be thinking, ‘What the hell’s going on?’

The Wheel of Fortune falls under the influence of Jupiter and its somewhat complex symbolism has much to tell us.

Let’s start with the four winged creatures.

They are an angel, a bird of prey, a winged bull and a winged lion.

These figures represent higher octaves of the four fixed signs of Aquarius (Angel), Scorpio (Eagle), Taurus (winged Bull) and Leo (winged Lion).

The creatures are also symbolic of the four main gospels of the bible– those of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

And also the four components of the magical vow: To Will, To Dare, To Know and To Be Silent.

The next tarot card meanings for the Wheel of Fortune is thatnumerologically, four is the number of stability and formation.

This tarot layout is showing us that the corners of the universe are set and stable, even while circumstances change.

Fortunes change too; where a person starts in life may have little bearing on where they end up.

Individual Will, choices and circumstance combined can enable someone born into poverty to triumph over their circumstances. Or conversely for someone born to wealth to lose everything they have.

Everyone is familiar with the phrase ‘what goes around comes around’ but not many will consider it as a metaphor for transpersonal cycles such as astrological movements.

There are times when the only thing we have control over is ourselves. So whether you’re on the top or the bottom of the wheel right now, this card is a caution that change is a fundamental universal principle and it’s going to make its presence felt in your life.

Tarot Card Meanings for the Wheel of Fortune can also indicate social occasions, legal matters, the opportunity to fulfil long held ambitions and be a warning of secret enemies. Which takes us neatly to the snake and our figure in red.

The snake is an ancient symbol for both secret knowledge and also as a tangible symbol of evil.

Both are often in the eye of the beholder. The figure in red is a representation of the Egyptian god Anubis, sometimes Christianized into the form of The Devil (and we’ll be encountering that archetype further down the line).

He was one of the Egyptian deities of justice and what we nowadays call karma.

The letters on the wheel can be used to spell out ROTA, which means a revolving wheel and also a list of names for duties.

The same letters can also be used to phonetically spell TARO(T).

Just as no symbolism has been placed on the cards arbitrarily, so this configuration of letters bears further study.

The Hebrew letters are Yod, Heh, Vau and Heh, which combined give us one of the Names of God.

The interpretation of this card reminds us that everything that can happen is held within the Mind of the Universe.

No mistakes and no escaping what must be endured.

Life has cycles and we have parts to play within those cycles.

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