advanced tarot interpretation

The Meaning of the "Wheel of Fortune" Tarot Card

The Symbolism of the Tarot Card:

The symbols of the four evangelists, Matthew (Angel), Mark, (Winged Lion), Luke (Winged Ox), and John (Winged Eagle) appear in each of the corners of this card, constituting a frame of divinity around the events in the card. The creatures are also known as the living creatures of Ezekiel.

The Wheel is the central figure, and refers to Ezekiel's Wheel as well as the Wheel of fate of the card's name. In this prophecy, Ezekiel saw four creatures spinning a wheel as separate wheels, as a vision of the divine. The creator of this tarot deck saw the vision of Ezekiel as a perfect metaphor for this card, a model for a fluidic universe that showed perfectly the flux of human life. The word "Taro" is inscribed on the inside of the wheel, as well as the letters of the Hebrew Name of God, to show that God is within all.

The figures on the outside of the wheel are; Typhon (the snake), an enemy of the Olympian greek gods, The Sphinx, and Anubis, an Egyptian god of the Dead.

The Meaning of the Tarot Card:

The central theme of the card is the Wheel of Destiny. This was a medieval myth in which a king is crushed when the wheel is rotated under him, as the royal figure of the Sphinx would be crushed in this card were it to be rotated. The idea is that anyone may be brought down by the powerful hand of Fate.

This is why the name of God is interspersed with the letters "Taro" in the Wheel itself - Fate in this card is interpreted as the plan of the Divine for all of humankind, and particularly for the Fool who is transitioning through this card to another rung in his spiritual journey.

The concept of the Wheel can also be related here to Karma, or the belief that the actions that we commit have a direct correlation to what happens to us in the future. The laws of karma are continuously turning one around into different incarnations. The idea of Death and Rebirth are conveyed in the three creatures on the outside rim of the wheel. They represent the Egyptian gods Set (snake), Osiris (Sphinx), and Anubis (Jackal). The interplay of these three gods are a constant interplay of death and rebirth - they are in fact each an aspect of the other.

An unexpected change is to take place in the person's life, and probably so gradually that they do not even notice. This change will be major, and will either cause great inconvenience or great improvement for the individual in question. On a deeper level, it represents the capacity to step back and understand the sequence of one's life.