Major Arcana · X
Wheel of Fortune
Upright
- change
- cycles
- a turning point
- luck
- what goes around
Reversed
- resisting change
- bad luck
- clinging to the past
- a cycle repeating
- setbacks
Your notes on Wheel of Fortune
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The image
A great wheel inscribed with letters and alchemical symbols hangs in a cloudy sky, a sphinx with a sword seated on top, a serpent descending on the left and a jackal-headed figure rising on the right. In the four corners, a winged man, eagle, lion and bull sit on clouds reading books. Nothing in the picture is standing still except the readers.
Upright meaning
The Wheel of Fortune is the turn you did not arrange. Cycles complete, luck shifts, what was down comes up, and the figures on the rim rise and fall without choosing to. In a reading the card shows change arriving from outside, a turning point, good fortune after a hard stretch, and the reminder that nothing stays at the top or the bottom. The four readers in the corners are the only still things in the picture. They are learning from the turn, which is the one freedom the wheel allows.
Reversed meaning
Reversed, the wheel sticks or turns the wrong way. The card shows resistance to a change that is coming anyway, bad luck that feels personal, a cycle repeating because its lesson was not learned, or clinging to a position that the wheel is already leaving. It can mark a time when events seem to conspire. The sphinx still sits on top, calm. Ask what the turn is trying to teach, and stop fighting the rim.
Wheel of Fortune: yes or no?
- Upright
- Yes
- Wheel of Fortune leans yes, on the strength of change and cycles, though it asks something of you in return.
- Reversed
- Not yet
- Wheel of Fortune reversed is a yes held back. The promise of the upright card is there, but resisting change and bad luck delay it; the timing or the approach needs to change first.
Wheel of Fortune with other cards
- Wheel of Fortune and JusticeThe Wheel and Justice together:
Wheel of Fortune by topic
How the card reads when the question is about a particular part of life. Choose a topic on any spread and these appear beside each card’s position reading.
love and relationships
Upright. A turn in your love life: a chance meeting, a change of heart, a season ending so another can begin. Not everything here is in your hands. Stay loose and meet what the turn brings.
Reversed. Resisting a change the relationship is already going through, or feeling that love keeps dealing you the same hand. Look for the pattern you repeat. The wheel turns; you choose where to stand on it.
work and career
Upright. A turn in your working life: an unexpected opportunity, a restructuring, luck changing. Not everything here is in your hands. Stay adaptable and be ready when the wheel brings something round.
Reversed. Resisting a change that is already happening at work, or a cycle of setbacks that feels like bad luck. Look for the pattern you repeat. Change what you can; stop clutching what you cannot.
money
Upright. A turn in your fortunes: a windfall, a loss, a market moving, luck changing. Not everything here is in your hands. Keep reserves and stay adaptable.
Reversed. Resisting a financial change already under way, or a cycle of setbacks that feels like bad luck. Look for the pattern you repeat with money. Change what you can.
health and wellbeing
Upright. A turn in your health: a change of season, a recovery, luck that shifts. Not everything is in your hands. Notice the cycle and work with it.
Reversed. Resisting a change your body is going through, or a cycle of setbacks that feels like bad luck. Look for the pattern you repeat. Change what you can.
family and home
Upright. A turn in family fortunes: a birth, a move, a generation shifting, luck changing for the household. Not everything is in your hands. Meet what the turn brings.
Reversed. Resisting a change the family is already going through, or a pattern repeating across generations. Look for the cycle you inherited. You can choose where to stand on it.
personal growth
Upright. A turning point: a cycle ending, luck changing, an old pattern coming round so you can see it. Not everything is in your hands. Notice where you are on the wheel.
Reversed. Resisting a change that is already happening, or feeling that life keeps dealing the same hand. Look for the pattern you repeat. The wheel turns; you choose where to stand on it.
the spiritual path
Upright. The turning of cycles: karma, seasons, the pattern that governs change. A turning point on the path. Not everything is in your hands; notice where you are on the wheel.
Reversed. Resisting a turn that is already happening, or feeling caught on a wheel of repetition. Look for the pattern you keep meeting. You choose where to stand.
a decision
Upright. The decision is partly out of your hands; circumstances will turn. Decide what you can and stay loose about the rest. Luck favours the adaptable.
Reversed. Resisting a change that is already deciding for you, or a choice that keeps coming round because you never really make it. Break the cycle on purpose.
Waite’s divinatory meanings
Quoted from A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), public domain.
Upright: “Destiny, fortune, success, elevation, luck, felicity.”
Reversed: “Increase, abundance, superfluity.”
From The Pictorial Key to the Tarot
Waite’s full description of the card, Part II of the 1911 text, public domain.
In this symbol I have again followed the reconstruction of �liphas L�vi, who has furnished several variants. It is legitimate--as I have intimated--to use Egyptian symbolism when this serves our purpose, provided that no theory of origin is implied therein. I have, however, presented Typhon in his serpent form. The symbolism is, of course, not exclusively Egyptian, as the four Living Creatures of Ezekiel occupy the angles of the card, and the wheel itself follows other indications of L�vi in respect of Ezekiel's vision, as illustrative of the particular Tarot Key. With the French occultist, and in the design itself, the symbolic picture stands for the perpetual motion of a fluidic universe and for the flux of human life. The Sphinx is the equilibrium therein. The transliteration of Taro as Rota is inscribed on the wheel, counterchanged with the letters of the Divine Name--to shew that Providence is imphed through all. But this is the Divine intention within, and the similar intention without is exemplified by the four Living Creatures. Sometimes the sphinx is represented couchant on a pedestal above, which defrauds the symbolism by stultifying the essential idea of stability amidst movement.
Behind the general notion expressed in the symbol there lies the denial of chance and the fatality which is implied therein. It may be added that, from the days of L�vi onward, the occult explanations of this card are--even for occultism itself--of a singularly fatuous kind. It has been said to mean principle, fecundity, virile honour, ruling authority, etc. The findings of common fortune-telling are better than this on their own plane.
Wheel of Fortune in a spread
How the card reads in each position. The first ten are the Celtic Cross; the rest are used by the Horseshoe, Relationship and Two Paths spreads. The smaller spreads reuse these positions.
The Significator
What is at the heart of the matter right now?
At the centre of your situation is a turning point you did not engineer. Circumstances are shifting and you are on the rim. The reading is about reading the turn, like the figures in the corners, rather than clutching the spokes.
At the heart of this is a change you are resisting, or a cycle that keeps bringing you back to the same place. The matter turns, literally, on learning what the wheel has been trying to show you.
Crossing Card
What crosses, challenges or shapes it?
What meets your situation is change from outside, luck or circumstance that reshuffles your plans. It is beyond your control. Your response is not.
The force across your path is bad timing or stubborn resistance, a turn that keeps going against you or a refusal to turn at all. Stop pushing the wheel and read it.
Foundation
What is the root of this?
This grew from a turn of fortune, a change you did not choose that set the present in motion. Luck, good or bad, is the ground beneath this matter, and what you did with it.
At the root is a cycle you have been repeating, or a stroke of bad luck you never made peace with. The present carries that unlearned lesson.
Recent Past
What is passing out of the picture?
A period of change and shifting fortune is receding. The wheel has turned and you are in a new position. Settle into it; the next turn is not yet due.
A stretch of setbacks or of fighting inevitable change is losing its hold. The resistance is easing. Let the wheel finish its turn.
Crown
What are you consciously aiming for, and what could this become?
What you consciously want is a change of fortune, a turn in your favour. That is coming, and the trend supports it. Prepare for the top by remembering the bottom.
You may be aiming at a stability the wheel will not grant, or at a return to a position that has already passed. Make the goal readiness for the turn, not prevention of it.
Future
What is coming next?
A turning point is ahead, a shift in circumstances that will change the shape of things. It is likely to favour you. Be ready to move with it rather than brace against it.
A setback or an unwelcome change lies ahead, or a cycle is about to come round again. Learn its lesson this time and the next turn will be different.
Emotions
How are you meeting this, inside?
Inwardly, you are adaptable and willing to let life turn. That flexibility is your gift to this matter. Stay seated in the corner with the book, and watch.
Part of you is clutching the rim, refusing a change that has already begun. Notice the grip. The wheel is kinder to those who ride it.
External Forces
What are others, and the wider setting, bringing to it?
The circumstances around you are shifting, mostly in your favour, and the people near you are caught up in the same turn. The atmosphere is one of change. Move with it.
Your surroundings are unstable or unlucky at the moment, with others resisting changes they cannot stop. Do not join the pushing. Find your seat on the cloud.
Hopes & Desires
What do you hope for, and what do you fear?
You hope for a turn of luck and fear that the wheel will take back what it gave. Both are true in time. The hope is justified now; the fear is for later, and later has its own wheel.
You fear that bad luck is permanent or that change will cost you everything, and part of you may hope the wheel simply stops. It will not. Hope instead to learn its rhythm.
Outcome
Where does all of this lead?
This resolves in a turn of fortune: change arriving, luck shifting in your favour, a cycle completing. Accept the turn and the result holds until the next one.
Left as it is, this ends in a cycle repeated or a change resisted until it hurts. The spread shows where the lesson was missed. Learn it now and the wheel turns differently.
Hidden Influences
What is at work here that you cannot see yet?
A turn of fortune is already underway beneath the surface. Circumstances are shifting that you did not arrange, and the wheel will be visible soon. Loosen your grip on the rim.
A cycle is repeating itself underneath, and you have not yet learned what it is trying to teach. The hidden influence is a pattern, not bad luck. Look for the repetition.
Advice
What should you do about it?
Move with the change rather than against it. Read the turn like the figures in the corners, learn its lesson, and position yourself for the rise. Do not clutch what the wheel is already leaving.
Stop fighting a change that has already begun. If this feels like the same setback again, ask what you did last time and do something different. Resistance is what keeps the wheel stuck.
The Other Person
What are they bringing to this?
They are in the middle of a change of fortune, up or down, and adapting to it. Expect their circumstances to shift and their attention with them. Ride the turn alongside rather than trying to stop it.
They are resisting a change, or caught in a cycle they keep repeating with you. Expect the same situation to come round again until one of you does something new.
What Joins You
What holds the two of you together?
What joins you is the turn you have ridden together: shared changes of fortune that taught you to trust each other. The bond has survived ups and downs. That is its proof.
You are joined by a cycle, a pattern of coming together and falling apart that neither of you has broken. The wheel keeps bringing you back to the same place. Learn the lesson and the pattern changes.
What Divides You
What pulls the two of you apart?
Different fortunes divide you: one rising while the other falls, and the gap feels like luck rather than choice. The wheel turns for both. Hold on to each other through the turn rather than resenting it.
A repeated cycle has worn the gap open: the same argument, the same setback, the same promise. The division is a pattern, and patterns yield to a single new move.
A Path
What happens if you take this road?
This road rides the wheel: accept the change, adapt quickly, take the opportunity the turn offers. It leads to a new position, probably better, and asks flexibility more than planning.
This road resists the turn, or repeats an old cycle hoping for a different result. It leads back to where you started. Before you take it, find what the last turn was trying to teach.
See where it falls for you
Deal a spread and read every card in its position.