Tarot reading › Major Arcana › The Wheel of Fortune

Tarot card meaning

The Wheel of Fortune

Key terms:

predestination, cycle, chance, luck
(helplessness, stereotype)

Card meaning:

The Wheel of Fortune portrays three grotesque figures, probably monkeys, holding a large spinning wheel. The upper figure with a crown and a sword represents the ruling presence. The future is climbing upwards on the right. It has large ears and wide-open eyes to better recognize, what to bring along into the present. The past is sadly heading down on the left. Its time has passed. The whole Wheel is sailing on sea waves. It shows how our life cycle is unstable and how we are often helplessly drifting along the flow of events.

At first glance, the Wheel of Fortune may also remind a roulette wheel. Happiness is in this case only a matter of pure coincidence. Undeserved benefit or cheap gain – these are things which almost everyone desires. Therefore it is considered to be a real luck to have a good time and be rich without any effort. That is why there are the three figures woven into the wheel and in every moment, another one of them is on top. The wheel shows greed, joy and disappointment in this simple-minded carousel. Random luck is usually very unstable. The real and permanent happiness must be earned.

You can see the constant change of our life periods in this card. For some, it may represent the stereotype of everyday worries and responsibilities. Something surrounding us from the outside. Both, work and leisure can turn grey in boring shades of banality day after day. That is how you get absorbed by feeling of helplessness and imprisonment in the wheel of your fate. In such case, this card means a challenge to opt out from an unfortunate cycle, that surrounds us every day.

Many people also often encounter the same problem when they repeat the same mistakes in life. The Wheel of Fortune is then the principle within us. For example, you leave one partner for his unbearable nature, but with the new one you discover after some time, that he has nearly the same nature as the previous "bad" one. How is this possible? The Wheel of Fortune is the answer.

Mindless walking in a circle is very simple. We usually have the same answers to the recurring life questions. We act automatically using formulas that we do not even realize. Someone does not reply to messages, even if it is a matter of courtesy and the answer could be a single sentence. Some people are always late and believe, it does not matter. Some are reluctant to be honest and make excuses even in trivialities. The examples are countless.

We usually act the way we were taught. To reject the principle of inertia and get out of the rut is therefore very difficult and requires a lot of effort. Trying to "get beyond your own shadow" is a matter of lifelong endeavor.

The Wheel of Fortune, as its name suggests, tells the story about the cycle and also about happiness. The ordinary routine brings a proper order to some people, some kind of certainty and true happiness. On the contrary, for some others this stereotype is devastating and such people are happy in finding new paths and options. Try to deal with your Wheel of Fortune in your way.