Two Wheels

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 21 Sep 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

catboxer	21 Sep 2003
There are two wheels in the trump sequence. In many decks, both are pictured with the signs of the four evangelists in the four corners of the picture. That shows they're connected. First come nine cards, then a wheel, number 10. Then ten more cards, and a wheel at 21. I've always thought of them as the two wheels Ezekiel refers to in his vision of the architecture of the universe: "...behold one wheel upon the earth by living creatures with his four faces...and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel. When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went. As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four. And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up...for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels." (Ezekiel 1:15-21 KJV) The "living creatures" Ezekiel, of course, are the famous tetramorphs, each with the faces of a man, an eagle, a lion, and an ox, as shown in tarot decks. The final wheel, it seems to me, is the creator's master plan, and he, she, or it does have one. Nothing happens in the long run that's not part of the plan, or that has not occurred already in the mind of the One. But what about the other wheel, the wheel within the wheel? Is it possibly the chance occurrence of random events? That's what the ancients meant by "fortune." If so, it's nothing more than pure, blind luck, and the chance configuration of cards drawn at random. How does that fit in with the master plan? The two are hard to reconcile. A female infant is abandoned on the streets of Calcutta. Another just like her lies in a Nieman-Marcus crib in Beverly Hills, surrounded by cooing relatives. I've read about a guy who worked high up in the World Trade Center. On September 11, 2001, he didn't feel like going to work, so he called in sick. One cuts the deck and draws a black three. Another pulls the Queen of hearts. I throw the dice and make six the hard way. You come up snake eyes. "Every morn and every night, Some are born to sweet delight; Some are born to sweet delight, Some are born to endless night. --Wm. Blake

The Two Wheels thread was originally posted on 21 Sep 2003 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.