What's with all the stuff on the Wheel of Fortune?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 21 Feb 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

graylensman	21 Feb 2005
Okay, so I've been reading some earlier posts on The Wheel of Fortune. I've garnered some great insights into the meaning of the card (thanks, everyone!) but that leaves me puzzled about a number of things. The card I'm working on is the RWS version. There's the four angels which I understand correspond to the four writers of the Christian gospels. There's the sword-wielding sphinx. There's a serpent descendant and a jackal-headed male ascendant. There's all the alchemical symbols. Do any of these items have any bearing on the concept of the Wheel Of Fortune at all, or are they all simply trappings to make the thing look "esoteric" and "occult" to impressionable querents?

tarotbear	21 Feb 2005
To me - they are both for appearance to give the deck an 'old' look - not to discard them, of course! By appearing to be 'old & mysterious' was to grant some kind of respect for them. Who wants to know a Tarot deck was only created 3 months ago when you can make it look centuries old! {The four gospel images also pop up on the World card - recycling is guess is allowed!}

graylensman	21 Feb 2005
Thanks for the answer, Tarotbear. So I guess I can freely ignore them as irrelevant to the card's meaning?...

Vincent	21 Feb 2005
graylensman wrote: Thanks for the answer, Tarotbear. So I guess I can freely ignore them as irrelevant to the card's meaning?... Of course you can ignore them. Many people do, and suffer no reduction in their Tarot reading abilities at all. That doesn't mean that these symbols are devoid of meaning, or that they were put there simply to make the deck look "old and mysterious" The arrangement of the four symbols in the corners of this card is called the Tetramorph, and it has many other correspondences in addition to the four Evangelists. There is also a connection between the Sphinx and the Tetramorph. The "serpent descendant" is Typhon and the "jackal-headed male ascendant" is a figure called Hermanubis. The letters, both Hebrew and English, around the wheel also have particular meaning to the man who put them there. There is a wealth of information online regarding all these symbols, but as I said above, you do not need to know the symbolic meaning to arrive at a divinatory meaning. Some people like to look at the card and decide on the meaning according to how they feel at any particular moment. Vincent

graylensman	22 Feb 2005
Vincent wrote: There is a wealth of information online regarding all these symbols, but as I said above, you do not need to know the symbolic meaning to arrive at a divinatory meaning. Some people like to look at the card and decide on the meaning according to how they feel at any particular moment. Thanks for the comments. I understand what you're saying, but I know one of the reasons I'm delving into Tarot is to develop and learn to listen to my intuition, and to make deeper connections between the images on the cards and potential meanings. (This also has some professional application, as well). So I want all aspects of a card's illustration to have some potential bearing on its meaning; and if the symbolic meaning doesn't necessarily have any divinatory meaning, I guess it's a touch annoying to me. (Boy, demanding, aren't I? :D )

similia	22 Feb 2005
Some of my amalgamated notes from a few books on the RWS images. Angel, Eagle, Bull, Lion: 4 biblical animals signifying the four fixed zodiacal signs. Aquarius (air), Scorpio (water) Taurus (earth) and Leo (fire) 4 Hebrew letters: Yod, Heh, Vau, Heh. Unpronounceable name of God(Jehovah). Each letter represent one of the 4 elements or suits of the Tarot. ROTA TARO ORAT TORA ATOR: The Wheel of Taro speaks the Law of Ator (Egyptian goddess of the dead). Refers to eternal life. 4 inner symbols: Alchemical symbols for sulphur, mercury, salt, water. Transformation. Snake: Set, Egyptian god of evil. Represent endings. Jackal: Anubis, Egyptian guide to dead souls. Represents new beginnings. Sphinx: Egyptian god Horus. Represents resurrection Hope that helps. I'm not intimately familiar with any of these symbols, so they all seem to say variations on the same thing to me. Probably they are significantly different to those in the know.

Vincent	22 Feb 2005
graylensman wrote: So I want all aspects of a card's illustration to have some potential bearing on its meaning; and if the symbolic meaning doesn't necessarily have any divinatory meaning, I guess it's a touch annoying to me. (Boy, demanding, aren't I? :D ) If you wish to know what those symbols meant to the people who put them there, and why they put them where they did, then the best tool to use is research, not intuition. Intuition alone will leave you as Kircher in the Valley of the Kings. Just as research alone will turn you into an historian, rather than a reader. You may well be able to use your intuition to synthesise a meaning that makes use of both the symbolic and the divinatory meanings. Solve et coagula Vincent

Fulgour	22 Feb 2005
graylensman wrote: There's the sword-wielding sphinx. The non-"Q"abala correspondence for 10 The Wheel of Fortune is letter 10 Yodh which signifies Virgo and Mercury's exaltation. The lioness female is the best version of Virgo considering that Virgo is a mutable sign (so not a little girl), and the other signs like the centaur for Sagittarius, all show strange combinations. The goddess Ishtar is often pictured holding a weapon while astride a lion: Virgo and the harvest (Fortune) was her special designation, and she could be generous or seemingly cruel...

rainwolf	22 Feb 2005
Not an expert or anything, but i know some of the symbolism and heres some insight: [quote=similia]Some of my amalgamated notes from a few books on the RWS images. ROTA TARO ORAT TORA ATOR: The Wheel of Taro speaks the Law of Ator (Egyptian goddess of the dead). Refers to eternal life.There are many combinations to there words and they give many sentences. They each mean something special. Starting at the top it also spells Tarot is you suse the t twice. (just a tidbit if you didnt know) Snake: Set, Egyptian god of evil. Represent endings. Jackal: Anubis, Egyptian guide to dead souls. Represents new beginnings. Sphinx: Egyptian god Horus. Represents resurrection This encompasses the meaning of the card, things ending, things beginning, and things resurrecting in life and that is a definition of life. The animals around the border appear in the world (as mentioned above) but this also serves as a purpose since at the world they are fully grown, and the wheel is pretty much halfway to the end of the arcana. I hope i just didnt reword something someone else said :(

similia	22 Feb 2005
rainwolf wrote: [[color=yellow] I hope i just didnt reword something someone else said :( [/color] Rewording is always welcome. Especially when it is more articulate than the original. Fulgour, as always you amaze me. :)

Fulgour	22 Feb 2005
What's wrong with this picture? Element: Earth Fire Water Air Fixed signs: Bull Lion Scorpion Man Cardinal: Goat Ram Crab Scale-Bearer Mutable: "Girl" Centaur Fishes Twins What's a girl doing as Virgo? It should be some kind of multi-form beast: Sphynx!

graylensman	22 Feb 2005
i know that all the Majors have deep symbolism, but this card (so far) just seemed to me to have so much going on with it, it almost seemed nonsensical. Now I see that there's a wealth of knowledge to explore. It's rather overwhelming...

The What's with all the stuff on the Wheel of Fortune? thread was originally posted on 21 Feb 2005 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.