Faerie tarot: The Wheel of Fortune

This is a strange wheel with no humans or animals of any kind. There are just some plants, some colorful fabric and moss. I think this wheel gets the message across much better than the wheels with apes and birds and whatnot hanging on them. At first I was a bit surprised not to find any animals here, but now I think the very emptiness is quite effective.
The moss that grows on the wheel from above makes me think that a lot of time has passed. The wind blows and brings renewal and change. Everything changes constantly and it is often harmful to try to resist change.
There is open space around this wheel but also loneliness and void. The party is over, the people have gone home and the wheel remains.
Maybe this wheel was once the wheel of a ship, and now it´s on land where it is used for offerings and making wishes. The LWB says this is a "wish-tree" and the pieces of fabric and the garlands are offerings.
The LWB says "the wheel is the symbol of becoming, of existence and destiny: life and death, the positive and the negative." I think this card succeeds in doing just that. The wind reminds me of some Psalm from the Bible, where the wind blows over us and then we are no more..

Hemera said:

The LWB says this is a "wish-tree" and the pieces of fabric and the garlands are offerings.

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Before reading the LWB entry for this card, I had never heard of a "wish tree." I found an entry in Wikipedia for it. The specific practice of tying strips of cloth to tree branches is actually associated with "clootie wells." According to the Wikipedia entry, clootie wells are "places of pilgrimage in Celtic areas. They are wells or springs, almost always with a tree growing beside them, where strips of cloth or rags have been left, usually tied to the branches of the tree as part of a healing ritual."

Contemplating this card, it reminds me of how closely our wishes, hopes, and dreams are tied to the fickle whims of fortune. There is so much in our lives that we can influence, but so little that we can completely control. Perhaps, if we wish to avoid being tossed around by the Wheel, we should be careful not to cling too tightly to the other end of those strips of cloth. By letting go of unrealistic hopes and expectations, we can be more receptive of new opportunities that the Wheel brings our way and thereby, as the LWB puts it, learn to "master our own existence."

Alan