Dark Grimoire Tarot - The Wheel

A man secretly observes a ritual being carried out in a forest clearing. Cowled figures surround a curious well-like structure, and one of them (maybe the head priest) appears to be chanting - presumably to bring forth some mysterious power or being from the well. Stone steps lead away in the background between broken stone columns. There is a strong sense of anticipation.

I'm a bit stumped by this image! So far, all the previous cards can be linked to traditional tarot interpretations, but how does this one fit with the Wheel of Fortune?

I suppose the uncertainties in life, of whether things will turn out good or bad and which we cannot control, could be suggested by the uncertainty of what will happen next in the ritual. Are the figures invoking a spirit for good or evil?

Or perhaps the observer's world is about to be turned upside-down by what will happen next?

Any other suggestions??

Not sure I can offer much here, but i was thinking about the traditional wheels, with the different creatures. The chanting man is at the top as he has control. Then the others take places of the other creatures. The ones on either side are praying. Maybe the right one is praying so that fate doesn't shift his position and the one on the left is praying so that it does, if fate shifts clockwise. The onlooker is effectively at the bottom of the wheel as he has no control over what is going on. He might be us, controlled by what happens. i don't know. It is a hard card to interpret.

A group of cultists have entered a clearing in the woods. It looks like daylight back along the path they came from but the clearing itself is strangely overgrown and gloomy. Squat blocks of ancient stone line the path to the clearing, almost like the oldest fertility symbols but with a menacing air about them.

The cultists circle around their altar and the leader smiles in glee as he raises his arms. He’s been waiting a long time for this moment. His father was cult leader before him and his father before that. But the time did not come. Now the constellations have moved into their foreseen places and the time has come. It is time to open the gates, time to turn the wheel.

If the rite is successful and the doors are opened nothing will remain the same. The brief reign of the forces of order and light will end and Gods of savagery and darkness will be called back. Gods from elsewhere, from the other side, Sitra Ahra. What then will not be changed?

A man hides in the foliage watching the cultists. He has seen a lot already and is beginning to understand that horrific forces have always crouched just outside our reality, and that changes will come when they are unleashed. Why has fate brought him to this town at this time and arranged for him to see this? What is his role? He’s not sure yet if he wants to embrace it or try to stop the wheel from turning. For now he is observing but how long can he remain uncommitted?

Changes coming; fate and changes you can’t control; choosing sides; choosing direction.

Image:
Stumbling upon a scene of darkness and magic the Man must accept that there is more going on than he might have originally thought. The Man in the scene stands in the foreground looking upon a group of nine other people for a total of ten people on the card. One appears to be kneeling face down on the card. Person, who I would assume is the leader has his arms raised in a ritualistic act and there is a light that shine from the round table.

The whole scene takes place in a lowered area with steps that lead up. It looks as if the Man is on his belly looking down at them. The steps on the other side seem to lead up to a more white colored light and much less sinister light.

Interpretation:

I like this card as an unusual view of the card. I like how this card can represent good fortune of the man to find the ritual and a chance to investigate. The card also seems to illustrate the act to control fate and taking matters into your own hands if even in the use of dark magic.

How set are we to control the events of our lives? Are we open to allow fate unfold at random or in cycles or are we willing to engage in pursuits that will shape what will come. In some ways we all do act to improve or shape what we are going to experience in the future but to want extent will we take.

The wheel X

The three names that I have come apon for this card are
1) Wheel of Fortune as named in the Rider deck
2) Fool's Wheel of Life occult circles
3) Wheel of JudgEment

This cards tells me that it really is your wheel of life...

You (U) are the Fool Tarot Key 0 which is riding the the wheel of life and it seems that you are suffering through your own individual "judgements" either good or bad..If you are on the wheel of life it is called the Wheel of Fortune but if it is empty then it is called the Fool's Wheel of Life.

Fortune or FOUR (4) Tunes (in the proper key), we must pass through the the four kingdoms Earth, Air, Water and Fire before we are finished with this Wheel of Life..

kez

Initially, like others, this card seemed puzzling to me but like all the other cards there is a reasoned choice behind the image, even if not apparent at first. This card shows cultists gathered around the entrance to well where, reportedly, the Great Old Ones sleep and dream and "until the stars are right". They are calling them up and as such it suggests the stars are indeed right, the time has come, they are returning.

How does this relate to the wheel archetype? It connects to the more negative of the Wheel of Fate's meanings with regard to change, time, fate and fortune certainly. For the cultists depicted the time is great, the Old Ones rise! Big change! For the investigator finding them - the timing is bad! The composition of the figures around the wheel even mirror the classic depiction of the figures around the wheel of fate (those with increasing fortunes at the top and others with declining fortunes at the bottom).

In a sense this card is the flip side of the Star in this deck (the LWB explains why " the demons that came from distant spaces are imprisoned by the energy of the perfect alignment of the stars).

Conversely, in the wheel card they are being freed because time moves on and the stars change, and so the chthonic forces are released by the changes that the wheel of fate brings, releasing unpredictable chaotic energy (in this case the Elder Gods).

On a deeper more symbolic level I would be inclined to think more about the meaning of the abyss (beneath the wheel in this image) which is traditionally a symbol for a primordial, unknowable chaos and the underworld.

How is chaos, change and time connected now? Which forces are being released by this change? Am I the crazed sorcerer calling up the chaos (change), or a unfortunate in investigator stumbling upon it?

These are some of the questions this card provoked for me. Its remarkably rich, upon closer inspection.