Yes, that's right, a machine was what I was aiming at. It reminds me of a lottery machine, each ball bouncing off all others. If each ball was a molecule, those bounces would create new materials which would in turn interact with all the others. Like you said, it isn't "chance" but a complex web of interactions that only seem completely random. This card also implies some pretty powerful statements about free will, chance, predestination, fate and (apologies in advance!) Karma.
A lottery machine could also be thought of as a diagram of heat, which is molecules speeding up. The turning of the wheel is suggested by the nature of heat and air pressure. Hot, pressurized air always moves to a place of lower pressure until all pressures equalize (but because of all the balls bouncing off each other, they never do), which is, simplistically, why we have wind and air currents.
While analyzing this card I was reminded of Roseanne's thread in the Historical forum, about the meaning of אהיה אשר אהיה (I will be what I will be). I posited one interpretation that this meant God was Change, the momentum of the universe, the driving force, and this seems to fit Fortune quite nicely. I really like the apparent presence of a second wheel up top, implying a "greater hierarchy" (Waite?) to the one we see in the middle. The demiurge may be at the center of the wheel, but his presence is still minute considering the bigger picture.
The area of the Tree Kaph is in mirrors the three figures, and shows the three stages in human life. Yod/Hermit as Mercury/point/sperm; Kaph/Fortune as the Sphinx/sulphur; Nun/Death as Typhon/salt. Birth, action and death. Here, though, being a triangle, rather than a circle, this implies all three are simultaneous and omnipresent. This is reflected on the other side of the Tree, but I have to do some more work on that yet, especially on how the Devil reflects Death (in the context of these two triangles), so for now I'll leave it at that. In any case, adding up the letters comes to 80, meaning Yesod, the machinery of the manifest (and near the top, separating the main scene from the stars and wheel above, are nine stars).
Next step is to look at Liber Tav, which should make more sense now than two years ago when I started.
The BOTA card, though, is very strange. The Sphinx seems to be attributed to mercury, while the snake to sulphur. In addition, Case mentions Hermanubis, but he is nowhere.
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