Well I tried to post this on Friday and then got locked in and/out with the server upgrade, thank goodness I could save it! Phew!
I like how in the book it also connects the four figures in the corners of the card to the seasons as well.
Angel - Aquarius - Air - Winter
Bull - Taurus - Earth - Spring
Lion - Leo - Fire - Summer
Phoenix/Eagle - Scorpio - Water - Autumn
It really reinforces the cyclical nature of the wheel for me. And it also helps when it appears in readings, and if you are having a downward turn in the wheel, that it is just part of the cycle and it will be spring or summer again. I find the Wheel quite a humbling card in a way.
The snake is a tail eater or ouroboros, which is an ancient symbol and in the RWS it appears (if I recall correctly) on the Magician as his belt and in the Wands courts. This again reinforces the idea of a cycle or a circle... the circle of life. The circle, ends where it begins and begins where it ends, or doesn't really have an end or a beginning, it just is. Which is sometimes a nice way to look at the Wheel, no point maybe questioning the whys and wherefores... it just is!
The figures bound to the wheel being blindfolded is quite different, not anything that I have seen before anyway. I am reminded of a saying... round and round it goes, where it stops nobody knows. Sometimes I liken this card to a roulette wheel and we are the little ball that goes spinning round and round. You might be able to place bets on where it will stop, but getting that right is about luck and chance not anything else.