Tarot Cards - Major Arcana - Wheel Of Fortune - 10
The Wheel of Fortune is the tenth card of the Major Arcana. It shows a great wheel turning in the sky, with figures rising and falling along its rim. It is one of the oldest images in the deck, and its message is simple and deep: life moves in cycles, fortune rises and falls, and no one can stop the turning altogether.
Since the earliest painted tarots, the wheel has been a symbol of fate and luck. In the ancient world, Fortuna, the goddess of chance, was often shown with a wheel, and philosophers wrote of the wheel as a sign that human success does not last. The card carries that old thought into the modern reading.
The Image in the Rider-Waite Deck
At the center of the card turns a large wheel. A sphinx sits on top of it, holding a sword, a sign of knowledge and strength that watches the movement from above. Around the rim are letters that many readers link with the word TARO, or with TORA, a version of the word Torah meaning law, or with ROTA, the Latin word for wheel. Some decks show the four Hebrew letters of the divine name instead.
On the left side, a serpent-like figure descends, often identified with Typhon, a monster of Greek and Egyptian myth. On the right side, a figure with the head of a jackal rises. He is Anubis, the Egyptian guardian of the dead, who guides souls toward the underworld. Their movement shows that every rise carries a fall, and every fall prepares the next rise.
In the four corners of the card sit winged creatures: an angel, an eagle, a lion and a bull. They stand for the four fixed signs of the zodiac, Aquarius, Scorpio, Leo and Taurus, which are also linked with the four elements. Their wings suggest stability in the midst of movement. Each holds a book, which many readers take as a sign of wisdom that steadies the turning.
The Upright Meaning
Upright, the card speaks of good luck, life cycles, destiny and a turning point. It often appears when a change is about to happen, when a period of waiting ends, or when a new chance opens. The message is hopeful: the wheel is moving upward, and the reader can meet the change with openness and gratitude.
The card also teaches humility. Good fortune comes and goes, and the wise person enjoys it without believing it will last forever, while keeping faith in the wheel's next turn.
The Reversed Meaning
When the card appears reversed, the turning of the wheel seems to bring setbacks. The keywords of this position are bad luck, resistance to change, breaking cycles, setbacks and clinging to control.
Plans may be disrupted by circumstances the reader cannot control. The danger lies in resisting the change, holding on to what is already gone, or falling into a sense of being a victim of fate. In practical matters, the reversed card reminds the reader that winter comes before spring.
A setback is not a permanent curse. It may be a call to break a repeated pattern and try a new path.
The Wheel Among the Major Arcana
The Wheel of Fortune follows The Hermit, the ninth card, who holds a lamp in the darkness and walks alone in search of truth. The Hermit's lantern lights the way, and the Wheel shows what happens when the seeker steps out into the world again. The next card, Justice, asks the traveler to weigh what was learned and to find balance.
This order suggests that the turning of fortune is part of the path. The wheel does not punish the seeker. It carries the seeker through the stages of learning, testing and rewarding.
Stability at the Center
Many readers recommend a simple image for the reversed card: the center of the wheel. The rim spins fast, but the hub stays still. When life turns hard, the reader can ask what remains steady at the center: values, faith, friendships, a daily discipline. Standing there, one can accept the movement of the rim without being thrown off.
- Name what you cannot control this week.
- Find one habit or value that stays steady in every season.
- Accept one small change without resisting it.
- Look for the new opening that the turning may bring.
Closing
The Wheel of Fortune is a card of movement and hope. It reminds the seeker that life is never fixed, that fortune rises and falls, and that the wise person learns to live with the turning without losing their center.
In a reading, the wheel invites the reader to meet change with courage, to remember that every low point can become a rise, and to stand at the still hub where the true self waits.
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Lux Esoterica.
2026.
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