Card X, Major ArcanaWheel of Fortune tarot card meaning
Upright and reversedWheel of Fortune in shortIn short
The Wheel of Fortune is luck turning. A big orange wheel spins in the sky, a sphinx sits calm on top, and four winged creatures read in the corners. Everything moves. Keep your balance.
- Change
- Fate
- Turning point
Piece oneThe four creatures
Each corner holds a winged creature with a book: angel, eagle, bull, lion. Waite calls them the four Living Creatures of Ezekiel. The wheel turns and they keep reading.
"the four Living Creatures of Ezekiel occupy the angles of the card"Waite, 1911
Why it is hereThe four creatures hold the corners steady. The wheel turns in the middle while they read their books and stay put. Angel, eagle, bull and lion frame the change with something fixed. The sphinx on top does the same job from above.
Piece twoThe wheel
Look for T, A, R, O on the rim. Waite says they turn Taro into Rota, set between the letters of the Divine Name, so Providence runs through every turn. The wheel is the universe in motion, and your life with it.
"the perpetual motion of a fluidic universe and for the flux of human life."Waite, 1911
Why it is hereThe wheel is the card's engine. Its letters read TARO one way and ROTA the other, so the deck's own name turns on it. The sphinx sits on top and stays; the jackal-headed figure rises on one side and the snake slides down the other. The four creatures watch from the corners.
Piece threeThe sphinx
A blue sphinx with a sword sits on top. The wheel turns under it and it stays put. Waite calls it the balance inside all that motion.
"The Sphinx is the equilibrium therein."Waite, 1911
Why it is hereThe sphinx is the still point on a moving card. It sits on top of the wheel, sword in hand, and the turning never shifts it. The rising figure and the falling snake pass below. Waite calls it the balance in all that motion.
Piece fourThe rise and fall
A red jackal-headed figure rides up the right side. Waite calls him Hermanubis. On the left a yellow snake slides down, Waite's Typhon. One goes up, one goes down, and the wheel keeps turning.
"a Hermanubis rising with the wheel"Waite, 1911
Why it is hereThe two figures show the wheel at work. The red jackal-headed figure climbs with it, the yellow snake slides down. Fortune always lifts someone and drops someone. The sphinx above stays put, and the four creatures keep reading.
Colour, and where else it appearsEchoes
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The four creatures
The same warm gold on all four, set against pale blue sky: a steady frame around a moving wheel. The World puts the same four in its corners, angel and eagle above, lion and bull below, around a dancer in a wreath. There they frame a finished journey. Here they frame one still turning.
Also in -
The wheel
Warm orange with black lines: the brightest thing on the card, a sun-coloured disc in a pale sky. Clouds surround it, so the wheel turns in the air with no ground beneath. Its warmth runs into the red figure climbing its edge, while the cool blue sphinx on top stays apart from the heat.
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The sphinx
Sky blue against cream clouds, almost the colour of the air: calm and cool. Sphinxes return in The Chariot, one black and one white, lying in front of the car. There a driver has to hold two opposites in line. Here one sphinx keeps the balance alone, from the top of the wheel.
Also in -
The rise and fall
Brick red on pale blue, the warmest thing on the wheel's edge, pulling up. The yellow snake falling on the left has a cousin in The Lovers, a green serpent wound round the tree behind the woman. There the serpent waits by a tree. Here it rides the wheel down.
Also in
Colour notes are ours, read from the picture; Waite does not explain the colours.
Wheel of FortuneUpright
A turn for the better. Waite lists destiny, fortune, success, elevation, luck, felicity. Things move, chances open, what was stuck comes loose.
Waite says the card denies blind chance: the wheel turns by a law. Ride the turn, and expect it to turn again.
Wheel of FortuneReversed
Waite keeps it generous: increase, abundance, superfluity. You have more than enough, maybe too much.
Plenty can slide into excess. Use what you have and don't waste it. The wheel still turns, and what came fast can leave fast.
Yes or noYes.
Yes. The wheel is turning your way: destiny, fortune, luck. Move while the moment's here.
Wheel of Fortune in your lifeIn your life
Love
A turning point: a meeting that feels meant to be, or a new stage together. Go with it.
Work
Movement and luck: a new opening, a break, a change of direction. Be ready to say yes.
Money
Money comes your way and can leave the same way. Enjoy it, and save some.
Health
Things shift, often for the better. A card can't diagnose you; if something's wrong, see a doctor.
Spirituality
Things feel meant. Find the calm centre, like the sphinx up top, while life turns around you.
Advice
Go with the turn. Use the good moment and stay balanced when it moves again.
As a person
Lucky, adaptable, easygoing. Lands on their feet, and can be hard to predict.
Past, present, future
Past: a turning point that changed your direction. Present: change already moving. Future: a lucky turn.
Written by us, from Waite's meanings and the picture.
Symbols and correspondencesAt a glance
- Number
- X
- Hebrew letter
- Kaph
- Astrology
- Jupiter
- Element
- Fire
- Upright
- Destiny
- Reversed
- Increase
QuestionsCommon questions
Mostly. Waite gives destiny, fortune, success. Luck changes, so use the good moment.
A turning point: a meeting that feels fated, or a relationship's next stage.
Yes. It's turning your way.
T, A, R, O. Waite says they turn Taro into Rota, set between the letters of the Divine Name: Providence runs through it all.
Jupiter, in the Golden Dawn system. Its Hebrew letter is Kaph.
Waite's wheel is the universe and your life in endless motion, with the sphinx as the balance on top. He denies that chance runs it.
The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1911Card meanings and quotes: A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1911. Hebrew letter, sign and element: the Golden Dawn's Book T. Colours, life situations, yes or no and questions: written by us, from Waite's meanings and the picture.
All 22 major cards