Skip to content
Mystorae

Wheel of Fortune

A turn of fortune or elevation, pictured as motion around a still center, read here less as random luck and more as change with an underlying order to it.

Upright

  • destiny
  • fortune
  • elevation
  • perpetual motion
  • flux

At its center this card is about a turn in fortune, destiny, success, luck, being raised up. But the older reading behind it isn't just 'good things are coming.' It pictures the wheel of a shifting, ever-moving world, with something steady (the Sphinx) held at its still center even as everything around it turns. The claim under the imagery is that this movement isn't random: it denies pure chance and blind fate, without pinning down exactly what governs it instead. Waite himself was skeptical of grand esoteric readings of this card and thought the plain, old-fashioned fortune-telling sense of luck and turning fortune was closer to the mark than elaborate occult theory.

Traditional meaning.

The source gives the divinatory meanings as destiny, fortune, success, elevation, luck, felicity. Waite frames the card behind these words as a denial of chance and the fatality implied in it, the wheel stands for the perpetual motion of a fluidic universe and the flux of human life, with Providence implied through all. He is notably dismissive of the occult interpretive tradition around this card, calling explanations offered from Lévi onward (principle, fecundity, virile honour, ruling authority) 'of a singularly fatuous kind,' and states plainly that ordinary fortune-telling does better with this card on its own plane than occultism does.

Symbolism

The design follows Éliphas Lévi's reconstruction, using Egyptian symbolism (Typhon shown in serpent form) without implying any theory of origin. The four Living Creatures of Ezekiel occupy the card's four angles, echoing Ezekiel's vision as Lévi related it to this Key. The word Rota (a transliteration of Taro) is inscribed on the wheel itself, counterchanged with the letters of the Divine Name, signifying that Providence is implied through everything shown. The Sphinx sits as the equilibrium within the turning wheel, the point of stability amid movement. Waite notes that some versions instead show the sphinx couchant (lying down) on a pedestal above the wheel, and states this weaker variant defeats the symbolism by undermining the essential idea of stability within motion.

In this context

Work or direction
Can reflect a sense of things moving or turning, advancement, a change in standing, or circumstances shifting around a role. Worth asking what, if anything, has stayed steady for you through the change.
A decision I am weighing
Where a decision meets circumstances that feel like they're already in motion, this card may point toward finding your footing, the Sphinx's stillness at the center of the turning wheel, rather than trying to control the turn itself.
Something about myself
May speak to living through a period of flux without losing a sense of steadiness. The source ties this card to fortune and elevation, but also to the idea of something constant underneath change.

Sit with this

  • Where in your life right now does something feel like it's turning or shifting?
  • What has stayed steady for you while other things have been in motion?
  • How do you usually respond when circumstances feel like they're moving on their own?

Reversed

  • increase
  • abundance
  • superfluity
  • fatality denied
  • excess

In its upright sense this card points to constant turning and change moving through a life, held together by some steadying point rather than being pure randomness. Reversed, the reading narrows to abundance and increase tipping into superfluity, a surplus, more of something than is strictly needed. It is worth sitting with the fact that Waite does not describe this as an unwelcome reversal; increase and abundance are not negative words. The tension worth naming is superfluity itself: too much of a good thing can still be too much.

Traditional meaning.

Waite gives the reversed meaning in three words only: increase, abundance, superfluity. He does not elaborate further on the reversed reading in this passage, but his broader discussion of the upright Wheel frames it as a symbol of the perpetual motion of a fluidic universe and the flux of human life, standing against the idea of blind chance. Reversed, the sense of increase and abundance tips toward superfluity, more than is needed, a surplus that sits alongside or even crowds out the equilibrium the card's imagery is built to express.

Symbolism

The wheel bears the word ROTA (Tarot transliterated), interleaved with the letters of the Divine Name, showing Providence at work through all things. The four Living Creatures of Ezekiel's vision occupy the card's four corners as the intention of the Divine expressed outwardly. At the centre or crest sits the Sphinx, which Waite names as the equilibrium within the turning wheel, stability held amid movement. He notes that when artists instead show the Sphinx couchant (lying down) on a pedestal above the wheel, this weakens the design, because it undercuts the very idea of stability-within-motion that the symbol exists to carry. Waite is explicit that occult writers' attempts to pin a single fixed meaning to this card, principle, fecundity, virile honour, ruling authority, are, in his judgement, weak even by occultism's own standards; he states plainly that ordinary fortune-telling does better with this image than the occult explanations do.

In this context

Work or direction
Reversed, this may point toward a workload, project list, or set of responsibilities that has grown past what feels sustainable. It can be worth reflecting on where abundance of opportunity or output has tipped into superfluity.
money
Read symbolically only: this card's reversed meaning of abundance and superfluity may invite reflection on where resources feel plentiful or even surplus to need. This is not financial advice, and any practical decisions deserve their own consideration outside of a card reading.
A decision I am weighing
When too many options, resources or possibilities are on the table, a decision can become harder rather than easier. This position may invite the question of what, among the surplus, actually needs to be chosen.
Something about myself
Superfluity can describe an inner state as much as an outer one, more feelings, more ideas, more effort than a moment calls for. This may point toward the value of noticing abundance without needing to use or hold onto all of it.

Sit with this

  • Where in your life right now does something feel like it has become more than enough?
  • Is there a kind of abundance here that feels welcome, and another kind that feels like too much?
  • What would it mean to set some of this surplus aside rather than using all of it at once?

Sit with this

Each meaning is written by us and grounded in A. E. Waite’s The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910), which is in the public domain. Nothing appears here until a person has read it.

Draw a free card

Source: Arthur Edward Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910), public domain. X. Wheel of Fortune (p. 36). Knowledge version 0.1.0.