Arcanum X shows a turning wheel. Some creatures rise, others fall, one sits at the top. It is a simple and very powerful image that speaks of something everyone experiences: life has phases of ascent and phases of decline, moments when everything seems favourable and others when nothing goes right. The Wheel of Fortune does not merely note this: it asks how we wish to stand within this movement.
A medieval image
The wheel of Fortune was one of the most widespread themes of medieval art and literature. The text that did most to spread it was Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, written in the early sixth century while its author was in prison awaiting execution. In that work Fortune herself speaks and explains that her game consists in turning the wheel, bringing up those who are below and bringing down those who are above. Complaining about her instability, she says, is like complaining that she is fortune.
In manuscripts and frescoes the wheel was often depicted with four human figures accompanied by Latin inscriptions: regnabo, "I shall reign", for the one rising; regno, "I reign", for the one at the top; regnavi, "I have reigned", for the one falling; sum sine regno, "I am without a kingdom", for the one lying at the bottom. The tarot card inherits this structure.
The elements of the card
The wheel and the crank
In the Marseille tradition the wheel is mounted on a stand and has a crank at the side. Nobody, however, is turning it. This detail has prompted much reflection: who moves the wheel? Chance, destiny, an invisible force, or we ourselves without realising it?
The creatures
On the wheel are three hybrid figures, half human and half animal. One rises, one falls, one sits at the top wearing a crown and sometimes holding a sword. The fact that they are not complete human beings suggests that as long as we are dragged along by the movement, we are not fully masters of ourselves.
The hub
The centre of the wheel is the only point that does not move. Many esoteric interpretations insist on this: those who cling to the rim are tossed from top to bottom, while those who draw near the centre find stability while remaining within the movement.
The Rider-Waite-Smith version
In the deck by Waite and Pamela Colman Smith the wheel becomes a disc floating in the sky, bearing letters and alchemical symbols. A sphinx sits on top, a jackal-headed figure rises on one side, a serpent descends on the other. In the four corners appear the four living creatures already present in the World. The scene is more abstract, but the core remains the same: the cyclical movement of existence.
The symbolic meaning
The Wheel of Fortune represents:
- cycles: every phase carries within it the seed of the next;
- change: nothing stays still, neither good nor bad;
- opportunities: moments when circumstances align and it pays to be ready;
- our relationship with what we do not control: the difference between enduring events and passing through them with awareness.
Its shadow side is fatalism, the idea that everything depends on luck and that there is no point in acting, or the opposite illusion of being able to master everything.
The Wheel in a spread
| Context | Possible reading |
|---|---|
| Stagnant situation | A change on the way, a new turn |
| Favourable period | Enjoy the moment, knowing it will pass |
| Difficult period | This phase too is transitory |
| Advice | Seek the centre: what remains stable in me |
An example reading
Someone asks why, after a positive period, they feel things are becoming complicated. The Wheel of Fortune and the Four of Wands come up. The first card describes the cyclical movement; the second, traditionally linked to home, celebration and achieved stability, recalls the foundations that remain solid even when the wheel turns. The reading suggests relying on what has been built, rather than fearing that everything will be lost.
An exercise on the centre of the wheel
Draw a circle on a sheet of paper and mark a point at its centre. On the rim, note the aspects of your life that change often: mood, commitments, relationships, results. At the centre, write what remains constant: values, deep affections, daily practices. The exercise makes visible what the card teaches: we can choose where to rest our gaze. In the work of the Officina Ermetica this shift from rim to centre is considered one of the first steps towards true self-mastery.
In short
- The Wheel of Fortune, arcanum X, inherits a medieval theme spread above all through Boethius.
- The rising and falling creatures represent the alternating phases of existence.
- The crank that no one turns raises the question of who really moves the wheel.
- The still hub indicates the stability possible at the centre of movement.
- The card teaches us to fall neither into fatalism nor into the illusion of total control.
