The actual figures on the RWS card are Anubis on the bottom ascending, God of the Underworld Thyphon the snake, God of Evil, descending (also the snake of knowledge that tempted Eve) and the sphinx of knowledge sitting on the top, harnessing the sword of the mind. The neighbours exclaim how lucky he is and the man responds “maybe so”. The day after that the army comes to the town to enlist for conscription, the man’s son is exempt due to his broken leg. Again the neighbours exclaim how unlucky he is and the man responds “maybe so”. The day after that his son is trying to tame one of the wild horses and falls off and breaks his leg. The next day the horse returns with a whole herd of wild horses, adding to his wealth. This is in turn also calls to me of the Chinese proverb where a farmer’s prize stallion runs away and the neighbours exclaim how unlucky he is. We can’t control our fate, only our reaction to it. In this, there is the simple message to live in the moment. To me this also speaks to the fact that we take nothing to the grave with us, neither accomplishments nor failures. This speaks to me of the person on the back of the chariot in Ancient Rome would whisper to a victor in a parade “memento mori”, meaning “remember that you die”, i.e. In the image on the Smith Rider Waite Tarot deck, and many other Tarot decks, we can see three figures, one on top, one descending, and one ascending from the bottom.

Within this, there is also the reminder that nothing is ever truly created or destroyed, only transformed. You are not who you were yesterday nor who you will be next year.

even when we are experiencing a bout of misfortune, change is still always coming.Ĭhange is the natural state of the world, things are in constant states of life, death, and rebirth, including inside of us, we are part of nature, and our cells die and regenerate at lightning speed. In this, there is still solace in the fact that the wheel keeps turning, i.e.

As with life, however, this can always go both ways. Generally this card indicates positive change coming, a necessary catalyst, or the forces of fate and fortune working. find your centre and remain balanced, still in the eye of the storm. In this, represented as a literal wheel, it is also a reminder that the point of least centrifugal force is in the centre i.e. The Wheel of Fortune is quite simply a card of change, the only constant of the world.

Wheel of fortune chinese tarot