10. Wheel of Fortune
i. The Nutshell
Upright
The Wheel of Fortune represents change. Things are changing inside and outside of you, often in ways that are unexpected. This is a turning point that shows you may not be as in control as you think. Fortune’s here, spinning the dial, and you're on the ride whether or not you’re wearing a seat-belt. This where the ‘what goes around comes around’ comes looking, whether that’s for the good, the bad, or the ugly. Timing matters but participation matters more. This card asks you to stop waiting for signs and start noticing them because luck and opportunity doesn’t knock twice - apparently. Staying aware and adaptable is your best guidance.
Keywords: Change, cycles, timing, synchronicity, momentum, karmic upgrade
Translation: Life’s moving - you coming?
Reversed
When the Wheel spins upside down, it’s the moment your coffee spills, your ex texts, and Mercury retrograde kicks in all on the same morning. Things feel stalled, sideways, or like you’ve landed in a pattern you swear you outgrew. This is the stuff Insta reels are made from. Notice where you’re resisting the turn or outsourcing responsibility to the universe instead of steering with what you’ve already learned. Patterns repeat because they’re efficient, whilst disrupting them takes energy. But so does dragging yourself through deja vu for the eighth emotional season in a row.
Keywords: Resistance to change, bad timing, repeating patterns, stagnation, denial
Translation: If life feels like Groundhog Day, it’s time to check what you’re not learning.
ii. Illus-traits
A quick glance at The Wheel of Fortune’s symbolic traits in the Rider-Waite-Smith deck - what's hidden in plain sight?
The Wheel – Fate and repetition. Movement without warning.
Sphinx on Top – Riddle of wisdom. Noticing is understanding.
Anubis Rising – Change from below. Even descent has purpose.
Four Winged Beings – Fixed signs represent stability and monitoring the cycles.
Hebrew Letters and T-A-R-O – Codes within codes. Fate is never random.
iii. Influences
Planetary: The Wheel is ruled by Jupiter, the cosmic amplifier. It turns up the volume on whatever house it’s transiting in your chart, and doesn’t discriminate. Growth, mess, timing, luck? Jupiter says yes to all of it. It throws the dice and hands you the board. You’re here to play the game with awareness and not to predict the outcome. Jupiter will expand your capacity when you meet change with readiness, and when you resist, it highlights your friction, or ‘maintenance’ in surround sound. Uranus delivers a disruptive wake-up call, reminding you that fortune favours movement.
Natal House(s): The Wheel of Fortune aligns with the Ninth House which is home to belief systems, broadening of your horizons, and the uncomfortable thrill of not knowing what's next. This is where you outgrow your own certainty. The Third House encourages you to change your mindset, which will transform your mental and physical world. These houses form an axis of curiosity and meaning. Think less ‘what’s my destiny?’ and more ‘what story am I subscribing to, and is it still worth the fee’?
Astrological Sign(s): Sagittarius drives the Wheel of expansion, restlessness and with an allergy to stagnation. It’s the explorer, the philosopher, and the one who knows that risk is the price of perspective. Sagittarius learns and leaps. Gemini brings quick thinking and adaptability, showing that despite life's ups and downs, you can learn to navigate through it by being present, examining limiting beliefs and exploring truths that inspire values aligned choice and action.
Numerologically: Ten completes the cycle so indicates the imminent change of a beginning that follows an ending. One represents action and guidance; zero introduces unlimited possibilities or a complete restart, based on your approach. Ten is momentum on the cusp of meaning and wants participation. We have to interrupt the patterns we want to break and Ten tells us it’s not going to wait, it’s breaking them with or without our permission.
Element: Fire (Mutable) in this context represents change. Mutable Fire is fast, widespread, and unpredictable like weather. The Wheel's Fire breaks through stagnation and guides you unexpectedly forward. This is a call to action, encouraging you to engage and create with the new direction life has presented you with.
iv. A Day in the Life of The Wheel of Fortune
Well That Escalated Quickly
You treat life like a rigged game and complain you keep landing on ‘Go to Jail.’ You blame bad luck for every stumble while clutching a lucky charm that’s lost its mojo and needs charging. You swing wildly between hope and doom, convinced the universe is either playing favourites or personally giving you the one finger salute. You check your horoscope frequently, hoping for a sign to change your life, meanwhile you stay stuck in the same old loop. You’re convinced you’re cursed.
Adjusting the Knobs
You notice the cycles but can’t quite get ahead of them. You nod sagely at patterns but keep reacting instead of choosing. You know change is coming, but your ‘ready’ button is stuck on snooze. You journal, or drink, your way through, trying to decode the punches in the punchline, even if half the time it sounds like a riddle in a fortune cookie. You’re aware of the shifts but still reach for control like a weighted security blanket.
Unsubscribed from Self-Sabotage
You lean into the rhythm of change, accepting that fortune spins whether you’re watching or not. You ride the ups and downs and practice saying ‘OK, now what?’ instead of ‘why me’? You view your life as a game, where you are a contestant with subjective influence over how to continue. You reflect with introspection and notice where past values-misalignment may now be playing a hand in your situation and giving you the opportunity to roll the dice again.
Writing the TED Talk
You flow with the wheel like a seasoned surfer reading the waves. You recognise when to push and when to pull back without freaking out over the score. You catch the signs, but don’t get hooked by fear of what hasn’t happened since you know reality only happens in the present. You trust the timing, even when it tests your patience. You welcome change and are ready to try again, knowing that every ending leads to a new beginning - so long as you remain proactively in choice with consistent movement.
v. Working with these Energies
Riding the Wheel with Awareness and Choice
Apply The Fool's lessons to The Hermit. When the Wheel’s reversed, evaluate your resistance to change. This section emphasises mastering reactions to shifts. The Wheel encourages presence during change, pattern recognition without being trapped, and trusting the timing of lessons. Discern between holding on and surrendering for growth.
Spot your role in the cycle
- Are you pushing the wheel or letting it push you?
- What patterns keep replaying, and what’s your part in them?
- Who’s calling the shots - you, or autopilot?Lean into impermanence
- What would it look like to welcome change as the only constant?
- Can you find stability in motion, or do you clutch at stillness like a lifeboat?
- How can you use the twists as clues in a crisis?Use timing as your secret weapon
- Where are you forcing things before their time?
- When does patience serve better than hustle?
- How does your body know when to move and when to wait?Balance action with surrender
- What parts of your life need a firm grip, and where do you need to open your hand?
- How can you lead with intuition instead of logic or fear?
- What does acceptance look like on your worst day?See fortune as a dance partner
- Who would you be if you stopped fighting the spin?
- How can you stay in the flow without losing yourself?
- What’s the next move that respects both confusion and choice?
vi. Building Skills
Engage in Pleasure Activities
The Wheel of Fortune reminds us that life is always turning and while you can’t control the spin, you can choose how you meet it. Reclaiming joy can be a bold act against chaos, and it can be as simple as planning something that makes you happy.
Consider this: Make a list of pleasurable activities, especially the ones you’ve forgotten you once loved. Choose one to do each day this week. Be specific: what, where, when, how. Put it in your calendar like it matters - because it does.
This is one way to anchor yourself when life feels uncertain. Pleasure rides the wheel too, and the more you participate in what lights you up, the more you remember that you’re not at the mercy of change. You’re in a relationship with it.
vii. Embodiment
Embodiment transforms The Wheel of Fortune from a card into kinetic clarity. This archetype changes independently of your readiness, residing in the body as remembered movement. It's the breath adjusting mid-pivot, the pulse quickening as patterns break, the weightless moment before change lands:
Smell:
If the Wheel had a scent, what would it be? A memory? The car starting? The suitcase coming out of storage?
Body:
Where do you grip when things move faster than your preferences? Shoulders? Jaw? Gut?
Soundtrack:
What song carries the beat of transition? Something that loops and builds, teeters on the ambiguous? An orchestra building to crescendo?
Action:
What can you do today that collaborates with change instead of resisting it? Say yes to something unscheduled? Let go of a fixed outcome? Trust a detour without needing the full map?
Nature cue:
Step outside. What reflects the Wheel’s rhythm? Falling leaves carried by season-change? Clouds dispersing then regrouping? Migrating birds?
Notice what moves you:
The Wheel of Fortune invites your full presence as life turns, reminding you that transformation unfolds through participation, trust, and your choice to stay engaged with whatever emerges.
viii. Your Impressions
Look at The Wheel of Fortune card in your own deck if possible. Take a moment to notice without overthinking.
Where does your attention land first, with the wheel itself, the figures around it, the symbols, the sky, or the movement? Is it rising, falling, suspended mid-turn? What’s fixed and what’s shifting?
Now check your body. Do you feel anticipation? Discomfort? Curiosity? Relief or dread that something’s moving?
This card would ask: ‘What part of you waits for permission to change, and what part knows the timing is now?’
ix. Intuitive Meaning
Use this space to explore what The Wheel of Fortune means to you as a lived experience. Let it reflect where you’ve ridden cycles, broken patterns, or spun out just to land right back where you needed to be but with clearer eyes and steadier hands:
When has change knocked without warning and left you better for it?
Where are you calling it fate when it might be a habit on repeat?
What would it look like to collaborate with timing instead of attempting to outsmart it?
Applied insight with a three-card reading using The Wheel of Fortune as your anchor:
What part of this cycle am I resisting, and why?
Where am I being asked to participate?
What shift is already happening and what does it ask me to release in order to meet it?
Pull or shuffle-fling your cards and note your feelings. Take your time and let the answers unfold. Write three ‘you’ words that relate to your current experience:
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x. Closing Reflection: Track Your Evolving Lens
Your relationship with each card will grow over time because it’s meant to shaped by your life. Consider the prompts below to revisit and reflect.
What I thought this card meant when I first pulled it: —————————————————
A recent experience that changed how I see it: —————————————————
How I feel about it now, in my body or life: —————————————————
What surprised me as this card kept showing up: —————————————————
One way this card is living in my life right now: —————————————————
If this card visited me today as a guide, what would it want me to remember? —————————————————
Revisit these after a week, a moon phase, or a meaningful moment. Let the card evolve as you do.
If you feel a quiet sense of recognition, curiosity and want to explore it, browse the sessions page for what feels right.