The Pictorial Key to the Tarot

X
The Wheel of Fortune

In this symbol I have again followed the reconstruction of Éliphas Lévi, who has furnished several
variants. It is legitimate–as I have intimated–to use Egyptian symbolism when this serves our
purpose, provided that no theory of origin is implied therein. I have, however, presented Typhon in
his serpent form. The symbolism is, of course, not exclusively Egyptian, as the four Living
Creatures of Ezekiel occupy the angles of the card, and the wheel itself follows other indications of
Lévi in respect of Ezekiel’s vision, as illustrative of the particular Tarot Key. With the French
occultist, and in the design itself, the symbolic picture stands for the perpetual motion of a fluidic
universe and for the flux of human life. The Sphinx is the equilibrium therein. The transliteration
of Taro as Rota is inscribed on the wheel, counterchanged with the letters of the Divine Name–to
shew that Providence is imphed through all. But this is the Divine intention within, and the similar
intention without is exemplified by the four Living Creatures. Sometimes the sphinx is represented
couchant on a pedestal above, which defrauds the symbolism by stultifying the essential idea of
stability amidst movement.
Behind the general notion expressed in the symbol there lies the denial of chance and the fatality
which is implied therein. It may be added that, from the days of Lévi onward, the occult
explanations of this card are–even for occultism itself–of a singularly fatuous kind. It has been
said to mean principle, fecundity, virile honour, ruling authority, etc. The findings of common
fortune-telling are better than this on their own plane.