The Pictorial Key to the Tarot
The Pictorial Key to the Tarot
The Pictorial Key to the Tarot
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X. Wheel of Fortune<br />
sacred-texts Waite Index Previous Next<br />
X<br />
Wheel of Fortune<br />
In this symbol I have again followed <strong>the</strong> reconstruction of Éliphas Lévi, who has furnished several<br />
variants. It is legitimate--as I have intimated--<strong>to</strong> use Egyptian symbolism when this serves our purpose,<br />
provided that no <strong>the</strong>ory of origin is implied <strong>the</strong>rein. I have, however, presented Typhon in his serpent<br />
form. <strong>The</strong> symbolism is, of course, not exclusively Egyptian, as <strong>the</strong> four Living Creatures of Ezekiel<br />
occupy <strong>the</strong> angles of <strong>the</strong> card, and <strong>the</strong> wheel itself follows o<strong>the</strong>r indications of Lévi in respect of<br />
Ezekiel's vision, as illustrative of <strong>the</strong> particular <strong>Tarot</strong> <strong>Key</strong>. With <strong>the</strong> French occultist, and in <strong>the</strong> design<br />
itself, <strong>the</strong> symbolic picture stands for <strong>the</strong> perpetual motion of a fluidic universe and for <strong>the</strong> flux of human<br />
life. <strong>The</strong> Sphinx is <strong>the</strong> equilibrium <strong>the</strong>rein. <strong>The</strong> transliteration of Taro as Rota is inscribed on <strong>the</strong> wheel,<br />
counterchanged with <strong>the</strong> letters of <strong>the</strong> Divine Name--<strong>to</strong> shew that Providence is imphed through all. But<br />
this is <strong>the</strong> Divine intention within, and <strong>the</strong> similar intention without is exemplified by <strong>the</strong> four Living<br />
Creatures. Sometimes <strong>the</strong> sphinx is represented couchant on a pedestal above, which defrauds <strong>the</strong><br />
symbolism by stultifying <strong>the</strong> essential idea of stability amidst movement.<br />
Behind <strong>the</strong> general notion expressed in <strong>the</strong> symbol <strong>the</strong>re lies <strong>the</strong> denial of chance and <strong>the</strong> fatality which is<br />
implied <strong>the</strong>rein. It may be added that, from <strong>the</strong> days of Lévi onward, <strong>the</strong> occult explanations of this card<br />
are--even for occultism itself--of a singularly fatuous kind. It has been said <strong>to</strong> mean principle, fecundity,<br />
virile honour, ruling authority, etc. <strong>The</strong> findings of common fortune-telling are better than this on <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
own plane.<br />
file:///C|/My%20Documents/Spiri<strong>to</strong>ality/Books/<strong>The</strong>%20...y%20<strong>to</strong>%20<strong>the</strong>%20<strong>Tarot</strong>%20-%20A.E.%20Waite/pktar10.htm [15/07/2001 23:10:25]