Arcanum 10: Wheel of Fortune
The rhythm of change
The wheel of circumstances turns, and you choose how to position yourself in relation to it.
On a great wheel, a snake slides down, a jackal-headed figure climbs up, and a sphinx with a sword sits calmly at the top. The rim spins while the centre remains still. You seek your own axis from which to observe change and choose your response.
Gifts and potential pitfalls
- Gift
- You quickly notice a new turn beginning and adjust plans before the old ones stop working. Flexibility lets you accept a new balance of forces without mourning the old one for long.
- Shadow
- When changes come one after another, it is tempting to blame everything on fate and stop deciding. Even on a turning wheel, you can influence how firmly you hold on.
- First step
- Draw a wheel: write what stays constant in the centre and what is changing now around the rim.
In a pair
When this arcanum is at the centre of a shared matrix:
When much changes around you, your shared axis matters more than a plan: one constant place to which you return together.
In the karmic tail
When this arcanum appears at one of the three points below the centre:
Good times tempt you to let everything slide, while difficult times suggest things will stay that way, so you stop trying. Both assume the wheel has stopped. Choose one small action, such as checking your calendar each evening, and keep it up in good and bad weeks alike.
Where this arcanum appears in the matrix
The centre and other points are sums, so this arcanum can appear for many different dates. Three points depend directly on the date:
- Point A (personality): birth day: 10, 28 (2 + 8 = 10).
- Point B (birth month): October.
- Point C (sum of birth-year digits), 1900–2026: 1999 (1 + 9 + 9 + 9 = 28, 2 + 8 = 10), 2017 (2 + 0 + 1 + 7 = 10), 2026 (2 + 0 + 2 + 6 = 10). Number of such years: 5.