Tarot Of The Day July 1, 2018 - Day 13: The Raven’s Prophecy Deck - Wheel Of Fortune
I have begun the creation of an 89 day tarot course in a group I am a member of on Facebook ('A Kaleidoscope of Magical Perceptions' is the name of the group, please feel free to request membership - it is full of fun people and really great posts about all manner of topics) and I thought I would cross post the information here to this blog as well. Once the initial 89 days of the course have passed, it will start over using a different tarot deck. The text of the thirteenth session follows.
The Rider-Waite deck’s Wheel of Fortune card is best described as “A wheel turning clockwise with rising/falling figures or beasts on it. Waite also includes a good many Hebrew letters and alchemical symbols. Often there is a sphinx perched atop the wheel.”* Symbolism heavy, it is a golden wheel with a T in the north, and A in the east, an R in the south, and a O in the west. Between them are hebrew letters: Yod in the northeast, Heh in the south east, Vau in the south west, and Heh again in the northwest. This is commonly known as the ineffable name of God (Jehovah), called ineffable because no one but the High Priest of Israel was allowed to speak it. “Pious Jews are taught … that (YHVH) is not really a name at all, but a formula that reveals the basic mechanics of creation and human existence. Christians, on the other hand, are historically and by tradition, are encouraged to look no further than the textural narrative, and seem quite satisfied to relegate the magnificent forces of creation to an ill tempered and fickle mountain-thunder goblin named Jehovah. (A pronunciation ironically given to us by the Germans, as there are no vowels in Hebrew.)” **
Surrounding the golden wheel are several fantastic beasts and an angel, all reading or studying books, and beside and under the wheel are a snake and a devil, while atop the wheel a sphinx sits, wearing a pharaoh's mantle and bearing a sword at rest. I encourage you all to take some time to dig deeper and learn more about not only the symbolism in this card, but in the entirety of the Rider-Waite tarot, as the further you go, the more information will be revealed to you.
The Rider-Waite booklet gives the following keywords for The Wheel of Fortune: destiny, fortune, success, luck, felicity (upright,) increase, abundance, superfluity (reversed.)
Personally, I have always rankled a little bit at how positive both the upright and reversed meanings of the card are, traditionally. But as I was typing the keywords I realize that he reversal, though it *sounds* good, is more about too much of a good thing, about a surplus of something, a uselessness of bounty. So now it seems a little bit better.
In Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven’s Prophecy deck, she shows The Wheel of Fortune as a sprig of oak leaves paired with possibly morning glory or petunia flowers. I think Maggie may have been also depicting the seasons here, though the addition of the flowers confuses me a little. She writes:
“The Wheel of Fortune is a curious card, as it asks you to believe in the workings of something bigger than yourself. God, or fate, or even just the power of time with a capital T. Change is coming, it whispers, and you can’t stop it, because it’s been written...somewhere. Somewhere, something, someone has decided that things are going to get shaken up in your life. The Wheel of Fortune doesn’t tell you if it will be good or bad, only that it will be different. The Wheel also reminds you that events and fortune comes in cycles - so if things are good now, remember to save up this good feeling for when things inevitably go poorly. If life is hard now, remember that good times will come round once again, so keep your eyes up.”
Maggie’s keywords for the Wheel of Fortune are destiny, change, and farsightedness.
*Text taken from www.aeclectic.net
**Text taken from Lon Milo Duquette’s book, The Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford Purchase the book. Other work from the author.
Tomorrow - Justice
***TOTD will cover the entire 78 card Raven’s Prophecy Deck alongside the Rider-Waite deck for comparison. In order to not completely burn out, this course of lessons will be 89 days long, so that every Saturday I can break the lessons up by doing a practicum lesson. Practicum lessons will take the form of a layout or spread that I will walk you through the steps of interpretation for. After the first 89 day session ends, we will start over with a one day break for a poll to be done to see what deck everyone wants to see next round. ***
I have begun the creation of an 89 day tarot course in a group I am a member of on Facebook ('A Kaleidoscope of Magical Perceptions' is the name of the group, please feel free to request membership - it is full of fun people and really great posts about all manner of topics) and I thought I would cross post the information here to this blog as well. Once the initial 89 days of the course have passed, it will start over using a different tarot deck. The text of the thirteenth session follows.
The Rider-Waite deck’s Wheel of Fortune card is best described as “A wheel turning clockwise with rising/falling figures or beasts on it. Waite also includes a good many Hebrew letters and alchemical symbols. Often there is a sphinx perched atop the wheel.”* Symbolism heavy, it is a golden wheel with a T in the north, and A in the east, an R in the south, and a O in the west. Between them are hebrew letters: Yod in the northeast, Heh in the south east, Vau in the south west, and Heh again in the northwest. This is commonly known as the ineffable name of God (Jehovah), called ineffable because no one but the High Priest of Israel was allowed to speak it. “Pious Jews are taught … that (YHVH) is not really a name at all, but a formula that reveals the basic mechanics of creation and human existence. Christians, on the other hand, are historically and by tradition, are encouraged to look no further than the textural narrative, and seem quite satisfied to relegate the magnificent forces of creation to an ill tempered and fickle mountain-thunder goblin named Jehovah. (A pronunciation ironically given to us by the Germans, as there are no vowels in Hebrew.)” **
Surrounding the golden wheel are several fantastic beasts and an angel, all reading or studying books, and beside and under the wheel are a snake and a devil, while atop the wheel a sphinx sits, wearing a pharaoh's mantle and bearing a sword at rest. I encourage you all to take some time to dig deeper and learn more about not only the symbolism in this card, but in the entirety of the Rider-Waite tarot, as the further you go, the more information will be revealed to you.
The Rider-Waite booklet gives the following keywords for The Wheel of Fortune: destiny, fortune, success, luck, felicity (upright,) increase, abundance, superfluity (reversed.)
Personally, I have always rankled a little bit at how positive both the upright and reversed meanings of the card are, traditionally. But as I was typing the keywords I realize that he reversal, though it *sounds* good, is more about too much of a good thing, about a surplus of something, a uselessness of bounty. So now it seems a little bit better.
In Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven’s Prophecy deck, she shows The Wheel of Fortune as a sprig of oak leaves paired with possibly morning glory or petunia flowers. I think Maggie may have been also depicting the seasons here, though the addition of the flowers confuses me a little. She writes:
“The Wheel of Fortune is a curious card, as it asks you to believe in the workings of something bigger than yourself. God, or fate, or even just the power of time with a capital T. Change is coming, it whispers, and you can’t stop it, because it’s been written...somewhere. Somewhere, something, someone has decided that things are going to get shaken up in your life. The Wheel of Fortune doesn’t tell you if it will be good or bad, only that it will be different. The Wheel also reminds you that events and fortune comes in cycles - so if things are good now, remember to save up this good feeling for when things inevitably go poorly. If life is hard now, remember that good times will come round once again, so keep your eyes up.”
Maggie’s keywords for the Wheel of Fortune are destiny, change, and farsightedness.
*Text taken from www.aeclectic.net
**Text taken from Lon Milo Duquette’s book, The Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford Purchase the book. Other work from the author.
Tomorrow - Justice
***TOTD will cover the entire 78 card Raven’s Prophecy Deck alongside the Rider-Waite deck for comparison. In order to not completely burn out, this course of lessons will be 89 days long, so that every Saturday I can break the lessons up by doing a practicum lesson. Practicum lessons will take the form of a layout or spread that I will walk you through the steps of interpretation for. After the first 89 day session ends, we will start over with a one day break for a poll to be done to see what deck everyone wants to see next round. ***
No comments:
Post a Comment