The message of the Wheel of Fortune, the tenth card of the Tarot, is that nothing lasts forever, each cycle ends at a certain time and then a new cycle will start.
Notice the outline of the wheel is shown with Roman letters! First, the word ROTA appears, which means wheel or cycle. Secondly you can read the word TORA, which means the knowledge of divine things, and which can also mean oracle, or prophecy, or the messenger who can reveal for us the hidden knowledge and the goal of the divine. We can put together the letters and get TAO, the teaching of the truth, showing the way that can lead us to enlightenment. Or even the word TAR which is the shortened version of Thoth, who was an important Egyptian god and arbitrator, and the name of ATOR which is the shortened version of the name of Hathor, the god of Nature.
Finally, of course we can put together the word TAROT. Tarot means oracle and also messenger, the one who brings knowledge to us. The Hebrew letters at the edge – YOD, HE, WAW, HE (YHWH) - spell the name of God (‘Yahweh’), whose other name is Tetragrammaton (literally ‘having four letters’). This suggests that the power that moves the wheel, and also leads us through successful and unsuccessful challenges, is above us and comes from a higher dimension.
The wheel represents the cycles of the ‘law of rotation’. We are on the top when we have the greatest fortune, it is then followed by descending. While we are at the bottom we wish to be on the top again. We are part of a constant cycle. On one hand we are part of this as an individual and on the other hand we are part of this as being a section of the universe that is under constant change. Childhood is followed by adulthood, as summer is followed by spring.
The symbols of the alchemical elements – Mercury, Salt and Water- can be found in the middle of the circle, which represent the esoteric goals. The meaning of the eight branches of the Wheel of Fortune is tha