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Image : Against a swirling background and lightning bolts, a Wheel is suspended. Three figures adorn the Wheel; a Sphinx atop it, a monkey to the left and an ancient Egyptian deity with a snake-like form to the right.

Crowley has a terse comment on the divinatory meaning of this card, which he says although denotes a “change in fortune”, this change is most likely to be positive. [321] This is because, he says, that as most people have a consultation due to discontent or anxiety, any change is likely to be positive. This card is somewhat more negative if you are in a satisfactory situation and consulting the cards out of idle curiosity.

The couplet that Crowley provides for the philosophy of the card reads:

Crowley describes the card as signifying “the Universe in its aspect as a continual state of change”. [323] He then goes on to describe the three principle elements of this change, in terms of Hindu “Gunas”, alchemy and ancient Egyptian deities. The table below summarises these correspondences:

In a reading, one can point to these three creatures on the Wheel and note to the querent which stage they may be at in the cycle of change. As the Wheel has ten spokes, symbolising the ten Sephiroth of the Tree of Life, and hence all things, everything is part of the cycle.

However, on the lower rim of the wheel is a symbol of a clenched fist, symbolising the Hebrew letter Kaph , allocated to this card. Actually, it should rather be “palm of the hand”, the literal meaning of Kaph, and to which Crowley refers in the Book of Thoth – in its context of having ones fortune read. Perhaps we might see that in Harris depicting the clenched fist, one has taken control over one’s fortune, attained the centre of the Wheel, transforming fate into destiny.

The whole image of card ten, the X, is to be compared with the dance of the Universe in card twenty-one, XXI. There is also a comparison to the Magus, card one, I, to which the ten reduces (1 + 0 = 1). The Magus in the initiatory system corresponds to the Sephirah of Chockmah, which has transcended the Abyss, and time itself. This can be further illustrated on the Tree of Life as the Wheel is allocated to the path further down below Chockmah; between Chesed and Netzach, bringing the nature of “time” to the manifest Universe. Chesed in this context is the ever-flowing and expansive Sephirah of creative force (love) and Netzach the cyclic patterns of nature as it manifests. The Wheel turns in what Plato called “the moving likeness of eternity”, in every ripple, every season, every throw of a dice and every decision.

The overall design of the Wheel is an image derived from Crowley’s visionary experience of the 4th Aethyr during his Enochian workings, published as The Vision and the Voice . These astonishing visions – as we have seen - provide much of the bedrock of the Thoth tarot. Here is part of Crowley’s account of this scrying:

And now I perceive that all these things are but veils of the wheel, for they all gather themselves into a wheel that spins with incredible velocity. It hath many colours, but all are thrilled with white light, so that they are transparent and luminous. This one wheel is forty-nine wheels, set at different angles, so that they compose a sphere; each wheel has forty-nine spokes, and has forty-nine concentric tyres at equal distance from the centre. And wherever the rays from any two wheels meet, there is a blinding flash of glory. [324]

The vision goes on to describe the figures upon the Wheel, however, here, the Thoth Tarot does not bear full similarity to its corresponding vision – Crowley describes the Lamb and Flag (a Christian symbol) which does not appear in the final image of the Wheel. Although this symbol does appear on the Emperor card. The other two symbols missing on the Tarot image from the original vision are the Wolf and the Raven. We do however see the raven in another card – perched on a skull on Atu XIV, Art.

As we have seen in the main text for this card, the Sphinx and other two creatures on the Wheel are symbolic of alchemical phases. The Sphinx is “exalted, temporarily” atop the Wheel, unlike the version in the Waite-Smith Tarot where Waite insists that the Sphinx is a constant atop the Wheel of change. In Crowley’s worldview, there was no such stability – everything was in transition.

The Sphinx is said to be composed of the four Kerubs who we met in Atu V, the Hierophant. As such, it further symbolises the so-called magical virtues; “to Know, to Will, to Dare, and to Keep Silence”. [325] We might counsel such to ourselves or a client if we seek to remain atop the Wheel of change.

This mercurial figure is blended with the body of an ape, showing further transition and instability as it climbs upwards against the Wheel. It is symbolic of how we change when we deal with change – by our work, we are indeed changed.

This destructive deity associated with storms is seen with some positive features by Crowley, who suggests that “The lightnings which destroy, also beget”. [326] This may be of little comfort to a client undergoing the downward edge of Fortune, but it is an important message within the card.

When receiving this card in a reading, we must evaluate the position in which it has fallen, for it is where we find our fortune. It is better in the future positions than the past, or in the resources position or outcome. It also counsels that we must find our own centre, during a revolution. When this card comes up, I usually advise the client not to extend themselves, to maintain their current position, and wait for the wheel to turn.