Wheel of Fortune Tarot Meaning: Upright, Reversed and Love

The Wheel of Fortune is card X of the Major Arcana — the card of luck, fate and the turning of the wheel. What goes up comes down, and what is down will rise again.

What the card shows

• A great wheel in the sky, marked with the letters T-A-R-O (read as rota, wheel; tarot; orat, it speaks) and the Hebrew letters of the name of God.
• A sphinx sits at the top, calm and still: wisdom above the turning.
• A snake slides down one side, and the jackal-headed Anubis rises on the other — falling and rising fortune.
• In the four corners, four winged creatures — an angel, an eagle, a lion and a bull — each reading a book. They are the four fixed signs of the zodiac, and the four evangelists.

The wheel of fortune in history

The image is far older than tarot. Medieval writers borrowed Fortuna's wheel from the Romans: kings rode it to the top and were thrown off at the bottom. Manuscripts show figures on the wheel labelled I will reign, I reign, I have reigned, I am without a kingdom. It was a reminder that no luck lasts.

Upright meaning

• Good luck — things turning your way.
• Cycles — the natural rise and fall of life.
• A turning point — a moment of change.
• Fate — events beyond your control.

Reversed meaning

• Bad luck or a downturn.
• Resisting change that is coming anyway.
• Repeating patterns — the same lesson again.

In love

Upright: a fated meeting, a lucky change in a relationship, or a new phase. Reversed: a relationship going through a downturn, or old patterns repeating.

In career and money

Upright: a lucky break, promotion or opportunity. Reversed: a setback — temporary, as the wheel keeps turning.

Yes or no

Upright: yes, with luck on your side. Reversed: no, or not at this turn of the wheel.

Luck at the table

Gamblers have always loved the Wheel: it is the card of the dice roll and the spin. Lucky charms around the world · Is a coin flip 50/50?

Astrology

In the Golden Dawn system that shaped the 1909 deck, this card belongs to Jupiter: the planet of luck, expansion and good fortune. Readers who combine tarot with astrology look at where that sign or planet falls in their own chart.

Questions to ask when you draw it

• What part of my situation is out of my hands?
• Which pattern keeps coming round again?
• How can I be ready when the wheel turns my way?

Write the answers down. Tarot works best as a prompt for honest thinking — the card asks the question; you answer it.

For all 78 cards, see tarot card meanings · Tarot spreads for beginners.