April 30, 2010 - The Wheel of Fortune

It has been a topsy-turvy week, emotionally, grieving for what isn't, celebrating what is, sometimes doing both within the span of the same day.  Deep funk Wednesday; scrambling out of that deep hole yesterday.  Who knows what today will bring beyond the tired that seems to me my constant companion as school hurtles toward the finish line?

The Wheel of Fortune is a card that reminds us that what goes up, comes down and what is down, goes up.  This is the cycle of life, grow, thrive, harvest, lie fallow, then round again.  When it comes up in a reading it suggests you might be feeling a sense of destiny, opening to luck, witnessing miracles.  Maybe you'll see life's threads weave together, coming to an understanding you haven't before.  That would be lovely for me,  I want to understand the bigger picture of my life.  I want to know the why of the bad and the deep thanks for the good.

Sometimes the Wheel comes up when you're at a turning point.  Up, down, round and round.  You can find yourself surprised at the unexpected turns until you come to the wise place of knowing all turns are unexpected, hold good and bad that can only be determined as the story unfolds.  Rumi writes: Misery and joy have the same shape in this world: You may call the rose an open heart or a broken heart."  A friend, on reading this, sent me a Buddhist story about a man who approaches all events, seemingly good or seemingly bad, with the phrase: "How can you know it is a blessing?"  "How can you know it is a misfortune?"  What we think is misfortune may be a blessing in disguise and what we see as a gift can be a curse, depending.  


The Wheel can also signal that you are feeling movement in your life, having the tempo of life speed up, being swept up in new developments.  Life is definitely speeding up these days, a far cry from the timeless, otherworldliness of a year ago as I continued my recovery.  And the Wheel can indicate you have found your personal vision.  Perhaps you see at last how everything connects.  Maybe you uncover patterns and cycles you never imagined.  Either way you expand your outlook, gain greater perspective, and discover your role and purpose in life.  I think this might actually be happening.  I may at last be discovering my role and purpose in life.


This seems a pretty auspicious card on a bright, sunny spring day when anything and everything is possible.  Of course, "how can you know?"  I'll keep you posted.