Wheel of Misfortune
The Fateweaver — The principle of cyclical change that operates beyond human will or morality. The part of existence that turns regardless of our preferences, distributing outcomes with mathematical indifference.
“The Wheel spins on an axis of pure entropy. Those who ride it accept that every peak precedes a trough, and every crash precedes a resurrection.”
Correspondences
Traditional
Wheel of Fortune
Number
10
Element
Fire
Planet
Jupiter
Ten is the number of completion and renewal — the return to One at a higher octave. It is the Wheel itself: the full cycle that contains all single digits and transcends them. In the Major Arcana, Ten marks the halfway point of the numbered cards, the axis around which the entire sequence turns. What rises must fall; what falls must rise. Ten teaches that the only constant is rotation.
Upright Meaning
The great random number generator spins. Fate and chance are indistinguishable in a chaotic system -- ride the cycle, for what crashes will reboot and what rises will inevitably lag.
The Wheel of Fortune in the Rider-Waite deck is one of the most symbolically dense cards in the entire tarot. The great wheel bears the letters T-A-R-O (or R-O-T-A, depending on direction) interspersed with the Hebrew letters Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh (the Tetragrammaton). Four alchemical symbols mark the quarters. A sphinx sits atop the wheel, representing stability; a serpent descends on one side, representing descent into matter; and Anubis (or Hermanubis) rises on the other, representing ascent toward consciousness. In the four corners, the four fixed signs of the zodiac — the lion, the eagle, the angel, and the bull — read books, signifying the eternal laws that persist through all change. The card's message is fundamentally about fate, fortune, and the cyclical nature of existence. In the Thoth deck, Crowley rendered the Wheel as a dynamic interplay of three forces: the sphinx of Sulphur (consciousness), the Hermanubis of Mercury (intelligence), and the Typhon of Salt (the destructive force that clears the way for renewal). All three are necessary; all three take turns ascending and descending.
The Wheel of Misfortune in the Chaos Tarot embraces the dark comedy of its name: this is not just the Wheel of Fortune but the Wheel of Mis-fortune — the RNG (random number generator) of existence, indifferent to human preference, spinning on an axis of pure entropy. The cyberpunk reframing emphasizes that in complex systems, fortune and misfortune are not moral categories but statistical distributions. The Wheel does not reward the virtuous or punish the wicked; it simply turns, distributing outcomes with the cheerful indifference of a hashing algorithm. The sphinx atop the wheel becomes the stable node in a distributed network — the one element that remains functional while all other nodes cycle through states of operation and failure. The serpent and Anubis become ascending and descending processes, each taking its turn at the top and bottom of the cycle. The card teaches that the appropriate response to the Wheel is not to try to stop it (impossible), rig it (futile), or ignore it (dangerous), but to ride it — to develop the equanimity and adaptability that allow you to function at every point in the rotation.
When the Wheel of Misfortune appears upright, a significant change of fortune is in motion — and crucially, it is not under your control. If you have been in a trough, the Wheel's turning promises ascent; if you have been at a peak, it gently warns that descent is the natural next phase. This is not punishment or reward but rhythm. The appropriate response is neither grasping (at the peak) nor despair (at the trough) but presence — the awareness that every state is temporary and that your ability to navigate change is more valuable than any particular position on the Wheel. Something in your life is about to shift in a way you did not plan and cannot prevent. The Wheel of Misfortune asks: can you ride the turn with grace?
Reversed Meaning
Resistance to inevitable change. You cling to a previous state while the cycle demands transformation. Bad luck is just refusing to update.
The Wheel of Fortune reversed has traditionally signaled resistance to inevitable change — the refusal to accept that what goes up must come down and what goes down will eventually rise. In Waite's system, the reversal indicates "bad luck" in the colloquial sense: a period where the cycle seems stuck at the bottom, where misfortune compounds, where the rotation that should bring improvement appears to have stalled. The Thoth tradition frames the reversal as the Wheel jammed — Typhon's destructive force dominant, the sphinx displaced, the cycle interrupted by a catastrophic imbalance that prevents the natural alternation of states.
The Wheel of Misfortune reversed in the Chaos Tarot is the stuck process, the infinite loop, the cycle that has been corrupted into a repetition. It is not that misfortune is striking — it is that the same misfortune is striking again and again, because the system that should be cycling through states has become trapped in one. In cyberpunk terms, this is the process that keeps crashing and restarting at the same point, the server that reboots into the same error state, the user who clears the cache only to find the same corrupted data reloading. On a personal level, it manifests as the feeling of being stuck in a rut, repeating the same mistakes, attracting the same toxic patterns, unable to break out of a cycle that has lost its transformative function and become merely repetitive.
When this card appears reversed, ask yourself what cycle you are stuck in and why it has stopped transforming you. The Wheel is supposed to turn — every descent should lead to an ascent, every failure should yield a lesson that prevents repetition. If you are experiencing the same difficulty repeatedly without evolution, something is preventing the Wheel from completing its rotation. This may be an attachment to a previous state (trying to return to a peak that has passed), a refusal to learn the lesson the trough is offering, or a systemic corruption — an external force or internal pattern that keeps resetting the cycle before it can complete. The remedy is to identify the stuck point and intervene: change one variable, break one pattern, make one different choice. The Wheel does not need you to overhaul the entire system; it needs you to remove the obstruction that prevents it from turning.
Symbolism & Imagery
The Wheel of Misfortune's imagery is centered on the great mechanism of cyclical change. The traditional Wheel — with its letters, symbols, and mythological figures — is reimagined as a massive, turning mechanism: part roulette wheel, part server rack carousel, part orbital mechanics diagram. The sphinx at the top becomes the monitoring process that observes the cycle from a position of relative stability. The ascending and descending figures become data packets moving through the system — some rising toward processing, some descending toward archival or deletion. The four fixed signs in the corners — traditionally reading books of eternal law — become four anchored nodes that remain constant while the wheel turns around them, representing the unchanging principles (mathematical constants, physical laws, moral foundations) that persist through all fluctuation. The name "Misfortune" is rendered with deliberate irony: the Wheel does not specialize in misfortune any more than a random number generator specializes in low numbers. The name is a cyberpunk joke, a reminder that from the perspective of entropy, fortune and misfortune are human projections onto an indifferent mechanism.
The Fool’s Journey
The Wheel of Misfortune is the tenth station on the Fool's Journey, marking the exact midpoint of the Major Arcana's numbered sequence. It is the axis around which the entire journey turns — the pivot between the first half (which is largely about encountering the world's structures) and the second half (which is largely about transcending them). The Fool learns here that some forces in the universe are simply beyond individual control, and that wisdom lies in learning to ride the cycle rather than trying to steer it.
In Context
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Love & Relationships
A relationship is entering a new phase of its cycle — the honeymoon giving way to the work, or the work giving way to renewed passion. The Wheel does not judge which phase is better; it reminds you that all phases are temporary and necessary. If you are single, a change in your romantic fortune is approaching from a direction you did not anticipate. Stay open and adaptable; the Wheel favors the flexible.
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Career & Finances
Professional fortunes are shifting. A period of stagnation is breaking up, or a period of rapid growth is reaching its natural plateau. The Wheel of Misfortune counsels neither panic nor complacency but strategic adaptability — the ability to ride the cycle rather than fight it. If you are at the top, prepare for the turn. If you are at the bottom, know that the upturn is already in motion. In either case, use this moment to develop skills and relationships that serve you at every point in the rotation.
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Spiritual Growth
The Wheel teaches the deepest spiritual lesson of impermanence: nothing lasts, nothing is lost, nothing is wasted. Your current spiritual state — whether ecstatic or arid, connected or confused — is a phase in a cycle, not a permanent condition. The appropriate practice is equanimity: the capacity to remain present and engaged regardless of whether the Wheel is carrying you up or down. This is not passivity but the highest form of active acceptance.
Guidance
Advice
Accept the turn. You cannot stop the Wheel, and attempting to cling to a previous position only increases the discomfort of the rotation. Adapt to the new phase with grace, knowing that it too will pass. The skill that serves you at every point on the Wheel is not control but resilience.
Warning
Do not mistake a peak for a permanent state. The Wheel's most dangerous moment is the top, where the view is so beautiful that you forget you are standing on a moving surface. Enjoy the height, but prepare for the descent. It is not punishment — it is physics.
Affirmation
“I ride the Wheel with equanimity and grace. What falls will rise; what rises will fall; and through every turn, I remain whole, adaptable, and present.”
Yes or No?
The Wheel of Misfortune answers with the honesty of a random number generator: the outcome is uncertain, subject to forces beyond your control, and likely to change. If the answer is yes today, it may be no tomorrow — and vice versa. The card counsels flexibility rather than attachment to any particular outcome. Accept uncertainty as the only honest answer.
Notable Combinations
A cycle is ending definitively — not just turning but terminating. The Wheel brings change; Death ensures it is permanent. This combination signals that the rotation you are experiencing is not a temporary dip but a fundamental shift in the nature of the cycle itself. What ends here will not return in its previous form. Let it go completely.
Willpower meets fate. The Juggernaut's forward charge encounters the Wheel's lateral rotation, and the resulting trajectory is neither purely willed nor purely fated but a combination of both. This combination suggests that your effort matters — but so does timing, luck, and forces beyond your control. Push hard, but stay nimble.
The Wheel's cycle meets the World's completion. A major life cycle is reaching its ultimate culmination — the Wheel turns one last time, and the World opens to receive what the rotation has produced. This is one of the most auspicious combinations in the deck for completion, graduation, and the successful conclusion of a long journey.
The Wheel meets the force that exists outside all cycles. Null does not ride the Wheel — it dissolves the axis the Wheel turns on. This combination suggests an encounter with something so fundamentally transformative that it does not merely change your position on the cycle but changes the nature of the cycle itself. Expect the unexpected. Expect the category-defying. The old patterns of fortune and misfortune may simply cease to apply.
The Wheel's turning creates an opening for a genuinely new beginning. This is not just the next phase of the old cycle but the start of an entirely new one. The combination of fate and innocence suggests that the change coming into your life was destined, and that your role is simply to greet it with the Fool's openness and trust.
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