The Wise Woman's Tarot
A Multicultural, Matriarchal Deck and Book
XIX. The Wheel of Life
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XIX. The Wheel of Life - Image - Kali - Jupiter
Another revolution of the Wheel, and we spin off into another level of our evolutionary process. The Wheel of Life illustrates the constancy of nature's
ever-expanding cyclic changes; light to dark, ebb to flow, and life to death.
The planet Jupiter rules this card; in earlier decks, the concept of luck,
chance or fate (as in the Wheel of Fortune) was an appropriate interpretation.
In The Wheel of Life, we don't see luck or fate as something that suddenly drops
into our laps or hands, rather, it is the gift which comes as a result of an
awareness of cycles and timing.
Because we are usually riding the hub of this great Wheel (being self-centered),
enmeshed in our day-to-day struggles, we often miss the Jupiterian "Big Picture." When we place ourselves (the ego) outside, on the circumference
of the Wheel, we are then capable of a more philosophical overview of events; we
are in a better position to make our own luck, or consciously reap the benefits
of a cycle which has come to term.
The Wheel is the universal symbol for cycles. The symbolism of the Wheel
is also thus referred to by Neumann: "In the Western Middle Ages, we find a
symbol corresponding exactly to the Tibetan Wheel of Life, this is the wheel of
life... as Wheel of Mother Nature, on which the ascending cycle of human life is
represented. Below the wheel is held the Earth Goddess, above, on a throne sits
three-headed Time (i.e., an angel-like female figure) whose wings are the months
and who makes life revolve with the alternations of day and night."
For my image of the Wheel of Life, I included a composite of various cyclic
symbols. I drew heavily on Tantric images such as Kali, the White Dakini and the
triple-headed Goddess image, above the circumference of the Wheel. The ancient Tantric tradition is extremely important;
it is the only portion of the Hindu religion that reveres women and discourages the racist caste
system. This tradition may also be the origin of the female-centered Sufi sect.
Enthroned on the Wheel is a triple-headed winged Goddess. Her first aspect
is the "white dove (the virgin creatress)"; the second is the "blood red serpent
(the Mother and preserver)"; and the last is the "black sow (the Crone and
destroyer)". Her two six-fold wings represent the 12 months of the year.
Rising from the bottom of the Wheel is the White Dakini, an embodiment of
female wisdom-energy. The Dakinis, or Skywalkers, were Tantric priestesses and
attendant spirits to Kali, their mistress. The 64 Dakinis are traditionally
expressions of archetypal energies within each person. According to Tantric
teaching, the visualization of each of these archetypes can bring about
profound alterations in one's consciousness; this is yet another turn of the wheel.
Below the Dakini is Kali, the birth-death Goddess who is "simultaneously
womb and tomb, giver of life and devourer of her children." Kali's name
literally meant "Black Mother Time" and Hers was a world of "eternal living flux
from which all things rose and disappeared again, in endless cycles." She
appears as the black devouring crone with protruding tongue and wide, all-seeing
eyes. She's wearing the traditional skull-necklace.
At the hub of the Wheel sits the Sphinx, a symbol of our essence, which
never changes from lifetime to lifetime. Around her whirls a Lemurian Wheel of
Life symbol. She is also the focus of a smaller zodiac wheel, complete with
all the astrological signs and symbols. The lower hemisphere is dark, representing
the night, while the upper portion is light like the day.
Around the wheel of the zodiac, the letters T-A-R-O-T appear, as in the
Rider/Waite deck. They can be used to create the anagram TAROT, ROTA, ORAT, TORA
and ATOR, which means: The royal road, the wheel, speaks the law of Ator
(Hathor or Mother Nature). The rearranging of these same four letters to create
different words and concepts is symbolic of reincarnation; we try on different
bodies and personalities to learn each lesson.
When receiving this card, know that you are on the brink of a major change.
This is an auspicious time and the end of a cycle of development. The boons or
failures that you incur at this time are directly related to your own efforts in
the past. As the Great Wheel turns under the watchful eye of Kali, remember
that as each new cycle begins, we get another chance.
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