Quantum Tarot - the Wheel of Fortune

nisaba

Here we have trump number 10, nice and central in the Major Arcana, and central as central does, it is not just the Wheel, but the hub around which the rest of the Major Arcana circles. And what is a stellar equivalent of a wheel or a hub? The wheel would be a spiral galaxy, seen in the round, and the hub would be the central cluster, where stars are close together and space is warped by heat and gravity and plasma-exchanges into a very strange set of dimensions. And gosh, what is slap-bang in the middle of this card? A spinning spiral galaxy, streamers (technically, "arms") of stars being flung off by the spin into outer space.

Often in this deck, human figures are defined by being comparatively "empty" dark-space, the Hanged Man, which we've already talked about, is a very striking example, possibly my current favourite. In this case we have another one, the figure of a woman visible only because she is the emptiness and darkness itself ("She is like a cat in the night, / And then She is the darkness", as Fleetwood Mac might have sung if they had seen this card). The bubbling, fiery galaxy rests on her left hip under her raised left arm, she seems to be dancing, her eyes "blindfolded" by a strip of interstellar cloud.

Around her and through everything else are gigantic whorls, like the Fingerprint of God (don't use that phrase, it's the working-title of one of the books I'm scratching away at). I've always been struck by the fingerprint-like quality of this card: is it a fingerprint that is so huge, or a whole galaxy that is so small? I am reminded of a story by HG Wells in which the central character started shrinking, slipping between molecules, then atoms, then seeing the components of the atoms grow to be as large as planetary systems, then being on the inhabited planets within, then seeing them grow giant-size around him as he shrinks further. The Fingernail of God, indeed.

Around the Wheel of the galaxy is some Latin text. My Latin is atrocious and I don't have a dictionary: Kay or Chris, are you still here? A translation would add to our understanding of the card. I see word-components that remind me of royalty, but that's about the best I can do, I'm afraid <blush>.

The discussion of this card (as Quantum Mechanics) refers to the duality of wave-particle existence (the whorls of a gigantic intergalactic fingerprint could easily be ripples on an equally enormous "pond" of universal substance), interference patterns, and irrepressible movement in very strange ways. And the Wheel is indeed irrepressible. It doesn't wait on our pleasure, but just as we sit astride it rolls, tipping us off, or it raises us up, or it just runs us over. We have minimal control over Wheel situations in our life - the lesson of the Wheel is in fact about human powerlessness: no matter what wee do there are some things that strong minds or strong bodies or strong political power or strong military power simply can't control, movements and changes beyond our grasp that will just keep happening. the only control he have is to recognise the motion of the Wheel for what it is, and scramble to change out positions so as to not be run over and crushed.

Are you waiting for the Wheel to turn in your favour? You'll be waiting a long time - find out how it is turning and change yourself to fit it, because it will never change to fit you.
 

Leo62

nisaba said:
Around the Wheel of the galaxy is some Latin text. My Latin is atrocious and I don't have a dictionary: Kay or Chris, are you still here? A translation would add to our understanding of the card. I see word-components that remind me of royalty, but that's about the best I can do, I'm afraid <blush>.
and scramble to change out positions so as to not be run over and crushed.
Can't help you there I'm afraid - the latin text was Chris's idea :D But I do believe it's a component of a Wheel of Fortune card in one of the tarot traditions...but I can't remember which one!

The woman in the card is supposed to be the Roman goddess Fortuna, in charge of the wheel. I linked this card with quantum mechanics because it introduced the concepts of chance and probability into physics. Before quantum theory, things in the world of physics always obeyed fixed laws and behaved themselves in a respectable manner. The inherent unpredictability of the universe at the subatomic level is very counter-intuitive and a real shock to those of us with a determinist view of the world ;)
 

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fferyllt

nisaba said:
Around her and through everything else are gigantic whorls, like the
Around the Wheel of the galaxy is some Latin text. My Latin is atrocious and I don't have a dictionary: Kay or Chris, are you still here? A translation would add to our understanding of the card. I see word-components that remind me of royalty, but that's about the best I can do, I'm afraid <blush>.

I was wondering the same thing and your post reminded me to look it up on google.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rota_Fortunae:
"regnabo (I shall reign), on the top regno (I reign) and is usually crowned, descending on the right regnavi (I have reigned) and the lowly figure on the bottom is marked sum sine regno (I am without a kingdom)"

Which is the same concept as the Visconti and Marseille Wheels of Fortune. Makes sense!
 

nisaba

I shall reign ... I reign ... I have reigned ... I am without a kingdom."

Chris' idea? The man is a genius. I wonder if Romans would think it sounds as poetic in Latin as I think it sounds in English. It has a nice rocking movement to it, like a turning wheel.
 

Surja76

One of the most famous galaxies in the sky called the "Whirlpool". Galaxy and the Whirlpool associated with the origin of life and its development in a spiral. Galaxy, in the process of their growth and increasing distance themselves from each other, they rotate in a spiral.

Relatively Whirlpool, we know that Aphrodite was born out of the whirlpool, from the sea foam. I think that the card shows Greek Goddess Aphrodite - the symbol of universal love, maternal essence which gives life to all living creatures and the new. Our universe was born of a means of struggle of opposites. Overhead this women there are 2 laps, the two SPIRALS. They are like Chinese symbol - Yin and Yang. The positive masculine spiritual nature and feminine - dark, negative, material one. These two opposites colliding together and generate new life.

The development of the world is committed to the principle of the helix, spiral.
Spiral - a symbol of development, perpetual change. This is movement towards enlightenment and wisdom, so the spiral is often depicted in the form of a curled-up snake (a symbol of wisdom). Very revolution - the end of one cycle and the beginning of another. Spiral - a symbol of cyclical rhythms: the change of seasons, growth and waning of the moon, birth and death of a person. Spiral - the rhythm of life.

It is look like story about Adam and Eva. When they married they gave a birth to children, their children married and gave a birth their children, and again and again till our times when from two people was created millions the same ones living nowadays.

Nothing has changed from that time, people Born and Dead, they are the same in struggle between good and evil, between material and spiritual.
BUT....... Turning along the life wheel we do not turn the same place, we develop, we become more clever and conscious, spiral of our life is becoming wider. People are the same in face since the time of Adam and Eva but we have become different in our mentality.
Turning down our sins and bad material experience of past generations we have turned to the higher level of our spiritual developing. We are learning at the past experience to become better.

If you look closely, you can see that these circles represent the imprint of fingers. Each imprint of finger of any person in the world is unique and different.
It means that turning in the whirlpool of life and different people, it is very important for us to keep ones own unique face, not to be lost. Everyone comes into this life with ones program, and leaves a ones own unique mark on the ground will be used by the next generation for their own developing.
 

nisaba

<smile> I suppose Fortuna and Aphrodite can be related, as aspects of the Feminine Divine.