The Wheel- super interesting card! It’s known as ‘the karma card’. Karma simply means ‘action.’ And our actions generate future actions. Habits, behavior patterns, choices we make now make a dent in how we’ll be in the future.
Unlike the Chariot card in which the wheels are moving (maybe consciously, maybe not!) here we have a more stable kind of circle. This ‘wheel’ is the source where we can tap into creative power. We can put our lives into motion consciously.
To do that requires the safety and containment of the circle. This circle generates a protective energy, such as when priests consecrate a temple or with incense & offerings, or shamans burn palo santo. In a more practical sense, this card could indicate you need to set a loving boundary in your life, or need to begin implementing the sacred into your daily life (evening meditation, morning coffee + spiritual podcast, nature walks, art/ music, join a drum circle)
The woman’s arm displays an infinity/ figure 8 symbol- symbolizing abundance. This card is associated w/ planet Jupiter which is all increasing and known to amplify or make more abundant what it touches. The trick to winning Jupiter’s favor and generating good karma is to be intentional- the way that she’s drawing the circle in the sand is intentional, not by accident.
What habits do you want to create? One thing I started 6 weeks ago is a morning mantra meditation which has generated amazing results. Last night I started another new habit- lighting a candle & taking a few hours of silence/ doing nothing one night a week.
Setting intentional habits like this can even be seen as a form of protection of one’s soul from degrading into self-destructive or self-harming tendencies.
There is a lot more to this card. The woman is drawing a circle in the sand. Sand is symbolic of a blank canvas where anyone can make their mark. With the roaring ocean behind and the spaciousness surrounding her, there is a sense of inspiration/ liberation in the air…freedom/ expansion, and yet at the same time, safety/ containment within the circle she draws and in her nearby cave that she can safely retreat to.
Symbolism of the circle:
In Egypt circles symbolized completeness, infinity, and protection. (Interestingly the woman on this card is wearing an infinity arm bracelet.)
In prehistoric era, it is said by archeologists that circles found on cave walls represent incomplete vulvas. This connects them to the divine feminine & creativity/ life force. (Interestingly there is a cave on this card.)
Humans observed the first circles as the moon, sun, and planets in the sky. The pattern in which planets rotate is circular. Seasons revolve in this way too, in cycles.
Circles are symbolic of inclusion, meaning whenever you draw a circle around something, you are placing value on what’s inside…giving it importance, or sacredness.
Circles are a reminder that endings flow into beginnings, and death leads to life..as observed by Native Americans and these words by Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1841:
“Our life is an apprenticeship to the truth, that around every circle another can be
drawn; that there is no end in nature, but every end is a beginning; that there is always another dawn risen on
mid-noon, and under every deep a lower deep opens.”