Wheel of Fortune Tarot Card Meaning | Upright & Reversed

What the card shows

A great wheel marked with letters and symbols hangs in the sky. A sphinx with a sword sits on top, a snake slides down one side and a jackal-headed figure rises on the other. A winged creature reads a book in each corner of the card.

This is the card as drawn by Pamela Colman Smith for the 1909 Rider-Waite-Smith deck, which is in the public domain.

Upright meaning

The Wheel of Fortune is read as change you did not plan. Luck turns, a door opens, a stuck situation starts to move. It is a reminder that both good and bad stretches pass.

Wheel of Fortune reversed

Reversed, it is read as a run of bad luck, fighting a change that is coming anyway, or repeating a pattern.

Yes or no?

In a yes or no question, the Wheel of Fortune is usually read as a yes. Readers differ on some cards, so treat this as one common reading. You can ask a yes or no question and draw a card for it.

Draw a card yourself

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More Major Arcana cards

The Fool The Magician The High Priestess The Empress The Emperor The Hierophant The Lovers The Chariot Strength The Hermit Justice The Hanged Man Death Temperance The Devil The Tower The Star The Moon The Sun Judgement The World

‹ The Hermit All 78 cards Justice ›

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