ACTIVATING THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE

I have been working on a book that details how to activate the magic within tarot cards.  As 2026 is a Wheel of Fortune Year, here are a few snippets from my section on The Wheel of Fortune card:

Devotions to Fortuna: Although different tarot decks’ graphics emphasize the turning wheel, the card also invokes Fortuna, who is the goddess presence behind the tarot.  Some older decks portray the goddess at the center of the wheel, while in classical art she might be portrayed carrying a cornucopia or a rudder, or standing on a ball.  The ancient Romans believed that each person could have an individual Fortuna as a spirit of good luck, (though, obviously, some people were better served than others), and so made offerings to her.  Fortuna also had many manifestations, including Fortuna Muliebris (luck of women), Fortuna Virilis (luck of young men, though invoked by women seeking a virile mate), Fortuna Publica (fortune of the greater public), and Fortuna Redux (invoking a safe return from travel).  As a way of nurturing your own good fortune, you might want to rise in the morning to greet Fortuna Huiusqce Diei” the “Fortune of this Day.”  Ask yourself, “How is my Fortune doing today?  What can I do to advance my Fortune today?”  Then, open your door wide to activate the magic of opening, while saying, “Fero Fortuna!  Fortuna Abundia!”

Spinning the Wheel: Part of the magical mindset is being game for new things.  This includes taking some chances by making some changes in your routines, pushing beyond some of your normal boundaries, and bringing some randomizers into your plans as a way of playfully spinning the wheel.  This is an area where divination can help.  For example, if planning a vacation, instead of following your usual inclinations, you could ask the tarot for advice on where to go for a magically delightful trip, then pull a card and consider what its images and meanings might suggest.  When you are willing to act on the tarot’s advice, you put yourself out in the realm where marvelous synchronicities can more readily take place.

Wheel Turning Spell: One of the best known of magical charm formulas is the “Sator Arepo” word square shown here.  It is a palindrome, meaning that it reads the same way forwards, backwards, and up and down.  This formula was popular in the Roman world, (with the earliest known example from Pompeii), and spread through all of Europe, where it was engraved on doors and walls, or written on paper and carried on the person.  Its amuletic uses ranged from promoting general well-being, to protecting from fire and other disasters.  Though its origin and meaning are not clear, one loose translation suggests it reads, “The sower Arepo holds steady the wheel.”  In this respect, it conveys the sense of steadily advancing one’s fortune.  You can help direct its forward momentum by inscribing the Sator Arepo square on paper and setting The Wheel card on top of that.

Also, here is a six-day spell for symbolically turning the wheel: write the Sator Arepo square on a piece of paper, and set it out on an altar space.  The next day, prepare another square, but with Sator shunted to the bottom, so it reads, “Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas Sator.”  On the third day, write out another square with Arepo shunted to the bottom, so the square now starts with Tenet.  Go through the same process every day, so on the sixth day, the word square is back to its original state, with Sator on the first line.  This completes your rotations.  Alternatively, you could get six candles, and inscribe the permutations of the word square on the subsequent days’ candles; when the last candle is burned down, a major change may be effected.  Orange candles are most commonly used in spells to change one’s luck.  (Note that this spell can also be used when you draw The Chariot card, as there is a similar sense of taking the wheel.)

Sunday’s Workshop: Seashell Oracle and The Magic of Shining

July 1^st, being the first Sunday of the month, I’ll be back at The Triple Goddess doing some themes around the recent summer solstice.  So, I will be demonstrating mixed deck readings, tarot magic, and other magic techniques that explore “the magic of shining,” as the solstice is the shining high noon of the year.  (For more discussion of the magic of shining, refer to my blogposts of 6/24-25/2011, and 7/25/2011.)  Because this is also the time of year that people think of heading for the beach, we will also work with the seashell oracle and seashell spells, plus mixed readings with the Mermaids tarot and Pirates tarot, including a treasure hunt through the cards.  (For more on these topics, see my blogposts of 6/24/2011, and 7/19/2010.)

A Day Dedicated to Undersea Mysteries

Profuse apologies for being so out of touch and not having posted anything in so long! I will be coming to the Triple Goddess this Sunday, July 4th, from 1 to 3 p.m. as usual. Even though it’s the Independence Day weekend, I find that people still drop by the shop on holidays, so I’ve made that commitment to showing up on holidays as well. This Sunday I will bring the Seashell Oracle and demonstrate some spells and other magical things you can do with seashells. I will also demonstrate reading techniques with the Tarot of the Mermaids, the Tarot of the Pirates, and the Shapeshifter deck. For our metaphysical discussion, we’ll entertain some ideas on the need to become hybrid beings as a way of surviving in this new world.

Upcoming Session—plus more about why spell casting is good for you

I am getting stuff together for the next magical chat, which will be on October 4th. In addition to seeking continued words of wisdom from the spirit mentors by using "collaborative tarot," I will demonstrate a tarot technique called “The Pentacle Quest.” Premised on the idea that we’re always on some kind of a quest, it takes you through the points of the Pentagram to show you some things about the nature of your current quest, including what stage you’re at in that quest. Then we will transform our readings into Pentacle Spells. Also, if time permits, I will demonstrate a tarot technique for identifying “Your Next Luck-Bringer.”

Now, to pick up on the previous idea of asserting the will to disrupt the bodymind’s stasis and establish a new regime: when we look at certain disciplines like Yoga, which have both physical and spiritual components, or when we look at traditional magic and healing practices, we can see that they often involve all sorts of actions which, by putting your through your paces, take you out of your homeostatic routines and force you to assert your will in ways both physical and mental, and large and small.

In the case of magic, different types of spells often require you to assemble special ingredients, and set time and space aside for little rituals; this can also involve repeating such rituals over an extended period of time. Magic rites have a transformative effect because even those spells which are intended to work changes in your outer world are a sort of self-enchantment: by acting on your bodymind they necessarily involve changes in consciousness.

As great sources of spells and rituals for self-enchantment, here let me plug my books “Tarot Spells” and “By Candlelight," which are designed to be nondenominational and provide simple rites and spells with anyone can do; for people who enjoy the ritual experience, there are added suggestions for things you can do to enhance these rites and spells. [I will add links to my books when I’m able to get around to it.] Of course, there are many other excellent ritual and spell books out there.

Furthermore, if you want to devote some time to spell casting, the spells you try your hand at don’t even have to apply to your larger goals in order to serve as acts of will. For example, your larger goal may be to lose weight or to quit smoking, but, as an exercise in will power, you could make a daily practice of doing spells to attract luck, promote prosperity, or send healing energy to a friend, or rituals to release stress or to honor your ancestors or the nature spirits—among the numerous other ritual actions that can serve as the basis for daily practice.

Training the Will

At the September 6 magical chat session, we were discussing how the Page cards of tarot can apply to taking on new disciplines, and one of the topics that came up in relation to this is the problem of will power. This is an issue addressed by Elmer and Alyce Green in their book, “Beyond Biofeedback.” They point out that our bodymind systems settle in to and try to maintain a “homeostasis,” which is a static condition of being that includes both the good and the bad. So, whenever we try to make a change—even if it’s a change for the better—our bodyminds reflexively rise to resist the change by throwing all kinds of obstacles in our way and undermining our willpower. However, if a person can persist and do enough to unsettle the status quo by introducing different sorts of changes and carrying out large and small acts of will, the bodymind’s efforts at maintaining homeostasis can be disrupted to the point where it is possible to establish new patterns. This allows the bodymind to eventually settle in to a newer, healthier condition of homeostasis. Also, because the bodymind is a unit, any things you can do to work on the body will also help the mind, and things you do to affect the mind will benefit the body.

Consequently, when you want to cultivate will power, think of different things you can do to exercise your will. These acts of will don’t even have to specifically apply to the sort of changes you want to bring about. As an example, the Greens cite Robert Assagioli’s suggestion of standing on a chair for ten minutes a day, just to be doing something different enough to be laying down a new discipline. (This is also an example of how unusual actions can make a special impression on the bodymind--which is why shamans often incorporate outlandish acts and gestures into their practices.)

Some simple things that a person can do as daily practice might include taking the time to brew and drink a cup of healthful herbal tea (especially if, like me, you’re the kind of person who would climb over a mountain of herbal tea to get at a cup of coffee), or greeting the rising sun (possibly with the yogic “sun salutation” exercise), or giving up a regular TV program in order to do something more productive, or doing various other things that are good for you but which you normally wouldn’t take the time or have the inclination to do. You could also make a practice of daily spiritual devotions, little magical spells, or other types of simple rituals. Reframing attitudes can also be part of daily practice. So, if you get into negative feedback loops by dwelling on regrets, push those thoughts out of your mind and replace them with positive.

This business of asserting your will in things both small and large is also an area where the tarot can help. You can approach the cards with a question like, “What can I do as an act of Will?” Then shuffle and cut, and pull the top card, interpreting it as a card of advice rather than a card of prediction. Think about how the card’s traditional meanings and its graphic imagery suggest actions that you can carry out. (This technique of interpreting the cards in terms of what suggestions they have to offer is the subject of my book, “Tarot, Your Everyday Guide.”) Alternatively—or in addition—you could go through your shuffled deck to find the Magician, which has a lot to do with asserting the will as a way of attaining mastery in the world. The Magician’s tools are the elemental powers of Fire, Earth, Air, and Water, so look to the cards flanking the Magician to see which elemental forces are highlighted, then consider how these, along with the flanking cards’ meanings and imagery might suggest ideas for entraining your will. You can turn your reading into a tarot spell by envisioning yourself as the Magician, carrying out the actions you want to incorporate into your routine.