Oh wheel, how I have been intrigued by your symbolism as of late.
As others have heard me state, this card, in the major arcana of the tarot, captures much of what I see in the Methodology of Advaita Vedanta, or non-duality. The wheel and those things turning with the wheel represent the world of perpetual change - things rise and things fall. At the center of this cyclic sphere stands the Magician, a being centered in Self, in the One (the Magician is deemed card 1 in the tarot, the beginning within which all is enfolded). Those things amidst the spinning wheel are our attachments, including and not limited to ideas, relationships, thought and behavior patterns, physical objects, memories, and emotions. It's not that we are to reject experiences of these things, or deem them unworthy of our time and attention; that would only serve to deepen our entrenchment in a dual world, which necessitates the opposition of one thing against another. The key here is attachment. We can be invested in something and hope to see the process through to its completion, but if we attach ourselves so firmly to it that we are unable to let go of this project or idea when and if the time comes, we end up creating pain and suffering in our own lives. When we hold to things so firmly, we are attempting to make permanent something which is impermanent.
So it is in The Wheel of Fortune. As the Magician, the observer, we can stand balanced and centered in the wheel, watching the things turn, and even taking part in them, while still maintaining our position. It's when we fixate our awareness upon one of those objects, that we catch ourselves in the wheel with it, circling round, taking part in karma. Because what we fixate on will continually morph and change as it circles the wheel, we may grow weary and disappointed, thinking that we will never attain the end we first wished to see. And so it is because even when we accomplish one goal and feel momentary satisfaction, something else calls to our attention and if we are to again experience this momentary bliss, we must go off on yet another adventure. The funny thing is, we can experience this satisfaction when letting go of all that is subject to impermanence; by going within to realize our Selves as the One.
In this beingness we can still take part in the multiplicity of this dual world. Oneness is not necessarily a rejection of everything outside one's Self, it is an all-encompassing way of being that includes and respects all that is because we then come to the realization that all beings have their Self in the One. Whatever we do to an "other", we do to ourselves. The Magician dreams the wheel and its meaning into existence with tools at his/her disposal. We create our respective worlds and we are each having an experience of reality contained in the one which is infinite.
I suggest it is the awareness of all that is changing, as changing and not permanent, and awareness of our own wholeness even while living as separate beings, that can allow us the opportunity to shed outmoded thoughts, feelings, and their associated behavior patterns that create pain and struggle (pollution, murder, rape, and war) in the first place. In knowing Self, we know the whole. And in knowing the whole, we are whole. As the whole, we are free to live out our lives in presence for what is, responding to what comes openly and honestly.
One source:
"The alchemist knows Fortuna's law, and can use it beneficially, harnessing the descent as a means of disintegration to achieve a higher integration. Then the rotation of the elements becomes an ascending spiral. He also knows that, although the wheel's rim always moves, hidden behind Fortuna's captivating form is the stationary axis, the unmoving hub, the fixed point immune to changing fortune. This is where he stations himself when he has had enough of riding Fortune's Wheel."
www.cs.utk.edu/~mclennan/BA/PT/M10.html
More from the same source:
"The hub of the wheel represents the unchanging source of the phenomena confronting us. In psychological terms, it is the Self - the totality of the psyche, both conscious and unconscious - which is usually hidden, as the hub is behind Fortuna; we are so captivated by Lady Luck that we forget to look past her. The hub makes the moving rim possible, and demonstrates that, although we seem to be met by continually changing fortunes, this is a projection, and it is, in fact, our conscious ego, revolving around our Self, that turns to meet our fortune. However, that does not mean we can control the wheel, for free will resides in the conscious ego, which must ride on the rim, which is turned by hidden Fate (Fortuna). We cannot stop the wheel and still live, but if we can find the central axis, then the rotation can become a spiral and we can progress."
"The course of Fortune changes like the moon:
It grows and shrinks, and knows not how to stay the same,
At first I'm raised, and I enjoy the reign; at last,
Behold, I take too much: the ends differ seldom from starts:
I shall reign, I reign, I have reigned, I have no reign."
When caught in Fortune's wheel, we can always be assured that rest and wholeness are ours to know, should we only come back to our Selves.
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