Fortune’s Wheelhouse

Congratulations! You win! Well done!  Welcome to the 9 of Cups, the Lord of Happiness or "card of wishes" - a card so perfectly delightful you just want to kick back and bask in its good fortune.  The card is associated with the middle decan of Pisces, which is ruled by Jupiter (who is also the classical ruler of Pisces).  The greater benefic thus brings twice the blessings.  And because 9 is a nu...

Abandon success all ye who enter here!  It is the 8 of Cups, the becalmed and benighted Lord of Indolence. Lead-footed Saturn governs the first decan of Pisces; dark clouds and eclipses rule the sky.  Emotional baggage burdens the intellect, and in this dark night of the soul a journey towards redemption begins. Yet although Crowley called this card 'the apex of unpleasantness,' it also sponsors a...

In this episode we explore the 7 of Cups, a card of debauchery - or is it illusionary success?  The 7 of Cups is a hologram, a trick of the light, a mirage.  Here Venus rules the second decan of Scorpio, as well as ruling the 7th sphere on the Tree of Life.  She is powerful here, but also in detriment as she passes through the house of Mars.  Here Eros meets Thanatos; the drive meets the death dri...

This week, we explore the 6 of Cups, a doubly solar card.  As a Six it is associated with the sphere of the Sun, Tiphereth, and astrologically it corresponds to the Sun's rulership of Scorpio's middle decan.  Here we find Pleasure in the heart of Death!  This is a sacred sacrifice, where in the dying glow of yesterday the Sun bargains for tomorrow.  The glint of light on water offers a promise of...

...in which we brace ourselves for Disappointment and, if that's not enough, Loss in Pleasure.  In this first decan of Scorpio, Mars rules thrice over - governing the decan, the sign (in classical rulership schemes), and the number 5. His fiery ferocity unleashes a searing wind over the watery suit of cups, blasting everything in its path.  The Tower meets Death, and devastation ensues. In this co...

In this week's episode, we look at the super-lunar 4 of Cups, where the moon presides over the final decan of Cancer, waning and waxing to the full.  A high tide of luxury washes into shore, amplified and reflected by its silver mirror.  Yet there are also "seeds of decay in the fruit of pleasure" - the grit that causes the pearl to form, layer by layer. Here we consider blue nuns and vehicles of...

Themes of enclosure reflect and refract in the abundant 3 of Cups, where the messenger god brings his quicksilver tongue to the world of emotions.  Mercury rules this second decan of Cancer; festivities and games preside over the hour, and all good things. Yet there is an undercurrent of danger; the most tempting fruits may be those that are forbidden. In this episode we also speak of Demeter and...

Ah, the 2 of Cups!  The most welcome of sights in readings on many subjects, particularly romance.  But the so-called Lord of Love is more than just a pretty face.  Associated with Venus and the second decan of Cancer, it is the beginning of a story of passion, sacrifice, and surrender. Inthis episode we speak of many kinds of love: maternal love, love under will, divine love, romantic love.  We s...

Here we begin the suit of Cups, watery and full of feeling.  The Ace of Cups is the complement of the Ace of Wands: the Grail to its Lance, the Form to its Force, the lunar yoni to its solar phallus.   It is Kether, the Crown, in Briah, the world of Creation.  It is the West, white brilliance, and the second letter or primal Heh of the divine name, the ה of יהוה.   In this episode we speak of holy...

In this episode we begin with an overview of one of the best kept secrets of the Western esoteric tradition: the power of the Daughter, the final letter of the Tetragrammaton or Divine Name. We then move on to the Page or Princess of Wands:  Make way for the Rose of the Palace of Fire!  the princess disguised as a humble page.  Is she the beginning or the culmination of the suit?  Is she sleeping...

Whether you call him the Knight of Wands (RWS) or the Prince of Wands (Thoth), he is as bright as the sun and as bold as the lion!  A creature of the last decan of Cancer and the first two decans of Leo, he is the heart of fire, fixed yet on the move.  We consider his relationship to the 4 of Cups, the 5 of Wands and the 6 of Wands - how he glories in strife and victory, reveling in the spotlight,...

Welcome to the Queen of Wands, a palace of mirrors in which flames leap and multiply! Forthright and frank, sensual and feline, she possesses a magnetism that makes her the center of attention wherever she goes.  We release this episode just as the Sun rounds through her domain, the last decan of Pisces and the first two decans of Aries.  We consider her relationship with the 10 of Cups, 2 of Wand...

Welcome to the courts! the most complex, enigmatic, and at times maddening cards in tarot.  But here at Fortune's Wheelhouse we love the court cards in all their hard-to-grasp humanity, and we hope our discussion will help you in your own quest to come to terms with them.  In this episode we discuss the esoteric structure of the court card system and its relationship to the face cards of the famil...

Feeling tired?  overburdened? weighted down and leaden-limbed?  welcome to the Lord of Oppression! In the 10 of Wands, cold, dry Saturn governs the final decan of the fire sign Sagittarius.  The embers are fading here at the northern Hemisphere's winter solstice; a mere pinpoint of southern light at the darkest time of the year.  Here the associated majors, Temperance and the World or Universe, co...

Mel and Susie get interviewed for the first time! about the Fortune's Wheelhouse podcast.  Our host is Ryan Peverly of the Occulture podcast , which is - as you might guess - a show about the culture of esotericism.  It's a wildly diverse production that includes magicians, alchemists, writers, bloggers, creatives and practitioners of all stripes. Ryan's style is probing yet irreverent, and you'll...

In any suit the Nine is where the power of that suit is strongest, and in fact the Nine of Wands is known as the Lord of Strength. But it is a fluctuating, tensile strength, not a rigid one - the strength of our Moon who rules this second decan of Sagittarius.  She can be said to rule all nines, in fact, making the 9 of Wands doubly lunar.  In this episode we speak of magic mirrors and equilibrium...

Lord of Swiftness, Lord of Speed, the 8 of Wands comes rushing in!  Fast as the flight of the arrow, fleeting as the rainbow, it is here and gone.  First decan of the mutable fire sign Sagittarius, it is ruled by Mercury, the speediest of planets.  It is associated with the Magus/Magician and Temperance/Art, and there we detect the presence of that other messenger, the rainbow goddess Iris.  Mercu...

Here is the renegade, the rebel heart, the iconoclast!  Fearless and hotheaded, the 7 of Wands corresponds to the third decan of Leo, ruled by Mars.  He is the lord of Valor, and his courage is that of the uphill battle.  The adversaries are many - six against one! but glory and individual heroism are within grasp of his brute force. This is our first experience, in the minor arcana, of the creati...

And...after Strife comes Victory.  The battle is over, the competition has concluded, and we have a winner!  As with other sixes, the 6 of Wands finds us at a moment of harmony and recognition, poised between the intemperate trials of the 5 and the restless quests of the 7.  The 6 of Wands is associated with the Wheel of Fortune and Strength/Lust, and here we find the King of the Beasts astride th...

Nobody ever said it would be easy, right?  After the sweet respite of the 4, we now pass into the heat and fire of the 5 of Wands, where cold dry Saturn contends with the first flaming degrees of Leo.  Here we find discomfort of volcanic proportions, the crust cracking over pyroclastic flow, the pressure cooker, the glass alembic taking form in the furnace. We explore themes of war and war gods, t...

With the 4 of Wands we arrive at the final Aries card of three: from the ruthless drive of Dominion to the forthright rulership of Virtue to this, the sweet respite of Completion.  Here Lady Venus (the Empress) reposes in her guest wing at the House of Aries (the Emperor), which is ruled over by her consort Mars.  It is not her favorite house, but you can't deny there is a certain . . . chemistry...

Ah, the 3 of Wands, the 'Lord of Virtue.' But what even is virtue? Here we find the Sun ruling the second decan of Aries, a place of exaltation for that golden sovereign of the sky.  The ruthless initiative of the Two of Wands gives way to something better-regulated and altruistic in the Three.  In this episode we talk about the formative aspects of Threes, the manner in which 'Will' evolves into...

Enter the Lord of Dominion!  With the 2 of Wands we enter the first of the "decanic minors" - the cards numbered 2 through 9.  Associated with the planet Mars, it is a card of unequaled force, assertiveness, and dare I say, masculinity.  Mars presides over both the last degrees of Pisces and the first degrees of Aries (as well as ruling the whole sign of Aries): the spark that keeps in motion the...

Happy New Year!  Fortune's Wheelhouse is back with the first of the minor arcana, the effulgent, the scintillating, the ineffable and radiant Ace of Wands! The pulse of the Universe, the will to live, the hunger and the drive.  The fuel is stacked and ready, the spark is deep within and waiting.  Will you strike the match with us? To learn more about the suit of Wands, the world of Atziluth, the c...

And here we are at last, at the Cosmic Dancer, the Anima Mundi, the Spirit of the World.  Here we discuss themes of completion and rebirth, the many names of angels, the architecture of reality and the limits of our perception.  We talk about the mystic return of the Daughter to the Mother, and the four creatures once again depicted on the corners of the cards. With this episode, our conversation...