Fortune’s Wheelhouse

Some call it Judgement.  Some call it the Aeon.  One thing's for sure - the next-to-last card in the major arcana is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.  On one card we see an angel and the dead, arisen.  On the other we see god-forms, emerging and dissipating.  Along the way we encounter themes of sleeping and waking, of cleansing, redemption, and purification - and above all, of Fire...

⊕ Light, Love, Liberty, and Life! After our travels through lightning-struck ruins, starlit waters, and lunar mists, we have arrived in the clear shining light of the Sun! Here we find many signs of completion, health, and wholeness: the 4 elements, the 6 of Tiphereth, the 12 signs, the 22 Hebrew letters, the 36 decans - all these numbers can be found coded into the imagery of the Sun cards. Along...

Ruler of Flux and Reflux! Silvery queen of the night-shadows! Mistress of Sleep and Dreams!  We have come to the lunar mysteries, where magic and uncertainty mingle, and only the psychopomp gods know their way through to the other side.  Fish swim back and forth in the waters of the unconscious, falling and rising with the tides. In this episode we have much to explore: the dog, the wolf, the cray...

Star of wonder, star of night, star of hope and sweet delight!  After the storm and fury of the Tower, we come to the sweet clear air of the Star.  What form of the feminine divine does she express? What possibilities does she open for those who gaze at her across the distance?  And why is she always naked?! In this episode we talk about the Inanna or Astarte myth, the Star's travels in the underw...

The Blasted Tower! The House of God! The Lord of the Hosts of the Mighty!  If the Devil makes you recoil, the Tower makes you cower, shielding yourself from falling debris and karmic whiplash.  But more importantly, what function does it serve, and for what freedoms do it storms clear the air? In this episode we explore the awesome destructive - and creative! - power of Mars.  Along the way we tal...

Sniff, sniff. Can you smell it?  I swear there's a whiff of brimstone in the air.  Feared, reviled, revered by some, he goes by many names.  The Devil is associated with the letter Ayin (meaning "eye") and Uriel, the "sharpest-sighted spirit in all of Heaven."  In this episode we turn our own sharp gaze on Old Nick, from curly horn to cloven hoof.  We interrogate his gifts of knowledge and mirth a...

Temperance, the Great Reconciler!  The Bringer Forth of Life!  Everything about Temperance is a paradox, starting with the name.  Is it to moderate and hold back, as in the alcohol-shunning era of temperance?  Or is it to strengthen by enduring opposite extremes, as one tempers a sword?   In this episode we explore how fire and water, the divine and the mundane, the sun and the moon come together...

The Unnamed Card, the Reaper, the Scythe, the Lord of the Gates of...Death.  When you first started reading tarot, didn't he make you a bit nervous?  Even if everyone told you he just represented 'Change'? In this episode we dig into what 'Change' really means, and wrestle with Death's awesome powers of transformation.  What exactly is he reaping?  We consider issues of black and white, Nun the Fi...

Straight from the bottom of the deep blue sea, we bring you the inverted one, the drowned Phoenician sailor, Odin hung upon the tree, the dismembered Osiris...he's a traitor to some, a mystic to others, but in all his guises the Hanged Man hears a different drum.  In this episode we consider his themes of sacrifice, stillness, and altered consciousness.  What secret vision does he pursue? What doe...

"Justice" and "Adjustment"! - They may sound similar, but when you think about it, there's two very different ways of looking at the world hidden within those two terms.  In this episode we talk about that difference, the special relationship of Justice and the Fool, and the dance of Venus (ruler of Libra) and Saturn (exalted in Libra) in the card.  We talk about the 2, 3, and 4 of Swords, and we...

The Wheel of Fortune, Omnium , Mistress of All!  Impartial and unceasing, the Wheel carries us all in its rotation - some rising, some falling, but none motionless.  In this episode we explore what Fortune brings and what Fortune takes away, the rise of Hermanubis and the fall of Typhon, the hand outstretched to receive, the palm raised to protect.  We touch once again on the four Living Creatures...

Remote and profound, the Hermit lights the way with his eternal lantern.  But there's more to him than meets the eye.  Is he Father Time?  Is he the Fool, all grown up?  Is he Gandalf?!  In this episode we talk about his connection with Virgo and Virgo's ruler, the divine messenger and traveler between realms, Mercury.  We consider the 8, 9, and 10 of Pentacles; we talk about the mysteries contain...

Vestal Virgin or Holy Harlot?  She's the 'Strength' card in the Rider Waite Smith deck and the 'Lust' card in the Thoth deck.  How can we reconcile these avatars of purity and passion?  Join the Daughter of Fortitude and your co-hosts as we travel the Path of the Flaming Sword to find out, visiting the 5, 6, and 7 of Wands along the way. We talk about the role of Leo's lion, and by what power she...

It's The Child of the Powers of the Waters! The Lord of the Triumph of Light! Or, more familiarly, the Chariot. Among the Major Arcana, the Chariot is one of those symbol-packed images that don't necessarily give you that much to work with at first glance.  But the closer you look, the more there is. In this episode, we talk about protection and momentum, motion in all directions, Merkabah mystici...

Ah, the Lovers - that card which means everything you think it does, and nothing you expected. Does your heart beat a little faster when you draw the Lovers?  Do you feel a thrill of recognition?  I bet you do, and yet you can't quite put your finger on that maddening, tantalizing magnetism. In this episode, we talk about forbidden knowledge and dangerous choices, about swords and serpents, angels...

This week we bring you the Pontifex of Tarot, the Bridge Between Worlds, the Keeper of the Keys: the Hierophant, himself. As we discover, the Hierophant is one of the most deep, layered, complex cards in the deck.  We talk about the Dove and the Serpent (which, contrary to what you might expect, is not actually a pub for occultists), the Beasts of Ezekiel, that cryptic hand gesture, keys, wands, m...

This week of American independence, we bring you the King of Kings himself, the Burning Ram, the Cubic Stone, the Emperor! In this episode, we look at the ram vs. the lamb, the significance of the color red, concepts of good government, his relationship with the life force represented by the Empress...and we tackle the Great Hebrew Letter Controversy of the Golden Dawn.  He or Tzaddi? Window or Fi...

Call her Venus, Aphrodite, Isis, Urania, Demeter, Gaea, or what you like - no matter what her name, she's still your Mother. In this episode, we look at goddesses of love, beauty, fertility and generation.  We talk about the moon, salt, the planting and the harvest. We consider themes of love and war, and the goddess as the Gate of Life. To learn much, much more about Venus, Isis, the letter Dalet...

"It's all about the Moon..." In this episode we look at the High Priestess, or Priestess, card of lunar mysteries.  The Priestess has long been associated with the Moon: its changeability, its magical nature, its watery influence, its threefold significance for women, its association with the intuition and secret knowledge, or even the unknown. We explore her deep connections with the sacred femin...

In this episode we look at the Magician or Magus, and we explore his relationship with the messenger god, Hermes.  Call him Hermes, call him Mercury, call him Thoth - the god of many names is also the god of prophecy, writing, divination, thievery, and magic.  Here at his crossroads we explore the many faces of the trickster, his close connection with the sun, his will and his power, acting at the...

Fortune's Wheelhouse is a podcast about esoterics and the tarot.  The show is hosted by Susie Chang and Mel Meleen. The first 22 episodes are devoted to the 22 Major Arcana of the Rider Waite Smith and Thoth tarot decks.  We look closely at the symbolism in each card and help you decode the meanings hidden in its cryptic details. Our pilot episode is dedicated to the Big Zero, the Original Air-hea...