​Hang Onto Your Core Values; It’s Going to be a Bumpy Ride!

Wheel of Fortune from the Pagan Otherworlds Tarot.
 
Lots of tarot lovers like to reduce the numbers of dates to determine which tarot cards go with those dates. For example, one of the most common dates is simply the year. When we reduce 2017 we get 10, The Wheel of Fortune. Given how many of feel as we enter, with some trepidation, in this year, The Wheel of Fortune seems like an apt representation.

The Wheel's meaning varies depending on which reader you ask. Some say it always means good luck or that things are going to change for the better. Others say that it means change…if things were good, they’ll go south; if they were stuck, they’ll start moving. Others equate this card with the Wheel of the Year, saying that the next thing that would normally happen is what is going to happen.

​I subscribe to none of those. To me, the Wheel of Fortune is a Trickster card, a card of uncertainty. We spin the wheel and takes our chances. Who knows what where the Wheel will stop? Not this tarot reader. I firmly believe that there are some things we are not meant to know and there are cards in the deck that represent this.
 
Peeking into the future is just one use for tarot. It’s most important function is reading the cards as a sacred text. The Wheel of Fortune is excellent as a sacred text.
 
Here’s the lesson. Things happen. We cannot always control things that happen. I know that is not a popular belief but it is true, isn’t it? The secret golden nugget in the Wheel is: the closer you stand to the center of the wheel, the less likely you are to lose your balance. If we think of our lives as the wheel, the closer we are to our own center, which is defined by our core values, the easier it will be to stay steady, even if the wheel spins fast or lands somewhere that is just plain not cool.
 
Because this year is associated with the Wheel, we can be sure it will be one of change. The 5s are also associated with change and I do think we are going to see the energy of these cards throughout the year.

The 5 of Wands will bring a lot of competitiveness and ego.

The 5 of Cups will leave us lost in grief instead of actively grieving.

The 5 of Swords will bring us Pyrrhic victory after Pyrrhic victory.

The 5 of Pentacles is perhaps the most troubling in this case as it shows the potential for a complete separation of our resources from our values (both individual and collective). 
 
That what this year is going to teach us. We are going to be tested to see what our priorities and values really are. Unfortunately, our country feels (to me) like it sees its role as a for-profit business, which is why, apparently, so many of us voted to put a businessman at the helm. But I never thought that our country was a business. It is a representation of our values…or it should be. If it is not performing that function, then what do we do? How do we make sure our values are expressed in the world? What are our options? 
 
This year is going to be challenging. It will also be a gift. We will finally get to find out exactly who we are. I’ve heard someone say “show me your schedule and budget, I’ll name your values.” I couldn’t agree more and this year is going to be like a final exam. Who have you been striving to become? What is that person going to do in the face of real need…human need, creature need, earth need?   
 
May we all hold on tight to our values, not get distracted by the world spinning around us, and stay calm and centered as we help keep the world on course.